This one comes from the “They Sure Don’t Do It Like That Anymore” file. This photo of a Union gas station at 4004 Wilshire Blvd (which puts it at the intersection with Wilton Place) is from 1932 and I can see no less than four neatly uniformed attendants wearing bow ties and matching caps. Two of them are servicing customers while the other two are…well…I don’t exactly know the two on the modified motorcycle are doing but I’m sure they were courteous and helpful when they got there.
Casey W. says: “The two on the Servi-car three-wheeler are no doubt going out to pick up a customer’s auto for servicing. I see the tow tongue has been removed from the front of the trike so it can no longer be towed behind a customer’s car, ergo it takes two employees to do a customer-car pickup and delivery.”
I’m not 100% sure I’ve got the right corner, but I believe this is where the Union gas station was. It’s now home to a Social Security office. This image is from June 2022.
In this sweeping aerial shot, we’re looking at the Fox Film studio backlot in Century City. The main street at the bottom, where the grand gates are, is Santa Monica Blvd. William Fox founded his studio in 1915 on what had been a 200-acre ranch, and called his backlot “Movietone City.” This shot is from 1928 and as we can see, the neighboring land was still pumping oil!
This photo gives us a glimpse into the hoopla that studios sometimes whipped up to promo a new movie. In late March, 1939, Warner Bros. chartered a 16-car train to take 36 members of the press along with the stars of their new picture, “Dodge City,” to the real-life Dodge City in Kansas for the film’s premiere on April 1st. The President’s son, Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., was in attendance along with 70,000 visitors who had come to the city to witness the celebrations. I can count five spotlights used to light up the train before it left Los Angeles, as well as four loudspeakers rigged up on the balcony of that last carriage.
You have to hand it to developers who manage to construct a building that makes a mark – even in a city like Los Angeles that was filled with eye-catching architecture. This was the Western Auto Parts store at the northwest corner of Wilshire and Hauser Blvds, circa 1931. It was black and achieved so much with relatively little detail. (I do love their Pay’n’Takit sign – but isn’t that how stores work? You pay for something and then you take it with you…?)
It’s hard to see the name “Lou Reed” and not start singing “Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side…” But that song didn’t come along until 1972, so the person who took this photo on July 23, 1955 wouldn’t have been humming “And the colored girls go doo do doo do doo do do doo…” Lou Reed’s Chrysler / Plymouth Dealership at 1200 Pacific Coast Hwy in Newport Beach was one of the biggest of its type in Southern California. I do like the striking, dramatic lighting featured in this showroom, which was probably the whole eye-catching point.
I’ll take any opportunity to post a photo of the first Brown Derby restaurant, especially if it’s in color. Technically, the original first Brown Derby stood at 3427 Wilshire. But that land was acquired by someone else, and the big hat was recreated a block at a half east to the northeast corner of Alexandria Ave, opposite the Ambassador Hotel. This photo is from 1973, which means it still had about a dozen years before it fell victim to redevelopment.
I recently watched an RKO movie from 1946 called “Nocturne” in which George Raft plays a homicide detective. I didn’t think Raft was very good in the role, but the movie had a number of interesting location shots, including this one. I stopped the movie and took a photo of it because it gives us an idea of what the Vine Street Brown Derby looked like in real life. The filmmakers didn’t even bother to hide the roadworks going on in May/June 1946, which is when the film was shot. I don’t know what sort of car is parked out front, but it looks like it had plenty of leg room!
Apart from the fact that this photo was taken for Life magazine at Universal Studios in 1963, I have been able to find no other information to share with you. But it’s such a striking photo that I couldn’t not post it. That wall of lights must be at least 20 feet tall and who knows how wide. It looks like that guy inserted each and every bulb, but for what reason, we can only guess. Whatever its purpose, the overall effect must have really been a sight to behold.
A Southern Pacific train chugs up Alameda St at 2nd St, which puts it a few blocks south of where Union Station will later be built on the edge of downtown LA. There is a flagman on the left helping to control traffic. I’m guessing those workmen on the left are laying down a third track along Alameda. Between the trains, the regular traffic, and the construction, this shot was probably taken amid a deafening din.
These days, the Los Angeles cityscape is filled with Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies who all look the same and feel interchangeable. It seems a shame that we no longer have individual pharmacies with their own personalities. This lovely shot is of the Lakeside Pharmacy at 10100 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake, on the southwest corner at Mariota Ave. This shot is circa 1975, but the style of architecture suggests the building dates from much earlier.
