25 Rare Photos Showing How LA Life Used to Be in the 60’s

Los Angeles is still as iconic today as it was in the 1960s – and you can’t deny that. From a girl who poses on the opening day of the Dodger Stadium to a nice family photo, these cool photos will show you the City of Angels and how things used to be in those days.

Check them out for more information and start to see our world through photos!

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30 Comments

  1. Miguel Hoyos says

    !!Beautiful pictures!! I arrive at L.A in August 1961,it was just ! Gorgeous !!the tallest building in town was the ” city hall”,the best place to go dancing and having a good time was ” The Hollywood palladium”In the mornings they brought the milk and bread ! to your door! no need to go to the market,and you live your payment for it in the door for the Milkman to pick it up !!..I was 21 and just married.!! Frank Sinatra was my favorite singer,and the best song ” When I was 17″ by Sinatra.
    Thank’s to God I was able to experience those days,nothing of that kind of life remains!!!but ..! I can go now in peace!

    1. Al martin says

      Every car with one exception was 1950s and a few were 1940s. Good pictures though.

      1. Rachel Coan says

        I noticed that too.

  2. Bill Hilton says

    The 60’s could not compare with the 40’s! LA then was a beautiful city…alive…the movie and theater capital of the USA! A very safe and clean city…a city to be proud of instead of what it is today…filth and
    Typhus rampant in the streets…rats and feces….a slum hole…a city of pity and lacking in leadership to even come close to solving any social problems and deeply in debt! The 60’s was the beginning of the end!

    1. Patti Chubbuck says

      I worked at Security First National Bank . It was on the corner of first and Spring. It was across the street from the Times building and down the hill a little from the “pointy building.” It was also next door to the State building. Worked there as a teller from 1961-1964. I was 19 years old.

  3. KayCee says

    It was a far better time in many ways tho not for all.

  4. Brad Knopp says

    The car photos are repeatedly 1950s….

    1. Jim says

      A couple of the Cadillacs are 1961’s and there is a 1966 GTO in there too !

  5. Gene in L.A. says

    Picture #4 is Ocean Front Walk along Santa Monica Beach.

  6. R. Thomas says

    I moved to LA when I was 12 in 1962, never did like it, but great place to be a teenager in the sixties. Been to every pic you showed. It has changed so much.

    1. Roland says

      I miss those days, wpuld do anything to go back. Man, what memories! It surely was the beginning of the end.

  7. Bryce Thompson says

    With what you stupid retarded demon-rats stand for you will loose, Fight and get this out,now,You stupid Democrats killed the water to hydrogen inventor why? I hope you know your damnation is in hell, Hillary said in 2005 ( that the average democrat voter is just plain stupid, they are so easy to manipulate, that’s the easy part ),It looks like Trump is an oil company stooge to selling us out, you stupid retarded Trump, The only thing that will bring us out of this depression is free energy, hydrogen from water, you can make all the hydrogen, as you drive from a tank of water, you know our space shuttles,are powered by hydrogen / oxygen made from water, tell every one not buy a new car / truck, to boycott the auto company’s, when they can’t sell their pieces of junk low mileage vehicles, they will have to bring out water to hydrogen powered vehicles, and kits to change the vehicles now that we have, just think what our world would be like with free energy. a Porge vapor carburetor sitting in the patient office that gets around 200 mpg, Volkswagen diesel gets 264 mpg, The water to hydrogen auto inventor wouldn’t sell out to the demons from hell oil company’s so the Democrat gov. had him murdered with plutonium poisoning, we are getting ripped off by the oil company owned auto company’s Don’t you think it’s time to take our world back.Once free energy gets out all prices for every thing will drop.
    Also audit all the Senator’s and congressmen, they have wasted, and stole our money, make them repay all, and tax them.
    The economy will never get better, as long as free energy doesn’t come out, and all your dreams will fade away, so spread the word, stop buying new autos and trucks.

  8. manyo says

    Now 55,000 homeless with filth ruining and trashing sidewalks, streets, building entrances, underpasses. Look only to the mindless, lazy and corrupt city government. Just check out which political party has been in charge locally and statewide. What a tragic condition for a once proud city.

