A drive through 1940's Los Angeles!

A Drive Through Bunker Hill And Downtown Los Angeles Ca. 1940s

[@sailorforlifebestti3366]

Props to the person who thought of putting a 100lb camera in the back of his car and film while driving, and preserve the footage.

[@sidecar7714]

Probably a 70dr... fairly lightweight and sturdy.

[@pacoandpacosmagicshoeyes5622]

@@sidecar7714 moving pictures yes I can see them 7 6 : 2 3 outside of LA copying and pasting the link everywhere only escalated the situation became global someone was going to have tell a radio station about this outside of LA or we would have to watch all of the girls withdrew everything from all of the banks disintegrated on live television if they have that suddenly quickly timemachineprintoutonlinelinkinonline.wordpress.com o my goodness

[@FormerDeathMachine]

sharkk 88 Great Scott

[@mariarobinpower1341]

@@FormerDeathMachine "there's no place like home...x3"

[@mdyiya]

Preserved on nitrate film and lucky it didn’t explode.

[@psoteriou3884]

It would be great if someone in LA could film the exact route today and show it side by side with the 40s footage.

[@ismaelpenalver4722]

They do , it's called Seventy years of Los Angeles then and now

[@antonydonavan234]

That is not Los-Angeleas... sweetie ! Mirna Catalano

[@keepemclassic6791]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXqrl6CfqLJ_hbs

[@bluecamus5162]

You can do that yourself using Google Maps Street View. The ride begins twice in the same location--- on 2nd Street just west of Olive. The only things that are recognizable are the LA City Hall in the background at the 2:26 mark (when you see the chics walking) and about the 3:58 mark, you will see the library with the big arch on 5th Street. Mind blowing to see what has become of Bunker Hill.

[@hotdog12ify]

Homeless would get in the way.

[@jimkoral3824]

Someone should film the same route today and run the footage of both side by side

[@gregfair1749]

That would be an awesome but sad comparison!!!!

[@SirManfly]

@@gregfair1749 ya, there would likely be a lot of homeless people and tents all over the sidewalk !

[@mainecoon6514]

@@SirManfly That is what L.A. and the rest of California has come to. CA could be dubbed the trash state. The only 'golden' about CA is the piss.

[@CharlieMessing]

They leveled Bunker Hill, so that might be kind of difficult.

[@thejohnson9204]

@@mainecoon6514 Why do you say that? Is it not nice there now? I'm from Australia so am not really aware. I thought it was still a nice place to live.

[@badactor3440]

Legend has it, the driver is still driving around the city till this day, unable to find parking.

[@badactor3440]

Just because my comment is similar to another doesn't mean I copied it....moron.

[@badactor3440]

@Millennial Smark born a moron, always a moron

[@regiltube7932]

You 2 Had This comment meme Idea from other people Mean It

[@carolmccartney7607]

@Millennial Smark exactly what I thought

[@jessemacias2]

There were zero parking meters and hundreds of parking garages. Are you blind?

[@andrewnunez5680]

I love these kind of videos. The closest we're ever going to get to being in a time machine.

[@Someoneorother123]

For now...

[@gregory593]

I felt a strange feeling watching the video. It's hard to explain. I would almost say it's a feeling of being homesick for a place I can't go back to, because it's gone. Almost as if I had been there, and I suddenly realize what I've lost.

[@MrDaiseymay]

OOOOH A, TIME WARP.

[@mikecastellon3022]

Everyone has heard the quote “you can never go back home” and puzzled over the meaning .its simple...it’s because it doesn’t exist anymore. The past is gone and tomorrow never comes. All we’ve got is now and we have to find some way to live with the lunatics and demons that infest our cities and our government

[@sampowell3465]

I feel you!

[@mariarobinpower1341]

They built their future. I wish we could go back there...but don't we owe our children the same nostalgia when they get old? Do you want them to have no happy place at all? We are both drowning in self pity. Thank God I am a first responder!

[@mariarobinpower1341]

I'm not trying to bag on you Gregory. I cry when I look at the carnage of a generation and that the legacy we leave our children isn't nostalgia and warm memories...but a shit- load of cold murder cases...a shit- load of brand new Prisons called Detention Centers, meaning they are not constitutional and a lot if questions with no answers. We are better than that. And we owe them better. "All human knowledge?" Boy, is Grandpa going to be pissed!!!

[@jahzd4028]

0:12 - Car is at 2nd St and Olive St facing east 0:40 - Car starts moving up 2nd st and turns south on Grand Ave 1:17 - Car is at the intersection of Grand Ave and 3rd St still heading south 1:40 - Car is at the intersection of Grand Ave and 4th St still heading south 2:04 - Car stops at 5th and Grand Ave. Film cuts 2:07 - Film starts. Car driving up 2nd st again and turns south on Grand Ave, with camera facing to the right.

[@pacoandpacosmagicshoeyes5622]

here are the instructions timemachineprintoutonlinelinkinonline.wordpress.com printers and microphones numbers dials outside of LA copying and pasting the link everywhere only escalated the situation became global someone was going to have tell a radio station about this outside of LA or we would have to watch all of the girls withdrew everything from all of the banks disintegrated on live television if they have that suddenly quickly timemachineprintoutonlinelinkinonline.wordpress.com o my goodness

[@thomaskelly2040]

Thanks I can now go to Google maps and compare😊.

[@lannlann]

Wow that is a radical change of scenery compared to the past. I was looking at the current google street views and see this area is downtown LA with its skyscrapers. Thanks for sharing the street names.

[@TheGreatOne16439]

I think that black car following them was part of the film crew.

[@richardwadd9769]

Jahz D thanks. Have you thought of replicating that route and putting it on KZbin?

[@cgerb1954]

I really enjoyed looking at this. The Gas Stations, the clothes people wore and more. Thanks !

[@nancyhopple8138]

I was born in 1946 in LA area and I REALLY enjoyed this so much. Thank you.

[@algobien9702]

God bless you

[@geoffreydevore9503]

I bet it has really changed!! Answer me a question if you will? Were people more real back then? Have a good day!!

[@jackjackson6355]

Jesus loves you everyone

[@jackjackson6355]

@@JasonHolmes seriously :)

[@jackjackson6355]

@@JasonHolmes I'm not into religion

[@yoiashi]

As someone who has been living in L.A. for quite a long time, thus video makes me wanna cry. L.A used to be so beautiful, but now......

[@bkatz1480]

lia Aisha depends on what parts of la were talking about

[@lindab.716]

Air quality is better now, but that's it.

[@cincyspin178]

I think it looked pretty damn drab and the smog was already threatening to take over the skys....

[@52Ricoman]

lia Aisha I don’t know about your comment. If you go back to those same streets around Bunker Hill, it’s not bad at all. I haven’t been there for a while but I hear even Broadway is jumping with people and nightlife. It’s making a huge comeback with professional young people living and working there.

[@twizztedfps]

As well as all the rascist walking around

[@tonymilitant]

My great grandma was 26 at this time. She's 101 and still living in her own place.

[@donnaleeclubb119]

Good for grandma!!!

[@LtKedobu]

Born in the 1920's? I literally respect anyone who has seen the great depression. Your great grandma is now one of them!

[@Groveish]

It says 1940s, not 1940. She could've been 26 to 35

[@yoda5280]

HustleGang my great uncle was 22 in 1940 (born in 1918), hes still alive at 102, and still drives

[@LtKedobu]

@@yoda5280 I respect him.

[@undergroundwarrior70]

I remember what downtown Los Angeles, CA. looked liked in 1959 and in 1960 when I was 3 and 4 years old. Almost the same on this video. I remember the cable cars in downtown L. A., and the Greyhound Bus Station. It was about 3 or 4 levels. My mom and I used to take the Greyhound bus down there from Santa Barbara, CA. Her dentist was in the downtown area, and his office was in a very tall building. To this very day I still remember his name, Dr. Mcgee. An elderly gentleman, and he was very kind.

