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.
This is the November 2021 view driving west on the Hollywood Freeway through the pass near the Hollywood Bowl:
And this is a bird’s-eye view of how the Cahuenga Pass looks (2022)
The opening of the plush Biltmore Hotel overlooking Pershing Square in October 1923 changed the face of Los Angeles. The city now had a five-star hotel that could compete with the best hotels anywhere in the country and would go on to become the epicenter of L.A.’s social life, hosting balls, galas, weddings, Academy Awards ceremonies, and presidential campaigns. This photo was taken when the hotel was still under construction. Enough of it had gone up for Angelenos to get an idea of what it might look like, so I’m guessing this was probably taken (back when Pershing Square was a leafy green space) late in 1922. The photographer would have been standing on the grounds of the State Normal School (which was a teachers college.) It would later be replaced by the Central Library, which still stands on that site.
I don’t know when this photo of the Los Angeles Times building at the corner of 1st and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles was taken, but it’s gloriously atmospheric, isn’t it? The Times building opened in 1935, and that tower to the right is the AT+T Switching Center, which went up in 1961, so we can say for sure it’s at least the 1960s. Kitty corner from the Times is L.A. City Hall and I’m assuming this photo was taken from there.
Before the Hollywood Bowl got its first shell (in 1926, which only lasted one year) the musicians and entertainers performed in the open air. The stage itself changed from time to time, but this is the first photo I’ve seen of a circular one. I don’t know which orchestra was playing that day (this photo is from 1926) but they must have been popular because it looks like every single seat is filled.
I’m not sure why a Zeiss Telescope (“World’s Largest Portable”) is attached to this Ford (with what looks like a steel plate bolted to the roof) and parked on the west side of Vine Street in Hollywood (the building in the background is next to the Brown Derby restaurant) in 1936, but it sure makes for an interesting photo. Was the car driven around L.A. as advertising? I’m also interested in that Broadway Hollywood department store parking sign. What, do you suppose, was the difference between 15, 20, and 25 cent parking?
In 1953, the nightclub formally known as 
It’s amazing how being 12,000 feet in the air can change your perspective. This shot looks north across Long Beach, California on December 2, 1955. That wide channel on the left is the Los Angeles river. And that huge arc jutting out into the Pacific was the Rainbow Pier, a horseshoe-shaped pier constructed as a protective breakwater around the Municipal Auditorium. I imagine it would have been lovely to stroll around it on a warm summer’s day.
A couple of days ago, after I posted a photo of the Warner Bros. Beverly Hills theater on Wilshire Blvd, somebody sent me this shot. It was taken from the Beverly Drive corner looking east. We can see the strikingly tall tower of the theater in the background, but we can also see a couple of places to eat before or after the show. Melody Lane was a mini chain who had an outlet at Hollywood and Vine from 1940 to 1955. Next it (or attached, maybe?) is a place called the Puppet Room. (Does anybody remember the interior décor? I’m picturing walls lined with weird puppets.) And in the middle of the photo is the Pig ‘n Whistle, which also had an outlet next to the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.
This rather spectacular estate was the Sisters’ Orphans Home. Built in 1890 by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul at 7th Street and Boyle Avenue in Boyle Heights just east of downtown, it was Los Angeles’ main orphanage. It lasted until 1950, and this photo is circa 1899. I couldn’t find out how many rooms they had, but it looks like they were able to accommodate hundreds of orphans at any given time.
In this photo we’re looking north up Broadway from 9th St. On the right, we can see the construction site for the Orpheum Theatre. It opened February 15, 1926 as a vaudeville theater, so we can date this photo to 1925. Since undergoing a $3 million refurbishment, in the early 2000s, the Orpheum is now one of the best operating theaters in downtown Los Angeles. These days, the striking turquoise-tiled Eastern Columbia Building (now lofts) stands opposite the Orpheum. But that building was still 5 years away when this photo was taken.