I don’t have a lot of information on this photo, but from what I can piece together, it appears to be from the late 1890s when the Tally-Ho carriages would take groups of locals and tourists from Los Angeles (which back then was pretty much just downtown LA) where they would pick up passengers at the main hotels and take them through Pasadena, where more people would join the convoy, and then onto Altadena, where most of them would ride the funicular up Mt. Lowe. Like most trips back then, it would have been at a leisurely clip-clop pace through an untamed landscape like we can see the background.
A convoy of horse-drawn Tally-Ho carriages take Angeleno tourists from Los Angeles to the Altadena Junction, circa late 1890s
An Easter service takes place at the Hollywood Bowl, circa early to mid 1920s
Here we see a shot of an Easter service taking place at the Hollywood Bowl. There was no date on this photo, however the very first Easter service was held in 1921, and the first shell wasn’t built until 1926, so let’s call this photo circa early to mid 1920s when all they had was a wooden stage and a parking lot off to the side. That cross on the hillside, I wonder if it’s filled with a choir?
** UPDATE ** – From John W on Facebook: “April 20, 1924: A crowd of 25,000 attends Easter Sunrise Service at the Hollywood Bowl. This panorama was made from three prints.”
Cecil B. DeMille’s office on the third floor of “The Mansion” at DeMille Studios, Washington Blvd, Culver City, 1927
I recently went down a rabbit-hole researching the history of what is known nowadays as the Culver Studios at 9336 W. Washington Blvd, Culver City, but has been known as Ince Studios, DeMille Studios, RKO-Pathé Studios, Selznick Intl Pictures, and Desilu. This photo in particular caught my eye. In the late 1920s, Cecil B. DeMille decided to leave Paramount and strike out on his own as an independent producer. He found the job was a lot harder than it looked and so he didn’t last long. But while he was there, this is what his office looked like. It was on the third floor of the building known as “The Mansion” (the studio’s admin building modeled on George Washington’s Mt Vernon estate and became familiar to movie-goers when David O. Selznick used it as his logo in the 1940s.) Between the swords and guns mounted on the wall, and the huge polar bear rug on the floor, this is clearly the office of a man of his time. But I have to wonder how many visitors and secretaries tripped over that damned rug.
Whenever I think of “The Mansion” this is what I picture:
“The Mansion” at Culver Studios, Culver City, CA during the time when Cecil B. DeMille leased the studio, circa late 1920s:
Looking north up Spring St toward 3rd St, downtown Los Angeles, 1907
In this atmospheric shot, we’re looking north up Spring St toward 3rd St in downtown Los Angeles. The year was 1907, when the streets of LA were still being shared by horses with carriage and those new-fangled horseless carriages. This is one of those photos where I can practically hear the clang of the streetcar, the wail of the klaxon, and the clip-clop of the horses. I also love seeing those 5-lamp streetlights.
This is how that same intersection looked in January 2023. Unfortunately that building with the turret on the right is gone but the building opposite it that we can just see in the vintage photo is still with us, so that’s something.
Carthay Circle Theater, 6316 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, during the run of MGM’s “The Good Earth” circa February 1937
I’m not sure how the photographer took this photo of the Carthay Circle Theater at 6316 San Vicente Blvd, but it makes for a memorable shot. Not just because it takes in the whole spectacular theater, but because it includes something we don’t often see out front of it: some sort of animal pen holding what appears to be an ox. On the marquee we can see that the movie playing at the time was MGM’s “The Good Earth” which is about the hardscrabble lives of Chinese peasants. Its premiere was on January 29, 1937, so I assume that poor ox was some sort of promo put together by the studio? The Carthay Circle opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1969.
Mark Vieira says: “The ox had been brought to the studio to act in the film, which he did. This is in my book Irving Thalberg.” Henrik H on Facebook found this promotional postcard, so maybe this is the same animal. (Several people suggested that the ox is actually a water buffalo.”
A nighttime shot of the Lone Palm Gas Station serving Sunset Gasoline, Long Beach, California, 1934
Here we have a wonderfully atmospheric nighttime shot of the Lone Palm Gas Station somewhere in Long Beach, California in 1934. I couldn’t find much information on it, so I don’t know if that lone palm tree is real or not (those fronds look suspiciously evenly balanced) however they do proudly serve Sunset Gasoline, which is a brand I don’t recall coming cross before. It sounds like a very Californian name, though, doesn’t it?
Craig B on Facebook said this gas station was at the corner of Cherry Ave and E. 4th St.
From Bill M. on Facebook says: “It seems Sunset Pacific Oil Company, aka Sunrise Motor Oils, was in existence from 1928-1934 in California.”
Looking north on Glendon Ave toward Lindbrook Dr., Westwood, Los Angeles, 1934
In this wide shot from 1934, we’re looking north on Glendon Ave toward Lindbrook Dr. in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, close to UCLA. With their soaring towers, those gas stations—Richfield and 76—really want motorists to notice them. We can also see the round turret of Ralph’s supermarket, the dome of the Janss building and Fox Theatre tower. But can anyone tell me what that truck with three loudspeakers is doing in the middle of the photo?
If you’re driving north on Glendon at Lindbrook these days, this is the view. Compared to how it looked in 1934, it’s all rather hemmed in, isn’t it? This image is from November 2021.
Aerial view looking north along Highland Ave as it heads north into Cahuenga Pass, Hollywood, 1926
In this aerial shot of Hollywood follows Highland Ave as it crosses Hollywood Blvd (near the bottom of the photo) then bends to the right before it heads north into the Cahuenga Pass. That white triangle to the right is the wall of the Mulholland Dam/Hollywood Reservoir. The photo was taken in 1926, so it predates Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which opened the following year. That house on the hill about halfway up Highland was built in 1909 by real estate investor, lawyer, banker, newspaper editor, and philanthropist, Rollin B. Lane. In 1961 it was redeveloped as the Magic Castle, a private club for magicians.
This satellite image from May 2022 shows us how Highland Ave still follows the same bendy path through Hollywood.
Two cars collide at an otherwise empty intersection, somewhere in Los Angeles, 1915
The only thing I know about this photo is that it was taken somewhere in Los Angeles in 1915. But you have to laugh—these two cars had the entire intersection to themselves and they STILL managed to get into a tangle. Was that third car making its getaway also involved? Was this the first documented incidence of road rage in LA?
** UPDATE**
Historic Los Angeles on Facebook says: “That is the intersection of Sixth Street and Loma Drive. The stone gate in the foreground led to—or perhaps, by the time the picture was taken, formerly led to—the I. N. Van Nuys house, which in 1915 was moved to, and remains in, Windsor Square.”
Night shot of the Shopping Bag market, possibly at 3100 Foothill Blvd, La Crescenta, circa late 1930s
There are few things more striking than a well-lit night shot of a store that uses neon effectively. This photo came with no caption so I’m not 100% of its location. However, a follower of mine on Facebook found the below photo for a Shopping Bag market at 3100 Foothill Blvd in La Crescenta. The circa 1949 photo below is from a different angle but it looks very similar. Along side it is a Google Street View photo from February 2023.
