02/02/2024
If anyone needed proof that LA traffic gridlock was only a modern-day phenomenon, look no further back than this 1939 photo looking west along Wilshire Blvd. The photographer was standing just east of Commonwealth Ave. That two-toned building on the right was the swanky Town House Hotel. But the real landmark was the Bullocks Wilshire department store. Its ten-story tower could be seen for miles around—which was kind of the point. The store opened on September 26, 1929, a month before Black Friday sent the stock market into an horrific plunge. Oops! Bad timing! But it weathered the Depression, and by the time this photo was taken, it had earned its place as the primo department store in Los Angeles. But on this day, getting to it might have been a challenge. That traffic doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.
