Sat 9 Oct 2010
Things Get Better With Age
Posted by Will under flashback, history, nostalgia, photography
[3] Comments
What is it about vintage images of everyday street scenes, such as this one from the northwest corner of Hollywood & Vine in the early 1950s (hat-tip to LA Observed)? I can’t help but extensively examine and explore them as if they are some archaeological find.
Yet should someone venture out this afternoon with a camera and post a snap of this same landmark location, I’d give it, at best, a passing glance.
wait…so can someone explain why there is a STOP sign in the old pic, when clearly there are signals in operation too?
At first I was amazed that H&V was controlled ONLY by STOP signs…then I looked closer…there ARE signals. wth?
Tho, it looks like people are about to get run over at about the same rate THEN as they do today!
It’s true Trish, no matter how old somethings get (like traffic) they never change.
It looks like the westbound vehicles on H’wood Boulevard were forced to stop for the crossing pedestrians, much to the impatient chagrin of the motorists traveling north and south on Vine.
But that stop sign + traffic signal combo on Vine is a total WTF.
you know, I’m not seeing corresponding STOP signs on the other 2 corners we can see…
is it possible that maybe it’s a ploy for the picture? The guy standing next to it seems to be interested in the photographer…so maybe it was to get his attention?
Or perhaps a portable sign leftover from a signal outage?
I just asked a friend who was actually driving during that time period and she said she never saw something like that—STOP sign AND a signal, unless the signal was out.
And, GoogleMaps has a wonderful look at this intersection…a boatload more tall buildings down the street, but the two main buildings are still there & either been restored, or have original work up above the first floors.