In this glorious 1957 color photo, we’re looking at the Janss Dome Building where Westwood Blvd meets Broxton Ave in Westwood Village near UCLA. The building was the first one built in Westwood Village and served as the headquarters for Edwin and Harold Janss, the brothers who were the original developers of the area. In the background, we can see the soaring tower of the Fox Theater, which went up in 1931 and became a popular venue for Hollywood premieres. But the detail I really love about this photo are the two orange cars approaching the intersection, which makes me think we just don’t see enough orange cars on the roads these days.
The Dome building is still there – it’s currently a restaurant – and the Fox Theatre is too, not that either are easy to see. They’re both hidden by lots of lovely trees! This image is from July 2021.
I do love the clean Streamline Moderne lines on this building. In 1949, Capitol Records bought what had then been the studios of KHJ radio at 5515 Melrose Ave, which put it sandwiched between RKO and Paramount. The fact that one of Capitol’s original investors was Buddy DeSylva, who was a producer at Paramount probably isn’t a coincidence.
In my first job in LA, I drove from the San Fernando Valley to LA International Airport and back via the San Diego 405 Freeway. And every morning at 6.30am driving south through the Sepulveda Pass, the traffic would already be so heavy that we’d stop. All six lanes of us would brake, then crawl, then brake, then crawl. And I would think “What must have it been like before they put the freeway in?” This photo from 1956 give us an idea as it shows the freeway in the early stages of construction when it was still a wide gash of dirt carved into the Sepulveda Pass.
Many people (including me!) have enjoyed the photos I’ve posted recently (
Evidently, the city of Santa Monica decided to widen Main Street in 1930. What I don’t quite understand is what’s going on in this photo. It’s obviously wide enough now to accommodate angled parking on both sides and two lanes of traffic, so why there’s a single line of traffic heading away from the beach is a little odd. Perhaps it was the inaugural parade of drivers who wanted to be among the first to drive the new-and-improved Main Street?
About a week ago, I 
There’s something awfully special about theaters blazing with light at night, especially the older ones. This theater was called the Palace and it stood at 30 Pine Avenue in Long Beach. Paramount’s “The Girl at Home” starring Vivien Martin was playing at the time, which pegs this shot at 1917. I love how each of the lights have a warm glow about them. And look at their neighbor, “Persian Dye Works.” I doubt they scored any spillover business after the picture got out.
Here’s a marvelous behind-the-scenes shot of movie history in the making. Some intrepid photographer climbed up into the rafters of Stage 27 at MGM during the production of “The Wizard of Oz” when they were filming Judy Garland’s Dorothy talking to Billie Burke’s Glinda on the munchkin village set. The photographer was close enough for us to see the set but far back enough for us to take in the technical goings-on behind the camera. “The Wizard of Oz” shot from October 13, 1938 to March 16, 1939. If anyone knows when this specific sequence was shot, I’d love to hear from you!
In the early 1920s, it was determined that Los Angeles needed a bigger, better central library. A site was chosen at the corner of Flower and 5th Streets and the LA Central Library was built in 1925. This photo was taken on 5th St during its construction. It looks like the main park was well on its way and buried beneath all that scaffolding is the library’s iconic pyramidal tower. This photo is also a reminder that there wasn’t much difference in automobiles in the mid-20s, which only serves to make that little roadster in the middle stand out.
On the one hand, I wish this circa 1930s shot was sharper so that we could see the details more clearly. But on the other hand, the blurry murkiness adds to the atmosphere, doesn’t it? This photo was taken at dusk looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Detroit St toward the McDonnell’s Wilshire Café on the north side of Wilshire and the Dominguez-Wilshire building on the south. That building housed Myer Seigel, which was a women’s clothing store and if this photo is anything to go by, Angelenos could see their sign for miles around.