The caption for these two photos in the usc archive was....
"A view looking north along Boylston from a bluff just south of Glendale Boulevard, 1937."

I find this area somewhat confusing, so I'm not sure if this is correct.



http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/9...nfrombluff.jpg
usc digital archive




http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4...nfromglend.jpg
usc digital archive






Below: "View of Temple Street looking west at Boylston Street prior to pavement widening and grade correction."


http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2...tlookingwe.jpg
usc digital archive

View along Boylston Street between Sunset and Glendale Boulevard, 1937.


http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6...nstreetbet.jpg
usc digital archive


This is obviously after some serious street widening.

Pacific Electric Power House at Boylston and 2nd Street, 1905.


http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5...electricpo.jpg
usc digital archive

Since my latest posts have been somewhat Boylston themed:
Here is a 1957 photo of the upper reaches of Boylston Street in Chavez Ravine (the cross street is Effie Street).



http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4...nstreetand.jpg
usc digital archive


Quite a contrast to the runway-wide Boylston Street in post #2352.

Here's the view of Cafe Colon :yuck: from the south.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5008/...423ba55174.jpg
ca.1881 (USC Digital Library)

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1293502808767

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/...23f4d723a6.jpg
ca.1920-1940 (USC Digital Library)

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1293503079497

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5243/...ba90437199.jpg
12/11/10

This interior shot. Wow. In 1961, my mom took me on one of the last Pacific Electric trolley runs down to Long Beach, and even though I was only 6 at the time, I still definitely remember those green seats!

That morning after breakfast, Mom just bundled me in the car and told me we were going Downtown to ride the last of the trolleys. She wanted her son to have that same experience that was so much of a part of her life when she was young. I'm really glad now that she did that! And I still remember a lot of that day...

First we went to Angels Flight. That was the first time I got to ride it, and it was a big thrill. Then we went across to the Grand Central Market. I hated the smells. Then we went back to Hill and Third and we stood there for awhile. (I guess that's where we picked up our ride to the PE station.) I'll never forget the NOISE of that intersection; how LOUD the general hustle-and-bustle of the city was. And I was especially impressed by the electric arcs and the sparks that shot out from the trolleys' contact with the overhead wires. Snap! Crackle! Pop!

The ride to Long Beach was pretty boring, even though it was my first time on a train. (Well, Angels Flight earlier in the day was actually my first train ride, but I digress.) As always, I was fidgety. The car was filled to capacity. I guess nostalgia was thick among the passengers, as there was little talking. Mostly just the sound of the train wheels going clickity-clack, clickity-clack, all along the rail road track.

When we got to Long Beach, Mom took me to this immense old cafeteria downtown. The ceiling was like two stories high. It was crowded and noisy, and kind of dark inside, even though it was mid-day. I don't recall what the name of the big cafeteria was, but I think my mom probably went there a lot when she had relatives living in Long Beach in the '40s.

I don't remember the ride back at all. I probably slept all the way. But overall, it was a very memorable day!

-Scott (really feeling my age right now)

"East West Adams"
 

After exploring the West Adams district for years, west from its generally accepted boundary at Figueroa, I have become intrigued by what was once considered part of the whole. In its earliest days, West Adams extended more or less with the actual boulevard as far east as Main Street which, of course, is the original delineation between the east and west sides of Los Angeles, though this became relatively meaningless in practice as the city spread predominately westward. As I've looked around "East West Adams", I've noticed remnants of neighborhoods--actually, "remnants" is not always the right word at all, since, as one goes east, there are still plenty of large, whole, viable intact neighborhoods of late 19th- and early-20th-century houses, especially beyond Main. A few Victorians remain among more recent, bunkerlike commercial buildings on the north-south (ok, northeast-southwest) streets between Figueroa and Main. Here are few "East West Adams" streetscapes--along with another old-L.A. urban-landscape item, vintage streetlamps. It has been interesting to discover that not all of the old iconic L.A. lamps have disappeared from the main corridors south of the business district.

