Watch this side-by-side video of Los Angeles in the 1940s and today

[The Wiser Hatter]

 

[AmateisGal]

This is very cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

[zetwal]

Yes ... thanks

 

[Fading Fast]

Agreed - very cool. Miss many of the trees, cars with style, a world without minivans, a world without glass-clad buildings...

 

[Frunobulax]

Wow. To my untrained eye, it looks like everything has been torn down and replace. I saw maybe one building in both films.

Also, at about 1:18, two women walk from R to L in the modern film, and appear to walk into the old film. Kind of a cool effect.

 

[Benzadmiral]

In the section around :50 to 1:00, as the cars drive toward the camera, the road surface of yesteryear is horrible and that of today is much better. I like the 1946 apartment houses (ca. 1:25) much better than the office buildings that have replaced them, though. One can imagine Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe driving his Chrysler between his home and his office, or on a case, past the "apartment hotels" at 3:25.

It could be my imagination or the camera angle -- but did the hills in 1946 seem steeper than the same hills today?

 

[Fading Fast]

In the section around :50 to 1:00, as the cars drive toward the camera, the road surface of yesteryear is horrible and that of today is much better. I like the 1946 apartment houses (ca. 1:25) much better than the office buildings that have replaced them, though. One can imagine Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe driving his Chrysler between his home and his office, or on a case, past the "apartment hotels" at 3:25.

It could be my imagination or the camera angle -- but did the hills in 1946 seem steeper than the same hills today?

I had the same thought about the hills. Purely for film-noir aesthetics, I liked the beat up old road surfaces. That said, I'm sure if I had to drive on them regularly today, I'd appreciate the upgrade.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I had the same thought about the hills. Purely for film-noir aesthetics, I liked the beat up old road surfaces. That said, I'm sure if I had to drive on them regularly today, I'd appreciate the upgrade.

Right, I was looking at it from a commuter's perspective. True, cars tended to have softer, more isolating suspensions then, at least the more expensive cars, and tires were nowhere near as low-profile as today -- so maybe driving on them wouldn't have been a torture test.

As for the hills, well, maybe a few of the earthquakes in the last 70 years leveled 'em out a little. . . .

 

[Denton]

Great video. What it implies for the city of Los Angeles as a whole is a little misleading. The video focuses on the Bunker Hill neighborhood, which was completely leveled in the 1950s-1960s and, as you can see, replaced by single-use office buildings. Those nice rooming houses would be an attractive option for all the people who are being priced out of downtown these days.

If you went a few blocks east you would see a lot of beautiful early 20th century buildings. Or if you took the same side-by-side trip down West Adams Boulevard you would see some striking differences but they wouldn't be architectural. I once saw a side-by-side video comparing locations in the Fairfax neighborhood from In a Lonely Place then and now, and the differences were mostly superficial.

The most important difference is the loss of the Red Car, which the city still mourns.

 

[Fading Fast]

...The most important difference is the loss of the Red Car, which the city still mourns.

As do most cities that got rid of theirs. With the Millennials caring less about owning cars, them and the empty nesters moving to cities and the general view on the environmental benefits - all of these electric street cars / interurbans / etc. would be doing very well today if they still existed.

 

[AdeeC]

I like the clarity and depth of the old B/W film compared to the new video. Everything just fades into an imprecise blur after a few hundred yards of vision in the modern video. What was once a modern new city now is a traffic sewer.

 

[MisterCairo]

Cool perspectives.

 

[rocketeer]

One thing about Los Angeles in the 1940s-50s. There is a common belief, especially in the UK, that there were Hot Rods and custom cars everywhere during these times, though I did not see one, nore in the Sunset strip clip that followed it, which was 1950s rather than the captioned 40s.
I am always on the look out for similar clips, especially England with it's leafy lanes of the countryside or big city bustle of cities like London in the 1950s.
Great clips, thanks for showing