Los Angeles 1960s, Hollywood and Downtown | 4k and Remastered 

Thank you for uploading these films. I’m 71 now, these scenes really light up my memories! I arrived in SoCal in 1962 at 10 years old. To me it was paradise. Although my mom who grew in Van Nuys told me it really was a paradise, until WWII began, people moved to SoCal to work in defense plants, many service men and families moved there after the war. In 1939 population was almost 7 million, in 1946 almost 10 million then climbed steadily through the 70s. In 1962 population was 17,07200. In 2022 was 39,29032. I guess the thoughts of paradise are relative to the individual. My dad was in the building trades in ‘62, my mom stayed home. My siblings and I grew up in a four bedroom house and parents had 2 cars. I don’t know if it’s possible to do that in an L.A. suburb in 2023. My heart goes out to the younger people trying to get a home and start a family.

It's like a different world. The thing that surprises me the most is how calm, quiet, and spacious it was.. The amount of congestion now by comparison is insane.

Clean streets, no traffic, no graffiti, no sketchy looking people loitering, plenty of street parking and no parking meters. I'm glad my parents got to enjoy those times.

i cant help but gravitate to all the cars. they look so neat, so different than what we have now. makes history feel so much more real. i cant believe my dad got to experience these times, it amazes me how long time is but also how close these times actually where to us.

No homeless tents on sidewalks, no schizophrenic yelling down the street, less bars on windows. Makes you want to walk these clean streets.

At the beginning of the video we’re on Santa Monica Blvd heading west just west of Wilton. I could see the prop house I worked at for over 40 years beginning in 1978. That was at Santa Monica and Bronson. Thanks for posting this video. Those street lights didn’t get replaced with the cobra lights until the late 70’s.

I was LAPD working Central Division (Downtown) from 1996 to 2022. I also used to walk a footbeat on Hill St. The section of the video titled 8th St and starts at 2:05 actually starts at 9th St and South Hill St traveling N/B. It goes through what is now the Jewelry District. At about 3:45, on the right is Pershing Square. This clip ends around 3rd and Hill at about 5:00. It then starts the clip titled 7th St. This is actually the 700 block of South Hill St, traveling north, with the camera angled to the right (as it's looking back) and scanning the shops on the west side of Hill St. and ends between 3rd and 4th St. The first part of this clip, up until Pershing Square (the park) is all jewelry stores now. The last part of this clip is essentially the same, but now the camera is scanning the east side of Hill St up until the 400 block. Very cool footage!

The 1960's era cars look so radically different in shape from the 1950's cars, both generations being visible in this amazingly restored beautiful video! Similar to the dramatic change in style that is visible more recently between late 90's cars and early 80's American cars. Time marches on, nothing really remains entirely the same.

I wish I could’ve lived in those day. I can’t even imagine this. Without this video, I wouldn’t believe the streets weren’t covered in trash, tents everywhere, hobos sleeping on the sidewalks. I could stand on a corner and watch those cars drive by all day long. I know everything wasn’t perfect back then but dang….. there was actually style in everything from cars to buildings. Thanks for posting this one

Back when Los Angeles was a great place to live. Notice how clean it was. Much less traffic, clean streets, no homeless tents, affordable living, safe living and on and on. This video is a time machine, but I wish I had a real one. Thank you for posting this.

Absolute heartbreak watching this video and knowing what LA has become

What a great video. I've lost all of my grandparents and I couldn't help thinking about how they were in their 40's when these videos were made. I miss them.

surprisingly modern, would've loved to walk those streets then, looks so peaceful

Well... time machines do exist. This is better than a movie. You are really there back in time, riding in the back seat of the automobile looking through the window at the streets and the cars, and the people. So relaxing and so real as you are really there. For 9 minutes and 21 seconds we really lived in the 60s Los Angeles. Just like in a dream but with every little detail that captured a lost reality from more than half a sentury ago. It really captures the good life and the sence of optimism that this age had. Life was good then and people thought that it will get better and better... But that bright future was somewhat lost, tarnished along the way.

