** UPDATE** – Bill G says: It’s a lovely photo, but it’s not the grand opening. For one thing, it didn’t say “Egyptian” above the entrance then, only “Grauman’s.” It’s the 1926 double premiere of Mary Pickford’s Sparrows and The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks and Billie Dove.”
One of the stops I’d be likely to choose in my Time Travel Machine Adventure is this night. Those people who have gathered in the forecourt of Sid Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre at 6708 Hollywood Blvd are there for the theater’s grand opening. The movie chosen to honor the event was “Robin Hood” starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. This night marks the first big, splashy premiere in the city of Hollywood. And according to one report I read, it also introduced the concept of walking the red carpet at the opening of a movie. The tradition itself dates back to 1902, when the New York Central Railroad began using them for their passengers on the 20th Century Limited train, but the night captured in this photo was the first time it was used in Hollywood.
This, however, is what the souvenir program that attendees got at the Egyptian Theatre’s opening night on October 18, 1922:
As we can see from these three images, Bill G was right about adding “Egyptian” later:
Mary M told me that this was the podium where guests signed the guest book, which was located in the courtyard:
Egyptian Theatre model
I do enjoy coming across a photo of the original “Eat in the Hat” Brown Derby restaurant, and although this one isn’t very big, it is wide enough to give us the context of its location. We can see that by the time this photo was taken in 1948, the Derby had added its outdoor-with-umbrellas dining option. We can also see that it had one of those striking streetlamps out front. It was called the Wilshire Special because they were made to only light up Wilshire Blvd.
You want to talk about the Wild West? This was the true Wild West: Driving north up Vine Street without any traffic lanes painted on the road. Generally speaking, I guess drivers stuck to the right hand side of the street but whatever. Drive wherever you like! In this shot, those foolhardy motorists are approaching Santa Monica Blvd, where the military surplus store now stands. This shot was taken in 1925, when the southern stretch of Vine still had residential homes lining it, and the Hollywoodland sign was only 2 years old.
The local Angelenos lucky enough to live within driving distance of Anaheim were treated to Disneyland’s opening day parade on Sunday July 17, 1955. In this shot, it’s making its way up Main Street from the front entrance to the circular plaza where the statue of Walter Disney and Mickey Mouse now stands. I’m not sure what those nine vehicles are in the foreground. Dodge ’em cars? I don’t know who those people are who got to ride in them, but it must have been a memorable day for them. Well, for everybody, I’d say!
The vitality of this color photo is particularly striking, isn’t it? Although no longer around, those oil wells in the background used to dot the Signal Hill area of Long Beach for decades. It must have been a dirty, smelly, and noisy place to drive through, but hey, oil was king! The silver car is a circa 1950 Chevrolet, but the license plates on the Ford Model A jalopy in the foreground have a yellow tag which dates this photo to 1952.
I don’t know what was going on that day on Hollywood Blvd but it appears that someone had fallen down and couldn’t get up. I hope everything turned out okay for them, but I can’t help wondering what that patch of road is with the curving painted lines. It looks like it used to be a zone where people would wait for the streetcar, but judging from the 1964 Ford Thunderbird in the background, I’d say this photo is circa mid-1960s, by which time the streetcars had been gone for nearly a decade. This all played out at the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Whitley Ave, where Hollywood’s Largest Toy Shop and a 
A couple of days ago I posted a photo or a rather 
This is just a random drug store that anchors a building which also houses a bunch of other businesses, including a dye works and something called Sunfreze. It was on the corner of West 48th St and Crenshaw Blvd, so it was in the middle of suburbia, not close to anything special, but it caught my eye because I thought it was so cute and so distinctive – especially with all those decorative flourishes along the roofline. Today’s equivalent tend to be so cookie-cutter samey-samey. This photo is from 1931.
Since its creation in 1866, Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles has had many names and taken many forms. In the early 1950s, the whole thing was dug up so that a 5-level underground parking structure could be built. This photo was taken in 1968 by which time the grass and trees planted in the thin layer of top soil had had a chance to take root, but oh dear, the whole thing looks rather forlorn, doesn’t it?
In this color photo, we’re looking west along Hollywood Blvd from Cherokee Ave. This was taken in 1968 by which time the streetcar tracks had been ripped up and the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame had reached as far as Cherokee. There’s no telling what day of the week this photo was taken on, but the boulevard doesn’t look too busy. Musso & Frank Grill is still there, as is the Vogue Theatre (these days known as the Vogue Multicultural Museum, whatever that is.) And in the distance past the white building with the tower we can see a glimpse of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Hollywood building, which opened in 1959, having replaced the Hollywood Hotel.