The building housing the Vista Tea Room by the Santa Monica pier looks to be very interesting. It has cute, decorative balconies, so I’d say the upper floors were a hotel. I love the sign opposite: Over The Waves Lunch (Spaghetti Italian). But I especially love that little (electric?) trolley with the striped awning that’s taking its passengers down to the beach. I wonder how much a ride cost? This photo is from the 1920s, so I’m guessing one penny?
Leonard W says: “That is one of the cars from the old Venice Electric Tram company, which operated on a route from Venice to Santa Monica. In 1915 the fare was 5 Cents. Here is an ad from the “Evening Vanguard” August 12, 1915.”
When CBS Radio opened their new Columbia Square studios at 6121 Sunset Blvd on April 30, 1938, they invited as many as would fit into their forecourt. Or maybe that crowd was just the public hoping to glimpse a celebrity or get a balloon. I gave a photo of the 
In this color photo (probably a postcard) we’re looking north up Vine St toward the Hollywood and Vine intersection. The Capitol Records building is open, which means it was taken after 1956. We can also see scaffolding on the northeast corner; it looks like 
These days, the people who live near the Hollywood sign actively discourage tourists walking through the Hollywood Hills trying to get to the sign. They have people traipsing up and down their streets all day long trying to find the perfect angle for the perfect selfie, so I don’t blame them. These three women had no such concerns as they were hiking up the bare canyons toward the sign that back then still read “Hollywoodland.” The caption for this photo dates this as circa 1938.
From the “They Sure Don’t Build Office Buildings Like That Anymore” file come this shot of the gorgeous building that housed the Los Angeles First National Trust and Savings Bank. It stood at the corner of Lake Ave and Colorado Blvd in Pasadena. This photo is circa 1928. And while it may not have been a big building, it’s loaded with charm. Just look at that band of detailing that enveloped the building above the arches. But also note the network of electric lines for the streetcars. I wish LA still had streetcars, but these lines made for an unattractive cityscape.
Yesterday’s photo of snowfall in Van Nuys prompted Joel Sanoff to post this photo in the thread. It’s so great that I thought I’d feature it today. These two gas station workers are shoveling snow on the corner of Ventura Blvd and Topanga Canyon Blvd in the Woodland Hills area of the San Fernando Valley. This photo was taken in January 1949, back when I bet those two guys would clean your windshield and check your oil while they pumped your gas.
As you may have heard, Los Angeles has been subject to a lot of weather these past few days: an atmospheric river that brought us nearly half a year’s worth of rain (if news services can be believed.) So I thought I’d post this photo taken in 1948, when LA also received unusual weather — snow! — outside 14248 Sylvan St, Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Snowfall in LA isn’t unheard of, but on this particular occasion it looks like they got quite a coating. That layer on the hedge looks to be several inches deep.
One of the comments on yesterday’s photo of the Chaplin Studios was from Andrew John Smith, who posted this photo taken the same year, circa September 1925. It’s the El Capitan Theatre under construction at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. These days, we know it as a movie palace, but when it opened on May 3, 1926 it was a legitimate house whose first stage show was “Charlotte’s Revue of 1926” starring Gertrude Lawrence. It didn’t convert to movies until 1937. But in this photo we can see the Masonic Temple, which had opened in 1921. And in the background we can see the Hotel Christie, which had opened in 1922. All three of these buildings are still around so, in a way, what we’re seeing is the Hollywood Blvd we know today starting to take shape.
This is the sort of photo (I’m guessing a postcard) that I’d love to dive into and take an evening stroll in. We’re looking west from the Warner Bros. Theatre at 6433 Hollywood Blvd. The year was probably 1962 because the movie playing at the time was “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” – a Cinerama format picture (put out, ironically, by MGM.) In a street sizzling with neon lights, it’s the huge Coca-Cola sign that dominated the scene during this era.