Yesterday’s photo of Sunset Blvd was taken from under the marquee of the Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset. While double-checking the address, I came across this marvelously atmospheric night shot. I love how the building glows with neon light. It must have been a sight to see in person. It opened on December 25, 1938 with a cast of 60 girls advertised as “The most beautiful girls in the world.” This photo was taken sometime in 1939, so the nightclub would still have been sparklingly new.
When this image of 6230 Sunset was captured in June 2022, the building that once housed the Earl Carroll Theatre had been repainted for the Quentin Tarantino movie, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” to resemble how it looked during its Aquarius incarnation. Since then, I’ve heard that developers have restored the theater to its former glory. Let’s hope they’ll let us mere mortal civilians get a peek inside.
A couple of days ago, I posted a night shot of the 
Simon’s Restaurants were a large chain of LA restaurants in the 30s and 40s. I found this photo on a blog post by Alison Martino in which she said this one was near the Orpheum Theater in downtown LA. I have a Simon’s menu that lists 26 different locations, and one of them is at 830 S. Broadway, which puts it right next door. The fact that this sign says “Restaurants” with an s indicates to me that this might have been their headquarters with a restaurant on the ground floor. My contact at the Petersen said that he’s almost positive that magnificent automobile parked out front is a 1933 Pierce-Arrow, so let’s call this photo “circa mid-1930s.”
How cute is this gas station with a miniature Goodyear blimp over their pumps?! It stood at the corner of S. La Brea Ave and W. 2nd St, which puts it not far from the La Brea Tar Pits. From the words “Vulcanizing” and “Tire Service” in the background, I’m guessing this gas station also did a roaring trade in tires, which explains the mini Goodyear blimp. This photo is from 1931, so those two Angelenos were lucky to have job in the depth of the Depression.
I do love a well-lit nighttime shot, especially when it featured signage of backlit letters. This was the CBS radio studios, known as Columbia Square. The KNX featured on the blade sign refers to the CBS affiliate radio station for Los Angeles. Columbia Square opened on April 30, 1938 and this photo was taken in 1939, so the place was still so brand-spanking new that the linoleum probably still smelled of that fresh-out-of-the factory aroma.
Here we have a photo that hearkens back to the days when we had grocery stores that displayed their fruit and vegetables out on the street. Shopping Bag was a chain of grocery stores that began with a little store on Wilshire Blvd in 1930. This location was at the southwest corner of Honolulu Ave and Market St, Montrose, north of Glendale. The billboard appears to be advertising Honey-Meel Bread, whose slogan was “Tastes Better Toasts Better.” At the bottom, there appears to be a reference to the Lone Ranger, whose radio show started in 1933, so perhaps Honey-Meel was a sponsor? So I’m dating this photo circa mid-1930s.
One of the most colorful characters to come out of Culver City was an energetic entrepreneur named Frank Sebastian. Over his multi-decade career, he owned many venues, but the one he’s best known for was Sebastian’s Cotton Club at the intersection of Washington and National Blvds. He transformed the former Green Mill into one of the most respected jazz joints in LA. He sure gave its patrons value for money with “3 shows nitely” as we can see in this photo which I’m guessing was taken when the club was at the height of its popularity, during the Depression. Sebastian shuttered the Cotton Club in 1938 and in 1939 reopened it as Casa Manaña.
When I think of Technicolor (and I often do) I think of their large, white, 3-story building at 6311 Romaine St. in Hollywood. So I was somewhat surprised when someone sent me this photo asking if I knew they had a different building prior to the Romaine location. These headquarters stood at 823 Seward St in Hollywood, which puts it around 8 blocks west of Paramount. It was built in 1930 and so I assume this photo was taken within a year or two.
In this photo we see six merchants in East Hollywood lined up with their automobiles outside a general store called Hasting’s Place. The store stood at the corner of Vermont Avenue and Hollywood Blvd, at the eastern end of the Pacific Electric Red Car line. Apparently they’d line up like this every Sunday and take visitors to Griffith Park for 10 cents. You can see a sign on the front of each vehicle. Would they still have called them “horseless carriages” by the time this photo was taken in around 1915?
