Here we have an aerial view of the Los Angeles Central Library, downtown L.A. (or as the neatly typed caption says an “Aeroplane view.”) Someone has written “New Library” which indicates this photo is from the mid to late 1920s because the building opened in 1926. Next door, is the Bible Institute (famous for its large “Jesus Saves” neon sign), which is no longer there, and behind it is the Biltmore Hotel (still there) and the Biltmore Theater (now the site of an office tower designed to blend in with the hotel.) From the surrounding view, we can see that downtown L.A. was still relatively low-rise. These days, of course, the Biltmore is lost in a jungle of skyscrapers.
More or less that same view in 2020:
Without any definite markers to date it, it’s hard to pinpoint when this spectacular night shot of the Los Angeles City Hall was taken. But I’m going to take a guess that it was for the 1928 opening, which was a very big deal at the time and garnered a lot of interest. I love how the tower of the nearby L.A. Times building is silhouetted in the foreground with its circular clock face lit up against the dark night sky. (Photo credit: Los Angeles Relics.)
When Harvey’s Broiler opened at 7447 Firestone Blvd in Downey in 1958, the Googie-style combination coffee shop, restaurant, and drive-in was the largest of its type in Southern California. The car at the far right is a 1957 Chevrolet convertible, so I’m guessing this photo was taken just after the opening and just before Harvey’s became a hub of the Californian cruising culture as shown in the movie “American Graffiti.” The place lasted until 2007, when it was illegally demolished. The Bob’s Big Boy chain rebuilt it as close to the original as possible, for which they received a Conservancy Preservation Award in 2010.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo of the Chapman Park Market on 6th Street, Los Angeles. The market, not far from the 
In this circa early 1940s photo, we’re looking north up Vista del Mar Ave in Hollywood, toward the Hollywoodland sign. On the left, we can see the Hollywood Tower apartment building. It’s in the National Register of Historic Places, so it’s still around. But what’s not still around is practically everything else in this photo. As far as I can make out, the photographer is standing where the Hollywood Freeway plowed through in the 1950s, bisecting Vista del Mar Ave into two short stretches of street between Franklin Ave and Yucca St. What a difference a 10-lane freeway makes!
In this color photo from 1944, we’re given a glimpse into wartime life at one of Los Angeles’s busy intersections – Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave, where the popular May Company department store stood on the northeast corner, with its iconic gold-tiled cylinder. It is now the home of the Academy Museum. Across the street was the equally popular Simon’s Sandwiches drive-in restaurant. Next to it appears to be a green-and-white Art Deco building I’ve never noticed before, so now of course I’m on the hunt for a clearer photo of it!
For as long as I’ve lived in Los Angeles, the Angels Flight funicular railway on Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles has been sitting out there on its own. So it’s odd to see it hemmed in like this with office towers on one side and the Third Street Tunnel on the other. These days, you also have the option of walking down the stairs that parallel the track but I don’t see any here. Nor would I want to take then if I was hauling bagsful of shopping from the Central Market across the street. I’m also impressed with that 5-bulb “Winslow” electrolier street light at Angels Flight base station.
This grand building is the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The photographer was standing on the corner of 5th and Olive in 1943, when the world was fighting WWII. This was a time when Los Angeles was flooded with servicemen en route to and from the Pacific. The hotel overlooks Pershing Square, which was the center of L.A. at the time. The hotel made mini dormitories out of some of their hotel rooms so that servicemen on shore leave had a place to sleep. On the other side of those three domed windows on right was the Biltmore Coffee Shop, which at its wartime peak served 5,000 people per day. I sure hope those waitresses had comfy shoes.