Los Angeles 1950s, Wilshire Blvd | 4k and Remastered 

You have no idea how much I wish it were possible for me to climb through my tv screen, and walk down that sidewalk on that beautiful day in the wonderful 1950's.

look how calm everything is everybody dressed normal clean streets

It amazes me that this was barely 50 years out of the Wild West. It’s really amazing.

I have to say "Wow!" too. It's like we were there driving in 1950's Los Angeles. The cars were eye candy. I kept thinking, "What's that car make?" The advertising billboards were also interesting: "Bomb Shelters $795!" But the shot of a man in a suit walking on the sidewalk toward the camera, probably thinking, "What are they filming?" really gave me an eerie feeling. He is looking into the lens of a camera which will enable people from 2023 to see him alive long after he has died.

This area was clean, orderly, filled with lush trees and greenery and sunny streets and boulevards. Fast forward 65 years and its almost unrecognizable. Incredibly sad and depressing.

We moved to L.A. from Texas in '56, when I was nine. I remember the May Co and Du Pars restaurant. Our family had a '55 Plymouth station Wagon with a luggage rack. We made the drive between L.A. and North Texas about five times, no AC, it was kind of miserable. My mom made up a game where we'd get a piece of bubble gum every time we spotted a Texas licence plate. Pretty soon I was bouncing off the walls on a major sugar rush, the whole trip. My favorite stop along the way was in Phoenix where we'd go swimming in the motel pool while my dad tried to take a nap. My sister, always pretty centered and wise, didn't care about the bubble gum, she mainly just read books and magazines the whole trip. Plus the scenery in West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona was pretty boring. At the California border, they had checkpoints to see if you had fruit. If you did, they took it. They were trying to keep insects out of the Central Valley orange groves. Of course, one or two would slip thru. :-) My dad liked to drive at night a lot because it was cooler. Two lane blacktop on Rte 66 most of the way. That station wagon had a 3 spd column stick shift.

I once worked at the May Co Wilshire, that beautiful Art Deco building is now a motion picture museum

Los Angeles from what I heard was a very nice place in the 50's. Affordable. Cleaner. Not so many people. It looks great back then.

Wow the trees and atmosphere looks so much more natural and alive. This is beautiful, I'm just in awe rn

When I was young my dad had a business in Los Angeles and I remember it looking like this. So many good memories watching this.

The amazing thing is people actually filmed these locations like a time capsule.

look at how light the traffic is. There are many things about that time to really miss

Visually, LA was an interesting place back then and there was a comfortingly, human scale to the built environment. This was the era before cars started getting really big and sprouting fins, etc - "Happy Days!" It's great that this film footage was preserved by the movie studios.

I grew up in Southern California and I remember a number of these places. In my early working years, I was employed by the May Company department store in the mens sportswear department. I didn’t work at the home appliance store, I was too young and dumb to assist home owners with those types of purchases. It really did look like what you see here. Busy every day life . Sure there were social issues going on and the Cold War was huge as was the Korean War.

This proves the most advanced society doesn’t necessarily mean who has the most advanced technology it’s how you use the technology you have to make life better for everybody and they were much better at doing that than we are today. That’s why the standard of living was much better then than at a time when technology is far beyond we’re it was at the time.

Glad some folks had the insight to capture these seemingly ordinary events on camera

So many gorgeous Art Deco and Streamline style buildings, probably built a couple of decades earlier. Interesting to also see earlier 20’s styles too. Really a beautiful place! A real shame it’s gone now.

I just played this again and was paying particular attention to the cars, and was amazed and surprised at what I saw at 3:11, the car parked at the curb, just in front of the dark blue truck is a Willys Jeepster, and, judging by the grille, probably a 1949 model. This was my first car, and I loved it, wish I still had it! And what really stands out is that amongst all those Fords, Packards, Dodges, Studebakers, Willys's, Plymouths, Chryslers, etc, there's not one foreign made car

It's like we have literally gone back in time but in real time.Just AMAZING!!!!!

I wish I could step into this time machine!

Love these old films. I like playing sleuth to see if I can locate exactly where on Wilshire we are and the year and then compare it to google maps today to see what buildings are still standing. This was easy because the El Rey theatre(which is still there) had a movie listed on it's marquee called "Fugitive Lady" which was released in July 1950. Other notable buildings that still exist are The Orbachs/Prudential Building at 3:21 which is now home to SAG-AFTRA, The May Co building at 4:42 and when the car stops at 2:32 the building on the upper left(General of America insurance) known as the E. Clem Wilson Building. Also love the glass structure in the same-looks like a car dealership. Too bad that's gone

this is just incredible to peer into a day when my long dead father had lived in these days in Los Angeleeze

I'm amazed and saddened at the same time about how many buildings have been lost to time. I was comparing Maps Street view with the video and it took me a long time to find a reference point since I'm not from the area and it's abit before my time. Once I found The El Rey Theater I had my refernce point. Whole city blocks are changed and the streets looked much better in the past but the drivers were a bit worse it looks like,

Incredible! Brings back pleasant memories. I grew up in Los Angeles.

