Driving the Miracle Mile on Wilshire Boulevard in 1946, Los Angeles, California


Let's time-travel to Los Angeles in 1946 and drive along the Miracle Mile. We're heading west on Wilshire Boulevard, and that's La Brea up there, where the E. Clem Wilson Building is (it's still there in the 21st Century, by the way, although now it has a big blue Samsung hat on the top of it).

I have to admit to being a bit surprised when I first saw this image, which is from the Duke University site, because I would have considered 1946 to be part of the war years, when cars weren't produced in the U.S., but apparently this is how quickly car manufacturers went back into production.


Here's a closer look at Wilshire Boulevard, with the Ritz Theater on the left, and the Miracle Mile sign on the right. Looks like Wilshire was a busy street even back then!

As someone who's fascinated with classic cars, I get a big kick out of seeing how the war years impacted the design of cars, which stopped in 1941, remaining very "late 1930s-looking" until the postwar cars came out, looking to me very 1950s to me. Fun! Hang on, I'll find a pic of a '46 Pontiac. Here ya go:


It must have been wonderful to see. And since this is an imaginary journey, I think that we should go buy a brand-new Pontiac (using our 21st Century money) and help the postwar economy. And then we can just drive up and down the Miracle Mile! Maybe we should invest in some Real Estate!

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