This photograph of the corner of 6th St and Figueroa was taken circa late 1920s in downtown Los Angeles. What’s most interesting about this shot is what was standing on the sidewalk outside McColloch Drug Company. It’s a raised booth for (I’m guessing) traffic cops, although how any cop expects motorists to see him from up there is a mystery to me. Another mystery is that long pine box next to the motorcyclist on the right. Please tell me that’s not a coffin.
I’ll take any excuse to post a photo of a semaphore traffic signal. But especially if it’s at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street right in the heart of Hollywood. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that someone or something has taken a huge chunk out of the left-hand side of the stop sign. I suspect an inattentive truck driver veered a little to close to the curb when taking a right onto Sunset. Makes me wonder what distracted him…
At first glance, you’d think that the Twin Barrels café served up a refreshing glass of beer or maybe wine. But judging from that circa 1925 Marmon parked in front, I’m guessing this place was around during the mid 1920s, which means Prohibition. Speakeasies were a liiiiiiiiitle more clandestine than this. The sign in the middle shows Twin Barrels was a more mundane place: hamburgers and sandwiches, chili and tamales, and a malted to wash it all down with. Sounds good to me.
In this photo, we’re looking northeast from the corner of Canon Drive and South Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. The railway line along S. Santa Monica Blvd is long gone but back in 1926, when this photo was taken, the Beverly Hills station of the the American Railway Express Co. had just opened. In the background, we can see Sun Lumber but not for much longer. That’s the future site for the new Beverly Hills City Hall, which opened in 1932.
The Angelenos on this streetcar might have been among the first ride that line heading for Downey Ave, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. This photo was taken in June of 1889, when it was still quite new. How different downtown L.A. was back then. Look at those highly detailed Victorian era buildings lining both sides of Broadway, as well as all those horses and carriages. So the sounds (and smells!) of the city would have been quite different back then, too.
If you were gagging for coffee in L.A. in 1925, all you had to do was look out for the HUGE coffee pot of Ben-Hur brand coffee on the roof of the Wilshire Coffee Pot café at 8601 Wilshire Boulevard. It looks like it was a drive-in place too. That sign says “Stop & Sip – Ben Hur Drip – Eat in Car” which I guess is what the driver of that two-door runabout is doing.
This Owl Drug Company drug store was in the Hollywood Professional Building at 7046 Hollywood Blvd, on the corner of Sycamore. (This building is still there.) I don’t know which I like more: the pattern in the pressed metal grill above the sign, the two-toned car parked out front (is it a taxi?), or the sign on the far left saying “Kodaks Developing and Printing.” (Remember those days?) This photo was taken on July 2, 1941. Six months later, the people shopping inside would be dealing with the aftermath following Pearl Harbor.
Daniel N says: “The car is a ’39 Ford Standard V8 police pursuit car (note red spotlight on the front door pillar) with the seal of Los Angeles on the door.”
The Hollywood Professional Building in April 2019:
We’re not often treated to a color photo of the original Brown Derby restaurant, the one actually shaped like a derby that stood at 3377 Wilshire Blvd opposite what was then the Ambassador Hotel. I wouldn’t have expected the neon sign to be pink but this photo was taken in 1969, so maybe that’s a touch of the 60s we’re seeing. The sign out front reads: “Continental cuisine. Open 11am to 2am. Steaks, prime rib, seafood. Complete dinners. Open Sundays 4 – 12” Does anybody want to join me there for a complete continental dinner? Shall we say next Sunday at 7?
The same view in April 2019:
At least they call it the Brown Derby Plaza, so that’s something:
Although modern architecture can and does have its merits, seeing something like this makes one wonder if we took a wrong turn in choosing form over style. This is the original façade of the Hollywood Playhouse entrance, 1735 Vine St., Hollywood, that opened on January 24, 1927. It’s looks pretty new here so I’m guessing this photo was taken around then. Look at all the unbelievably rich Spanish Baroque detailing. (The style is known as Churrigueresque.) We don’t see much of that anymore. The theater has had a varied history of presenting live shows (including the Ken Murray’s Blackouts), and radio shows (including Fanny Brice’s “Baby Snooks” and Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband.”) Fortunately, it’s still around, with the facade largely intact. Last time I drove by, it was a nightclub.
It looks like this was the nightly battle of the drive-in restaurants. I don’t know the one on the right, but on the left is Roberts drive-in, which was on the corner of Pico and Sepulveda Boulevards, Los Angeles. All that neon lighting on these places must have made that corner shine like a beacon. This photo was taken in 1945 so I can just imagine how busy it got on Saturday nights once gas rationing ended.
