These days, of course, Vine Street is built up with office blocks and apartment buildings. But back in the (circa) 1930s, when this photo was taken, it was really more of just a local street with a used car lot and a place to get a car loan. Further in the distance, we can see the sign for the Plaza Hotel (still there, no longer a hotel) and the department store on the Hollywood Boulevard corner. Back then it was Dyas but which later became the Broadway department store (and is now condos.) Back then, I bet you could even find parking on the street.
If you were looking for a good time in Los Angeles in the mid 1910s, you’d do well by driving to the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica. At the end of Hollister Ave you’d find Bristol Pier, which was renamed Crystal Pier where successful actor, vaudevillian, and bon-vivant-around-town, Nat Goodwin, opened his eponymous Café Nat Goodwin. It was more than just a café, it was also a cabaret, ballroom, and gardens. It was no wonder that he billed it the “Most Beautiful Café Over The Sea In The World.” Goodwin later sold it to the ubiquitous Baron Long, who renamed it the Sunset Inn. Neither the building nor the pier still exist.
If you want to go to the movies in style, this is the way to do it: in a 1932 Packard Eight Deluxe. This lucky driver is parked outside the Art Deco palace otherwise known as the the Fox Wilshire Theater at 8440 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. His gal pal with the fur-collared coat is heading into the foyer where, according to the sign, a concert trio plays. If you look closely, you can spot an usher dressed in a tux. Now, that’s classy.
This photo shows the theater’s glorious proscenium:
The theater is still around and is now known as the Saban. This is how it looked in May 2019:
Ah, the magic of Hollywood. This photo shows the Paris railway station set used for the filming of Casablanca during the summer of 1942. (As in “We’ll always have Paris.”) In the upper left corner, we can see the rafters of the soundstage in the Warner Bros. lot where the railway station stood. Ironically, it had just been used in the Bette Davis tear-jerker, Now, Voyager when it was a New England train station. Add a couple of signs saying “Paris” and another one listing French towns like Lyon and Marseilles, splash some water around, and hey presto, it’s now Paris. Look at the clapboard on the ground and how it spells the title of the picture in two words: “Casa Blanca.” I wonder at what point did someone realizes the city is spelled as one word.
I can’t imagine that the standard greeting at this Associated Gas station was to receive a fresh gardenia from a pretty girl but it sure makes for a nice photo. It was taken on the northeast corner of Rexford Drive and Burton Way, Beverly Hills in 1941. By the pristine look of it, I’m guessing the place was fairly new. I can’t spot any oil spills blemishing that concrete. I wish we could see the price board – I’d love to know how much that guy at the pump in the background was paying.
The Culver Studios in Culver City has a long history starting with Thomas Ince in the 1910s, followed by Cecil B. DeMille, RKO, David O. Selznick, Howard Hughes, and later Desilu. Its most well-known feature is the sprawling mansion that faces Washington Boulevard—mostly because when Selznick took it over in 1935, he made it part of his Selznick International Pictures logo. I’ve never been on the studio lot so I’ve always wondered “But where do they do the filming? This aerial shot from 1925 shows all the filming stages are tucked behind “The Mansion. We can also see how rural it was back then from the neighboring orchard. The studios are currently the home to Amazon Studios.
AAlfred Hitchcock with screenwriter Joan Harrison outside The Mansion back when it was home to Selznick International Pictures:
It took some digging to find what this streetcar was all about. The signage at the front says “Tilton’s Trolley Trip – from Sea to Orange Groves.” It turns out that it was a sightseeing trip (and/or real estate prospecting trip) taken over the Pacific Electric streetcar network and billed itself as “One Hundred Miles For One Hundred Cents.” That seems like a pretty good deal to me. And in 1909, when this photo was taken, there would have been zero traffic to hold up the schedule.
Here is the Tilton’s Trolley Trip streetcar outside the Castle Green Hotel, Pasadena in 1909:
When America’s first freeway—the Arroyo Seco Parkway—opened, it connected downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena. This shot was taken on when one of its segments opened. I can count at least 16 motorcycle cops and enough official cars to form a line back as far as we can see, so it was a pretty big deal. Seeing an empty freeway just makes me want to jump on my bicycle and tear down one that clear roadway before “progress” takes over and chokes every lane in each direction.
Mike M says: “This is December 30, 1940 and the vehicles are the Third Coast Artillery deploying antiaircraft guns from March Field and the 160th Infantry National Guard. This convoy is headed to the official dedication ceremony, but sections of the road had already been open for public usage since the previous July, being fully open by November. That could be Major General Jacob Fickel in the car behind the motorcycles.”
This is a scene out of 1950s California if ever there was one. The greaser on the sidewalk is about to saunter past a 1956 salmon and gray Hudson sedan and a green and white 1954 Plymouth. This photo was taken on Main Street in Huntington Beach in December 1957, which makes me wonder what the greaser was planning on getting his mother for Christmas, and did she like it?
