1930's drive down Wilshire Boulevard

[The Wiser Hatter]

[video=youtube_share;ohjQ7M_7EZo]http://youtu.be/ohjQ7M_7EZo[/video]
Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California in the 1930's. Watch as the old cars duck and weave around the camera car.

 

[dhermann1]

My guess would be that this was filmed to be used projected onto the back window of a car in a movie scene. The principles driving along chatting. And I'll bet it was used over and over for years.
Very cool.

 

[Rathdown]

Some tantalizing glimpses of cars, starting with the Springfield-bodied Rolls-Royce in the opening minute of the film, to the badly smashed car on the back of the tow-truck (called a "wrecker" back then). Thanks for posting!

 

[Benzadmiral]

It seems to be the driver's choice, which part of the road he takes. Didn't they have lanes yet?

One can imagine Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, cruising down Wilshire during "one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down out of the mountain passes and make your hair curl and your skin itch." (I'm trying to recall what car Chandler told us he drove in the early stories -- I know he had an Olds convertible in the mid- to late Fifties. Anybody know?)

 

[dhermann1]

That's Ralph's there at the corner, right, Angelinos? I only know it from some wonderful vintage color photos that were posted here of LA in 1942.

 

[David Conwill]

It seems to be the driver's choice, which part of the road he takes. Didn't they have lanes yet?

One can imagine Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, cruising down Wilshire during "one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down out of the mountain passes and make your hair curl and your skin itch." (I'm trying to recall what car Chandler told us he drove in the early stories -- I know he had an Olds convertible in the mid- to late Fifties. Anybody know?)

I knew about the Olds from the radio series. The only early car I'm familiar with is the circa 1938 Plymouth business coupe he drives in the 1946 film version of The Big Sleep.