Vine Street in Hollywood was a quite a (neon) light show at night in the 1950s, when this photo was taken. From left to right, I can see signs for Alexander Stationers, Wil Wright’s Ice Cream (orange and yellow stripes), Spot Lite Cafe, American Broadcasting Company (ABC Radio), Santa Fe Railway, The Broadway Hollywood department store, Plaza Hotel, Miller’s beer on top of the Taft Building at Hollywood and Vine, and NBC’s KNBH Television at Sunset and Vine. The KNBH call letters on the NBC building dates this between 1949 and 1954.
Looking north up Vine Street, Hollywood from Sunset Blvd at night, circa early 1950s.
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Tagged Color photo, Hollywood, Hollywood and Vine, Hotels, Night photo, Stores and Shopping, Trains and Railways
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Dirigible balloon attracts a crowd of onlookers on the grounds of the Raymond Hotel, near Pasadena, California, 1905
In 1905, just two years after the first flight of the Kitty Hawk, these curious Angelenos gathered on the grounds of the Raymond Hotel in Pasadena to feast their eyes on something they wouldn’t have seen before: a dirigible. They were probably curious because it belonged to a fellow by the name of Roy Knabenshue who was an aeronautical engineer who had made the first dirigible flight over New York City that year. I don’t know if this was for display only or if he was offering rides, but if he was, some of the people in this photo would have the first to see Los Angeles from the air.
The Raymond Hotel was a fancy residence for wealthy Easterners looking to escape brutal winters.
Looking north along the Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica Beach, 1948
Imagine, if you will, taking a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway that parallels Santa Monica Beach. Now imagine that it’s 1948 and this is how clear the road is. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 25 years and have never seen traffic on PCH this light. What a heavenly Sunday drive it would be. Is it any wonder that I often suffer from anemoia which, I’ve recently learned, means nostalgia for a time you’ve never known. Am I the only one who suffers from this incurable condition?
**UPDATE** : The house on the bottom left with the 4 dormer windows on the roof line was Daryl Zanuck’s home during the late 1930s. The hous to the left with the threee-car garage belonged to Sam Goldwyn, and out of frame the house next door to that belonged to Harry Warner.
Dusk color photo of Frank Sennes’ Moulin Rouge nightclub, 6230 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, circa mid 1950s
After the unfortunate death of Earl Carroll in 1948, his eponymous nightclub – the largest in the world – at 6230 Sunset Blvd remained closed until Frank Sennes, former manager of the Hollywood Gardens (a nightclub where he gave Betty Grable her first break) took it over and in 1953 relaunched it as the Moulin Rouge. I don’t have a year on this photo, but Louis Armstrong was heading a review called C’est La Vie, which the marquee promised a cast of 100, so it really must have been something. I also like that they kept the iconic (and enormous) neon sign of a woman’s face – and a smart move, too. It was a local landmark; everybody knew where it was.
The building is still there and is in currently in the process of being restored. This image is from February 2021.
Aerial view of Beverly Hills north of Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 1922
Oh, for a time machine that would take me back to 1922 where I could snap up even just a few plots of all this open land we can see in this aerial view of Beverly Hills. The road cutting diagonally across the bottom of this photo is Wilshire Blvd. (Which means that line of trees at the very bottom would be Charleville Blvd.) Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but the three main streets we can see here, running straight between Wilshire Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd, then curving are Rodeo, Beverly, and Canon Drives. Back then, Beverly Hills must have had a country-town atmosphere, where people could escape from the constant hubbub of downtown Los Angeles.
Here’s an auto-colorized version that’s probably pretty close to how it actually looked the day this photo was taken in 1922.
Here’s a 2021 satellite photo of that same area. Just a tad more crowded, isn’t it?
Program for Ken Murray’s “Blackouts of 1946”
Ken Murray’s “Blackouts” was a variety show that ran in Los Angeles for seven years and 3,844 performances. This is a program from 1946.
