If ever a photo demanded to be a setting for a film noir, surely this is it. This is a 1939 shot looking down Windward Ave toward the Pacific Ocean from Pacific Ave in Venice Beach. I don’t think I realized that all those arches running down this part of Windward were once lit up at night. How spectacular it must have been to stroll down to the beach under them.
This is roughly how that view looked in May 2024.
On the night of September 25, 1932, a pageant of 30 floats paraded around the then-new Los Angeles Coliseum. It was called the “Motion Picture Electrical Parade” and each spectacular float was ablaze with lights. The five major film studios—Paramount, RKO, Columbia, MGM, and Fox—were represented, as well as some individual stars and famed cosmetologist Max Factor. 70,000 lucky Angelenos got to see the display, including soon-to-be-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had held a presidential rally at the Hollywood Bowl that afternoon. Ticket prices were $2 for adults and 50 cents for children—not cheap, especially during the Depression, but the proceeds went to both the Motion Picture Relief Fund and Marion Davies Foundation.
The floats were given whimsical names, such as Max Factor’s “Cameo of Jewels”, MGM’s “Rainbow’s End”, Paramount’s “Fountain of Beauty”, Educational Pictures’ “Submarine Garden”Rock of Gibraltar (Columbia), as well as “Spirit of Hollywood”, “Aladdin’s Paradise”, “The Tropical Shower”, and “Phantasy of Color.”
Here are some of the floats:
The Fox Film Corporation’s float:
Educational Pictures float:
Samuel Goldwyn float:
Hal Roach float:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s float:
The good folks at the Hollywood Heritage museum (in the Hollywood Barn opposite the Hollywood Bowl) have put together another wonderful exhibit. (See my posts for their “Out with the Stars” and their “Meet the Stars”.) This newest one is called:
and focuses on collectibles and memorabilia from television.
The exhibit is, of course, better seen in person, but here are some photos I took for those of you who don’t live in Los Angeles and are unable to get there.
The biggest feature of the exhibit focused on Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and I Love Lucy.
This dress was worn by Lucille Ball in the episode in which Tallulah Bankhead guest-starred. (It’s a notorious episode because Bankhead was reported to have been a nightmare during rehearsals, but really delivered when the cameras rolled.)
Ball’s traveling trunk (probably one of several) was also on display.
A famous episode during the run of Here’s Lucy was the one in which Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton guest-starred and Liz’s famous diamond ring ended up getting stuck on Lucy’s finger. This was Ball’s script with her notes, and a shot of the three stars together.
And here is one of Lucille Ball’s wigs.
During the production of I Love Lucy, the crew all wore jackets like these, marked on the back “Desilu” which was the name of the production company owned by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. This one was Desi’s personal jacket!
An I Love Lucy branded cigarette lighter.
This is a circa 1947 television with a screen about the size of an iPad.
And a television camera, also circa late-1940s. (By the way, Desi Arnaz was the person who invented the three simultaneous cameras technique for television.)
For 1970s TV viewers (such as myself) here’s a toy bus replicating the tour bus seen The Partridge Family.
Here is Don Draper’s check book used as a prop in Mad Men.
And if you were lucky enough to be invited to the 1972 Emmy Awards telecast at the Hollywood Palladium on Sunday, May 14th, this is what your ticket looked like.
I didn’t see the placard for this item, but I assume it’s a script cover for The Carol Burnett Show. Annette Gagnon was a costumer who worked in television in the 1970s and ’80s.
Apart from the television ephemera on display, there are some other items of interest:
Here’s an envelope from 1955 addressed by Stan Laurel, who lived at 1111 Franklin St, Santa Monica to his comedy partner, Oliver Hardy, who lived at 5429 Woodman Ave, Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley.
These dance shoes were owned by movie musical star – and legendary tap-dancer – Ann Miller. On the shoe on the right, we can see her name printed onto the toe. As you can see, these shoes were very well used.
This COFFEE SHOP sign was from the Brown Derby restaurant. Below it was a picture of the Vine St Brown Derby, so I’m assuming it came from there.
And here I am holding a genuine Emmy award. Yes, you were allowed to pick it up and pose with it. Yes, it was heavy and bulky. And yes, you could do some damage with it!
If you’re going to open a donut store, you should probably build the biggest donut you can and plonk it onto your roof so that there is mistaking what you’re offering. In this photo we’re looking north up Laurel Canyon Blvd past the Big Donut Drive-in. It stood on the northwest corner of Magnolia Blvd in North Hollywood. I don’t know when it opened, but this photo looks to be circa 1960s. Judging from the bus stop bench out front, I’d estimate that donut to be 20 feet high, which means I’m now on the hunt for a photo of the crane lowering it into place.
