Los Angeles in 7 Days is a firsthand account of Los Angeles as it was in 1932. Long out of print, the book is an delightful resource in reconstructing the geography of Depression-era L.A. Written by Lanier Bartlett and his wife Virginia Stivers Bartlett at the behest of a local publisher, the book details (what I presume to be a completely fictional) visit of a pair of out-of-towners and their induction to Los Angeles by the Bartletts.
I will be posting some of the more intriguing highlights here on the Pictorial, starting with this little blurb about a miniature golf course that used to occupy the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and La Cienega:
After passing the handsome Fox Wilshire Theater, Mrs. Guia again brought a gasp from Miss Jones by announcing: “Mary Pickford’s Wilshire Links.”
“You mean—this place is run by Mary Pickford?”
“Well, it belongs to her. Isn’t it crazy looking, with all those grotesque artificial trees and toadstools and gigantic colored umbrellas—everything twisted and tortured into futuristic hobgoblinism? Is it popular? I should say so! That is, as miniature golf goes nowadays.”
The Kitty Packard Pictorial 