On the Argyle St side of the Capitol Records building north of Hollywood Blvd stood the Little Country Church of Hollywood. It burnt down in 1997 but in this photo, we can see that it was landscaped front with a flagstone path and lots of lush greenery with which the photographer could frame what would then have been a new and instantly iconic addition to the Hollywood skyline. The building opened in 1956, and I spy with my little eye a mid-1950s Ford station wagon on the left, which makes me suspect that this photo was taken not long after the opening.
The Little Country Church of Hollywood, Argyle St, Hollywood, undated:
Roughly the same view in November 2021:
The photographer who took this photo on February 7, 1938 was standing between the streetcar tracks running along Highland Ave. He was standing south of Sunset Blvd looking north toward Hollywood Blvd, where we can see the Hollywood First National Bank building and the Hollywood United Methodist Church, both of which are still there. Sadly, what’s no longer there is the Currie’s Ice Cream parlor on the northeast corner of Sunset and Highland. I’ve heard that their ice cream was deeel-lish!
Here’s a slice of Los Angeles life from in 1942: A streetcar stops in front of the State Theatre at Broadway and 7th Street in downtown L.A. The only protection those streetcar riders have from the traffic is that raised platform, which is more than they usually got, if other photos of the era are anything to go by. The State Theatre was a Loew’s house showing mostly MGM movies, but at this time it was playing Joan Bennett picture, and none of her 1942 releases was from MGM. Like most theaters, the State pushed the purchase of war bonds and stamps. During WWII, it also played movies 24 hours a day to accommodate shift workers at the war factories who worked around the clock.
In this shot, we’re looking at the 24-room Lookout Mountain Inn that sat atop the aptly named Lookout Mountain off Laurel Canyon. It was built 1910 with verandas on three sides that allowed the $15-a-week guests to take in the view that stretched from downtown L.A. on the left and the Pacific Ocean on the right. Not that there would have been a lot to see back in 1910, but Hollywood would have started to take the form we know it to be these days. Sadly, the hotel only lasted 8 years before being lost to a brush file. These days, a private home occupies that site, and I can only imagine the view those people enjoy.
Across Wilshire Blvd from the Ambassador Hotel and across Alexandria Ave from the original Brown Derby was the Chapman Park Hotel, which stood on the northwest corner from 1936 to late 1960s on a 5-acre site with a tower and bungalows. This photo was taken in 1947 and features its public bar, the Zephyr Room. Those two towers in the background belonged to radio station KFAC who, starting in the mid-1930s, broadcast classical music from the Packard Bell building at 3457 Wilshire that had once been a showroom for Auburn and Cord automobiles.
In this photo we’re looking east along Sunset Blvd from Fairfax Ave. It looks like the city is in the process of turning Sunset from a dirt path into a sealed road. And it’s a good thing, too, because this photo was taken in 1902, so the onslaught of horseless carriages is on the horizon, and after that, the morning peak hour isn’t too far away.
In this rather atmospheric photo, we’re looking west along Hollywood Boulevard from Cahuenga Blvd in 1928. From the electric Christmas trees lining the street, we know it’s Christmastime when the boulevard was known as “Santa Claus Lane.” We can see the vertical sign for the Warner Bros. theater which would have been playing one of the early talkies that Warners were making during the year after they had changed the game with “The Jazz Singer.” On the billboard we can see Charlie Chaplin shilling for Old Gold cigarettes, who apparently guarantee “Not a cough in a carload.” Sounds like a rather dubious claim, if you ask me.
When I first saw this photo, I couldn’t understand why Carmen Miranda would be dancing on a car in front of the Melody Lane restaurant on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine. And why did it look as though the intersection was packed with people? So I did some digging and found that the photo was taken on August 14, 1945, which is the date that President Truman announced to the American people that the Japanese had agreed in principle to the Allied’s terms of surrender, which meant that World War II was finally over. The news hit the west coast at 4pm at which time it felt like, according to one report I read, “every siren and automobile horn in Los Angeles went off.” The unofficial epicenter of the celebrations quickly became Hollywood and Vine. I don’t know how Miranda ended up performing for the crowds, but if they ever make a time machine, this time and place will be one of my destinations.
There’s just something about night shots with all those shadows, especially at drive-in restaurants where the bright lights bounce off the polished paint jobs on the cars. Tiny Naylors was a very popular place that stood at the northwest corner of Sunset Blvd and La Brea Ave. This photo was taken in 1949, which is the year the place opened, so everything here was brand spanking new.
A week after the November 11 Armistice brought World War I to an end, the main public square, which had been known as Central Park since 1894 was renamed in honor of General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in France. These days, Pershing Square has only a few patches of greenery, but back then, it was offered a calm and shady respite from the L.A. sun and a lovely fountain to splash in as we can see from this 1918 bird’s-eye view.
