Look how many Angelenos turned out to watch a Victory Loan Parade as it made its way northward up Broadway. The cross street here in 7th Street, where “Laura” was playing at the Loew’s State Theatre (where movies ran 24 hours a day to accommodate wartime workers. This photo was taken in December 1944, during WWII, when 4 of 5 street lamps were blacked out on top and instead of Christmas trees decorating the streets, we can see Santas sitting in the middle of a big “V” for Victory.
This is how that same corner looked in February 2023. The building is largely intact, and the Loew’s State is now a church.
Until I came across this photo, I didn’t even know that Alhambra (roughly 7 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles) ever had an airport. But here we have a photo of the dedication ceremony that took place on April 17, 1930 when the airport terminal was covered in patriotic bunting. It was built by the airline known then as Western Air Express, which eventually became Western Airlines before it merged with Delta in 1987. But back in 1930, it was only 4 years old and still evolving from being a mail carrier. As we can see from this photo, the day attracted a sizeable crowd, but I wonder if maybe seeing the Good Year blimp up close might have a draw. It would have been for me.
The first thing I noticed in this photo was the United Artists blade sign, and the one for Texaco behind it, and then the “ERN” of the Eastern Columbia building. I was so focused on them that I didn’t notice the lit-up Christmas trees lining Broadway. We’re looking north from what was then 10th St but is now Olympic Blvd. It was taken during the 1930 holiday season, back when Broadway bustled with streetcars whose tracks we can see shining in all the electric lights.
I don’t have a date on this color photo of a Van de Kamp’s bakery at the corner of Verdugo Rd and Colorado St, Glendale, but I did find a website showing 
Starting in 1928, a one-mile stretch of Hollywood Blvd used to be temporarily renamed “Santa Claus Lane” for the holiday season. It was a promotional event intended to boost sales for the Hollywood merchants. The highlight of which was the annual parade down Hollywood Blvd. The one we’re seeing here took place on November 24, 1945, which shows both sides of the street thick with crowds. The attendance that night broke all records because in 1942, ’43, and ’44 the parade was suspended because of the war. But that was all over for the people in this photo, and Angelenos turned out in droves to celebrate the first peacetime holiday season.
In April 1938, CBS Radio opened its Columbia Square broadcasting facilities on Sunset Blvd just west of Gower St. NBC Radio opened their studios at Sunset and Vine in October, making that stretch of Sunset Blvd the center of radio broadcasting in Los Angeles. In this vivid color photo, we’re seeing CBS’s Columbia Square sometime in the early 1950s. I love that (what I assume is a) delivery van parked out front. Playing at CBS that day was Art Linkletter’s “House Party” radio show that ran from 1945 to 1967.
Many of the photos of Hollywood Blvd decorated for the holidays with electrified Christmas trees are in black and white, so it’s always great to find one in color. Those Christmas trees changed from time to time, so we can see in 1964, when this photo was taken, they were triangular with giant white stars on top. We’re looking west along the boulevard, and that cross street is Ivar Ave. On the left is the orange neon sign for Leeds, which was a popular shoe store. Does anybody reading this remember it?
The caption on this photo says that the carpet of sparkling lights is Pasadena as seen from Mt Wilson in 1929, which surprised me because I wouldn’t have thought Pasadena would have been that big back then. Mt Wilson is northeast of Pasadena in the San Gabriel Mountains, and is where the Mt. Wilson Observatory stands. I’m assuming the photographer was standing there when he took this striking shot.
I’m always up for a photo of the Vine St Brown Derby in Hollywood—especially if it’s color. It went through various stages, but we can date this to around early 1950s because around then, two things happened. The restaurant was painted the brown color we can see here. (Later in the 1950s, it went back to being white again.) And also their Bamboo Room was renamed the Record Room and decorated with works by an artist named Nicholas Volpe. The Derby commissioned him to do around 200 portraits of recording artists (possibly because Capitol Records was just up the street? But that’s just a guess.)
** UPDATE ** – I was later told that this photo is from 1948.
