Bringing women into the workforce during WWII necessitated adjusting to new sorts of safeguards that weren’t needed when men worked the production line. As the brave woman on the right is showing, they had to come up with breast protectors. The sign behind them is reminding people that 2226 workers had suffered eye injuries in the previous month alone. I don’t know how big their factory was but that’s a huge number and was, I would think, a stark reminder to management that they were dealing with a whole new workforce doing things they were unprepared for.The intersection where 9th, Main and Spring Streets converge, downtown Los Angeles, 1948
One of the most complicated intersections to negotiate in downtown Los Angeles is where 9th Street meets Main and Spring. You’ve got traffic coming at you in all directions. But back in 1948, when this photo was taken, Angelenos also had to deal with streetcars rattling along both 9th and Main. That’s a lot of coming and going. It’s also a lot of overhead wires. This is one instance where the absence of streetcars makes for a cleaner cityscape.
The same view in March 2019:
Five automobiles parked outside Burbank Theatre, 548 S. Main Street, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1910s
In this circa 1910s photo, five early automobiles are parked out front of the Burbank Theatre (1893 to 1947), which shared space with a tailor, a trunk factory, and a hat shop, which are businesses we don’t see much anymore. Had the photographer taken a shot of the block, we would also have seen nine more theaters: the Rounder, the Galway, the Sherman, the Gayety, the Star, the Optic, the Picture, the Art, and the Bijou. So obviously Angelenos weren’t short of choice back then.
Incidentally, the Burbank was named after the same guy that the City of Burbank was named after: Dr. David Burbank, a dentist who owned a sheep ranch in the San Fernando Valley and was also rather entrepreneurial. Talk about diversification.
The same view in May 2019:
Armstrong and Carleton Hollywood Indian Grill, 6607 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, circa early 1920s
Shots of the Armstrong and Carlton Cafe at 6607 Hollywood Blvd usually have it in the background, so I was pleased to come this clearer view. I love the marvelous features: the six-point stars, the tiling above the three-arched window, the coned light fixture above the doorway and all that detailed surrounding it. But what I didn’t know was it was an Indian Grill. I would guess that, back in the early 1920s, when the place opened, an Indian restaurant would be considered quite exotic, don’t you think?
The Armstrong and Carleton Cafe on Hollywood Blvd as seen in Hollywood Snapshots (1922)
The same view in March 2019:
Observation tower in Westwood at Beverly Glen and Wilshire Boulevards, Westwood, Los Angeles,1924
Evidently, somebody thought it necessary to build an observation tower at the intersection of Beverly Glen and Wilshire Boulevards in Westwood in 1924. But why? There doesn’t appear to be much of anything around to observe – just a billboard and a solitary building behind it. The “WESTWOOD” sign and those lighting bolts appear to be studded with electric lightbulbs so I’m guessing it was more of an advertising stunt. I’d love to have seen it at night.
**UPDATE** Kris says: “It was built by the Janss Investment Corporation and stood at 420 feet above sea level, making it the highest point on Wilshire Boulevard. Potential home owners were allowed to climb the tower to get a better view of the new community and identify the lot they would like to purchase.”
A different sort of tower stands at that intersection now. (May 2019):
Color photo of the Stimson Block building (1893 to 1963), northeast corner of Spring and Third Streets, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1952
It’s not every day that we are treated to a crisp color photo of a pre-turn-of-the-century building, at least not in LA. This is the Stimson Block building, which went up on the northeast corner of Spring and Third Streets in downtown Los Angeles in 1893. It was LA’s first six-story building. Look at all that glorious detailing between each floor and especially below that corner turret. Amazing considering pedestrians would never see it—which makes it all the more amazing, if you ask me. The building was demolished in July of 1963 for—of course—a parking lot.
