:previous: Yes, the seller said it was Los Angeles...or Los Angeles area.
The date though.....a lot of times it's just a guess, which can be frustrating.

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I see HossC worked his magic again while I was answering CBD's question.

So the 1910 date was correct after all!

I especially like the postcard that actually shows the tennis courts and seating.

The image appears in a Yesterday's Print tumblr post with the caption "Thrifty drug store, North Western & Santa Monica, Los Angeles, 1935". I had a quick look, but the building's no longer there.

:previous: Are any of the buildings in the reflection still there?

I guess I'll have to gas up the ol' google-Mobile.;) Thanks for the co-ordinates Hoss.

:previous:

I think these are the buildings in the reflection.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...aNWestern1.jpg
GSV

For comparison:

:previous:
You're absolutely right Hoss. -very cool
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A couple of days ago we saw the two hundred year-old Twin Palms. (that was two hundred years in 1890!!)

Here's another rare cabinet card.....this one shows a beautiful Oak near the ostrich farm, ca.1880s

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/345oGQ.jpg
eBay

note the octogonal bench built around the base of the tree.............................:previous:


Here's the writing on the reverse.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...922/K8Swgr.jpg

"Live Oak near the Ostrich Farm near West Glendale, California"

Photographer: A.D. Boynton, Pasadena

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I asked:
odinthor answered:
:previous:Now I see why the google-mobile caught you digging in your garden.



"Washingtonia filifera growing naturally in an oasis outside of Palm Springs, c.1900"

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/7JaiWW.jpg
https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/a...ern-california

Wouldn't it be interesting to hike to this oasis and see how it looks 116 years later.

(are there a lot of oases near Palm Springs, or is this spot rather unique?)





http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...923/02iZzQ.jpg

I checked. ;)

I use to be really into movie theatres and had a book about Charles S Lee... "Seeing Stars" or something like that in the title (it had a drawing of the Bay Theatre in Palisades as the cover)..anyways knowing some of his work the above theatre looks like something he would of had remodeled into.. He would take an older theatre and then make the outside look super modern..He did the same thing with the Max Factor Building in Hollywood.

:previous: I had that same book unihikid. It's such a beautiful book.

It was invaluable before the internet came along....now you can pretty much find the photographs and drawings online if you know where to look.

But there's nothing like holding an exquisite book.
___

Well, when I needed a really long fuse, I stole one of my old man's cigarettes, lit it, and stuck the firecracker fuse about halfway down. The anticipation of when it would blow was usually better than the actual pop!

Weller Court
 

I need some help here. As you can see, Weller Court (now Ellison Onizuka Street) cuts diagonally from San Pedro Street to First Street.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps8rnpqmee.jpg
Google Maps

I could swear that I read an article (a few years ago) that (back in the 1800's) they used to hold wagon races from San Pedro to City Hall in Los Angeles.
According to the story, Weller Court was created as a shortcut from San Pedro Street to City Hall at the end of the race.

For the past year, or so, I have looked for this story, but can find nothing. Has anyone heard of this, or have I gone nuts?

This rare cabinet card shows the 41 members of the 'Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers No 5'. [ca.1880s]


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/Wt8Pth.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1880s-Photog...sAAOSwhOVXebUO






This is found on the back: "Photographic Parlors in the Downey Block, 5 Main Street in Los Angeles."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...923/3CXMgp.jpg
detail

If you look closely, someone has written 'Martin Wetzel' vertically on the right side:previous:



I found a Martin Wetzel living on Hoff in East Los Angeles as early as the 1881 city directory!


Here he is listed in the 1887-88 directory (the 1881 directory didn't include the street number 516)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/F6MqwT.jpg
lapl

I haven't been able to locate a Hoff Street. (there's a good chance the street was renamed)

So now I'm in need of an old map of East L.A dating around the 1880s.


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Maybe not nuts, but something is amiss with the story. City Hall was not in its present location until 1928, so late 1800s wagon races to City Hall would not have ended there. The County Courthouse housed City Hall from the 1860s to early 1880s, and that was across the street to the west of current city hall, so that is kinda close, but after that it was located south on Spring Street and then on Broadway from 1888 to 1928.

:previous:

Just to add a little background, Weller Court (Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka Street) was the original routing of San Pedro Street. Of course, the end could still have been made for racing purposes. Here it is on the 1910 Baist map.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...rCourt1910.jpg
www.historicmapworks.com

By 1914, San Pedro Street had been extended, and the diagonal section had been renamed Wilmington Street.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...rCourt1914.jpg
www.historicmapworks.com

That name didn't last long - the 1921 Baist map shows it as Weller Street.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...rCourt1921.jpg
www.historicmapworks.com

If you look closely, someone has written 'Martin Wetzel' vertically on the right side:previous:



I found a Martin Wetzel living on Hoff in East Los Angeles as early as the 1881 city directory!


