What looks like a bunch of people standing around in overcoats is actually moment of Hollywood history in the making. It was taken at the Selznick studios lot in Culver City, the night of December 10, 1938. Selznick and his crew had used some old movie sets (namely The Last of the Mohicans, King Kong, The Garden of Allah, King of Kings, and Little Lord Fauntleroy) to recreate the burning of Atlanta for “Gone with the Wind.” It was also the night that David Selznick’s brother, Myron, brought his newly-signed client, Vivien Leigh, to meet David for the first time. She’d been on his radar as an outside-chance Scarlett. That’s David Selznick near the center of the photo with a cigar in his mouth and Vivien Leigh standing next to him in a hat. He later said that that he took one look and knew she was perfect. And he was right.
David Selznick meets Vivien Leigh at the filming of the burning of Atlanta at the Selznick International Pictures studios, Culver City, December 10, 1938
A statue of a man on a horse near Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles advertises “The Gaucho” playing at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, circa 1927
Film promoters like Sid Grauman would resort to anything to encourage people to come see films at his Chinese Theater—including a statue. The movie he was advertising was Douglas Fairbanks Sr’s “The Gaucho” set in Argentina. It had its world premiere at Grauman’s Chinese on November 4, 1927 ahead of a 12-week run. We have two clues about where this statue stood. In the left background we can see the Fox Belmont Theatre, which stood at 126 S. Vermont Ave, and on the right we can see the massive El Patio Ballroom (later the Palomar) which covered a whole block on Vermont between 2nd and 3rd Street. I assume the statue was made of plaster and was disposed of after the run of the movie, but wouldn’t it be great if it was still around? Although where anyone would put something like this is a mystery.
By the way, The Gaucho” was only the second movie to play the Chinese. The movie before it was “King of Kings” which had an astounding 24-week run.
** UPDATE ** – The statue was made by sculptor Finn Haakon Frolich. A Twitter user who goes by Bix found a source that said “In Hollywood he once made 100 statues in three months for a motion picture.”
The London Shop, Walter-Morton Clothes, and Chapman-Pollock on the 300 block of North Rodeo Dr at Dayton Way, Beverly Hills, 1947
This photo from 1947 gives us a glimpse of what Rodeo Drive used to look like before it became a mecca of high-end designer brands. That transformation started in 1961 with the opening of the first expensive boutique: Giorgio Beverly Hills, and then really kicked up a notch when Gucci opened in 1968. But back in the ’40s, Rodeo Dr. was just a local shopping strip. The London Shop and Walter-Morton sold clothes and someone told me that he thought Chapman-Pollock (whose typeface I love) was a realtor. I especially love the irony of the two American flags outside of a store called “The London Shop.”
** UPDATE ** – Chapman-Pollock was a tailor. Here is there listing in the 1955 Beverly Hills phone directory:
To nobody’s surprise, I’m sure, there is no trace of those stores now. This is how that corner looked August 2022.
Letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald at the Garden of Allah Hotel, Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, April 19, 1938
Genuine Garden of Allah Hotel ephemera doesn’t surface very often, so when it does, it’s worth checking out. This item is especially noteworthy: It’s a hand-written letter by F. Scott Fitzgerald, dated April 19, 1938, to his secretary in Baltimore about his wife, Zelda, who was in a mental sanitarium at the time. (He seems awfully keen about his phrase “four-legged fish, doesn’t he?) FYI, when this letter came up for auction recently, it went for around $4,000! My thanks to JD Sobol for bringing this to my attention.
Parade float built for La Fiesta de Los Angeles showing a miniature of the Mt Lowe hotels and incline railway, Los Angeles St, downtown Los Angeles, 1895
One of the most popular tourist attractions in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles was to ride a cable funicular railway called The Great Incline to the top of Echo Mountain to a 70-room hotel. What we’re seeing in this circa 1890s photo is a float showing the railway and the hotel in miniature. It was made for a parade and festival called La Fiesta de Los Angeles which was held each year between 1894 and 1916 in recognition of the city’s birthday. The float is standing on Los Angeles Street as Fiesta de Los Angeles was a downtown LA event, but then again back in the 1890s the whole city was pretty much what we now call “downtown Los Angeles.”
