Opened by Sid Grauman in the fall of 1922, the Egyptian Theater has had its fair share of updates and renovations. By the time it was playing Twentieth Century-Fox’s “How to Steal a Million” in 1966, it featured a brown-and-white curved marquee, which was eye-catching but not very Egypt-y. Next to it, in what is now the Pig ‘N Whistle restaurant, was a store called Master’s Mart. (see update below) I’m glad they retained the ornate façade out front.
That same view in March 2019. The Egyptian Theater is currently the home of American Cinematheque:
Master’s Mart sold appliances, housewares, and electronics. This catalog from 1968 appeared on Ebay:
If you stood at the corner of Wilshire and Hauser Boulevards and looked east as this photographer did, you’d see one clothing store after the other: Coulter’s, Mullen & Bluett’s, Silverwoods, and Myer Siegel. And on the other side of the street there was a building that housed stores selling books, dance wear, violins, and beauty salon, and something called “Doctor Doolittle’s Shop” — what they sold is anyone’s guess. (UPDATE: see photo below) Judging from the white-and-red Chevrolet, green Ford wagon, and blue Studebaker, the most likely year for this shot is 1953.
In the 1950s, the threat of nuclear attack was very real. Or at least that was the perception. The ol’ “duck and cover” advice really wasn’t going to help anybody survive the apocalypse, was it? A much more sensible solution was to build a bomb shelter. And how do you really get prospective customers interested? You get a pretty girl to sit on top of it and sexy up the whole concept! This model shelter was at 10333 Santa Monica Blvd, which is virtually opposite what is now the upscale Century City shopping mall. I do wonder, though, how many of these things they sold.
By the 1950s, A-list guests of the Garden of Allah Hotel (Flynn, Bogie, Bacall, Rogers, Stokowski, Marx, and half the Algonquin Round Table) were no longer around so the hotel did what many hotels do—it reinvented itself. All reports I’ve read of the bar say that it was dark and not well patronized. But sometime in the 50s, it got a complete makeover. As we can see from this photo, it got a long, roomy bar, a bunch of booths, new carpeting, and it looks like it opened out onto the famously infamous Garden of Allah pool. The bar became known as a hip jazz joint and Jack Costanzo – aka “Mr. Bongo” – recorded a live album there: “BONGO FEVER” which was the most, to say the least.
Being on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Broadway, the Metropolitan Building had a primo position two blocks from the Biltmore Hotel and Pershing Square. So I’m guessing that Owl Drug Co store was a busy place all day, every day. Upstairs, the Dodge Clothing store offered men’s suits, jackets, and tuxedos from $12.75 to $17.75, so they probably did a brisk trade, too. Judging from the bus fueled by the overhead power lines on the right, this photo probably dates to the mid-to-late 1950s.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of sunny days spent lazing on golden California beaches, I’m not picturing a forest of oil derricks chugga-chugga-chugging as far as the eye can see. In this circa 1960s shot, it looks like there are quite a few people dotted along Huntington Beach (which is a strip of sand or two south of Long Beach) but all I can think is: Didn’t the whole area smell of crude oil?
Judging from the 1940 Chevrolet getting gas in this Union Oil service station, it’s likely that this oh-so-film-noir-ish night shot was taken some time in the early 1940s. If you look at the street lighting in this picture, you’ll see that the lamps are all the “Wilshire Special” which became prevalent along Wilshire Blvd starting in the late 1920s. And get a load of that cute mascot lit up in neon—can anyone tell me if he had an official name?
We’re looking north into the Hollywood hills from Beachwood Drive, which is the main road into Hollywoodland. These two decorative stone structures marked the gateway into the development, which began in the early 1920s. The famous Hollywoodland sign went up in 1923 to advertise it because sales were slow at first. It seems nobody wanted to live in them thar hills! I’m guessing that this photo was taken in the mid 1920s by which time the first few houses had started to appear. But as we can see by the empty land behind the tower on the right, Hollywoodland still had a lot of vacant land to fill.
The iconic Bullocks Wilshire department store on Wilshire Blvd didn’t have bad angle – it was and still is striking from every side. In this view, we’re seeing its all-important automobile entrance (Bullocks Wilshire was the first store to orientate its focus on the “carriage trade” – i.e. customers who drove to the store rather than walked or took public transit.) This photo is from 1935, by which time the store had weathered the worst of the Great Depression (it opened the month before the stock market crashed) and was well on its way to becoming one of the great stores of Los Angeles.
In this shot, we’re facing west along Hollywood Boulevard in 1923. On the lower left side is the southwest corner of Hollywood and Vine. This is before the landmark Broadway Hollywood building went up in 1928, so it’s a little disorienting at first glance. The largest building in this photo is the Guaranty Building. It’s on the corner of Ivar Ave and it’s still there and looks pretty much as it does in this image, including that huge sign on the roof. These days, it reads “SCIENTOLOGY” because that’s who owns the building now—which is why it’s still in such good condition, as is every building they own on Hollywood Boulevard.