I wish there was some footage of actually going inside some those buildings. The shops, cinemas etc. But this looks incredible.

Life was so GRAND. Just look at the civility of it all.

As a teen in 1982, we went to the May Company for Christmas shopping next to the La Brea Tar Pits. At the time, nothing had changed and they still had the mid century fixtures and vibe. Even then I felt it was historic. The La Brea Tar Pits used to smell like rotten eggs until the City of L.A. fixed it.

A great video thanks! Those cars were like tanks. It is hard to believe that I rode around in them as a kid.

Holy Shit, It's crazy how I know this street front to back but can see how much different it looks without all of the tall buildings, billboard bus stops, etc. Wow!!! Times can really change a place

I love the "Bomb Shelters for $800" billboards. I like how people generally drove slower and didn't rush up to red lights (so stupid).

At 1:06 of the video, The Flying Saucer BBQ restaurant, my dad’s favorite place. Seems like it was the only restaurant we went to as a child in the 1960’s.

It's interesting to see how different cars were from 1951 (in this video) to the late 1950s where you had "rocket-age" designs with tail fins and all that.

Hard to believe what a beautiful city LA once was.

Beautiful time very clean city’s no homeless along the streets ❤❤❤❤❤

At 0.48, the El Rey theater has movie Fugitive Lady. That movie came out in 1950. Thank you for uploading this.

Marvelling at the perfectly-suited Deco architecture, it’s easy to overlook the many far more Modernist buildings there. (At 2.32 there’s an extremely far out-looking place that’d have looked brand new in the mid-‘60s) All that sleek plate glass and the simple lines in some of the luxe stores, looking madly glamorous. Astounding and fascinating. (Oh, and the advert for bomb shelters for $795! That must have been a fortune then) Thank you, really brilliant.

Oh, for a time machine.

I love to see the old gas stations

Epoca dorada,una auténtica postal de cine! 😍.Maravilloso video!👌

Did you notice the El Rey movie theater-"The Frogmen"? I saw that in June 1951, 7 years old. I thought it was super cool. I've seen it recently, it comes across today as total cornball....B movie.

I wish we still had signs that moved, like the spinning windmill on that bakery or the rotating 76 balls.

1951, when most parts of Europe were in rubble, LA was an incredible modern and clean place to be. Beautiful vid! And alas, things have changed.

Wilshire Boulevard looks way different today. I saw them drive pass The El Rey Club, still standing today. That part of Wilshire is called The Miracle Mile...

In 1958, I lived at Wilshire and 5th in Santa Monica. This brings back memories.

I love these videos! It makes me want to go there like for a vacation. I wish that were possible. One thing I've noticed though, is how cars make left turns across traffic without the aid of a left turn light and the oncoming traffic just stops and waits patiently. That would never happen now.

7:36: That Ralph's looks awesome!

Wow so crazy, I wanna cry.

A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN RIGHT HERE ON EARTH ❣️

Drove the "Miracle Mile" (known locally) stretch of Wilshire many times! I worked a few blocks north at CBS TV City....Beverly and Fairfax. Great part of town!

Remembered the old May Co.building, Ralphs,La Brea tar pits much props My family many memories..

Dorn's House of Miracles: radio, televisions, appliances, records.

Love the billboards etc. My dad would travel down to LA and around southern California during the late 50s. I can see why. Wow just so cool. Remember......Be Happy Go Lucky

Looked eminently livable back then with stores, cafeterias, grocery, shops. Now it's a ruthless concrete jungle of de facto defunct office buildings that sit vacant

This is 1951. The theaters in those days did not show old movies but were very current. The movie queue at 0:48 shows two movies that came out in 1951.

What a beauty. To whomever filmed this. Thank you! Sad that Wiltshire Blvd looks like a massive dump these days! Truly unrecognizable. So many iconic buildings torn down.

Excellent work! Could watch this for hours - my productivity is zero!

Beautiful video!...Life seemed so much more calmer back then.

fascinating! looks like it was filmed yesterday

Lot of memories, THANK YOU, Fantastic job!!!

