This photo gives us a rare glimpse of what Disneyland looks like from the top of the 147-foot Matterhorn Bobsleds ride. Debuting on June 14, 1959, 4 years after the theme park opened, it was the world’s first tubular steel roller coaster. As an added feature they had (and maybe they still do—does anyone reading this know?) a pair of mountaineers climb the mountain several times a day. And on this particular occasion, a photographer, who apparently went first. What strikes me about this 1960 photo is how empty Disneyland looks. The last dozen times I went, it was packed to the eyeballs.
Disneyland mountaineers climb the park’s Matterhorn Bobsleds ride, Anaheim, 1960
A glossary of California Place Names” from “The Romantic Road to California’s Yesterdays” published by the California Rotogravure Corp, circa 1929
In case you’ve ever wondered, as I have, where some Californian place names originated, here is a couple of pages from “The Romantic Road to California’s Yesterdays” which was a book was published by the California Rotogravure Corp in around 1929.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged California, California missions, Los Angeles, Santa Monica
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Venice Short Line streetcars line up outside the Town Theatre, 444 S. Hill St., downtown Los Angeles during rush hour, circa late 1945
In this photo, we get a taste of how crowded L.A. streetcars could get during rush hour. These streetcars were on what was known as the Venice Short Line, which took Angelenos from Hill St in downtown Los Angeles to Culver City, and out to Venice and Santa Monica. In the background, the Town Theatre was playing the Charles Boyer/Lauren Bacall Warner Bros. picture, “Confidential Agent” which came out on November 10, 1945, so we can peg this photo as circa late 1945.
“Giant” plays Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, Blvd, Hollywood, December 1956
From the always-interesting DaveLandWeb comes this photo taken when “Giant” was playing Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. It’s interesting that the name of the movie’s director, George Stevens, is as big as Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean, and that the name of the author whose novel the movie was based on, Edna Ferber, is almost as big. The movie had a 10-week run there: October 18 to December 24, 1956. From the white metal Christmas tree we can see attached to the pole at the right, I’m guessing this photo was taken near the end, before “Anastasia” came in for an 8-week run.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Christmas, Color photo, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Theaters
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The Rose Bowl stadium under construction, Pasadena, California, circa summer 1922
These days, the Rose Bowl athletic stadium in Pasadena is known not just as a college football (and soccer) venue, but for its annual New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade. This photo was taken in 1922, the year the stadium was built. It opened on October 28, 1922 (the first Rose Bowl game was on January 1, 1923) but it’s starting to take form, so I’m guessing this was taken over the summer. And if this photo is anything to go by, the place was built using mulepower!
Tim P says: “The first “Rose Bowl” game in the new stadium was January 1, 1923, but the Tournament of Roses east versus west football game dates back to 1902. Before the Rose Bowl stadium was built, the game was played in Tournament Park, now an athletic field at Caltech.”
Los Angeles City Hall under construction as seen from Bunker Hill, downtown Los Angeles, circa early 1928
In this icon-in-the-making photo, we’re seeing the Los Angeles City Hall under construction. At this point, the building’s form had taken shape, so the Angelenos seen here had a taste of what their new city hall was going to look like. This photo was taken from Bunker Hill, which doesn’t exist now in the way it did back then, nor does the Hall of Records building we can see in front of City Hall, but I can’t imagine there’ll ever be a time when the L.A. skyline doesn’t feature that famous silhouette. City Hall was dedicated on April 26, 1928, so I’m guessing this shot is from late 1927 or early 1928.
**UPDATE** – That horizontal roof structure neat the center bottom of the photo is the upper station for Court Flight, L.A.’s other funicular railway.
Evening shot of the Ambassador Hotel, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles (undated)
I don’t know when this photo of the Ambassador Hotel was taken, or who took it. But I like to think it was someone out for an evening stroll, all gussied up in their snazzy clothes after an evening dinner and dancing at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. Maybe they’d been to see Benny Goodman perform, or Lena Horne, or Martin and Lewis. And now they were returning to their hotel room and looked back to take this photo. I do wonder, though, about that lone white chair on the lawn. Was it always there?
Fireworks over Santa Monica Bay, Santa Monica, California, 1928
I don’t know what was being celebrated on this night in 1928 when fireworks filled the skies over Santa Monica Bay, but it must have been a glorious sight to see in person.
A captured Japanese midget submarine paraded around the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during a USC v. UCLA football game, Los Angeles, December 12, 1942
On December 12, 1942, the football teams for Los Angeles’s two major colleges—USC and UCLA—faced off for a game at the Coliseum, south of downtown. Before the game, a captured Japanese midget submarine was paraded around the grounds to what looks like was a packed stadium. It was just after the 1st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, so I would imagine that emotions ran high in the crowds of Angelenos we can see here.
As noted on Twitter: “The submarine was captured intact at Pearl Harbor and used as a fundraising prop for war bond drives. In the 1960s the submarine was installed at the Key West Lighthouse for display. It was moved to a museum in Texas in the 1990s.“
Color photo of the Carthay Circle Theatre, 6316 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, 1953
I’ll take any opportunity to post a color photo of Carthay Circle Theatre, a particularly lovely movie palace, which stood at 6316 San Vicente Blvd from 1926 to 1969. The marquee is advertising a Billie Burke picture called “Live with Mother” co-starring Carl Benton Reid. The caption in this photo said it was from 1953, but I can find no movie with that name, nor any movie that Billie Burke and Carl Benton Reid were in together, so that one’s a mystery.
In case I thought I was misreading the marquee…
Bill C says: ““Life With Mother” opened at the Carthay on January 25, 1953. It was one of several legit productions in the house in the early 50s, usually shows promoted by Henry Duffy. The stage later became unusable after the TODD-AO renovations for “Around the World in 80 Days.”
