I love these videos of old Los Angeles even though they've been colorized and had sound effects added. This one is from 1952, which is the year I "arrived" (was born) here.
We're driving down Sunset Boulevard heading west from around Cahuenga Boulevard. Sunset and Vine is a few blocks back and in the distance, there's a TV tower that I assume is on the lot that became KTLA in 1958. I think Paramount owned it then, having acquired it from Warner Brothers but I'm a little murky on the history there.
As we cruise along, very little is familiar to me. Some of the buildings are, though not the businesses in them. At one point, we pass the Oriental Theatre, which was located at 7425 Sunset Blvd. and was then playing Singin' in the Rain. That movie came out in March of 1952, just like me. The theater closed down in the early eighties and The Guitar Center is now located there.
Not much else is identifiable, though as we approach Crescent Heights Boulevard, we get a glimpse of Greenblatt's Delicatessen in its old location on the corner of Sunset and Laurel. The deli opened in that building in 1926, then moved a few doors west into larger quarters in 1979. It closed last August. The old building has been The Laugh Factory for many years and if you glance to the other side of the street, you'll see the famous Schwab's Drugstore. It closed in 1983 and a few years later, the whole corner there was turned into a big, hulking shopping center.
Shortly after that, we pass the Chateau Marmont, which is just about the only thing in the whole video that looks roughly the same to me. And just before the video comes to an end, we see Ciro's Nightclub, which was one of great nightspots…and in a way, still is since it became The Comedy Store. Enjoy the ride and all the Studebakers…