Great, 1968 to 71, my office was in Mullen and Bluet building shown in one ,,the Blvd had changed little…thanks

Priceless footage

I'm Speechless... This is one of the best Vintage Cali' Videos EVER

Double feature, Fugitive Lady and The Frogmen showing at the El Rey Theatre on Wilshire. Love it.

It’s so weird and crazy to see 5th and San Pedro before it was skid row when It was a nice decent area

Impressive - beautiful restoration. I lived off Sepulveta and Manchester near the LAX in the 50s and 60s. I wonder if there's any film like this of that area. Love seeing those old ads - bomb shelters and my dad's favorite beer - Brew 102!

00:30 I love the art deco Du-Par's on the corner. When I lived in L.A. I was lucky to regularly patronize the Farmer's Market location, the Studio City location, even the Thousand Oaks and the short-lived Glendale locations. Sadly, all that's left is the Farmer's Market restaurant.

I know those places. Miracle Mile Art Deco buildings. La Brea. Used to live near Western and Wilshire in the 80s and 90s. “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between

Those are some nice cafeterias.

Magnificent! But how/why did anyone know to film something like this and how much it would be enjoyed decades later?

Van De Kamp's Wilshire !! Gone !! I cry...

More pleasant looking back in that time not so much traffic to deal with.

WHOOPS ! UPON A SECOND LOOK, THE NEWEST CAR SEEN WAS A 1953 CHEVY !

1951. Wow, it was lovely then..

What a beautiful restoration, yet depressing because it shows how far we’ve fallen. The streets and sidewalks were impeccably clean and the people were far fitter than they are today. We are living in the dystopian future.

That's a 1950 Hudson sedan parallel parked facing the opposite direction at 5:44.

This seems the future, not the past, and much more beautiful than today.

i love the billboards and advertising from then..i was a little kid in the 60s and remember a lot of signage that still looked like that

The jaywalker @10:07 liked to live dangerously.

The added sound is nice and clear. Situation is different now a days is more people and cars now. I see the stores most likely new stores have taken place.

It's so strange to see the old cars that you've always seen as rust buckets sitting in salvage yards and in overgrown fields actually in mint condition... New paint and everything.

GREAT VIDEO!! I LIVE IN LA AND I KNOW THESE AREAS AND SOME MOST CHANGED.. THANK'S!!

The Ralph's sign hasn't changed much.

So uncluttered looking, and CLEAN looking. Saw a Bus, going westbound, probably the #83 line RTD, went from downtown LA to Santa Monica.

My favorite part: "F ollow the plan until it doesn't work."

The movie marquee shows "Fugitive Lady", which was released in the USA in July 1951 - so we know about when this wonderful clip was shot.

Fantastic comments from everyone !!

According to the movie marquis (The Frogmen) this was Summer 1951. I love seeing the cars and the well dressed ladies.

I knew there was a lot of stress due to the Cold War, but I've never seen so many booze billboards in one area in all my life! And I like the double entendre of the Signal Gas billboard..."Go Farther!"...like second base with your date? Pretty racy for 1951.

4:58 "$795 Bomb Shelters." If THAT ain't a sign of the times. I lived in Long Beach in the early 60s and I still vividly remember the "drop-and-cover" drills in 1st Grade, the air raid sirens being tested, this was 1961 right around the time of the Bay of Pigs debacle and the Cuban Missile Crisis. My parents had transistor radios handy in case of a bomb-drop and fallout, as well as a 2-way VHF radio. Hell, I was in 1st Grade, I didn't know what the hell was going on; but my parents and teachers sure did. Not long after did I get to read and see that recent history and I was like wow -- now I know why everybody was paranoid and protective of me.

Everything has been a perpetual downhill slide since then. Like living on another planet.

The Packard is probably worth the most of all the cars in this video!

4:46 Johnie's Coffee Shop was built in 1956 across from The May Company

Nice video. 2:49 The Frogmen 1951 (20th Century Fox) & Fugitive Lady 1950 (Italian). 3:11-12 Willys Jeepsterl Look at the FULL with whitewalls. Like a cartoon or a circus wagon!

Now if you have cars that are 25 maybe 30 years apart in age, they are not easily distinguishable.

Nice restoration, but having grown up in the 50's, I can assure you cars were not painted dark purple.

This is actually from 1951. If you look at the Theater Marquee at 2:49 you can see they are promoting the movies The Frogmen and Fugitive Lady which came out early 1950, but The Frogmen came out May of 1951.

Wow 🤩 How Beautiful in older days NO GRAFFITI BEAUTIFUL CLEAN

"Do you remember back in old L.A. When everybody drove a Chevrolet?"

No LACMA or museums yet I see. And I believe Orbachs or Van Dekamps coffee shop is now the SAG-Aftra office building. Beautiful video!

Thank you!