https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p...2520AM.bmp.jpghttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...ollywoodhi.jpg
Ellen Bloom Underhill/Bing

Ellen and Kenneth Bloom on Sunset in front of Hollywood High with their family's '58 Country Squire. I never knew Hollywood High was painted pink.


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071547.jpgLAPL

The same view in the '30s.

I bet the color balance of the photo is off! The sidewalk should be gray. Very cool picture!:)

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/850...5524939020.jpgThe Old Motor


Bandleader Paul Whiteman (apparently retouched) poses with his Cord L29 sporting elaborate Vogue tires. I assumed that this was Los Angeles and that the address was on down on Figueroa, Flower, or Hope. After a bit of digging, I found that the MacDonald-Dodson Tire Co. was at 1317 S. Hope. The building still stands, although its façade has been ruined (see below). (Can those be simulated tire tracks up the corner?)


Here's a bit of background from Modern Tire Dealer:

"While vacationing in Chicago, 24-year-old Loyd Dodson saw the whitewalls on the fancy chauffeur-driven cars cruising around town. He and his brother-in-law, Jack McDonald, had each borrowed $3,000 to start a Los Angeles tire business in 1925, and Dodson saw great potential in marketing Vogue tires to the movie moguls and stars in 'La-La-Land.' By 1928, Dodson had signed a deal to acquire West Coast distribution rights to the tires. He concentrated on sales to owners of Duesenbergs, a top luxury car of the time. Before long, the distinctive white sidewall tires showed up on cars owned by film stars such as Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Marion Davies—and other people of means wanted them. People like Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Frank Robinson and Lyndon Johnson have been pictured with Vogue-shod vehicles."

Dodson's obituary in the Times of April 6, 1996, tells more: "Loyd Dodson, 94, owner of Vogue Tyre and Rubber Co. Brought up in Pasadena, Dodson went into the tire business in 1923 and within a few years became the exclusive distributor of Vogue Tyres for the western United States. He bought the Chicago-based company during World War II and remained active in the business until his death. He had been chairman of the board of directors for the last 10 years. Dodson was active in the Masons for more than 50 years and had served as president of the Wilshire Country Club. On Monday in Pasadena."


http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/8...dodsondual.jpgLAT
It looks like MacDonald-Dodson tampered with its own façade...


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-k...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogleSV

1317 S. Hope today; there are two cute little vintage apartment buildings to its south.

Here is an interesting car crash:
http://www.madle.org/bhdeandrunky.JPG

http://www.madle.org/bhdean.jpgSTUTZcars

Not to be outdone, Sammy Davis got one:
http://www.madle.org/julesbhsdjr.jpg

Lucille Ball:
http://www.madle.org/bh71lb01.JPGStutzcars

Jules Meyers Stutz showroom today:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8...16f145c7_b.jpgGE
10860 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles

Cahuenga Building
 

Larry Harnisch's blog has a recent entry on the Cahuenga Building.

http://ladailymirror.com/2012/11/12/...ing/#more-9604

Cheers,

Earl

"Bell" Shaped Item On Light Pole
 

Hello there from Ojai, I have been a lurker for several months and decided I must be a closer follower of this fabulous site. I born, lived and worked in L.A. till I moved to Ojai after retirement. It has changed very much since my youth in the 40's,50's and 60's and I miss the old L.A. very much. This site is my time machine.
The "Bell" shaped items on the Wilshire Blvd. unique streetlights are probably bust stop signs. If you look closely you can see a bus stopping at the corner. Bus stops were usually on the corner then by the way. The photo with the Chevrolet dealer is Sunset Bl. I believe.

5900 Wilshire Boulevard? :previous:

Across from the LAC Art Museum is currently occupied by a 32 story building - "Variety"

In 1954 it was unimproved property. Must have been an interesting challenge to build such a large structure on or near the middle of tar pit central.

1954
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...3-28-ISLA?v=hrhttp://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...3-24-ISLA?v=hrhttp://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...423730E86?v=hrUSC Digital

Built in 1971, for Mutual Benefit Life.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...00Wilshire.jpgWiki

"Berlin Wall Exhibit" in front of bldg.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Angeles_1.jpg Wiki

I had a hard time reconciling your image, until I realized it was reversed!

Your post about the Shrine made me recall a challenge issued years ago by my college professor (of Urban Planning): He offered money to anyone who could come up with the reason why the Shrine, one of the largest buildings in LA and theater anywhere, faced a small side street (Royal) rather than the major streets of Jefferson or Figueroa.

The property doesn't extend to Figueroa, so that's basic, but it does front on Jefferson. The property seems to be slightly longer on the Jefferson side, so perhaps that made it easier to layout the lobby-house-stage-backstage areas, but it seems so strange to have a 6,000+ seat theater face what is essentially a small residential street.

Royal is now paved to be more of a pedestrian plaza which works for big award show entries, with the grandstands and red carpet, and media, etc. But clearly this was not intended in the early days of the theater!

