Author Archives: Martin Turnbull
Night shot of the Southern Pacific Starlight service between Los Angeles and San Francisco (undated)
I don’t have a date for this remarkable shot, but here’s what I can tell you: Southern Pacific Railway inaugurated their Starlight service, an overnight train between Los Angeles and San Francisco on October 2, 1949. An alternative to the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged California, Glendale, California, Night photo, Trains and Railways
6 Comments
A late-1930s Buick Roadmaster is parked out front of a then-new Union Station on the edge of downtown Los Angeles, circa 1939
The Los Angeles Public Library posted this charming photo yesterday and I wanted to share it here, too. It was taken outside what would then have been the new Union Railway Station at the edge of downtown Los Angeles. The … Continue reading
Interior of the Carthay Circle Theatre on San Vincente Blvd, Los Angeles presenting the stage curtain which shows the Donner Party crossing the Sierras
It’s not too hard to find photos of the exterior of the striking Carthay Circle Theater at 6316 San Vicente Blvd. More challenging, however, is photos taken inside the auditorium. Someone recently mentioned to me how magnificent the theater’s curtain … Continue reading
Screen-grabs of the Sunset Strip as seen in MGM’s “The Strip” (1951)
Last night I was watching an old movie on TCM (which is news that I can’t imagine surprises anyone) called “The Strip.” Produced by MGM in 1951, it starred Mickey Rooney, William Demarest, with Louis Armstrong and his orchestra, and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Ciro's nightclub, Night photo, Nightclubs, Restaurants, Sunset Blvd
4 Comments
Early dual-lamp streetlights running along a dirt-covered Wilshire Blvd somewhere in Los Angeles, circa 1931
I’ve been posting a vintage photo of Los Angeles every day for more than 10 years, and yet it still amazes me when I see photos of main LA thoroughfares with hardly any automobiles, buildings, or people in sight. Like … Continue reading
Color photo of McDonnell’s El Rancho Hotel on San Fernando Rd, West Glendale, California, circa mid-1950s
Until I came across this photo, I only knew of McDonnell’s as a chain of popular drive-in restaurants throughout Los Angeles in the 1940s. But apparently they also had hotels. This one was called El Rancho Hotel and it stood … Continue reading
Color photo showing an Oldsmobile and a Buick parked at the entrance to the Ambassador Hotel, 3400 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, circa early 1960s
The two classic-era automobiles (an Oldsmobile on the left and a Buick on the right) we can see in this color photo (a postcard, is my guess) taken at the entrance to the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd are both … Continue reading
Announcing the release of “Selznick’s Spotlight” – book 2 in the Hollywood’s Greatest Year trilogy by Martin Turnbull
Lights! Camera! Book launch! I’m thrilled to announce that Selznick’s Spotlight — Book 2 in my Hollywood’s Greatest Year trilogy — has arrived in a swirl of ambition, drama, and more backlot gossip than Hedda Hopper could shake a feathered … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Guardian Arms Apartments, 5217 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, circa late 1920s
Before finding this photo, I’d never heard of the Guardian Arms Apartments at 5217 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood at the corner of Harvard Blvd. So I don’t have much information to pass on, other than to admire the craftsmanship that went … Continue reading
Howard Ball’s sculpture of a mammoth is lowered via helicopter into the La Brea Tar Pits, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, June 1968
This photo captures what I think of as being a very LA moment. In 1968, sculptor Howard Ball made a fiberglass mammoth to be placed into the La Brea Tar Pits, where natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground … Continue reading