The same corner in June 2017. (Oh yes, that looks SOOOO much better, doesn’t it? #sarcasm)
Color postcard of Tick Tock restaurant, 10123 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake
One of the restaurants that gets the most comments when I post about it or mention it in one of my novels is the Tick Tock Tea Room at 1716 North Cahuenga Ave in Hollywood. (1930 to 1988) Many people have a lot of warm memories of eating there – especially those Sticky Orange Rolls. But nobody’s mentioned a second Tick Tock restaurant. This postcard shows it was at 10123 Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake, not far from Warner Bros. studios. From the outside, it doesn’t look very big (but big enough to have a Gruen Time clock!) but it seems they had a large event room. “Tell the chef to make more sticky orange rolls!” Does anybody remember eating there?
That same corner in April 2019. That entire block has been redeveloped but there’s still a restaurant there.
Aerial shot of new development between Wilshire Blvd and Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, 1924
It’s hard to think Los Angeles land ever being this empty, even as recently as 1924, when this aerial was taken. We’re looking a swath of land to the immediate west of what we now think of as Century City. The border to the north is Wilshire Blvd and to the south is Pico Blvd. That’s Westwood Blvd on the west and Fox Hills Drive on the east. If you look closely, you can see that houses have only just started to dot the landscape. Fast forward 100 years and every square inch of that land is filled in.
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Tagged 20th Century-Fox, Aerial photographs, Los Angeles, Wilshire Blvd
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Night shot of the Brown Derby restaurant and Eddie Cantor gift shop, Vine Street, Hollywood, circa late 1930s
I love shots of buildings that are creatively lit up at night and this one of the Vine Street Brown Derby glows with charm. I’m putting this one at the late 1930s because next door is the Eddie Cantor Gift Shop, which started showing up in photos taken of the Derby in the 30s. In the 1930s he was one of the world’s highest-paid radio stars so I’d love to know why Cantor felt the need to open a gift store. Perhaps he was all too aware of the vagaries of showbiz and felt it a wise move to diversify his income. I wonder what he sold – Eddie Cantor ashtrays and bobbleheads, maybe?
UPDATE:
I got to thinking about Cantor’s store, why he opened one, and how long it was open for. My googling led me to David Weinstein who wrote “The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PS54JM4/ ). So I contacted David and asked him if he could answer these questions. He wrote back and told me:
“Cantor understood the power of celebrity. From the time he headlined on Broadway during the late 1910s, he was a master of promotion (especially self-promotion) and marketing. Along these lines, for a short time in 1937, I believe that there were at least two Eddie Cantor Gift Shops in Los Angeles. The Vine Street store in your picture opened in 1936 or 1937 and closed within a year.
Cantor was active in actors’ labor unions, including the Screen Actors Guild during the 1930s. He served as SAG’s president from 1933 to 1935. Cantor opened a gift shop in the SAG building, circa 1937. The address of the gift shop was 8749 Sunset Blvd. and SAG’s address was 8743 Sunset. The attached ad (see below) from the Screen Guild Magazine (July 1937, page 22), gives you a sense of what the store carried. It wasn’t filled with celebrity products from Cantor and other stars, but was a more general gift shop for “bric-a-brac” and antiques.
David’s website is: https://www.davidmweinstein.com/
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Tagged Brown Derby, Hollywood, Night photo, Restaurants, Stores and Shopping
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Court Flight funicular, between Temple and First Streets, downtown Los Angeles, 1940
Angels Flight is the most famous funicular in downtown Los Angeles but it wasn’t the only one. There was also Court Flight, which ferried passengers up the steep incline of Bunker Hill between Temple and First Streets. Also unlike Angel’s Flight, passengers were only charged for the ride up. This photo was taken in 1940, long before the leveling of Bunker Hill and removal of all those old Victorian mansions. In fact, three years later Court Flight burned down under somewhat mysterious circumstances. That large building in the background is the old Los Angeles Hall of Records building. It lasted until 1973.
The old Los Angeles Hall of Records building (1911-1973)
