Driving east on Wilshire Boulevard towards Beverly Hills in 1942


Let's go for a ride in 1942 on Wilshire Boulevard towards Beverly Hills. I found this photo at the Duke University site, in their collection of outdoor advertising (yes, billboards, people study them as part of the history of advertising) and it caught my eye because I like old photos of Los Angeles.

Specifically, we're rolling down the hill on Wilshire just east of Beverly Glen looking towards Devon. The trees there are the ones at the Los Angeles Country Club. It's not quite Beverly Hills yet, it's what the real estate people would call "Beverly Hills adjacent". I'm not sure what the city limits of Beverly Hills was in 1942, but it still doesn't go quite that far east. But don't get me wrong, it's an expensive chunk of real estate!

When I started researching this, which was labelled as "Dec. 3, 1942. Location: Wilshire & Devon NE, Los Angeles", I jumped onto Google Street View to see what I could see. It's definitely the hill, and if I'm not mistaken, you can see the roof of the Château Colline there. Here, I'll zoom in a bit, and you can tell me what you think:


The other buildings are gone, of course, but from what I just read, the Château Colline, which was built in 1935, was saved from demolition in 2001, and I believe that's it. Well, maybe. Sure looks like the roofline to me!


Anyway, let's keep driving on our way to the Los Angeles Country Club. I hope that you're a member! Do you have your mashie-niblick?



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