Front cover:
Title page:
Headliner Marie Wilson:
Presenter Ken Murray:
Support act: Elizabeth Walters:
Support act duo: Harris and Shore
What the movie stars say about Ken Murray’s “Blackouts.” Testimony from Damon Runyon, Alice Faye & Phil Harris, Charles Coburn, Ann Sheridan, Fred Allen, Tyrone Power, Rudy Vallee, Carole Landis, Hugh Herbert, Mary Astor, Ozzie Nelson & Harriet Hilliard, Joe E. Brown, Mary Pickford, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy:
What the movie stars say about Ken Murray’s “Blackouts.” Testimony from Walter Winchell, Bing Crosby, Betty Grable, Eddie Cantor, Eleanor Powell, Jimmy Durante, Burns & Allen, Linda Darnell, Van Heflin, Bob Hope, Bette Davis, Alan Ladd, Carmen Miranda, Mickey Rooney, Cary Grant.
Support act: Romer Twins:
Support act: The Liphams and Doris Peterson & Milton Charleston & Bill Harris:
Support act Milton Charleston:
The “Glamour Lovelies”: Zena Lynn, Pat Williams, Jeanne Libberton, Consuealo Cezan, Alyce Louis, Mary Marsh:
The “Glamour Lovelies”: Mayol Lynn, Romer Twins, Virginia Lewis, Doris Peterson, Virginia Becker:
Support acts: Julia Rooney, Joe Wong:
Ken Murray’s Blackouts of 1946 Personnel and Credits:
Back cover featuring Marie Wilson:
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Horse-drawn streetcar in Los Angeles, California, circa 1890s
Horse-drawn streetcars were introduced in Los Angeles by the Springs and Sixth Street Railroad in 1874. Over the following years they were developed and refined into something nicer like this one which, for the summer months, was actually fitted out with curtains. How refined! I do pity the poor horse, though. It seems a heavy load for one creature to pull, especially if the streetcar was full!
And here’s a shot of a horse-drawn streetcar stopping outside the Post Office, Main St, Los Angeles before continuing on to the Southern Pacific depot in 1892:
My thanks to Rey (https://twitter.com/Beatle_wolf) for his help on this post.
Aerial shot looking southeast across the Hollywood Bowl to the buildings at Hollywood and Vine
We don’t often see the Hollywood Bowl from this angle. My guess is that the photographer was standing on the hillside where the 32-foot cross stands and was facing southeast. It’s interesting to see the Bowl from the rear with all that space out the back for the performers. Past it we can see the parking lot where the buses are parked during a performance, and past it the houses (I wonder if the residents can hear the music?) Farther back, those high-rise buildings are clustered around the Hollywood and Vine intersection; the Capitol Records building is particularly clear. And, of course, beyond that, Los Angeles sprawls out as far as the horizon.
Here’s a postcard showing the nighttime version of that view.
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Hollywood, Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood Bowl, Night photo
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Crowd waiting to see “Desert Song” at Mason Theatre, 127 South Broadway, Los Angeles, 1929
If this line of moviegoers snaking outside the Mason Theatre at 127 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles is anything to go by, Warner Bros.’ “Desert Song” was a big hit. It did, in fact, earn 10 times its budget, a hit by anybody’s standards. It was party because this was a talking-and-singing picture which, in 1929, was still a huge novelty. It was also photographed partly in two-color Technicolor, making it the first film released by Warner Bros. to include footage in color. It also had a 10-minute intermission during which music was played. Note also the Woolworths 5-10-15-cent store next door. I wonder how many people bought their movie snacks in there while they waited.
This is how that block looks now. Not quite as interesting, is it?
Looking along Broadway, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1907
In this photo we’re looking along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, circa 1907. I loved seeing photos from the era when the streets of L.A. accommodated automobiles and streetcars alongside horse-drawn carriages. The noises and smells must have been quite different from what we’re used to. That street car is headed for the Bimini Baths, a spa and “plunge” (public swimming pool) built on a natural hot spring at 180 Bimini Place in what is now Koreatown, near the corner of Third St and Vermont Ave. On my website, I have a page of photos of the Bimini Baths: https://wp.me/p5XK3w-14Z