Even up close, the working model built for King Kong was a pretty impressive sight to see. This was probably taken in 1932 (production on the film took more than a year: Jan 1932 to early Feb 1933) at RKO, with the native village and great wall scenes shot at the Culver Studios on Washington Blvd. And I bet he was a beast (pun intended) to get on and off that truck, which was often as he was used to promotion when the movie came out.
This Life magazine photo captures all the excitement for the 30th Academy Awards at the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd on March 26, 1958 — the year that The Bridge on the River Kwai won big. And judging by the way the front of the Pantages is DRENCHED in light, those searchlights must have been the big guns.
I’ve been researching and writing about the Garden of Allah Hotel for more than ten years now, so it isn’t often that a new photo surfaces—but it IS exciting! We’re looking west along Sunset Blvd from Crescent Heights Blvd. On the left we can clearly see the ‘Garden of Allah – Villas” sign—it’s actually more striking than I pictured. As Sunset curves around to the left, on the right we can see the Chateau Marmont Hotel, which went up a year or two after the Garden of Allah, and which is still around today. The license plate on the rear of the car in the right foreground is probably from 1936, so can date this photo to circa mid 1930s.
This is one of the most extraordinary finds I’ve come across in all the years I’ve been collecting and posting vintage photos of Los Angeles: TWO Brown Derby restaurants on Wilshire Boulevard! According to the research I’ve done, in 1926 (or 1929, accounts differ), the original Brown Derby opened, facing due south at 3427 Wilshire between Mariposa & Alexandria. In 1937, it moved half a block east to 3377 Wilshire, oriented to the northeast corner of Alexandria. I just assumed they moved the building from one location to the other, but clearly the first one stayed open while a whole new one went up. As we can see from this photo, the new Derby was taller and rounder and came with the “Eat in the Hat” sign on top.
It’s unusual to find a photo of Los Angeles—even a vintage one—with only one person and no buildings in it, so this is a rare gem. The woman and her Chevrolet are admiring what will come to be known as Founders Rock, which was a boulder set into place in 1926 to mark the dedication of the University of California Los Angeles’s Westwood campus. Yes, that’s right, all that vast empty countryside is now the sprawling campus of UCLA. Founders Rock was intended to be a major gathering spot for campus activities, but I don’t think the idea caught on.
The Hollywood and Vine corner is the one with the legendary reputation, but for my money, it’s the Sunset and Vine intersection that hold endless fascination for me. Take this circa late 1940s photo for example: We can see Tom Breneman’s Hollywood restaurant, the Hollywood Plaza Hotel, the Broadway Hollywood department store, and the NBC Studios, which by then had become the KNBH television studios. AND it’s all in color. What’s not to love?
The Hollywood Stars were a minor league baseball team whose home park from 1939 to 1957 was Gilmore Field on Beverly Blvd where the CBS studios now stand. I don’t have a date on this photo but it was at a time when guys still wore jackets and hats and ties to baseball games. I can’t even imagine doing that these days.
In all the years I’ve been living in LA, I’ve never ventured out of the border into Tijuana—mainly because every time I contemplate going, images of vehicles lined up as far as the eye can see cause me to think, “UGH! Forget it!” But maybe I wouldn’t if it still looked like this. This is the Heffernan Avenue Mexican border crossing in Calexico, circa 1933. It almost looks sane and civilized.
I don’t have a date for this postcard of the Ambassador’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub, but it looks to me like it was taken at the peak of its popularity, which was the 1920s or maybe the 30s. the Cocoanut Grove opened in 1921 and remained very popular until the nightclubs along the Sunset Strip took off in the 40s. I love the detailing in the walls above the columns, as well as that glorious light fixture!
This is indeed a rare sight: Angelenos romping in a Los Angeles snowfall, 1932. It looks like it was significant enough to fuel a snow fight. The sight of palm trees and snow isn’t one us locals often see—no wonder they’re all going a bit crazy.