It's still happening on the major boulevards--compare pics of Sunset around Vine--near the Cinerama--and Wilshire around Fremont Place--with vintage shots and you'll see that property along alot of L.A. streets that used to have plenty of room between curb and building are now built out to the sidewalk. Central L.A.'s suburban years are long gone... I first started driving around L.A. in the early '70s, and the difference between then and now is amazing. Out to the curbs--actually, these days, Los Angeles is... New York.
circa 1965
LAPL
Google Street View
Where once they were prominent along Wilshire, the concrete Fremont Place gateposts are now hard to discern among the commercial jumble.
Google Street View