Union Station at night, downtown Los Angeles, 1941
I do love an atmospheric Los Angeles nighttime photo—especially taken in downtown during the 30s and 40s. This one ticks all the boxes. That’s Union Station with the tower near the center of the photo. It opened in 1939 and this was taken just a couple of years later in 1941. Streetlights shine down on empty streets. I can only see one car in this whole photo, and not one intrepid pedestrian—who would be reckless enough to brave the noir streets of LA alone?
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Tagged Downtown Los Angeles, Trains and Railways, Union Station
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Pirates’ Den, 335 N. La Brea Ave, Hollywood – “The most unique rendezvous in the whole cock-eyed world”
Rusty Werth recently sent me this scan of a souvenir photo cover she got from her mother when her father took her there on a date. The place was called the Pirates’ Den and was on La Brea Ave in Hollywood and it was quite the place! Opened by Don Dickerman on May 3, 1940, it had a long list of celebrity investors, including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray, Johnny Weissmuller, Rudy Vallee, and Errol Flynn. The waiters dressed as pirates and the manager carried a bullwhip to enforce discipline in his crew. Mock battles were staged and female patrons abducted and held in the brig until they screamed—at which point, they were released with a “scream diploma.” The bar was called the Skull and Bones Bar and Dickerman, who was a pirate fanatic, opened other dens in New York, Miami, and Washington DC. Don’t you love their motto? “The most unique rendezvous in the whole cock-eyed world”
Susan says: “This place was kind of fun. Lots of kids my age in high school went there – we had to have lots of money however, because it was really expensive. I guess we had to pay extra for all the falderol. By the time it was an in place for high school kids, it had fallen off the radar of all the celebrities who used to frequent it. Best I recall, it’s hey-day was short lived with the high profile folks, maybe 2 years from opening is what I recall. My folks went there right after it opened. Dad knew Don Dickerman from NYC, and had been tapped to help Don front the money to open Pirate’s Den, Hollywood version. Seems once War hit, lots of things like this were not ‘in’ spots anymore. The stars who used to ‘nightclub play’ here, turned elsewhere to more meaningful use of their time. That seemed to sort of mark the end of Pirate’s glory days.”
Rusty Werth’s mom:
334 North La Brea is the one-story building on the left. (December 2017)
The Egyptian Theatre and the original Pig N Whistle, Hollywood Blvd, 1942
Whenever I see vintage photos of the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the façade always seems to change. In this shot, the box office is right there at the front almost on the sidewalk. Above it are posters of the double feature playing at the time, “In This Our Life” and “Twin Beds”. On the marquee, “Twin Beds” gets top billing, which odd because “In This Our Life” stars Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland who in 1942 were operating at the top of their game.
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Tagged Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Movie Stars, Restaurants, Theaters, WWII
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Demolition of the NBC Studios at the corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood, 1964
This photo is quite a heartbreaker—the demolition of the NBC Studios at the corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, Hollywood in 1964. From when it opened in 1938, those studios were an iconic anchor to the broadcasting life in Hollywood—first radio and then television. But nothing lasts forever, does it? In 1962, NBC moved to Burbank. The building they left behind lasted until 1964 when it was torn down and replaced by a bank. If you’d prefer to see the NBC studios in their heyday, I have a collection of photos of them on my website: http://bit.ly/nbc-sunset-vine
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Tagged Color photo, Hollywood, NBC Radio / Television, Radio, Sunset Blvd, Television
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Yellow Car streetcar on the Los Angeles Railway #3 line, Larchmont Boulevard to Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, 1931
This is a fine example of how a photo of what would have been an ordinary street scene can tell us so much. This is a Los Angeles Railway Yellow Car running up Larchmont Blvd to Melrose Ave not far from Paramount in 1931. The fact that people just waited in the street like that with no barrier protection kind of amazes me. I love how both guys are wearing suits and hats. And look at those cars parked along the curb—it looks like finding a park along Larchmont was as tricky back then as it is now!
A gondolier glides across the lagoon at the end of the Grand Canal in Venice of America, Los Angeles, 1912
When I look at this photo, I can almost hear the gondolier singing “La Donna È Mobile.” I doubt any of the gondoliers who plied their trade along the Grand Canal in what was then “Venice of America” but we now call Venice Beach actually sang like their Italian counterparts, but their gondolas sure looked authentic. This photo was taken in 1912 on the Grand Canal, which was subsequently paved over and renamed Grand Boulevard. What a shame – I’d rather like to take a gondola ride even though the gondolier would probably be a Venice hipster playing Pavarotti on Spotify via his iPhone.
The sign for the Melrose Ave exit off the Hollywood Freeway, 1954
The construction of the Hollywood Freeway (aka the 101) took from 1924, when plans were first drawn up to 1968, when the final section was completed. This photo was taken in 1954, not long after the section connecting the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles opened. We can see the sign for the upcoming Melrose Ave exit, which these days is a very densely trafficked part. I think it’s funny that there are more palm trees in this photo than there are cars.
The construction of Billy Wilkerson’s Flamingo resort, Las Vegas, 1945
Most people think the development of the Las Vegas strip started with the Bugsy Siegel building the Flamingo Resort. While the Flamingo was the first luxury resort there, it was in face Billy Wilkerson, the owner of the Hollywood Reporter who first had the idea. He bought the land in 1945 but it wasn’t until he needed extra funding that Siegel muscled his way into the picture and eventually took over the project forcing Wilkerson to flee the country. He’s the one who named it after his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who loved to gamble and was nicknamed Flamingo. This photo was taken during construction—I find it interesting to see what is now a jam-packed Strip back then was a fairly modest resort and a lot of empty land.
And this is how that part of the Las Vegas Strip looks now:
A car set up for broadcasting with speakers on the roof and above the driver’s head, Los Angeles, circa 1928
This photo shows us how far we’ve come in technology. These days, of course, we can broadcast from pretty much anywhere using a cell phone that’s no bigger than the palm of our hand. But back in the late 1920s, it took a whole van rigged up with speakers bigger than the one grandma used to have on her old Victrola. The call letters, KEJK were for the radio station of the MacMillan Petroleum Co. of Beverly Hills, whose owner and chief engineer was Freeman Lang. Although why a gasoline company would need or want a radio station is beyond me.
Aerial vista looking north across the Hollywood Bowl and the Pilgrimage Play Theatre on the other side of Cahuenga Pass, Los Angeles, circa 1940
In this circa 1940 photo, the Hollywood Bowl punctuates the open land of the Cahuenga Pass. Behind it, that diagonal line is the newly opened Hollywood Freeway (then known as the “Cahuenga Pass Freeway” with Pacific Electric Railway trolleys running down the center). Beyond that is the Pilgrimage Play Theatre, where the play was performed every summer from 1920 to 1929. It is now known as the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Cahuenga Pass, Freeways, Hollywood Bowl, Theaters
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