I found precious little information about this remarkable construction so I’m not even sure that the meager facts I did find are correct. But it looks like this ice cream and candy shop made in the shape of a woman in a hoop skirt, holding a fan, and wearing a hat was called “Betsy Ann” after the owner, Betsy Ann Hisle, who founded her company in 1938. Signs on either side of her read: “We manufacture our own ice cream and candies,” below that, another sign reading, “Betsy Ann fancy ice cream & candies,” and “Good old Eastside. The perfect brew. We serve cold drinks of all kinds.”
Here is another photo of two-story Betsy Ann. Apparently she got moved to a more remote location. That looks like the Hollywood Hills in the distance.
Or maybe she wasn’t moved. Maybe this was a whole different one because apparently you could buy your own Betsy Ann. This advertisement is from the Calexico Chronicle, dated October13, 1927. Which shows that Betsy Ann must have opened for business some time in the 1920s.
**UPDATE** – Here’s some more information that a follower of my Facebook page sent me:
Little Betsy Anne Hisle sure was a cutie-patootie!
We can see that back in 1928, when this image was captured, Universal Studios was still surrounded by the citrus orchards that used to blanket the entire San Fernando Valley. These days, the studio grounds probably cover most of the land we can see in this photo. But I do wonder if the people working there at the time could smell the oranges and lemons growing on the other side of the fence. Assuming, of course, that there even was a fence!
These days, Angelenos are getting used to seeing light rail stops around town but this one was a double-whammy. It was known as the Culver City-Palms station, serving both the Pacific Electric Railway Company and the Southern Pacific Railroad. At 9013 Venice Blvd, it was half a mile from M.G.M. studios so I’m guessing more than a few studio workers got off here each day. This photo is circa 1940. The land is now a huge parking lot for a mini mall but running alongside it is the Expo light rail line.
My thanks to J. Yuma for bringing this photo to my attention. On November 30, 1951, two armed gunmen held up the Garden of Allah Hotel and got away with $500 cash. Obviously, they didn’t bring along a photographer to document their daring escapade so this must be a recreation. I’m not sure why someone felt it was necessary to restage the holdup but I’m glad they did because it gives us a rare glimpse at what the hotel’s front desk looked like. All that fancy grill work must have been gorgeous in person.
They really don’t make buildings like this any longer, more’s the pity. This was the Fox Movietone studios, where the Fox Movietone News newsreels were put together. It had a longer run than most studios, from 1928 to 1963. This photo was taken on Orton Ave in Century City at around Fox Hills Drive in around 1928. The building, which was absorbed in to Twentieth Century-Fox and also housed dressing room at one time, is still standing, albeit in a stripped down version.
In 1935, the struggling Fox Film studios merged with Twentieth Century Pictures and created Twentieth Century-Fox on Pico Blvd in Century City. (And also gave us the world’s most famous fanfare.) Previously, the studio lot was known as “Fox Hills Studio” whose name was taken from the owner, William Fox and the nearby suburb, Cheviot Hills. William Fox opened this studio lot in 1923 but by the time this photo was taken circa late 1920s, Fox Films’ greatest successes were behind them and William Fox was on the verge of losing most of his fortune in the stock market crash. I don’t know what’s going on in this photo but it looks like a bunch of chauffeurs are gathered on the right, which would explain what a solitary motorcycle is double parked along Pico Blvd. (My thanks to David Ginsburg for helping me piece together this history.)
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.
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.