Following on from yesterday’s post of the Hollywood Heritage Museum exhibit – OUT WITH THE STARS – I was sent these photos by Mark M. who wrote to tell me that when his father got out of the service he moved to LA, where he bought this Ciro’s branded bottle of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. From what I can see, it’s still unopened!
In this circa 1928 photo, we’re looking north up the 600 block of S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. We can see signs for Desmond’s (men’s clothing), Schaber’s Cafeteria, and See’s Candies. Look at the detailing on all that decoration above See’s sign and embedded in the building and along the top of the Schaber’s building. And don’t miss the sidewalk. It was quite common on those days for businesses to lay terrazzo in eye-catching patterns to attract the attention of passers-by with the hope of luring them inside. A lot it is still around and would probably work better nowadays with everyone staring down at their phone.
Remarkably, the three-arched building that Schaber’s occupied is still with us AND in great shape. This image is from January 2024.
A couple of months ago, I went to a marvelous exhibit at the Hollywood Heritage museum called Meet The Stars: 100 Years of MGM Studios and the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was so fascinating that when the museum announced their next exhibit – Out with the Stars – focusing on LA’s famed nightclubs, restaurants, cafes, and hotels, I looked forward to it immensely.
I ended up taking nearly 100 photos, but here are my favorite 20 or so.
Naturally, my highest priority was the Garden of Allah Hotel display.
I don’t even know what this is. Cigarette holder? Matches holder? Business card holder? If anybody knows for sure – or just wants to take a guess – I’d love to hear from you. It feels tobacco-related, doesn’t it? Or is that because of the Garden of Allah Hotel box of matches sitting in it?
This was on the underside of the above item. It’s the sticker for the auction house that auctioned off all the Garden of Allah items when the hotel closed down in August 1959.
There were a lot of ashtrays in this exhibit, but none shaped like this one from Garden of Allah Hotel. It’s like it was made for a single cigarette:
And the third Garden of Allah item that caught my eye was this brochure, which used a font I don’t recall seeing before. I suspect this was published late in the hotel’s run, so circa late 1950s? (The hotel closed in August 1959.)
The biggest display was a tribute to the Hollywood Canteen, which was spearheaded by Warner Bros. stars Bette Davis and John Garfield to give servicemen on shore leave in Los Angeles a place to go during WWII where they could be served some food and enjoy entertainment.
All hostesses (i.e. pretty local girls (and famous ones) whom servicemen could dance with while live music played) went through a background check and were given ID cards:
Paper napkins for the boys to clean mustard and chocolate cake off their faces:
These are a bundle of raffle tickets for $25 worth of war bonds. I’m fairly sure they were given out to servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen as a lucky door prize.
And I love this matchbook that says, Please accept these matches with my very best wishes, JOAN CRAWFORD. I can only assume Joan had these made ahead of time and handed them out to servicemen she danced with. It’s a very Joan-Crawford-esque move, if you ask me.
I don’t know who Marcel Rodd was, but with his brochure – SINNING IN HOLLYWOOD – he ensured servicemen had a handy-dandy guide to keep them out of trouble…or get into it.
** UPDATE ** Colin L. said: “Looks like Marcel Rodd might have been in the business of travel pamphlets. I saw a “Marcel Rodd’s This is California” pamphlet for sale on EBay. I also noticed the picture was illustrated by Fritz Willis, a fairly well-known pin-up/calendar girl artist of the 1940s through 1960s.”
** UPDATE ** It looks like ol’ Marcel got himself into hot water after the war. This is from the San Pedro News-Pilot on August 29, 1946.
The next stop on our tour of Hollywood hot-spots is the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel. I’m not entirely sure what this is, but I assume it’s some sort of table decoration. But what were those two little bowls for?
The Brown Derby did a first-class job of merchandising itself with Derby-themed chili con carne seasoning, oval box, and hat-shaped salt and pepper shakers.
Meanwhile at the huge Earl Carroll’s nightclub on Sunset Blvd, your ashtray featured a pair of shapely legs.
Some broken dishes from the Hollywood Hotel were recovered during the excavation for the subway line that runs under the hotel’s former site on the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave.)
Meanwhile at Ciro’s, there was no shortage of matches for you:
With all those Ciro’s matches, you need something to light up. How about some “Petites” miniature cigars at the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd, catty-corner from Grauman’s Chinese:
While at the Roosevelt, we’ll dine at the Cinegrill who, it appears, pioneered the art of separating meat from vegetables. Was this where TV dinner companies got the idea?
While we’re in the neighborhood, we can cross Hollywood Blvd and indulge in a C.C. Brown’s hot chocolate fudge sundae, which comes with these mysterious things. I was puzzled about what they did until my pal, Rosanne, who grew up on Vine Street, told me they were on the bottom of the dish that the sundaes were served on. I’m guessing those two side grooves are there to rest your spoon? Or perhaps catch errant drips of hot fudge?
Next up, let’s visit Mae West in her apartment at the Ravenswood where she might let us try on her bedazzled gloves. Your hands need to be quite small, though. You can’t tell from this photo but they’re as petite as the mini cigars you picked up at the Roosevelt.
