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Historical Notes

Beginning in 1928, Hollywood merchants transformed a one-mile stretch of Hollywood Boulevard into "Santa Claus Lane" to boost shopping. Part of the promotion was a daily parade featuring Santa Claus and a film star.  Originally called the Santa Claus Lane Parade, the inaugural event featured only Santa Claus and the actress Jeanette Loff.*^

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Christmas Parade continued to grow in scale with the help of local businesses and the community. In 1931 Santa Claus rode a truck-pulled float instead of the reindeer-pulled carriage of previous years. American Legion Post 43 marched with a color guard, drum line and bugle corps.*^

Historical Notes

The Parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, but reopened in 1945 with record attendance.
In 1946 Gene Autry rode his horse in the parade and was inspired by the children yelling "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus," to write the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" along with Oakley Haldeman.*^

Historical Notes

The parade continued to grow throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, adding floats, animals, bands and celebrities. By 1978, the parade had been renamed the Hollywood Christmas Parade in order to attract more celebrities, and was broadcast locally on KTLA-TV with the help of Johnny Grant. This change also coincided with the shift of the parade being held on Thanksgiving Eve to the Sunday after Thanksgiving.*^

Historical Notes

Designed and built in 1913 by architects Kremple and Erkes, the theater got a remodel in 1927 by Clifford Balch.  Another renovation and redesign by S. Charles Lee occurred in 1936 where the original white brick façade was replaced with a deco version. The signage currently on the building is from that remodel.  A final remodel took place in 1977.  In the early 1990s, the theatre became a venue for the Guinness Book of World Records. (Click HERE to see more).

Historical Notes

In 1945, the Hotel Christie was renamed the Drake Hotel and later became the Hollywood Inn.  These days, the structure is owned by the Church of Scientology..

Historical Notes

The 12-story Guaranty Building is a Beaux Arts office building built in 1923 and designed by John C. Austin.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.  The building is currently owned by the Church of Scientology.*^

Historical Notes

In 1923 E. M. Frasier built this 11-story hotel in Spanish Colonial style, which catered to Hollywood's film industry and was home to many stars throughout the years. This historic building began life as a luxury apartment building that was at the heart of Hollywood back in the 1920s, before becoming a hotel later in its history; its slogan was "Your home for a year or a day".*

Historical Notes

The intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood  became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses.

An historical marker plaque placed at the site by The Broadway-Hollywood Department Store (SW corner) reads:

Hollywood was given name by pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Horace H. Wilcox. They subdivided their ranch in 1887 and called two dirt cross-roads Prospect Avenue and Weyse Avenue. Prospect Avenue, the main artery, was renamed Hollywood Boulevard and Weyse Avenue became Vine Street. This was the origin of "Hollywood and Vine."

Historical Notes

On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and on August 9, 1945 on the city of Nagasaki. These actions shocked the country and prompted Emperor Hirohito to order the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War to accept the terms the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration for ending the war. On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally. Both August 14 and 15 have been known as "V-J Day" or "Victory over Japan Day." The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan formally surrendered aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.*

Historical Notes

The exact date of the war's end is not universally agreed upon. It has been suggested that the war ended at the armistice of August 14, 1945 (V-J Day), rather than the formal surrender of Japan (September 2, 1945); in some European histories, it ended on V-E Day (May 8, 1945). However, the Treaty of Peace with Japan was not signed until 1951, and that with Germany not until 1990.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more V-J Day celebrations in Downtown LA.

Historical Notes

The ten-story Broadway-Hollywood Building (originally B. H. Dyas Building) was constructed in 1928, It helped usher in a spatial shift that opened the doors for large-scale retail development outside of downtown Los Angeles. It also was the first department store to introduce women’s slacks (Click HERE to see more).

Historical Notes

A.Z. Taft, Jr. purchased the Hollywood Memorial Church on the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine, tore it down, and built the 12-story Taft Building.  All the movie studios had offices in the building as well as actors Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also resided there. Even Clark Gable's dentist was located in the building.*^

In 1999, the Taft Building and Neon Sign were designated Historic-Cultural Monument No. 666 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

In 2014-15 the Taft Building got a $15-million makeover with a renovation that shored up its seismic strength and uncovered historic architectural details that were under wraps for decades.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Taft Building.

Historical Notes

The intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood  became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses.

An historical marker plaque placed at the site by The Broadway-Hollywood Department Store reads:

Hollywood was given name by pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Horace H. Wilcox. They subdivided their ranch in 1887 and called two dirt cross-roads Prospect Avenue and Weyse Avenue. Prospect Avenue, the main artery, was renamed Hollywood Boulevard and Weyse Avenue became Vine Street. This was the origin of "Hollywood and Vine."

Historical Notes

Note the advertisement in front of the semaphore traffic signal: "Should Wives Hold Jobs"...a sign that things were changing.

Historical Notes

These early signals, manufactured by the Acme Traffic Signal Co., paired "Stop" and "Go" semaphore arms with small red and green lights. Bells played the role of today's amber or yellow lights, ringing when the flags changed—a process that took five seconds.

Click HERE to see more on Early LA Traffic Signals.

Historical Notes

The Acme semaphore traffic signals at Hollywood and Vine represent a historical aspect of Los Angeles traffic management before the adoption of modern traffic lights. This significant intersection, known for its cultural and historical importance since the 1920s, was a bustling hub for the entertainment industry. The semaphore signals featured red and green lights to control traffic during the day, with a flashing yellow light at night to indicate caution and manage flow during off-peak hours. These signals allowed for dynamic responses to changing traffic conditions and could be manually adjusted in emergencies. Although no longer in use, the Acme semaphore signals played a crucial role in shaping early traffic management practices in Los Angeles, reflecting the city's evolution in urban infrastructure as it adapted to increasing vehicle volumes and safety standards.

Historical Notes

The Owl Drug Company was a retailer with its headquarters in San Francisco.  It was a subsidiary of Rexall stores at its peak in the 1920s through 1940s. The founder of the Owl Drug Company was Richard Elgin Miller, R.E. Miller. The company sold medicines and pills, and later ventured into cosmetics, perfumes, and other goods. The firm organized "Beauty Weeks", which included a range of fashion-related entertainment such as beauty contests judged by Elinor Glyn, in which winners received a Hollywood screen test.

(1944)**** - The corner of Hollywood and Vine. This location is noted for being the "DISCOVERY OF MOVIE STARS" location. The Owl Drug Store can be seen in the background (S/E Corner). LIFE Magazine

Historical Notes

It's been touted as the world's most famous intersection. Radio station KFWB boasted that it broadcasted from the corner, and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper popularized it as a prime location for celebrity sightings.

(1944)* – View showing a woman in a fashionable dress walking west on the south side of Hollywood Boulevard just west of Vine Street (same location as previous photo).

Historical Notes

Note the sign pointing south down Vine to the Hollywood Victory House. Like the Victory House in Pershing Square, a central place to buy and sell war bonds. It opened in the forecourt of Graumann’s Chinese in May 1942, then moved near Hollywood & Vine.

Also note the Pilgrimage Play sign.  Click HERE to see more of the Pilgrimage Play Theatre (later the John Ford Theatre) located across from the Hollywood Bowl.

Historical Notes

Streetcars ran in both directions down Hollywood Boulevard until 1953.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles installed its first automated traffic signals in the 1920s.  These early signals, manufactured by the Acme Traffic Signal Co., paired "Stop" and "Go" semaphore arms with small red and green lights. Bells played the role of today's amber or yellow lights, ringing when the flags changed—a process that took five seconds.

Historical Notes

In 1940, restaurateur Sidney Hoedemaker of the Pig 'N Whistle - Melody Lane chain, leased the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine and transformed it into a Melody Lane restaurant. He hired coffee shop modern architect Wayne McAllister and S. Charles Lee to do the design.

Historical Notes

By 1955, Melody Lane Restaurant, N/W corner of Hollywood and Vine, would be converted into Hody's Coffee Shop. This would be followed by Howard Johnson's in 1971, and the Brown Derby in the 1980s. The site became a slew of struggling retail and nightclubs such as; Premiere, Jack's Sugar Shack, the Deep, and finally the Basque nightclub. In April 2008 the building went up in flames and the lot has been empty since.

Click HERE to see more of the N/W Corner of Hollywood and Vine.

Historical Notes

In 1946, United-Rexall Drug Inc. launched the Owl Superstores chain. In 1947, the company held a gala opening for their new headquarters and first store in Los Angeles, California. The new Hollywood Owl was reported in Life Magazine as 'the World's Biggest Drugstore'.

