I spent some considerable time last week looking at posts of Christmas photos on NLA and didn't see any of the following ones I'm posting, but having said that, who knows? Also, they will seem familiar anyway because there's been many similar looking ones.
California State Library
The Poinsettia, California’s Christmas Flower, circa 1920's, from Newman Postcard Co. in Los Angeles taken at the Hollywood Hotel.
(Two similar postcards were previously posted.)
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This photo is facing the Security Bank building on the corner of Hollywood & Highland. On the left of the photo is the Hollywood Hotel. What caught my eye in this photo was the banners on the lighted Christmas Tree on the right, which is in front of Barker Brothers. None of the other trees have them.
jericl cat/Flickr
This 1948 photo was taken in much the same location as the one above. The trees on the left front the Hollywood Hotel. Security Bank Building. Hotel Drake. Paramount Theater on the right.
Jalopy Journal
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I was looking at the following photo taken a bit east of the Pantages Theatre and wasn't quite sure if I'd ever seen the lighted Taft Building sign as the Hollingsworth Taft Building. Some NLA searching tells me that Hollingsworth was a management company and then I noticed the building on the right side says "Equitable Building of Hollywood Managed by Hollingsworth." Still, I couldn't find another photo with the lighted Hollingsworth sign.
This photo was taken in 1949. The theatre on the left is playing a film originally released in the UK in 1945 under the title "29 Acacia Avenue", but not released in the U.S. until 1949 under the title The Facts of Love. This initials on the theatre look like they're for the Hitching Post theatre which played Westerns, but this film is not a western. Cinema Treasures says that by 1950 it was called the Paris Theatre. (To the left of the theatre is the Eagle Cafe.)
The Pantages is showing the Claudette Colbert movie "Bride for Sale." The tag line for that movie is: "Claudette Colbert wants a carpet slipper kind of guy...and winds up with a pair of heels!"
jericl cat/Flickr
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This next one was taken on Hollywood Blvd. near Vine Street facing west.
VintageLA/Flickr
The photo isn't dated. The Marc Wannamaker book Hollywood 1940-2008, says that "by 1945, the Hotel Christie was renamed the Hollywood Drake Hotel (pictured) then changed ownership again and reopened in January, 1958, as the Hollywood Inn."
The Academy Theatre is closed.
The source says: Hollywood Blvd. December, 1958, but all of the films on the marquees were released in 1957. The book Hollywood 1940-2008, by Marc Wannamaker, says the Hollywood Inn (formerly Hotel Christie and Hollywood Drake Hotel) opened in January, 1958. So, in this photo, the Hollywood Inn could have it's marquee lit pending official opening (if it was closed between owners at all), or the photo could have been taken in January.
Photograph by Frank J. Thomas, Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives
It looks to be approximately 9:30 p.m. The New-View Theatre is showing April Love and The Three Faces of Eve. Also pictured: Hollywood Men's Shop. Shoe City. The Vogue is showing Peyton Place. Elmer's Pyramid Fountain. Musso & Frank's Grill. Hollywood Barber Shop. Chuck's Hofbrau.
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Excellent summation nealberke Thanks so much for figuring this out. (especially the meaning of "and George") that was a doozy of a mystery believe you me. 
(or was every strip club considered a hoodlum hangout back then?) 
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