In late 1910, the Hyman Theatre (part of a mini chain of six theaters) opened at 802 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles on the southwest corner of 8th and Broadway. This is a photo of the opening night crowd as it gathered before (or after?) the show. Within a year, the theater would be rechristened the Garrick. It was demolished in March 1927 to make way for the historic Tower Theatre, which opened in October of that year. For me, though, the most interesting part of this photo is that elaborate 7-bulb streetlight on the left. Talk about fancy!
The inside of the theater wasn’t very fancy, but they did have an organ:
The Tower Theatre still stands on that corner. It’s now an Apple store. This image is from September 2021.
From 1953 to 1972, the Hollywood Bowl had a half-moon-shaped reflecting the pool in front of the stage. It also came with dancing waters and an elaborate fountain that entertained audiences during the intermission. They dismantled it because the moisture wreaked havoc with some of the musical instruments. Plus, let’s be honest, it allowed them to build boxed seating which they could charge a premium for because they offered the best view. So I don’t blame for getting rid of the pool, but as this 1959 shot shows, it must have been awfully pretty the way it reflected the Bowl’s concentric circles. (That light in the top right corner is known as the Hollywood Cross, which is a 32-foot cross above the Ford Amphitheater, which was built in 1923.)
Before NBC opened its famous at the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St in Hollywood, its home was in this building at 5515 Melrose Ave, near Gower St and Paramount Studios. It opened on Wednesday December 25, 1935, which I found to be an odd date. It guess NBC Radio personnel worked on Christmas day that year. At any rate, the very quickly found that the premises were way too small, and so almost immediately began drawing up plans for much larger premises on the stretch of land that used to house the Famous Players-Lasky Studios.
In the 1930s and 40s, McDonnell’s was a chain of more than 15 restaurants around Los Angeles. This one was called McDonnell’s Fairfax restaurant and stood near the corner of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave (which puts it near the iconic May Company department store.) Apparently their signature dish – or at least the one they were pushing in 1941, when this photo was taken – was called “Chicken in the Rough.” Does anyone reading this remember what that was? It was only 50 cents, which sounds like a pretty good deal to me. And check out that huge arrow they had up on the pole. You couldn’t miss it!
Until I came across this photo recently I’d never heard of the Winter Garden Skating rink, but I’m sure glad I’ve heard of it now. What a gorgeous example of Art Deco architecture. It kind of reminds me of the Pan-Pacific Park auditorium on Beverly Blvd. Opening in 1940, it stood at 171 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena until it closed in 1966. Did anyone reading this go skating there? Do you remember what color it was painted?
I have no information on this house other than it stood on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles in the late 1800s. Whoever owned it must have been very wealthy because all that incredibly detailed fretwork wouldn’t have come cheap, and nor would the on-going maintenance. This sort of detail was very common on late Victorian homes such as this one, but this one is next-level stuff.
In this photo we’re looking west along Hollywood Blvd from the Egyptian Theatre. The movie “Hawaii” was playing at the Egyptian Theatre, which means this photo was taken during the holiday season of 1966. The Christmas trees along the boulevard have a different design from the ones I’m used to seeing in vintage photos of this area. These ones look like they were triangles lit from within, and criss-crossed with tinsel and electric candles. The Egyptian Theatre is still around (now owned by Netflix) and the Hollywood Inn (which used to be the Hotel Christie, is still around—well, the building is. It’s no longer a hotel; the Church of Scientology now owns it. So the view these days isn’t largely different from how it looks in this photo.
This aerial view of Los Angeles International Airport was taken in 1963, two years after the main terminal complex opened, and with lots of empty land around it. These days the layout is pretty much the same, except that the parking lot is now a four-story structure, and a huge international terminal opened in 1984, just before the 1984 Olympics. But here’s my question: those round buildings where the planes are parked, how did passengers get to them? Surely they didn’t walk across the tarmac…?
It’s not often that I get to post a photo from the 1920s of a building that still looks practically the same today. The Hollywood YMCA building on the southwest corner of Selma Ave and Schrader Blvd was completed in 1928, so I’m guessing this photo was taken not long after that. From what I can see, very little has changed to the exterior. The biggest difference I can see is the removal of the bike rack on the sidewalk in front of the Selma Ave entrance. I guess it really does help to be on the National Register of Historic Places.
It’s not often that we are treated to a color photo of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at a time when that awning from the front door to the curb still existed. It looks to be fairly elaborate with those gold touches and that decoration on the roof halfway along above what looks to be the box office. “The World of Suzie Wong” had a remarkably long run. Following its gala premiere on December 15, 1960, it ran for 13 weeks from December 16, 1960 to March 16, 1961, making it the second longest run for 1960 (after Stanley Kramer’s “On The Beach.”)