After that, we can drop in on Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg and see if we can borrow their snazzy cutlery set:
And the way home, we can stop off at The Broadway-Hollywood store on the corner of Hollywood and Vine for a spot of shopping in the shoe department:
~oOo~
Kress opened its five-and-dime store at 6066 Hollywood Blvd in 1935, but I don’t know if JJ Newberry came later or was already there. But either way, I’m left to wonder if they fiercely competed with their neighbor to wrestle the nickels, dimes, and quarters out of the pockets of Hollywoodians. But it must have been convenient for the locals – if Newberry didn’t have what they were looking for, they could go next door to see if Kress did. But aside from all that, look at how gorgeous the architecture was—and they were just five-and-dime stores! This photo was taken in 1937, and from the holiday wreath on the left, I’d say it was around Christmastime.
Martin P. says: “J.J. Newberry opened in 1928.”
Those two buildings are still with us and in good shape. This is how they looked in July 2024.
Destination #2,783 in my time travel itinerary would be a nighttime stroll along Hollywood Blvd at the blazing height of its neon glory. I suspect this was a picture postcard, and I wish we could read the signs (and banners hanging from the streetlights) more clearly. But I can make out Coffee Dan’s, Hollywood Theatre, Iris Theater, the Broadway(-Hollywood department store), Warner Bros. Theatre, and American Airlines. It looks like one of the signs reads “Mutiny on the Bounty” which indicates this photo is from 1962.
Up until the early 1920s, the Hollywood Hills were just that: hills. But then someone realized that the views across Los Angeles meant it was actually prime real estate and gave their idea a catchy name. In this 1923 photo, we’re seeing the Hollywoodland development take shape with roads being graded for future homes at the intersection of Belden and Flagmoor Streets. As a development, Hollywoodland took a while to take off, but once it did, it has never looked back.
This is roughly how that view looked in August 2022:
When I first saw this circa early 1900s photo of the Washington Gardens Chutes Amusement Park, with a rollercoaster, Chutes Water Slide, and Chutes Theater, I assumed it was at the beach. Probably Santa Monica or Venice. So imagine my surprise when I found it stood at the corner of Washington Blvd and Main St, south of downtown Los Angeles. Geographically, it makes sense, seeing as how Los Angeles itself didn’t extend too far beyond the edges of (what we now call) downtown so to get to the beach was a bit of a hike. But Washington Gardens was nowhere near the LA River, so now I’m wondering the logistics of maintaining all that water.
Gary H said: “Your post unlocked an entire rabbit hole for me. I learned about Paul Boyton, a mid 1800s showman, adventurer, water sport/stunt originator, and founder of the first amusement park. He had a whole history before in NY and Atlantic City, then went out with PT Barnum in 1887, and ended up in Chicago. Inspired by the 1892 Chicago Columbian Exposition , he created the first amusement park and Chutes there in 1894.
In 1895 he created another Chutes and a park that later became Coney Island, and also opened the hugely successful Chutes in SF on the Haight, which later moved to Fulton St. I didn’t find a connection to the LA Chutes which launched around the same time, but wiki does say that Boyton licensed the concept, so I guess that was probably one of them.”
Yesterday, I featured a photo of a gas station selling a brand of purple-colored gasoline I’d never heard of: Violet Ray. And what was the first photo I randomly came across this morning? A photo of the aptly-named Umbrella Super Service gas station, and what brand of gas did they advertise? Violet Ray! This umbrella-shaped gas station stood at 830 S. La Brea Ave in Los Angeles, and this photo was taken circa 1930.
This is how that site looked in June 2024. Yet another parking lot (which, as an LA motorist, I’m always grateful for. But as a student of LA history, not so much.)
And from the ever-thickening They Sure Don’t Make Em Like That Anymore file, comes this 1930 photo of a Violet Ray gas station with a soaring tower to attract the attention of passing motorists. According to one website I found, Violet Ray gasoline was introduced in 1928 by General Petroleum. They distinguished their product by coloring it violet. I don’t know how successful the gimmick was, but I’ll give them points for creativity. I only know that this gas station was on N. Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood, which means it could have been anywhere north of De Longpre Ave. With those hills in the background, I’d say it was probably somewhere near where the Hollywood Fwy now cuts across the northern edge of Hollywood.
Jim L. says: “THis beautiful gas station appears to be along the Cahuenga Pass at Barham Blvd. I am pretty sure that the two houses on the hill belonged to the Frederick Blanchard estate. For years, the driveway was where one turned onto Barham from the 101 and was overgrown with weeds and fenced.”
Daniel N says: “Here it is, left center. Looking northeast over US 101/Cahuenga Blvd at Barham Blvd, circa 1930.”
In 1922, RKO opened their Hillstreet Theater at 801 S. Hill St on the southwest corner of 8th St. It operated as both a movie theater and a vaudeville house and lasted until the summer of 1965. Normally, I’d be showing photos of the theater, but this shot is more memorable. Prior to the theater’s demolition, the marquee read: “Critics acclaim return engagement – Fresh from smash hit at Biltmore – Cleveland Wrecking Co. – Brings down the house.” While it’s a grand shame that LA had to lose what had been a gorgeous theater, at least someone had a pretty good sense of humor about it, and I’m glad we’ve now got this photo.
Bill C. said: “RKO didn’t build the place in 1922. It was the Orpheum circuit. RKO didn’t exist until 1929 when Joe Kennedy did a quick mashup of Radio Corporation of America with the recently merged combine of the Keith-Albee vaudeville circuit and Orpheum.”
This is how the building looked that summer in 1965:
This is how that marquee looked at night in 1933:
This is how the theater looked when it opened in 1922:
And this is how that corner looked in June 2024:
