Pacific Electric streetcar branded “FLY FOR NAVY” during WWII to encourage eligible Angelenos to sign up to the US Navy, Los Angeles, circa early 1940s
As far as I know, this was the only Pacific Electric red car that participated in the war effort during World War II. Car #5000 was rebranded “FLY FOR NAVY” to encourage eligible Angelenos (with high school diplomas) to sign up to the US Navy with a view to, I assume, become a Navy pilot. I don’t know where this photo was taken, but we can see that it was en route to the Subway Terminal in downtown Los Angeles, which was a convenient two-block walk to the Navy recruiting office at 306 W. 3rd St, which put it next to Sid Grauman’s Million Dollar Theater.
** UPDATE ** – Andrew C says this photo “Was taken at a layover yard called “Belmont” that was located at the entrance to the subway tunnel at 1st/2nd/Beverly/Glendale. Now an apartment complex called Belmont Station, even though there was never a station there.”
** UPDATE ** – Martin P. sent me this photo of another Pacific Electric streetcar decked out to encourage women 20 to 36 to “JOIN THE WAVES” at 411 W. 5th St, downtown Los Angeles. This photo is from 1944:
LA Resident Tourist on Twitter says: “I think the car is heading into the tunnel from Glendale Blvd with the Beverly overpass in the background.“
Night view looking southeast past the Hollywood Cross down the Hollywood Freeway into Hollywood (undated)
This undated image (which I assume is a from a postcard) is a night view looking southeast past the Hollywood Cross down the Hollywood Freeway into Hollywood. Outside of a Cecil B. DeMille epic, perhaps, religion and Hollywood are rarely put together (all those libidinous showbiz folks, you know…) so a glowing cross over Hollywood makes for a rather striking image. The cross (also known as the Hollywood Pilgrimage Memorial Monument) is 32 feet high was erected as a memorial for Christine Wetherill Stevenson who established the Pilgrimage Theatre (now the Ford Amphitheatre) which presented “The Pilgrimage Play” from 1920 to 1964.
I’m not sure how the photographer got that shot as the Hollywood Cross sits on the highest peak in the vicinity. This is how the view looked by day in April 2024.
One of these days, I’d like to hike up to the cross to see the view for myself. Until then, we have Google Maps Streetview…
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Tagged Ford Amphitheatre, Freeways, Hollywood, Hollywood Cross, Night photo
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A night shot of Vons Market and See’s Candies, 1311 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, California, 1940
Yesterday, Jeffery M commented on my photo of See’s Candies said that they moved from that location on Santa Monica Blvd to Wilshire Blvd in a Vons supermarket. And so I went looking to see if I could find a photo of it. Oh boy, did I ever: this atmospheric night shot of the Vons at 1311 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica at Euclid St. The neon on the tower is spectacular, as is the lighting hidden behind the V O N S. And See’s Candies nabbed themselves a prime position and probably nabbed a lot of foot traffic coming out of the supermarket. The date on this photo was given as 1940 which is 4 years earlier than yesterday’s photo, so maybe they moved from Wilshire to Santa Monica Blvd.
Rod L. says: “The back lit lighting of the Vons logo in the original photo is called “Halo” lighting. It’s attractive but many retailers prefer internally illuminated letters which are brighter and show the logos colors.”
This is roughly how that view looked in December 2023. While I was surprised to see that Vons was still there, the building is a shadow of its former self.
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Tagged Night photo, Santa Monica, Stores and Shopping, Wilshire Blvd
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Angelenos line up around the block at See’s Candies, 301 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, 1944
I don’t know what was happening on this day in 1944, but whatever See’s Candies were offering at the store at 301 Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica, people were willing to line up for it. WWII was still happening, which means sugar was rationed. Maybe someone found 10 extra bags of it in the basement of See’s factory on La Cienega Blvd (See’s started in LA in 1921) and these Angelenos were the first to hear of it. But I do like the juxtaposition of a candy store on the ground floor and the dentist office right above it.
Bix on Twitter supplied this explanation for the long lines:
That building is still there, but See’s and the Dr. Campbell are long gone – as are all the tenants. This is how that building looked in June 2024.
Color photo of Hody’s coffee shop, 3553 S. La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, 1952
I am always interested to know 1950s-era coffee shops attracted the attention of customers. In the case of this Hody’s at 3553 S. La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, it was to build a flat tower at least twice the height of the coffee shop itself, decorate it with five groups of lights and top it off with a (I assume) neon sign. It must have been glorious to see at night.
Here is another angle showing the signage was ever more spectacular!
