If there’s one fantasy that every Angeleno shares, it’s probably the ability to park whenever they want, wherever they like. I doubt this lone motorist realizes how lucky he’s got it. He’s parked his car on an unpaved Beverly Drive near what is today Olympic Boulevard in 1925. And why not? It’s not like anybody is going to run him down.
In this photo, we can see that Hollywood was doing its best to welcome film censor, Will Hays by stringing up a banner across Hollywood Boulevard that reads: “Welcome Will H. Hays – to the motion picture capital of the world – See you Saturday at Hollywood Bowl.” As chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Hays was tasked with rehabilitating movie industry’s image after the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Though not effective at first, he would give rise to the Hays Code that governed what Hollywood movies could and couldn’t show for the next 40+ years. If they’d known that, maybe they wouldn’t have welcomed him with a bash at the Hollywood Bowl in 1923.
With bumper-to-bumper traffic inching its way along Wilshire Blvd, you’d think this photo was taken in 2019, not 1941. I doubt that Wilshire often saw traffic like that but this was taken on Easter Sunday in 1941 following the Miracle Mile Easter Parade. Look at all the people gathered outside the Gaylord Hotel and Apartments wearing, I assume, their new Easter bonnets. Tucked out of sight past the palm trees was the Brown Derby which, I also assume, was doing a roaring trade that day. A year after this photo was taken, America was in the war and so with gas rationing, I doubt this stretch of Wilshire looked the same.
This collage of photos gives us an idea of what the corner of Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd looked like in 1966. It had been the site of the Garden of Allah Hotel, but in the summer 1959, the property was sold to property developer, Bart Lytton. He built in its place Lytton Plaza, which encompassed a bank branch, which we can see on the far right, and a Museum of Motion Pictures. On the far left, we can see a white domed pergola. It housed a model of the Garden of Allah that Lytton commissioned, lest we forget the legendary hotel existed.
The same block in May 2019:
That model survives intact and I visited it in 2013, and blogged about it here: http://bit.ly/goamodel
You also have photos of Lytton’s Museum of Motion Pictures on my website. It was pretty impressive! See: https://wp.me/p5XK3w-2EF
Garden of Allah model out side the Museum of Motion Pictures and auditorium Lytton Center-Sunset Blvd, November 1962:
Roger Klein says: “My Dad was Bart Lytton’s roomate at The Garden of Allah in the late 30s-early 40s and much later in the 60s when I was young Lytton Savings would have Hollywood themed exhibitions at the bank. I got to see the original King Kong used in the film and the most thrilling for me was the exhibition of everything from the movie Time Machine.”
When compared to London’s iconic double-decker buses, the ones that used to ferry Angelenos around the streets of L.A. seem tiny and rather quaint. But of course, an open-air second story would never work in Britain’s weather, would it? In this photo we’re seeing riders—interestingly, they’re all women in hats (off to do some shopping, maybe?)—alighting from a bus at the corner of Olive and 7th Streets in the heart of downtown, not far from Pershing Square. I love the semaphore traffic signal and I’m rather partial to that straw boater on the head of that passerby on the right.
Here we have a Pacific Electric street car coming from the San Fernando Valley through the Cahuenga Pass and stopping at the entrance to the Hollywood Bowl, where Cahuenga Blvd becomes Highland Ave. I wouldn’t have known the location had it not been for the “BOWL PARKING” arrow-shaped sign on the right. It’s interesting that even back as far as 1930, when this photo was taken, that the Bowl had a parking lot. But look at the sign to the left of the streetcar: L.A. Pet Cemetery. Opposite the Hollywood Bowl? Or was it, as the other sign says, up in “Zoo Acres” in the Hollywood Hills?
Nearly all shots of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood focus on the NBC radio (and later television) studios on the northeast corner. But this aerial shot shows us how big those studios were. They covered the whole block and had a huge parking lot directly to the north. From such a height it’s hard to date this photo but we can see the “MUSIC CITY” sign on the northwest corner. Wallichs Music City opened in 1940 so this photo was taken some time after that.
We’re looking east along Santa Monica Blvd toward Western Ave. In the foreground is the Marsh Music Company at 5522 Santa Monica Blvd advertising pianos and radio for rent. Next to them was an optometrist/jeweler who also sold clocks and watches, which makes me wonder if that was common back then? It’s also interesting that even in 1930, when this photo was taken, that parking was restricted to one hour until 6PM (as per the sign on the street light.) On the other side of the street we can see the Security Pacific Bank on the northwest corner. The building is still there and looks gorgeous today.
The bank building at Santa Monica and Western in June 2017:
Back in 1923, when Douglas Fairbanks was making “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924) at the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios at Santa Monica Blvd and Formosa Ave, the locals were treated to the splendid sight of the movie’s enormous Arabian set. Given the empty land around it to the south, it must have really stood out. I wonder if back then they allowed the general public on the lot. Ten-year-old me would have had a field day!
