On September 2, 1958, Miss Elsie Davis, Principal, Kittridge St. Elementary School in Van Nuys, CA registers children at her school. Linda Huntling and Bob Moore, 5 years old, stand glumly as their mothers oversee the process. 59 years ago, there were children with names like Linda and Bob, as old fashioned sounding now as…
In the first third of the 20th Century, Los Angeles developers built many tall apartments in the midst of single-family homes. One sees, in the older sections of the city, in West Hollywood, Koreatown, and West Adams, the presence of five, six, even ten story apartment houses that pop up, sometimes mid-block, in-between single…
It is always fun to come across yet another old photograph of Van Nuys. (Courtesy of USC Digital Archives) This time it's the Fox Market, a chain, which once had an outpost at 7425 Van Nuys Bl. at the corner of Van Nuys and Valerio, north of Sherman Way . Legendary photographer Julius Schulman shot the Carl…
From the USC Digital Archives, one finds fascinating and unusual photos of old California. A search for "4th of July" brought up these photos and captions: "Photographer: Gaze. Date: 1952-07-04. Reporter: Gaze. Assignement: 4th July--Santa Monica. #23-29: Navy landing craft comes ashore in Fourth of July exercises at Santa Monica. LCM No. 268 in the…
In the 1950s, movies were censored. Violence was off-screen. Death, dismemberment, bloody accidents, injuries: all of it was hidden. But real life photographers back then rushed to the scene and photographed the daily gore that makes the daily news. One such example is this photo from May 5, 1957, near Vineland and Vanowen, where the…
From the archives of USC comes these fascinating (Dick Whittington Studio) photos of Vanowen and Laurel Canyon Blvds. in 1931. What might have become of the vast and verdant emptiness had it been developed with a plan, or a vision, beyond that of buyer and seller and developer? It would be an intersection harmonious, civilized,…
