As much as I wish L.A. still had its extensive network of Pacific Electric Red Cars, I don’t know that I’d have enjoyed living in either of these two buildings that backed right onto the Hollywood Boulevard line. The residents would have had to endure the regular sound of a streetcar shunting along right outside their window from early in the morning until well into the night. On the other hand, it would have made for a convenient way to get into Hollywood or downtown Los Angeles. And the people in the white building got to live with a turret, so there’s something to be said for that.Looking east along Santa Monica Boulevard at Canon Drive Beverly Hills, 1915
In this photo from 1915, we’re looking east along Santa Monica Blvd from the Canon Drive corner in the heart of Beverly Hills. At the time, the boulevard wasn’t even paved over yet. I also can’t see any street lighting, but that expanse of lawn on the left is still there and now known as Beverly Gardens Park. Also, there is what looks like a newly installed line of telephone poles, so civilization was coming to them thar soon-to-be golden hills of Beverly.
That same view in February 2017:
The “Barn” filming stage at the Warner Brothers West Coast Studio, 5800 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, circa 1920
When the Warner brothers moved west to make pictures in the late 1910s, they built a studio at 5800 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood at the corner of Bronson Ave. Known as “The Barn,” it’s where they filmed their early successes, including the highly popular and profitable Rin Tin Tin movies, which boosted the rising career of Darryl F. Zanuck, as well as The Jazz Singer in 1927. This circa 1920 photo shows us that the surrounding land was still open scrub land. That site is still a studio and is known as the Sunset Bronson Studios.
** UPDATE** The Barn didn’t last long and the new Warner Brothers Studio was erected on the site in 1923. The Rinty films and The Jazz Singer were filmed there. Still in use as Sunset Bronson Studio and KTLA. The Radio tower was the first to broadcast KFWB.
Fish Shanty Restaurant at La Cienega Blvd and 4th Street Beverly Hills, circa 1950s
I don’t know what to look at first in this photo. Is it the gaping whale mouth that decorates the Fish Shanty restaurant that used to stand at the diabolical four-way intersection of La Cienega Blvd, San Vicente Blvd, Burton Way, and 4th Street? Is it that sleek, gorgeous 1938 Lagonda Rapide V-12 convertible parked out front? Or is it the valet parking guy who may or may not realize it’s a British car and therefore has the steering wheel on the right?
A fully restored 1938 Lagonda Rapide V-12 convertible:
A color photo of the exterior of the Fish Shanty restaurant
A close up of the whale-shaped front door of the Fish Shanty restaurant:
I wonder of the colors really were as vibrant in real life as portrayed in this color promotional postcard of the interior of the Fish Shanty restaurant:
** UPDATE ** The photo below is taken from a 1965 movie called The Loved One. We can see in the background that same car. In this movie, the Fish Shanty is used as the location of a British ex-pat club, so it’s quite possible that the image at the top of this post is actually from the movie.
Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena, California, 1912
When you see this 1912 photo of Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena, you can see how turn-of-the-century Northerners fled here to escape the winters. Wide-open streets, shady trees, lawns, smooth sidewalks, regularly-spaced street lighting, no over-crowding, no tenements, no snow storms. Honestly, it’s a wonder any of them went back.
I don’t know where the 1912 photo was taken but here’s a shot from April 2019 showing us that Orange Grove Blvd is still wide and leafy.
Excavation site for the future Capitol Records building, Vine Street, Hollywood, 1955
In this photo from 1955, we can see the excavation site for the soon-to-be iconic Capital Records building, which opened the following year. The photo, which I assume was taken from the roof of the Equitable Building on the northeast corner of Hollywood and Vine, also shows us how sparse that area was. Opposite the excavation site is empty lot. To the north, over Yucca St, the Vine Manor Hotel is the only structure on the block. To the north of that, the newly completed Hollywood Freeway has lots of empty land around it. The only building that’s still with us is the one on the left with the central tower, which now houses the AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts.
Capital Records building, Vine St, Hollywood, under construction, circa mid 1950s:
Griffith Observatory opening ceremony for 500 invited guests, Mount Hollywood, May 14, 1935
Here’s some L.A. history in the making. After two years of construction as a Works Progress Administration project, the U.S.’s third planetarium, the Griffith Observatory on Mount Hollywood opened with a ceremony for 500 invited guests on May 14, 1935. It looks like the early birds in this photo nabbed the best seats.
The Griffith Observatory is still very much a part of the Los Angeles fabric. Here is a satellite photo from 2020:
Looking west along Wilshire Blvd toward Bullocks Wilshire from Virgil Ave, Los Angeles, 1929
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.
The same view in May 2019:
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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