[@ruialmeida7812]

Adorei esse filme. Foi muito bem feito, provavelmente por profissional. O negócio é viver o momento, pois quase todos que aparecem nas imagens estão mortos. 80 anos se passaram. Viva a vida com mais alegria, pois com simpatia é melhor.

[@bobmuller8256]

Underground Warrior that sounds awesome, sounds like you had a great time. Honestly, I like watching these vids and hearing stories from the past. It seems that everyone nowadays are too busy to be better and better than the next guy so they can be rich enough to have more and more than the next guy. I feel like America is opened 24/7 and people are too materialistic nowadays. I wish I could’ve grown up in a different time.

[@Blangahman]

You may remember Los Angeles. But how can you claim that it was "almost the same on this video"?. This is San Francisco! How on earth can you mistake the two?

[@undergroundwarrior70]

@@Blangahman the title of this video is called 'A Drive Through 1940's Los Angeles'. Looks like Los Angeles to me. And yes, it is Los Angeles. I did see the City Hall building in the background. Los Angeles does have some hilly streets. It's not all flat.

[@zcam1969]

things changed in the 1980"s skyscarpers were built downtown

[@bobmilin]

3:45 a man waves to the camera lets all wave back 75 years later.

[@_8_five647]

Wow thats a crazy way of putting it, good stuff

[@deletdis6173]

I waved back at my phone lol. 😃

[@MT94SMM]

He’s probably dead now...

[@_8_five647]

@@deletdis6173 thats lame, yeah i did that too 🤣

[@prestigearchitecturalllc5881]

👋👀🖐

[@kaiserbill5711]

absolutely stunning - like being in a time machine !!! I cannot praise this enough.

[@Critter23466]

Agreed, and yet so simple....

[@theresag1969]

This is real music.

[@rjjcms1]

Do they still play recordings of classical pieces like this in morning assembly at school? That was where I first heard it,way back in the 70s.

[@rjjcms1]

@Stephen Morton I appreciate this kind music a whole lot more now than I did back then,not that I didn't appreciate it then.

[@mainecoon6514]

@@theresag1969 Fantasia is one of my favorite pieces of music. Real music is unfortunately a thing of the past though we can still listen to real music here on youtube.

[@whiptech]

I might be wrong.... but I don't think I saw a single tent in this entire video. Are you sure this is L.A.? *

[@jonmacdonald5345]

whiptech The bums and hobos would stay by the river ways and railroad tracks! they didn't beg then they did odd jobs for pocket change! my how times have changed!

[@roseann4023]

Reminder......this is the "good ole days" in the '40's!

[@thunderlightning142]

Those days are long gone and probably majority of the people in this video. But man those days look fantastic. People were people back then. Treated u right when men were men and women were classy and had respect for themselves. People had respect back then and had morals. Today's generation SMH and America.

[@randymoran67]

Just look to the right where the No coloreds sign is

[@gordon3186]

@Mercury Grand Marquis ---- Culbert Olson was the Democratic Governor from 1939 to 1943. (I don't know about you but if nothing was holding me back, I'd rather live on the beach in California in the winter than in any of the icy flyover states.)

[@bolonymontana]

Did anyone else notice how their was so less people and traffic back then

[@Rif_Leman]

They were all in the military fighting Nazis or at a war material production job making weapons and such. Gasoline was severely rationed so there wasn't any frivolous driving. BTW, it is fewer people, not less people.

[@hkk3656]

@@Rif_Leman They were fighting the Japanese idiot, after this video was made. Most people had jobs and didn't freeload in tents.

[@davedave6650]

Looks like a typical Sunday morning anywhere.

[@inlovewithi]

I read another comment saying that his grandma was in her 20s at this time and that sometimes the smog was so bad that... here's what they wrote "my friend's grandma was born and raised in Los Angeles says that in the 40s and 50s the smog was so bad that some days they would close school and tell people to stay indoors. I can see by this footage that that was no joke." It was his friend's grandma.

[@eagle___empire3175]

Well thats obvious dumbass

[@789armstrong]

I remember this as a boy. No gangs or drug dealers and a very low crime rate. Highland Ave was lined with sycamore trees, farms and beautiful scenery. My mother and I used to walk up Highland Ave. many times to Sunset or Hollywood Blvd.

[@craigcorson3036]

I didn't grow up there, but I lived in the area during the 80s, and I don't remember it being so hilly. When did they flatten it out? I mean, I saw LA City Hall, but it sure looks like San Francisco to me.

[@geekay1349]

@@craigcorson3036 that's a cool memory to have

[@craigcorson3036]

@@geekay1349 Not as cool as carl armstrong's. I would LOVE to have grown up in L.A., or somewhere nearby.

[@789armstrong]

Today thousands of homeless people sleep in tents on the sidewalks of downtown Los Angeles. 4 or 5 share a bucket to do their business in and when it gets full they empty it in the streets. Just like France before the revolution as described in Tale of Two Cities. With 40,000 people denied food stamps due to the shutdown more homelessness will occur. The City Hall is downtown.

[@johnhardman3]

@@craigcorson3036 Look at the KCET pictures of Bunker Hill being erased in the '60s: the land was removed along with the old buildings to make way for a towerscape: a community simply disappeared

[@Deotex833]

Their time is over, ours will be over too, so we’d better enjoy life as much as we can while we still live...

[@farreldominic2150]

How do you think you can enjoy life in this me - first selfish world ?

[@Deotex833]

Farrel Dominic We need to learn how to control our ego, how to find balance between inner focus-high ego (selfishness) and outer focus-low ego (altruism). This is a higher level of consciousness, what fewer people are able to reach. In my opinion this is the key to enjoy life as it is and set the suitable difficulty for our capabilities. If we pursue only happiness, we fail. That is only a temporary feeling. Balanced self is the goal capable of dealing with the hurdles of life.

[@phoebeandromeda866]

Yeah, pretty much the jist of it. Even though some that were alive in the 40's are still alive, theirs will be over eventually. And so will ours. So we need to enjoy it while we can.

[@squashhead1374]

Amen. I did this just a few months ago. I mounted a GoPro on my dash and drive through my city. I will be able to look back in many years and reminisce about the good times. It will most likely only get worse.

[@m.e.d.7997]

Yes life is fleeting..

[@marklucca3044]

My uncle immigrated to L.A. at that time period. He told me the opportunity was unbelievable back then. Everybody was proud to be an American. The opportunity was boundless back then. I guess everybody was focused on being successful Americans. No room for belly aching.

[@johnmagill9496]

Yes, pre-welfare era.

[@manjelos]

At this time Europe, China, Russia was in ruins, and Japan at war, maybe Australia and some places in Latin America was worth living...

[@busterbiloxi3833]

How were Blacks and Mexicans doing?

[@devinpeirce7152]

Buster Biloxi probably no Mexicans like we have now . The blacks were well behaved and kept in their ghettoes

[@mr.butterworth]

Everyone was happier back then, including the blacks. Don’t buy into the guilt tripping of anyone who thinks a minority never knew what happiness was until the late-sixties, because that’s nonsense. Everyone was closer to their own, and better off for it. None of this engineered multi-cultural bull crap, which is only a life of compromise.

[@jimgulick9773]

I love Tchaikovsky, but the right sound track for this would be big band music from the "40s.

[@Largo64]

A little Benny Goodman would have fit right in.

[@eddietucker3334]

Of course!

[@originaluddite]

How about Tchailovsky as performed by Glenn Miller? kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIvTZo2uYtxjeac :)

[@johns2688]

Definitely. I actually muted it and listened to the jazz station. Charlie Parker sounded much better!

[@pamelaroyce5285]

Well, to be fair, the traffic density back then looks like a waltz of the flowers compared to what it is today. That air pollution, though...awful!

[@AMM0beatz]

I love how they call carwash an auto laundry, change of times.

