You made my day Beaudry! Jaw dropping before and after photos.
The simplicity of the California State Building's exterior belied it's opulent interior. -Quite a loss-

The REAL jaw-dropper is how the site - IN THE VERY HEART OF THE CIVIC CENTER - has remained vacant, crumbling and weed-choked for THIRTY-SIX YEARS!

Sadly - but not surprisingly - it appears the main stumbling block is the site's tri-party ownership between the state, county and city.

Bigger deals have been hammered out over the course of a few hours.

But after three and a half decades, I say leave it as it is. A grand monument to modern government ineptitude.

I cannot quit staring at your incredible post Beaudry! Thank you so much for the brilliant then and nows!!! The loss of that majestic building is made even more disturbing when seeing the integral beauty of the materials it showcased. In typical mode of 1970's demolition, I am sure little to nothing was salvaged, recycled or repurposed. SAD......

~Jon Paul

Here's a few frame grabs from the recently mentioned 1948 film Act of Violence, showing Van Heflin on the lam in some familiar territory.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-A...Za0/AOV-01.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h...9s8/AOV-03.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s...kBc/AOV-04.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...Hu4/AOV-05.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9...Iog/AOV-08.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-I...3Wo/AOV-10.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...uAw/AOV-13.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_...5Ao/AOV-14.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_...JN4/AOV-15.jpg
[source: Warner Home Video]

Now that's NOIR....just viewing those screen shots makes me want to look over my shoulder to make sure nobody is standing there with a gun....

-very impressive screen grabs Handsome_Stranger....thanks for posting.

The building at 326 South Spring Street was the location of World Heavyweight Champion Jim Jeffries' Bar.


http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/6...326sosprin.jpg
usc digital archive



below: Jim Jeffries' Gentlemen's Club at 326 Spring Street.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7...ringsthuge.jpg
boxrec


above: The wooden bar was the longest in California at the time. The building was demolished in the early 1960s.
The bar was saved from the wrecking ball and now graces a resort somewhere in the Southwest.


below: Boxer James Jackson Jeffries.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/905/At8ADA.jpg
cyberboxingzone




below: This barn located on Jim Jeffries' Burbank ranch became a boxing venue in the 1930s.
During the depression, another outbuilding was converted into a dormitory to feed and house homeless boys.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/2...nin1954usc.jpg
usc digital archive



Jim Jeffries' Barn hosted Thursday night boxing matches from 1931 to 1947, and wrestling matches from 1949 to 1953.
below: This view from 1954 shows the barn at Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista Street.


http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/9...toryblvdbu.jpg
usc digital archive




below: In 1954 the barn was to be raised for this hotel/motel development.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5...itepropose.jpg
usc digital archive

The Valley Hotel was never built, and Jim Jeffries' Barn was eventually moved to Knott's Berry Farm.
The site was a parking lot for years until a shopping plaza was built.



below: Jeffries' Barn at Knott's Berry Farm circa 1978.

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/8...barn1978oc.jpg
yesterland




below: Jeffries' Barn at Knott's Berry Farm today. The barn's legacy is painted over. :(

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5...nottschang.jpg
yesterland

Jim Jeffries
 

VERY impressive!!! um, I mean uh the barn....very impressive!;)

It is quite sad that Knott's has elected to eradicate all the visual history on the exterior of the barn.....it's called provenance folks!

~Jon Paul

lol Jon Paul. :) After viewing Jim Jeffries' physique the barn does seem somewhat superfluous.

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https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-p...2520AM.bmp.jpgUSCDL
I always thought Rheingold was a New York-centric beer (not that I've ever had one)--I was surprised to see an ad for it in California. Btw, in studying the photo of Jim Jeffries, strictly from an anthropological angle, of course, I think he has a very modern physique. Often I find that strongmen of past eras seem flabby. The '50s-early '60s--especially as seen in beach movies--were the worse!

While traveling around downtown via google street views this classic little building on 6th Street caught my eye.


http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/8...ingon6thst.jpg
google street views



below: This is the only vintage photograph of the Harten Building I could find.
In the photo it is in the shadow of the Edwards & Wildey Building (built 1925) at 6th & Grand.


http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/3...wardswilde.jpg
usc digital archive

Does anyone know the history of this little gem?

____

Wow...I too am impressed with the Jeffries post, on several fronts! :tup: I agree with GaylordWilshire that Jeffries' physique is modern; his haircut appears quite modern too. I had to look carefully to make sure it was a vintage photo.

I'm also kinda impressed that someone was able to relocate the Jeffries barn more than 30 miles from Burbank to Buena Park. Although I haven't been to Knott's Berry Farm in years, I have vivid memories of the "miniatures" housed in that barn.

Knott's Berry Farm has always been a somewhat oddball amusement park. As kids we used to refer to it as Not Very Fun.

That was the time. That was it. Those are very optimistic people.

Such great posts! The Jeffries Barn, the close up of the floor tiles of the demolished State Building, etc.

Interesting point of view. I grew up about a 15-minute drive from Knott's (and about 20 minutes from Disneyland). By the time I reached my teens in the 1980s, kids my age thought Disneyland was for babies and the "real" rides were at Knott's (I loved Magic Mountain myself, and still do). But back in the 80s, there was a dance club at Knott's that teens were allowed to go to called Studio K, which also increased Knott's' "hip" factor among kids my age group, and then of course there was Knott's Scary Farm during the Halloween season, which still goes on. Ahh, memories-- I first got felt up/felt someone up at Knott's Scary Farm when I was 15... When I was 16 or 17, my friend and I ended up in line with JM J. Bullock from "Too Close for Comfort" at some ride at Knott's Scary Farm. I thought it was so random!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-O...5%252520PM.jpgGSV

It's a Parkinson design and is on the market for $3.7 million...Harten Jewelry still seems to be listed in directories at 614 W. 6th--it must have vacated the building only recently. There was a Harten Jewelry at 650 S. Hill (now the St. Vincent Jewelry Center) in 1987, presumably the same concern--it's not found in the LAPL's next oldest directory of 1973. You-are-here.com refers to the Speedhouse Cafe being in this location.... Here's a snippet of history from the L.A. Downtown News:

"The Romanesque edifice with intricate stone carvings is unlike its Sixth Street neighbors. But not necessarily for its façade, designed by John Parkinson, the co-architect of City Hall. It stands out, oddly, because it’s so short. Squeezed between the 13-story Milano Lofts and the mid-rise Library Court, the Harten Building may be the only historic structure in the Financial District with a roof (done in terra cotta tile) visible to pedestrians. According to a Los Angeles Times article announcing the structure’s groundbreaking on June 6, 1926, the owner, the Edwards and Wildey Company, commissioned a design that would allow the structure to one day grow to 12 stories. It never happened, perhaps because the Great Depression was right around the corner?"

Looking in old city directories it appears that the building housed:

Howard Moorepark Art Goods in the 30s and 40s
Carr-Morris Clothiers in 50s and 60s
The Chartered Bank in the 70s

Quite a varied history for one grand little building.

~Jon Paul

Thanks for the information on the diminutive Harten Building GaylordWilshire and Jon Paul!
If we all chipped in......perhaps it could be our clubhouse. :)

________

Found on ebay:


http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/356...04shillstr.jpg





http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/3...04shillstr.jpg
ebay

Also found on ebay. A stereoscopic cabinet card dating from the 1880s.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/379/early1880sla.jpg
ebay



below: A magnified detail.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5374/...880slahuge.jpg
ebay

Everytime I look at this remarkable image I zero in on that clothesline.

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