Main Street-- a type of streetlamp that extends from Main's intersection with 9th and Springs streets down to about Jefferson:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...11139%20PM.jpg


Broadway has a mix of old lamps--what I call "urns" in the vicinity of 28th Street down to Santa Barbara/Martin Luther King, then an early style of gooseneck mixed with newer:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...30221%20PM.jpg


Hill Street remains distinctive for the most part with Hollywood-style spiky lanterns all the way from about 14th Street to 39th:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...12758%20PM.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...13225%20PM.jpg


Grand Avenue uses urn-type double lamps, beginning near downtown with familiar poles that I believe the city refers to as "UM1906" :
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...25436%20PM.jpg

These give way to different urns near the old Olympic auditorium:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...10018%20PM.jpg

And then these urns predominate all the way down as far as 39th and the Harbor Freeway: http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...24446%20PM.jpg
This "urn" pole at the southeast corner of 33rd is in front of one of a number of Victorian-era houses
somehow still extant among boxy commercial structures in this area (there is a FedEx depot across
Grand from this house, which is pleasant looking compared to the the usual cinderblock-and-razor-
wire variety in this neighborhood).


More old residential LA east of Figueroa:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...14936%20PM.jpg
NE corner of East Adams and Stanford

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...14713%20PM.jpg
SE corner of Trinity and 29th

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...24853%20PM.jpg
NE corner of Maple and 32nd

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...12113%20PM.jpg
NW corner of Broadway and 33rd

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...14031%20PM.jpg
Hill near 39th (urns lanterns here rather than the spiky variety, for some reason...)

All photos: Google Street View

A 6 x 8 glass negative on ebay for the next 5 days.


http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2...ebay6x8neg.jpg
ebay





Below: Details from the above glass negative.


http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5...227glass1b.jpg





http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8...227glass1c.jpg





http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/5...alexandria.jpg

This is such a beautiful memory. Thank you for sharing it Scott.

Another beautiful 6 x 8 glass negative on ebay for the next 5 days.



http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8...1227glass6.jpg
ebay




Below: Details from the 6 x 8 glass negative.


http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/8...227glass6a.jpg





http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1...227glass6c.jpg




http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4...227glass6b.jpg




Below: Notice the Glengarry and the Maryland Apartments, as well as the State Normal School.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/2...s6cebayall.jpg

The California State Normal School at Grand Ave & 5th Street in 1900.


http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/335...niastateno.jpg
usc digital archive

Glengarry, Maryland, and Normal School.
 

1. What is that tower just to the north of the Normal School? Actually there might be two towers - a tall one and a shorter one? Looks like lattice design. Some kind of construction crane?

2. Downtown actually looks like a livable city. There is density, but without it seeming overwhelming. And look how lush Pershing Square was 100 years ago. Boy have they f***ed that up, time after time.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/2...s6cebayall.jpg
ebay


That is a very good question malumot. I can't figure out that lattice-like structure for the life of me. :(

WOW! the lattice tower is indeed a construction derrick for the engstrum hotel which is under construction across the street from the state normal school on 5th street....did i say wow? WOW!!!

behind the derrick is the hildreth "house of sorrows" at 4th and hope

all these ebay glass images are amazing E_R! thank you for posting them, (even though you have posted some spectacular images over the years from ebay postings, i never look there to find images. thank you for doing that for the rest of us!!!!)

this image below is particularly amazing, (well at least to me). the old city hall tower is on the right, with the hall of records looming behind. over the top of the hall of records is the tower of the old courthouse. the two towers in the upper left belong to the 2nd los angeles school building, (on the right), and the bradbury mansion (on the left).......did i say wow?.....WOW!!!!!!

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1...227glass6c.jpg


in this image, the zelda is the big apartment building at top center, (located at grand and 4th). the tower poking up behind the zelda is the brunson mansion. The front facade of the brunson is visible just to the right of the zelda. across the street from the zelda to the right is the rose mansion. Simply amazing photographs

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4...227glass6b.jpg

Golden age of Hollywood Daredevils
 

these are all scans from the new Arcadia Book Location Filming in Los Angeles - Karie Bible, Marc Wanamaker, and Harry Medved. As always, another fun Images of America Book dealing with Los Angeles

Chester Conklin on a beam above the Guarantee Building at Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Avenue in Cleaning Up - 1930

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/...ef66c913_b.jpg


J.R. Smith and Allen Farina Hoskins of Our Gang get in trouble at 9th and broadway in Old Wallop - 1927 (note the examiner sign)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/...e10c20ca_b.jpg