[@jamesscottbell]

We begin by looking down (west) from 2d Street (which has a tunnel), and then we go up and turn south on Grand. We cruise down Grand, cross 3d, cross 4th. At 4th you can see a Chevron garage with a big sign on the building saying it's 4th and Grand. On the right of the screen are the Biltmore Apartments. Across the street from Chevron are the Zelda Apartments. These are named for a well-to-do L.A. woman named Zelda LaChat who built this five-story brick apartment house in 1908. (The ads said: Completely furnished with buffet kitchens and all apartments have private baths. Special hotel service for bachelors.) The car stops just before 5th. The next sequence is the same location, only this time from another angle. Going up 2d we get a good glimpse of those old Victorian homes that became low-rent flophouses on Bunker Hill. It was in one of these that Burt Lancaster and Dan Duryea eyed each other suspiciously in Criss Cross. Then we go down Grand again, getting a nice view of City Hall and the Federal Building. On we go, past buildings that are long gone, replaced by girders and glass. As we approach 3d Street, we see a man in a white hat walking on the sidewalk. The building he's passing is the Lovejoy Apartments. We cross 3d Street and immediately pass the Angels Flight Pharmacy, which was at the corner of 3d and Grand. We go on down to 5th and turn right, which means the big building in the background is the Biltmore Hotel, the last place the Black Dahlia was seen alive. We cruise past the downtown central library and turn right (north) on Flower. The next sequence starts at the same spot, Flower and 5th, heading north. I like the billboards we pass: one for Bireley's orangeade, with a swimsuited blonde looking at us fetchingly as she hands the guy a bottle ("I go overboard for you and Bireley's"); the other for RCA Victor Television. There's a donkey and an elephant with boxing gloves on, facing each other...this makes it election season 1948. The ad says "Pick a Sure Winner!" The TV in the ad looks about the size of a hardcover book. The last turn is right (west) on 1st Street. You can get a quick look at a billboard for the Hollywood Bowl,Symphonies Under the Stars, on the right. So we know it's summer. Wish I knew who the woman on the billboard was. I think I can make out her first name as Ruth.

[@MatchboxGarage]

+James Scott Bell very cool

[@carguy4v2222]

Thanks Mr Bell it sounds like you knew that area very well and I appreciated the narrative as we road up and down the streets. If you have places we can visit let us know

[@gplunk]

Good and sharp eye; thanks!

[@countrypaul]

Thank you - not being a local, this is a very helpful travel guide!

[@johnhardman3]

Two of the old Bunker Hill houses were saved when the rest of the area was levelled: one of them, known as "The Castle", can be glimpsed in a scene from the movie "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955). These two houses were moved on trailers to a 'Heritage Park" ca. 1969, but they were promptly destroyed by arsonists. Bunker Hill looks a mess in this 6-minute clip, but it wasn't a slum and you could walk about there in a 'neighbourhood' context: it had many fine houses that could have been restored, but (as happened in many other U.S. cities after WW2) politicians uses loosely-worded housing legislation to kick out inner-city residents so that 'developers' (using taxpayers' dollars) could get the valuable land and replace the former communities with their usual sterile formula of thruways and monolithic boxes and towers.

[@ajnonameajnoname7173]

Did you notice the car rental sign on the building $2.50 a day

[@danielescobedo8460]

Just looked it up About $40 to $45.00 today

[@cincyspin178]

Where??

[@danielescobedo8460]

@@cincyspin178 Inflation calculators 1949 to 1940 = $26.16783 to $45.37278 www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=2.5&year=1945

[@phoebeandromeda866]

Back then 2.50 was a lot of money......I think.

[@wyattwilbourne8601]

You can thank the federal reserve for the radical change in money over the years

[@wayneastalfa3704]

I didn't know Low Angeles had so many hills. Looks more like San Francisco.

[@RedYankee]

Interesting point..

[@brunogimeno9086]

Obviously this video is fake. Because as everyone knows earth is flat!

[@mustang10141980]

@@brunogimeno9086 🤣🤣💀

[@ralphlazio505]

Nope! That’s L.A. There are PLENTY of hill in L.A.

[@jogmas12]

Ho Ho Ho well no, downtown has some hills as you can see, bunker hill comes to mind

[@chiarapaganini205]

My god! So beautiful! Great cars, great persons, so much humility...And if I have to think that the mother of my godmother was 17 years old at that time, AND SHE’S STILL ALIVE, I understand how lucky she was.

[@yunisdini7061]

Chiara Paganini fewer cars back then

[@kaykiekid]

Yah know all through the video I'm just looking side to side at the buildings, sidewalks, streets, vehicles, people and imagining that I'm a passenger that just woke up back in time. Thanks, makes me smile 😊❤

[@bpw8139]

Just got back to Australia from LA 2 days ago. When we were there we asked a friend about the traffic and specifically asked what time is peak hour. She said peak hour started 30 years ago and hasn't ended yet.

[@marinaknife4595]

Love it - beautiful crafted cars - the clear pavements/sidewalks no frenetic crowds and love those street lamps -

[@mustafayanlmaz3484]

Harika

[@myfavoriteplanet3247]

Yes. The street lamps looked so much better back then.

[@RIXRADvidz]

the streets were a bumpy mess, you can see where they tore up all the cable car tracks and tow lines and filled in the holes with asphalt. LA LOST it's wonderful working mass transit system in the 1940's in favor of Car and OiL and Rubber Lobbyists in Washington DC and Sacramento.

[@dorseykindler9544]

@@RIXRADvidz This country was riddled with street car lines and walkable neighborhoods. Kind of makes you yearn for the day. Ever read "Geography of Nowhere" by James Howard Kunstler?

[@everydayliving1975]

Children now old. Old now dead time goes by so fast yet we focus on life like it is forever. Cherish life.

[@Freshstart6354]

Speak English please, or proof read before you press reply, thank you.

[@johnmckeown6573]

his statement made perfect sense

[@ssimon64]

@@Freshstart6354 Seriously are you really too dense to understand the message even though it isn't perfectly written? Pull the stick out of your ass.

[@alphonsozorro7952]

Self-obsessed moron, life lasts too long. It's the better part that is short.

[@MegaLivingIt]

I was a kid there and lived near the beach but we got downtown once in a while and I remember the street cars. Yes, that was the big difference alright; a lot less people plus it was post war and most worked at airframe plants in Santa Monica, El Segundo, etc.

[@dondressel4802]

Oh if only I had a time machine I’m sure many of you would join me on going back

[@M16music69]

I can let you use mine just make sure not to run into your family members or drastically change anything.

[@lonestar1]

In a heartbeat

[@Adam-qs3lt]

I would do literally anything to go back in time. But theoretically going back in time and doing the smallest thing could mess up the space time continuum and the world would implode.

[@M16music69]

@@Adam-qs3lt woah there marty my mind is about to explode

[@sergtheflurge245]

Ethan Blumson or it’s like avengers where if you go “back in time” it’s a completely separate timeline

[@ttwedell]

I traced the route for anyone interested: 0:12-0:56 - W. 2nd St & Olive, Traveling Northwest 0:57 - Left turn onto S. Grand Ave., Traveling Southwest 0:58-1:17 - 200 Block of S. Grand Ave. 1:18 - Crossing W. 3rd St. 1:19-1:39 - 300 Block of S. Grand Ave. 1:40 - Crossing W. 4th St. 1:41-2:04 - 400 Block of S. Grand Ave. 2:05 - Stopping at W. 5th St. =JUMP CUT= (RESET/CAMERA REPOSITIONED) 2:06-2:26 - W. 2nd St & Olive, Traveling Northwest 2:27 - Left turn onto S. Grand Ave., Traveling Southwest 2:28-2:49 - 200 Block of S. Grand Ave. 2:50 - Crossing W. 3rd St. 2:51-3:12 - 300 Block of S. Grand Ave. 3:13 - Crossing W. 4th St. 3:14-3:41 - 400 Block of S. Grand Ave. 3:42 - Right turn onto W. 5th Street, Traveling Northwest 3:42-3:55 Biltmore Hotel visible, Southeast (Still Standing) 3:55-4:09 Los Angeles Public Library (Still Standing) 4:10 - Right turn onto Flower Street, Traveling Northeast =JUMP CUT= (CAMERA REPOSITIONED) 4:15-4:33 - 400 Block of Flower St. 4:34 - Crossing W. 4th St. 4:35-4:53 - 300 Block of Flower St. 4:54 - Crossing W. 3rd St. 4:55-5:10 - 200 Block of Flower St. 5:11 - Crossing W. 2nd St 5:12-5:30 - 100 Block of Flower St. 5:31 - Stopped at W. 1st Street 5:40 - Right turn onto W. 1st Street, Traveling Southeast 5:41-6:01 - 700 Block of W. 1st Street 6:02 - Crossing S. Hope St. 6:03-6:07 - 600 Block of W. 1st Street 6:08 - Crossing S. Grand Ave. =END=

