In 1936, CBS took over what had started out as the Wilkes Vine St. Theatre, which presented live plays, and then became the Mirror and then Studio Theatre, which showed movies. From 1936, CBS broadcast their popular and long-running Lux Radio Theatre radio anthology show. This photo was taken circa 1942 when the building also housed Millers of Hollywood and British Bootmakers. After the show, I’m sure a popular stop was right next door at Mike Lyman’s Play Room. I’m not positive but I think the photo was taken from under the awning of the Brown Derby.
Servicemen on leave in Los Angeles during WWII had no shortage of places to go for a meal, a bed, and entertainment. This photo shows a banner above the Owl Drug Store at Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevards for the Hollywood USO club at 1531 N. Cahuenga Blvd. The more famous Hollywood Canteen stood a few more blocks south, at 1415 Cahuenga. Meanwhile, near the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Blvds, Anne “Mom” Lehr, wife of a United Artists vice president, opened a house where the guys could have a bed for the night.
The Hollywood USO club at 1531 N. Cahuenga Blvd:
The May 1946 newsletter of the the Hollywood USO club:
With the Western being such a popular genre of movie, I guess it was inevitable that a theater that showed only Westerns should come along. In Los Angeles, that was called The Hitching Post (you can see it on the left hand side of the photo) and it was a small theater on Hollywood Boulevard, a few doors down from the corner of Hollywood and Vine and opposite the Pantages Theatre. This photo was taken in 1946 with the double bill was “Heading West” and “Thunder Town” both of which starred nobody I’ve ever heard of. The Hitching Post opened in 1941 and closed some times in the 1950s, which wasn’t a bad run for a movie house with a narrowly defined audience.
Yesterday I posted the view from inside the Owl Drug store looking out from the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine in 1940. This one was taken from the southwest corner looking across Vine Street in 1947, by which time it was called Owl Rexall Drugs (and which I only just now realized that name must have come from “Rx” as in “we sell all medical prescriptions.”)
Almost always, we get to see Hollywood and Vine from the outside, but this 1940 photo shows us what it was like to be standing inside the Owl Drug Store looking across Hollywood Blvd to the California Bank branch in the Equitable building, which still stands on the northeast corner.
Also from 1940, here is an aerial view of pedestrians and Owl Drug on the corner of Hollywood and Vine:
I would probably be more willing to drive around L.A. if the main thoroughfares like Wilshire Blvd still looked like this. We’re looking at the intersection of Wilshire and Vermont Ave in the early 1930s. Behind the Bullocks department store billboard, we can see a few of the huge homes that used to line Wilshire. Farther back (i.e. east) we can see a couple of buildings that are still with us: the Talmadge apartment building and the Calvary Faith church.
Sometimes I find photos in the oddest of places – I came across this one on display in my doctor’s office. It caught my eye because I thought, “Since when did a section of the Hollywood Freeway open in 1962?” On further investigation, I learned that we’re looking at the opening of the part of the 101 Freeway known as the 170 that goes from the 101 to Magnolia Blvd in North Hollywood. In this photo we’re looking south past those vintage Fords they hauled out for the occasion. (A 1906-08 Model N is on the far left. The other two are Model T’s that could have been built anytime between 1909 and about 1916.)
This would have been, I’d imagine, an exciting night: the premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre of Paramount’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on October 17, 1961. I know that Truman Capote, the author of the novel, wasn’t thrilled with the casting, and you have to wonder what Mickey Rooney thought he was doing, but it launched one of Audrey Hepburn’s signature looks: that little black dress and the wide-brimmed hat with the ribbon drooping one side. Audiences sure lapped it up—the movie had an impressive 8-week run.
Remember the days when you could drive to a movie house and park your car right out front? Nah, neither do I. But gosh, it must have been nice when you could. This is the Manchester Theatre at 322 W Manchester Ave, near the Watts Towers. The marquee shows they were playing “The Unholy Three” (1930) and were making much of the fact that Lon Chaney was talking. It was Chaney’s first talkie and last movie as he was dying of cancer during filming. Also on the bill was a comedy duo called “Barto and Mann” who were a well-known comedy dance team whose main selling point was that Barto was 4’11” and Mann was 6’6″. Barto’s other claim to fame was that he was the father of actress Nancy Walker.
This night shot of Grauman’s Chinese Theater was taken in February 1939 during the one-week run of MGM’s “Idiot’s Delight.” That banner stretched across Hollywood Boulevard reads “SHEARER GABLE” to advertise that the movie starred Norma Shearer and Clark Gable, not that it helped. The movie lost money, which must have stung for a studio at the top of its game, featuring two of its biggest stars, during the year we now consider to be studio-era Hollywood at its zenith. Mind you, that blonde wig Norma wore couldn’t have helped.
