With the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opening at the end of this month, it’s a reminder that Disneyland is a constantly evolving world where old rides are retired and new attractions are added all the time. For as long as I can remember, the first sign that we were close to Disneyland was seeing the peak of the Matterhorn from the freeway, but that ride didn’t come along until 4 years after the park opened. This photo was taken in 1959, when the now-familiar silhouette of the bobsled ride had taken shape. Later came the painted snow, the Yeti, and those brave mountain climbers. I sure hope those guys got extra pay for doing that. On the other hand, the view must have been awe-inspiring.Route 66 at the intersection of Doheny Dr. and Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, circa 1940s
If you had driven from the start of Route 66 in Chicago, by the time you got the intersection of Doheny Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard, you were nearly there. Santa Monica beach was just a few miles away but I’m sure that motorists who found themselves entering Beverly Hills were bound to take a detour to see if any Hollywood movie stars were roaming around in the wild. This photo was taken some time in the 1940s so I was pleased to see that the building on the left with the Seagram’s billboard is still around.
See also: Long Empty Building From WeHo’s Streetcar Era May Get a New Life
Bill D says: “My old stomping grounds. Yes, late 1940s – “Tri-lite” signals were “new” – replaced the Acme Semaphore signals. I delivered newspapers on Doheny Dr, between Beverly and Burton Way. Just to the left and behind the picture here was Karls Market – a super market before the term was coined. I traveled on those streetcar tracks many times. This was where Melrose Ave. met Santa Monica Blvd. A stones throw to the left and behind the picture was the Marquis Theater, which became the Academy of Motion Pictures site for the year 1947. How do I know? My family and I lived about 500 feet to the southeast. Route 66 well traveled – worked in a cafe on Santa Monica Blvd. Grandparents lived on Route 66 (Huntington Dr. in Monrovia). When in the Army, I had a car very much like the one in the foreground (mine was a Ford, seafoam green). The tall double-globe street lamps were very common all along the L.A. route – poles made with artificial granite cast concrete. Four blocks south was the famous Chasen’s restaurant. To the right and behind the picture is the Troubadour rock club.”
The same view in March 2019:
Venice Miniature Railway train crossing over a canal bridge en route to Windward Ave, Venice Beach, California, circa 1905
Evidently, Abbot Kinney thought of everything when he created “Venice of America” (which we know today simply as Venice Beach.) Not only did he build a system of canals, but he also thought to install a miniature railway so that the pleasure-seekers and the curious could see the glory of what he had built. In this photo, the Venice Miniature Railway train is crossing a canal bridge on its way back to Windward Ave. The photo is circa 1905, the year that Venice of America opened.
J. B. Rapps’s pineapple plantation in Hollywood at the northeast corner of Gower St and Franklin Ave, Hollywood, circa 1880
Driving around Hollywood these days, it’s hard to imagine that it was once a bucolic vista of orchards and farmlands. This photo is a case in point. Back in the 1880s when this photo was taken, a farmer by the name of J. B. Rapps had a pineapple plantation at the northeast corner of Gower St and Franklin Ave. It makes sense to take advantage of the combination of California’s weather and fertile ground and raise a crop that most of the rest of the States can’t grow. Little did Farmer Rapps know that within a couple of decades, his hometown would be known for something completely different than his pineapples.
The same view in April 2018:
Bit of Sweden restaurant, 9051 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, circa mid 1940s
I first discovered the existence of the “Bit of Sweden” restaurant at 9051 Sunset Blvd., on the Sunset Strip near Doheny in and online version of the ‘Los Angeles Guide, 1941, where it described the place as “Smorgasbord with over 75 delicacies. The dinner is excellent; for dessert Swedish apple pie is featured.” It turns out that the place (which opened 1936 and is pictured here circa mid 1940s) introduced the concept of the smorgasbord to Angelenos. Surely that alone deserves a brass plaque on the sidewalk, don’t you think?
