Mao’s Kitchen Wasn’t Funny in 1946

I’ve seen this photo numerous times, but I just realized (I’m pretty sure) that the Western Union storefront in the photograph is where Mao’s Kitchen is now located. I had lunch there yesterday, and I guess it just clicked. Pretty cool to see how the infrastructure was once built around the Pacific Electric cars.

Old Venice and the Backdrops of “Boardwalk Empire”

It’s really fascinating to watch the recreation of Atlantic City during it’s “hey day” and I can’t help but be mesmerized by the backdrops for the exterior scenes shot there. I’ve always had a soft-spot for historical boardwalk scenes. Not really sure if it’s some weird obsession with the Monopoly boardgame or the secretive aspectContinue reading “Old Venice and the Backdrops of “Boardwalk Empire””

Santa Monica in 1928

Check out this highly detailed scan of a map of Los Angeles from 1928. Depicted in the above section are the Pickering and Crystal piers in Ocean Park. Cloverfield Boulevard gets is named for the original title of Santa Monica airport, “Clover Aviation Field.” I took the map section above and superimposed it over GoogleContinue reading “Santa Monica in 1928”