  9. peter niemi says

    yes, those were fabulous times. the cars were beyond any comparison with those of today — still remain the standards to be copied — the t-birds, corvettes, winged caddies & plymouths, muscle pontiacs, chevs — buicks with such style and unique looks, imperials & lincolns tha were true luxury each with unique looks for the rich, the stars. The music was everywher; barefoot was ok plus hitchiking safe! Love children were being nurtured by magic of stones, beatles, dylan and donovan. wow–no smog ( not yet ) We owned the world, our worlds, our futures — no foreign cars on the streets in these pics. Dreams were reality, dissillusionment would not set in till the drugs & vietnam would tear into all our dreams of changing the world — whoa, lif,e in the 50’s & 60’s — its what we all want for ourselves & our children…..how is it going to happen….just need to hold our breath….

  10. Larry says

    THERE WERE A LOT OF CARS FROM THE 50S BUT I DID SEE SOME 60S.

  11. JoeInAZ says

    Interesting pictures. The cars pictured in slide 3 and 5 all appear to be all mid 50’s models.. Still like the article.

  12. John Lee says

    No fast food restaurants on every block, and not an obese adult in sight! I had forgotten how rare real obesity was in those days.

  13. Margaret Ortiz says

    Growing up was great..born in summer of 42…left a time or two for a year or two last time 1970..Still would be there if possible!!!

  14. windywood says

    I am a 60’s generation and came to Los Angeles just out of high school and then u could get a almost free college education at Los Angeles City College. The Town of Hollywood was beautiful and full of young people energy many coffee houses jazz clubs and small clubs where unknowns became famous…”Troubadour”for one among many I saw Bette Midler perform there when she still had Barry Manlow as her piano player and I watched him far more that night than Bette as she was on her way toward greatness but Barry also stood out and I just knew he would make it big…I worked then for the big radio station KHJ Boss Radio “all music all the time” when Disc jockeys were celebrities… Hollywood had great energy in the 60’s and on into the 70’s the town was very nice looking and clean….It is a DIFFERENT TOWN NOW and holds NO comparison whatsoever to the 60’s and 70’s it was also the town where wanna be rock n’ roll artists came to make it big AND THEY DID! hope this sends to readers some sense of what Hollywood was like in the 60’s and 70’s as I was a part of those decades….GGGRRREEEAAATTT memories..when Hollywood was great! from a fan of MY generation the greets 60’s and 70’s!

  15. Ron says

    Third generation born and raised in Los Angeles. Left with the space program in 1965. Have visited over the years and have been saddened by what has happened to a once beautiful place to be. My whole family eventually moved away and none of us have ever wanted to return. It were lucky to have had a beautiful childhood and teen years there. A wonderful memory of what was.

  16. Jim C. says

    $.68/gallon is great compared to now but gasoline cost $.27/gallon in the early ’70s.

  17. Shirley Glickman says

    Very good food today!

  18. Dan says

    I noticed the same thing, and probably early to mid 1950s

  19. Lonnie Duke says

    You are right Jim C. I worked at an Oldsmobile dealer in ’71 and I could buy self-serve gasoline for 25 cents a gallon in Colorado Springs. Then came the OPEC thing in ’73-74 and it jumped to 50 cents if you could find any at all.

  20. N. Macabio says

    I used to go to that bank. I worked at 107 S. Broadway and usually had lunch at the Koshered Burrito place..a block from LA Times. Food old days.

  21. Richard says

    Aaah..for the good life..I was raised in the 50’s-60’s until Vietnam made me grow up..But wouldn’t trade my youth for anything in this world…

  22. Marge Ortiz says

    Being a LA/California native…sadly people migrating from all over the US, etc the original CA/Angelino residents were outnumbered by those who don’t treasure the diamond they have/had…

  23. Joyce says

    In late 60’s I was a newlywed living in Burbank. Gas fluctuated from 23 to 25 cents a gallon. You could fill up a Beetle’s tank with pocket change!

  24. Roger E Lindsey says

    Make America Great Again

  25. Salman Kidwai says

    Loved all those pictures. I landed in LA in 1997 and last visited in 2018. Even in over 20 years L.A. has changed going down the hill. Still love Irvine.