The residential subdivision of Whitley Heights came into being in the early 1920s after developer Hobart Whitley created the hillside community opposite the Hollywood Bowl. According to one report I read, the streets of Whitley Heights were paved in 1926 and this road still looks like a simple dirt road. These days, of course, every square inch is filled with homes, yards, and stairwells but from this rare early view, we can see it’s still earning its reputation of being LA’s first celebrity enclave.
The houses are still there today on Whitley Terrace:
As much as I love the old-fashioned feel of black-and-white and sepia photos, there’s something so alive and real about color vintage photos. In this one from the 1940s, we’re treated to a glimpse of a Pacific Electric Red Car returning from the San Fernando Valley and heading into Los Angeles through the Cahuenga Pass. In the next decade, buses replaced streetcars so the track lines became traffic lanes when the Hollywood Freeway replaced everything we see here.
My thanks to regular follower of this page, Jack, for this slice-of-life photo. Jack and his family were standing at the corner of 7th and Alvarado Streets when they posed for this shot. That means MacArthur Park was behind the photographer and Langer’s Deli was across the street (as it still is.) Because of those US Marine and Army photos next to them, I thought this was taken during WWII but the year was actually 1952, so those posters were for Korean War recruitment. I love that semaphore traffic signal right behind them, but I’m also wondering if anybody remembers the store behind them—Charleston’s. What did they sell?
This view of bucolic Echo Park was taken in 1911 back when this area was primarily known as Edendale, which took in parts of Echo Park, Los Feliz and Silver Lake. During that same year, a movie trade publication I’d never previously heard of called “Motography” accurately described Edendale as “the motion picture center of the Pacific Coast.” Among the studios in this area were Selig-Polyscope, Fox, and Bison which later became Mack Sennett’s studios where the Keystone Kops and Charlie Chaplin got their start. Those little palm trees we can see in this photo are still there but of course, are much taller now.
We’re looking south down Vine Street from the El Capitan Theater to Hollywood Boulevard. El Capitan Theatre (formerly the Hollywood Playhouse) is hosting to the Ken Murray’s Blackouts, which was a rather racy variety stage show that ran for 3844 performances—an admirable run by any standards. Their banner proclaims their 3rd year but they were only getting started. This shot was taken in 1944 and the show didn’t end until 1949. I also love that we can see the distinct shape of the Brown Derby neon sign way in the background.
In this photo, we’re treated to a view looking east along Wilshire Boulevard. The intersection in the middle is Fairfax Ave, which means the northeast corner where the billboard (for Newmark’s Mountain Grown Coffee) is the future site of the iconic May Company department store building. The white building on the northwest corner will become Simon’s Sandwiches Drive-In. Meanwhile, all those oil wells in the background keep pumping away.
In this photo, we’re looking west up the 101 Hollywood Freeway from the Vermont Ave overpass. This was taken in 1955 when the freeway hadn’t been open for very long—maybe a year or so. According to one source I read, a year after the Hollywood Freeway opened, it was used by an average of 183,000 vehicles a day, almost double the capacity it was designed to carry. Maybe this photo was taken on a light day because I drive the 101 fairly regularly and it only looks like this at 6 A.M. on a Sunday morning.
From the same collection of photos as the one of the Brown Derby I posted recently comes this equally atmospheric photo of the iconic Bullocks Wilshire department store building at 3050 Wilshire Blvd. In this photo, we’re looking south from Westmoreland Ave at what appears to be late at night some time in the 1940s. I love how the lighting turned the top of the tower into a shining beacon and how the lights from the window displays throw the palm trees on the left into silhouette.
If you look closely near the bottom center of this photo, you’ll see the Second Street Cable Railway streetcar rattling along the line that ran from 2nd & Spring to 1st & Belmont in what is now downtown Los Angeles. The line opened on October 14,1885 so I’m guessing this photo was taken not long after that. I count eight buildings. With so few people around, it makes me wonder why they bothered laying down a track at all.
These days, of course, there is little left to remind us that back in the heyday of LA public transportation network the Pacific Electric Red Cars ran down the middle of Santa Monica Blvd. Fortunately, though we have gorgeous color photos like this to remind us. The blue car partially obscured by the trolley is a circa 1940 Ford so I’m guessing this one was taken some time in the 1940s as it was rolling through West Hollywood. We can see Domenico’s restaurant in the background. The building is still there but is now the venerable Dan Tana’s, which has been around since 1961.
