Speed & style

Preserved in time through faded black-and-white photographs taken decades ago by Strother MacMinn, a long row of shiny hot rods and custom cars are lined up on an unfenced gravel lot. It’s not a car show. They’re all for sale, many with price tags displayed on their windshields. It’s the late 1940s, and this lot’s location is 8221 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. A sign on a small office building behind the cars reads “D&B Auto Sales.”

D&B Auto Sales

All but forgotten today, on a busy street between Fairfax Avenue and La Cienega Boulevard, D&B sold used hot rods and customs in Los Angeles in the early post-World War II period. Modified cars were very popular among high schoolers and young men in their early 20s, many of whom were just back from the service. The car lot’s owner, a man named Don Brit-ton, appears to have had a thriving business for several years.

Back in D&B’s heyday, this unusual car lot was a magnet for