I admit I'm having some trouble visualizing this photo and it's probably due to the lens/depth of focus or something, but...we see the bus bench and the Rosewood Ave. sign. Then is that Rosewood Ave. and then the mailbox on the other side of Rosewood?
Today there is a bus bench and the Rosewood Ave. sign in the exact same spot. If that's the case, what I'm having trouble visualizing is the other side of the street. Rosewood Ave. crosses La Cienega and is north of Norm's. If the car in the center of the b&w photo (Corvair to left) is turning, it isn't onto Rosewood because it passed Rosewood.
Your current GSV photo lines up with the b&w photo, except the GSV is taken south of Rosewood.
Anyway, I happened to recently see this photo of Jeno Paulucci pulling Stan Freberg down La Cienega Blvd., also in 1960. Norm's can be seen in the background, upper left.
Pinterest
Stan Freberg's been mentioned on NLA before. I looked up (
Wiki) Jeno Paulucci: Among other things, he was an entrepreneur and in the 1940's, Paulucci developed the Chun King line of canned Chinese food products. (Which might explain the rickshaw above?) Other brands included Jeno's (pizza & pizza rolls) and Michelina's (his mother's name). This
AdAge article explains the photo above:
Mr. Paulucci has always been a demanding client. In his 1988 autobiography, Mr. Freberg recalled a bet: Mr. Paulucci promised to pull the adman down Los Angeles' LaCienega Boulevard in a rickshaw if a commercial actually worked. Mr. Freberg won the bet and the rickshaw ride.