Tag Archives: Stores and Shopping
Color photo of an electric LA Transit Lines trolley coach approaches the intersection of 5th and Hill Streets, downtown Los Angeles, circa mid-1950s
In this colorful photo, we’re watching an electric LA Transit Lines trolley coach (a successor to the LARY streetcars) approach the intersection of 5th and Hill Sts in downtown Los Angeles. However, I’m more interested in the background – specifically … Continue reading
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Tagged Color photo, Downtown Los Angeles, Stores and Shopping, Streetcars
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Looking north up Broadway from 7th St during a Shriner convention, downtown Los Angeles, circa 1925
Back in the first half of the 20th century, the busiest intersection in Los Angeles was where Broadway meets 7th St. And so it make sense that a good number of photos from that era LA were taken at, around, … Continue reading
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Tagged Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles, Shriners, Stores and Shopping, Streetcars
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Newman’s Drug Co at the southwest corner of Hollywood Blvd and Western Ave, Hollywood, as seen in “Double Indemnity” (1944)
This image is actually a screengrab from a documentary called “Los Angeles Plays Itself” which is a 2003 film that looks at all the ways Los Angeles has been depicted (as itself and other locations) in the movies. I freeze-famed … Continue reading
Color photo looking north up Highland Ave past a Pacific Electric Red Car heading south, Hollywood, 1952
Oh boy, those Pacific Electric Red Cars sure packed a wallop of color, didn’t they? Or maybe it’s the vibrancy of the Kodachrome process? Either way, I suspect it was easy to spot on coming a mile away—literally. This one … Continue reading
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Tagged Color photo, Hollywood, Kodachrome, Restaurants, Stores and Shopping, Streetcars
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Color photo of LA Railway Yellow Car streetcar heads along Broadway from 7th St, downtown Los Angeles, 1956
The Pacific Electric Red Cars get most of the attention in vintage photos of the streets of LA in the first half of the 20th century. But the LA Railway’s Yellow Cars also did their bit moving Angelenos around the … Continue reading
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Tagged Color photo, Downtown Los Angeles, Kodachrome, Stores and Shopping, Streetcars, Theaters
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Looking north up Laurel Canyon Blvd past the Big Donut Drive-in on the northwest corner of Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, circa 1960s
If you’re going to open a donut store, you should probably build the biggest donut you can and plonk it onto your roof so that there is mistaking what you’re offering. In this photo we’re looking north up Laurel Canyon … Continue reading
Night shot of the Rexall pharmacy on the southeast corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvds, Los Angeles, circa 1950s
I do love the atmosphere of this night shot of the Rexall pharmacy on the southeast corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvds. Being so centrally located, this Rexall would have been busy morning, noon, and night, so I like … Continue reading
United States Court House on Main St looking south toward City Hall, downtown Los Angeles, 1939
The appeal of this photo, for me at least, is that it juxtaposes LA’s past alongside LA’s future. We’re looking south along Main St in downtown Los Angeles. In the earlier part of the 20th century, Victorian-era stores and offices … Continue reading
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Tagged Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Hall, Stores and Shopping
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United Cigar store on the southeast corner of Colorado Blvd and Fair Oaks Ave, Pasadena, California, 1929
Here we have a glorious example of how much care and thought went into commercial architecture in the 1920s. This is a United Cigar store (at the time, they were the largest chain of cigar stores in the US, though … Continue reading
Color photo of the Valley Plaza mall on Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood, California, circa late 1950s
Some vintage photos sure know how to pop, don’t they? In this one, we’re looking at the Valley Plaza shopping mall on Laurel Canyon Blvd in North Hollywood. Opening in 1951, it was one of the first in the San … Continue reading
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Tagged Color photo, Kodachrome, San Fernando Valley, Stores and Shopping
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