Here he is listed in the 1887-88 directory (the 1881 directory didn't include the street number 516)


I haven't been able to locate a Hoff Street. (there's a good chance the street was renamed)

So now I'm in need of an old map of East L.A dating around the 1880s__[/QUOTE]

Martin Wetzel, born in September of 1851 in Kentucky is listed in an 1883 directory in Los Angeles and notes that he is employed as an engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He is listed on Hoff at that time. A 1900 directory show him on Pasadena Avenue at 514 Pasadena Avenue.

In 1893 he worked for the Los Angeles Fire Department. He appears in a photo of Engine Company number 7 as the Engineer. This can be found at http://www.lafire.com/stations/FS007...88-1915-hd.htm. Engine Company number 7 was located at Temple and Edgeware. He is listed as a motorman in 1900, a designation usually reserved for engineers of streetcars so it is possible that he was working on a streetcar at that time. There are some newspaper articles noting changes in the streetcar routes near his home at that time.

He then appears in the 1910 Census, living at 2114 Pasadena Avenue. This is between North Avenue 21 and Avenue 23. It appears that the actual house was taken out by the Golden State Freeway. He is listed in the 1910 Census as being an Engineer in a Locomotive Factory.

They changed the name of Hoff Street to Pasadena Avenue in 1889 according to a newspaper notice. Hoff Street (Pasadena Avenue) ran from the River, northeast to Daly. At the same time, they changed the name of Daly Street to Pasadena Avenue as well. There are some 1880's vintage houses remaining along Pasadena Avenue, along with some light industry and strip malls.

Martin Wetzel is retired by 1920 but is still living in the same place with his wife.

Martin and his wife lost their eldest son, Charles, who died in 1892( see the article below). Their address, as noted in his obituary, was 592 Pasadena Avenue so they may have either changed the numbering of the streets between then and 1910, or he was living on the northern end of the street which is now South Pasadena. There is a 592 Pasadena Avenue there at the present time.

In my research I found that they lost their other son at age 17. Their daughter, Emma lived until 1953.

**SOMEONE WHO CAN POST PICTURES, There is a photo of Mr. Wetzel in his uniform for Southern Pacific. It is located at http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/...hw/?brand=oac4

And there is more yet on Mr. Wetzel. It appears that he was an inventor too. This article appeared in the Los Angeles Herald in February of 1904:



INVENTS NEW OIL BINES Engineer Wetzel Has a Unique Contrivance

For the past two or three days Martin Wetzel has been experimenting with a contrivance of his own inven- , tion calculated to economize fuel in oil , burning plants, and he now claims that j he has got it in good working shape. | The contrivance is attached to the oil burner under the boilers which furnish the heat for the court house, and is connected with the steam pipes. It is automatically arranged so that when the steam pressure gets low the oil feed increases, raising the temperature under the boilers and bringing the steam pressure up to normal. It works equally well the other way, for, when the pressure gets too high the feed of oil is automatically checked, the temperature decreases and the pressure goes back. This contrivance guarantees a steady heat and at the same time economizes the fuel, bringing the consumption to the minimum for the pressure required. Mr. Wetzel believes that this is the first contrivance of its kind and will proceed at once to apply for patents on it. He docs not know of ariything of the kind ever having been used successfully. A modification of the idea may be worked out for use on locomotives, but the difficulty with that style of engine is that it requires sudden changes of pressure. When the locomotive is climbing it requires far higher pressure than when running on a level or going down grade, so that it will require some study to suit the apparatus for this clans of boilers. For stationary engines, however, the inventor believes it is now complete.

And some sort of Noirish stuff for the family as well:

RAYMOND SHOT HIS BROTHER.

A Shocking Accident Which Occurred Yesterday. The Result of a Boy Being- Trusted With Firearms. Charley Wetzel's Death — His Brother Does Not Know How the Accident Happened—His Account of the Sad Affair. A shocking tragedy occurred yesterday noon, near the five-mile house, north of the city, by which little Raymond Wetzel, 13 years old, accidentally shot and killed his elder brother, Charley Wetzel, 15 years old. The boys are eons of Martin Wetzel, engineer of engine No. 7, of the Los Angeles fire department, one of the best known members of the department.

The newa reached the city at 1 o'clock, and Mr. Sharp, of Peck, Sharp & Neitzke, undertakers, went out to the fivemile house, returning with the body, and the heart-broken little fellow who had been the cause of the accident.

