Old L.A. Photos

[Inky]

Here are some before/after shots of various parts around Los Angeles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dogwelder/sets/72157594197422246/show/

It makes me sad to see how we've changed....

 

[*martini*time*]

Wow...
Some of those theatres were just amazing...i would have loved to have been around in those days...it's sad to see how much has changed there...i just see LA as Hollywoodland...

I would still love to go and see it today!!

 

[zetwal]

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos -

 

[docneg]

That is just an outstanding slide show. My fifteen year-old son even had to comment on how tacky the modern scenes are.

 

[Dr Doran]

Inky, those are great. too bad they load so slowly. If you wanted to post them on this thread, that would be marvelous. That's so funny to see the Panorama City sign in the 1950s ... I had a dear friend who lived out there in the 1980s with her grandparents, and it was a hellhole then .... although I'm sure it was more like that cute photo when her grandparents moved in.

But NOTHING was worse than Pacoima in the 1980s, which supposedly was once a wealthy, nice Jewish neighborhood. Complete hole by 1988, not even a place you'd want to take a dog. Gangs and drunks everywhere. People demanding (rather than asking for) a dollar. "Hey man, give me a dollar." The dog-end of Van Nuys Boulevard. Just abominable.

One of the things I am learning from this is: when you buy a house, buy a big lot. So no matter how nasty and overdeveloped things get, you'll still have your calm acre.

 

[Inky]

I am glad you all liked that link. Unfortunately those aren't my pictures so I would feel uncomfortable posting there here. You can change the speed to slow/medium/fast in the options - top right of the screen. I just did a google search for "Los Angeles before and after" and found them. I bet there are more for the searching

I've done it for the city I live in now (up near Pismo Beach in the central coast of California) and even here in this relatively rural area the changes are pretty surprising over the last 100+ years. Heck, my city only became a "city" in 1911!

 

[JennyLou]

Wonderful link Inky. Thank you.

 

[Murph351]

Hall of Records

What is neat in this photo is you can see the steep trolley in the background.
It looks like Angels Flight but is actually a sister trolley called Court Flight.
This trolley started up from Court Street in LA and was steeper than Angels Flight over on Third Street.
http://www.erha.org/court.htm

 

[Widebrim]

Thanks, gents.

Say, Widebrim (I hope to meet you one day at Jon Eugenio's house) you wouldn't consider taking a shot of that precise intersection in Glendale today, would you? It would be nice to have before-and-after shots side by side. But I suppose it would work best if you got the exact angle and distance.

That is a possibility, Doran, regarding the "today" photo of Glendale (although I'm a notorius procrastinator...). As far as meeting at one of Jon's Friday night gigs, that would be great; I'm not sure when the next one is, but hopefully he'll let me know. Are we going to see some more of those photos, especially downtown and Hollywood?

 

[Red Diabla]

Here are some before/after shots of various parts around Los Angeles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dogwelder/sets/72157594197422246/show/

It makes me sad to see how we've changed....

There's one aspect where there's change and it's for the better...all the TREES!!!!

In many of the "before" photos that weren't in downtown LA, it was just suburban sprawl. One of the best things the city ever did was start planting trees in the latter half of the 20th century...and look at them now! I think it's really great.

RD

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Haunted Landscapes

Thanks for all the photos, they were incredible. While I am not that familiar with L.A., I did visit it in 1957, again in '65 and then in recent years, so can relate to the changes in those photos, even if I didn't recognize many of the places.

My now deceased aunt and uncle moved to Downey, California after the war (WW II) and said that, when they moved in to their house, there was an orange grove across the street from them (!?).

Not for long....

I think it is true for many cities, sadly, that we who once lived there, return to a haunted landscape. I left Des Moines in 1967, returned three years ago to be with my mother, and, wow, the changes -- especially in downtown and the west side.

South Des Moines, where we live, has not physically changed so much, but even buildings and places I recall from my childhood aren't really the same. Just like those L.A. photos where a building may be intact, but once housed something else -- a theatre or a dimestore, and now they are selling tacky merchandise or fast food.

The trees are at least a nice change, but, in some cases, obscure a really neat building.

It just changes, everything changes. Certainly not for the better most of the time, it seems.


karol

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Incredible photos, Doran! Thank you for posting them.

My friend's mother's old friend gave him these and he emailed them to me. I am assuming that they are old postcards.

I am assuming this is Venice, 1910s or 1920s -- not sure.

I'll post more soon.

I manipulated this in Photoshop, and to the best of my skills have deciphered the caption at the bottom to read as follows: "June 13 1919. Keystone Girl Venice Parade". There is also what looks like a copyright mark between the two gals on the far right.

By the way, I spoke with Jon this morning and he hasn't yet planned his next Friday night gig.

 

[Dr Doran]

If I find more, I'll post them. I have to look through some old e-mails. I don't know if I have Hollywood shots.
I am not in LA much these days, alas. I was born there and lived there for the first 20 years of my life, from 1970 until 1990. I miss it once in a while. Not much. But I always found it so damn hot. I hate heat. A lot. I mean, a lot. I really, really, really hate heat. "But it's dry heat" doesn't help. I just hate it.

I will certainly time my next trip to LA with one of FedoraGent's vintage evenings, though.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Man, you nine-to-fivers and your Friday nights. :rage:

 

[Widebrim]

Man, you nine-to-fivers and your Friday nights. :rage:

Need a new time shift, Tony...