Looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Virgil Ave toward Bullocks Wilshire, 1934
In this photo taken atop whatever building stood on the northeast corner of Virgil Ave and Wilshire Blvd in 1934, is looking west toward the Bullocks Wilshire department store. We can see a few of the large homes that used to line Wilshire in the early part of the 20th century but in the lower left we can see a building I’ve never noticed before. That scaffolding suggests it’s still being built, but that pyramidal turret makes it quite distinctive.
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Tagged Bullocks Wilshire, Stores and Shopping, Wilshire Blvd
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The world globe being hoisted into place at Crossroads of the World at 6671 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 1936
Here’s a bit of Los Angeles history in the making. In 1936, America’s first outdoor shopping mall, Crossroads of the World, opened at 6671 Sunset Boulevard. To ensure people knew where it was, a soaring white tower stood at the front. On top of that tower sat a spinning globe of the earth. This photo shows that globe being hoisted into place. From the size of the man in the lower right corner, we can get an idea of how big it was. In 1980, Crossroads was added to the National Registry of Historic Places so it’s still around.
Crossroads of the World in December 2017:
The new Hollywoodland sign in the Hollywood Hills, circa 1925
The Hollywoodland sign up the top of the Hollywood Hills looks freshly made and freshly painted, which it would do as this photo was taken in around 1925, not long after when the sign went up in 1923. The Hollywoodland development wasn’t a booming success initially, so I’m guessing that the houses in this photo were among the first to be built. Walking around the neighborhood would have felt like you were roaming open countryside, which, in a way, you would have been.
Mary M says: “These were later houses. Most of the originals were down near the entrance. The first house built on Mulholland was the Kanst house at 6182 Mulholland Highway in late 1924/early 1925. The houses are all still standing, nothing original has been torn down, but some have burned down in fires in 41, 47, 56, & 61. One on the left is 3323 Ledgewood, the others above it leading up to Mulholland, built around 1926.“
Trancas Restaurant, 30763 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu Beach, circa 1950
These days, Malibu is a long stretch of expensive beach houses lining the shore, but back in the 1950s, when this photo was taken, it wasn’t much more than a bunch of scattered buildings. Trancas Restaurant, which we can see on the left, was at 30763 Pacific Coast Highway. A shopping mall stands there now but PCH is still a great place for a Sunday drive, and right now during the Covid-19 lockdown, probably has as much traffic right now as it did when this photo was taken.
Roughly the same view in May 2016:
Pasadena and Pacific Railroad tracks run along what will later become Santa Monica Blvd, east of Sherman (later West Hollywood), circa 1905
It’s hard to believe that the always-busy Santa Monica Blvd ever looked like this. Taken circa 1905, this photo shows us the tracks of the Pasadena and Pacific Railroad, which ran streetcars from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica. This shot was taken east of the area then known as Sherman, but which changed its name to West Hollywood in 1925. It explains why Santa Monica Blvd is wider than most east-west roads—it originally had a railway line running down the middle.
Granada Theater (later Oriental Theater) 7425 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, circa 1923
It’s not often that you see a realtor share space with a movie theater. This is the Granada, which stood at 7425 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood. A Bessie Love movie called “The Ghost Patrol” was playing so it was 1923. What caught my eye was that little stand out on the sidewalk with the triangular top. I guess it was a mini billboard advertising properties for sale. The Granada later became the Oriental and in the 1950s was host to The Bugs Bunny Club. Can you imagine the din of screaming kids every Saturday afternoon?
Victoria T says: “I was one of the kids in the 1950s at the Oriental. Nine cents to get in, two features, ten cartoons and a serial.”
That stretch of Sunset Blvd sure doesn’t look like that anymore! (This image is from May 2019)
The living room at Pickfair, 1143 Summit Dr., Beverly Hills, California
Pickfair was the legendary Beverly Hills estate of movie stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. During most of the 1920s, they were Hollywood’s power couple and an invitation to Pickfair was a golden ticket. But most of us non-A-listers never got a chance to peek inside. This photo gives us a glimpse of Mary and Doug’s living room. I don’t know enough about décor to know what style this is, but it looks very “European Grand” with lots of knick-knacks that needed lots of dusting. Those extra-long curtains framing the right-hand steps worry me. I bet more than one luminary tripped over them.
You can see what this place looked like in color when Mary Pickford was presented with an honorary Oscar in 1976. She was unable to walk so the Oscars came to her!
Grand Central Air Terminal, 1310 Air Way, Glendale, California, circa 1937.
What started started as a private airport in 1919 became the Glendale Municipal Airport in 1923 and then later was rededicated as the Grand Central Air Terminal on February 22, 1929. This photo of the graceful Spanish Colonial Revival building is circa 1937, by which time it was operating in direct commercial competition with Mines Field airport in El Segundo, which later became Los Angeles International Airport. Although Mines Field ultimately won that battle, Glendale had the geographical advantage of being closer to downtown L.A., Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and Pasadena. The building is still there but is now part of the Walter Disney Imagineering campus. Within the company, it’s known as the “Airways Building.”
A newspaper advertisement for the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale:
Colorized postcard for the A newspaper advertisement for Grand Central Airport, Glendale, California
The same building in April 2019:
This satellite photo from 2020 gives a different perspective:
Aerial shot of MGM’s Circus Maximus set for “Ben-Hur” at La Cienega and Venice Boulevards, Los Angeles, 1924
In 1924, after a disastrous shoot in Italy, MGM made the expensive decision to bring their mammoth production of “Ben-Hur” back to Los Angeles and start over. To film the spectacular Circus Maximus chariot race in which Ben-Hur (Ramon Novarro) faces off against the villainous Messala (Francis X. Busman), MGM built an enormous set where La Cienega and Venice Boulevards meet. Even though only half the Circus was needed for filming, the set was so vast that MGM had trouble filling it with enough extras (the pay was $5 a day and a boxed lunch) so they ended up filling the gaps with store window mannequins.
**UPDATE** – Anonymous said: “Looking at Google Maps myself, I’d say you’re mistaken about this location. We are looking West and the street in the upper left is most definitely Venice Blvd. La Cienega was not a divided at that location. The Diagonal road cutting closest to the set then is Fairfax, not Venice. You can tell from the aerial because Kaiser Permanente is East of La Cienega blvd. but West of Fairfax. The diagonal road running from the middle of the left side to the upper right is Sawyer. And in this picture the road at the top is Airdrome, The road at the bottom is Venice and the third side of the triangle is Fairfax. Crescent Heights is to the left of Kaiser and Sawyer is two streets below. So La Cienega wasn’t near this set. “
Here is another shot:
As we can see from this satellite photo taken in 2020, all that empty land is now teeming with humanity – and freeways.
This shot of the entrance to the Ambassador Hotel at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard is undated and without a car in the frame, it’s hard to pinpoint when it was taken. But in a way, it doesn’t really matter because the entrance to the hotel remained largely unchanged. That tall, white column alerted drivers that they had found the place and sculpture of woman at its based greeted customers from 1921 to 1989.