[@jamescalifornia2964]

Wow -- great job ! Those hills look much more steep in these films 🎥 Thanks 👌

[@joycekellner9957]

I was born in L.A. in 1946 aand can remember when things looked this way , e.g the signage: Richfield (now ARCO) gas, Flying Red Horse (Mobil?). Anyone notice the smog back then? It was a lovely place to grow up: Lots of beautiful parks, the beach, Griffith Park Observatory, the Pony Rides at La Cienega, playing on film studio back lots (we lived in Culver City). My dad worked downtown and I remember many red brick buildings, mostly gone now as not earthquake proof. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.

[@amistry605]

Why so much smog though?

[@foodandart5808]

Geography, industry and the car culture that took over in the post-war years.. Go to 5:50 and note the road surface - there *used* to be trolley-cars but in the 1930's, the oil producers wanted to increase gas sales.. so to get people into cars, they bought out the trolley lines then closed them. LA was the proving ground for the oil industry to increase their sales and profits by colluding with the auto manufacturers to push cars onto the public. By the late 40's LA had some of the worst auto-related smog in the world, because of how the LA Basin trapped air and suffered thermal inversions.. waterandpower.org/museum/Smog_in_Early_Los_Angeles.html This is a really nifty article and the photos are insane.

[@peace-yv4qd]

I was born in Long Beach in 1945. I so miss those days. I walked to the beach every day during the summer. Rainbow Pier. San Pedro. Ocean Ave. Tin Can Beach. Rawhide, Wagon Train, Have Gun Will Travel, KTLA,Sea Hunt, Wanted Dead Alive. Gun Smoke.Drive-in movies.

[@jaylopes8489]

Today it looks more like Mexico 🖐🇵🇹

[@joycekellner9957]

@@jaylopes8489 You know, the last time I was on Santee Street (where my dad's old factory once was) in downtown L.A. I thought all the little business with stalls and merch on the pavement looked like that! Pues, L.A. belonged to the Mexicans before we had it. It's full name is Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porcinúncula--hope I got that spelled right! And it belonged to the Native Americans before that.

[@IntoTheTroid1]

This was the time of Crosby, Gable, Grant, Kaye, Bogart, Stewart and others of that great period! Wish I was there.

[@kevinericsongs]

yes but we've got brie Larson now!

[@terrykeelan6964]

Also the time of Bugsy Siegel and the Black Dahlia, don't forget.

[@cincyspin178]

Yeah, and if you had been there during that time, you'd have been wishing you could have been there during the silent film period with that crop of stars. You're always dissatisfied with the present and idealizing the past.

[@tentringer4065]

A time of massive police and government corruption and huge organised crime influence

[@jungojerry1658]

What a kick. I arrived in LA 1948-ish from Land-O-Lakes, WI at age 3. I remember the traffic lights on poles beside the road - not on wires hanging over the road. I remember going into a tavern with my dad - sitting on a bar stool with a soda pop while dad had a beer. We lived in two places briefly, then settled in Inglewood where we got our first TV - with a 9" round screen and sepia colored picture. I had a playmate named Lee ( Aker) who was on a Little Rascals-type TV show called The West Side Gang. He later was the kid on the Rin Tin Tin show. I also remember pulling my "Little Red Wagon" around the neighborhood collecting bacon grease that could turned it into soap for the GI's. I started Kindergarten there, but then better opportunities arose up north, So in 1951, we moved to Portland, OR - and been here ever since.

[@jesscast5122]

Jungo LOL the bacon grease was used to make EXPLOSIVES. Also collected pigeon poop for the same reason. Nitrates in the poop are used to make explosives. but they probably did not want to tell the people. So, "Soap" was the story..........

[@mtntime1]

I'm not aware of a Wisconsin town called Land O Lakes. Isn't that just a brand name? Or, used as a nick name? There is Fond Do Lac, though.

[@lynnjacque4267]

Where are the homeless tents. . . Oh this must be when people could afford a little home and taxes were resonable.

[@josecamara1337]

Maybe there was a war going on and many men and women were in a different continent.

[@daleburrell6273]

@Peter Johnson THE DEMOCRATS CAN ALL GO TO HELL FOR ALL I CARE- AND THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR ANYONE WHO VOTES FOR THE DEMOCRATS!!!

[@tombryan1]

Home ownership was down, it rose in the fifties.

[@ryetim32]

That’s idiotic, 99% are drug addicts and alcoholics

[@marytschida5756]

​@Peter Johnson I would never vote Republican. They only care about the rich, greedy, taking away our freedoms! All they know is to make more money for themselves & send our kids to fight their wars for more money for themselves. Quit watching fake news!

[@TheSonicSegaNerd]

3:20 Mutual Garage, Monthly Parking. 1940s LA: $15 for monthly parking 2019 LA: $20 an hour, public parking.

[@lknr6847]

Consider US-Inflation rate, its about equally expensive.

[@NANotApplicable]

Rent A Car $2.50/day

[@dgaisan]

Multiply by 20, so that would be $50 now, sounds about right

[@gabrielbrennan5887]

They're out to get you. get you. get you. get you...get you

[@personx8009]

A message to all those who tend to be full of themselves: The world was here and fully functional long before your arrival, and will continue to do so long after your passing.

[@tripd4949]

Not if libtard Democrats ever become President again.

[@erickvides3689]

Nukes : enter chat room Chat room has been terminated. . .

[@MasterHoovyX]

@Miss Anthropy "except the far left pro mental health anti gun fucks are tearing this country apart." "I'm one of the most liberal people but have good reason for leading the democrats." What side are you on? lol

[@jellsjells5501]

Yuki Kanno honestly the one with the big issues here is clearly you. We need bi partisanship. America, such a big country will never come to an agreement but what it can do is work together. You can’t just blame people, American people just like you for everything when you are contributing to the problem right here. I can say the same thing about you because with yo mentality nothing will ever get done.

[@weedermann]

@Yuki Kanno...in Congress, regardless of partisan, THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. The SAME me-oriented ambitions, the SAME sheer contempt for the common citizen.

[@ianclarke3627]

Without knowing better I'd of guessed that this was San Francisco

[@c.benoit3840]

@Richard Buse Definitely LA. You can see city hall. They are driving down Grand. Today its all skyscrapers.

[@dsimon33871]

I had a similar thought! And i know san francisco like the back of my hand.

[@ANGELSVEN]

There seem to be many streets with steep hills. I k iced in L.A. for 30+ years and I don't remember seeing that many hilly streets.

[@ronfleischer]

@Richard Buse It was in a neighborhood called Bunker Hill, thus the hills. It was all destroyed and replaced with modern businesses. Kind of sad for those of us who grew up in So Cal in the 50's.

[@2ndEndingVintage]

same here...aspects really look like SF, and I lived in SF for 25 years. But too many lmedium-arge apartment buildings to have been SF

[@philippinehearts916]

People were driving alot more civilized back then.

[@bluxontal3757]

They had no option. Horrid brakes, terrible transmissions, tough clutches, mechanical steering, wobbly suspension, poor visibility out of the car... *You TRULY needed to anticipate your moves and those of others.*

[@jogmas12]

Philippine Hearts they had to, the automobiles in that day had a top speed of 60 mph

[@jogmas12]

Philippine Hearts basically son, a 2020 Honda Civic type R will run circles around these cars.