Jeff K. said: “’63-’64 Buick Riviera at lower left.”
Paul L. said: “The Big Do-nut Drive-in chain was founded by Russell C Wendell who would go on to found Pup ‘n’ Taco.”
This is roughly how that view looked in August 2022. A bank branch isn’t nearly as exciting as a ginormous donut, is it?
I do love the atmosphere of this night shot of the Rexall pharmacy on the southeast corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvds. Being so centrally located, this Rexall would have been busy morning, noon, and night, so I like how the Life magazine photographer who took this waited until after closing. Without busy staff and milling customers, the place seems even bigger. I don’t have a date on this image, but it feels circa 1950s to me. What do you think?
** UPDATE ** – Billy D. said: “According to the Life Magazine archives on Google, this photo was taken by Allan Grant in 1947.”
There is still a pharmacy on that site, which is opposite the Beverly Center shopping mall. It’s now a CVS. This image is June 2022.
The appeal of this photo, for me at least, is that it juxtaposes LA’s past alongside LA’s future. We’re looking south along Main St in downtown Los Angeles. In the earlier part of the 20th century, Victorian-era stores and offices lined many of LA’s streets. As we can see from the Spanish language signs, many of these particular businesses were catering to the local Mexican population. And right next door rises the then-new (this photo is from 1939) United States Court House on Main St looking south toward City Hall, downtown Los Angeles, 1939, and behind that, Los Angeles City Hall, which was, by law, the highest building in Los Angeles.
** UPDATE ** – My thanks to Al D. for this similar view dated December 1, 1957:
This is roughly how that view looked in January 2022.
** UPDATE **- I didn’t get the facts right on this one.
See below from the comments by Al Donnelly
for more accurate information.
Looking at this photo makes me think of that L.P. Hartley quote from “The Go-Between” – “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” We’re looking north toward the junction of Main and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles. (I don’t have a date, but I’m seeing no automobiles, I’m guessing it was taken around the turn of the century.) In the distance on the right, we can see the ornate tower of the old City Hall. There’s lots of room for those horse-drawn carriages to move out of the way of that streetcar, and I love that blurry little girl in the big white bonnet crossing the street ahead of her family. I hope she knew how to dodge runaway horses—not to mention their—ahem—calling cards.
Ray L. says: “You are looking SOUTH along Main Street at its intersection with Spring Street. All this vanished in 1925 with construction of New City Hall which changed the alignment of Spring to a street parallel to Main. Temple Street is immediately off-camera to the right. An electric streetcar would date the photo to post June 1896.”
This is roughly how that view looked in June 2022.
In my view, the Hollywood Bowl is fairly spectacular no matter which angle you shoot it from, no matter the time of day, no matter the season. But aerial shots of the place really do show how spectacular it is. This one was taken in 1929 after the Bowl got its 4th shell. That’s the one made of concentric circles that we all think of whenever we think of the Bowl. This shot also shows how far back the last row is and yet when you’re there, it doesn’t seem quite so far.
This is roughly how that view looked in December 2023:
Let’s start off 2025 with a colorful photo of a float from the annual Tournament of Roses Parade at that takes place in Pasadena, California every New Year’s Day. This shot was taken on January 1, 1958, and shows a float called “Rocket Honeymoon” which had been entered by the fraternity organization, Odd Fellows, and their women’s auxiliary, Rebekahs. The stats on this float are amazing: 100,000 chrysanthemum blossoms, 4,000 vanda orchids, 5,000 poinsettia petals, 4,000 red carnations, and 30,000 stock blossoms. I’m not surprised this float won first prize in its division!
I thought I’d end 2024 on a vibrant color shot of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. This one was taken during the run of Warner Bros’ “Giant.” The film had a huge premiere on October 17, 1956. (Go here and scroll down to see the jaw-dropping list of celebrities who attended.) In my view, the most interesting feature of this image is how prominently Edna Ferber’s name is displayed on the enormous marquee. She was a popular novelist at the time (she also wrote “Show Boat”) but the fact that her name takes up a fair chunk of marquee real estate indicates that she could help sell the movie almost as well as Rock, Liz, and James. “Giant” had the longest run for any movie playing at Grauman’s Chinese in 1956 – 10 weeks. Only “The King and I” came close with 9 weeks.
