Once upon a time, the public-facing facade of Paramount Pictures, the only major movie studio still in Hollywood, was on Marathon St. This photo was taken in 1937 when, in theory at least, anyone could park their car right out front. And what a picturesque front it was, with lots of detailing around the windows and along the roofline, and abundant greenery filling the gardens along the sidewalk. That all changed in 1967 when Paramount acquired the neighboring RKO Studios from Desilu Productions, which meant moving the main entrance a whole city block south to Melrose Ave.
This June 2024 view show how far the current studio gate is from where it used to up to 1967:
Martin P. said: “I did a brief search and I saw someone make a correction to someone on a Facebook post and say that Paramount built the Melrose entrance in 1982.”
This satellite image shows how that same building in the 1937 photo looked in December 2023:
I don’t know if the double-decker Pickwick Stages Overnite Sleeper Coach was comfortable — neither level looks like it had much head room. Or if it was convenient — one article said their main route went from San Diego to LA to Santa Barbara to San Francisco to Portland, then later expanded east to Phoenix and El Paso. But I do like the coach’s sleek styling especially those nifty portholes. (Do we call them portholes if they’re on a bus?) This shot was taken in 1929 in front of the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, which is on Mission Drive in San Gabriel, which is southeast of Pasadena. (Source: Thingies Facebook group)
The handwritten caption along the bottom of this photo says “The first civic parade in Los Angeles Cal. July 4th 1871 – Los Ang. Fire Department.” According to the LA Almanac, the population of LA in the early 1870s was around only 6,000 which may help to explain why there appears to be more people participating in the parade than on the sidelines watching it. In fact, I’m wondering if those two horse-drawn carriages in the background are part of the procession or just regular LA traffic annoyed that the parade they didn’t expect is blocking them from getting where they needed to go that day.
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 caption for this photo quoted the date as being “circa 1939.” According to Uncle Google, that car parked out front is a 1936 or a ’37 Buick Roadmaster, so that seems to be about right as the station opened in May of 1939. These train passengers caught in the photo would have experienced a brand-new station with that brand-new station smell of freshly laid tile and polished wood.
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 was. About a week ago, I came across a photo of it and learned it depicted the Donner Party crossing the Sierras during the brutal winter of 1846. To be honest, I’m not sure the portrayal of desperate pioneers enduring severe hardships, starvation, disease, and cannibalism made for an appropriate subject for people looking to have a good time at the movies. It does however look like it would have been quite striking in real life.
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 on San Fernando Rd (I couldn’t find a specific address) in West Glendale, California, right near the Grand Central airport, just north of Griffith Park. I love those two white-topped Buicks parked out front. The black one is a 1954 model, so this photo (probably a postcard) is circa mid-1950s—and looks every inch a 1950s motel, doesn’t it?