[@Groveish]

@@jogmas12 That's total bullshit. A 1949 Studebaker had 80 horsepower, which is the average car anywhere outside of US and Canada today. And they just drive fine overseas too you know?

[@UdaySingh-cg3rw]

Let grandma see this vedio and let the whole of us know her comments, it would be great thing

[@lincbond442]

I believe this footage is from 1948. It was shot for the 1949 Cornel Wilde Film "Shockproof". The famous Los Angeles smog is clearly visible on Flower St looking south towards the Richfield building. It's interesting to realize that this was filmed less than 2 years after the infamous Black Dahlia murder. The back of the Biltmore Hotel is visible when the camera turns right from Grand Ave to 5th St. The Biltmore is the last confirmed place she was see alive. It's sad to realize that 97% of the structures in this film have been gone for decades.

[@pattyholmes127]

Yes the film seems to be post war. There was a billboard for Pontiac cars. No cars were built during the war. Also a billboard for RCA Television. Although there were some TV's back then--very few, they were not mass produced until late 1945, after the war.

[@pattyholmes127]

lincbond442: Elizabeth Short aka The Black Dahlia, was found in a vacant field out by 39th and Norton on January 15, 1947. The streets now are tract housing. The spot where she was found is now someone's front lawn. There is a fire hydrant that is still there in front of the house, that was there back then. You are correct, the last place where she was seen was leaving the Biltmore Hotel on the night of January 14. She was 22 years old. The case remains cold to this day.

[@ms.sonshine8878]

I know people who grew up during the 30's, 40's and 50's and I realized they don't complain about those eras. But they are shocked and saddened about what they see and hear now.

[@7_slices]

Ms. Sonshine exactly. Never heard them complain about old days.

[@edmundooliver7584]

until you had to go to war or if you were japanese and had to go to internment camps and get your home stolen.

[@ms.sonshine8878]

@@edmundooliver7584 They were a tough lot. And not only did they intern Japanese, but Germans and Italians, too. A proclamation by the great Democrat president, FDR. FDR also refused to take in a boat carrying over 900 Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.

[@zoeemiko8149]

Those in the 30's had gone through the Depression. Times were getting better. In the 40's, when America was recovering from the Dust Bowl life was getting better yet. In the 50's Unions were incredibly strong and effected not only Union employment but protections for all workers. Life was quite good if you forget the whole McCarthy'ism thing & the internment of the Japanese. This was the last great economic boom that most all Americans benefited from. Enter the 60's and the rise of hate the Unions & that all began falling apart along with a new war in Vietnam which we now know American government knew was an unwinnable war.. but kept sending it's sons to be killed anyway. It's been downhill from there as corporate interests take priority over the quality of life for the average citizen. Oh and a footnote: America had more migrant workers in the 50's than it has today.

[@jamesryder8305]

Then that means you probably weren't asking the right questions. Or you only know old white folks. Because there were tons of things wrong in the 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's even now. On all sides.

[@robertdiamondoil2384]

I remember the parks Mccarthur park, Lincoln Park, Echo park, Silver lake park, clean beautiful and they had row boats, and going to the Clifton's cafeteria for lunch Broadway had all the movie theater, my mom would take me to Woolworths on Broadway to buy me Levi's that was in the early 70s it was still nice

[@jamesarredondo100]

robert Diamond aww💯

[@davidgrisanti3379]

My grandma used to take us to Clifton’s in the ‘50’s and early ‘60’s. I thought it was magical, loved going there.

[@weedermann]

Yeah, I did college work-study at an insurance company in the 70's. Clifton's still had two locations in downtown L.A.. For birthdays, the insurance company would buy a cream cake from them. In those times, many of the major department stores did business. Bullocks, the May Company, Robinsons, I Magnin. In downtown and Hollywood. All gone now. Eventually all of the old shops/businesses closed. But thanks to gentrification, it is "nice" again, just a hell of a lot more expensive.

[@soniasg8639]

Most all of us who grew up in LA went to Clifton's as a child. I have nice memories. Clifton's was remodeled, looks very nice.

[@rjrod1326]

@Proximity Symbol Clifton's closed for a long time and reopened a few years back. Tam O Shanter is awesome ! Used to go there on my bdays! Musso and Frank's good too. Wish brown derby and Tiny Naylors were still around

[@WinslowLeach1974]

1:53 cruisin' on the right 2:23 some babes 3:45 dude waving at camera Truly awesome footage, love the vehicles especially, great buses and trucks, nice to see "old" cars from the 20's and early 30's still being driven. Thx for the upload.

[@shanemckenna9416]

This time was the city’s heyday, the town of Raymond Chandler and James M.Cain when the place had some glamour to it. The women looked great back then and men didn’t dress like adolescents. The picture quality of this footage is excellent you really feel like you’re there.

[@Rick-S-6063]

People had class back then. They wouldn't be caught dead with tattoos and body piercings.

[@bbrown333]

All the races were segregated. Wonderful times.

[@countrypaul]

@@bbrown333 I hope you're being facetious....

[@DanSmith-xu3zy]

I am a Canadian and enjoyed this footage so much Dan

[@ergbudster3333]

Yeah, I thought I saw Philip Marlowe coming out of the Zelda and stopping to light a cigarette.

[@danielgriffin8132]

These people were not wasteful people they reused just about everything and had it repaired or repaired them selves and were happy with a lot less I'm old now and I realize that less is more god bless

[@sbf_fox2434]

Maybe, but the cars in the clip were mostly new for the time. Very few 1920s or early to mid 1930s cars or trucks. I liked seeing the street car tracks and the bus.

[@stevef9530]

So little clutter on the streets and sidewalks. Now they seem to have sprouted flashing lights and signs, do this! don’t do that! no right turn! Beautiful. Thanks for posting...

[@TheFirstGroover]

This video made my entire quarantine. Thank you so much🙏

[@acohen3951]

Thank you for posting. I was born in 1942 in New York City, and so much enjoyed watching this film created not long after I was born. I truly enjoyed watching it.

[@monarene44]

I lived there 1953-59. Then visited in 1980. Amazing. Sometimes you just can’t go home again.

[@archiewoosung5062]

"The past is a different country"

[@goldentwintree381]

Lucky lady

[@mojo6886]

Wow, the streets are really clean. Hardly any trash anywhere. Compare to LA today.

[@BetoTheButcher]

I was thinking how dirty they are for a place that isn't as populated yet. I wonder how often they were swept if at all.

[@cincyspin178]

About the same.

[@randymoran67]

Its a lack of respect in any american community Birmingham ala is a shit hole in japan there is no trash period ! Ohio is a shithole ! Same problem just add meth! Lol!

[@estebanantonio15]

my friend's grandma was born and raised in Los Angeles says that in the 40s and 50s the smog was so bad that some days they would close school and tell people to stay indoors. I can see by this footage that that was no joke.

[@eversince_9863]

No catalytic converters back then. Worse, just imagine the smell.

[@bobbigarcia882]

Yes New York was extremely bad as well. It's much more of a condensed space than l.a. New york was literally a gas chamber in those days. the carbon footprint per person was insane. Just driving a car back then was like driving 5 modern day diesel semis. It was horrible, no wonder the smog was so bad.

[@gnosis7662]

Yeah, but the streets were much cleaner and safer back then!

[@berzerker1100]

L. A. was really smoggy in the 1960s. I remember days at school they would not us play at Recess & Lunch break, the Ball shed remained closed, You could almost cut the smog with a knife lol..

[@rupertpupkin27]

Thats one of the first things I noticed too...Maybe somebody should show this footage to Greta Thunberg, so she knows things can get better?

[@rab1688]

just simply amazing footage, would love to be transported back to that era, be great to watch again with some music from some of the bands then .

[@andrewg.carvill4596]

All those lovely vintage cars parked by every street........but hold on, they weren't vintage!

[@gruppettovelo]

I was amazed to see how close they were parked to each other. I wonder how drivers could get their cars out.

