Tag Archives: Restaurants
Color photo looking west along Wilshire Blvd toward Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, circa 1950s
In this photo, we’re looking west along the south side of Wilshire Blvd past the Melody Lane restaurant coffee shop, over Beverly Dr. to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel at the Wilshire and Rodeo Dr. corner. This photo was taken in … Continue reading
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Tagged Beverly Hills, Brown Derby, Color photo, Hotels, Restaurants, Wilshire Blvd
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Aerial photo of the intersection of Fairfax Ave and Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, 1954
This aerial photo gives us a wonderful bird’s-eye view of the busy intersection of Fairfax Ave and Wilshire Blvd in 1954. The May Co. department store, which opened in 1940 on the northeast corner, dominated the corner then as it … Continue reading
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Restaurants, Stores and Shopping, Wilshire Blvd
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Color photo of the Big Do-Nut Drive In at the southwest corner of W. Century Blvd and Normandie Ave, Westmont, Los Angeles, 1951
And from the “Let’s Not Be Subtle About It” file comes this color (possibly even Kodachrome) photo of a donut joint called the Big Do-Nut Drive In (although technically it looks more like a drive through.) It opened on July … Continue reading
Looking north up La Brea Ave from around Lexington Ave, Los Angeles, 1919
In a still from a 1919 silent short called “Waiting at the Church,” we’re treated to an early view of La Brea Ave looking north from (I’m guessing) around Lexington Ave. Now a major north/south thoroughfare, back then La Brea … Continue reading
Video clip of Brown Derby restaurant, 3377 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, circa 1940s
Photos are great and all, but there’s nothing quite like video clips to show us what a place looked and felt like in the real world—even this one that’s perhaps one second long. This is, of course, the original Brown … Continue reading
Streetcar on the S line at 8th St and Western Ave looking west, Los Angeles, circa mid to late 1950s
Here we have a scene that any Angeleno wouldn’t have thought twice about back in around the mid to late 1950s, when this photo was taken. But now we live in a streetcarless Los Angeles, where some of us miss … Continue reading
Color shot of the original Brown Derby restaurant, 3377 Wilshire Blvd, across the street from the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, 1973
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 … Continue reading
The Brown Derby restaurant, 1628 N. Vine St, Hollywood, as seen in RKO’s “Nocturne” (1946)
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 … Continue reading
Looking north up Vine St across Hollywood Blvd toward the Capitol Records building, Hollywood, circa late 1950s
I do enjoy coming across a vivid Kodachrome photo, especially when it was taken at an iconic LA location. In this one, we’re looking north up Vine St across Hollywood Blvd toward the Capitol Records building, back when the American … Continue reading
The Amestoy Building, 260 N. Main St, downtown Los Angeles, circa mid 1950s
This rather atmospheric building was known as the Amestoy, and it stood at 260 N. Main St, downtown Los Angeles. Constructed in 1887, by the mid 1950s, when this photo was taken, seventy years of air pollution had blacked its … Continue reading