Can you imagine if all or some of the old theaters on Broadway faced the side streets instead of the main boulevard?

Sorry about any confusion. Was attempting to focus on property south of LACMA. Wonderful images are reposts, and it is easy to be disoriented. Each time I look, I notice something new.

Scouring Flickr I came across some random but interesting stuff...

The Original Modern Drive-In:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/6...895ae402_b.jpg


1928 Pamphlet put out by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce....here a sampling of the 45 images in the full set:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3281/2...0ae_z.jpg?zz=1

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3151/2...86fc8ae7_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3124/2...2a46ca39_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3023/2...e4f80e8f_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3014/2...cbc2b632_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3103/2...b2ba89af_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3258/2...615953f1_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3058/2...624f3983_o.jpg


Photo's Arcade:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2190/2...a84f5e8b_b.jpg


1940s-era(?) tourists' map:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3630/3...850e6b10_b.jpg


Crossroads of Elegance, 1936:

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4003/4...62db9f9e_b.jpg


It's Copper! 1931:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7234/7...7d0589c7_b.jpg


Not very noirish, but rather dashing....Mayor Poulson in 1960:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6...9dee4a52_b.jpg

What!!!!!

After all that work to move those entire houses they burned????

So sad, that's what I call bad luck :(

I guess they no longer exist, or they rebuild them yet again?

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/7...2780073433.jpgThe Old Motor
Rod Serling in a '55 Ford Sunliner...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k...2520PM.bmp.jpgO. Lytle Hoover
The gates ca. 1976

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_...2520PM.bmp.jpgO. Lytle Hoover
Ca. 1988 (this is for ER)

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Q...2520PM.bmp.jpg Hollywood Golden Guy
This is the gate today, not an entrance at all but on the interior of the lot:

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/4523/mgmaerial.jpgBing Maps

I'm fairly certain the stone pillars frame the entrance to the wide carriage drive (we'd call it an alley) which served the very large, turn-of-the-twentieth-century houses on W 28th & W 27th Streets, running NW from S Figueroa until it formed a T-junction with University Ave. It would have been lined with carriage houses like the one shown behind the big house (which faced then onto W 28th St) in the postcard photo. This block (and the next one north) of W 28th St is now USC's Fraternity Row:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...81231%2BAM.jpg
gsv

The pillars are long gone, as is the house in the photo. One now enters the carriage drive between a Del Taco parking lot and a Fed Ex shop (see above). However, there is one carriage house left. It is behind 715 W. 28th St, the only house remaining on the block that hasn't been remodeled beyond recognition or replaced with a newer structure. It's a lovely house and looks really nicely maintained. If one goes, via Google Street View, to the other end of the carriage drive, where it joins University Ave, one can see its original, classic, gabled, two-story carriage house about a third of the way down on the right.

There is a second house at 624 W 28th St, directly across W 28th from the site of the house in the postcard photo, which, rather like an actor in a fat suit, is encased in an unfortunate remodel. Its third-story, hipped-roof, square tower gives it away. From above (on Google Maps) one can see the outline of the house's original roof. There's also a second-floor sunroom on the back of the house with a lovely bowed line of windows that can be seen in Google Maps axonometric view. The space between the home and what's left of the carriage house has been infilled with an extension.

The film "Fraternity Row" (1977) was filmed on W 28th. Maybe it contains more visual info about this block.

I believe the other postcard pictured above is labeled correctly as Burlington and 7th St. (NW corner). Starting at that corner, travel north in one's Googlemobile to about mid-block where the last remaining house of this once lovely collection of mid-sized homes can be seen on the left at 669 S Burlington:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u...74705%2BAM.jpg
gsv

7th and Burlington:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...75553%2BAM.jpg
gsv

:previous:

Interesting, tovangar. While rear alleys are also a feature of some Pico-Union streets, those of the University District are considerably wider, so you are probably right about the postcard with the pillars. The second card may very well be the view from Burlington and 7th, as it is marked--I know the house at 669 S. Burlington, and it does seem a fit for the pictured row, even if it can't actually be identified on the card.

In another godawful coincidence (?) - The similarly moved Rochester House went up like a torch -- always left me wondering if any connection was lurking in Yortyville- Boy did he despise the passe Victorians---

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/811...ndwall1947.jpgPERyHS

Per the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society website: "Los Angeles Transit Lines (ex-Los Angeles Railway) U Line car no. 304 is captured at 5th and
Wall Streets on May 15, 1947, as an LATL crew installs new overhead for the trackless bus systems that will soon be deployed."


http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3401/east5.jpgGoogleSV

The Florence Hotel is still on East 5th, or at least its blade sign is.


http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1396/east5hotels.jpgGoogleSV

The Harland Hotel has now morphed into the Harold; next door is the very interesting looking Panama Hotel. The whole neighborhood looks intriguing.