1952 video of W. Sunset Blvd, magic storefront

[Robert77]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM5A4TamTzo

0.38 seconds in, on the left, is a magic storefront.

If my reading of the street sign just before that is correct this was on W. Sunset Blvd in LA, about a block past the intersection with Wilcox Blvd.

[edit] This may not be W. Sunset. A few blocks further in there's are cross streets of Hudson, Cassil Pl., Highland Ave, and others.

Anyone know what store it might have been?

[Robert77]

Follow up: it appears the magic store was on W. Sunset between Wilcox and Hudson.

[Robert77]

Messing with Google Street View I think there's a good possibility the magic store was at 6505 Sunset Blvd. Currently the location of Abe's Shoe Repair and Dry Cleaning. The building just before Wilcox on Sunset has been remodeled but retains enough of the original design that it's probably the Packard dealership just before Wilcox.

The URL is huge but this is a screenshot of the current location:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.09805,-118.3312266,3a,90y,19.22h,97.96t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sj5yHwRo2VGnNkML50Nta0g!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dj5yHwRo2VGnNkML50Nta0g%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D113.17437%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[Edit] I also just found this video which drives the same route and melts in the modern view over the original video. You can see how tall the palm tree on the right has grown. https://youtu.be/Gi6tCz1PCl8?t=68

[Bill Mullins]

There was an Abbot's branch location at 6505 Sunset in the 1950s.

At 2:42, you can see the Chavez College of Magic at 6767 Sunset Blvd.

We've been binge-watching Adam-12 lately. The stories hold up okay (not near as dated as Dragnet, for example, even though both were made by Jack Webb), but what's really fun is watching the cars as they cruise around Los Angeles ca. 1969. There's a late 1960s bronze-colored Mustang with a white vinyl top that is in the background of most episodes -- it must have belonged to someone on the location film crew. Tons of 1960s Corvettes. And all sorts of boxy Caddies and Lincolns. No SUVs, very few pickups. One forgets how much variety there was in cars at that time, compared to now.

[Robert77]

There was an Abbot's branch location at 6505 Sunset in the 1950s.

At 2:42, you can see the Chavez College of Magic at 6767 Sunset Blvd.

Oh that's cool, I missed that School of Magic!

[Diego]

I have been to that address and went inside the shoe repair store. Dell O'Dell had a store in Hollywood. If it wasn't there it may
have been at a location near Hollywood Blvd. and Vine Street.

[Diego]

According to Dell O'Dell biographer Michael Claxton, that store on Sunset Blvd in the film was Abbott's Magic and later in 1953, it became Dell O'Dell's store.

[Robert77]

According to Dell O'Dell biographer Michael Claxton, that store on Sunset Blvd in the film was Abbott's Magic and later in 1953, it became Dell O'Dell's store.

Thanks Diego, tha's cool to learn. I didn't know Abbotts had regional stores.

[Diego]

Abbott's also had a store in Chicago and those who know Abbott's history better could tell you about others
that may have been.

[Bill Mullins]

From a 1949 ad in TOPS:
YOU CAN SEE ALL THESE TRICKS DEMONSTRATED at our Branch Stores: In Indianapolis — Second Floor, Ohio Theatre Bldg., 40 West Ohio St.; in Detroit — Street Level, Tuller Hotel Bldg., 115 Adams St.; in Chicago — 2nd Floor, Woods Bldg., 54 W. Randolph St.; in New York — Conjurer's Shop, 130 West 42nd St.; and now in Hollywood — 6505 Sunset Blvd., at Wilcox