It makes me wonder what drama was unfolding inside the Vine Street Brown Derby that needed the LAPD. Perhaps there was a contretemps in the Brown Derby Liquor Shop (which is hard to miss with that red neon sign) and that yellow 1956 Buick was the getaway car. It’s nice to see the place closer up than from the west side of the street, which is how we usually view it. What I’d really love to find is a close-up of that decorative pattern on the wall above the awning. It looks to be quite detailed.
An LAPD squad car parked out front of the Vine Street Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, circa mid-to-late 1950s
Looking east across downtown Los Angeles from the Harbor Freeway toward the Richfield Tower, circa 1959
The 130-foot tower atop the Richfield Oil Company building really was a sight to see when all lit up as we can see from this photo, taken circa 1959 from above the Harbor Freeway looking east across downtown Los Angeles. Not only was there no other tall buildings around it, but it was so bright that night-prowling Angelenos must have been able to see it for miles around.
Fairfax Theatre at the northwest corner of Fairfax Ave and Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, circa early 1930s
Fairfax Theatre is a gorgeous example of Art Deco, and stands on the northwest corner of Fairfax Ave and Beverly Blvd. It opened on March 26,1930, and this photo was, I imagine, taken not long after that. Judging by that sign on the roof, their big selling point was that all seats at all times cost 30 cents. Sounds like a good deal to me. And with a drug store next door, you could go to the movies and have lunch before or dinner after, all for under a buck. Being the early 1930s, radio was a big competitor for peoples’ attention so I’m kind of surprised to see that Bronster Radio Co in the same building.
This photo was taken on opening night, March 26, 1930, when the Fairfax hosted the premiere of a movie called Troopers Three.
The theater is still around and has been nominated for a City Cultural-Historic Monument designation. This image is from February 2021.
eat
A snow-covered Pacific Electric streetcar stops at Lake Ave and Mariposa St, Altadena, California, mid January 1932
It hasn’t snowed in the Los Angeles area very often – on average once every 10 years. Two inches of snow fell in 1932, which is when I’m guessing this photo of a snow-covered Pacific Electric streetcar was taken. From the word “LAKE” that we can see on the sign at the front, it looks like this P.E. worker had stopped the car on the Lake Blvd line in Pasadena/Altadena area, which means those peaks we can see in the background were the San Gabriel Foothills. I’m glad that guy had a thick overcoat to wear—it sure looks cold!
My thanks to Motorman Reymond for his help in identifying this photo.
Knott’s original berry stand, Buena Park, California, circa 1926
The big kahuna of Californian theme parks is, of course, Disneyland, but preceding it by quite a couple of decades is Knott’s Berry Farm. Walter Knott started growing berries on his farm in Buena Park in 1920. This photo is from circa 1926 before their road side stand even had the “Knott’s Berry Farm” sign. At some point it became so popular that his wife, Cordelia, opened a tea room that eventually became a chicken dinner restaurant that’s still around today. The theme park started as a ghost town that Walter built to entertain the folks waiting to get into Cordelia’s very popular restaurant. The whole enterprise evolved into sprawling amusement park, but this photo shows how it got its humble start.
This is a 2021 satellite photo of Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s a lot more than a roadside stand now:
This auto-colorized version does a pretty good job.
A Pacific Electric Red Car train stops on the new Pico Blvd viaduct, Los Angeles, November 2, 1927
From 1927 to 1963, a long viaduct bridge stood where Pico Blvd meets San Vicente Blvd. This photo, taken on November 2, 1927, gives us an idea of what traffic was like back then (very light compared to today!) City officials gathered underneath the Woodhead Lumber on the right hand side to mark the viaduct’s opening (at the time, Pico Blvd was still called Pico Street) with the crossing of a three-part Pacific Electric Red Car. If they were worried that the viaduct wouldn’t hold up to all that weight, they needn’t have. In 1963, the city planned an 8-week demolition of the bridge, but it took 13 weeks to finish the job.
That bridge has been gone for nearly 60 years so I’m not sure I’ve got the right angle with this image. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. But this is what the Pico Blvd/San Vicente Blvd intersection looked like in February 2021:
Looking west across Los Angeles St. between 8th and 9th Streets, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1900
I guess this was the circa 1900 version of finding a place to park your car in downtown L.A. In this photo we’re looking west across Los Angeles Street between 8th and 9th. With all those wagons hitched to those horses, I’m guessing there was a market nearby and these people were coming into town to stock up on supplies. What I can’t help wondering is at the end of the day, whose job was it to clean up after the horses…?
This is what Los Angeles Street between 8th and 9th looked like in February 2021:
Looking east on Wilshire Boulevard at Sunset Park (later Lafayette Park) with the Bryson Apartments in the background. Los Angeles, circa mid-1910s
In this photo we’re looking east along Wilshire Blvd where it bends at Lafayette Park, which was known as Sunset Park when this photo was taken circa mid-1910s. I love the woman who is posing in front of what looks like newly planted palm trees that are so short that she could touch the fronds. Assuming they’re the same trees that are there now, she couldn’t touch them with a ladder. In the background, we can see the top of the Bryson Apartments, which opened in 1913 and is still there. These days it’s most closely associated with Raymond Chandler, whose private eye, Philip Marlowe visits it in his 1943 novel, “The Lady in the Lake.”
Roughly the same view in February 2021:
The Bryson is still looking pretty snazzy!
Panoramic view looking east of the Fox Theatre at 961 Broxton Ave, Westwood Village, Los Angeles, 1933
Built in 1931, it didn’t take long for the Fox Theatre in Westwood to become a prominent fixture on the movie-going landscape of Los Angeles as one of the preferred places where Hollywood studios liked to hold their splashy premieres. But looking at this photo from 1933, it seems more of a gamble to open an upscale theater at that time in that place. Although Westwood Village was taking shape by then, the Fox was on the edge of town and there was nothing but empty land for miles around.
The Fox is still a thriving theater. This image is from July 2021:
Aerial shot of the intersection where Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvds meet, Beverly Hills, California, 1913
This aerial shot from 1913 shows the distinctive wedge-shaped corner where Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards meet at the western edge of Beverly Hills. The Beverly Hilton Hotel has occupied this land since 1955 (and more recently the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills) and I’ve often wondered what was there before. It looks like a there was a triangular park with a large circular plaza and a wide path leading where the two boulevards cross. To the right, we can also see the bare Beverly Hills development. It would take a few more years before that empty land would start to fill in.
A 2021 satellite image of the same intersection:
