Photo: Looking south on Broadway at 3rd Street, via Google’s Street View.

Jan. 1, 1942:

Downtown Los Angeles is oddly quiet on New Year’s Eve after police and military authorities banned the regular street celebrations. Hotels and nightclubs were sold out and many thousands attended church services “to pray for divine guidance and solace in the Year of Our Lord 1942,” The Times said.

And so the question is “What would you like in the L.A. Daily Mirror in 2012?” One thing coming up in January 1962 is the demise of the Mirror-News and the Los Angeles Examiner, which was merged with the Herald-Express to form the Herald Examiner (d. 1989).

The Daily Mirror’s request line is open…..