Los Angeles photos in the 1950s. Above: Downtown in 1950. A traffic jam on Figueroa Street facing Sunset, circa 1950. A house being moved past the Chateau Marmont (8221 Sunset Blvd.) in 1950, gets stuck on Marmont Lane. It took hours for movers to squeeze the house past a telephone pole, and they […]
These waitresses once worked at the Cave Club, a nightclub that opened in April 1959. According to liquor license permits, the Cave Club’s address was 8511 Beverly Place. Photo: Ralph Morris (the club’s proprietor) LAPL: 00008823
Newsflash from the Past: Five Accused of Impersonating Females in Cafe LOS ANGELES TIMES (November 2, 1954) — Five men, one of them a Pasadena High School mathematics teacher, were arrested in an Altadena cafe early yesterday on charges of impersonating females. They identified themselves as Thomas Evans Tuites [far left], 36, the teacher, and […]
A look at crime in Los Angeles in the 1950s. Photos are from undisclosed locations. Above Photo: Three gamblers wishing to keep their snake eyes hidden during a crap game somewhere in Los Angeles, November 10, 1951. (LAPL 00039498) According to the Los Angeles Public Library, in October 1952: “Five women and a man were jailed […]
The Crenshaw Shopping Center, circa 1950 or thereabouts. Its known today as Baldwin Hills – Crenshaw Plaza. Address: 3650 W Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Von’s fresh fish counter in 1950. Note that Rex Sole was selling for .33 a pound. An underground loading dock at the Crenshaw Shopping Center, now the Baldwin […]
Paramount contract player Joan Taylor (Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers/The Rifleman) shares a carton of milk with UCLA star tailback Paul Cameron in 1952. At that time, Taylor served as California’s Dairy Queen and Cameron was in line for All-American honors. (LAPL 00051362)
On June 5, 1952, the U.S. government conducted its final atom bomb test at Nevada’s Yucca Flat, 300-miles from Los Angeles. A brief ‘aurora borealis’ lit up the night sky making it possible to see downtown Los Angeles. On March 12, 1955, at 5:20 a.m., the government detonated another atomic bomb in the Nevada […]
11-year-old Eric Henderson (left) and his 9-year-old brother, Lars, train their cap guns on a stewardess in this 1957 publicity photo. The San Fernando Valley boys, touted as the fastest cap gunslingers in the country, appeared on a television show, brandishing their new cap gun models. Following the broadcast, the brothers were challenged by other […]
Young African-American children in Los Angeles, circa 1950s.
A hallway inside the Los Angeles Police Facilities Building (aka”The Glass House,” aka Parker Center), located on the corner of 1st and Los Angeles Street, in 1955. The building itself was designed by Welton Becket. Looking at the picture, there are perforated Fenestra panels on the left, which were used as restraining barriers in the […]