This photo gives us some insight into how high-glamor portraits were taken during those golden days of the Hollywood studio system. George Hurrell came to MGM in the late 1920s after Ramon Novarro showed Norma Shearer some portraits he’d had done independently. Norma was so struck by them she sought out the photographer. Hurrell became MGM’s leading portraitist until 1932. After a stint at Warner Bros., he opened his photographic studio on 333 Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills in 1942. Those photos all looked so glamorous but it’s really just a chair, a screen, and a couple of (I assume very carefully placed) lights. One could almost say it was a metaphor for Hollywood in general.
If there’s one fantasy that every Angeleno shares, it’s probably the ability to park whenever they want, wherever they like. I doubt this lone motorist realizes how lucky he’s got it. He’s parked his car on an unpaved Beverly Drive near what is today Olympic Boulevard in 1925. And why not? It’s not like anybody is going to run him down.
In this photo, we can see that Hollywood was doing its best to welcome film censor, Will Hays by stringing up a banner across Hollywood Boulevard that reads: “Welcome Will H. Hays – to the motion picture capital of the world – See you Saturday at Hollywood Bowl.” As chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Hays was tasked with rehabilitating movie industry’s image after the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Though not effective at first, he would give rise to the Hays Code that governed what Hollywood movies could and couldn’t show for the next 40+ years. If they’d known that, maybe they wouldn’t have welcomed him with a bash at the Hollywood Bowl in 1923.
With bumper-to-bumper traffic inching its way along Wilshire Blvd, you’d think this photo was taken in 2019, not 1941. I doubt that Wilshire often saw traffic like that but this was taken on Easter Sunday in 1941 following the Miracle Mile Easter Parade. Look at all the people gathered outside the Gaylord Hotel and Apartments wearing, I assume, their new Easter bonnets. Tucked out of sight past the palm trees was the Brown Derby which, I also assume, was doing a roaring trade that day. A year after this photo was taken, America was in the war and so with gas rationing, I doubt this stretch of Wilshire looked the same.
This collage of photos gives us an idea of what the corner of Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd looked like in 1966. It had been the site of the Garden of Allah Hotel, but in the summer 1959, the property was sold to property developer, Bart Lytton. He built in its place Lytton Plaza, which encompassed a bank branch, which we can see on the far right, and a Museum of Motion Pictures. On the far left, we can see a white domed pergola. It housed a model of the Garden of Allah that Lytton commissioned, lest we forget the legendary hotel existed.
When compared to London’s iconic double-decker buses, the ones that used to ferry Angelenos around the streets of L.A. seem tiny and rather quaint. But of course, an open-air second story would never work in Britain’s weather, would it? In this photo we’re seeing riders—interestingly, they’re all women in hats (off to do some shopping, maybe?)—alighting from a bus at the corner of Olive and 7th Streets in the heart of downtown, not far from Pershing Square. I love the semaphore traffic signal and I’m rather partial to that straw boater on the head of that passerby on the right.
Here we have a Pacific Electric street car coming from the San Fernando Valley through the Cahuenga Pass and stopping at the entrance to the Hollywood Bowl, where Cahuenga Blvd becomes Highland Ave. I wouldn’t have known the location had it not been for the “BOWL PARKING” arrow-shaped sign on the right. It’s interesting that even back as far as 1930, when this photo was taken, that the Bowl had a parking lot. But look at the sign to the left of the streetcar: L.A. Pet Cemetery. Opposite the Hollywood Bowl? Or was it, as the other sign says, up in “Zoo Acres” in the Hollywood Hills?
Nearly all shots of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood focus on the NBC radio (and later television) studios on the northeast corner. But this aerial shot shows us how big those studios were. They covered the whole block and had a huge parking lot directly to the north. From such a height it’s hard to date this photo but we can see the “MUSIC CITY” sign on the northwest corner. Wallichs Music City opened in 1940 so this photo was taken some time after that.
We’re looking east along Santa Monica Blvd toward Western Ave. In the foreground is the Marsh Music Company at 5522 Santa Monica Blvd advertising pianos and radio for rent. Next to them was an optometrist/jeweler who also sold clocks and watches, which makes me wonder if that was common back then? It’s also interesting that even in 1930, when this photo was taken, that parking was restricted to one hour until 6PM (as per the sign on the street light.) On the other side of the street we can see the Security Pacific Bank on the northwest corner. The building is still there and looks gorgeous today.
This photo gives us some insight into how high-glamor portraits were taken during those golden days of the Hollywood studio system. George Hurrell came to MGM in the late 1920s after Ramon Novarro showed Norma Shearer some portraits he’d had done independently. Norma was so struck by them she sought out the photographer. Hurrell became MGM’s leading portraitist until 1932. After a stint at Warner Bros., he opened his photographic studio on 333 Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills in 1942. Those photos all looked so glamorous but it’s really just a chair, a screen, and a couple of (I assume very carefully placed) lights. One could almost say it was a metaphor for Hollywood in general.