Dorothy Devore hanging around above 10th and broadway in Hold Your Breath - 1924

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5042/...43dd0f6b_b.jpg


Laurel and Hardy hanging from a beam at ninth and broadway in Liberty - 1929 (the very exact location where J.R. Smith and Allen Farina Hoskins of Our Gang were hanging around 2 years earlier)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/...8ae3f6ff_b.jpg


Lloyd Hamilton films a scene on the ledge of the hotel broadway - 1922

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5287/...2fa9b4e1_b.jpg


Hank Mann hangs on to the side of the hotel broadway above court flight in Tar baby - 1920

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/...18cae396_b.jpg


Eileen Sedgwick hangs from a fire escape above hill street in terror trail - 1921

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/...576b9a7e_b.jpg


Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels show how it's done on top of the hill street tunnel in Look Out Below - 1919

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5281/...bf423fe5_b.jpg

^^^Those are wonderful photographs gsjansen! Thanks for scanning them.




Below: 6 x 8 glass negative from ebay.


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/192...bay6x8nega.jpg




Below: Details from the above photo.




http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/6...227glass4a.jpg





http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9...227glass4b.jpg






http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1817/la1227glass4c.jpg



I have to go out of town for a couple days. I'll post more of these glass negatives when I return.

Harold Lloyd, all over town
 

High and Dizzy (1920):
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...15200%20AM.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...15309%20AM.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...15336%20AM.jpg

An almost identical shot to the one above appeared in Never Weaken (1920):
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20632%20PM.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...15855%20AM.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20133%20PM.jpg


Hollywood
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20220%20PM.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...21214%20PM.jpg
S. Clark Patchin Real Estate was at 1648 N. Cahuenga


Back downtown
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20454%20PM.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20746%20PM.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20900%20PM.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...20808%20PM.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...21035%20PM.jpg

From The Non Stop Kid (1918):
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...23830%20PM.jpg
Meyer's Pharmacy was at 934 W. 2nd

From Hand to Mouth (1920):
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...24753%20PM.jpg
The Herbold Leaf Tobacco Company was listed at 337 New High Street
in the 1923 CD--this would put it near Prudent Beaudry's house.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...24806%20PM.jpg
Aside from the Rowan sign (seen in many old pics of L.A.), there are some
other interesting signs here...


http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...25323%20PM.jpg
The C. Ganahl Lumber Co. was listed at 830 E. 1st in the 1915 CD

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...24910%20PM.jpg
The Uncle Sam Macaroni Company was listed at 629 N. Spring in the 1923 CD

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...25811%20PM.jpg
Alameda and Los Angeles streets

Can't resist adding this shot from Among Those Present (1921):
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...21709%20PM.jpg
Norma Desmond?


All photos: Lobster Films/Kino on Video http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=773

Oh dear. This glass negs up on eBay are...first of all, totally going to be miiiiiiine, and naturally, awesome. As gsjansen stated, yep, that's the Engstrum going up, which dates this to the summer of 1911. :cheers:

What looks like a single tripartite structure (à la looking up at the side of The Ems, say) between the Engstrum and the Hildreth are the the LaBelle, the Bronx, and the Gordon apts, at 618, 624, 630 W 4th. (I think for some reason they were built by the Zahn family of Hope St but can't remember why I think that at the moment...I'll poke at that later.)

You may be feeling your age, but if it makes you feel any better, others of us are feeling jealousy!

(Hey, just being a ways on the other side of forty makes young 'uns [the rare but valuable good ones, granted] gape in wonder at some of the things I've seen...)

Simply amazing is right; what I find fascinating about this one is -- there's the Zelda top center, and below it down Grand, that big low white building is the Granada, and then there's what looks like some demo remains. Wellll those're the foundations poured in the '90s, the ones people bitched and moaned about until the Sherwood was built on that spot in 1912 (read a bit about those at the beginning of this here http://onbunkerhill.org/HollywoodComestoSherwood ) and to finally see a photograph rather than a colored/postcard image (like on the great A Visit to Old Los Angeles) is something else...

(I'm sorry, who doesn't get preternaturally excited looking at pictures of abandoned Victorian foundations?)

