:previous: Cool illustration of the New Chinatown Matthew. I haven't seen it before.
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below: Here's our China City 'mystery' tower that we've been trying to place. Thank you FredH.

http://imageshack.us/a/img199/1166/a...acitytower.jpg



for comparison's sake
http://imageshack.us/a/img9/9711/aabkodachrome1essp.jpg
ebay

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9499bcbb.jpg
LAPL -- http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101130.jpg

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psab651e35.jpg
LAPL -- http://jpg1.lapl.org/00102/00102400.jpg

Thanks! I meant that Mei Wing seems to have moved within China City. In the color photo, it's located in a one-story building next to the pagoda -- where the striped awning is in the B/W photo of the Main Street entrance. But in the B/W photos, Mei Wing is in the bottom of a two-story building with a balcony, which is not in evidence in the color photo.

An interesting comparison between New Chinatown and China City.

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/8826/aabchinacity1940.jpg
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My first remembered visit to Philippe’s was as a very young lad c. 1947/48 or so at the former location on Aliso Street opposite Union Station yard. I have a very clear recollection of old men wearing bib overalls and engineers caps and really impressed with all the railroad atmosphere. Haha, however at that age I had no idea what atmosphere was. Although the French Dips are still wonderful, the new (current) location has never invoked the same powerful memory as that time so long ago.

More on Mei Wing and China City
 

srk1941's reference to Bridging the Centuries: History of Chinese Americans in Southern California (Chinese Historical Society Los Angeles, 2001) is a good source of information on China City. It includes a schematic map of the shops in China City, recreated by memory of former shop owners and local residents. What the map shows is that there is a large Mei Wing store opposite the pagoda on Dragon Way, and a Mae (sic) Wing Gift Store/Aquarium Art Store located by the pagoda. In an initial draft/recreation of the map (1981), the pagoda area was described as a general "bazaar" area just inside the Main Street entrance (ref: The Lonely Queue, Icy Smith, 2000). What I take away from this is simply two Mei Wing stores: a larger storefront business on Dragon Way, and a smaller, satellite operation next to the pagoda. This may have occurred after the first fire destroyed the center part of China City; some vendors may have moved out and Mei Wing took over the space to maintain the image of all stores being occupied...just my $0.02 on this...I'd include a scan of the map, but out of respect for copyright guidelines when it comes to books on the thread...

Thank you for checking into the two Mei Wings. Your two cents makes sense. :)

Here's our mystery tower in 1939 with some identifying information in the caption.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/8...cc1c0159_b.jpg
China City, 1939

Chinatown in Los Angeles, Jenny Cho and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Arcadia Publishing, 2009

I take this to mean the tower survived the fire but not the restaurant. The tower then went on to a second life attached to the Mei Wing Company.

Hollywood's answer to the Trevi, or an accommodation for Tom Mix's Tony - when Musso's was too busy?

In the first image, toward the bottom right in front of Hindin's, is a pediment that looks like a fountain or water trough. Never noticed anything like this on H Boulevard before. Wonder who would have been responsible for it's placement and maintenance. Were there more, and if so, where?

Second picture makes a good case for whitewall tires. :)

http://albertwhitman.files.wordpress...over.jpg?w=640http://albertwhitman.files.wordpress...over.jpg?w=640



5070 Hollywood Blvd? (Hollywood and Normandy)
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics42/00070900.jpghttp://jpg3.lapl.org/pics42/00070900.jpg

Mixville and Mixville Market


1933 Fletcher Drive - Silverlake
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics33/00066482.jpghttp://jpg3.lapl.org/pics33/00066482.jpg


1925
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...m_Mix_1925.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...m_Mix_1925.jpg

The Charnock Block, or more specifically, the Charnock Building (1889) was mentioned in the news recently. http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,2565134.story

5th and Main -
http://www.trbimg.com/img-518af5b0/t...130508-001/600http://www.trbimg.com/img-518af5b0/t...130508-001/600

Charnock Block - 1971
http://jpg2.lapl.org/spnb1/00017099.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/spnb1/00017099.jpg

Guess he liked Lincolns too.:blink:
http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/6_...mic/TomMix.jpghttp://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/6_...mic/TomMix.jpg

Was Tom Mix a midget or is this just a huge car?

:previous: lol. -I wondered the same thing. That ginormous hat doesn't help matters.


http://imageshack.us/a/img823/5668/a...t50stateso.jpg
http://50statesorless.com/photos/152

Tom Mix was known as an extraordinary spender of money. He had special tires made for his cars with the letters TM in the treads so that he would leave behind his initials on dirt roads.(I've heard this numerous times over the years)

Also, his mansion in Hollywood had a giant neon sign over it that said The Tom Mix Mansion. (if this were true, you would think one of us would have come across a photograph by now) Has anyone else heard about the neon sign?
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Listed at 6' on IMdB. Some cars of the period were huge. Then again, IMdB has been known to be wrong.

The Fine Arts Building with the famous reclining nudes. Note the vertical Pig N' Whistle sign.

http://imageshack.us/a/img560/8722/a...ildingtumb.jpg
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/los%20angeles

Wasn't this also Frank Zappa's home at one point?

One last word on the Sunset Hotel and China City...
 

A final word about what's left of the Sunset Hotel: I was in Chinatown this morning and stopped by the gated storefront and saw a workman inside. Unfortunately, neither my powers of persuasion nor my broken Chinese were enough to persuade him to let me in, but he did allow me to stick my camera phone in thru the gates to get a few shots of the interior. The herb store closed not too long ago, and from what I could translate, it will soon be replaced by either a gift store or another Chinese BBQ place...the workman said he was not sure, he was only there to patch up holes and install drywall.
I showed him some of the old pics of the Sunset and San Fernando, and he initially eyed them with some degree of skepticism; when I showed him the pattern of windows of the south wall, he reluctantly agreed it was the same building. He also said he thought there was a basement, but he was only to work on the ground floor and hadn't checked any further.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9296/img0716ar.jpg http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8009/img0713ag.jpghttp://img706.imageshack.us/img706/6283/img0715ae.jpg
my photos

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Across the street, the only reminder of China City still visible at the site, mounted on a cinderblock wall, in the parking lot for Phillippe's:

in 1983:
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/2...anghai1983.jpg
LAPL archive (link unavailable)

today:
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/6844/img0701aac.jpg
my photo

Such is progress...
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...and that "bridge", e_r, visible in your photo of the two hotels? From the angle of sight, based on the location of the Sunset/San Fernando, and the relative proximity, my guess is that it is the railroad trestle off to the NE, crossing the river, near Bolero Lane:

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/4466/trestlea.jpg
Bing streetview

:previous: I am surprised the neon Shanghai Street sign is still in place after all these years. -good find lemster2024.

also..thx for locating the bridge (near Bolero Lane) -much appreciated. :)
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I recently came across some information that the San Fernando Hotel was originally built as the Tononi Block. (I've never heard this before)
here's the link:
http://losangelesrevisited.blogspot....hina-city.html

(they also have my cracked glass slide)