A hotel in Hollywood during the 1940s(?)
 

I know this is probably a long shot but I told the guy I'd give it a go.

I was approached by someone this week trying to determine where this photo of him was taken. It was a hotel in Hollywood. He said that he remembered walking with this mom to the Chinese Theater, for Sat cowboy movies, and that they passed Gene Autry's office.

But I did do a search in the LA CDs and in 1942 came up with an address for something called “Artists Agency” at 6371 Selma. It's listed as an employment agency and lists three names: Gene Autry, John Marvin, David Gordon.

That address on Selma Ave is six blocks or so east of Grauman’s Chinese, so it’s possible that’s the office they passed, which indicates that the hotel shown in his photo was farther east than that seeing as how they passed Autry’s office on the way to Grauman’s.

So I'm posting this photo in case someone recognizes the octagonal fountain out the front.

Thanks!

http://www.martinturnbull.com/wp-con...2/scan19-1.bmp

Witch's House aka Spadena House
 

Witch's House aka Spadena House

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mBYjJM4OAD...26.26%2BPM.png

E_R did a series of three posts about this house in 2012, including a history of it. (The house was originally
located in Culver City, built for the Willat Movie Studio.)

The newly posted (on NLA) photo above shows Ward Lascelle, a producer who worked with Willat, standing outside
of the Witch's House shortly after it was moved to Beverly Hills. He bought the structure because it was going to be
demolished.

E_R's posts:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6737
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6738
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6739

Gaylord Wilshire added some different GSV views of the property and a historic photo:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6742
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20562

And 3940dxer drove by and took a few personal photos:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=8147

I also seem to recall a post by someone who had constructed a model of it.
_____
UPDATE: I found the post of the "model" that whizbang built of this house. The first link has a color vintage postcard of the house and the second link is a photo of his model.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20926
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20925
_____

None of these posts has any INTERIORS of the house. I just found an article from last November in the
Los Angeles Magazine: Exclusive: Sneak a Peak inside the Witch's House of Beverly Hills

The current owner, Michael J. Libow, is interviewed. Some historic photos and information are presented; for example:
The reason many refer to it as the "Spadena House" is that Ward Lascelle’s wife, Lillian, "divorced" Ward, kept the
house, and then married the house boy/guest/man servant, whose last name was Spadena. Lillian took over the house’s
legacy.

Here's a photo of the house under construction at the Willat Studios in Culver City:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U88CLeJ-ef...16.39%2BPM.png


An interior image from 1933:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1jG6xZl55J...70158442_n.jpg

Here are a few current interior shots from the article:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHHjH-KSeB...0/GQ7A9463.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U5URBun2Me...0/GQ7A9475.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mStNuOQW5X..._g/s800/24.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ROmR90yBMH...20/s800/21.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTH2S_hzxt...0/GQ7A9518.jpg


And outside:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GzI0xk5eO1...0/GQ7A9455.jpg


This is last Halloween night, Friday, October 31, 2014. (The article includes a short video
of that night, around 35 seconds, where 4,000 trick-or-treaters were expected.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fi_ULujFEd...unnamed-16.jpg

Many more photos are in the article: HERE!

The L.A. County Poor Farm in Downey
 

Last fall, an adventurous bicycling group introduced me to the L.A. County Poor Farm. Also known as Sunny Acres, The Downey Insane Asylum, Hollydale Mental Hospital, and Rancho Los Amigos, the place has been mentioned on NLA a few times along with some photos. But the brief descriptions didn't really do justice to this huge, amazing facility. Incredibly, construction started in 1887, and many of the early structures still stand.

Lorendoc and I visited recently, under the near-constant eye of various security vehicles and guards. Without being there, it's hard to grasp just how big this place is, and how it seems to go on and on. It contains layers of history, is spread out, decrepit, quiet. Many of the buildings are fenced off and hard to see clearly. Dozens (hundreds?) of feral cats roam the fenced areas and seem well nourished, despite signs that state "DO NOT FEED THE CATS". Many of the buildings stand behind fences and locked gates, but others are more accessible and some even have open doors. It was obviously a very busy place, for a very long time.

