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.
Here’s a 1929 newspaper ad for the Santa Claus Lane Christmas Parade down Hollywood Blvd for what would have been the second annual parade:
The song “Here Comes Santa Claus” was written/sung by Gene Autry, and was inspired by the Santa Claus Lane Parade?
This is how that same view looked in August 2022. That building with the Art Deco tower on the corner is still there, as is the Egyptian Theatre.
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.
I don’t know who Ken was, but between his hamburgers, his ice cream stand, and his Dinner Bell restaurant, he must have been a busy guy. I could find no information on this photo or on any of Ken’s businesses other than they were somewhere in California. But in a way, this photo is kind of timeless, like a scene from a film noir where a schmo meets a femme fatale and tomfoolery ensues.
In all the vintage photos I’ve posted over the last 10+ years, I don’t recall seeing a traffic signal that looked like this one in Pasadena in 1928. With that black chord hanging from above, I assume the signal was powered by electricity. Can we assume those two lights were red and green? Those two semi-circular sections above them — one of them reads “STOP.” So can we also assume that the back of the right-hand one says “GO”?
This circa late 1930s photo proves that modern-day Angelenos haven’t been the only ones who had to put up with heavy traffic. In this circa late 1930s shot, we’re seeing an Alvarado St clogged with automobiles and streetcars. According to the caption, this was taken at Wilshire Blvd, which means those palm trees on the right line what was then known as Westlake Park, but was later renamed MacArthur Park, where someone famously left the cake out in the rain.
Being the destination of choice for winter-fleeing Easterners, Pasadena also offered its residents this large and graceful library at 285 East Walnut St. And with the lot across the street empty, there was also easy parking for all those practically identical cars. This photo was taken in 1930, when among the most popular novels were Edna Ferber’s “Cimarron” and William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying”, and Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon.” I wonder if any of the drivers of those cars were in the library asking for a copy of any of those books.