[@gilligancharliebrown399]

Remarkable, to think; this was the Los Angeles my Dad and Mom met and fell in love and got married moved to the Valley then subjected the world to us (what I call suburba-billies). Thank you for the window to a lost world. Bittersweet indeed.

[@jayyt2969]

Yes, officer I was only filming this so that I could upload it on to a platform 8 decades from now. Press X to doubt

[@disgruntledpedant2755]

Upload didnt exist, and platform was just a flat surface.

[@jayyt2969]

@@disgruntledpedant2755 No shit sherlock

[@disgruntledpedant2755]

@@jayyt2969 You can venmo me your gratitude.

[@JohnFortniteKennedy_]

Yeah idk how people back in the day could predict that we gonna interested watching their old video I dont feel like want to record something now..

[@jayyt2969]

@@JohnFortniteKennedy_ Right now, somewhere, someone is doing something dumb and pointless that will atract the interest of millions of people in the future. Like idk having a stamp collection in the future when everything is done by e-mail.

[@Swampzoid]

I'd love to see a side by side comparison of the same route today. Great video.

[@musket-hc1fc]

Excellent video! The Nutcracker music in the background provided a nice accompaniment for the Drive.

[@jolenaagapisou3803]

musket 0402 - yes, music is great!! Luv those old classy cars too 💛💛

[@lindaschierman4704]

I thought the music, although beautiful, was jarring and what a missed opportunity to hear bits of swing, big band, and blues music that was alive in the 40's !

[@techno-sorcery9852]

@Edward Yamada Waltz of the Flowers

[@mr.butterworth]

I would transport myself to this era and place if I could, to live out my days and thrive. Leaving this modern world behind. There is very little I would miss, a few people mainly.

[@Reactions5.0]

Not one person on their cell phone...

[@harmil1406]

Braydon F: No, that's because in those days some people chose, instead, to sell phones.

[@Reactions5.0]

@Millennial Smark lol

[@Rctm13]

Imagine that 😊

[@oskar1881]

Braydon F because phones didn’t exist

[@juanflores2882]

They were not in existent Yet!

[@JimForeman]

I'm 90 and grew up in that time period and I find it disheartening to see how the younger generations have squandered what we left for them.

[@MrLyosea]

Damn man you're 90 years old and on youtube? Great to hear stories from older people on here!

[@RIXRADvidz]

what you left? it was the 1960's that ended your Grand Nuclear Test Program, it was the 1970's that Earth turned Green with recycling and pollution control, people from the 1940's left us with lead belching cars, environment killing industry, remember Lake Erie catching fire??!! squandered what????

[@hopydaddy]

Yes, but today's generation will say the same thing in 2094 what you've said.

[@justadudeinagoodmoodtoday6365]

RIXRADvidz you should include yourself cause you’re at least 65 years old

[@derekblue5681]

Jim Foreman are you serious? Get over yourself, you guys squanders what you were given. We are the first generation to do worse than our parents. That’s not our fault. Wages are way down,cost of living is way up, sentences are way longer, even though education and productivity are way up. Plus unions have been devastated and inequality has reached unbelievable proportions so I’m so sick of your generation blaming millennials. You guys fucked up. Things are way harder now you can’t even raise one person on minimum wage much less a family. Stop it. Go look at the statistics in wages, healthcare , education and housing cost and compare. You guys don’t no how good you had it they don’t even offer pensions anymore to hardly any workers. Cost of living is incredibly more exspensive compared to our wages and a lot less protections at work more competition pitting is against each other. With companies only interested in shareholders profits over workers and their families. So yay for the hard working millennials that have had to make it in a world that was significantly harder thanks to the previous generations squandering what they had and putting my generation at constant war to distract from the issues at home. . We didn’t make the laws or institutions of the last quarter century but we will learn from YOUR MISTAKES and try to fix them so that we do not leave the generation after us worse off like you left us. Think about it the first generation in recent history at least, to do worse than their parents. You should be ashamed by us. We are doing well INSPITE of your shit. So stop patting yourself on the back. You have failed but we got this. Even though you keep borrowing from the future to pay for your security safety net at the expense of our present

[@gregh7400]

How I wish time travel were possible.

[@motnosniv]

It is but only one day forward at a time. Each trip takes 24 hrs to complete and you can't come back. I'm going to visit tomorrow in a few hours. Maybe I'll see you there!

[@therolandthompsonproject5577]

@@motnosniv Excellent reply. See you there!

[@opentrunk]

Me too. I wish all the whiners would go back to the "good old days" and stay there. They'll be crying for the internet within hours. Twiddling their thumbs and wondering when "Queen For A Day" starts.

[@patricialinguissi8732]

Sorry but me I rather prefere the 60s. I don't know why but I always been fascinanted by this area. Surprisingly people were well dressed and joyful and also because of the Kennedy's life and history especially the Président and his wife Jacky she was such an iconic woman

[@wolverineiscool7161]

i would just go to the 90's not too long ago and stay there, prob buy some stock in microsoft etc

[@chelliz8887]

Wow! beautiful to watch, women wearing dresses and mens wearing casual loose with hats, not so many people and cars are bigger, the road so much space and looks so peaceful..It's nice to live back those days (80 years ago) it is a different atmosphere as to it is now 2019..

[@jellyacc]

You wear a casual dress now and ppl are like, where you going all dressed up?

[@jamesryder8305]

@@jellyacc Yes, and no. I get what you're trying to say, but everything isn't completely different from before. Self-expression has been on the rise since women started wearing skirts, pants, and shorts. The long past your ankle dress wasn't going to stay around forever. At least the styles and designs today are waaay better.

[@bilbobaggins4710]

@@jamesryder8305 yeah LIKE ripped jeans and skin tight yoga pants so you can see their vagina parts...you're an idiot

[@bilbobaggins4710]

@Easter Worshipper wish it still was

[@Fernandez711]

Glad your racist machismo generation is dead or are dying. We're way happier in LA free from white man's rules and free to express ourselves. Go to your local trailer park I think they're the only ones sharing your opinions

[@jacquelinedixon6438]

Love to go back in time for a day and visit there.

[@TheOzthewiz]

I would like to go back......AND STAY!

[@CaptJohn-fj5is]

Great video really glad I watched. What strikes me most about it is the fact that and you can really see it at time point five minutes 25 seconds but even back in the 1940s they had a serious smog problem in LA. 🌫️

[@johnmagill9496]

I remember watching an old bugs bunny cartoon from the early 40's and they made reference to it.

[@theunknowns44]

It's astonishing how clean the streets were. The buildings and streets were old even then, but the atmosphere was open and livable. Unlike the city 'zoos' we are encircled by today - congestion, filth, rudeness, lack of civility, you name it. We have become so degraded - it's pathetic.

[@briardan9226]

Streets were clean because they could pay an immigrant or black male 20 cent a day to clean them and they'd go back to their run down shacks. Shacks that were periodly raided and burned down by "people" wanting to get rid the deplorables. It's different when whites had to start paying decent wages to human beings. Whites could band together and burn, hang and kill poor minorities by convincing themselves they were the cause of their lives not being prosperous.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

@Johann Ludwig That's not what he said!

[@iforgotiforgot5642]

Nope today’s modern Democratic Mayors ruined cities like L.A, Chicago, S.F etc.

[@jamesryder8305]

I get it. It's a romantic/stylish time for some people. But don't say dumb shit for the sake of "nostalgia" that you weren't even alive for. That goes for a lot of you. "Times, society, and fashion were sooo much better. Things today don't even compare." Bruh you weren't even alive.

[@desertbob6835]

The air in LA in 1948 was toxic, and it got worse until the APCD started cleaning it up and the state mandated PVC valves on cars in 1961. The air in LA today is FAR better now.

[@nealsausen4651]

It’s watching scenes like this video that makes me want a........TIME MACHINE! I myself was born in 1951, just a few years and just a few MILES from where these scenes were filmed! My dad grew up in “ Boyle Heights”!

[@stephanie7572]

I was born in downtown LA in 1945 and spent the first few years of my life in City Terrace. LA was clean and beautiful back then.

