From July 30 to August 14, 1932, Los Angeles hosted the 10th Olympic Games during the during the depth of the Depression. Thanks to the film industry, LA was more financially buoyant than most places and could afford to host the Games. This photo was taken on the corner of 7th and Hill Streets, downtown Los Angeles, where the building on the southeast corner is decked out with the five Olympic rings displayed on a two-story torch with what look to be 15 flags.Pearl Morton’s Municipal Brothel in the old Los Angeles Courthouse at Spring and Main, downtown L.A., circa early 1890s
When the city of Los Angeles had outgrown its Courthouse at Spring and Main Street in the early 1890s, it built a magnificent new Romanesque Courthouse at Spring and Temple Streets. This left the old one available—but not for long. Pearl Morton was described as “L.A.’s bawdiest, most beloved madam.” In 1891, she lavishly renovated the place and reopened it as Pearl Morton’s Municipal Brothel, where men in city and county uniforms didn’t have to call ahead for a date, and a Dr. Bryson would stop by weekly to check Pearl’s girls for “occupational hazards.” Pearl never felt like she had to hide anything and used to ride around in an open carriage with some of her girls while Irishman in a green coat sat behind them blowing a trumpet. Hey, it pays to advertise!
Los Angeles City Hall at night, downtown Los Angeles, circa early 1950s
I don’t know if it’s the style of photography or if there was a slight mist in the air the night this photo was taken, but either way I love how this circa early 1950s shot makes the Los Angeles City Hall in downtown L.A. seem to glow. I also love how we can juuuust see Lindbergh Beacon shining toward the left. But how about that huge swath of empty land in the foreground? You can bet that space didn’t stay empty for much longer.
“Variety” deadline from January 6, 1943: 101 PIX GROSS IN MILLIONS
I was recently researching which movies were popular during WWII, which was a record-breaking era for Hollywood film-making, with movie-goers filling theaters in unprecedented numbers. According to one source I read, in 1942, movie attendance reached a record high of 80 million a week. A total of 488 features were made, a number never to be surpassed. So I became curious about which movies had been the most popular in 1942. My search led me to a January 6, 1943 headline in Variety:
101 PIX GROSS IN MILLIONS
The article then listed each of the studio’s recent movies that earned more than a million dollars at the box office. I found it interesting reading and thought I would share it with you here.
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Tagged Columbia Pictures, MGM, Movie Studios, Paramount Pictures, RKO, United Artists, Universal Studios, Warner Bros.
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Aerial shot of Hollywoodland, Los Angeles, 1928
This breathtaking aerial shot of Hollywoodland was taken in 1928, which was five years after the construction of the Hollywoodland sign let Angelenos know that the development was open for business. At the time, not too many locals were thrilled at the idea of living on a hillside so it took a while for the idea to catch on. We can see from this photo that, five years later, quite a few large home peppered the landscape.
The opening of the Courtyard Building, 427 Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, circa 1930s
From the look of this photo, it seems the circa 1930s opening of the Courtyard Building, 427 Canon Dr in Beverly Hills was a very big deal. The crowd is packed around a stage that holds what looks like a band and behind them is a lot of patriotic bunting next to a large neon sign that says ARCADE. It looks like it was a beautiful building with a lot of magnificent detail; what a grand shame that it’s and longer there. At least the Beverly Hills City Hall, lit up in the background is still with us.
Here’s a photo I found of the courtyard arcade. Talk about oozing with charm:
This is what now stands at 427 Canon Dr:
Movie hopefuls gather in front of the Bronson gate at Paramount Pictures for a casting call, Hollywood, 1929
In 1929, word got out that Paramount were holding a casting call for an Alaskan gold rush drama, “The Spoilers,” starring Gary Cooper. I’d imagine that it didn’t take long before these hopeful people started to crowd Paramount’s famous Bronson gate. These days, Paramount runs along Melrose Ave, but back then the front of the studio ran along Marathon St, which is now part of the studio lot. I wonder how many people in this photo actually got a job that day.
Soundstage 16 at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank being lifted 30 feet from the bottom up in 1935 for “Cain and Mable” (1936)
In 1935, William Randolph Hearst got into a hissy fit with Louis M. Mayer at MGM and took his movie company, Cosmopolitan Pictures, and its sole star, his mistress, Marion Davies, and her 11-room bungalow to Warners. One of the first films they made was “Cain and Mable” with Clark Gable. But the standard 45-feet height of the soundstages there wasn’t big enough for Hearst’s ambitions for the movie’s $400,000 grand finale. “I’ll sing You a Thousand Love Songs” was nine minutes long and featured a 90-foot pipe organ and 160 chorus girls. So Hearst paid Warners $100,000 to raise the roof of soundstage 16. What’s even more amazing is that they didn’t take off the roof and add the extra 30 feet on top. No! They jacked the whole structure up and added it to the bottom. If you want to know how they did that, it’s described in the Wikipedia page for Cain and Mabel
(What’s interesting is this photo shows that it was soundstage 7 but I guess at some point Warner Bros renumbered their soundstages because it’s now known as 16. ** UPDATE ** The Warner soundstages were renumbered perpendicularly after the new ones were added along Olive Ave.
Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, as seen from the roof of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 1930
In this photo from 1930, we see some pretty girls (because there’s always got to be pretty girls) standing on the rooftop of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Behind them stretches Rodeo Drive, showing us how low-key it was back then. The signs that the girls are holding reminds us that only 10 years before, Beverly Hills was covered with orange groves and bean fields. Looking at the commercial part of Beverly Hills, it’s hard to imagine there were ever crops filling that soon-to-be-precious land.
Les Poupées de Paris at P.J.’s nightclub, Crescent Heights and Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, circa 1960s
P.J.’s was a nightclub at Crescent Heights and Santa Monica Blvd that was very popular with the young crowd during the hip and happening 1960s, and so I was surprised to see “Les Poupées de Paris” played there. “Les Poupées de Paris” was a sophisticated and rather adult musical puppet show mounted by Sid and Marty Kroft, who would later give us “H.R. Pufnstuf.” A Les Poupées de Paris show had everything: comedy, music, celebrity look-a-like puppets, and—I kid you not—topless puppets, a la Folies Bergère. Seeing this photo, I can imagine how striking it must have been to drive past P.J.’s at night.
PJ’s was on the NW corner but there’s no sign of it anymore. This image is from May 2019.
