Decades before it became a Guinness World Records Museum, Hollywood Theatre was an popular movie house at 6764 Hollywood Blvd just east of Highland Ave. In this photo, 20th Century-Fox’s “My Gal Sal” was on a double bill with Paramount’s “The Great Man’s Lady,” both of which came out in 1942. But what I love most about this photo is seeing its neighbors. You could have dinner at Italian Kitchen restaurant, drop by See’s Candies for some munchies, then browse in the Hollywood Book Store, until it’s movie time at the Hollywood Theatre. That’s a whole evening’s entertainment on one short block.
** UPDATE ** – For a comparison, see this 1957 photo taken at the same angle.
This is how that view looked in November 2021.
In this photo, we’re looking east along the north side of Hollywood Blvd just west of the Vine St intersection. That tall banner has been hung outside Sardi’s restaurant, which was at 6315. In mid-to-late 1941, radio personality, Tom Breneman, changed the name of his “Breakfast on the Boulevard” show to “Breakfast at Sardi’s” which joined the Blue Network on August 3, 1942 (or in 1943, reports vary.) In 1945, Brenneman moved to his own restaurant around the corner on Vine Street. But in this view, we can see the blade signs for the Equitable Building on the northeast corner of Hollywood and Vine, and farther along the boulevard, the sign for the Pantages Theatre.
I have two favorite details in this color photo looking north across a parking lot at the corner of Wilshire Blvd and Grand Ave in downtown Los Angeles. Firstly, that gorgeous teal Ford station wagon. (Officially the color was called Sea Foam green.) What a bright splash of color in an otherwise white-filled parking lot! And then in the background, we can see the tower of the 
In this photo we’re looking southeast down Rodeo Dr from Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. It was taken in 1932, back when Rodeo Dr. wasn’t home to blocks of high-end stores that 99% of people can’t afford. It was a regular local street with regular local stores and cafes, which is why it looks so clean and uncluttered. I don’t know what sort of trees lined the street, but their uniformity almost makes it look as though they’re pointing to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel that back then would only have been four years old.
This shot is an odd one. I couldn’t find this image posted anywhere else online, nor could I find “2334 Washington Blvd” on a map. I did, however, find a listing for Bay Cities Laundry at 2334 Washington Blvd in the Santa Monica and Venice 1936 City Directory online, so I know it existed and that the caption gave the right address, but that’s all I know about this place. But in a way, I don’t mind. The image is dripping with so much atmosphere that it pretty much speaks for itself, if you ask me.
The Life magazine photographer who snapped this image was standing in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, whose Chinese-themed box office that stood at the edge of the sidewalk. Past it is Hollywood Blvd, and on the far left, we can see the columns of the Masonic Temple (these days, Jimmy Kimmel broadcasts from there.) Strung across the boulevard is a banner with Warner Baxter’s name because the movie playing that week was MGM’s “Robin Hood of El Dorado” which means this photo was taken in May of 1936. My favorite detail of this photo is the well-dressed woman who’s just bought a ticket and is heading to see the double feature with MGM’s “Moonlight Murder” and a Disney animated short called “Three Little Wolves.”
I love seeing photos of visiting Shriner conventioneers marching through the streets of LA , especially when they go to the trouble of decorating a — I don’t even know what to call that vehicle. A miniature car? A maxed-out go-cart? — with a giant fez. Behind it are the proud members of the Tadmor Shriner Temple in Akron, Ohio marching along Fifth St in downtown LA in 1925. In the far distance we can see the arched windows of Southern Pacific Railway’s Central Station where 5th Street dead-ends at Central Ave.
I’ve posted a number of photos of this magnificent building before, but I don’t think any of them were as remarkably crisp as this one. It’s the Los Angeles County courthouse at the corner of Temple Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. It was taken circa 1899, and the only forms of transportation we can see here are horse-drawn carriages and that streetcar on the left that’s heading south down Broadway. (It’s so early, in fact, that it might even be a cable car.) And look at that pair of matching palm trees on the corner. I’m guessing they were only just planted. But most impressive (to me, at least) are the two water sprinklers on the Temple St lawn. I’d have thought they were a 20th century invention.