I believe the precise and specific architectural/historical term would be bitchin'. We're on top of the Palace Hotel, at the 317 S Olive. Beneath us is the Ems, but we're looking over that, and the railing we see below is this nifty turreted structure at 327 (which disappeared in the 40s). Below that is 331 which was gone by '22. Then usual suspects the Fremont, the Trenton, then counter clockwise up Olive from 5th, love the backside of the Auditorium, and note the 'lil Mission-style Munn, which was eaten up by the subway terminal project. The Wales up the street.

Nice shot, top, of the 1906 John C. Austin/Frederick G. Brown Wright & Callender Bldg. Riding up 4th into Bunker Hill, it was a height-limit office building whose wood was mahogany, its halls marble, its floors mosaic, its offices ten feet in height and its whole lower story, twenty, with floor-to-ceiling marble; its French Renaissance façade in cream-colored Roman pressed brick, dressed stone and cream-colored terra cotta. I can see why they'd replace it with a three-story concrete parking structure.

A happy and a healthy new year to all!
 

Hollywood and Vine New years 1961

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...881-002~7?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...881-002~7?v=hr

sorry E_R....couldn't wait................(hey what can i say! i've always been an excitable boy :hyper: )

glass negatives on sale at ebay. once again taken from the roof of the palace hotel at 317 S. Olive. This time we are looking north/East. I am dating the photos 1910 as the beaux-arts six bay angels flight station appears to be brand new, and it doesn't appear that they have re-built the observation tower yet.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5249/...36a290eb_o.jpg

zoomed detail of the photograph looking north towards the bradbury mansion

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/...e597cfe6_o.jpg


zoomed detail of the photograph looking north/east towards the hall of records

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5007/...67ca1d28_o.jpg


all i can say is...........................actually i'm quite speechless :worship:

i realized that i had seen the almost exact same view before from the roof of the palace looking down at angels flight

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5043/...185be704_b.jpg

sheeeesh.........................

Quoting myself
 

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics47/00073120.jpgLAPL
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics47/00073120.jpg
I just ran across this early shot of 1803 Campus Road in Eagle Rock, which I posted about a while back:

That is a seriously awesome then-and-then. Isn't that a CRA director peering out looking over his handiwork?

I thought it was Ray Bradbury. ;)

The Strip is on TCM right now--some great noir-era location shooting--

Thanks for the heads up GW.
I just saw the montage of the neon signs on the Sunset Strip.

:previous:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...85528%20AM.jpgMGM/TCM

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...85559%20AM.jpgMGM/TCM

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...85020%20AM.jpgMGM/TCM

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...lmVY/strip.jpg http://www.impawards.com/1951/posters/strip.jpg

:) I've always been a sucker for a good montage.

Ramona Boulevard
 

I've been intrigued by this view since it was posted, and it's inspired me to do a little sleuthing of my own.

Seeing this road referred to as "Ramona Parkway" and "Ramona Freeway" in past posts got me to wondering. When exactly was it built? Where did Ramona Boulevard/Parkway originally begin and end? Rather than being lazy and just asking here, I decided to find out for myself. :)

Ramona Boulevard (at bottom on map) was constructed from 1933-1935. It originated at Aliso Street a few hundred feet past Mission Road. The parkway section first passed under the Macy Street viaduct, then continued east approximately 4 miles until thru traffic turned onto Garvey Pass Avenue.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/routeseast1943_sky.jpg
Renie Atlas, "Victory Edition," May, 1943.


View east on Aliso Street at its intersection with Mission Road (foreground) and Summit Avenue (far right) before its widening for the construction of Ramona Boulevard, November 27, 1933.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/112733CHS-43976.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m708.html


The new east road is open to traffic, April 15, 1935.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/041535CHS-43975.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m709.html


U.S. Highway 101 at Mission Road looking east, 2009.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/ramonaandmission2009.jpg
Google Maps

More to follow.

-Scott

Post on my blog here.

Ramona Boulevard Construction
 

View northeast along proposed route of Ramona Boulevard, from Macy Street viaduct, November 15, 1933.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/111533CHS-43979.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m700.html


Earthmoving for the construction of Ramona Boulevard, June 4, 1934.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/1934CHS-42150.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m701.html


Completed Ramona Boulevard from the Macy Street viaduct, April, 16, 1935.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/041635CHS-43977.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m702.html




View northeast showing the proposed Ramona Boulevard from a point 100 feet north of the intersection of Mitchell and Echandia Streets, November 15, 1933.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/111533CHS-42151.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m705.html


Site cleared for construction, c.1934.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/1934CHS-42152.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m706.html


Ramona Boulevard after completion, April 16, 1935.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/041635CHS-43974.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m707.html

-Scott

Post on my blog here.

Ramona Boulevard Extras
 

The arroyo where Ramona Boulevard would soon be built. Looking westward from the vicinity of State Street, November 30, 1933.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/113033CHS-44596.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...chs-m3935.html


All of the overpasses shown below (except the one at Pomeroy Ave.) were still intact until the very early 1970s, when the three then-existing lanes of the San Bernardino Freeway were widened to more.


Traveling eastbound on Ramona, the first overpass after Macy was the State Street viaduct. April 16, 1935.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/041635CHS-33269.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...chs-m3937.html


View back towards town from atop the State St. viaduct.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/CHS-44681.jpg
USC Digital Library
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...chs-m4105.html


Next overpass eastbound was the pedestrian bridge at Pomeroy Avenue (c.1934-1939).
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/1935-39CHS-44594.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...chs-m3939.html


Continuing east on Ramona, the overpasses for Marengo Street (foreground) and Soto (rear).
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/1935CHS-33267.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...chs-m3938.html


Aftermath of an auto accident, viewed from the Herbert Ave. (City Terrace) overpass, August 2, 1951.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/1951EXM-N-9237-0211.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...ner-m4086.html

-Scott

More info in my blog post here.

Views SW from the Macy Street viaduct, 1933-present
 

View southwest from the Macy Street viaduct showing the proposed route of Ramona Boulevard, November 15, 1933.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/111533CHS-43978.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m703.html


View southwest from the Macy Street viaduct showing Ramona Boulevard upon completion, April 16, 1935.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/041635CHS-43973.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search.../chs-m704.html


Our sopas_ej posted these comparative views earlier this month which fit right in the sequence here...

-Scott

More info in my blog post here.

:worship:

Scott-- thanks for that amazing Ramona visual history-- I love that the "HOEPPEL - CONGRESS" sign managed to survive the road construction, at least as far as it got in the first two shots below.

Well done Scott! Extremely interesting and insightful post.

Yet another glass negative from ebay.



http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6...ebay6x8neg.jpg




below: Details from the above photo.


http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/844/la1227glass5a.jpg




http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/7...227glass5b.jpg

Awhile back, when we were taking a look at the apartment buildings of North Rossmore (the Mauretania, El Royale, Ravenswood etc), I came across a few shots of a vanished hotel at #445 (on the site of something new called the Marlowe--whether named after Philip, I don't know). The library tags hint at some juicy, noirish goings-on at the Country Club Hotel (also sometimes referred to as the Country Club Villas), an interesting midcentury hacienda that apparently didn't last much past midcentury. I haven't found much about it online. (And what was there between the Country Club and the Marlowe?) Anyone?

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054908.jpg
Those bathtub Dodges parked in front definitely enhance the scene...
LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054908.jpg

Per the LAPL: "A rousing legal battle loomed today over the future of the swank $2,000,000 Country Club Hotel on Rossmore and Rosewood Avenues, which yesterday was ordered demolished or removed by Judge Vernon W. Hunt. Co-operator Maurice Miller, sentenced to jail on charge of violation of building codes, says he'll seek right to keep hotel open. Photo dated: February 25, 1950."



http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...6/ccvillas.jpg
Penthouse dwellers at the El Royale apparently had quite the floor show across
Rossmore... well, maybe with binoculars.
AP/Examiner/USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...OS-ANG-MIS-008

Per USC: "Photograph of the pool courtyard of the Country Club Villa hotel. This is the swimming pool around which he saw 'drunken women fighting,' declared Municipal Judge Vernon W. Hunt as he yesterday ordered complete demolition of the $1,000,000 Country Club Villa at 445 North Rossmore avenue. The newly constructed hotel is an 'architectural monstrosity,' he added. Wrong type of permit has been charged. Dated February 25, 1950."
Also: "This is the luxurious Country Club Villa, completed in Los Angeles recently at a cost of $2,000,000, which an iratic [sic] judge ordered torn down or moved to another location. Two owners, Maurice and Zimmel Miller, were charged with building the place without a permit, failing to obtain a certificate of occupancy, maintaining a public nuisance, and operating a cafe, night club and swimming pool in violation of zoning ordinances. The judge, after a personal survey, termed the hotel a 'glorified quickie motel.'" So apparently no one noticed this huge place going up smack in the middle of Los Angeles without a permit....



http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054913.jpg
LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054913.jpg

^^^ I remember the story about that hotel, but I certainly didn't realize it was on North Rossmore.






