Most people are not aware of this but the City of Alhambra is a designated destination for people from Hong Kong and has been so for decades. I sold my Alhambra home in 1985 to a Chinese family from Hong Kong. They paid for the house with gold bullion.....brought from Asia.

Gold bullion! Were they pirates?... ;)


..................................................................................................Arrrgh!

I had to look up the USS Maine being there in 1908 because i thought it was sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898. Apparently they commissioned another USS Maine in 1899. Remember the Maine, indeed.

Alhambra High School
 

HossC

I'm sorry, Hoss, that I posted inaccurate information. I lived in Alhambra from 1957 and started high school in 1965. I should have said that I didn't remember seeing the building from my time in Alhambra.

My post wasn't intended as a dig at you, I was just surprised at how such an impressive building could be forgotten so quickly (and replaced by a grocery store). Personal memories are always welcome here because they fill in the gaps left by other sources.

Hehe, Hakka pirates? :P



Now, Taiwanese as well as Chinese mainlanders are also moving/have also moved to Alhambra, as well as San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Rosemead... pretty much a good portion of the SGV.

According to my partner, it's becoming more and more common to hear Mandarin spoken with Beijing accents, as well as other mainland Chinese languages, in the SGV.

Main Street looking east from 1st Street, Alhambra, 1905 (I seem to be on an Alhambra kick as of late).
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...cd&oe=5E019A84
USC Archive


A close-up of the image: Is that a surrey with a fringe on top? With wire wheels??
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...2e&oe=5DCFF707
USC Archive

Dutch Rare Ice Cream store at the southwest corner of Main Street and Fremont Avenue in Alhambra, 1928. Notice the street names painted onto the curb, and the banjo-type traffic light.

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...a2&oe=5DCD3320
USC Archive

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...61&oe=5DD0BDC6
USC Archive

Well sopas, you are very correct but you didn't mention that mini Beverly Hills city of San Marino, which is now about 60% Chinese & Asian millionaires.
The wealthy people of Asia and Hong Kong, etc., were warned forty years ago that their days were numbered and they had best get out of Asia ASAP.

https://storage.googleapis.com/hippo...dc490a-800.jpg
Huntington

Speaking of The Huntington and the Asian population of the SGV, they have a Chinese Garden(which they are expanding right now):

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...620c58ac_b.jpg_8260003-Edit.jpg by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

The photo above is a near infrared shot, combined with a visual color shot.

The Huntington is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year.

Ah yes, San Marino.

I believe the high Chinese population has helped erode the blue laws that seem to have been in effect for the longest time in San Marino. It used to be that EVERYTHING was closed in San Marino on Sundays. But in the last few years, I'm noticing a few businesses (like restaurants) being open on Sundays, which would have been unheard of there 10 years ago. I'm sure some Chinese businessmen were saying "What?? Closed on Sundays??? That's bad for business!! Turn away potential customers??? You can't make money that way!!!"

There are a few Chinese/Taiwanese-type businesses in San Marino now too, like noodle shops and Chinese bakeries.

Bette Davis as Margaret Elliot in "The Star."

Margaret's sister: "Where you been? Some glamour party?"
Margaret: "Yuh. Had a ball."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ar_trailer.jpg

Margaret's sister: "Well you seem to have plenty of time to
do everything except get out to Alhambra."

Alhambra, again...
 

Martin Pal

LOL!!!

A RPPC found on eBay


Wolcott & Co. Jewelry Store, 3773 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles - California

...................................................................................................................I think the jewelry guy is a HOOT. :lmao:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/mU1tyL.jpg
eBay


REVERSE
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...921/CO2rrv.jpg

I was surprised to see the 1947 postmark. I thought the interior of the store looked more like..late 1950s or early 1960s.


.

I also happened upon this RPPC of an American Legion Locomotive Parade in Los Angeles. [c.1938]


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/xXSdcD.jpg
eBay

I've never heard of this particular event.


Intrigued: I searched & found one other photograph related to the event in the Pomona Public Library.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/1488oJ.jpg
pomonapubliclibrary




I couldn't help but notice the 'think-outside-the-box' contraption the legionnaires from Lawrenceburg, Indiana brought to the event. [see below]

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/JDXjpN.jpg
DETAIL

I don't see how, by any the stretch of the imagination, that can be a 'locomotive'...but what they have created, a Flying Pegasus!, is exceptionally impressive. . .and super cool.




hmm..do you think they drove it like that all the way from Indiana?

The Baldwin Hills Oil Field House chronicled in Flying Wedge's thorough and excellent post here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19215 popped up in the latest episode of the FX series Snowfall last night.
The series is a docudrama about the beginnings of the crack epidemic in L.A. in the 1980s. It's in its third season and for my money, it is very good television. They have done a good job of recreating 80s Los Angeles, not only with the cars and such but also throwing in quirky reminders of L.A.'s past. One character was wearing Fedco employee's outfit and another scene had a couple of guys chowing down at home and they had Pup 'N' Taco cups. A lot of it is shot in South Central and they show the tall palm trees frequently. I would guess that they have grown a bit in the 35 years since but they are an effective element nonetheless.

Anyway, back to the house. Previously unseen and unmentioned, it shows up as an isolated place where various elements of the drug trade are stashed. The screenshots show one of the main characters approaching it after he has been tipped off.

https://i.imgur.com/xL8yx4l.png?1

https://i.imgur.com/nXXjUJx.png?1

https://i.imgur.com/vvDiGG9.png?1
Screenshots from FX series "Snowfall"

Although it is technically correct to caption these as American Legion, they are in fact pictures of the hard-drinking, hellraising subgroup known as the "40 and 8," named for the legend on the sides of French railroad cars. I've posted about them before (my uncle was a member) but you can tell who they are by the use of the term "Voiture" for their branches (American Legion branches are called "Posts"), the multiple 40/8 legends on the vehicles, the "La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux" on one of the locomotives, and the distinctive clown smocks/shirts that they wore. By 1939 they were probably already starting to sober up as their membership entered their 40's; they had their heyday in the 1920s. Note the two "real" Legionnaires in the dark uniforms in the bottom picture, looking on with what appears to be less than amused body language.

A summary of the somewhat checkered history of the "40 and 8" can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_...s_organization

and the web page of their strictly sober present incarnation (with a sanitized summary history) can be found here:

https://www.fortyandeight.org

Cheers,

Earl

:previous: Terrific information, Earl. Thank you.

...Locomotives. (french boxcars) I see the connection.






So your uncle was a hellraiser, eh? ;)
.

Oh, my, yes. His shenanigans drove my poor grandmother to distraction. He had been an artilleryman, 2 batteries down from Harry Truman. He'd visit us, get drunk, sing "The Cannoneers Have Hairy Ears" (great book, BTW) and pass out on the couch.

Cheers,

Earl