Jon P says: “Note the first visible storefront to the left, Bernard of Hollywood, the studio of photographer Bruno Bernard, who is famous for his celebrity portraits. He was the third or fourth person who “discovered” Marilyn Monroe. It was in the late 1940s, before her breakthrough performance in “Asphalt Jungle.” They formed a close bond during her modeling sessions, and he took some of the best known photos of her early career.” See: Bernard of Hollywood
The same view in June 2018:
Buster Keaton’s Lone Star Studio, 1025 Lillian Way, Hollywood, circa early to mid 1920s
In this aerial photograph of Hollywood, we can see Buster Keaton’s Lone Star Studio at 1025 Lillian Way, just west of Vine Street. In the pre-talkie era, movies didn’t need sound stages so they were often open-air so as to take advantage of all the free Californian sunlight. This is the studio where Keaton shot some of his most well-known films like “The General,” “Steamboat Bill, Jr.,” and “Sherlock, Jr.” That white building near the top of the photo is Metro Pictures and when MGM acquired Keaton’s contract, they took over and expanded the lot to give Keaton lots of room to play.
The William Fox Studio on Western Ave. near Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, circa early 1920s
These days we’re used to movie studios being surrounded by high walls and protected by a phalanx of security guys. But look at the front entrance of the William Fox Studios on Western Ave at Sunset Boulevard. It opens out directly on to the street and has a charming little awning. William Fox ran two studios on Western Ave at Sunset Boulevard. He had an 8½-acre “Comedy lot” and 5-acre “Dramatic lot.” It’s where he made all his movies from 1920 until 1924, when he needed to expand and bought 99 acres of land between Santa Monica Blvd and Pico Blvd just south of Beverly Hills. A few years later when the ambitious Fox’s fortunes soured, his studio merged with Darryl Zanuck’s Twentieth Century Pictures to become the powerhouse Twentieth Century-Fox studios.
Figueroa Theater playing CB DeMille’s “The Road to Yesterday”, 4011 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, 1925
The Figueroa Theatre stood at the southwest corner of Figueroa St and what was then called Santa Barbara Ave but what we know these days as Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It was one of those grand movie palaces with nearly 1500 seats. This photo was taken in late 1925 during the run of its first movie, Cecil B. DeMille’s rather weird tale of reincarnation, “The Road to Yesterday.” You have to wonder how it went with such stiff competition as MGM’s overwhelmingly successful “The Big Parade”, the original “Ben-Hur”, the original “The Phantom of the Opera,” and Erich von Stroheim’s “The Merry Widow.” It’s a shame that the Figueroa didn’t survive today—the photos below show how they-don’t-make-’em-like-that-anymore the interior was:
What that corner looked like in February 2019:
The Roof Garden of the Elks Club, 300 S. Olive Street, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1914
What a nice view this place must have had. It’s the Roof Garden of the Elks Club, which, when this photo was taken in around 1914, was at 300 S. Olive Street in downtown L.A. This would have put it right near the Angel’s Flight funicular and the old Los Angeles City Hall (which is the tower we can see toward the left.) At a time when the streets of Los Angeles would have been teeming with people, and carriages, and horses (and all that comes with horses, if you catch my drift), this garden high above the streets would have come as a welcome sanctuary.
Aerial view Tarzana Ranch, the estate of Tarzan author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles circa 1920s
Apparently it paid very, very well to write stories about a guy raised in the African jungle. In March 1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of the Tarzan books, bought 550 acres of land from L.A. Times owner Harrison Gray Otis for $125,000. His Tarzana Ranch had a 4500 sq. ft. hacienda, with 20 rooms, gardens, fields, fruit orchards, and Angora goats. The previous year, the first Tarzan move had come out (“Tarzan of the Apes” starring Elmo Lincoln) so Burroughs, who was a savvy businessman, was flush with cash. A couple of years later he set aside 100 acres to create a community, which he called Tarzana, whose name survives to this day.
The town of Tarzana straddles Ventura Blvd west of the 405 Freeway:
For more information on the history of the Tarzana estate, go HERE