Andie P. says: “There was a lot of neon on Hody’s signs. Each big letter on the edge of the “tower” was outlined in three colors as I recall and could be seen and identified from a mile away. There were not that many tall buildings then so signage was often elevated and gaudy! We often went to the one in Long Beach, on PCH and I think 7th street, which was a huge restaurant with a dozen or more waitresses on busy weekends. And was filled from early morning to late at night. It was about 2 miles from my dad’s work place and he periodically took groups of his crews and their wives there for dinner. Hody’s was always happy to set up for large groups with only minimal advance notice, and the service was always excellent.”
An interior view of Hody’s on La Brea Ave:
Hody’s menu:
Matchbook from Hody’s:
And here’s Hody’s menu:
If you went to a Hody’s (their most famous location was on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine, which they took over from Melody Lane in 1955 and stayed until 1969) this is what you waitress would have worn:
This is roughly how that view looked in June 2024:
Aerial view of an almost-completed Los Angeles City Hall, downtown Los Angeles, 1927
Click on the image to see a much larger, zoomable image.
In this rather breathtaking aerial photograph, we’re treated to a view of Los Angeles City Hall. It opened on April 26, 1928 and this photo was taken (probably late) 1927, so City Hall wasn’t quite finished yet. But we can see why and how it stood out: It’s bigger, taller, and blindingly bright! (It’s clad with light grey California granite.) We can also see the old Los Angeles Times building (the one with the tower close to the bottom of the photo) and the old Hall of Records, which is the building close to City Hall built at a weird angle.
EJ says: “The Hall of Records followed the old street grid. When City Hall was built, Spring Street was realigned.
Here are some Preliminary sketches of the Los Angeles City Hall:
This is a satellite image of that same area in December 2023.
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Hall
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Angelenos gather outside the Las Palmas Theater, 1642 Las Palmas Ave, Hollywood on the night of June 7, 1951
I spent ten minutes looking for information on a 1951 movie called “Hocus Pocus (all I could find was the Disney one starring Bette Midler) when it finally dawned on me that the Las Palmas Theater, pictured here at 1642 Las Palmas Ave, Hollywood on the night of June 7, 1951 presented live theater. With live actors! And a live audience! Starting out in 1936 as the Hollywood Little Theatre, it had seating for 388 people, which is a fairly decent sized house of the area. According to losangelestheatres.blogspot.com, “Hocus Pocus” was a comedy by Harold Sherman, so I trust that the people in this atmospheric photo had a fun night.
And here is an advertisement of the opening of “Hocus Pocus”
Denny B. says: “It’s been many things over the last 50 years. I went there once for the LA premiere of John Waters’ Female Trouble. Divine arrived in a limo with a leather clad motorcycle brigade. Somewhere I have a pack of Lucky Strikes that he signed for me.”
The Las Palmas Theatre is now a nightclub. This is how it looked in June 2024.
Court Flight funicular running between Broadway and Hill St, downtown Los Angeles
While Angels Flight is LA’s most famous funicular, it wasn’t its only one. Court Flight began operating on September 24, 1905 on a hillside between Broadway and Hill St, between Temple and First. It was even more needed than Angels Flight because the 180-foot hillside had a 42 percent grade, making it longer and steeper than Angels Flight. Back then, the area was home to the wealthy residents of Bunker Hill who loved the view and cooling breezes that came from living so high, but understandably they hated the stairs they had to take. For the price of a nickel, they could ride Court Flight in ease and comfort. And even better, the ride down was free! The funicular ran until a fire on October 20, 1943 put it out of business.
Illustration showing the location of Court Flight, circa 1924 (from John Bengston at silentlocations.com:
See also Court Flight funicular.
This is what you now see when you stand on Broadway and look toward Hill St. Shaving off the top of Bunker Hill means no more diabolically steep hillsides to climb. This image is from May 2024.
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Tagged Angels Flight, Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles, Trains and Railways
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Announcement of the opening of Schwabs men’s store, 6358 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, March 26, 1926
Whenever we hear the name “Schwab’s” we immediately think of Schwab’s Pharmacy, which is understandable because it was the most famous drug store in Los Angeles. But this image reminds us that there was another Schwabs (no apostrophe) that opened in Hollywood six years before the pharmacy opened on Sunset. Schwabs was a men’s shop (i.e. menswear) at 6358 Hollywood Blvd which put it on the south side between Cahuenga and Ivar. To publicize their opening in 1926, they somehow managed to nab a “souvenir section” in the March 26 edition of the Hollywood Daily Citizen. (Note the newspaper’s motto: “Striving to be clean, seeking to be fair, hoping to be helpful.”) I’d love to window-shop in their plaza of glass cabinets and check out the prices. (In 1931 the Hollywood Daily Citizen would merge with Hollywood News to become the better-known Hollywood Citizen-News which would stay in circulation until 1970.)
Miraculously, those wonderful arches at the front of Schwabs Men’s Shop are still with us. This is how they looked in July 2024.