You have to admire the sort of architect who would take the time to design such a gorgeous, larger-than-life sculpture and then place it twelve stories up where 99% of people won’t even notice, and those who do will have to squint into the sun and barely make out something’s there. This is a close-up of one of the sculptures adorning the Richfield Building, which stood at 555 South Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles from 1929 to 1968. You can see my collection of photos of this architectural wonder on my website: http://bit.ly/RichfieldBuilding
These days, of course, Vine Street is built up with office blocks and apartment buildings. But back in the (circa) 1930s, when this photo was taken, it was really more of just a local street with a used car lot and a place to get a car loan. Further in the distance, we can see the sign for the Plaza Hotel (still there, no longer a hotel) and the department store on the Hollywood Boulevard corner. Back then it was Dyas but which later became the Broadway department store (and is now condos.) Back then, I bet you could even find parking on the street.
If you were looking for a good time in Los Angeles in the mid 1910s, you’d do well by driving to the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica. At the end of Hollister Ave you’d find Bristol Pier, which was renamed Crystal Pier where successful actor, vaudevillian, and bon-vivant-around-town, Nat Goodwin, opened his eponymous Café Nat Goodwin. It was more than just a café, it was also a cabaret, ballroom, and gardens. It was no wonder that he billed it the “Most Beautiful Café Over The Sea In The World.” Goodwin later sold it to the ubiquitous Baron Long, who renamed it the Sunset Inn. Neither the building nor the pier still exist.
If you want to go to the movies in style, this is the way to do it: in a 1932 Packard Eight Deluxe. This lucky driver is parked outside the Art Deco palace otherwise known as the the Fox Wilshire Theater at 8440 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. His gal pal with the fur-collared coat is heading into the foyer where, according to the sign, a concert trio plays. If you look closely, you can spot an usher dressed in a tux. Now, that’s classy.
Ah, the magic of Hollywood. This photo shows the Paris railway station set used for the filming of Casablanca during the summer of 1942. (As in “We’ll always have Paris.”) In the upper left corner, we can see the rafters of the soundstage in the Warner Bros. lot where the railway station stood. Ironically, it had just been used in the Bette Davis tear-jerker, Now, Voyager when it was a New England train station. Add a couple of signs saying “Paris” and another one listing French towns like Lyon and Marseilles, splash some water around, and hey presto, it’s now Paris. Look at the clapboard on the ground and how it spells the title of the picture in two words: “Casa Blanca.” I wonder at what point did someone realizes the city is spelled as one word.
I can’t imagine that the standard greeting at this Associated Gas station was to receive a fresh gardenia from a pretty girl but it sure makes for a nice photo. It was taken on the northeast corner of Rexford Drive and Burton Way, Beverly Hills in 1941. By the pristine look of it, I’m guessing the place was fairly new. I can’t spot any oil spills blemishing that concrete. I wish we could see the price board – I’d love to know how much that guy at the pump in the background was paying.
The Culver Studios in Culver City has a long history starting with Thomas Ince in the 1910s, followed by Cecil B. DeMille, RKO, David O. Selznick, Howard Hughes, and later Desilu. Its most well-known feature is the sprawling mansion that faces Washington Boulevard—mostly because when Selznick took it over in 1935, he made it part of his Selznick International Pictures logo. I’ve never been on the studio lot so I’ve always wondered “But where do they do the filming? This aerial shot from 1925 shows all the filming stages are tucked behind “The Mansion. We can also see how rural it was back then from the neighboring orchard. The studios are currently the home to Amazon Studios.
It took some digging to find what this streetcar was all about. The signage at the front says “Tilton’s Trolley Trip – from Sea to Orange Groves.” It turns out that it was a sightseeing trip (and/or real estate prospecting trip) taken over the Pacific Electric streetcar network and billed itself as “One Hundred Miles For One Hundred Cents.” That seems like a pretty good deal to me. And in 1909, when this photo was taken, there would have been zero traffic to hold up the schedule.
When America’s first freeway—the Arroyo Seco Parkway—opened, it connected downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena. This shot was taken on when one of its segments opened. I can count at least 16 motorcycle cops and enough official cars to form a line back as far as we can see, so it was a pretty big deal. Seeing an empty freeway just makes me want to jump on my bicycle and tear down one that clear roadway before “progress” takes over and chokes every lane in each direction.
This is a scene out of 1950s California if ever there was one. The greaser on the sidewalk is about to saunter past a 1956 salmon and gray Hudson sedan and a green and white 1954 Plymouth. This photo was taken on Main Street in Huntington Beach in December 1957, which makes me wonder what the greaser was planning on getting his mother for Christmas, and did she like it?
You have to admire the sort of architect who would take the time to design such a gorgeous, larger-than-life sculpture and then place it twelve stories up where 99% of people won’t even notice, and those who do will have to squint into the sun and barely make out something’s there. This is a close-up of one of the sculptures adorning the Richfield Building, which stood at 555 South Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles from 1929 to 1968. You can see my collection of photos of this architectural wonder on my website: