In the late 1920s, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) moved from its original location on Vermont Ave to an area known as the Wolfskill Ranch in what is now called Westwood. In this photo, dated 1928, we can see the builders harnessing mule power as they build Dickson Court at the heart of the campus. On the right we can see Royce Hall and on the left is the Powell Library, but there’s not much else!
Here’s a 2022 satellite image of Dickson Court:
And from the Just Someone’s Family Snapshot Album, comes this bunch (Dad, Mom, little Betty, and the widowed mother-in-law) who were (I’m totally guessing) on vacation in Los Angeles and asked a passer-by to take their photo outside one of the most famous nightclubs on the Sunset Strip. And that’s because they’d read about how all the glamourous movie stars spent their evenings there living the high life. Actually, the Mocambo sign is bigger than I’ve always imagined and let’s be honest, if it were me, I’d want my photo taken outside Mocambo, too. (This photo is undated but Mocambo was open from 1941 to 1958.)
8588 Sunset Blvd is now occupied by a fancy Equinox gym. This image is from November 2021.
Most of the vintage photos of L.A. that I come across were taken by professional photographers using high-end cameras. It’s nice to find one looks like it’s been taken by a regular Joe using his Box Brownie. This particular Joe had probably just enjoyed a meal at a McDonnell’s Drive-in restaurant. They had at least 8 locations around L.A. I believe this one was on the northeast corner of Robertson and Wilshire Blvds, but if you think I’ve got it wrong, I’d love to hear from you. Also McDonnell’s was spelled with two Ls, but the sign-writer who did the sign over the clock spelled it with one L. You’d think they’d get him to do it over, wouldn’t you?
In 8 convenient locations around Los Angeles, offering “the best fried chicken in the world.”
This is how the northeast corner of Robertson and Wilshire Blvds looked in February 2021. It’s a nice enough building, I suppose, but it ain’t no McDonnell’s!
Building piers along the Pacific shore was a very popular thing, which is a little surprising because nearly all of them caught fire and burned to the ground (or to the water, as the case may be) at one time or another. But it’s not often that we can catch a glimpse of one California’s piers in the middle of being destroyed. This was Fraser’s Million Dollar Pier at Ocean Park Beach (which is between Santa Monica beach and Venice beach) which was destroyed by fire on September 3, 1912. This is a remarkable photo so I can only imagine what it must have been to witness it in person.
Virtually every photo I’ve seen of the Pan Pacific Auditorium on the 7500-7600 block of Beverly Blvd is of the marvelous Streamline Moderne entrance. But this one from 1942 shows that it was part of the “Pan Pacific Village” which included an ice skating rink and, on the far left, the Pan Pacific Theater. Understandably, the auditorium got all the attention, but it’s nice to know that it was part of a larger complex.
This is how that block looked in March 2021:
The circular Capitol Records building became an instant and much-photographed icon when it opened in 1956, but it’s nice to see a shot of it before it became famous. Construction on the project started in 1955 and the building opened in 1956. I’d say it’s about halfway done at this point, so let’s call it 1955. I’m also glad to see that the 3-story corner building in the foreground is still around.
Roughly the same view in November 2021:
In 1935, movie producer, David O. Selznick, left his job at MGM to start his own studio, Selznick International Pictures. He set up shop in a section of the RKO Pictures lot at 9336 W. Washington Blvd in Culver City, which had been around since 1919, when it had been built for Pathé Pictures. Selznick went on to have a pretty good run, producing “A Star Is Born” (1937), Rebecca (1940), “Since You Went Away” (1944), “Spellbound” (1945), oh, and a little movie called “Gone with the Wind” in 1939. The car out front is either a Nash or Hudson circa 1937, so this photo was probably taken around then. Selznick International Pictures was dissolved in 1943. The studios became Desilu for a while, and is now known as the Culver Studios, which are home to Amazon Studios.
This is a view of the Culver Studios as seen from the upper floors of the Culver Hotel, circa late 1990s:
That building is still there. This image is from February 2021.
It’s not every day we get a peek inside one of the big Sunset Strip nightclubs during Hollywood’s heyday, and this was one of the first. It’s the Café Trocadero, a swanky, black-tie, French inspired nightclub opened on September 18, 1934, by Billy Wilkerson, owner of “The Hollywood Reporter” in a renovated warehouse where he used to store his alcohol after the repeal of Prohibition. This was also the venue for the “Gone With The Wind” premiere party in 1939. To be honest, I’m surprised it’s not swankier. Their only decoration appears to be that line of 17 sombreros and those palm trees (to make it look like the Cocoanut Grove?) Still, I’d give my eye teeth to have spent one evening there at the Troc’s mid-1930s peak.
Right before the Ventura/Hollywood/101 Freeway opened in the early 1960s, photographer Leigh Wiener took this photo of his son Devik playing on the off-ramp to Laurel Canyon Blvd in Studio City. It was probably the first and last time any child played on that freeway! I’ve taken that off-ramp quite a lot and it’s shocking to see it so deserted as that freeway is now one of busiest in the whole Los Angeles freeway network.
This is how that off-ramp looked in April 2021. Sign-gone. Railing-gone. Little kid-gone. Nothing stays the same.
This mansion is striking in a black-and-white 130-year-old photo; imagine how impressive it must have been to see it in real life. Built in 1886, it was known as the Bradbury mansion, named after Lewis L. Bradbury, who was hugely successful real estate developer, and who built the famous Bradbury building in downtown L.A. His home stood at 147 N. Hill St, just south of Court St, which I don’t think exists anymore. After a stretch as the headquarters of the Rolin Film Company, founded by Hal Roach, the mansion was torn down in 1929. If it were still around, it’d overlook Grand Park, not far from Los Angeles City Hall.
Mike S says: “The site of this house is about 40 feet up in the air above Hill Street in the Grand Park Plaza. Hill St was a tunnel that ran through Court Hill. Sadly, they bulldozed the entire huge hill and hauled it away.”
I don’t know the date of this photo, but it looks like it was taken much later. The area surrounding it looks more well established and gives us a better idea of what it looked like in situ:
And here’s one from 1899 which gives us an even broader perspective. You’ll find the Bradbury mansion in the top right-and corner:
