Here’s some Hollywood history in the making: it’s a commemorative photo taken on December 29, 1913 – the first day of filming “The Squaw Man” which was the first feature-length film made in Hollywood. I’m pretty sure that’s director Cecil B. DeMille on the far right with his arms raised. Note that the set (which stood at the corner of Selma Ave. and Vine St.) is open air with an expanse of white material stretch over it to diffuse the direct sunlight.A couple of brave glamor girls stand in a steam shovel to publicize the Hollywoodland development, 1923
From the looks of it, the Hollywoodland sign is approaching completion, which would date this photo at 1923. So I’m guessing the fact that two girls are standing in the bucket of a steam shovel on the side of a steep hill means we’re probably witnessing a publicity stunt for the Hollywoodland development. I’m also pretty sure that one of those girls is looking at the other and muttering out of the side of her mouth, “Good lord, the things we girls have to do to make a buck in this crazy burg.”
Mary Mallory says: “It was shot by the Mack Sennett studio, as the road was being constructed up to the summit, where he intended to build a house. He paid virtually nothing, because he gave them lots of free publicity like this.“
“The Poppy” – Pacific Electric Observation Railcar, Los Angeles, California, circa early 1900s
This pair of finely uniformed gentlemen are standing outside a railcar dubbed “The Poppy” (after, I presume, the California poppy.) It was a Pacific Electric Observation Railcar which was decked out in style and took people (who were probably also decked out in style) around LA so that they can enjoy (as the sign at the front of the car says) “Seeing the Orange Groves.”
A close-up of the sign at the front of the railcar:
The caption on this photo read: Passengers could arrange to travel in Victorian splendor, inside the parlor car of the Pacific Electric. Some of the “business” class cars featured leather club chairs. (Photo, Los Angeles Herald, December 20, 1908)
Wilcox Avenue, Hollywood, 1922
It’s hard to imagine that the streets of Hollywood were ever this deserted.
Looking north up Highland Ave from Yucca St, Hollywood, circa 1960s
In this photo we’re looking north up Highland Ave from about Yucca St, a block north of Hollywood Boulevard. The Hollywood United Methodist Church is still there and is still a thriving church. I do love the signage on the stores such as Dutch Boy Paint and Power House Cocktails (I bet they made ’em strong in that place!) But my favorite is the Chop Suey sign. You see them all over the place in photos of the 50s and 60s but I don’t remember the last time I saw a Chop Suey sign. Do Chinese restaurants still even serve it?
Andie says: “The little market in the green building on the left side of the street had a deli that made the best pastrami sandwiches and the best potato salad. One of my friends was renovating a 20s house in the hills a couple of blocks to the west and about 5 blocks up. We often stopped in to get lunch on our way to her place during the reno. She bought a lot of the Art Deco stuff I had collected.”
Looking north up Los Angeles St from Third St, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1910
Can’t you just about smell the horses (and all that goes with horse-powered transport) in this photo of Los Angeles Street in downtown LA? We’re looking northward from Third Street and all we can see is horses and buggies and wagons. This photo is circa 1910 so we’re looking at the last tendrils of an old world way of giving way to a horseless-carriage future.
Aerial shot of First National / Warner Bros. Studios soundstage with sign to Mines Airfield, 1928
At first glance of this aerial shot of First National / Warner Bros. Studios, I wondered what mines are in LA? And why would Warners paint a huge sign on top of one of their soundstages pointing to one? But when I saw that this shot was taken in 1928, I realized that the sign was saying to pilots: Mines Airfield is 14 miles that-a-way. 1928 was the year that Warners bought First National and that the LA city council Mines Field as the site of Los Angeles International Airport, which opened in 1930.
Incorrect historical marker at the corner of Hollywood and Vine
HARVEY! HIS NAME WAS HARVEY!
Look at this historical marker that’s been sitting at the southwest corner of Hollywood and Vine since 1953 – that’s 66 years, people! – to commemorate the beginnings of the city of Hollywood. Good idea. Great idea, in fact. Hip hip and hooray for Hollywood. But for gosh-darned sake, would it kill them to get the guy’s name right? It was Harvey Henderson Wilcox who founded Hollywood – not Horace! And his poor wife, Daeida, doesn’t even get mentioned. Apparently “and Mrs” is good enough. Do I really have to point out that Daeida was the one who came up with the name “Hollywood” in the first place?
Is there someone we can call to get this rectified???
(My thanks to Gary Helsinger for bringing this to my attention.)
** UPDATE ** Daeida Wilcox got an historical marker of her own.
Daniel M said: “Like most everything about “our” town, there is a more than a bit of confusion and mystery here. Harvey had a younger brother named Horace, although he reportedly never lived here on the West Coast. At some point, someone got confused and started giving Horace creditedit for founding Hollywood and the mistake got repeated enough that even the USC library is confused! (Note the title says this is a portrait of “Horace” yet under the “subject” tag, it says “Harvey.”) And to be fair, while Daeida was the one who suggested to Harvey that he name his development Hollywood, the name was reportedly thought up by H.J. Whitley (H is for Hobart) who owned the tract just to the west of the Wilcox’s, from today’s Highland to roughly La Brea Blvd. This area was initially called Hollywood Grand View (it included the hills above the Boulevard and the area where the Hollywood bowl is now. Daeida should get more acknowledgement, though as she was a driving force in developing the area after the death of Horace, I mean Harvey!“
Looking east along Hollywood Blvd from the Hollywood Theater, 1924
In this photo of Hollywood Boulevard looking east we can see that a movie called “Why Men Leave Home” is playing the Hollywood Theatre at 6764 Hollywood Blvd near Highland. It was a Louis B. Mayer Productions movie that came out in March 1924 (and starred Lewis Stone who would later play Mickey Rooney’s father in MGM’s Andy Hardy series.) The theater is still around…sort of. It’s now the venue for the Guinness Book of World Records. In the background we can see the Security Trust & Savings Bank building is going up. It’s still there too and Raymond Chandler would later choose it the office of his fictional detective Philip Marlow in “The Long Goodbye.”
That same view in April 2019:
How the Hollywood Theater looks in 2019:
Sunset Blvd where it bends to the left at around Cory Ave, West Hollywood. Still taken from “Suspense” (1913)
This still from a 10-minute sort called “Suspense” (directed by Lois Weber, Universal Studios, 1913) affords us a glimpse of what Sunset Boulevard looked like in the early days when West Hollywood was still called Sherman. That car is on Sunset approximately where it bends to the left at Cory Ave. If we kept going west, we would hit the Beverly Hills Hotel, which had just opened the year before. But in between, we would have driven though miles of open fields and cheap real estate.
The same view in May 2019:
Aerial shot of Sunset Blvd in 1913:
