Photos of yesteryear, Hollywood, 1953. Why did it go downhill?

[Tantamount]

Originally Posted by Elle Oh Elle

We all did unless you were like a janitor.

And I though that Plastic Surgery was a requirement for Janitors, especially in LA!

[ActorTomG]

Gregory Paul Williams' book, "The Story of Hollywood - An Illustrated History" is an excellent resource on old Hollywood. I attended a lecture he gave at Larry Edmunds Bookstore and his photographs of what was vs. what's there now were stunning. For me, it's quite ghastly what has been torn down all in the name of "progress". His book has won several awards.

I forget the name of the lady who owned huge parcels of land in Hollywood in the late 1800's/early 1900's, but from what Mr. Williams said at his lecture, she gave a lot of this land away to many churches. Unfortunately, she did not deed-restrict the sales, and later, the churches themselves ended up selling this land at huge profits to developers. These developers unfortunately, were not kind to their surroundings and built several rectangular, ugly, block-style buildings in place of some wonderful, ornately decorated homes.

[GatsbyGatz]

1980's NYC was a horrific place. Now it's a yuppified mecca. All cities experience cycles and LA (especially DTLA and Hollywood) is going through its phase of gentrification. A few weeks ago, I went to the Archlight and was amazed at how busy Hollywood seemed at 9 PM with "normal" looking people. In a couple decades, it'll be a trendy spot for young professionals to gather. A few decades after that, it'll be a slum again. Rinse and repeat. Cities have been doing this since the dawn of civilization.