LA History

Panoramic view of Hollywood in 1909, taken from Laughlin Park at Franklin and Western Avenues. Numerous orchards are seen, and a horse-drawn carriage is at right.

At the turn of the century, Hollywood used to be orange groves and strawberry fields.

Photograph taken of three ladies in a 1904 Oldsmobile at a location west of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, Hollywood, California, 1904.

West Hollywood

(ca. 1900)* - Two men stand on Olive Hill in Hollywood circa 1900. A panoramic view of Hollywood extends to the north toward the mountains from what would become Barnsdall Park, looking toward a later Hollywood Blvd. and Vermont Ave. area.

View of the many orange trees that line the hills of Krotona Hill, located near Gower and Beachwood Drive, in Hollywood. A man can be seen standing in the orange groves. 1880

View of the Duin residence, a small ranch house at Western and Lemon Grove Avenues in Hollywood in 1860. Two women and a child as well as two men with their horses pose for the camera at the ranch.

(1888)* - Little steam engine and carriage of the Cahuenga Valley Railroad, which ran from Temple Street, Los Angeles, to Hollywood. Photograph is taken at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue.

(ca. 1890)* - Wilcox Ave. from south of Hollywood Blvd. as an unpaved, tree-lined road.

(ca. 1895)* - Orange grove and ranch of Mrs. Wakeman located near Western and Hollywood Boulevard, in Hollywood.

(ca. 1880)* - View of J. B. Rapps's pineapple plantation in Hollywood, located at the northeast corner of Gower and Franklin.

(1900)* - Panoramic view of Hollywood in 1900, looking across empty space toward a farm and Weid Canyon beyond.

(1896)* - Early view of Sunset Boulevard just west of Western Ave, looking north. In the foreground is a woman selling melons from a table.

Franklin Avenue Bridge near Bronson Ave. in 1904.

View of Hollywood Boulevard looking east from a point west of Highland Avenue in 1905. The large area on the right is a strawberry patch. A streetcar can be seen in the center of the photo.

(1904)* - Two passengers in an antique car are diving on an unpaved Hollywood Blvd. near Sunset Blvd. alongside street car tracks.

Farmer Dennis Sullivan farms a section of land where L.A. City College presently stands, on Vermont Ave. The location was the site of UCLA until the university moved to Westwood.

(ca. 1880)* - The Cahuenga Valley Railroad, a steam railroad built in the 1880's to provide access to Hollywood. The locomotive and passenger car is shown on Hollywood Boulevard, then Prospect Avenue.

(ca. 1880)^ - In this photo the Cahuenga Valley Railroad line cable car is also called the "Dummy line." Note the inside of the cable car is actually hollow with wooden chairs being used for sitting.

(ca. 1880)* - View of the Cahuenga Valley R.R. on Hollywood Boulevard, ca. 1880. The old Hurd residence is in the background, corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue.

(1882)* - Before roads and rail lines were built traveling through the Cahuenga Pass was by wagons and horses or on foot. This picture was taken at the summit. There is a saloon concealed among the trees.

(1882)* - A closer view of the summit of Cahuenga Pass with a saloon situated between the trees.

Exterior view of Cahuenga Tavern in Cahuenga Pass.

View of early Cahuenga Pass. The road runs around and through a cultivated area.

(ca. 1885)* - Exterior view of Six Mile House, a bar offering wines and liquors, located on Sunset Blvd. at Gower Street in the 1880s. Just six miles from Los Angeles, it was a stopping point for 20-mule teams coming out Sunset Blvd. into the San Fernando Valley.

(Early 1900s)* - Two women and a man pose at the side exterior of the Six Mile House Hotel. A sign on the roof reads "Martin Labaig and Laurent Etchepare, proprietors", and ice cold beer is advertised at 5 cents a pop.