Lots of articles about the Poor Farm can be found online, but many are confusing and don't portray the history of the place or its vast scale very clearly. But this 2013 L.A. Times article gives a quick overview:

The Poor Farm got its start in 1887 when the county purchased 124.4 acres and hired the team of architects who had designed the Pico House in the Olvera Street area, St. Vibiana Cathedral and USC's Widney Hall. They came up with a U-shaped design with a central courtyard separating female living areas on the north, male quarters on the south and a dining building at one end. The farm's first residents arrived by horse-drawn wagon in December 1888. During the 1890s, the population grew from 125 to about 200 indigents, most over age 60. The farm quickly expanded to 227 acres. In its day, the county Poor Farm was an anomaly. A 1902 story in The Times described the place as "wrapped in sunbeams and wreathed with flower gardens." "The Los Angeles County Poor Farm visibly resents the incongruity of it name," the story said. "The delightful innovation of housing the homeless and unfortunate in such environments belongs exclusively to Southern California, for no other part of America bears record of having done likewise."

The Times' account explained that the farm operated with an eye toward being self-sustaining, not profit-oriented. "There is no intention of going into extensive agriculture for financial profit because such an arrangement would bring pauper labor into competition with the farmers," it stated Still, the farm raised $10,061 in 1901 from the sale of oranges, livestock and dairy products, the report said. Operating costs that year totaled $32,914 -- or about 341/2 cents per day for each of the farm's residents. The story described male residents' living quarters as "immense," with as many as 30 beds along the walls. Three men's wards opened to a central courtyard, and each resident was provided with bedding, a chair and a small bed stand. There was a large reading room filled with several hundred books "for those who can read," the story reported. Another building housed female residents. By 1910, the Poor Farm covered nearly 400 acres. A Times report that year described the farm's four main brick buildings as being shaded by evergreens and palms. "At first glance the place might be thought a comfortable, old-fashioned country mansion." The paper noted that the farm's newest building -- "the insane ward" -- was a one-story structure that housed 25 "harmless" patients.

The Poor Farm was renamed "Sunny Acres" in 1931 by officials seeking a "less odious name," as one county supervisor put it. The farming operation was phased out in the '30s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's social welfare programs kicked in.

The place operated as the Rancho Los Amigos hospital for chronic illnesses until the 1950s, when a polio epidemic turned it into a rehabilitation center. Today, the farm's remaining 212 acres are split in two by Imperial Highway. The Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, one of the country's top spinal injury and stroke treatment facilities, is on 48 acres north of the highway. To the south, much of the remaining 164 acres has been redeveloped, although the actual Poor Farm structures remain -- at least for now.

The Poor Farm property, known to some as the Rancho Los Amigos "south campus," is tentatively planned to become the site of a county office building, according to county analyst Hannah Chen. Although those plans are probably several years off, the remaining buildings are so old that they're now unsafe to even enter. "But you see something like this sitting vacant and it breaks your heart. I don't think it's impossible to make this into a habitable place again," Atkinson said. "We already have this built and paid for."
http://www.latimes.com/

Another Times article adds this nourish footnote:

The macabre tale began Wednesday morning on the grounds of the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, the noted county hospital in Downey, where a group of U.S. Marines were using abandoned buildings as part of a military exercise.

The troops spotted a freezer inside one of the buildings. Upon opening it, they discovered a package full of mummified body parts. David Sommers, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, whose district includes the hospital, said the freezer was in what was once a hospital morgue.

On examination, a pathologist said the parts were amputated medical specimens and not the result of foul play. Hammond said the county-owned building hadn't been used for 25 years or so.
http://www.latimes.com/

The facility straddles Imperial Highway, just east of the L.A. River. Nearly all of the early buildings are south of Imperial -- all of these are abandoned now; most are boarded up. The structures on the north side are more modern, and most of those are still in use. Lorendoc and I walked around the older section for quite a while, and a couple weeks later I returned for more photos. Here are a few, along with some vintage images.

This great map from about 1930 gives a nice overview and identifies the major structures. Note that the locale is identified as "Hondo", named after the Rio Hondo, which is a tributary of the L.A. River.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/_PoorFarm.map.jpg
http://www.lapl.org/ (not available online)

Then and now of the Administration Building on Dahlia Ave. near Bonita St:

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/admin.then.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics46/00072850.jpg

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/admin.now.jpg

And the Medical Building, on the north side of Imperial Highway:

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/medical.then.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics46/00072834.jpg

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/medical.now1.jpg

An early, undated photo of the "psychopathic wards" on Erickson Ave.
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/psycho.then.jpg

I'd like to get a now version of that shot, but haven't quite figured out where it was taken from. Here are a few photos of those buildings though, starting with this view of Flores St., looking north from Erickson (Eucalyptus on the early map). The larger north psychopathic ward is on the left, the smaller southern section is on the right.
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/Flores.jpg