Glass negative available on ebay.


http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5...27glassneg.jpg




below: Details from the above photo.


http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/2...ssneg1ebay.jpg




http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/7...sneg1aebay.jpg






http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1...glassneg1b.jpg

ok.... was not gonna post until tomorrow.........(i jumped on a friends pc at the party that i am already a tad toasty at)...........(s'cuze me)


scott, your posts on the ramona parkway are simply incredible..................

and with that... a very happy and healthy new years to all

(wad he sayd......):cheers:

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-9471-021?v=hrUSC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-9471-021?v=hr

Charlene Bowers shows some leg--well, some leg in long underwear--during what must have been a chilly Rose Parade on January 1, 1952. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Los Angeles Past, thank you very much for your posts on the Ramona Parkway!

When I first read about it a few years ago on that Topics and Tales link from the LADOT (I posted the link a while back, I don't remember which page of the thread), I became a little curious/obsessed with the Ramona Parkway, because of its history, its status as a sort of "proto-freeway," which is now of course a part of the federal Interstate Highway System as I-10 (such a clinical, unromantic name for a system of highways). I was very surprised to learn that this bridge (which of course I stood on when I took a picture of the San Bernardino Fwy/Santa Ana Fwy merge looking towards downtown LA):

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TR...%20PM.jpg[
(From This Was Pacific Electric, written and directed by Thom Eberhardt. Sky City Productions, Inc.: www.skycityproductions.com)

was built in 1910 (BTW Gaylord, I love this image). It actually predates any roadway and freeway that went/goes beneath it. I thought it was originally built to go over the railroad tracks; I never thought that maybe it was built to go over a wash or arroyo. Your posts show that it was. It made me look it up, and apparently it was built to go over a dry wash called the Arroyo de Los Posos.

In September I got a new job in Rosemead, which is 8 miles from where I live. I use the San Bernardino Freeway for my commute. Metrolink tracks and trains run down the center of the stretch of that freeway I drive to and from work. I used to find it odd that there would be railroad tracks down the center of that freeway, but I've come to realize that that railway predates the freeway.

Here's a shot of the railroad tracks down the center of the San Bernardino Freeway in 1958, courtesy of the USC Archive. It was captioned as a train derailment.
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5...n123190083.jpg

The name "Ramona" exists vestigially as Ramona Blvd. along some stretches of street that parallel the 10 Fwy/San Bernardino Fwy in that area.

:previous:
I was hoping someone would know the name of that arroyo! I was also curious just how old the Macy St. viaduct was. I couldn't find that info during my Ramona searches. Thanks!

-Scott

Ramona Blvd. footnotes
 

Glad you guys liked the Ramona Boulevard posts! :) I sure enjoyed assembling those images. I grew up in the East San Gabriel Valley in the 1960s, so the old Ramona/Garvey/U.S. 99 route into Downtown is a long-standing interest of mine.

Here's some additional information I just found:

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/ramona...ghways_org.jpg
Screencap from California Highways website (cahighways.org), text itself quoted from Transportation Topics and Tales: Milestones in Transportation History in Southern California" by John E. Fisher.

Actually, that Transportation Topics PDF deserves to be more than a footnote. There's a wealth of information there about many important Los Angeles roads. :tup:

-Scott

Sunset on 99
 

A Ramona postscript of sorts - here's U.S. Highway 99 (San Bernardino Freeway) as viewed looking west from the Barranca Ave. overpass, c.1959. I started at Barranca School in Covina for K-6 that same year, only two city blocks to the right from this vantage point.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/us99atbarranca_sky.jpg
From "Covina, California," a civil brochure by Wolfer Printing Company, Inc., 416 Wall Street, Los Angeles 13.

To orient current Angelinos, this is I-10 just as you come down out of the San Jose Hills into the San Gabriel Valley from the east. Today, on the left, where that offramp used to be, is an In-N-Out Burger. At right is the landmark Eastland mall, though it looks radically different now than it did 50 years ago (see for yourself below).

