Driving on Wilshire Boulevard in 1948, Los Angeles, California

I have a particular fascination with how cities grow and change, which is why I like photos of Los Angeles so much. This pic, which is of Wilshire Boulevard looking west towards Normandie, shows how residential areas slowly become business districts.

Before we go any further, I want to say thank you to the nice people at Duke University who scanned this photo, and made it available for us to study. Their site focuses on billboards, while my own personal interest is locations, so the location research is what I do, along with a little help from my friends. This photo has a lot of clues, including the Veloz and Yolanda Dance Studio, and of course that billboard back there which says "Chevrolet 1948", which is the date I'm using for this image. Of course it could be 1947 (new model cars come out the year before), but I like to err on the side of caution. Chevrolet would have continued to advertise their 1948 models all year. So this is post-World War II.

By the way, I'm far from being an expert on that era of cars, but isn't that a Woody? And if you can id the cars, please let me know and I'll update this post, and give you credit (if you'd like).


Anyway, we're driving along Wilshire, and there in the hazy distance is the Wiltern, which is still there on Western. I just checked Google Street View, and it looks like there's a Denny's there now. Wish I could visit! If you live there, go have a Grand Slam for me, and enjoy the beautiful art deco building!

And there's the dance studio, in one of the houses. I suppose people in the neighborhood grumbled a bit, but Wilshire Boulevard was becoming too valuable for businesses to allow it to remain just a neighborhood anymore. That's progress! Hopefully they got a good price when they moved out. I'm a, ahem, man of age, and I wouldn't want to leave this house, where I've been for over 25 years, but I'm not on a main street, so I'll be fine.

Veloz and Yolanda in 1941

I've found enough images of Wilshire Boulevard of this vintage, and I'm starting to recognize the unique street lights, which are different from other parts of LA at the same time. I wonder what it was like to have been able to walk along a sidewalk like that on Wilshire? I suppose I would walk there, and dance back!

Thank you for driving along Wilshire Boulevard with me!

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