Going to the La Salle Market in the 1940s, Washington and Normandie, Los Angeles, California


When I first stumbled across this wonderful image, on the Duke University website, I really had no idea where it was. I sent an email to my number one history adventuring friend (who prefers to remain anonymous) and just said that it had an "LA feel". He determined that it's looking east on Washington Boulevard and Normandie Avenue in Los Angeles.


I was still skeptical (because that's what I do) because I had thought that the LaSalle Market was part of a chain, but it wasn't - it was the only one in town. And any doubt that the location was exactly right faded away when I saw that it was right nearby the Rosedale Cemetery (look over at the trees on the left). I went to the Rosedale website, and this is what I found:

Angelus Rosedale Cemetery

It was founded as Rosedale Cemetery in 1884, when Los Angeles was a small city of around 28,285 people, on 65 acres of land running from Washington to Venice Boulevard (then 16th Street) between Normandie Avenue and Walton and Catalina Streets, and often used by California politicians, notably former Mayors of the City of Los Angeles. The interments include pioneers and members of leading families who had a conspicuous place in Los Angeles institutions and the state.

Rosedale was the first cemetery in Los Angeles open to all races and creeds, and was the first to adopt the concept of the new approach of design called lawn cemeteries, where the grounds are enhanced to surround the burial places of the dead with beautiful and decorative trees, shrubs, flowers, natural scenery and works of monumental art. Among the more traditional structures, headstones and mausoleums, the cemetery also has several pyramid crypts.


My interest in history started when I lived in LA in my twenties, which started with my fascination with Hollywoodland, and went on from there. There's some interesting history in LA! But let's take a closer look at the La Salle Market.


It was right across the street from, believe it or not, a drugstore called Husbands Pharmacy. I haven't done any research on it yet, but my best guess is that it was someone's name.

The billboard provides an excellent clue to the date of this photo. Take a look at the lower right and you'll see the words "Non-rationed". Rationing started in 1942 in the US and continued until the end of war, but apparently you could get "Plenty good eatin'" of Albers Corn Flakes, and get as much as you wanted. 

This photo, by the way, was taken because of the billboard. Advertisers wanted to know if the billboards that they were paying for were all up and visible, so photographers went out to collect visual proof. The backgrounds are what interest me, but they're just a bonus. The people walking by are just incidental, like the people you see nowadays on Google Street View.


I have to admit to being fascinated by how street markings change. It looks like there were "safety zones" where pedestrians could stop and wait for traffic, and apparently the little bumps were there to tell drivers to stay out. Since I've never seen anything like that in a long life I have a feeling that this practice was discontinued quite a while ago. I'm also wondering how far back the California law that you gotta stop for pedestrians, even if they're not in crosswalks, goes back? As someone who loved to walk, I really like that when I lived in California, although it took some getting used to not having that law when I moved to Arizona.

Thank you for visiting LA in the 1940s with me!


Image from the Duke University Library Digital Collections.
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