Incidentally, behind those palms to the right of center is the googie classic restaurant - Paul Cummins's "Huddle." While it was a very fashionable-looking eatery, my mom never liked the place, so we rarely ate there. The service was always slow, and I believe I actually learned the word "mediocre" at this restaurant from Mom, who used it to describe the Huddle's food. ;)

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/huddle_eastland_pc.jpg
My own postcard.

The Huddle was a local institution, and it was there the whole time I was growing up. It closed in the early '70s after I went off to college. The building was then remodeled beyond recognition into a sporting goods superstore. In the '80s, it was turned into a T.G.I. Fridays, and I think it might still be a Fridays today.

Anyway, here's a nice color view of Eastland from the same time period, which I found just last night. It's appropriately seasonal, too!

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/westcovina1958.jpg
http://westcovinalapuentebaldwinpark.blogspot.com/

-Scott

:previous:
Great photos! Very interesting for me, too; I've seen old photos of early regional shopping centers/malls like Crenshaw Plaza and the Lakewood Mall, but I've never seen a ground level photo of an early freeway-adjacent shopping mall. According to the link you provided, it's the first SoCal freeway-adjacent shopping center. The shots of the freeway are great too, with the little black freeway sign in the center median with no guardrail or barrier of any kind. This is also interesting to me because I used to work briefly in that area, in West Covina, adjacent to the West Covina Plaza. At first I thought the Huddles was where the Hooters is now, but I realized I was thinking of the wrong shopping center.

Since I had no plans this morning, I was gonna drive out to the Eastland Center and perhaps do a now and then set of photos, but it's very cold and cloudy today with a chance of rain; maybe another time.

This afternoon I was all into the Eastland Center. According to that link you provided, Scott, noted LA architect Albert C. Martin designed the Eastland Center, and it opened in 1957.

Here are a few more Eastland Center shots:

1958
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/3...center1958.jpg
westcovinalapuentebaldwinpark.blogspot.com

What I find interesting is that collection of retail: Clifton's Cafeteria, Thom McCan and the Harris & Frank. I would've expected a Florsheim and See's Candies. The family in the parking lot is great, too. And is that a guy in back of them tying his shoe on the bumper of that car? I'll assume that it's his car. There's also something I find contemporary about the aisle number sign.

March, 1958. The May Company at the Eastland Center was knocked down some time in the late 1990s. A Target and Burlington Coat Factory now occupy the site.
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/558...rmarch1958.jpg
westcovinalapuentebaldwinpark.blogspot.com

Eastland Center mall, 1958. Ultra-modern back then, I'm sure.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8...ermall1958.jpg
westcovinalapuentebaldwinpark.blogspot.com

Here's downtown Covina in 1952, Christmastime. My assumption is that the malls that were built in West Covina left downtown Covina languishing for some decades afterwards? Today, downtown Covina is a cute area, and also has a Metrolink station. That Covina theater is now the Covina Center For the Performing Arts, though to me, the outside of the building looks remodeled; I don't know what the inside looks like.
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/553...covina1952.jpg
westcovinalapuentebaldwinpark.blogspot.com

:) See's Candy was on the north side of Eastland, right next to May Co. I'm pretty sure there was a Florsheim's, but I definitely remember Comar's, which is where Mom bought all my shoes. (Incidentally, they had one of those notorious foot X-Ray machines in Comar's for years.)

Downtown Covina did get a bit run down after Eastland and West Covina Plaza got built, but it never completely lost its ability to attract shoppers. (As opposed to places like the Pomona Mall, which became an effective ghost town in the '70s.) And Eastland itself suffered when West Covina Plaza expanded in the mid-'70s to become a regional mall. Eastland became so deserted in the 1980s that I fully expected the entire site to be razed and developed into condos. Seeing what the mall there looks like now, though, I almost wish that scenario had come true.

Thanks for those old hometown pics, sopas_ej! I'd thought about posting them here myself, but ya beat me to it. ^^

-Scott

FWIW, I was watching some of the Three Stooges this weekend and thanks to this thread I found myself looking into the background to find clues of their shooting locations. I'm not as well versed as many of you on the individual buildings, but I noticed a couple traffic signs with the "Auto Club of So. Cal." on them (both the logo and written out).