Tag Archives: Wilshire Blvd
Simon’s drive-in restaurant at Wilshire Blvd and Hoover St, across from Lafayette Park, Los Angeles, circa late 1930s
As far as Los Angeles parks go, MacArthur Park tends to hog the limelight (mainly because someone left the cake out in the rain, if you catch my meaning.) However, four blocks west of it, is a smaller, less-known Lafayette … Continue reading
A traffic jam at the intersection of Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave, Los Angeles, circa 1931
Evidently Angelenos dealing with traffic jams aren’t a modern bane of L.A. life, not if this circa 1931 photo is anything to go by. Most photos of L.A. from the 1930s show wide-open streets with lots of elbow room and … Continue reading
Warners Theatre, 9404 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, 1931
One of my favorite of all the old theaters in Los Angeles is the Warners Theater at 9404 Wilshire Blvd, on the corner of Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. As we can see from this photo, it was a palace … Continue reading
Entrance to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Ambassador Hotel, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
Once—just once, is that too much to ask?—I would have loved the chance to walk through this ornate entrance (look at the detailed artwork around the arches and columns) and into the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel … Continue reading
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Tagged Ambassador Hotel, Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Movie Stars, Nightclubs, Wilshire Blvd
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Looking least along Wilshire Blvd from La Cienega Blvd toward the Fox Wilshire Theatre, Los Angles, 1933
In this photo from 1933, we’re looking east along Wilshire Blvd from La Cienega Blvd. That theater was the Fox Wilshire, which opened in 1930 with the premiere of Marx Brothers’ “Animal Crackers” and over the next few decades was … Continue reading
Shops line the southeast corner of Wilshire Blvd and Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, circa mid 1950s
This 1955 photo taken on the southeast corner of Wilshire Blvd and Bedford Dr in Beverly Hills shows us the variety of commercial architecture L.A. used to have. Four different stores – Ciro (jewelry), Chandlers (shoes), Maison des Mouchoirs (“House … Continue reading
Looking across Wilshire Blvd to the southwest corner of Wilshire Place to the future site of Bullocks Wilshire department store, Los Angeles, 1928
The soaring, iconic tower of the Bullocks Wilshire department store has long been such an indelible landmark on the Los Angeles cityscape that I’ve never really wondered what had once been on the southwest corner of Wilshire Blvd and Wilshire … Continue reading
A string of searchlights pierce the night sky along Wilshire Blvd from around Cloverdale Ave, Los Angeles, 1958
In this photo from Life magazine, we’re looking west along Wilshire Blvd from around Cloverdale Ave in 1958. It’s hard to count how many searchlights were dotted along Wilshire, but I’m guessing seven or eight. Obviously something big was going … Continue reading
Looking east along Wilshire Blvd, near La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, 1920
I know, of course, Los Angeles of a hundred years ago bears little resemblance to how it looks today. But I still went a bit bug-eyed when I came across this photo from 1920 looking east along Wilshire Blvd near … Continue reading
Looking north over the wing of a plane showing the intersection of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles. circa 1922
It’s not often we glimpse the aircraft from which aerial photos of Los Angeles are taken, but seeing the tip of a wing in this one makes it all the more dramatic. The intersection at the center of this photo … Continue reading
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Tagged Aerial photographs, Airports Aircraft Airlines, Oil, Wilshire Blvd
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