In this photo from 1929, we’re looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Virgil Ave. The striking building with the tower is the Bullocks Wilshire department store, which would have still been a new sight at the time because it opened on September 26, 1929. But what I find really interesting about this shot is the glimpse it affords us of the large houses that used to line the whole length of Wilshire. Very few (if any) of them exist today but back in 1929, many of them were still around.
Looking west along Hollywood Boulevard from Wilcox Ave, Hollywood, 1922
There’s not a lot going on in this photo looking west along Hollywood Boulevard from Wilcox Ave, and that’s why it caught my eye. I’m used to the 21st century version of Hollywood Boulevard which is a nonstop hurly-burly of humanity in all its permutations and combinations, along with cars, trucks, skateboards, and electric scooters. That building on the corner is largely unchanged but back in 1922, when this photo was taken, the boulevard was a relative oasis of calmness, breathing room, and a 50/50 chance of finding street parking.
That same view in April 2019:
Aerial view of the Melody Lane Drive-in restaurant on the southwest corner of Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave, Los Angeles, circa 1940s
The aerial shot really shows how Los Angeles was a horizontal city in contrast to the verticality of New York or Chicago. What we’re looking down at the Melody Lane drive-in restaurant on the southwest corner of Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave some time during the 1940s. There appears to be more space per square feet for parking than there is for the restaurant itself. With vintage photos like these, we usually see just the interesting part – i.e. circular drive-in part on the right and the tall eye-catching tower. But this photo shows there’s a whole dine-in section that probably seats four times as many people.
This satellite photo from 2020 of the same corner shows that that site is now home to a 20-story office building. Not quite as pedestrian-friendly is it? But it also reveals that the Melody Lane was opposite the stunning Art Deco palace, the Wiltern Theatre:
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Restaurants, Theaters, Wilshire Blvd
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Giant arrow at Leimert Business Center, Los Angeles, circa late 1920s
Leimert Park is a section of Los Angeles southwest of downtown L.A. These days, of course, it’s fully developed with every square inch built on or planted with lawns and trees. But back in 1928, when this photo was taken, they needed a big—and I mean BIG!—arrow to draw attention to itself when it opened for business. We can see from the glimpses of largely empty background that this arrow was so big, people could probably see it from downtown Los Angeles, which was probably the whole point, wasn’t it?
Postcard night view of Hollywood Boulevard looking southeast from the Hollywood Hills, circa 1940
This postcard view shows us the lights along Hollywood Boulevard around the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection. The view was taken from the Hollywood Hills looking southeast, and we can just make out the sign of the Hollywood Broadway store to the right of the center of the picture. Evidently, some movie was getting its big premiere that night—unless those searchlights were added in using the 1940s version of Photoshop, which is, of course, quite possible in the city that refined the art of hoopla and ballyhoo.
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Tagged Hollywood, Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood Blvd, Night photo, Stores and Shopping
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Coffee Pot now a seafood restaurant, 7275 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, 1930
I’m guessing the conversation went something like this: “Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s take that drive-in place at 7275 Beverly Blvd shaped like a coffee pot, cover it in oyster shells and turn it into a seafood restaurant. That’ll really pack ‘em in, won’t it?” This shot is from 1930 so maybe the Coffee Pot went out of business because of the depression and oyster shells would have been a cheap décor option for the new owner. I doubt that this place lasted too long so I’m glad someone thought to take a photo of it.
That location is now home to Kanner Hall, a Jewish community center:
A man looks south east from from the top of Los Angeles City Hall, September 23, 1949
I tend to think of L.A.’s smog problem as being more of an 1950s thing but this photo shows that it was pervasive in the 1940s. This shot was taken on September 23, 1949 and shows a man standing on the observation platform the Los Angeles City Hall and seeing . . . not much. The smog had already grown so bad that the view is largely obscured. We can juuuuuuust see the L.A. Times building in the bottom right hand corner.
By contrast, this is a photo I took from much the same angle on May 15, 2018:
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Tagged Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Hall
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Calpet gas station, 3237 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, circa 1928
When was the last time you saw a gas station with a roof tiled in a gorgeous geometric pattern, 15-foot gates with fancy grillwork, and attendants wearing some sort of harem-in-the-Arabian-desert uniform? I’m guess it’s been a LONG time. But if you had been driving along Wilshire Blvd in the late 1920s around Vermont Avenue, you would have seen this Calpet gas station at 3237 Wilshire. And if you had, surely you would have pulled in and filled your tank, right?
Van-Shire Florist, 4016 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, circa 1928
This photo gives us a glimpse of what florist shops looked like in the late 1920s. And guess what – they weren’t a whole lot different from how they look nearly 100 years later. A sign advertising flowers for weddings, parties, and funerals, and an offer of free delivery. Van-Shire Florist stood at 4016 Wilshire Boulevard and that street light out front was called a “Wilshire Special.” But what really caught my eye was the billboard on the side of the building. The Southern Pacific Railroad were offering $6 fares to San Francisco and $17 to Portland. Sounds like a bargain to me.
Van-Shire Florist stood on what is now the parking lot of the Wilshire Park Elementary school:
Crossroads of the World shopping mall when it opened, 6671 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 1936
Los Angeles architecture is an eclectic mix of pretty much every imaginable style: Art Deco, Fairytale, Frank Lloyd Wright, Spanish Revival, and many others. But this little pocket of L.A. is a whole mini world unto itself. There was no specific date attached to this photo of the Crossroads of the World mini shopping mall at 6671 Sunset Boulevard, but it all looks so pristine and deserted that I’m willing to bet it was taken at around the time the mall opened on October 29, 1936. The 57 shops and cafes, and 36 offices were housed in uniquely styled buildings, sort of a very early prototype of The Grove outdoor mall at Fairfax Ave and Beverly Blvd.
The world globe being hoisted into place at Crossroads of the World, Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, 1936:
