What we’re seeing here is the back of the 45-by-60-foot screen of the Vermont Drive-In that opened on October 23, 1947 at 17737 S. Vermont Ave in Gardena, not far from Redondo Beach. (The opening double bill was “Dear Ruth” starring William Holden and “Fear in the Night.”) I’m not sure what’s going on in that painting. I think it’s Snow White dancing with the dwarfs next to a five-foot mushroom. I suspect the subtext here is that they all ate some of the mushroom and now they’re all tripping . . . or at least enjoying nature—a lot.
Here’s a side-by-side aerial comparison of the area. The drive-in closed in 1999 and was redeveloped as housing. I assume the top photo is from the 1940s; the bottom one is from 2021.
This shot from 1928 is more of a “slice of yesteryear life” showing how packed the sidewalks of Broadway was in downtown Los Angeles. 731 S. Broadway was home to a store called College Boot Shop, which looks like specialized in kids school shoes. It must have been a big market because they also had stores at 251 and 524 Broadway. Maybe Broadway is so busy because it’s the end of summer and people were getting in their back-to-school shopping. I’m also intrigued by “The Paris Store” two doors down. I’m guessing they sold fancy clothes, but I’d love to see their window display.
The photographer of this shot was standing on Broadway just south of Seventh St and the MGM-owned Loew’s State Theater. Playing at Loew’s was MGM’s “Double Wedding” paired with a Jane Withers movie, “45 Fathers” which was – surprisingly – A 20th Century-Fox release. This shot was taken at Christmas 1937, which explains why the sidewalk was packed with, I assume, holiday shoppers like woman in front with a package under her arm. It must have been a balmy holiday season that year—I’m not seeing any overcoats or furs.
If you take a closer look at the street car in this 1919 photo, you’ll see that it is so jam-packed with passengers that two guys have climbed onto the roof. I’m not sure how they got up there or how they got down, or why nobody stopped them. I’m sure it was probably against some law or other, but it made for a great photo. It was taken at the corner of Eleventh and Flower Streets in downtown Los Angeles.
I don’t know if this photo of NBC’s KNBH television studios at Sunset and Vine has been colorized, but it looks so natural, I’m guessing it’s a genuine color photo. NBC converted its radio studios to television in 1949, so this shot was taken after that. That black stripe across the top of the building intrigues me. It looks like one of those electronic scrolls called a ‘flashcast’ that relayed breaking news. KFWB installed one around the Taft building at Hollywood and Vine in 1946 so maybe NBC set it up to compete with them?
Commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to L.A. veterans of World War I, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum quickly became one of those city landmarks that it would be hard to imagine L.A. without. Construction broke ground on December 21, 1921, and the stadium opened on May 1, 1923, so I’m guessing this aerial photograph, taken when the shape of the Coliseum had become visible, is from the second half of 1922. The area around it is more developed than I’d have expected. In the upper left corner we can see the Exposition Park Rose Garden, which is still around today.
Here we have some Hollywood history in the making. It’s a photo of RKO’s Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles during the original run of Universal Pictures’ “Frankenstein” in 1932. I love how the marquee dares you to meet the monster in their epic of terror. It worked because the movie cost $262,000 to make and pulled in $12 million at the box office. My guess is that “Frankenstein” had a long run at the Orpheum.
It makes me wonder what drama was unfolding inside the Vine Street Brown Derby that needed the LAPD. Perhaps there was a contretemps in the Brown Derby Liquor Shop (which is hard to miss with that red neon sign) and that yellow 1956 Buick was the getaway car. It’s nice to see the place closer up than from the west side of the street, which is how we usually view it. What I’d really love to find is a close-up of that decorative pattern on the wall above the awning. It looks to be quite detailed.
The 130-foot tower atop the 
Fairfax Theatre is a gorgeous example of Art Deco, and stands on the northwest corner of Fairfax Ave and Beverly Blvd. It opened on March 26,1930, and this photo was, I imagine, taken not long after that. Judging by that sign on the roof, their big selling point was that all seats at all times cost 30 cents. Sounds like a good deal to me. And with a drug store next door, you could go to the movies and have lunch before or dinner after, all for under a buck. Being the early 1930s, radio was a big competitor for peoples’ attention so I’m kind of surprised to see that Bronster Radio Co in the same building.
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