[@danielgaughan4243]

That was the most marvelous movie I’ve seen in a long time. The long takes were what made it really special. I love the cars, the dresses, the guy in an apron carrying a box across the street. Thank you 🙏.

[@georgeharleydavidsonrider156]

I feel like I am a time traveler watching this video . Thanks for posting this video. Can you Image the people in the 1940’s traveling to Los Angels 2019 and seeing their city ? I bet you they would think they had just traveled to hell . I think they called LA the city of Angles back in the 1920’s to the 1950’s .

[@TheHolyMongolEmpire]

City of angles? All cities have angles.

[@Someoneorother123]

There are plenty 90 year olds to ask...

[@georgeharleydavidsonrider156]

Stijn Delie That’s true. 👍

[@marklucca3044]

You mean seeing people defecate & urinate on the streets? They'd probably take action & kick them off the streets, like we used to do before the '90's.

[@kenouryios]

Absolutely amazing , I’m sure many people would pay a King’s ransom to go back there for a week and see what it was like .

[@randymoran67]

Unless your black!

[@staysharp_productions]

Right away nobody is tailgating or trying to pass you at every street.

[@staysharp_productions]

@Jesus Will Reign lol no. He loves us all. It's God Love. It's like the story of Jonah and how he avoided God's call to teach repentance to the city of Nineveh but Jonah didn't want them to repent he wanted to see them suffer. He wanted to see God's wrath fall upon the city. God tells us in that very story much and many things just from that one story. God Bless you brother. It's the Peace of God's understanding that we know God's love for us. All of us, everyone, each other. All.

[@davidsalinas7280]

Yes, now everyone drives like a bat out of hell! Being inconsiderate and self absorbed!!🤔👎

[@fabricealibert2323]

The good old years in Los Angeles, what a plaisure to watch.

[@taroman7100]

Far less people makes for a better everything

[@teddammit5179]

JA: you can say that again.

[@hueroski]

The corporations and the greedy disagree

[@artsietopology]

150 million people or so in the USA was a great population. We should have kept the birthrate low and helped folks from poor countries improve their own country.

[@johnhardman3]

@@hueroski Read the old Vance Packard pop sociology article "Progress through proliferation of people" in one of his books (which are quite old now). It's probably in "The Waste Makers".

[@pw2996]

God said go and mutiple.

[@jonball52]

What a great video! I felt like I was in a Raymond Chandler novel.

[@deanharrington347]

Nobody walking down the street is glued to their cellphone.

[@jesscast5122]

This film was shot on a Sunday morning while everyone is still asleep or not doing much at all. so streets are rather empty. but Bunker Hill and Chavez Ravine were for the Working class serving the DTLA businesses.

[@XJarhead360]

The cell phones then didn't have the reception we have now. Plus it was very expensive to make a call. You can see one of the cell towers in the distance in the middle of the video.

[@jesscast5122]

@@XJarhead360 What?? Cell phones only appeared in 1970s as prototypes and 1980s commercially. The antenna in the video was for the High power RADIO transmitters in the AM band. later the FCC disallowed them.

[@shaggybreeks]

Plus, they were big and heavy. Worst of all, they used vacuum tubes, which had to warm up. By the time they were warmed up to answer them, the caller had already hung up. Most guys who had them wore them to impress the senioritas by hanging them from the keychain on their zoot suit. @@XJarhead360

[@shaggybreeks]

The comment was a joke, but fyi, the first mobile telephone service began in 1946 in St. Louis. It was "pre-cellular", but it connected with the regular telephone service. You could place and receive calls, but either way, the call had to go through an operator. There was no privacy at all. I'm sure lots of people just kept them on in their cars. Hehe.

[@brianw9129]

This video recalls "Dreams from Bunker Hill," by John Fante. I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for posting. This was good quality, had a soundtrack, and the of a leisurely drive. People drove more slowly (ahh, if only...), but even then there was nowhere to park. Every spot taken! Thank you for a good post.

[@motnosniv]

Excellent choice of music. One of my all time favorites.

[@sauluribe7082]

There was a young girl with her mother in the background. Wonder if she's still around and remembers?

[@shaggybreeks]

Odds are she's still around. Typically when people see something from their childhood that they hadn't seen in many years, they totally recognize it, and it's different than their memory. And they find that difference to be fascinating. Old pictures and movies, and objects of all kinds can cause quite a lot of excitement. It seems to be a distinct emotion, that can be almost euphoric, or depressing at other times.

[@Uhfgood]

Pepperidge Farm remembers!

[@archiewoosung5062]

@XX crump A dead skeleton?

[@raulduke6105]

So clean and uncluttered I even saw multiple empty parking spots!

[@jesscast5122]

It was shot on a Sunday morning dude! when nobody was working or still asleep

[@Dansthoughts]

To think my Grandma was in her twenties at the time of filming

[@Hey_its_Koda]

My grandmother was born in 1933 she was a teenager. Crazy.

[@m.w.6526]

Same! Such an interesting thought

[@marisollomeli2603]

My grandparents were just kids! My dad didn’t exist yet and it saddens me that my dad doesn’t exist anymore 😞

[@celestialdiscord2716]

The oldest person alive is around 37 to 40s

[@stefanomagaddino632]

Wish my grandmother were still alive. She passed away in 2010 at the young age of 92.

[@rcdowdy]

I was fortunate to live California for eight years. Lived in Valencia but got to see a lot of LA. I am Texan by birth but loved living in California. Lot of people but there is something magical about it. On top of that I would do anything to go back in time when this was filmed. Not trying to be younger I just would love to feel the excitement of living in a golden era in the golden state.

[@MrDaiseymay]

GO-ON GO-ON, BE A BIT YOUNGER TOO. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

[@susanneconway]

We came out in 1952 from Texas too. Still here. I often wonder if we wouldn't have been better served to stay in Ft. Worth

[@throughmyeyes9940]

"Rent-A-Car" 2.50 a day

[@EmilyTienne]

through my eyes . Yeah but they only earned about six bucks a day too.

[@trexler666]

I bet 250 today

[@zsirafablak5143]

trexler666 ...you lucky

[@motnosniv]

Gas was less than a quarter a gallon.

[@rjjcms1]

I also like the eccentricity of those buildings sloping up out of the ground just past 3 minutes.

[@freebird7284]

you should do a split screen driving the same route today

[@johnhardman3]

someone has done the split-screen comparison and the changes are staggering (and, to me, depressing): as usual, there's little "human acale" in the new-look L.A.: it's a drive-thru new world of 'introverted' stand-alone monoliths that don't interface at ground-level with 'the street': it's not a set-up where you can stroll around,/walk the dog/visit the corner-grocery or buy a paper- you drive in/out or- by, a bleak scenario indeed even if you're a fan of today's modern architecture with its funny-shaped structures. It's as if there's no humanity in the architects and planners or in those who "pay the piper".

[@jesscast5122]

That's impossible. Bunker hill was completely shaved off, to almost street level and and it is called the FINANCIAL District now. Where all the Giant buildings are now. Wells fargo, Arco, Disney Concert hall,

[@russemmons2862]

Most definitely !

[@scvandy3129]

A suitable suggestion. But to keep pace, our presenter would then have to slow down this beautiful footage to a C R A W L or speed up the current footage 4x to 5x -- to compensate for fallout from the quality-of-life destroying situation California's politicians, civic leaders and selfish, self-centered business interests have inflicted upon Angelenos: traffic, traffic, traffic, traffic. Horrendous traffic, with no resolution in sight.

[@alphonsozorro7952]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXqrl6CfqLJ_hbs

[@robertmasina4610]

This was when Southern California was the place to move to from other parts of the country after WWII.

[@ravenclawavenger2170]

The exact year of this filming is unspecified could be 1940 to 1949.

[@MichaelJ44]

@@ravenclawavenger2170 I’m sure it could be easily identified by looking at the makes of vehicles and what year they were made in

[@MatchboxGarage]

Please check out my latest video! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZPUhXx4as-gec0

[@topgeardel]

Do you know exactly what time of the 40s this was taken? This seems like it is more San Francisco. I didn't know LA was so hilly.

