Double-decker buses are something I associate with London rather than Los Angeles, but in the earlier part of the 20th century, double-deckers with an open-air top deck were quite a common sight around LA. I don’t know what was going on in this circa 1920s photo of businessmen in their suits and ties and hats and overcoats, but someone thought it worth taking a photo of. Maybe they were going to the Los Angeles Motor Bus Company’s Christmas party and decided it was best if someone else did the driving—even if it was Prohibition!
Double-decker bus number 610 from the Los Angeles Motor Bus Company, circa 1920s
Looking west along Seventh St, past Spring St, downtown Los Angeles, 1915
This 1915 view looking west along Seventh St, past Spring St, in downtown Los Angeles shows us four different types of transportation: streetcars, automobiles, horse-drawn wagons, and pedestrians. Imagine the noises the people in this photo were hearing. Without that traffic cop in the middle of the intersection, woman in the long dark dress would be taking her chances. Near the center of the photo we can see a sign for Bullocks, which was a very popular department store that was on Seventh Street for most of the 20th century.
Here’s roughly the same view in February 2021. It’s one of the few instances where the modern-day photo is a lot quieter!
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, as seen from Orange Drive, 1927
On May 15, 1927, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel opened at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. It was financed by a group that included Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Sid Grauman, which possibly explains why the first Academy Awards ceremony took place there. Not long after that, this photo was taken from Orange Drive, which lays directly north of the hotel. As we can see, the street was lined with trees that shaded the locals from the California sun, but it also looks like finding a place to park was challenging even back then!
Hollywood Blvd itself has more trees now than it did back then, however Orange Drive wasn’t quite so lucky. This all looks rather stark, doesn’t it? (This image is from March 2018)
And here’s a menu dated October 2, 1933. It’s extraordinarily extensive!
Looking west from the eastern end of Santa Monica Blvd with Mount Lee in the background, Los Angeles, 1914
With so few landmarks to go by, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where this 1914 photo was taken, but it we do know that it’s looking west from somewhere near the eastern end of Santa Monica Blvd. That peak we can see in the background to the right of those two buildings is Mount Lee, where the famous Hollywoodland sign would go up less than 10 year later. But meanwhile, in 1914, on a road that is constant with traffic these days, there are all of two vehicles and I can’t help but wonder where they were going.
A dozen or so Los Angeles Railway street cars lined up along East Seventh St, downtown Los Angeles, 1914
Who even knew they had traffic jams or peak hours back in 1914? In this photo we’re looking at a dozen or so Los Angeles Railway street cars lined up along Seventh St in downtown Los Angeles while waiting their turn to cross busy Main Street. I bet the guy driving the horse and cart is thinking the same thing when I’m on the 405 Freeway heading north and the southbound lanes are clogged to a standstill: “I’m glad that’s not me!”
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, late summer 1961, as seen from the roof of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
In this photo of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre taken from the roof of the nearby Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during the late-summer 1961 seven-week run of “The Young Doctors,” two things stood out to me. All that parking! There’s a lot to the immediate west and east of Grauman’s, as well as that huge lot in the upper right corner. It belonged to the First Federal Bank building, which replaced the oft-lamented Hollywood Hotel, which had fallen to the wrecking ball in 1956. Also catching my eye is the line of stars in the sidewalk. That dedication ceremony for that project took place on November 23, 1960, so those stars we can see aren’t even a year old.
This photo from 1963 during the run of “Irma La Douce” show that there was also parking behind the theater.
Here’s that same block from a different angle showing us how big the bank’s parking lot was.
My thanks to Kurt Wahlner from the highly informative GraumansChinese.org for his help with this post.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Aerial photographs, Color photo, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Theaters
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Color photograph of the Brown Derby restaurant, 1624 Vine Street, Hollywood, 1948
Color photos of the Vine Street Brown Derby aren’t too common so I’ll gratefully take every one I can get. This one was taken in 1948 when their neighbors were Western Air Line and Maurice Inc, which sold knitwear. I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that rent in the Brown Derby building wouldn’t have been cheap, so Maurice Holman would have had to have sold a lot of sweaters and scarfs to make the rent. The archway to the right of Maurice was the alley leading to the guest parking. Given the A-list clientele of the Derby, there must have been some might fine vehicles back there every single day.
What’s left of the building is now dwarfed by high-rise apartment buildings. But at least there’s *something* left of it. (This image is from January 2018.)
The house of L. Frank Baum (author of “The Wizard of Oz”) at 1749 N. Cherokee Ave, Hollywood, circa early 1900s
This home looks like a fairly typical Southern Californian dwelling with lots of windows and wide verandas. But this house at 1749 N. Cherokee Ave, Hollywood on the corner of Yucca St didn’t belong to just anyone. It was home to L. Frank Baum, the author of “The Wizard of Oz” who moved to Hollywood when it was still a sparse village filled mostly with citrus groves. He built the house in the early 1900s and called it “Ozcot.” Baum died in 1919 at the age of 62, two decades before MGM premiered its film version in August 15, 1939, at Grauman’s Chinese Theater only three blocks away. Ozcot was razed in the late 1950s.
This is what stands on that corner today. It’s a shame the house is no longer there. It would make a wonderful museum who a man who led a rather extraordinary life. Aside from writing the Oz books, he also kept exotic birds and was a highly skilled horticulturalist. (This image is from May 2016.)
A color shot looking east along Sunset Blvd from Vine St, Hollywood, circa early 1960s
From our 21st century eyes, this photo looking east along Sunset Blvd from Vine St in Hollywood is filled with what we think of as classic American cars. But of course back in the early 1960s when this photo was taken (one of those cars is a 1960 Ford Fairlane and another is a 1960 Ford Falcon) they were all just regular cars that filled the streets of America from coast to coast. In the background, behind the two red ones, we can see the sign for Moulin Rouge, which is the nightclub that the Earl Carroll Theatre became in 1953.
This is roughly the same view in February 2021. You can juuuuuust see the Earl Carroll/Moulin Rouge building in the background. It’s still painted as the Aquarius for the Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in America.”
Palm tree getting moved from 1608 West 7th St, downtown Los Angeles, bound for the Doheny Mansion at 10 Chester Place near the USC campus, 1913
You probably didn’t wake up this morning wondering how they moved palm trees in Los Angeles in 1913, but in case you did, this photo is for you. This palm tree was being moved from 1608 West 7th St in (what we now refer to as) downtown Los Angeles, and was bound for the Doheny Mansion at 10 Chester Place near the campus of the University of Southern California, south of downtown. Edward Doheny is the guy who discovered oil in California, so employing ten men and six horses to move a tree was easily affordable.
And here is another view of the Burkhard house and the freshly dug palm tree:
Doheny’s mansion is still there – and quite possibly that palm tree, too – and offers tours to the public.
The autocolorizer did a pretty good job with this one…although I wish it would color the sky with a nice shade of blue.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Downtown Los Angeles, University of Southern California (USC)
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