You know how in the movies, someone yells “Lights! Camera! Action!” (Well, they do that in the movies about making movies, anyway.) Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be up on the catwalks in the rafters of a soundstage during production? I knew it took a lot of lights to shoot a movie, but this is crazy. Now I understand why it took so long to light a scene. This photo was taken at Universal Studios when Life magazine sent photographer John Dominis to tour the studios in 1963.
Up in the rafters among the lighting in a soundstage at Universal Studios, 1963
Looking along the Santa Monica pier, Santa Monica, California, 1924
The piers along Santa Monica and Venice beaches in California have taken on several incarnations during the past 150 years (due to the vagaries of weather, fire, technology, trends) so it can be hard sometimes to tell one from the other. Identifying this 1924 shot of the Santa Monica pier, however, is made easy by the building on the right. It’s the Looff Hippodrome, which housed the Looff’s carousel. (Charles Looff invented the carousel in the 1800s.) What surprised me is how close the rollercoaster was to the road. I’m used to seeing the Santa Monica pier’s rollercoaster set much farther back. This one is under construction, but from the sign near the middle of the photo, they were calling it the “Whirlwind Dipper.”
This image of the Looff Hippodrome is from 2015 but it looks the same today.
This 2021 satellite image of the Santa Monica pier shows how big it is today.
The J.J. Haggarty Mansion, otherwise known as Castle York, 3330 W. Adams Blvd, West Adams, Los Angeles, 1915
Los Angeles is a city of eclectic architecture. If you look long and hard enough, you’ll find pretty much every style represented here, including this one inspired by a famous castle in Yorkshire in Britain. Known locally as Castle York, it was more properly known as the J.J. Haggarty mansion, named for the man who owned a high-end department store which he named after himself. Castle York stood at 3330 W. Adams Blvd, in the West Adams section of L.A., and from the looks of it, Haggarty really did believe that man’s home is his castle.
Here are some other shots of it:
As far as I can tell, that land is now occupied by the Holman church. This image is from February 2021:
My thanks to Johnny Yuma for his help with this post.
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Vermont Drive-In at 17737 S. Vermont Ave, Gardena, California, circa 1940s
What we’re seeing here is the back of the 45-by-60-foot screen of the Vermont Drive-In that opened on October 23, 1947 at 17737 S. Vermont Ave in Gardena, not far from Redondo Beach. (The opening double bill was “Dear Ruth” starring William Holden and “Fear in the Night.”) I’m not sure what’s going on in that painting. I think it’s Snow White dancing with the dwarfs next to a five-foot mushroom. I suspect the subtext here is that they all ate some of the mushroom and now they’re all tripping . . . or at least enjoying nature—a lot.
Here’s a side-by-side aerial comparison of the area. The drive-in closed in 1999 and was redeveloped as housing. I assume the top photo is from the 1940s; the bottom one is from 2021.
The crowded sidewalk at 731 South Broadway, downtown Los Angeles, 1928
This shot from 1928 is more of a “slice of yesteryear life” showing how packed the sidewalks of Broadway was in downtown Los Angeles. 731 S. Broadway was home to a store called College Boot Shop, which looks like specialized in kids school shoes. It must have been a big market because they also had stores at 251 and 524 Broadway. Maybe Broadway is so busy because it’s the end of summer and people were getting in their back-to-school shopping. I’m also intrigued by “The Paris Store” two doors down. I’m guessing they sold fancy clothes, but I’d love to see their window display.
Here is 731 Broadway in September 2021. Somewhat less convivial, isn’t it?
Looking north up Broadway to the Loew’s State Theater on the corner of Seventh St, downtown Los Angeles, Christmas, 1937
The photographer of this shot was standing on Broadway just south of Seventh St and the MGM-owned Loew’s State Theater. Playing at Loew’s was MGM’s “Double Wedding” paired with a Jane Withers movie, “45 Fathers” which was – surprisingly – A 20th Century-Fox release. This shot was taken at Christmas 1937, which explains why the sidewalk was packed with, I assume, holiday shoppers like woman in front with a package under her arm. It must have been a balmy holiday season that year—I’m not seeing any overcoats or furs.
Gene P says: “It wasn’t all that unusual for theaters owned by one studio to book films from others, so long as it didn’t bump their own movies off of the screen (as in this case it clearly didn’t). And what wasn’t widely known at the time was that Louis B. Mayer was a significant investor in Darryl Zanuck’s 20th Century Fox, so Mayer would have enjoyed a profit from TCF movies reaching as many movie screens across the country as possible. Doubtless he encouraged Loews to book Zanuck’s films often.”
The Loew’s is still there but is now a Spanish-language church. This image is from September 2021.
Here’s the poster for “Double Wedding” which is a Powell/Loy movie I’d never heard of.
A super-packed street car at Eleventh and Flower Streets, downtown Los Angeles, 1919
If you take a closer look at the street car in this 1919 photo, you’ll see that it is so jam-packed with passengers that two guys have climbed onto the roof. I’m not sure how they got up there or how they got down, or why nobody stopped them. I’m sure it was probably against some law or other, but it made for a great photo. It was taken at the corner of Eleventh and Flower Streets in downtown Los Angeles.
That grill at the front was a spring-loaded pedestrian catcher invented after several fatalities. When the front hit something, it released a bear-trap-sized spring that pushed forward and up, knocking the person into the basket and lifting them high and tight against the other side.
It looks like this street car was heading south on Flower toward USC, in which case this is what that view looks like now. (February 2021)
NBC’s KNBH television studios on the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood, circa 1950
I don’t know if this photo of NBC’s KNBH television studios at Sunset and Vine has been colorized, but it looks so natural, I’m guessing it’s a genuine color photo. NBC converted its radio studios to television in 1949, so this shot was taken after that. That black stripe across the top of the building intrigues me. It looks like one of those electronic scrolls called a ‘flashcast’ that relayed breaking news. KFWB installed one around the Taft building at Hollywood and Vine in 1946 so maybe NBC set it up to compete with them?
How that corner looks in February 2021:
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Tagged Color photo, Hollywood, NBC Radio / Television, Sunset Blvd, Television
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Aerial photograph of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum under construction, south of downtown Los Angeles, circa 1922
Commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to L.A. veterans of World War I, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum quickly became one of those city landmarks that it would be hard to imagine L.A. without. Construction broke ground on December 21, 1921, and the stadium opened on May 1, 1923, so I’m guessing this aerial photograph, taken when the shape of the Coliseum had become visible, is from the second half of 1922. The area around it is more developed than I’d have expected. In the upper left corner we can see the Exposition Park Rose Garden, which is still around today.
Here’s a 2021 satellite image of the Coliseum:
Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles plays “Frankenstein”, 1932
Here we have some Hollywood history in the making. It’s a photo of RKO’s Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles during the original run of Universal Pictures’ “Frankenstein” in 1932. I love how the marquee dares you to meet the monster in their epic of terror. It worked because the movie cost $262,000 to make and pulled in $12 million at the box office. My guess is that “Frankenstein” had a long run at the Orpheum.
Those triangular motifs at each end of the marquee were neon signs. Here’s a close-up:
Not only is the Orpheum still around, but it’s a thriving theater (pandemics, notwithstanding) which hosts all kind of events. This image is from February 2021.
The official theatrical poster of Universal Picture’s “Frankenstein” (1931)
