Here we have a rather grand aerial of what was the first of many incarnations of the movie studios at 9336 W. Washington Blvd in Culver City. This photo is from 1918, which is the year Thomas Ince built them. He owned them until his death in 1924, when they became the (Cecil B.) DeMille Studios. In the bottom center of the photo you can see the iconic administration building, which is most recognizable to moviegoers when David O. Selznick took over the lot in 1935 and used it as part of his logo. These days, it’s now called the Culver Studios, which were recently taken over by Amazon. But my goodness, look at all that empty land to the south!
This is what that area looked like in January 2020. Obviously, every square foot of that empty land is now well and truly accounted for.
The Crossroads of the World outdoor mall at 6657 W. Sunset Blvd (opened October 1936) is so unusual that it usually hogs the focus of most photographers’ attention. But right next door is a lovely church, the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, which usually gets ignored. So I was happy to find this color shot from 1967 showing them both.
It’s not that hard to find photos of the Pacific Electric street cars roaming around Los Angeles in their heyday. But less plentiful are photos taken inside them. So it’s nice to see this circa 1920 photo showing us what the layout was like: A row of double seats on each side and I’m guessing that those hand grips on the aisle seats meant you could change the direction so that four people could sit facing each other? Also, the metal poles in the center of the car, were they cross-bars at around waist height making a turnstile, or just alternative places for passengers to hang on?
When Howard Hughes conceived the Hercules, it was the world’s largest wooden aircraft, which is why it was nicknamed the Spruce Goose—but don’t let Mr. Hughes hear you say that! This aerial photo, taken circa October 1947, shows how just how enormous the plane was. It had been built in Playa Vista, north of L.A. International Airport, then transported to Long Beach for its only flight later that year, on November 2.
Today’s post is a departure from my usual daily vintage photo of Los Angeles. But first, a bit of backstory. Recently, I did an on-camera interview for a documentary about some of Marilyn Monroe’s effects found in a public storage facility in the mini mall on the former site of the Garden of Allah Hotel. I mentioned that there was 
I’m guessing this street car ride would have been a bit of a jerky, bumpy journey. Still, it meant that people living in Lincoln Heights, where this circa 1890s photo was taken, had a way to get into downtown Los Angeles without having to walk. It looks like this streetcar was headed for Temple St, which cuts across the top end of downtown, and then on to Downey Ave, which is quite a long way south of downtown, so those two horses (or are they mules?) had a long day ahead of them.
Here’s quite a breathtaking aerial view. At the bottom we have the Greek Theatre on Vermont Ave (opened September 25, 1930). And perched atop Mt. Hollywood is the Griffith Observatory, which at the time was still under construction. That project broke ground on June 20, 1933 and opened May 14, 1935, so I’m going to say this photo is from 1934.
It’s hard to tell in a black-and-white, photo, but it looks like the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel was decked out in white for the 17th annual Candlelight Ball. It appears to have been a fundraiser for the Juniors of the Social Service Auxiliary, which was a branch of The Sisters of Social Service which was a charity group originally founded in the 1920s by Hungarian nuns. All the women appear to be in their fanciest white and the nightclub was decked out with white streamers and 6,000 white balloons which were released at the end of the night. Which probably looked good, but I pity the poor person whose job was it get them all down again.
This circa early 1950s photo shows what a vivid splash of color the Pacific Electric Red Cars added to the Los Angeles cityscape. This one was heading south at the top end of Highland Ave outside the Hollywood Bowl. The GRUEN TIME clock we can see behind it is long gone, but the iconic sculpture next to it is still with us.
Ah, the gentility of a bygone era when going shopping included pausing for an elegant afternoon tea. This photo (which is probably a hand-tinted postcard) is of the Tea Room at the Bullocks department store in downtown Los Angeles at the corner of 7th Street and Broadway, probably early 1900s. It was one of the big department stores at the time and I believe their tea room was on the top floor. Look at all those potted plants – someone had a busy job keeping them alive. But those scattered rugs worry me. It wouldn’t take much for a waitress with a tray of teapots, cups and saucers, and molasses cookies to trip on a corner and send the whole thing flying into the lap of some unfortunate socialite or movie magnate’s wife.