LARY Cars on Broadway: 1930

By Ralph Cantos

This colorized postcard from 1930 looks north on Broadway at about 9th Street. When these colorized post cards were produced, some “fine” street details were lost, especially vehicles on the street. However, there is no doubt that at least five LARY cars are clearly in evidence.

Up until the mid 1950s , LARY / LATL streetcars were the darling of Downtown Los Angeles postcard photos. As for the PE, almost all postcards taken along Hollywood Boulevard featured one or more Hollywood cars along the “boulevard of broken dreams.” The charm of Hollywood and Downtown LA was lost when the streetcars were removed. The pleasant sounds of the streetcar bell and the steel wheels on rails gliding along major boulevards was replaced by the obnoxious sounds of blaring bus horns and diesel exhaust, not to mention the smell of so-called “progress.”

Ralph Cantos Collection