Category Archives: Uncategorized
Night photo looking east along Wilshire Blvd from Fairfax Ave past the May Co department store, Los Angeles, March 1949
Thanks to this Life magazine photographer, we get an idea of what it was like to drive east along Wilshire Blvd from the May Co department store on the northeast corner of Fairfax Ave. We can see the sign for … Continue reading
An overly advertised Mid-City Cut Rate Drug Store, 3773 S. Western Ave, Los Angeles, 1941
Around 15 years ago, before I embarked on my writing career, I worked at a store on Melrose Ave that had to move to a new location. It was a long, gradual process, but it was interesting to note that … Continue reading
Angelenos fill the beach with umbrellas rented from the Venice Bath House, Venice Beach, California, circa 1910s
It must have been a warm and sunny LA day sometime in the 1910s when this photo was taken of Venice Beach as there are beach umbrellas as far as we can see. Given how covered people were back then … Continue reading
Aerial shot of Lakewood built to house up to 70,000 people, many of them Douglas Aircraft employees, near Long Beach, California, circa 1950s
Here we have a shot of the peak of post-war planned community housing. Lakewood was developed as a planned community near Long Beach, beginning in late 1949 and taking roughly four years to complete. Home buyers had a choice of … Continue reading
The Ralphs brothers stand outside their first Ralphs store on the southwest corner of Sixth and Spring Sts, downtown Los Angeles, 1886
The name “Ralphs” probably won’t mean much to anyone outside Southern California, but to Angelenos it’s a well-known supermarket grocery chain. What we’re looking at here is their first store, which stood on the corner of Sixth and Spring Sts … Continue reading
Color photo facing east along the Miracle Mile section of Wilshire Blvd looking toward Ohrbach’s and Coulter’s stores, Los Angeles, circa mid-1950s
I do love a color photo that shows us what it was like to stand on a LA street on an average day in the 1950s. We’re facing east along the Miracle Mile section of Wilshire Blvd looking toward Ohrbach’s … Continue reading
KMPC radio studios and transmitter, 9631 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, circa mid 1930s
Until I came across this photo, I didn’t know (but probably should have guessed) there used to be a radio station broadcasting out of Beverly Hills. These are the studios and transmitter of radio KMPC, which I think of as … Continue reading
Color photo of the demolition of the original hat-shaped Brown Derby restaurant, 3377 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, September 1980
Oof! This one is hard to look at: the destruction of the original Brown Derby restaurant at 3377 Wilshire Blvd. Even though technically it wasn’t the actual original one—the very first hat-shaped Brown Derby was at 3427 Wilshire between Mariposa … Continue reading
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Tagged Brown Derby restaurant, Color photo, Restaurants, Wilshire Blvd
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Aerial view of the Garden Court Apartments, 7021 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, 1924
This 1924 aerial view is a nice reminder of how residential Hollywood Blvd was before it became fully commercial. What we’re looking at here is the Garden Court Apartments at 7021 Hollywood Blvd a block west of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, … Continue reading
Angelenos read about the D-Day invasion while waiting for the bus at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, Hollywood, June 1944
We have caught these Angelenos on a very big news day. As they’re waiting for the bus at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, they’re absorbed in reading about the D-Day invasion in Europe during WWII. D-Day took … Continue reading