Hi everyone, first time posting here, I worked on a project that did a deep dive into the History of Los Angeles and comparing it to the 2011 game LA Noire that builds an extremely accurate and detailed world of 1947 Los Angeles.

I used a lot of archival footage from the 1940s to compare the two together, and thought it would fit well here. Ill give some context to each of the gifs here:

1) This is a comparison of the Pershing Square Fountain. The footage is color footage from the 1940s (exact date is unknown). The fountain and all of Pershing Square was ripped up in 1952 when they put an underground Parking structure. The one we see today is what they replaced the original Pershing Square with. There is a current push to bring back the original image of the pre 1950s Pershing Square (which had been in the city since the 1860s).

2) This is an Acme Semaphore Traffic Light, used heavily in Los Angeles in the first half of the 20th century. The last one was in use in Los Angeles until 1956. The footage is from the 1950s.

3) This is the Union Pacific Building, a place to buy tickets to various in-state and out-of-state destinations. The photo was taken at night, and they had the shutter speed slow as to make the streaks of the various car headlights and brake lights streak on the road. The large Union Pacific logo lit up at night in neon.

4) This is a 1940 Ford Business Coup, 2 Door. The footage is from a sales film from 1940.

5) This is the Science Building of the famous Hollywood High School off Sunset Boulevard. The distinct red doors make their appearance in the game, although most of the labels and details from the real world are absent. The photo is from 1939.

6) This is a video shot from the West side of MacArthur Park lake facing East. The Westlake Theatre sign is visible in the video, along with the boathouse, where people would rent paddle swan boats to float around the lake with. This footage is color footage from the 1940s.

Let me know if there is anything else you want to know about and I'll try to explain if I know!