Broadway And 7th – Downtown Los Angeles – 1947
The busiest intersection in town is bustling with activity. An electric streamliner street car heads north on Broadway. A banner blows in the morning breeze. Broadway is one of the few streets in Los Angeles that actually looks like a traditional big American city.
Lined with more department stores, specialty shops, eating places and movie palaces than anywhere else in Southern California, for many years Broadway was the retail and entertainment backbone of Los Angeles. For more than fifty years, beginning just after the turn of the century, Broadway, between 4th and 9th streets was a destination location for the masses who came from the suburbs, primarily by streetcar, to shop, go to the movies, and eat.
On the left side of the street is Bullock’s department store, Le Roy’s Jewelry, Kress Five & Dime, the Los Angeles Theater and Swelldom, which sold women’s fashions. On the right, Clifton’s Brookdale Cafeteria, Harris & Frank, and Bond, both men’s and women’s clothing stores, and The Palace Theater. The KRKD radio tower on the Arcade Building broadcasted from 1932 to 1961.
During the 50s, Broadway’s demographic began to change and become what it is today – a hustling-bustling multi-cultural market place and largest concentration of historic movie palaces in the world. The last streetcar ran in downtown Los Angeles in 1963.
GOD BLESS AMERICANA AND BROADWAYANA!
My grandma had Edie’s Candy Store on seventh st. Nearby was Harry’s Coffee Shop. Harry’s was an awesome mid century restaraunt! I was impressed evn as a 5 year old!
One can almost hear Jerry Goldsmith’s theme from Chinatown. Los Angeles, long ago. My dad and uncles home from the war. Back home in L.A.
Dear Scott Mercer,
In all likelihood the streetcar is on the “P Car” line, which ran between the Rowan & Dozier loop in Belvedere Gardens (East Los Angeles), and the Pico-Rimpau loop in the westside. The all electric streamlined PCC streetcars were delivered to Los Angeles in 1948 and ran exclusively on the “P Car” line until the abandonment of the streetcar system in March 1963. Only on the last day of streetcar service was the all electric PCC allowed to run on the “J Car Line”.
Oh, man! This is such a great picture! You can almost imagine Jack Kerouac walking down this street. After all, these are the places (old downtown LA with the bums) he wrote about so romantically and sweetly.I can just imagine him inside a gresy spoon accross the street describing that giant brown building with all those neon lights and the hussle and bustle from the streets and sidewalk!!Great pic, Charles! Keep it up!!
For those who might like to ride in one of those electric streetcars today. A few of those very streetcars, actually brought here from Los Angeles, are now running up and down Market Street in the beautiful city where I live, San Francisco.
Wish I could tell what line this PCC streetcar is running on, but several of the Los Angeles Transit Lines routes ran up and down Broadway in this section, all converging in the middle of the city. In any event, I believe this is one of the later, post World War II PCC cars, which means it is close to new in this picture, probably less than one year old.