Just think, if this propeller-driven aerial trolley prototype had been more successful, this could have been the form of mass transit that Los Angeles adopted instead of the Red Car streetcars. This photo was taken in Burbank, circa 1912, where its inventor, Joseph Fawkes built an 840-foot-long test track through his apricot and walnut orchard for his experimental monorail that he dubbed the Aerial Swallow. But ultimately the Burbank city council went with the Pacific Electric Railway, which meant that L.A. would have to wait another 50 years before it saw its first workable monorail at Disneyland.
Propeller-driven aerial trolley prototype, Burbank, California, circa 1912
Hill Street tunnels as seen from the Temple St end, downtown Los Angeles, October 11, 1954
The Hill Street tunnels that used to connect Temple and First Streets in downtown Los Angeles are long gone. (Grand Park is there now.) But when they were around, they sure made for an atmospheric sight, especially on foggy evenings such as October 11, 1954 when this very film noir shot was taken by Howard Maxwell for the Los Angeles Times. I wonder what the guy under the streetlight was waiting for.
And here are the same tunnels being demolished in 1955:
The new air traffic control tower at Los Angeles International Airport, 1961
In 1961, Los Angeles International Airport got a new air traffic control tower. Obviously someone had their eye on the future because it was also the tallest in the country, and they could see huge growth was coming. But compared with the never-endling hustle and bustle of LAX these days (Covid-19 notwithstanding) look at how sparse and deserted the airport looks. It would almost be a pleasure to see someone off or pick someone up because obviously parking was a breeze!
RKO Radio Pictures Studios, Gower Street, Los Angeles, 1935
From the late 1920s to the late 1950, the movie studios at the northeast corner of Melrose Ave and Gower St were home to RKO Radio Pictures. It was hard to miss them if you were driving along Melrose—there was a huge painted concrete globe of the Earth with the iconic radio tower on top. This photo was taken on Gower looking south toward Melrose; we can see the globe and tower on the right. I’ve always liked the oh-so-1930s font RKO used for their logo, but especially displayed along the outer wall like this in huge letters. This space was always used to display billboards of RKO’s movies. We can see “In Person” starring Ginger Rogers, which came out in November 1935.
Much the same view in April 2019. The RKO tower is gone now, but the concrete Earth is still there, as are the billboards:
The night of the 22nd Academy Awards at the RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, March 23, 1950
I’d say this photo is about as Hollywood as a Hollywood photo can be. A single, powerful searchlight shines a bright beam into the sky over the RKO Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Blvd as the hopeful and the notable arrive for the 22nd Academy Awards on March 23, 1950. This ceremony honored movies released in 1949, so it was the night Broderick Crawford won for “All the King’s Men,” Olivia de Havilland one for “The Heiress,” and “All the King’s Men” won Best Picture.
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Tagged Academy Awards, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Night photo, Pantages Theatre, Theaters
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Tom Breneman’s restaurant, 1525 N. Vine St, Hollywood, circa mid 1940s
During the 1940s, one of the most popular radio shows was “Breakfast in Hollywood” hosted by Tom Breneman, who ran an eponymous restaurant at 1525 N. Vine St., Hollywood. The show ran from 1941 to 1948 on three different radio networks: NBC, ABC and Mutual – which seems like a lot of bouncing around. Can anyone tell us if that was normal back in those days? I’m guessing this (gorgeously atmospheric) photo was taken mid 1940s, before the façade got a neon makeover.
This is a shot of roughly the same stretch of Vine Street in April 2019. Breneman’s went through a number of changes (to bowling alley then early television studios.) The building itself is long gone but what’s there now is a nice nod to the architecture of yesteryear.
CBS Radio Playhouse, home to Lux Radio Theatre, at 1615 N. Vine Street, Hollywood, 1941
In the heyday of radio, one of the more enduring shows was the Lux Radio Theatre, which featured one-hour versions of films, often starring the original actors. The show ran from 1934 to 1955, first in New York but in 1936 moved to Hollywood, where it ran in the CBS Radio Playhouse at 1615 N. Vine Street, which you can see in this 1941 photo. Next door was the popular Al Levy’s Tavern. Fire swept through Al Levy’s in 1941 so I’m guessing this photo was probably taken early in the year. The theater has gone through several incarnations and is now the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.
I found this 1948 photo on the Lux Radio Theatre Wikipedia page. It was really just a bunch of people on stage. The real show unfolded in the minds of the listeners at home.
And here are what audience tickets looked like:
How that theater looked in April 2019:
A dozen Angelenos crowd into a car celebrating V-J Day at Olive and 6th Streets, downtown Los Angeles
August 14, 1945 was a big day around the world, but especially in Southern California, which had been the U.S.’s main gateway to the Pacific theater during WWII. This photo was taken that day—known as V-J Day (Victory over Japan, marking the end of hostilities)—and here we see about a dozen Angelenos, giddy with joy, packed into (and onto) a Plymouth at the intersection of Olive and 6th Streets in downtown Los Angeles, where Western Airlines had their office. As we can see from the trash on the street, much celebrating was done that day. And I bet there were many hangovers suffered on the morning of the 15th.
That building behind them with the Western Airlines office is still there. This image is from May 2019.
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Tagged Airports Aircraft Airlines, Downtown Los Angeles, WWII
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Looking north up Vine Street from just south of Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, circa 1950s
Dusk settles over Hollywood in time for the neon lights along Vine Street to flicker on: Wallichs Music City, Capitol Records, Coffee Dan’s, ABC Studios, Santa Fe Railway, Plaza Hotel, The Broadway department store, Brown Derby restaurant, and NBC Studios. ABC moved into what had once been a bowling alley at 1533 Vine around the early 1950s, so I’m guessing this photo is probably circa mid 1950s, but I’m open suggestions to narrow that down.
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Tagged Brown Derby, Color photo, Hotels, NBC Radio / Television, Stores and Shopping, Sunset Blvd, Trains and Railways
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Original canopy of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre with the stencil designs, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, February 1935
Here’s a shot of something I’ve never seen before: the original canopy that stretched from the front door of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to the Hollywood Blvd curb had stencils on the side flaps. Those dragons must have been at least a couple of feet tall. This photo was taken during the run of MGM’s “David Copperfield” which, according to GraumansChinese.org was the middle two weeks of February 1935. Back then most films ran for one week, so two weeks meant a film did very well.