Rexall gained national exposure through its sponsorship of two famous classic American radio programs of the 1940s and 1950s: Amos and Andy and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Both shows were often opened by an advertisement from an actor (Griff Barnett) portraying "your Rexall family druggist", and included the catch phrase "Good health to all from Rexall."

In 1958, the Rexall Drug Company was the largest U.S. drug store franchise, with 11,158 stores (for comparison, there are fewer than 12,000 McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. today).*^

Historical Notes

KNBH (standing for “NBC Hollywood”) signed on in January 1949. It was the last of NBC’s five original owned-and-operated stations to sign on. It marked the debut of NBC television programs from the West Coast. The station changed its call letters to KRCA (for NBC’s then-parent company, the Radio Corporation of America) in 1954. The call letters were changed again in 1962, when NBC moved the KNBC identity from its San Francisco radio station (which became KNBR) and applied it to channel 4 in Los Angeles.*#^#*

In the 1940s and 1950s when many broadcast studios were located on or near Vine Street the Hollywood Plaza Hotel became popular with radio people. George Burns even had offices at the top of the hotel. The popular radio DJ Johnny Grant did his show from the Hollywood Plaza Bar. Grant also did a radio show from midnight - 4:00 a.m. in the nearby Ham and Eggers Restaurant.

Historical Notes

Ivar and Selma Weid, two children that crossed Daeida and Harvey Wilcox's land to get to school. When Harvey developed Hollywood in 1887 he named the two streets after them.^

Historical Notes

In 1894 the oyster cocktail was dreamed up by waiter Al Levy, who later became L.A.'s preeminent restaurateur.

In 1916 Levy built a luxury restaurant in what was then the tiny farm town of Watts, so motorists could stop off to dine in grand style on their way to Long Beach. It evidently flopped. When Prohibition arrived in 1919, the country's dining habits changed, dealing a blow to old-fashioned dining establishments such as Levy's with their elaborate multicourse meals.

In 1922 he started two restaurants side by side on Hollywood Boulevard, made a success of them and then sold them off in 1924. He took the money and immediately started a new downtown restaurant, Al Levy's Grill , on Spring Street in Downtown LA.

Five years later, with his downtown chophouse well established, he was back in Hollywood with Al Levy's Tavern (seen above), which a contemporary described as "a Hollywood version of an English inn." It also featured a separate kitchen for kosher food. It was one of the three leading celebrity hangouts around the fabled corner of Vine Street and Hollywood Boulevard, along with Sardi's and the Brown Derby. ^

Historical Notes

Al Levy's Tavern was damaged by a 1941 fire and became a Mike Lyman's chain, which closed in 1959, according to an LA Times article from the same year.^#^#^

Mike Lyman was a former vaudeville entertainer from Chicago who opened his first Mike Lyman’s Grill in downtown LA in 1935. There he hired the chef from Maxim's in Paris hoping to ensure culinary success. Lyman opened a second Mike Lyman’s Grill in Hollywood and also created the Flight Deck, the first restaurant at what was then the Los Angeles Municipal Airport. Lyman’s restaurants were loyally populated by the A-Listers from the worlds of show biz and sports.^+^

Today, a multi-story parking garage is located where Al Levy's Tavern and Mike Lyman's Grill once stood, between the old Vine Street Theatre (Ricardo Montalbán Theater) and the Hollywood Plaza Hotel.

Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

In 1956, Capitol Records would move into its new 13-story Capitol Records Building located at 1750 N. Vine Street.

Alan Hess, the author of Googie: Fifties Coffeeshop Architecture, traces Googie Architecture back to three Coffee Dan's restaurants designed by John Lautner in the early forties.

"He selected the vaults and glass walls and trusses and angles of his buildings to fit the original, often unusual, concepts of space he favored," writes Hess.

Historical Notes

Tom Breneman was host of the show Breakfast in Hollywood which aired on the Blue Network, ABC, NBC and Mutual at various times from 1941 to 1948. His  program went through numerous title changes but was best known as Breakfast in Hollywood (1948-49). By the mid-1940s, Breneman had ten million listeners. The popularity of the radio program was such that he created his own magazine, and in 1945 he opened his own establishment that carried his name.*^

Historical Notes

At the age of 46, Breneman died April 28, 1948, in Encino, California, and other hosts, including Garry Moore, stepped in as replacements, but without Breneman, the ratings dropped, and the program came to an end in January 1949.*^

Later in 1949, American Broadcasting Company moved into the building with its AM radio station (KECA).