I'm from Brazil and I'm from the 2000s but this time proves to be a great time to live, it's a shame there isn't a time machine to experience the 60s, 70s and 80s

This one hit home. I was 14 & living on Gower near Santa Monica Blvd., about two blocks from where it starts. I knew the downtown streets well too. It struck me that by now, probably 90 percent of all the people in the street, in the buildings, in the cars and buses are dead. Yet wherever they were going and whatever they were doing seemed so important at the time. Now it's just dust in the wind.

As a gen z kid... I wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time an experience eras like this. Everything seemed so much simpler!

I came to Los Angeles in 1960 and I remember so much of this ! Thank you for posting.

People driving nicely, no tailgating, speeding or giving people the finger.

Fascinating. This looks to be filmed in 1961. In the second scene you may notice the Hill Street movie theater marquee featuring William Castle's "Homicidal" which was released in 1961. A minutes or two later the Warren's Theater is passed and the marquee shows 'One Eyed Jacks' also released in 1961.

Man this brings back memories. I was in junior in high school in 1964. That was a great time to be a teenager..late 50s to early 60s.

How clean, calm and peaceful everything looks… thank you for sharing this. All these beautiful cars. No graffiti, no litter, the houses look freshly painted.. the air does not look polluted all tho the cars have no pollution controls what so ever…. Are we all living in an illusion of a better world today?

It looks like a movie... everything and everyone is so calm and clean

At the end, did anyone notice those beautiful street lights? What a fantastic clip, just like a time capsule. I often wonder what the kids in this clip grew up to be, like the two kids on their bikes who were looking back at the camera. Magic.

It’s freaking me out right now to realize that I was alive during this time period . As a small child I was always fascinated with cars so I have a vague recollection of traffic looking like this ..

Shoutout to the cameraman who recorded this glamorous video

What an awesome job of remastering this film. I love the bluish, Hugh, and everything looks so pristine. I could watch it all day.

This takes me back to my childhood & if I could go back in time I would never comeback to the 21st century. The view from the rear window of the cars & delivery trucks & buses is exactly what I used to see riding in my dad's '57 Chevrolet Bel Air. His sister drove a '60 Chevy Impala they had those cars new. I was born in 1959 & I was lucky to grow up in the '60's. Thanks for the memories.

So clean, and so civilised, I wish I had a time machine to go back to that era and place and then stay there.

Greetings from Germany and many thanks for your marvelous work. The quality of the footage is stunning. It looks like a movie set of today. And what people say in the comments the change must be immens compared to the time of today. I‘ve never been in Los Angeles, but this is very impressive, because I can feel the city and life back in the day.

these remastered historic video foots are absolutely amazing! Thanks for bring the history back to life

I love this video. I lived in Los Angeles for several years, off Santa Monica Boulevard, and I always took historic and architectural tours of Hollywood and Downtown. This post really brings the area to life. Thanks so much for restoring all this old footage.

I work as UBER driver in Los Angeles. I’m always on the streets. In the video the city looks so beautiful. Now the streets are littered with trash and people drunk and on drugs everywhere asleep on the floor and so many homeless people with no where to go. Something is wrong with our politicians and the spirit of our city.

What a wonderful trip ! And all those gorgeous cars ! It's always funny, in California, to see some European cars : here two VW Beetles of course, but, very rare, an Isetta , an MG converible, an NSU Prinz Sport. Thanks a lot. 😘

I am blown away by this video. Its the closest thing to time travel I'll ever get.

Wow, incredible. How clean and peaceful. This was the real dream where you wanted to live. Today you want to run away.

Fascinating. It looks like at the end it drops from the 60's to the 40's judging by the very old cars.

I just saw the actual where i lived for about 25 years...incredible. I recognized it. From the corner of Wilton Place and Santa Monica Blvd...the view is heading West on Santa Monica...amazing, heading towards Vine Street. I was shocked and right off the bat, very very clean...the streets seemed smooth...it drives by the Hollywood Cemetery on the right side.

Thank you so much for your wonderful video. It's absolutely beautiful. It feels almost dream like. I wish I could go back in time. ☺

I love watching historical footage, and the last two minutes, it's going back another 15-20 years. Fascinating!

