Grand Tour of the West: Day 12

The next day we drove into Hollywood. On our way in we were surprised to see an elephant grazing along the road. Discovered it was an animal farm where they kept animals for use in movie making.

In Hollywood we put the car in a parking lot just off Hollywood Blvd. Walked down to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and looked at the footprints. Also walked to the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Took a streetcar in to Los Angeles and spent the day there. We shopped and stopped to see Eva Axelrod, sister of Silva Jacobson. She ran a beauty shop in the Leow’s Building.

Had lunch at Clifton’s Cafeteria and left from there on a bus tour of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Santa Monica. Gladys very thoughtfully jotted down the names of most of the places we saw. I didn’t know she was doing this at the time as she and Mrs. Congrove were sitting behind us on the bus. I was really grateful as I could never have had remembered so many names & Carl would have been no help as he didn’t want to go on the tour at all but did admit it was a wonderful way to see the town as it was hard to drive in heavy traffic and see anything. The following are her notes:

Los Angeles covers 451 square miles and has a population of 2 million. It has 135 parks. They have a city ordinance governing the height of buildings – they can only be 15 ft. high. As a reason they give , they do not want it to shut out the sunshine and have lots of room to expand so there is no need for tall buildings as in Eastern cities.

We rode out on Wilshire Blvd. Saw the Ambassador Hotel, home of the Coconut Grove, the original Brown Derby Restaurant, which is in the shape of a derby hat. Saw the main gate at Paramount Studio at Melrose and Van Ness Avenue. Saw KMBC – station of the Stars, KNX – Columbia Broadcasting System, and Radio City National Broadcasting System. Saw the Palladium, a dance hall, and Earl Carroll’s Night Club. Saw Tom Brennan’s Restaurant where the radio program “Breakfast in Hollywood” originates. Saw Mike Lyman’s Night Club, the Hollywood Brown Derby. Saw the famous night spots along the Sunset Strip -Ciro’s, the Clover Club, Macombo, Trocadero, Starlit Club. Saw the Norma Talmage Building and the Crosby Building. Saw the largest bowling alley in the world – also saw the world’s largest oil station under construction at Highland and Wilshire. Saw the Wilshire Methodist Church, where many movie stars were married, among them Shirley Temple. Saw Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom’s Restaurant. Saw the 4-Star Theatre in Beverly Hills, Mike Romanoff’s Restaurant, the home of the late Irvin S. Cobb. Saw the Sawtelle Veteran’s Home, Saks Fifth Avenue Shop, Beverly Hills Brown Derby, Horace Heidt’s Restaurant, Adrian’s (dress designer) Arthur Murray’s Dance Studio and Miracle Mile where all the buildings were built in one year (1936). Drove through miles of beautiful homes, the landscaping and flowers were lovely. Saw a field of poinsettias blooming.

The bus driver pointed out the homes of Groucho Marx, Richard Barthelmess, Bruce Cabot, Conrad Nagel, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russell, Danny Kaye, Kay Francis, Sid Romberg, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny & Mary Livingston, Warner Baxter, Lionel Barrymore, late Jerome Kern, Franchot Tone, Andy of the “Amos and Andy” radio team, Jane Withers, Frank Capra, Caesar Romero, Nelson Eddy, Chester Locke of the “Lum and Abner” radio team, Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, the late Lupe Velez, Joan Fontaine, Jean Hersholt, Robert Montgomery, Anne Shirley, Maureen O’Sullivan, Michael O’Shea, Fred McMurray, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power and Annabella , Consul of the Netherlands, Robert Preston, Joan Crawford, Frank Fay, Larry French, the ball player, Zazie Pitts and Shirley Temple.

We road past the Polo Fields of the Riviera Country Club and Will Rogers Ranch. Say Santa Monica Bay and Will Rogers Beach, the Santa Monica Palisades, beach home of Marion Davies. Saw the university of California at Loa Angeles and the La Brea Pits which have yielded the bones of 4000 prehistoric mammals. On the way back we saw Edward G. Robinson coming out of a hotel on Wilshire Blvd.

When we got back from the tour, we went down to Olvera Street which is a block occupied by Mexicans. We bought some jumping beans, a string of gourds and some perfumed candles from a candlemaker’s shop. There was a wishing well, several Mexican restaurants, night clubs and there were several artists drawing pictures.

Then we walked over to the new Chinatown which is strictly for the tourist trade. There were Chinese theatres and eating places.

Took the streetcar back to Hollywood and ate at the Mayflower Café – then drove back to Ventura. We were certainly fortunate in having such gracious friends in Ventura as they made our visit to LA a memorable one.

Walt’s Comments

First, I want to apologize if anyone is offended by the term “Mexicans” to refer to people of Hispanic or Latino origin. I’m sure that it was not intended to disparage, being a term that was considered acceptable in 1946. I wouldn’t condone such usage today, but on the other hand I don’t want to rewrite Georgie’s words simply to mollify the feelings of some hypothetical reader in 2021.

Georgie was quite the fan of Hollywood. We found another scrapbook she kept of movie stars. It was the golden age of Hollywood, and as a young woman from a backwater town in Iowa, Hollywood probably seemed to be the place of dreams.