** UPDATE ** – Apparently this photo was taken in 1954.
In this atmospheric shot taken at dawn (I assume, because there’s little traffic), we’re looking north up Vine St toward the Taft building on the southeast corner of Hollywood Blvd. This shot gives us an idea of how massive that “Miller High Life Beer” sign was. It’s no wonder it’s so prominent in photos taken of the area at the time. (This photo is circa 1950s.) We can also see electric signs for Western Airlines and the Brown Derby Coffee Shop. Another one is for a popular bar at the time called The Office, which I assume was named so that wayward businessmen could legitimately tell their wives “But darling, I was at the office!”
This is roughly that same view in June 2021.
One of LA’s most popular streetcar routes was the one that took Angelinos along Hollywood Blvd. However when the original tracks were laid, Hollywood Blvd was still known by its original name, Prospect Ave. Lucky for us, some intrepid photographer captured this image of the Los Angeles Pacific Railway laying down the tracks on what looks to be a dirt road. Work on the route began on December 15, 1899, and took five months to complete. So I’m guesstimating this photo was taken circa early 1900. When I look at images like these, I can’t help but wonder what those road workers would think if they saw how Hollywood Blvd looks these days.
Two days ago I posted a photo from the 1920s 
Bob’s Big Boy was a chain of Southern California diners that was started by Bob Wian in 1936. There was 9 restaurants in total, only one of which remains in operation (in Toluca Lake, near Warner Bros.) The one pictured in this rather atmospheric night shot from 1948 was at 624 S. San Fernando Blvd in Burbank. From the look of the signage, it seems they served something for everyone: chili, steaks, sandwiches, salads, and of course hamburgers, known as the Bob’s Big Boy.
A couple of days ago, I posted a photo of 
The photographer who took this color photo was standing on Selma Ave and looking west across Vine St in Hollywood to two landmark buildings during the circa mid-1950s: the American Broadcasting Co’s studios, which by then would have been making television programs, and the Santa Fe Railway’s ticket office. But to be honest, the sign that intrigues me the most of the small one on the left: Sachson’s Mens Shop. I assume it was a menswear store, but I’ve never encountered it before. And neither has Google, which isn’t something I get to say very often.
Here we have a photo of a movie house called College Theater (so named because it was around the corner from the State Normal School, which was a teaching college.) It was at 449 S. Hill St in downtown Los Angeles which also put in a block from Pershing Square right in the heart of downtown. The double bill at the time was “Blonde by Choice” and “Pretty Clothes” both of which came out in late 1927. By the time this photo was taken, “The Jazz Singer” had come out, so places like this were on the way out—even if all seats were 10 cents, as the sign says.
I could find very little information about this promotional advertisement for the merchants of Hollywood Blvd, other than it was placed by the Hollywood Blvd Association at 6605 Hollywood Blvd. The person who sent it to me says it’s circa 1930, which sounds about right. Among the merchants listed in the building on the southwest corner of Hollywood and Vine is B.H. Dyas, which opened their store in 1927 and lasted only until 1931, when it fell victim to the Depression, and became the Broadway-Hollywood department store. With its text that says “Drop in on the style center of the world – November 15th, 16th, 17th” I’d say the association was doing a special promo to attract customers to the boulevard. If had any empty wall space, I’d been tempted to print this out and put it in a nice frame.
In this photo, we’re looking up Hill St from 4th St in downtown Los Angeles. In the distance, we can see the arches of (I think) 2nd St before it angled up the Bunker Hill slope. This photo was taken in 1939, when the streets of Los Angeles featured at least three things we don’t see anymore: five-globe streetlights (far right), semaphore traffic signal (far left), and up the center, a streetcar. From the sign, it looks like it’s going to the corner of Adams (Blvd) and Alsace (Ave), which I had to look up. It’s the stretch of Adams Blvd as it starts to head into Culver City, which is quite a distance from where this photo was taken.