Here we have a gorgeously vibrant photo of the annual New Year’s Day Rose Parade (aka Tournament of Roses) as it makes its way along Colorado Blvd, Pasadena. I don’t know if attendance is still this big, but look at those crowds. The float in the center appears to be dinosaurs standing under palm trees. I love the huge NBC TV camera up on the platform – these days our cell phone could take a much better footage. In the background, we can see signs for Valiant Chrysler/Plymouth, and next to it Peter Satori Rolls-Royce at 285 West Colorado Blvd. which was on the corner of De Lacey Ave. So this shot was taken near the start of the parade.
Here’s a closer view of the Flintstones-themed float in the 1962 Rose Parade:
Here is the 1962 Rose Parade pictorial guide:
I love these slice-of-life photos taken during LA’s yesteryear. These people were standing under the overhang of Hody’s diner on the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd and Vine St. I imagine/assume that the photo was taken by the husband of one of the women in the center of the photo, but there are other details that interesting: the shape of the streetlamps along Vine St, the hat-shaped sign of the Brown Derby; and the trashcan marked “Waste Receptacle For Pedestrian Use.” Who else would use it? Motorists? This photo was taken some time in the 1950s.
I don’t know much about Taylor’s Café other than it stood at 6517 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood and it was open from roughly late 1920s to the early 1930s. This photo was taken in 1930. That’s quite an elaborate entrance: the detailing along the roof line, the side lamps, circular port hole windows, the zig-zag border, the (I assume) black (granite?) walls, and the white grillwork on the doors. I wish it were still around because I’d love to see what colors that neon tubing lit up at night.
About a week ago, I posted a 
I have no information about this photo other than it was taken in 1927. Al D., who sent it to me, thinks these two are standing at the intersection of Sunset Blvd and Highland Ave in Hollywood, and that’s Hollywood High behind those short palm trees with the thick trunks. Wherever they are and whoever they are, I bet there’s a story behind it. And if it involves a pretty girl in a fur coat in Hollywood, chances are it was a publicity stunt for an aspiring actress. But I’m rather concerned for the traffic cop. That little wooden box is all that protects him from a wayward driver.
The caption for this photo said that this chap is standing the intersection of E. 42nd St and Long Beach Ave when this photo was taken in 1929. I’m not convinced because that corner is quite a distance from downtown Los Angeles. And yet in background we can see what back then was the new Los Angeles City Hall. But what concerns me more are all those power lines on the right. They’re leaning at an awfully dangerous angle. I can’t imagine it would take much to bring the whole lot of them down. It certainly isn’t where I would be standing if I were that guy.
About a week ago, I posted a 
Yesterday, I posted a 1924 photo of an experimental traffic signal being installed at the intersection of Adams Blvd and Figueroa St south of downtown LA. This photo, also from 1924, shows that same intersection and why a traffic signal was necessary. I pity those poor motorists who had to negotiate that intersection without the aid of any traffic lights—just a wing and a prayer. On the left, we can see the Automobile Club Building, and on the right the St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic church under construction.
Until I came across this photo, I’d only ever seen two types of traffic signals: the three lights in a vertical row that we’re all used to, and the semaphore type with the two lights and the alternating “STOP” and “GO” flags that popped up. But in this photo from circa 1924, we can see an experiment type with three bands of horizontal lights, which I can only assume were the traditional green, amber, and red. These men were on the busy intersection of W. Adams Blvd and S. Figueroa St, not far south of downtown Los Angeles and, quite fittingly and not coincidentally, near the headquarters of the Automobile Club of Southern California.