Brown Derby restaurant menu, February 1949

I was today years old when I realized that as a vegetarian, there’s not a whole lot at the Brown Derby for me to eat. But it’s the Brown Derby so I’m sure I can cobble together a meal to remember. You can see a larger version of this menu here.
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Looking north over the wing of a plane showing the intersection of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles. circa 1922

Looking north over the wing of a plane showing the intersection of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles. circa 1922It’s not often we glimpse the aircraft from which aerial photos of Los Angeles are taken, but seeing the tip of a wing in this one makes it all the more dramatic. The intersection at the center of this photo is where Wilshire Blvd (left-right) meets Fairfax Ave (top-bottom) circa 1922. West of Fairfax is Chaplin Airfield (run by Charlie Chaplin’s brother, Syd) and in the distance oil derricks straddle Fairfax where 6th Street is today. Then another huge swath of open land before development begins to cluster in the area north of Beverly Blvd.

Yep! Every square inch of that land is now filled in. This satellite image is from 2020:

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TWA Intercontinental airline ticket office on the northwest corner Sunset Blvd and El Centro Ave, Los Angeles, circa mid to late 1940s

TWA Intercontinental airline ticket office on the northwest corner Sunset Blvd and El Centro Ave, Los Angeles, circa mid to late 1940sUntil I came across this photo, I’d kind of forgotten that Howard Hughes’ Trans World Airlines even existed. Here we see a TWA ticket office on the northwest corner Sunset Blvd and El Centro Ave, just down the block from the Palladium nightclub. According to Wikipedia, by 1945 TWA had acquired 10 Constellations and some international routes, so I’m guessing this photo is from the mid to late 1940s, especially seeing as how those two guys crossing El Centro were in uniform.

This is how that same corner looks now. This image is from May 2019:

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Color film of the Brown Derby restaurant, 3377 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, circa 1940s

Color film of the Brown Derby restaurant, 3377 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, circa 1940s

It’s not often that we get to see the original Brown Derby on Wilshire Blvd in color and on film, so this gif is rare and special. The streetlight on the right was called a Wilshire Special but I’m intrigued about the one on the left with the three bulbs. From the quick glimpse we get of the passing cars, I’d say this footage was taken in the 1940s but I’m open to correction.

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Looking east along Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave at night during a holiday season, Hollywood, circa 1950s

Looking east along Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave at night during a holiday season, Hollywood, circa 1950sYesterday’s photo was looking west along Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave during the holiday season. This photo was taken looking west along Hollywood Blvd from Highland. This is from sometime in the 1950s. I wish we could see what was playing at the Hollywood Theatre, but their blade neon sign is still great to see in color. I love how the red light from the (what I assume was still the) Owl Drug Store is spilling onto the Christmas tree in the foreground.

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Looking west along Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave, Hollywood, Christmastime, 1946

Looking west along Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave, Hollywood, Christmastime, 1946If this photo is anything to go by, the holiday season in Hollywood must have been such a charming time of year. The city put up metallic Christmas trees along Hollywood Blvd and—here’s something I’ve never noticed before—alternated them between gold and green. They also strung up white stars over the street. On the far left above the Owl Drug Store on the Highland Ave corner, we can see part of a billboard for the Paramount Theatre (now Disney’s El Capitan) advertising the current film playing there, “Blue Skies” starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, which came out in October 1946.

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Aerial photograph showing the demolition of the NBC radio and television studios on the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood, 1964

Aerial photograph showing the demolition of the NBC radio and television studios on the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood, 1964I found this photo so sad I almost didn’t post it. But for good or bad, it’s all a part of Los Angeles history. What we’re looking at is the demolition of the NBC radio and television studios on the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood, in 1964. Interestingly, and I’m not sure why, they started with the roof. Is that normal? Whatever the reason, it does allow us a bird’s eye view of the place where many of the radio shows were done back in the day when they had studio audiences watching performers talk into microphones while the special effects people clanked chains and clip-clopped coconut shells.

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Empty Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Ambassador Hotel, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles

Empty Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Ambassador Hotel, Wilshire Blvd, Los AngelesMost photos of the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel show it crowded with funseekers, which makes for great atmosphere, but also makes it hard to see what the famous nightclub itself looked like. This photo shows us how big the dance floor was—it’s not as big as I pictured—and how many palm trees dotted the place—more than I would have expected. And those little lamps on the table, I never realized they were little metal palm trees too. Let the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in—it’s time to cha-cha!

This is an auto-colorized version. I don’t know that the Grove’s chairs were red, but overall, I think it did a pretty good job of bringing the place to life:

Susan M says: “The dance floor could be increased in size quite a bit. If you look close, there are a few rows of round tables on the dance floor. Seating number shifted some based on who was playing. If it was a big singer, the seating increased. It’s hard to remember how it was set up in the 40s. But by the mid to later 50s, a lot of the shows I saw there, had next to no dancing. Might have been who I choose to see there as well. My memory is this was more an older crowd for dancing. Younger folks tended to go to The Palladium and a few other places if you wanted to dance. But it was hard to beat some of the headliner singing stars who were booked in here during the 50s. one I remember really well was seeing Bobby Darin here in the late 50s. But for my money, by the late 50s, I wanted to see the shows in Las Vegas as compared to here at The Ambassador. The food was always decent here.

Andie P says: “When I went there in the mid-to-late ’60s it wasn’t as dark and the stage was different. we went once for a charity auction and the dance floor was entirely covered with tables and they were spaced further apart than in this photo – to facilitate the mostly women moving through, holding auction items. It was either better lit or the upper parts of the room were not as “heavy” looking.

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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio Commissary menu, 1957

What to choose? What to choose?

MGM Commissary menu 1951

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Looking west along Hollywood Blvd toward the Vine Street intersection, Hollywood, 1957

Looking west along Hollywood Blvd toward the Vine Street intersection, Hollywood, 1957We’re looking west along Hollywood Blvd toward Vine Street. This was when the American Airlines office was still on the northeast corner and Hody’s restaurant was on the northwest. In fact, Hody’s had only been there a couple of years – this photo was taken in 1957 because playing at the Pantages was “Tip on a Dead Jockey” and “House of Numbers”, both released by MGM in September 1957. This was also a time when you could park right out front of the Pantages, like that blue car managed to do.

Roughly the same view in February 2020:

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