And from the “We Don’t See This Anymore” file comes this shot of what I can only describe as a horse-drawn billboard designed to advertise Bill Hoppers Blacksmith Shop. It does make me wonder how many blacksmiths still existed in Hollywood by the late 1920s (going by the automobiles in the parking lot in the background.) My guess is “not many” so maybe the point of this display was to remind the locals there was still at least one left. It’s rolling down Hollywood Blvd just west of Vine St, Hollywood.
** UPDATE ** Other people have suggested that this was a mobile blacksmithing service.
Kelly D says: “It only became a parking lot because of arson. I was waiting outside my apt building, on Hollywood Boulevard one morning at 3 am, waiting for the shuttle for LAX, when waaay down Hollywood Blvd, that was devoid of cars, I saw lots of emergency vehicle red lights. Lots. Turns out they were putting out the fire that destroyed the historic restaurant building.”
Andie P says: “Blacksmiths did a lot of work that had nothing to do with horses. Decorative ironwork & etc. My dad hired a mobile blacksmith in the late forties, fifties and sixties, to do ornamental gates, fences, tops on walls, and so on. The horse-drawn trailer may have been an advertising gimmick to attract business. If for shoeing horses, it would have been advertised as a farrier. And the one who took care of my dad’s horses in the fifties, had his base on San Fernando Road in East L.A. he had a portable “furnace” on his truck.”
Possibly taken earlier that day before the parade got going?
Bill Hoppers retired in 1954. Here is an ad for selling off his goods.
The northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine in the vintage photo would later be the site of the CoCo Tree Café, which became Melody Lane, which became Hody’s, which – predictably – is now a parking lot again. This image is August 2022.
I assume I’m not the only one here who is forever distracted by background locations in old Hollywood movies, and who tries to figure where it was filmed? This is a case in point. In this scene from “Why Worry?” (1923) Harold Lloyd is confronting a policeman as onlookers crowd the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds in Hollywood. What I didn’t know was that prior to Kress opening their five-and-dime department store at 6608 Hollywood Blvd in 1934, they had a smaller store at that intersection. I also love that five-bulb street light, but I especially love that bell on the right. It designates the El Camino Real Highway. I believe (but might be wrong) that the rectangular sign below it gives mileage to the nearest mission.
I don’t have a date for this night shot looking south down Vine St from the Plaza Hotel, just south of Hollywood and Vine, but from what I can see of the cars, it looks to be circa 1930s. But it’s obvious that the best thing the Brown Derby could have done was put up a huge, bright neon sign in the shape of a hat to remind people this was the place to eat. I also love how freshly fallen rain reflecting off the sidewalk on the west side of Vine adds to the atmosphere of this image.
The Angelenos we can see lining up out front of the Orpheum Theater at 842 S. Broadway in downtown LA must have really wanted to see Cab Calloway perform because they had to brave an unusual snowfall to do it. It looks like it’s barely an inch thick on the sidewalk, which is nothing for you hale and hardy New Englanders, but is enough for us Californians to think twice before leaving the house. The caption on this photo said the photo was taken on February 20, 1944.
In 1939, 
I love that this photographer thought to take a night photo of the glowing neon surrounding the Bundy Theatre in Santa Monica, silhouetting that car parked out front. But what I love even more is that several of the letters were out, which gives it a gritty film noir feel. The Bundy was playing Lawrence Olivier’s “Henry V” which puts this photo at 1946. Opening on December 31, 1941, the theater stood at 3414 Pico Blvd which was an unfortunate location because it stood in the way of the Santa Monica Freeway and forced to close in January 1963.
I don’t know the exact location of this Owl Rexall drugstore in Redondo Beach, but when they opened in June of 1950, we can see they switched on ALL the lights. In real life, it probably didn’t look quite this bright (due to the camera’s slow aperture needed for a night shot) but I’d imagine that all the locals were very aware a new Owl was in town.
This photo from 1888, we’re looking south along the bluffs of Santa Monica Beach. To be honest, I’m surprised to see so many beach huts filling the shoreline (I assume that’s what they were, and that people owned them?), especially seeing as how the whole population of Los Angeles hadn’t yet reached 50,000 people. Those bluffs are almost vertical so I’m sure the locals sure appreciated those stairs, but I wonder how rickety they became buffeted by the weather like that. Ditto the pier we can see in the background.