On Erickson Ave., looking towards the southern psychopathic ward.
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/Erickson.jpg

"Infirmary Row" in 1929:
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/Infirmary.row.jpg
http://www.latimes.com/

And my photo of those buildings, taken from the other end of the lane:
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm...y.row.rear.jpg

I was interested in the water tower, chimney, and especially the old wooden tower in the distance. Here's a view of those structures from Erickson Ave. The wood tower was associated with the early "power house" (on the right, partially blocked by the tree) and was used to condense steam from the turbines.
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/power.house.jpg

Some of the dozens of iron lungs in the polio ward, 1954:
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/iron.lungs1.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics25/00047242.jpg

The chapel:
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/chapel.jpg

And if you ever visit this place, remember:
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Poor.Farm/cats.jpg

:previous: Amazing post 3940dxer!
__

Congratulations HossC and ProphetM...you found both the rooftop and the mystery sign.


pinpointed by HossC
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...911/tcFuC3.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=26000




and ProphetM
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...538/L9Uyii.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=26001





You both win a set of babushka smoking cork-screw souvenirs.:)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/XAhDAf.jpg
eBay

__

R.I.P. Lizabeth Scott, one of film noir's most unique femme fatales. (she was 92)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/pViQKi.jpg
http://crankylesbian.blogspot.com/20...tt-speaks.html

:previous: note the name of the link. It was an 'open' secret in Hollywood that she was a lesbian.

__


Here is a short video of her 'singing' " Either It's Love Or It Isn't" from 'Dead Reckoning' (1947) with Humphrey Bogart.

click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztsUnwbkow

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...661/a0u0rj.png
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztsUnwbkow


below: Interesting essay on her sexuality and how it destroyed her career. :(

On the OT....and very Hush Hush
http://www.lipstogetherandblow.com/2...hush-hush.html
__

Thank you, David (3940dxer) that was a powerful presentation about Rancho Los Amigos. Regardless of how much it was covered here at NLA, it still managed to escape my attention. You've definitely captured mine with your caring and detail.

I sometimes tend to get a little frustrated when I see work like yours and many others and there's no easy to way to call to your attention or anybody's here who contribute so marvelously, my appreciation short of re-posting everything including pics in a quote and saying "Nice Job". That's annoying IMO.

There are other EZboard formats that allow for a "like" button feature which give individual board members the ability to publicly declare their appreciation for somebody's efforts in posting researched and heartfelt subjects. In that board format any particular post will display the number of "likes" and the board names (handles) of the people who liked them it could be added here but it would effect the entirety of skyscraperpage and would be it's owners decision. I doubt they've even noticed NLA exists... (wink)
There is a downside to that feature as it might subvert and pervert people's motives for contributing. A popularity game. We don't want that here.

I don't know what else to do except to write something like this, in shorter form, to express my appreciation which probably won't get noticed because it doesn't have pictures in it.
...and maybe PMs expressing simple appreciations are too intrusive? I don't get any... very few. A pop-up sign appears. They can be extremely welcome but also distracting at times.

I've been handling it by once in awhile posting a general "Thank you everybody" comment to show my appreciation.
I don't know what else to do.

Thanks again for your presentation, David.

... and Martin Pal's - Spadena House.
and tovangar2's - Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery.... on and on.
I just have this urge to reach out and say "I like what you did there." without being ubiquitous and intrusive and I think people want acknowledgment. It's only natural but it doesn't appear to have impeded this particular thread any.

Bullets for bad boys......
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psozxc93bq.jpg
CD file

The Gamson car was riddled with bullets in 1946. He was later killed by unknown assailants.
In October 1946 Gamson, who was described as: “the pudgy 39 year old strong arm of many aliases”, and an associate, George Levinson, were shot and killed by unknown assailants.

Witnesses said that Gamson had stumbled from an apartment house on Beverly Blvd with blood streaming from five through and through bullet holes. He died on the sidewalk, screaming for help.

George Levinson dropped near the door of the apartment house with a slug through the back of his head.

:previous:

OMG, Benny "The Meatball" Gamson should have never messed with Mickey Cohen. There's just no future in that kind of behavior.

I love this thread. It has always been my favorite SSP thread.

Prohibition - 1920
 

"On Jan. 19, 1920, 33,100 gallons of wine were flushed into the gutter outside the North Cucamonga Winery in Los Angeles (845 N. Alameda) at the start of the nationwide prohibition on intoxicating drink." Daily Breeze History blog

With Heal The Bay and myriad environmental restrictions, where/how could the government dispose of 33,100 gallons of booze today.