' The story of the accident was related to a Herald reporter by Raymond Wetzel, between his sobs, and as he sat on a chair in the undertaker's office, holding on to a string, at tbe other end of which was a little dog, who looked up at him, and occasionally whined. "My brother Charley and I, and Ethelbert Vincent started out from home this morning," said Raymond, "to go up tbe valley towards Glendale. We had a little wagon with us, and a single-baneled shot gun to shoot squirrels with, if we saw any. We walked beyond the five-mile house to Ramona, where we got some grapes, and then turned to come back. Bert was sick at Ramona, and didn't feel very good as we came along back. Before we got to the five-mile bouse he sat down to rest a little, and my brother and I went on slowly. When we were a short ways from Bert, about 100 feet, I guess, my brother saw a squirrel to the right of the road, and tolrt me to get tbe gun and Bhoot him. He was hauling the wagon by tbe handle, and I was on the left band.side of it. The gun was in the wagon, with the muzzle pointing towards Charley. I jumped around behind the wagon and to the right side. I put my hands on the gun to pick it up, and it went off. Charley said, 'My God!'and fell down on the ground. I hallooed to Bert that Charley was shot, and threw out the box of grapes that wa'J in the wagon. When Eert came we picked my brother up and put him in the wagon. Then we brought him to the Five-mile house, and they telephoned to town. The wagon was pretty small, but we got him there some way." The boy tried to choke back the tears, but they would come. Further questions being put to him, he said that tbe gun was lying with the stock close against the back of the wagon, and the muzzle reached out in front, elevated to tbe height of the front board. He said he bad hardly touched it before it went off. He was positive that it was not cocked. When he grasped it, he put one hand on the barrel just where it joins the stock. He could not tell whether the hammer hit anything or not. But of course this must have happened, as the gun would not have gone off by itself. This statement of tbe accident was corroborated by others and the circumstances. When Mr. Sharp reached the five-mile house he found the body of the boy. He was still alive, although unconscious, when brought in, and very 'soon he breathed his last. The wound from which he died was in the back of his head, the whole charge of shot having entered a little above the neck. A visit to the scene of the shooting waß made by Mr. Sharp, and he found a pool of blood in the middle of the road, where the unfortunate boy fell, and in it some of the brains which had oozed from the wound before he waß li'ted into the wagon. Charley Wetzel was a bright boy, snd has been working for some time past at the job printing establishment of Kinsley & Barnes. He and his brother have always been companions and they were very much attached to each other. Raymond has been going to school at the Chestnut street public school out Temple street, and ia a sturdy little fellow. They had planned thia little jaunt as it was the only day when Charley had leisure. They had their friend, Ethelbert Vincent, go with them, and left home in great spirits, little thinking of the dreadful termination of the day's

The news of tbe tragedy was communicated to the parents, and their grief waa very affecting. They were completely prostrated by it, and have the sympathy of a great many friends in the city, where Mr. Wetzel is exceedingly well known, he having been an engineer on the Southern Pacific for many years before entering into the service of the fire department. Coroner Weldon was at San Pedro yesterday, and will return this morning, when an inquest will be held at 10 o'clock.

It was that rival carriage/freightage firms (Phineas Banning vs., um, John Tomlinson I think) in the 1850s would race up to L.A. from taking on passengers at the docks in San Pedro, the end point being that point of Main St. at which, on one side, was the Bella Union Hotel, and on the other the Lafayette Hotel (there was a Halfway House in what is now Compton where they'd take a break on their way). The final stretch was that diagonal bit of San Pedro St. Adding to the fun, the abundant stray dogs of L.A. would chase the carriages, barking and howling. The rival passengers, 'tis said, would bet on the outcome. (The gist of the preceding is drawn from Harris Newmark's and Horace Bell's books.) Me, I'd bet that the passengers on both sides were considerably tumbled up by the time they stepped out of the coaches in L.A.

My notes (drawn from the 1870 census and the 1872 directory) indicate: Wetzel, Martin ca. 1846, born in Germany; 1870, present in Wilmington district as a laborer; 1872, fireman Wilmington. As he wasn't listed in the 1860 census, either he wasn't present then or managed to evade the census taker.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fh...366-h768-rw-no


I don't know if we've seen these film clips before...
https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-con...0s-40s-and-50s

:previous: Hoss, thanks for finding out this interesting tidbit. (I missed this earlier)

I was entirely guessing about the manger living behind the bar...when actually it was the two owners.
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I checked out the 'The Mint' website.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/DEFYAE.jpg

Nowhere does it mention the bar used to be called the Two Harry's.

You can check out their history here:
http://themintla.com/History

I might contact them with the link to the Two Harry's photograph.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...924/RDTJjE.jpg
detail

If I owned The Mint I'd love to have this photograph hanging somewhere in the place.