Historical Notes

Architect G. Albert Lansburgh designed the Renaissance Revival style Warner Brothers Hollywood Theatre, which opened in 1928. The office space on the upper floors of the building became KFWB radio studios, which used the two radio masts on top of the theater. The building has also been known as the Warner Cinerama Theatre and the Pacific Hollywood Theatre.*

Historical Notes

The southeast corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga boulevards was where the original old Hollywood Civic Center was located.  The old city hall was known as Wilcox Hall.  In 1933, the site was redeveloped with the entire block demolished and replaced with a streamline modern-style structure named the Julian Medical Building (aka Owl Drug Company Buidling).  The Beveridge family (Daeida Wilcox Beveridge), who built Wilcox Hall, financed the development.^

Historical Notes

The Herman Building (seen above) was part of a complex of Spanish Colonial Revival buildings designed by architect Carl Jules Weyl that included the Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant, to the right and out of view.

Over the years, the Herman Building was home to many businesses, most notably a restaurant in the 1940s-1950s called the Ham & Egger. Johnny Grant, who went on to become the Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, broadcast a live radio show from the restaurant where he interviewed such famous celebrities of the day as Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante and Alan Young.

Click HERE to see what remains of the Herman Building today.

Historical Notes

In 1964 the West Coast Radio City building was demolished, as NBC moved more of their West Coast television operations to the Burbank facility. The site is now occupied by a bank.*^

Historical Notes

The building opened on August 18, 1948, as the headquarters of the Mutual-Don Lee broadcast empire. Designed by Claud Beelman -- the architect behind such local landmarks as the Hollywood Post Office, Eastern Columbia Building and the Culver Hotel -- and his associate, Herman Spackler, it was larger than its compact, three-story profile suggested. Inside were 14 separate broadcast studios, including four large sound stages with auditorium seating for live audiences.^^^#

Historical Notes

The Don Lee Mutual Building at 1313 Vine is an 118,000 square-foot building that was a state-of-the-art broadcast facility for radio and television. It was the culmination of a broadcasting dynasty begun by Don Lee, who held the franchises for California and Nevada Cadillac dealerships, fostered Los Angeles radio, and was a leading pioneer of television on the West Coast.+^^

Historical Notes

Though the building was never used for selling Cadillacs, the windows provided direct advertising for the latest models of the owner’s other business.+^^

Historical Notes

KCET was the first Los Angeles station devoted exclusively to educational programming when it signed on the air on September 28, 1964.  It was also among the city's first UHF channels. Other stations had already claimed the available VHF channels -- 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 -- and so KCET broadcasted at Channel 28 on a frequency not all television sets were then equipped to receive.

ABC acquired the facility in 1970 and produced such shows as "The Dating Game" and "The Newlywed Game" there. In the 1990s AIDS Project Los Angeles moved in, and since 2002 the historic Mutual-Don Lee Building has housed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study and the Academy Film Archive.^^^#

Historical Notes

This is the original location of "Tiny Naylor's" (1949-1980), one of the most popular drive in restaurants during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Many movie stars would go to this "space age" styled building to eat, because they could be served their meal in their cars and remain unnoticed. The restaurant was open 24 hours a day and was a great example of "Googie" Architecture.

This is the same corner where McDonnell's Drive-in (not to be confused with McDonalds) once stood in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Historical Notes

Tiny Naylor’s was also distinguished with its menu. Besides burgers and shakes, the menu at Tiny Naylor’s also included corn on the cob, ribs, steak, and baked potatoes—all of which were unheard of for a drive-in. Everything served at the restaurant was made from fresh ingredients, never frozen.^

Historical Notes

The fabulous Tiny Naylor’s Drive-in Restaurant was built in 1949, from the mind of googie architect Douglas Honnold. He, along with John Lautner, also designed the Googie-style Coffee Dan’s on Wilshire Boulevard.

Click HERE to see more on Googie Architecture.

Douglas Honnold (1901 – 1974) was an award-winning Canadian-born American architect. He, along with John Lautner, designed the Beverly Hills Club. They also designed the Embassy Shop in Beverly Hills, which won an Honor Award from the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1947. Additionally, they designed the Coffee Dan's Restaurant buildings on Vine Street in Hollywood as well as on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles in 1946.