This is what that restaurant looks like nowadays in 2018:
The residential subdivision of Whitley Heights came into being in the early 1920s after developer Hobart Whitley created the hillside community opposite the Hollywood Bowl. According to one report I read, the streets of Whitley Heights were paved in 1926 and this road still looks like a simple dirt road. These days, of course, every square inch is filled with homes, yards, and stairwells but from this rare early view, we can see it’s still earning its reputation of being LA’s first celebrity enclave.
As much as I love the old-fashioned feel of black-and-white and sepia photos, there’s something so alive and real about color vintage photos. In this one from the 1940s, we’re treated to a glimpse of a Pacific Electric Red Car returning from the San Fernando Valley and heading into Los Angeles through the Cahuenga Pass. In the next decade, buses replaced streetcars so the track lines became traffic lanes when the Hollywood Freeway replaced everything we see here.
My thanks to regular follower of this page, Jack, for this slice-of-life photo. Jack and his family were standing at the corner of 7th and Alvarado Streets when they posed for this shot. That means MacArthur Park was behind the photographer and Langer’s Deli was across the street (as it still is.) Because of those US Marine and Army photos next to them, I thought this was taken during WWII but the year was actually 1952, so those posters were for Korean War recruitment. I love that semaphore traffic signal right behind them, but I’m also wondering if anybody remembers the store behind them—Charleston’s. What did they sell?
This view of bucolic Echo Park was taken in 1911 back when this area was primarily known as Edendale, which took in parts of Echo Park, Los Feliz and Silver Lake. During that same year, a movie trade publication I’d never previously heard of called “Motography” accurately described Edendale as “the motion picture center of the Pacific Coast.” Among the studios in this area were Selig-Polyscope, Fox, and Bison which later became Mack Sennett’s studios where the Keystone Kops and Charlie Chaplin got their start. Those little palm trees we can see in this photo are still there but of course, are much taller now.
We’re looking south down Vine Street from the El Capitan Theater to Hollywood Boulevard. El Capitan Theatre (formerly the Hollywood Playhouse) is hosting to the Ken Murray’s Blackouts, which was a rather racy variety stage show that ran for 3844 performances—an admirable run by any standards. Their banner proclaims their 3rd year but they were only getting started. This shot was taken in 1944 and the show didn’t end until 1949. I also love that we can see the distinct shape of the Brown Derby neon sign way in the background.
In this photo, we’re treated to a view looking east along Wilshire Boulevard. The intersection in the middle is Fairfax Ave, which means the northeast corner where the billboard (for Newmark’s Mountain Grown Coffee) is the future site of the iconic May Company department store building. The white building on the northwest corner will become 
In this photo, we’re looking west up the 101 Hollywood Freeway from the Vermont Ave overpass. This was taken in 1955 when the freeway hadn’t been open for very long—maybe a year or so. According to one source I read, a year after the Hollywood Freeway opened, it was used by an average of 183,000 vehicles a day, almost double the capacity it was designed to carry. Maybe this photo was taken on a light day because I drive the 101 fairly regularly and it only looks like this at 6 A.M. on a Sunday morning.
From the same collection of photos as the one of 
If you look closely near the bottom center of this photo, you’ll see the Second Street Cable Railway streetcar rattling along the line that ran from 2nd & Spring to 1st & Belmont in what is now downtown Los Angeles. The line opened on October 14,1885 so I’m guessing this photo was taken not long after that. I count eight buildings. With so few people around, it makes me wonder why they bothered laying down a track at all.
These days, of course, there is little left to remind us that back in the heyday of LA public transportation network the Pacific Electric Red Cars ran down the middle of Santa Monica Blvd. Fortunately, though we have gorgeous color photos like this to remind us. The blue car partially obscured by the trolley is a circa 1940 Ford so I’m guessing this one was taken some time in the 1940s as it was rolling through West Hollywood. We can see Domenico’s restaurant in the background. The building is still there but is now the venerable Dan Tana’s, which has been around since 1961.