This shot of 1st and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles was probably taken in the 1890s. We can see one of the early electric streetcars rolling up Spring Street at it curves to the right (Spring Street no longer does that) toward Hamburger’s department store (started in 1881.) The only other vehicles we can see are horse-drawn—it won’t be long until that situation changes on the streets of L.A.
Tony V says: “The first of Asher Hamburger’s stores, The People’s Store opened in 1881, but one block east on Main and a few blocks north on Requena Street. The store on Spring was his second one.”
This slice-of-life photo gives us a glimpse of downtown Los Angeles early in WWII. We’re looking north up Hill Street to the 7th Street intersection where 2000-seat Warner Bros. Downtown Theatre stood. (It’s still there but is a jewelry store now.) The double bill at the time was “Lady For a Night” (released January 1942) and “The Male Animal” (released April 1942) so the people we can see here were still adjusting to life a few months after Pearl Harbor. I wonder if that’s the photographer’s bicycle we can see leaning on the curb.
Vaudeville died a long, slow death during the 1930s, especially after the Palace Theatre in New York switched to an all-movie format on November 16, 1932. So I was surprised to come across this 1949 photo of the Orpheum Theatre, on L.A.’s Broadway holding a gala inaugural premiere of a vaudeville show of “8 big acts.” Maybe it was just a novelty show with a limited run? It makes me wonder how successful it was. Perhaps by the late 1940s there was some nostalgia for the vaudeville years.
The Bullocks Wilshire department store on Wilshire Blvd is one of those Los Angeles buildings that I never get sick of looking at. It’s also one of the buildings that has survived the unrelenting onslaught of progress, which is amazing considering the store opened on September 26, 1929 and a month later the stock market crashed and along with it the entire economy. But it survived that and went on to thrive as L.A. became a car-oriented city and Bullock’s was a “carriage trade” oriented store. This photo was taken around the late 1930s, by which time Bullocks Wilshire had established itself as one of L.A. premier shopping experiences.
The person who took this photo was rather bravely standing in the middle of the Hollywood and Vine intersection at night, pointing his camera southward. We can see the hat-shaped neon Brown Derby sign on the left, and farther down on the right the angled sign for Tom Breneman’s. Wrapping around the Taft building (left) is the KFWB flashcast which started on August 6, 1946, so this photo is circa late 1940s. But look at that tiny “No Left Turn” between the streetcar tracks on Hollywood Blvd. How many times a year did they have to replace that?
Here we have a shot of the front patio of Hollywood Hotel, on Hollywood Blvd at Highland Ave, in the heart of Hollywood. This photo is circa 1930s, when the hotel was still a popular place to stay when visiting Los Angeles. What I wouldn’t give to be able to while away an afternoon sitting on that long porch and look out over the comings and goings of heyday Hollywood in the 1930s.
In this photo we’re looking west along 6th St from Olive St in downtown Los Angeles. The photographer has his back to Pershing Square, which puts him right in the heart of downtown. The year was 1930, which means these Angelenos were only just starting to grapple with the reality of the oncoming Great Depression. I look at the people in old photos like this and wonder where they were going that day and how they fared in the years to come. In the far background we can see the spire of the beautiful 
One of the names most often associated with the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel was Gus Arnheim, whose orchestra and a three-year engagement in the late 20s/early 30s. He was also instrumental in helping to get Bing Crosby’s career going. This 1932 photo taken out front of the hotel shows 26 bandmembers and (I presume) their current girl singer together. There’s a large sign behind them that I’ve never seen before: Ambassador Hotel and Shops – Complete Business Center – Famous Cocoanut Grove”
Most shots taken at the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park overlooking Los Angeles are of the observatory itself (which is fair enough) but this circa 1940s photo shows the view from the observatory. That tall sculpture in the foreground is called the Astronomers Monument, which features six influential astronomers: Hipparchus, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Herschel. Past that is the parking lot, and beyond that are the hiking trails that lead you all over Griffith Park. But watch out for those rattlesnakes!
Sitting at the top of downtown Los Angeles opposite Union Station, Olvera Street is L.A.’s oldest street. These days it’s jam-packed with Mexican crafts and tchotchkes (and a couple of pretty good Mexican restaurants) that it’s hard for me reconcile that this quiet and laid back pedestrian street in 1934 is the same place. I don’t ever remember being there and seeing L.A. City Hall.