Honnold is also known for turning down the offer to design the famous McDonald's golden arches.^

Historical Notes

Although Tiny Naylor was best known for his Tiny Naylor's restaurant chains, his first restaurant was Biff's Coffee Shop – named after his son, in 1948.  It was located on the corner of Cahuenga and Yucca in Hollywood.

Historical Notes

Unfortunately, Tiny Naylor’s went out of business in 1980 and the Googie-style structure was subsequently demolished to make room for a shopping center. The Naylor family is still alive and well in the restaurant business, however, with the Du-Par’s chain of restaurants.

Today an El Pollo Loco stands at the corner where Tiny Naylor's once stood.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of LA Drive-in Restaurants.

Historical Notes

Carolina Pines Jr. was a “Googie” style modern diner located near the northeast corner of Sunset and La Brea from 1952 until the early 1960s. The restaurant was flooded with lights at night and was open 24 hours a day. What distinguished this coffee shop from the others was their menu was all "Southern Style" cooking and you could order your breakfast eggs with grits and biscuits. The restaurant was named after the pine trees just a few yards north of the restaurant, which remain there to this day. In the late 1960s, the restaurant was remodeled and was a "Copper Penny" coffee shop, a chain owned by IHOP. The building was finally torn down for the present day mall.*^

There was also a second location at 525 South Vermont Ave.

Historical Notes

The menus at the Copper Penny Coffee Shop were printed on huge plastic copper pennies with a very good selection of breakfasts.

Click HERE to see contemporary view of Sunset and La Brea.

Historical Notes

Although Tiny Naylor was best known for his Tiny Naylors restaurant chains, his first restaurant was Biff’s – named after his son, in 1948.  It was located on the corner of Cahuenga and Yucca in Hollywood.

Tiny Naylor died in 1959. The Naylor family purchased Du Par's in 2004, which it still owns and operates. Du-par's expanded in 2009 to include several locations from the bankrupt Bakers Square chain.*^

Historical Notes

The Halifax was known for it's gangster clientel in the 1930's and 1940's. Across the street, on the north side of Yucca (next to the Richfield station) was the apartment building where Ed Wood lived when he filmed most of his movies.

The cool little Googie restaurant on the north side of Yucca Street was across from the Green Apartments, where Carol Burnett lived with her grandmother while attending Hollywood High in the 1950's.*#

Historical Notes

During the 1940s, Albert Kothe (the sign's official caretaker) caused an accident that destroyed the letter H.  Kothe, driving while inebriated, was nearing the top of Mount Lee when he lost control of his vehicle and drove off the cliff directly behind the H.  While Kothe was not injured, his 1928 Ford Model A was destroyed, as was the original 50 foot tall illuminated letter H.

The HOLLYWOODLAND sign was erected in 1923 to advertise a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. In 1949 the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce contracted to repair and rebuild the sign. The contract stipulated that “LAND” be removed to reflect the district, not the housing development.*^

Historical Notes

When it officially opened on December 27, 1924, Mulholland Highway was 24 miles long, running from Cahuenga Pass to Calabasas. The name was changed to Mulholland Drive in 1939.

Historical Notes

The first segment of the Hollywood Freeway built was a one and a half mile stretch through the Cahuenga Pass. That segment opened on June 15, 1940. It was then known as the "Cahuenga Pass Freeway." Pacific Electric Railway trolleys ran down the center of this freeway until 1952.*^

Historical Notes

Snow is a rare occurrence in the Los Angeles Basin. While it's common in the region's mountains, the moderating effect of the Pacific means that at lower elevations temperatures rarely fall below the point necessary to create snow. Since records were first kept in 1921, snow has fallen on downtown Los Angeles only ten times—and not once since 1962.

Historical Notes

The view above is from the top of Barham Bridge which at the time had a stairway running down to the tracks.

(ca. 1948)++^ - View looking northwest showing a Pacific Red Car stopped at the Barham Station with the Barham Bridge in the background.

Historical Notes

1952 was the last year Pacific Electric Railway trolleys ran down the center of the "Cahuenga Pass Freeway", (Hollywood Freeway).*^

Historical Notes

The second section of the Hollywood Freeway that stretched from the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles opened on April 16, 1954 at a cost of $55 million.*^

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