What do you think about this wig? Thumbs up or thumbs down?
In 1936, CBS took over what had started out as the Wilkes Vine St. Theatre, which presented live plays, and then became the Mirror and then Studio Theatre, which showed movies. From 1936, CBS broadcast their popular and long-running Lux Radio Theatre radio anthology show. This photo was taken circa 1942 when the building also housed Millers of Hollywood and British Bootmakers. After the show, I’m sure a popular stop was right next door at Mike Lyman’s Play Room. I’m not positive but I think the photo was taken from under the awning of the Brown Derby.
Servicemen on leave in Los Angeles during WWII had no shortage of places to go for a meal, a bed, and entertainment. This photo shows a banner above the Owl Drug Store at Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevards for the Hollywood USO club at 1531 N. Cahuenga Blvd. The more famous Hollywood Canteen stood a few more blocks south, at 1415 Cahuenga. Meanwhile, near the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Blvds, Anne “Mom” Lehr, wife of a United Artists vice president, opened a house where the guys could have a bed for the night.
With the Western being such a popular genre of movie, I guess it was inevitable that a theater that showed only Westerns should come along. In Los Angeles, that was called The Hitching Post (you can see it on the left hand side of the photo) and it was a small theater on Hollywood Boulevard, a few doors down from the corner of Hollywood and Vine and opposite the Pantages Theatre. This photo was taken in 1946 with the double bill was “Heading West” and “Thunder Town” both of which starred nobody I’ve ever heard of. The Hitching Post opened in 1941 and closed some times in the 1950s, which wasn’t a bad run for a movie house with a narrowly defined audience.
Yesterday I posted the view from 
Almost always, we get to see Hollywood and Vine from the outside, but this 1940 photo shows us what it was like to be standing inside the Owl Drug Store looking across Hollywood Blvd to the California Bank branch in the 
I would probably be more willing to drive around L.A. if the main thoroughfares like Wilshire Blvd still looked like this. We’re looking at the intersection of Wilshire and Vermont Ave in the early 1930s. Behind the Bullocks department store billboard, we can see a few of the huge homes that used to line Wilshire. Farther back (i.e. east) we can see a couple of buildings that are still with us: the Talmadge apartment building and the Calvary Faith church.
Sometimes I find photos in the oddest of places – I came across this one on display in my doctor’s office. It caught my eye because I thought, “Since when did a section of the Hollywood Freeway open in 1962?” On further investigation, I learned that we’re looking at the opening of the part of the 101 Freeway known as the 170 that goes from the 101 to Magnolia Blvd in North Hollywood. In this photo we’re looking south past those vintage Fords they hauled out for the occasion. (A 1906-08 Model N is on the far left. The other two are Model T’s that could have been built anytime between 1909 and about 1916.)
This would have been, I’d imagine, an exciting night: the premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre of Paramount’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on October 17, 1961. I know that Truman Capote, the author of the novel, wasn’t thrilled with the casting, and you have to wonder what Mickey Rooney thought he was doing, but it launched one of Audrey Hepburn’s signature looks: that little black dress and the wide-brimmed hat with the ribbon drooping one side. Audiences sure lapped it up—the movie had an impressive 8-week run.
Remember the days when you could drive to a movie house and park your car right out front? Nah, neither do I. But gosh, it must have been nice when you could. This is the Manchester Theatre at 322 W Manchester Ave, near the Watts Towers. The marquee shows they were playing “The Unholy Three” (1930) and were making much of the fact that Lon Chaney was talking. It was Chaney’s first talkie and last movie as he was dying of cancer during filming. Also on the bill was a comedy duo called “Barto and Mann” who were a well-known comedy dance team whose main selling point was that Barto was 4’11” and Mann was 6’6″. Barto’s other claim to fame was that he was the father of actress Nancy Walker.
This night shot of Grauman’s Chinese Theater was taken in February 1939 during the one-week run of MGM’s “Idiot’s Delight.” That banner stretched across Hollywood Boulevard reads “SHEARER GABLE” to advertise that the movie starred Norma Shearer and Clark Gable, not that it helped. The movie lost money, which must have stung for a studio at the top of its game, featuring two of its biggest stars, during the year we now consider to be studio-era Hollywood at its zenith. Mind you, that blonde wig Norma wore couldn’t have helped.