This photo captures a time when downtown Los Angeles wasn’t all shiny glass skyscrapers. Here we have the old Los Angeles County Courthouse (on the left) and the Hall of Records (right) dwarfed by the then-new Los Angeles City Hall. The courthouse was so atmospheric that it’s a pity it couldn’t survive the extensive damage it received from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. From the “Fire Prevention Year” billboard, we know this photo was taken in 1927, which means the new City Hall was probably still being finished as its dedication ceremony took place on April 26, 1928. When the light hits it just right, it sure stands out, doesn’t it?
The 3,000+ acres of land that industrialist Griffith J. Griffith donated to the city of Los Angeles makes a stark background for this striking photo of the Griffith Observatory taken at dusk circa 1937. The observatory had opened in 1935, so for Angelenos, it was probably still a new sight to see in the night sky. This photo was taken from the Los Feliz area which sits at the foot of the hills atop which the Observatory sits.
From the rather vague caption that was attached to this photo from 1941, it seems this crowd had gathered for an Easter Parade on what appears to be the grounds of the Ambassador Hotel. That road with the traffic is Wilshire Blvd and across the street are the Gaylord Apartments (named after Henry Gaylord Wilshire.) So these people have crowded together on both sides of—what do we call it? A runway? And did people walk down the middle showing off their Easter bonnets? Was that the whole show? Does anyone reading this know for sure?
Carpenter’s was a popular mini chain of drive-in restaurants around LA in the 1930s and 40s. Probably their best-known location was at the corner of Sunset and Vine. This one was at Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave. (The skyscraper in the background is the Wilshire Professional Building, which is still there. Across the street is the Wiltern Theatre.) A number of ads and postcards I’ve seen for Carpenter’s advertise their “Chicken in the Rough” which was a dish of half a fried chicken, shoestring potatoes, and a biscuit with honey. The vehicle in front is a 1937 Ford, so let’s call this photo circa late 1930s.
After yesterday’s photo of the so-called “safety zone” which was really just a rectangle of painted asphalt, I’m now starting to see them everywhere. In this one, we’re looking west along Hollywood Blvd from east of Cahuenga Blvd. This one has four little domes, which I’m guessing were for the benefit of errant drivers, alerting them to the fact that they had driven into the streetcar passenger waiting zone. This photo was taken in 1938, and from the metal Christmas trees mounted on the streetlights, it’s safe to assume it was December.
Photos like this give me the heebie-jeebies. We’re looking north up Vermont Ave toward a streetcar turning west onto 3rd Street. It was taken in 1939 when Los Angeles was spiderwebbed with streetcar tracks. But I fear for the safety of passengers. All that’s separating them from a collision course with a reckless driver is a stripe of white paint and that little barrier so low that it barely rates as a barrier. I know cars didn’t go quite so fast back then, but still. This sight make me slightly sweaty.
On March 21, 1958, Dean Martin along with a business partner and freshly split from Jerry Lewis, opened Dino’s Lodge in the building where a failed restaurant called The Alpine Lodge used to operate. Serving Italian food, evidently (and somewhat predictably) it had Rat Pack feel with dark wood and plush booths. It was also featured in the TV series “77 Sunset Strip” even though such an address didn’t exist. Dino’s Lodge was on the Sunset Strip, but this bright red 1959 Rambler station wagon was parked at 8524 Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood.
This photo takes us back to a time when Hollywood Blvd offered nighttime strollers a smorgasbord of window shopping delight. We’re looking east along Hollywood Blvd toward the Iris theater at 6508. Just within the frame of this shot we can see four stores, each with a display lit up at night and neon signs. I love the Art Deco blade sign for the Iris, however I’m not so sure about their claim that those two movies were “two great hits” – I had to dig deep on IMDB to find them. “Renegades” came out in 1946 and “The Desperadoes” in 1943, but they do let us date this photo circa late 1940s.
United Artists went all out for the August 8, 1938 premiere of “Algiers” starring Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr at the 4 Star Theatre at 5112 Wilshire Blvd which they draped with all sorts of banners and flags, which I assume they kept up for the run of the movie. At the time, it was quite a hot ticket because it was the first American movie to star the new European discovery, Hedy Lamarr. Moviegoers certainly got their money’s worth in those days. As well as the movie, they were shown a Robert Benchley short and a Walt Disney cartoon.
Here is scenic streetcar ride I’d like to have taken when it was around. This Pacific Electric Red Car is rolling northward out of Redondo on the ‘Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey’ streetcar route that followed the coastline south of where LA International Airport now is. In fact, that photo was probably snapped at roughly the site of LAX. But to ride a streetcar close enough to the beach to be able to jump directly into the sand seems a very Californian thing to do. The line closed in 1930 and I suspect this photo was taken around that time.