Roberts Brothers was a mini chain of restaurants around Los Angeles. I love their motto:
This photograph of the corner of 6th St and Figueroa was taken circa late 1920s in downtown Los Angeles. What’s most interesting about this shot is what was standing on the sidewalk outside McColloch Drug Company. It’s a raised booth for (I’m guessing) traffic cops, although how any cop expects motorists to see him from up there is a mystery to me. Another mystery is that long pine box next to the motorcyclist on the right. Please tell me that’s not a coffin.
I’ll take any excuse to post a photo of a semaphore traffic signal. But especially if it’s at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street right in the heart of Hollywood. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that someone or something has taken a huge chunk out of the left-hand side of the stop sign. I suspect an inattentive truck driver veered a little to close to the curb when taking a right onto Sunset. Makes me wonder what distracted him…
At first glance, you’d think that the Twin Barrels café served up a refreshing glass of beer or maybe wine. But judging from that circa 1925 Marmon parked in front, I’m guessing this place was around during the mid 1920s, which means Prohibition. Speakeasies were a liiiiiiiiitle more clandestine than this. The sign in the middle shows Twin Barrels was a more mundane place: hamburgers and sandwiches, chili and tamales, and a malted to wash it all down with. Sounds good to me.
In this photo, we’re looking northeast from the corner of Canon Drive and South Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. The railway line along S. Santa Monica Blvd is long gone but back in 1926, when this photo was taken, the Beverly Hills station of the the American Railway Express Co. had just opened. In the background, we can see Sun Lumber but not for much longer. That’s the future site for the new Beverly Hills City Hall, which opened in 1932.
The Angelenos on this streetcar might have been among the first ride that line heading for Downey Ave, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. This photo was taken in June of 1889, when it was still quite new. How different downtown L.A. was back then. Look at those highly detailed Victorian era buildings lining both sides of Broadway, as well as all those horses and carriages. So the sounds (and smells!) of the city would have been quite different back then, too.
If you were gagging for coffee in L.A. in 1925, all you had to do was look out for the HUGE coffee pot of Ben-Hur brand coffee on the roof of the Wilshire Coffee Pot café at 8601 Wilshire Boulevard. It looks like it was a drive-in place too. That sign says “Stop & Sip – Ben Hur Drip – Eat in Car” which I guess is what the driver of that two-door runabout is doing.
This Owl Drug Company drug store was in the Hollywood Professional Building at 7046 Hollywood Blvd, on the corner of Sycamore. (This building is still there.) I don’t know which I like more: the pattern in the pressed metal grill above the sign, the two-toned car parked out front (is it a taxi?), or the sign on the far left saying “Kodaks Developing and Printing.” (Remember those days?) This photo was taken on July 2, 1941. Six months later, the people shopping inside would be dealing with the aftermath following Pearl Harbor.
We’re not often treated to a color photo of the original Brown Derby restaurant, the one actually shaped like a derby that stood at 3377 Wilshire Blvd opposite what was then the Ambassador Hotel. I wouldn’t have expected the neon sign to be pink but this photo was taken in 1969, so maybe that’s a touch of the 60s we’re seeing. The sign out front reads: “Continental cuisine. Open 11am to 2am. Steaks, prime rib, seafood. Complete dinners. Open Sundays 4 – 12” Does anybody want to join me there for a complete continental dinner? Shall we say next Sunday at 7?
Although modern architecture can and does have its merits, seeing something like this makes one wonder if we took a wrong turn in choosing form over style. This is the original façade of the Hollywood Playhouse entrance, 1735 Vine St., Hollywood, that opened on January 24, 1927. It’s looks pretty new here so I’m guessing this photo was taken around then. Look at all the unbelievably rich Spanish Baroque detailing. (The style is known as Churrigueresque.) We don’t see much of that anymore. The theater has had a varied history of presenting live shows (including the Ken Murray’s Blackouts), and radio shows (including Fanny Brice’s “Baby Snooks” and Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband.”) Fortunately, it’s still around, with the facade largely intact. Last time I drove by, it was a nightclub.
It looks like this was the nightly battle of the drive-in restaurants. I don’t know the one on the right, but on the left is Roberts drive-in, which was on the corner of Pico and Sepulveda Boulevards, Los Angeles. All that neon lighting on these places must have made that corner shine like a beacon. This photo was taken in 1945 so I can just imagine how busy it got on Saturday nights once gas rationing ended.