It was a big day for Angelenos when the Hill Street tunnels opened on September 15, 1909. It meant that a significant amount of time was shaved off the streetcar ride from downtown Los Angeles to Hollywood. To celebrate it, a few days after the opening, “Tunnel Day” was announced and here we can see motorcars and horse-drawn carriages race a Pacific Electric streetcar along Sunset Boulevard. I don’t know who won the race that day, but motorcars were certainly the winner in the long run.Looking west on Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, circa 1932
In this circa 1932 photograph, we’re looking west on Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax Ave. The E. Clem Wilson Building (then LA’s tallest commercial building) went up near La Brea Ave in 1929 so I was surprised that Wilshire isn’t a little more developed by this point until I read that the Miracle Mile development didn’t really kick in until the May Company built its iconic streamline moderne department store on this corner in 1939. But until then, parking along Wilshire was a dream!
“On The Beach” playing Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, December 18, 1959
There’s a lot to love about this shot of Stanley Kramer’s “On The Beach” when it was playing Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, December 18, 1959. There’s nothing like a color photo to show off that neon dragon! It’s gone now, along with the marquee, but at least we can now see that beautiful bas-relief decoration it was covering up.
And how that same building looks these days:
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Tagged Color photo, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood Blvd, Theaters
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Forecourt of Grauman’s Egyptian Theater, 6708 Hollywood Blvd, circa 1922
Sid Grauman opened his Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in 1922 and we’re lucky that it’s still around and actively hosts a wide-ranging program of films. These days, the forecourt has only palm trees in it, but back when it opened, the world was obsessed with the discovery of King Tutankhamen and all things Egyptian. So Hollywood’s greatest showman filled the forecourt of his theater (his Chinese-themed theater didn’t open for another 5 years) with Egyptian artifacts. I don’t know how historically accurate they are, but they sure look impressive.
Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre opened October 18, 1922 with Douglas Fairbanks starring in Robin Hood
Letter to Eleanor Lewis from Lucille Ryman, head of casting at MGM, 1950
I was recently contacted by Russ Mates, who sent me a photo of this letter shown to him by his friend Ann. Back in 1950, the head of casting at MGM Lucille Ryman wrote to Ann’s mother, Eleanor Lewis about the possibility of Eleanor playing opposite Clark Gable in Across the Wide Missouri (1951) Evidently Ms Ryman had seen photos of Eleanor and saw potential in her (much like photos of Ava Gardner that brought her to Hollywood.) However Eleanor, who celebrated her 95th birthday this week, decided to thanks-but-no-thanks the Hollywood life and chose the wife-and-motherhood path instead, which makes me wonder how many times Lucille Ryman was knocked back. I’m guessing “not many.”
Color shot looking north up Vine St from Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, circa early-to-mid 1950
From that slick two-toned 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Coupe in the foreground of this photo taken at the corner of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, I’m guessing this photo is circa early-to-mid 1950s. We can see that the NBC Radio studios were now broadcasting television. And across the street, the ABC studios are hard to miss with their large, red sign. The vividness of the colors here leads me to assume that this is a Kodachrome photograph, which is always a welcome sight to see.
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Tagged Color photo, Hollywood, NBC Radio / Television, Sunset Blvd
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A crowd gathers outside the Neft Music Shop in downtown Los Angeles to buy the latest record released by Aimee Semple McPherson. You’d think she was a popular singer making an in-store appearance instead of a Pentecostal evangelist. This photo was taken on November 22, 1926, when McPherson’s national celebrity was at its peak following her was-she-or-wasn’t-she kidnapping in May and subsequent grand jury inquiries that filled headlines for the rest of the year. Whether the kidnapping took place or not, it was certainly good for business.
Most people will probably recognize the original hat-shaped Brown Derby restaurant on Wilshire Blvd but did you know know that it had two different locations: 3427 Wilshire between Mariposa and Alexandria built in 1926. In 1937, it was torn down to make way for the Chapman Park Hotel and rebuilt at 3377 Wilshire, oriented to the northeast corner of Alexandria. That’s the one that most people know so this photo is a rare one of the original Brown Derby. It’s a shame we can’t see it more clearly but from this angle, it doesn’t look as big as the version that replaced it. That house is gone now, but the church beside it at Wilshire and Normandie – now called the Oasis Church – is still there and an active part of the community.
This is the oh-so-very-Art-Deco foyer of the Fox Wilshire Theatre at 8440 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. This photo was taken in 1930, the year it opened (with the Marx Brothers in “Animal Crackers”) as the Art Deco aesthetic was in its heyday. That wallpaper with the bold pattern is very striking, isn’t it? If you’d like to see more photos of it back in the day and how it looks now (these days it’s know as the Saban), check out the Los Angeles Theaters blog: 
It’s not hard to find photos of Pacific Electric streetcars rattling around Los Angeles, but I haven’t seen many shots taken inside a streetcar. This one was taken in 1920, around the time when the massive Los Angeles streetcar transportation system was reaching its zenith. I love the two women on the left in their cloches and the two men on the right in their three-piece suits and hats. But what I can’t make out are those vertical and horizontal bars where the conductor is standing. Does anyone know what they were for? Just something to hang onto while the streetcar moved along its tracks?