Note Blue (?) & Gold Lager. Heim.Distributors. Heim Sparkling Apple Juice. I've always wondered what the 'classic' older brews were lie. Growing up in NYC, Ballantine's, Knickerbocker, and Rheingold are fond memories.

http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history...04-800x580.jpg
Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

:previous: What a great photograph stanklem.

I checked the winery warehouse address and I couldn't believe my eyes.

The building in your photograph is still there!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...908/m7NuG5.jpg
GSV


detail
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/ZyoeSq.jpg


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/Juqoiy.jpg
originally posted by stanklem

__

I just came across this postcard on ebay.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/912/PijseC.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item27f748f4b1

I can't quite make out what it says after Los Angeles.

Does anyone recognize this street?
__

And here's another photograph, this time a snapshot with a 'mystery' street.

Los Angeles, 1930s.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/912/D4HILG.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item5670656e3a

This will take some sleuthing. :) I can almost make out the name of the service station proprietor.....Jess B_ _ _ __ .
and what does it say before Eagle....is it Golden Eagle?

(I hope that swell apartment building is still standing)
__

After some fiddling with gamma and contrast I get "Los Angeles Parlors 11th [?] [???]"

Cheers,

Earl

:previous: That's a good start....thanks Earl.

I don't recall seeing this unique interior on NLA.
(I wouldn't want to find myself underneath the 'balcony' seating during an earthquake)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/mW1KEW.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item339d2ea216

I don't know why there's a different address (Salt Lake City) in the border of the postcard.

Los Angeles During Prohibition
 

This is from a website with a bunch of photographs, mostly people, during prohibition. It does not indicate if some of photographs are of real gangsters or crimes in progress.

Maybe a bank robbery?
http://img.izismile.com/img/img6/201...era_640_43.jpg

Just too cool and needs to be in the movies.
http://img.izismile.com/img/img6/201...era_640_03.jpg

http://img.izismile.com/img/img6/201...era_640_05.jpg

Some type of flying squad?
http://img.izismile.com/img/img6/201...era_640_10.jpg

Bank robbery in progress. Wonder who took the pictures. if real, these guys had incredible hubris. Note the sparsity of furnishings and the spitoons.
http://img.izismile.com/img/img6/201...era_640_27.jpg

A few years later and one of those guys in 26109 could have been my father, who started his career as a railroad policeman in 1933. As a quasi-Fed, he got to go to DC and qualify on the Thompson at FBI headquarters. He said it was the sweetest shooting firearm he had ever handled.

Cheers,

Earl

Hollywood and Vine, 1942
 

Have we seen this one before?

Looking south down Vine from just above Hollywood Blvd, 1942. There's the Equitable and Taft buildings on the left and the Broadway Hollywood and Plaza Hotel on the right.

The guy was using a heck of a lens b/c one can make out the Ravenswood and El Royale rooftop signs on N Rossmore over two and a half miles away.

There's a small movie house in the lower right corner of the shot I'm not familiar with. HossC identifies this as the Hollywood Playhouse, 1735 Vine St. Thx!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...11937%2BPM.jpg

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/21393/rec/7

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...13458%2BPM.jpg
gsv

Also see this & this

To echo fhammon's recent post, I'd also like to thank everyone who contributes here. I try to thank at least a proportion of people who follow-up my posts, and comment on a few others I find interesting, like Martin Pal's great interior shots of the Witch's House, but you can't thank everyone every time. To all those I haven't said it to - "Thank you".


------------


Speaking of thanks, I'd like to say it 3940dxer for his post on the LA County Poor Farm in Downey. There's something I find fascinating about abandoned buildings, some of which just get boarded up and left in their final state for decades. A few years before I discoved NLA, I read quite a few sites about urban explorers who go around accessing abandoned building (not always legally!) and photographing them. They could be anything from old office buildings and hotels to factories and at least one indoor sports arena. I think my favorites were the old, isolated hospitals and asylums, especially the Kirkbrides, but I digress.

Earlier today I found a blog which is slightly misleadingly titled 6 of the Scariest Abandoned Mental Asylums in America. There's no text to read, but pictures 19 through 37 are of the Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, including some interior shots like the ones below.

