ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE VALLEY AND SANTA MONICA...

Welcome to the San Fernando Valley, circa 1951/52 (judging by the cars). This is excellent quality footage of rear projection plates shot for God knows what movie. Thanks to these plates, which were intended to be used as backgrounds for scenes with actors driving while talking (which apparently they weren't skilled enough to do--hence the need for a studio, a fake car shell etc.) we get long, unobstructed views of a city long vanished--empty, pretty, low-stress L.A. And thanks to a couple of enterprising Youtube commenters (who I quote without any permission whatsoever) we know that:

The camera car starts out on the corner of Burbank and Woodman (hence the name 'Burwood Market'--which is now a McDonalds). It travels north on Woodman and turns left onto Oxnard. The Kyffin Pharmacy building is still there but has been added onto and now houses the Sofi Woodman Restaurant. There's still a fast station on the southwest corner of Woodman and Oxnard. Grizzly's is still identifiable but has been added onto and is now the super sad looking Oxwood Inn."

From another commenter, we learn:

3:24 is a cruise down 2nd Street from Montana to Wilshire in Santa Monica. The stop light on the left at 1:56 to 2:02 is Wilshire Blvd. and Ocean Ave. (there's a highrise there now).When the car makes a b brief stop at 2:12 that is Ocean Ave. and California Ave. To the car's immediate left is the California Incline. 2:27to 2:33--the white two-story apartment building on the left (you can see it through the trees) is still there and looks nearly identical.

Thanks for the legwork, guys.

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