I'm not sure why, but this got my heart racing and full of excitement. I'm in awe with seeing those old cars, and just how simple everything looked and felt. Honestly wouldn't mind going back to the 50's.

I did live in those days and yes it was alot cleaner than today. Oh to go back to those simpler times of life. I loved it. 😍

Watching these videos of the times when I grew up when things were so innocent and fresh, and to see it now makes me realize we are so near the end

America of the 50s and 60s looks like a really great place. I always liked the epoch. Wish I could live back then for a while.

Wow, it's beautiful! It sounds like someone from the 2020s time travel to the 60s and recorded it. The video is really very high quality and well restored

Beautiful... I would never have thought that a shot from the city could be so relaxing.

Wow!!!! The clarity is just awesome. Like going back in time, beautiful. Just subscribed to your channel.

2:49 pm..72°.. nice pleasant afternoon drive.😊

What an incredibly great testimony of that time!! Apart from the much higher technical effort and the higher costs to create such a film (that's not a video!), one didn't have the same addiction to publication back then as people do today with their smartphones. Whoever made this film back then: Thanks from the future!

Was just down Santa Monica by the cemetery (Hollywood Memorial then) a month ago and it sure as hell didn't resemble the orderly serene traffic found here! Everything was cleaner, not just in cleanliness but in the simplicity of everything! Except for the architecture, it was detailed back then! I took it for granted when I was a kid in the 60s. One Eyed Jacks at the movie house puts this in 1961.

Fascinating and immersive. Now imagine this rendered in VR when you are "There" and walking in and out of it...

This is Spring 1961. There is a movie marquis One Eyed Jacks that was released March 1961. I love seeing these street scenes of people of a different Era going about their day.

It's amazing how the infrastructure looks largely unchanged...what's more amazing is when you compare this footage to footage 40 years prior, the rate of change is immense.

This is stunning! The images are so sharp it almost looks fake - like it's really a modern movie set with a bunch of vintage vehicles and extras in period clothing. You do incredible work!

Wow! This is an amazing sight! Los Angeles back then looks so peaceful, clean, quiet and friendly. Almost like you can make new friends and have an easy conversation with other people as well as enjoy living in Los Angeles in peace. Now these days Los Angeles is noisy, dirty, somewhat unfriendly and risk getting yelled at by rude people if you try to have a nice friendly conversation with them. Not to mention thieves breaking into your home and stealing everything that you own so that they can either keep or sell it

This is unbelievable. I wish this was ten hours longer. Liked and subbed!

Never been to California but this looks like something straight out of movie. Very cool.

No graffiti, no litter, no homeless tents. Wow.

The movie theater marquee shows ‘One Eyed Jacks’ with Brando and Malden. That came out in 1961. I lived in LA for a time and I love watching these old videos to see if I recognize where they are being filmed, but it's not as easy as I think. Except when the street makes it obvious. Great videos. Keep them coming.

The cars stand out to me. A good number of those vehicles would be worth quite a lot of money today if they were in the kind of shape they were back when this was made. I also noticed quite a lot of Corvairs for whatever that's worth. I also noted the "older cars" from the 30s and 40s that were still on the road. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time to visit the sights, sounds and just watch the people of that day. I doubt if I'd want to stay, just visit! Thanks for the video!😄

The road trip starts right across from Hollywood Cemetery; the car passes by Clifton's Cafe which still is open to this day. an iconic and fun place to eat downtown. It's really close to the Cecil Hotel which is haunted; they drove thru Pershing Square where they have ice rinks every Christmas now; lastly, I was hoping they were going to drive through Bunker Hill where they used to have pretty grand Victorian Homes that slowly disappeared until the early 1980s before they were destroyed and some of them moved. I remembered the last Victorian Home they put on rollers and towed by semi trucks. I was a toddler and my father was involved as one of the supervisors from Caltrans that were to help. Bunker Hill is now home to Museums.

Specifically, this was 1961, so just coming out of the 1950's. The film, "One Eyed Jacks" on the marquee was '61, etc. Always a good marker for the year in footage like this.

I grew up in Lincoln heights in the sixties and early seventies this kind of threw me back... Thank you well done

Truly an amazing video. Thank you .

