Courtesy of the Beverly Hills Historical Society, here’s some Southern California gold: great old movie footage of cars traveling on Wilshire Boulevard circa 1935. 

Evidently, the film was shot by or for one of the Hollywood movie studios to be used in process shots, also known as rear projection. In scenes staged with actors riding in a car, this footage would be projected on a screen behind them, creating the effect of moving scenery behind the vehicle.

Thank you to the Beverly Hills Historical Society for tagging the intersections and other landmarks—a big help to us tourists doing our best to follow along. The route takes us from Wilshire and Canon (near Beverly) east past Robertson Boulevard, then repeats with the camera directed at the south side of the street. And here’s a nice touch: Eddie Cantor singing “California, Here I Come.”

Fans of old Hollywood and Los Angeles history will love the film, naturally, but it’s also a car spotter’s dream. The camera vehicle runs slowly down the center of the eastbound lanes, forcing  traffic to stream around it on both sides. Watch for the big old Rolls-Royce sedan early on, and there’s a ’34-ish Chevy Standard, a Willys-Knight, Chrysler, Buick, ’35 and ’34 Fords….how many cars can you identify?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thVn7KoM6bo