[@desertbob6835]

My family came to LA in 1876. My grandpa and an uncle worked at City Hall from 1945 to retirement in the late '60s. I worked at the Pacific Tel. Building at 434 S. Grand shown in the second take when going down Grand toward Fifth for years. The Grand building was built in 1948, and there was a Studebaker Starlight coupe running around, and lots of Tanner Yellow Cab DeSoto taxis, and an AirporTransit Flxible Clipper bus, so I'd date this to 1950. You can also see the Mutual Garage on Fourth and Olive, where I used to park. You can see all the "rat traps" around Bunker Hill, long before the O'Melvany & Myers and Crocker Bank towers replaced them. A lot's changed in DTLA since my great grandpa set foot on the dock at Ssn Pedro in 1876... but we're still here. One thing that's missing? That acrid, toxic smog, as is easily seen in the film.

[@melindanash9990]

My mom who is now 91 worked at that same Pacific telephone. The smog got better when they extended the smoke stacks higher at the General Motors plant. They just put the pollutants higher in the atmosphere.

[@randymoran67]

Part of my family were called californios pre dates the states

[@desertbob6835]

@@randymoran67 They were here when it was the independent state of Alta California. Pío Pico was the first gobernador. Members of the Pico family still live in and around LA, as do the Sepulvedas and Dominguezes.

[@desertbob6835]

@@louc4130 Sherk...did he work at Madison crossbar? Name rings a bell.

[@louc4130]

@@desertbob6835 I would ask him, but he's no longer with us. He was a good man. I'm betting you had to of crossed paths. Thanks so much for the reply...Take care

[@pierrejefferson505]

Notice how all the women are wearing dresses instead of pants! Looking more lady like and feminine. The men wearing suits and hats appearing more professional and dignified. No tattoos covering people faces and bodies and no graffiti written on buildings.

[@cincyspin178]

yeah, pretty drab and boring...

[@bmc9504]

@@cincyspin178 I prefer the present times, who needs a brain and personality when you can use your body as an attention seeking tool that helps draw in people with several less braincells. Tattoos are great.

[@bartdamesworth5406]

tattoos are lower class.

[@bartdamesworth5406]

Agreed. People dressed better in those days. Now everyone dresses like slobs, and nobody cares.

[@GasPipeJimmy]

Cincy Spin No, not boring, classy! I’ve seen enough tatted up whores with their asses falling out of their shorts to call that interesting or exciting, it’s just noxious.

[@AILIGIA]

Great footage. Would love to find similar for the Washington Blvd/Crenshaw area. Moved from there to San Diego on New Year's Day 1949.

[@dwightclark5527]

When people didnt walk around in their Pajamas in Public!

[@pzigotnofilterp7882]

or underwear

[@MJ-fj9yv]

Without whore stamps

[@tahersyed2191]

LOL ironic i actually saw 2 in their PJs at a 7 eleven yesterday

[@JBBrickman]

People do that?

[@mariagradilla296]

Lol my mom hates thar!

[@georgesealy4706]

Excellent quality film. They had to be using some great lens.

[@romie1967]

Yes, I was thinking the same. I've seen much "newer" footage that was not nearly as clear!

[@sdrape4964]

I wonder, since it's LA and all, if this isn't a movie camera, practicing moving shots for a movie being shot at the time. I mean, how else could this look so amazing?

[@brucestinchcomb6673]

@@sdrape4964 It was shot on 35 mm film (it says so at the beginning).

[@sdrape4964]

Bruce Stinchcomb Thanks for the tip

[@stevejaubert2892]

It really makes you evaluate progress in a different light.

[@QED_]

@steve jaubert: Yeah . . . and makes you depressed afterwards.

[@Playthellgb42]

AND WHAT LIGHT IS THAT? CAUSE IF DON'T HELP YOU SEE SHIT!!! LOL

[@margaritajacinto5398]

Thanks for this video from LA. I was born in LA in 1949 but my parents were from TX and moved back a year later. I’m glad to see what it was like back back in the day and what my parents may have seen at that time...thx again!

[@ruddigerburns9051]

Women look so much more classy in dress instead of yoga pants.

[@thechief8754]

I love big FAT ASSES in yoga pants . Tbh a little too much. I love how thic woman are these days without being afraid of getting a little "fat".

[@bryanmartinez6600]

@@thechief8754 so a 400 pound girl is your thing?

[@thechief8754]

@@bryanmartinez6600 no absolutely not, I love em just right looking feminine. And you must like em with 12 year old boy bodies huh? I'll take girls in yoga pants than those ugly looking dresses they used to wear in the 40s n 50s anytime of the day.

[@maserati-ig2zp]

@@thechief8754 very uncomfortable too irony France's Brigitte Bardot fashion of US Levis & boater neck took off

[@Pat_KraPao]

Men looked classier back then also. I think men should go back to wearing suits and hats even if it's 90 degrees.

[@ng21644605]

The opening looks more like San Francisco

[@califdad4]

people forget parts of LA are hilly also

[@Mark-sj3xb]

That’s Bunker Hill. The top of it starts around Disney Concert Hall and goes steeply down toward Grand Central Market and then to the City Hall area

[@165Dash]

Angelino Heights (Echo Park) which is between just north west of downtown still has many Victorian style late 19th century homes along steep streets and is sometimes used as a shoot location substitution for San Francisco.

[@salsalero1277]

I thought the same thing, the opening shot looks like Stockton St.

[@JoeKaye-hn5dt]

Been to LA a few times but I don't remember it being that hilly in the developed parts. You can see the smog though.

[@jaimefish173]

even in the 1940 the roads were crap

[@elizabethh776]

were there as many vehicle accidents then as there are now?

[@Jackmorvin]

@@elizabethh776 More today!

[@fauberkaupfmann982]

Youre kidding me? You call this trash? Come to brazil, you Will only see this types of asphalt in our Best neighborhoods (IF you see it).

[@kennedykiser557]

Love this kind of thing. It really puts a mind in a mood that's "good" in any and all directions. A Great Time to be Alive!! Thanks.

[@mihails.6398]

👍

[@NAT-turners-Revenge]

The building @ 3:41 ive made deliveries to. It has barely changed 😀. That traffic is to die for 😢

[@rodneyfoster9719]

TraRob Especially if you're in a car accident!

[@garbagefromken]

and no Japanese cars, no homeless, no graffiti, clean streets, didn't see a cop car....,

[@evetsnitram8866]

No skyscrapers, saw some smog though.

[@jesscast5122]

Are you kidding?? the COPS were even more CORRUPT back then than even now!! you could openly hire them as PAID THUGS with a badge and baton!! to kick some ass (legally) for a PRICE!! ever seen the movie L.A. Confidential?? it was about the TRUE on-goings of back then. The ACLU was born precisely of that abuse!! when the San Pedro Longshoremen workers were beaten, arrested and prosecuted by THUGS police on the Payroll of the Shipping Barons to prevent the workers for UNION Organizing!! and protesting about SLAVE working conditions. The whole world was NOT as it seems on a 4 minute film Shot on a Sunday morning when nobody is working and off the street......................

[@johnhardman3]

@@jesscast5122 The unions themselves can't not have been taken-over by the Mafia if not run by the C.I.A./F.B.I., anyway. Everything is corruptible.

[@mainecoon6514]

Every decade has had its problems but nothing like today. 1940's L.A. was at least livable unlike today. All of California is an uninhabitable cesspool.

[@anthonyevans535]

Cops back then didn't have attack gear too. It was just a badge, a gun, and hand cuffs. Now let's see what they wear now: Badge, name tag, gun, pepper spray, taser, M80, dispatch mic, bulletproff vest, body cams, ammo magazines, and some with very bad additudes.. Our cops have become an intimidating group of people haven't they.. So sad..

[@talosheeg]

Now if only my city had stayed this way!!!

[@chriszz9006]

Love the ride through LA its a charm to go through a city 75 years in history how wonderful really