I assume I’m not the only one here who is forever distracted by background locations in old Hollywood movies, and who tries to figure where it was filmed? This is a case in point. In this scene from “Why Worry?” (1923) Harold Lloyd is confronting a policeman as onlookers crowd the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds in Hollywood. What I didn’t know was that prior to Kress opening their five-and-dime department store at 6608 Hollywood Blvd in 1934, they had a smaller store at that intersection. I also love that five-bulb street light, but I especially love that bell on the right. It designates the El Camino Real Highway. I believe (but might be wrong) that the rectangular sign below it gives mileage to the nearest mission.
** UPDATE** – Although he looks really short in this photo, Harold Lloyd was five foot ten. The guy playing the policeman was John Aasen who suffered from gigantism and stood seven foot five.
Jay S says: “From IMDB: ‘Ringling Brothers circus giant Cardiff Giant (aka George Auger) was contracted to play the role of Colosso, but died shortly after filming began. A nationwide publicity campaign was instituted to find a replacement. Norwegian John Aasen, living in Minnesota, was discovered as a result of a newspaper article about his shoe size.’”
Bill M says: “The sign on the El Camino Real Bell shows Mission San Fernando 3 miles. The one facing the other direction would give the miles to Mission San Gabriel. The bells were relocated to the Hollywood Freeway (101) in the 1950s.”
Al M says: “What’s also interesting, and goes right by the modern eye, is the sign for Stein’s makeup. Makeup for the masses was fairly new in the early 1920s and Steins was one of Max Factor’s main competitors – so a sign that big during that era was extremely significant. As far as I knew, Steins was based in NYC . . I know they were down in the Bowery for the longest time supplying materials for Broadway shows. I had no idea they had an LA presence at any time.”
This is how the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga Blvds looked in May 2022.
I don’t have a date for this night shot looking south down Vine St from the Plaza Hotel, just south of Hollywood and Vine, but from what I can see of the cars, it looks to be circa 1930s. But it’s obvious that the best thing the Brown Derby could have done was put up a huge, bright neon sign in the shape of a hat to remind people this was the place to eat. I also love how freshly fallen rain reflecting off the sidewalk on the west side of Vine adds to the atmosphere of this image.
The Angelenos we can see lining up out front of the Orpheum Theater at 842 S. Broadway in downtown LA must have really wanted to see Cab Calloway perform because they had to brave an unusual snowfall to do it. It looks like it’s barely an inch thick on the sidewalk, which is nothing for you hale and hardy New Englanders, but is enough for us Californians to think twice before leaving the house. The caption on this photo said the photo was taken on February 20, 1944.
In 1939, 
I love that this photographer thought to take a night photo of the glowing neon surrounding the Bundy Theatre in Santa Monica, silhouetting that car parked out front. But what I love even more is that several of the letters were out, which gives it a gritty film noir feel. The Bundy was playing Lawrence Olivier’s “Henry V” which puts this photo at 1946. Opening on December 31, 1941, the theater stood at 3414 Pico Blvd which was an unfortunate location because it stood in the way of the Santa Monica Freeway and forced to close in January 1963.
I don’t know the exact location of this Owl Rexall drugstore in Redondo Beach, but when they opened in June of 1950, we can see they switched on ALL the lights. In real life, it probably didn’t look quite this bright (due to the camera’s slow aperture needed for a night shot) but I’d imagine that all the locals were very aware a new Owl was in town.
This photo from 1888, we’re looking south along the bluffs of Santa Monica Beach. To be honest, I’m surprised to see so many beach huts filling the shoreline (I assume that’s what they were, and that people owned them?), especially seeing as how the whole population of Los Angeles hadn’t yet reached 50,000 people. Those bluffs are almost vertical so I’m sure the locals sure appreciated those stairs, but I wonder how rickety they became buffeted by the weather like that. Ditto the pier we can see in the background.
Here we have a Southern Pacific Interurban streetcar taking the curve at the intersection of Hill and 6th Sts, downtown Los Angeles. The photographer had his back to Pershing Square in what was probably very late 1946 or early 1947. We know that because the Paramount Theatre (323 W. 6th St) was playing the 1946 Christmas release “Cross My Heart” starring Betty Hutton. Two other things in this photo we don’t see quite so much any more are signs for Chop Suey (at the Marigold Café, 329 W. 6th St) and 