Power Plant

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...PowerPlant.jpg
Jonathan Haeber/TunnelBug on Flickr

Stairway

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...igosStairs.jpg
Philo Hagen

It's probably that lens that caught you out, because that "small movie house in the lower right corner" is the Hollywood Playhouse at 1735 Vine Street. Here's a 1938 picture from Martin Turnbull's blog.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...Playhouse1.jpg
www.martinturnbull.com

This is how it looked until fairly recently.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...Playhouse2.jpg
you-are-here.com

But now they've gone for a gray and white paint scheme.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...Playhouse3.jpg
GSV

:previous: Thank you HossC! I've corrected my post

I just found this exceedingly rare photograph of 'Ferguson Alley' in Los Angeles' Chinatown on eBay. (1880s....1890s?)
I'm still trying to make out what's in the distance....are those smokestacks or a building under construction? -& there also appears to be a water-tower partially hidden behind the wooden support-

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/903/eAkilX.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Men-...item234ab10597

Does anyone know what the Chinese symbol stands for in the upper right coner? scroll right----->


here's the reverse
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/jVi2nP.jpg
__

The Hollywood Playhouse
 

:previous: You're absolutely correct BDiH.

Thank you BDiH. Very much appreciated. It's responses like yours (& HossC's and e-r's) that make this thread so special. Thanks to all of you.


Turns out the Ontra lasted until 1990

e-r, the street in your photo looks too wide to be Ferguson Alley (?)

John Marshall High School
 

Note the Shakespeare Bridge to the bottom left of the school.

http://franklinhills.org/fh-1932-sm.jpg
FranklinHills.org

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ctPjbURQ47...-2-640x363.png
Hollywood Walker website

Ken Murray - Hollywood
 

Ken Murray of Blackouts fame, made many home movies of his Hollywood friends in their natural surroundings and often without makeup.

He reveals what they were like at home......

Here's the link to one of his home movies of the movie stars.....part one of three......

http://youtu.be/a27wxiJjec0

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psxmt0rcdd.jpg
Murray

That school is John Marshall H.S. My alma mater, class of '67. I believe it's a historic landmark.

Andys

Hotel Boyle
 

http://la.streetsblog.org/wp-content...collection.jpg
Workman Collection
On the corner of 1st and Boyle

A slightly different angle


Also, some priors on the Cummings Block / Boyle Hotel:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9671
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=14464
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=14466

I miss the chimneys. I wish they'd faked them.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D...24121%2BAM.jpg
boyleheightsbeat.com

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-q...20454%2BAM.jpg
wiki

How does one run the flag up the pole?

The name of the gas station proprietor is Jess Boykin. A 1937 directory gives the gas station address as 3600 Sunset Blvd. Jess Boykin was born in Texas in 1893. He appears in the 1940 census, living with his wife's father and brother at 1408 Maltman, which would have been just around the corner from the gas station. The property where the gas station stood is now a parking lot for a 99 cent store. The County Assessor's office lists the parking lot with a "build date" of 1971, so this may have been when the gas station was torn down. The apartment building, visible in the background with the twin towers at the corners, is still there.

While the bench that the people were sitting on has been replaced by a plexiglass and aluminum bus shelter, there are still visible, marks on the pavement to the left of that shelter which would have been where the concrete feet of the old bench would have been bolted down.

Directly across Sunset from the bus bench is a brick building, which is only partly seen in the original photo. It is now a café with outside seating. The building just behind the gas station, which appears to be a frame building is also now gone, a victim of the parking lot. The building that now houses the 99 Cent Store was also in the picture. The assessor's office indicates that it was built in 1936.

My guess is we're looking north on Los Angeles Street from its intersection with Ferguson Alley, with the Lugo Adobe just ahead of us.

Good spot, oldstuff. I'd decided that the text under "GOLDEN EAGLE" might say "RADAR ETHYL", but I was nowhere near "Boykin" for the surname. Here's an approximation of the same view today.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3600Sunset.jpg
GSV

And a frontal view of the apartment building.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...tmanStreet.jpg
GSV

The gas station and building next to the apartments seem to have already gone to make way for the parking lot by 1964 (going by Historic Aerials). They may have gone even earlier, but the 1948 and 1952 images are too blurry to be sure.

Great find on the Santa Fe Hermosa Beach depot postcard and contrasting torrance postcard, stanklem!

And kudos to C. King on locating the abandoned rails site. That is exactly where I would have sent you. It is a great reference for abandoned railroads throughout the state.

Cheers,
Jack

I agree. Possibly Capitol Milling Co is looming large in the distance.
Here's a similar shot but I'm not sure if it's the Lugo House here.



Is there are barber pole here?

