Aerial photograph of Los Angeles taken from a balloon in 1887
At first glance, this photo might not seem too interesting . . . until you learn it’s a shot of Los Angeles taken in 1887 from a hot-air balloon, and therefore quite probably the first overhead shot ever taken of the city. (To orient yourself, left is north.) It’s kind of amazing that that little town down there would grow and grow to a sprawling metropolis covering more than 500 square miles and be home to more than 10 million people, some of whom are the most famous in the world.
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Tagged 1800s, Aerial photographs, Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles
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Hollywood Hotel dining room, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood
There are tons of photos of the exterior of the Hollywood Hotel on the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, but surprisingly few interiors. So the discovery of this one of the hotel’s dining room came as a nice surprise. It looks like it was a postcard of a hand-tinted image, but gives us an idea of what it was like. Those hanging potted plants and dropping vines are a nice homey touch – and they would have been real and not the plastic ones that came along later. I also like those four-bulb light fixtures, and the decorative flourishes at the top of the columns.
See also: Hollywood Hotel, interior, Hollywood Blvd
The Out-of-Door Bowling Alleys, at Sunset Blvd and Ivar Ave, Hollywood, circa early 1930s
This place was known as ‘The Out-of-Door Bowling Alleys’ and was located at Sunset Blvd and Ivar Ave in Hollywood. This puts it within half a block of where the Cinerama Dome would go up 30 years later. As far as I can determine, it was around in the early 1930s, but I don’t know how long they lasted. However I did find a description of the place which talked about how the alleys were covered with a “soundless” composition” and provided balls “coated with rubber.” This meant there was “an absence of the sound of crashing pins and rolling balls.” I read that and thought ‘But isn’t that part of the fun of going bowling?’
Approaching the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood, circa mid 1960s
I doubt that I shall ever tire of finding new vintage photos of Hollywood and Vine. This was taken by someone (with color film—thank you!) standing near the southwest corner looking north past the American Airlines office in the Equitable Building on the northeast corner to the Capital Records building. In front of it, we can just see the sign for the Du-Pars diner. Judging by the cars, we can date this photo to around the mid 1960s.
Roughly the same view in April 2019:
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Tagged Color photo, Hollywood, Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood Blvd, Restaurants
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Brown Derby restaurant, 4500 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, circa early 1940s
The fourth and final Brown Derby restaurant opened at 450 Los Feliz Blvd (not far from the famous Greek Theatre) in 1940, and this photo was probably taken the following year. Unlike the others, this version of the Brown Derby had a drive-in component known as the Car Café. One report I read said that it was Cecil B. DeMille who bought a chicken dinner restaurant called Willard’s and converted it into a Brown Derby!
Here’s another view, probably taken the same day:
And old advertisement for Willards:
The building is still there but at May 2019, when this image was capture, it was a bank:
See also Menu for the Brown Derby Car Cafe, corner of Los Felix Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue
A group of five people driving along Prospect Ave (aka Hollywood Blvd) in a Pope-Toledo automobile, circa early 1900s
It’s hard to believe there was a time when motorists could stop in middle of Hollywood Blvd (then known as Prospect Ave) to have their picture taken. Then again, judging by their Pope-Toledo, this was probably around 1904, when traffic along the street was negligible. I don’t know which stretch of the boulevard this was but I can only see three houses, so this might have been the only horseless carriage in sight!
Entrance to the Garden Court Apartments, 7021 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood
The Garden Court apartments opened at 7021 Hollywood Blvd in early 1917, calling itself “the Most Modern in the West.” And this time the Hollywood hyperbole might have been accurate. The place offered car service, a commissary, two ballrooms, a billiard room, a beauty parlor, daily maid service, two tennis courts, pergolas, trellises, and gardens. This photo shows us what the entrance as seen from the front doors looking out at Hollywood Blvd. I don’t know the date, but I’d say it was not long after the building opened because the boulevard and the land opposite look fairly empty.
This is the main lobby:
This is a photo taken from across the street.
Advertisement for the Garden Court apartments, 7021 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood from the Los Angeles Evening Herald, Saturday, June 2, 1917
These days there’s a CVS Pharmacy and a mini mall where the Garden Court apartments once stood. This image is from April 2019:
For more information, see Mary Mallory’s article: Garden Court Apartments Offer Luxurious Living on Hollywood Boulevard
Pacific Electric streetcar outside the Hollywood Hotel at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, Hollywood, November 1952
In this photo, we’re seeing a Pacific Electric Red Car heading south on Highland Ave as it passes the Hollywood Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. The shot was taken in November 1952, which means the hotel had less than three years before it fell to the wrecking ball in August 1956. ’56 was also the year L.A. removed the last of its two-light semaphore traffic signals, which we can see to the left of the streetcar. On the far right is a vertical sign I’ve never notice before in other photos of this intersection: OLDSMOBILE.
Roughly the same view in April 2019. At least the church is still there:
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Tagged Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood Hotel, Hotels, Streetcars
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Pacific Electric streetcar travel through Redondo Beach, south of Los Angeles, 1939
I would imagine that this would be one of the more scenic streetcar routes in all of Los Angeles. Here we’re seeing a Pacific Electric car on a track paralleling Redondo Beach, which is the third beach south of L.A. International Airport. It would have, I imagine, made for a much more pleasant journey than through endless acres of sprawling urban landscape – even in 1939, when this was taken. Those towers in the far distance were probably the oil wells along Venice Beach.
Susan M says: “Those would have been derricks in El Porto. El Porto is now part of Manhattan Beach. Standard Oil had a large field in that area just north of Manhattan Beach. The smell could be pretty icky when close to them. I remember whenever you went to the beach you had to use paint thinner to get the tar off your feet when you got home. There was a lot of contamination along the beaches. Venice, Huntington Long Beach, Seal Beach had some of the biggest beachside oil fields But this one that was just north of Manhattan was good size. The oil wells were dotted all about the housing areas too. Most of the homes were sold with the oil and mineral rights. Lots of people let a drill operation go into their property for the money in the 20s and 30s. This streetcar was a fun ride to take. It ran between Santa Monica and Redondo. Not so much an urban landscape back then. We had a lot of strawberry, celery, bean fields as well as dairies.”
RKO movie studios at night, Melrose Ave, Hollywood, circa 1935
It was hard to miss RKO movie studios at the corner of Melrose Ave and Gower St in Hollywood. Atop their corner soundstage they had the iconic globe and radio tower that appeared at the start of each of their movies. I always assumed that the letter lit up at night, but until I found this photo, it hadn’t occurred to me that the sparks at the top lit up too! On the billboards, we can see posters for “Blame it on the Band” and “The Rainmaker” both of which came out in 1935.
This glimpse is taken from an old documentary. Fortunately it’s in color so we can see the “RKO” was in red:
This image of the Melrose/Gower corner is from January 2018. The old RKO lot now belongs to Paramount. The globe is still there but the tower is long gone.
This is the a partial view of a different version of the billboard artwork we can see in the far right of the 1935 image for Wheeler and Woolsey in The Rainmaker:
And is this, of course, the iconic RKO logo:
