Here we have a bird’s-eye view the Warner Bros. studio at 5800 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood where they filmed their game-changing “The Jazz Singer.” I’ve only ever seen photos of these studios from ground level, and always of the classic-style façade with row of columns which we can see in this photo. I never knew that building had a huge sign painted on its roof: WARNER BROS WEST COAST STUDIOS. After a few name changes, KTLA television moved in 1955, and now it’s mostly used as a production facility by Netflix.
How that main building facing Sunset looked in February 2021:
I always thought that the only screen credit that MGM’s Irving Thalberg got was a posthumous one attached to The Good Earth. (1937) So imagine my surprise when I saw this credit pop up on Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) which opened three years after Thalberg’s passing. Those first 4 signatures are James Hilton (who wrote the novel), Victor Saville (producer), Sam Wood (director), and Sidney Franklin (uncredited director.) It’s nice to see that Thalberg (the hero of my novel, 
Laurel Canyon Blvd is one of the main (twisting, turning) roads that connect Los Angeles with the San Fernando Valley. These days it’s nearly always busy, but back in the early 1900s when this photo was taken, Angelenos’ main method of transportation was the trackless trolley, which was powered by overhead electrical wires. On an unpaved road, it must have been a tad bumpy. Of course, back then a visit to the valley was more like a day’s outing into the countryside. But I’m worried about that automobile coming the other way. It might just be the angle, but it looks like a certain collision!
The Los Angeles Pacific Company’s “Balloon Route” was a streetcar ride that started in downtown Los Angeles and took passengers on a scenic trip around L.A. It was marketed as being for tourists, but in reality was an extended advertisement to encourage people to buy real estate. This service started in 1905, so there would have been puh-lenty of land available and not much competition. (The population of L.A. in 1900 was 102,000.) This photo was taken in 1906 and these people would have ridden the rails of the route that went from Playa del Ray along the coast to Redondo Beach. I believe this photo was taken at the second last stop, Hermosa Beach.
In the late 1880s, John H. Jones was a bit of a big deal. He was a very successful real estate developer and active in city politics. That’s his house on the far left, but it’s not what I find interesting about this circa late 1800s photo. We’re looking north up Main St toward Fifth St in what is now downtown Los Angeles. Look how residential it is. All those leafy trees, and hedges, and lawns. Main Street looks like it would have been a nice area to live in back then. Also, note that everyone in this photo, kids included, is wearing a hat.
In this photo, we get to be a part of the West Coast premiere of “White Christmas.” It was held on October 27, 1954 at the Warner Bros Beverly Hills Theater on Wilshire Blvd, which is odd because it was a Paramount release. And not just any old movie, either, but their first movie in VistaVision, which was their wide-screen process. Made for $2 million, the movie earned 15 times that, making it the most successful movie of 1954. So I guess naming it after the biggest-selling song in history was a pretty smart move.
In this circa late 1800s photo, we’re looking north up a busy Spring St to the Second St corner. That building near the center of the photo with the turrets was the Hotel Hollenbeck, which was one of L.A.’s better-known hotels at the time. The large, dark awning on the left belonged to the Parisian Cloak and Suit Co. at 221 S. Spring, but its neighbor at 219 has me intrigued: The Wonder, which leaves me wondering what they sold.
When Tower Records opened on the 8800 block of Sunset Blvd on the Sunset Strip in 1971, it became an instant landmark that the Guinness Book of World Records recognized as the “largest record store in the world.” What was there before quickly slipped into obscurity. So I was happy to come across this photo of what was once on that site. This circa 1950s shows us that one incarnation was Jack’s On The Strip, home of The Big Jackburger. Behind the sign was can glimpse a Texaco gas station on what looked like a dark, wet night.
This rare color view taken in 1966 (from what I assume was the top of the skyscraper at Sunset & Vine) affords us a bird’s-eye view of the Hollywood & Vine intersection with the Plaza Hotel (note their sign is red!), The Broadway-Hollywood store, and the Taft building with the huge Pepsi sign which replaced the equally huge Miller High Life Beer sign that stood there for years. And way in the distance, we can see the Hollywood sign which, 12 years later, would be replaced as the original had deteriorated so much. (And we have Hugh Hefner to thank for that.)
The Cahuenga Pass connects Hollywood with the San Fernando Valley. These days, it’s got an always-busy 8-lane freeway plowing through it (plus the two-lane Cahuenga Blvd on each side, but minus the streetcar track that used to be there), but back when this photo was taken (it’s undated, but I’m going to guess pre-1900) it was just a winding dirt road through empty scrub land – the sort of landscape that would have lent itself well for shooting early westerns.
