1944 Mueller Pictorial View of Los Angeles

An entertaining 1944 pictorial view of Los Angeles drawn by Harold M. Mueller for Ollie Hammond's, a well-known mid-century chain of steakhouses.

A Closer Look

Oriented roughly towards the northeast, though not exactly faithful to geography, this view covers the greater Los Angeles area. In particular, it highlights the three locations of Ollie Hammond's Steak House: on La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills, at Fairfax and Third near the La Brea Tar Pits, and on Wilshire Boulevard near the intersection with Western Ave., in what is now Koreatown. Several local landmarks appear, including the Los Angeles Coliseum, piers in Santa Monica Bay, the Hollywood Bowl, Catalina Island, the Santa Anita Racetrack, the historic San Gabriel and San Fernando missions, and the Griffith and Mt. Wilson Observatories. Several highways and major roads are also marked, including U.S. Route 66, U.S. Route 101, and U.S. Route 101A, later redesignated as part of California S.R. 1, also known in this section as the Pacific Coast Highway. The background stretches to include Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, and Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam).

Ollie Hammond's Steak House

Ollie Hammond's Steak House was a well-known mid-20th century restaurant in Los Angeles. With its original Wilshire Blvd. location opening in 1934, it became famous for its classic American cuisine and prime steaks. (A bold choice given the proximity of its La Cienega location to the celebrated and still-extant Lawry's.) The Beverley Hills and Third/Fairfax locations noted here were recent additions, opening in 1940 and 1942, respectively. Operating 24 hours a day, the restaurant was a staple of the local dining scene, often frequented by celebrities, politicians, and businesspeople.

Publication History and Census

This pictorial map was drawn by Harold Milton Mueller for Ollie Hammond's Steak Houses and was used as the reverse to the restaurant's menu on New Year's Day 1944. The map continued to be used by the steakhouse for its menus into the early 1950s. It does not appear in the OCLC but is held by the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.