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8...512china1b.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1368

:previous:

Here's a circa 1890-1895 of the Lugo house and its neighbors. Other than the absence of the brick wall on the left of e_r's picture, the other details like the sloping roof and the steps in front of the properties to the right of the Lugo house all seem to be present.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...PlazaLugo1.jpg
Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

Here's the full image.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...PlazaLugo2.jpg
USC Digital Library

Is it Lugo House or Lugo Adobe? I know the two names refer to different buildings, but I always seem to get them confused.



What a truly fabulous picture. I could (and probably will) spend the whole day just gazing at the magnified details, especially the views in the far distance. I can hardly recognize the topography in its as-yet undeveloped state.

A quick Google shows that both names are used almost interchangeably by different sources when referring to the building on the Plaza, although I'd guess that Lugo Adobe is more correct. In my defense, I used "house" with a lowercase "h" to simply imply that it was the house of the Lugo family ;).

ETA: I've just noticed that the USC caption for the image I posted is "View of the Los Angeles Plaza from the Mission Los Angeles toward the Lugo House".

A postcard of Lincoln Mercury dealer Manchester Motors at 917 W Manchester Avenue in the 1950s (the hanging sign mentions the 1957 Mercury).

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...terMotors1.jpg
eBay

Here's their entry from the 1956 CD.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...terMotors2.jpg
LAPL

Today, there's no trace of the building.

Yes please zoom in on the sign on the building to the far right and tell us what it sez.

The Lugo Adobe usually refers to the Lugo's Rancho San Antonio home. The one on the plaza is commonly called in later years the Lugo House and was made of fired brick as can be seen in E_R's photo. A lot of people assumed it was made of adobe because it once was. Possibly some of the old adobe remained. It's unclear.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5255/5...062b2b6bdd.jpg http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpresse...07r3_00074.jpg

color image of lugo house demolition 1951 http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpresse...doc.view=print

I think this was probably taken from the five-story, 1888 Brunswig building, not from Plaza Church (never a "mission").

Thanks for figuring out the location of my 'Arden bus bench' snapshot oldstuff.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...673/kImMps.jpg
eBay


Here's a look at that small café.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...537/AHo1xD.jpg
GSV


Under the awning there's a nice arched entrance.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/WSoT79.jpg
detail/gsv



But in the interior, it becomes apparent the arch has had some major problems in the past. (earthquake damage?)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...537/r9gpu1.jpg
detail/gsv

By losing so many of the supporting perpendicular bricks, I don't see how it didn't collapse.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...538/ZpPjZc.jpg
http://chestofbooks.com/architecture...l#.VNkaXOl0w5s
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Here's a glimpse of the rest of the interior.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...538/SH5K6P.jpg
GSV

alas, Yelp says it recently closed. :(
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Ferguson Alley?
 

I thought like you, Tovangar (too wide) but... if this photo is not mislabelled, this could be Ferguson Alley before any construction on its north side (to the left). The street goes normally down to Alameda and in the background we see industrial plants at Lyon Street.

Now, there's a good debate!
When did Ferguson Alley come into being? What was it's evolution?
I believe a guy named Ferguson had a horse corral there.
It might have something to do with the widening of Los Angeles st. which wiped out the west side of the Calle de los Negros and it's official name as well.
There was also a fire that burned down a few of the old Chinatown buildings shortly after. Somewhere there's an old map or two showing when Ferguson Alley first appeared and what buildings were present.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics30/00034944.jpg originally posted by gsjansen.
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=2525

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...t/ct001794.jpg originally posted by Los Angeles Past
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...29#post5130929

You mean this one?

I can only make out "... & CO" on the top line, possibly "... CHONG & CO". The middle line says something like "CHINESE & JAPANESE FANCY GOODS", and the bottom line includes the words "EMPLOYMENT OFFICE".

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...PlazaLugo3.jpg
Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

That's the one! Thanks HossC.

I recently came across this photo which I've never seen before.
I might have missed it here. I believe this to be the east end of Ferguson Alley.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...855c143abc.jpg
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/58828338856609476/

I've never noticed this what looks like an alley-way before either. I can't make out the name.
Anybody?
Is this what later became Ferguson Alley? That might be where his stable was.

http://i62.tinypic.com/vrvon4.jpg

Looks like the Juan Apaptaza adobe fell for Ferguson Alley and maybe some of the Uriba adobe (both 1855) too. I think the south side of Ferguson Alley was in line with the facade of Pico House.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...21338%2BPM.jpg

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_it...aza,+showing+t