Killing Time with Windows Live Local

Thanks to LAObserved, I've become similarly hooked on Microsoft's Windows Live Local, which includes close-up satellite pictures of neighborhoods around the country.

The catch: The satellite images are several years old. In the Los Angeles as seen on Windows Live Local, the Ambassador Hotel is still fully standing, Perino's hasn't been torn down and The Grove is still under construction:


Strange to remember, but just a few years ago there was no Grove.


More of the Grove under construction


The US Bank Tower, back when it was still the Library Tower... and didn't sport that terrible bank logo.


The late, lamented Hollywood Star Lanes -- now the site of a school. (The Hollywood Star Lanes neon sign now has a home at Lucky Strike.)


Ambassador Hotel as it looked a few years ago (Pic from LAObserved via Windows Live Local). The bungalows are still in place (on the right), with Wilshire Blvd. at the top.

(UPDATE: LAObserved discovers that most of these closeup shots were actually taken by plane, not satellite.)