Last time I saw L.A. like this I was 6 years old. Brings back lots of memories.

I see a 1959 Chey Impala at 0:51. At 9:21 is a movie marque with the movie, One Eyed Jacks which was released in March 1961.

I wish I can go back in time like this! The streets are completely different and dirty! What time are everybody’s dress up and dresses and suits! I love this!

Great work, Thanks!

Born and raised in San Diego just an hour or so south of LA. We visited the LA area frequently, mostly to go to Disneyland, but other parts of the area as well. This was taken in the very early 60s, but I can tell you that when I was old enough to remember our trips there in the late 60s-early 70s , it WAS a very different place than now. A lot of the romantic thoughts many here are posting about LA in the old days are mostly true. It was so much cleaner and safer (not every area-Watts was still there remember!), but yeah, it really had this feel. The one negative thing I remember was the horrible smog driving into the LA area from San Diego. Much worse than today, believe it or not. Remember, those were the days before unleaded fuel and catalytic converters. The smog was horrible and everyone in my family had burning eyes the whole time we enjoyed Disneyland. A black haze hung in the air just about every time we went there. I still visit there and enjoy my visits, but it is a far cry from what it was back then, sadly.

Was growing up 20 miles south of here during the 50s/70s and what struck me was the smog in the background. In the first sequence notice how the hills in the background get hazier as you travel just a short distance down the road.

What a wonderful video! Love the cars, the fashion, the design. Is amazing thah has been 62 years from this.

That was just beautiful........how could things go so wrong so fast?

I think that for us all, in the end, change doesn't mean too much. I keep my property in good repair, avoiding up-dates, where I can and drive a thirty-year-old auto I brought brand new back in 1993. I think you know what i mean! Greetings from a Brit residing in Arizona.

1960 los angeles is more modern than some 2022 countries

Thank you. Very good channel.

Clean, newly paved streets, gorgeous cars! 1961 I believe 🤗👍👏

I was just driving past Pershing Square this morning...did not look like this! Look at the wall of green starting at 5:55...before "improvements" and homelessness and littering and no public decorum. Not that I such a great person - but still, if only it looked like this.

Nice cars. I can't belive how clean the sidewalks looked

The road seems very smooth!😲 And excellent transport. you can only dream of such a design now!🤩

Thanks for sharing our past. ❤

Wow! You can barely tell a difference from the 1960s to today!

Wow! I'm feeling nostalgia even though I was born in the 80s and not in America but this looks so beautiful

Wow How Nice Back Then! Thanks 4 sharing.

I love these types of videos. It makes me nostalgic and long for a time I didn't even live in. lol

LA and the whole state of California were an ethnic and cultural extension of Western Europe, safe, clean, aesthetics. BEAUTIFUL ❤

I feel like I am inside the video. That's how good the video is.

I remember these days, driving with dad in downtown LA. This brought back so many sweet memories.

It’s nice seeing videos like this

The people in this video would never believe what LA looks like today.

This taken in 1961. As they pass a movie theater " One eyed Jacks" is playing. Its from 1961.

wonderful cars from a wonderful time..thank you

Many thanks to the restorers for their work. This is an amazing journey into the past. It makes me want to walk these streets. There are huge opportunities for creating or developing any normal business. Already now the planet seems to be overpopulated. And what will happen next! Humanity must find new habitable corners in the Universe.

clean, peaceful and beautiful. Not the case today. Who can guess what happened?

Awesome vid. Looks like 1961. My great grandparents We're buried in Hollywood forever cemetery. Moved to Hollywood in 1904 from the midwest.

The video quality is amazing.

Would be cool to see side by side comparison with modern footage of exact same areas. Nice footage, looks like taken yesterday.

It would be cool for a modern driver to film the same routes at the same time of day.

Excellent! I also think the last clip was from a few years earlier, maybe as much as 10-12 years earlier. Kind of grubby 1940's cars and nothing newer. Where you think the last clip was shot. In what town? Parts of it look beach-like.

Absolutely amazing!!!

Thanks for posting this up! I'm a old city of Los Angeles native. I can say so much but I won't.