Scott C says: “Photo is dated 1895, which puts its Fiesta debut about five months after Echo Mountain House’s completion.”
Funimag on Twitter supplied these two photos of this float with this comment: “1894 1st “La Fiesta de Los Angeles” parade on Hill St. showing Mount Lowe float with two miniature cars at passing loop of Echo Mountain Great Incline which opened on July 4th 1893.”
Chapman’s Fancy Ice Creams at 60 S. Lake Ave on the northeast corner of Green St, Pasadena, 1928
Wouldn’t it be nice if LA still had stores like this. To be clear, it still does, but there aren’t nearly as many as there used to be, and that’s a grand shame because they add so much to a pleasant urban landscape. This particular building housed Chapman’s Fancy Ice Creams at 60 S. Lake Ave on the northeast corner of Green St in Pasadena. This photo was taken in 1928. Whenever I see a sign for “Chapman’s Fancy Ice Creams” I always wonder if the word “Fancy” was an official part of the brand name, or was it simply the adjective they chose to describe their product?
When I brought up that location to see what it looked like today, I held out hope that the building was still there as Pasadena’s track record for preserving old buildings is better than most. But alas, this is how that corner looked in July 2022.
Angelenos fill the sidewalk of Broadway at 11th Street, downtown Los Angeles, 1928
In this slice-of-life photo, we get to stand on Broadway (at 11th St) in downtown Los Angeles in 1928. It’s been a while since I’ve walked that far down Broadway, but that sidewalk looks remarkably wide. The sign in the background puzzles me a little. It reads “We Sell Homes Payable Like Rent.” So in other words mortgage? But it’s the semaphore traffic signal that really has me stumped. Usually you see them on street corners, so what is it doing in the middle of the block? If it’s some sort of crosswalk, it’s not working because all those automobiles and streetcars are ignoring the “STOP” sign.
I couldn’t recreate the 1928 view but it looks to me like the building in the background is this one we can see in this January 2022 image of the northeast corner of Broadway and 11th.
Crowds gather around the United Artists Theatre for the west coast premiere of Josef von Sternberg’s “An American Tragedy”, 929 S. Broadway, downtown Los Angeles, August 1931
I guess (director) Joseph von Sternberg was a big draw in August 1931, which is when his film of Theodore Dreiser’s novel, An American Tragedy had its West Coast premiere at the United Artists Theatre at 929 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. As we can see in this photo, crowds were packed in on both sides of the theater’s entrance and across the street. But it seems this night was its high point as the film didn’t do well at the box office. However, a 1951 version did much better when it was given a more evocative title: A Place in the Sun.
This is how that theater looked in February 2023. It’s now a live theater attached to the Ace Hotel.
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Tagged Broadway, Movie Premiere, Night photo, Theaters, United Artists
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Four seaplanes parked on the small runway of Catalina Airport, Hamilton Cove, Santa Catalina Island, California, 1931
Over the past century and a half, most vacationers heading to Santa Catalina Island have traveled via boat. But those in a hurry had an option to fly there. Until the private Buffalo Springs Airport was built in 1941, the only way was via seaplane. Here we have four of them parked on the teeny tiny runway of Catalina Airport in Hamilton Cove, north of the town of Avalon. The seaplanes would land on the water and then roll up that ramp on the right like an amphibian. As per the famous song, it’s only 26 miles to Catalina, so the flight wouldn’t have been long, but I’m guessing it was perhaps a bit of a rough ride.
Here’s “the world’s smallest airport” from another angle:
From this July 2023 satellite photo, it looks like the seaplane ramp is still there.
A battleship-shaped food stand on Venice Pier, Venice, California, circa 1910s
I’m not sure why someone would think a battleship would make for an inviting food stand, but someone did as we can see in this circa 1910s photo taken on the Venice Pier. I think the sign says “FRESH FISH” which makes me wonder if there’s someone at the back of the battleship catching fish. The water certainly would have been cleaner back then than it is now. I also love to people-watch in photos like this—especially beach photo were people are wearing so much clothing that anybody would think of wearing these days.
Stephen E. said: “This is very much the high point of ‘Dreadnought mania’. The popularity of an enormous class of battleship in the general population might seem odd now, but at a time of heightened nationalism and general ‘ra ra ra-ism’, people went mad for them across Europe and thence the US.”