Mystery photo
 

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8717/...39548979_b.jpgMystery photo, April 10, 2015


With apologies, no further info at this time. A week or ten days should tell the story.

Early photos of Pico-Union
 

Hey everyone, wanted to throw a question out there since I'm desperate. Looking for some old photos for a book, and have exhausted almost all my resources, (i.e. LA Library, conservancy, friends, etc.) so thought I would try here. Does ANYONE know, or have LEADS to where I can obtain old photos from the Pico-Union district? Preferably around the 2600 block of West Pico Blvd. around 1905 to 1908. I can go all the way up to 1965. Very important for a book I am doing. THANK YOU.

Here are two streetcar pictures I don't remember seeing before. The seller dates them at 1961. The contemporary City Directories list M & N Pipe and Supply at 4700 Long Beach Ave East and the Metal Improvement Co at 1721 E 47th Street. Streetcar #1541 appears about a minute into the Ride The Last Red Car video.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
eBay

Here are two but I'm afraid not that early and the location is going to be problematic...


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/...742e80dc_o.jpgThe W. Pico Street Through-Car, 1919

"The fellow standing in the middle was the husband of one of my Maternal Grandmother's sisters. For you genealogists, he was the father of my first cousin once removed. She was born in 1918. Now at 92, this removed cousin is still very much with us and has a sharp recollection of days gone bye. The Pacific Electric Railway, more commonly called the Red Car Line by passengers and operated from 1901 to 1961. It provided fast and efficient transportation throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. In the 1950's we kids used it for trips to the beaches and back. The conspiracy theory believed by older Angelinos is that the local politicians were paid off by General Motors to replace it with hundreds of new buses."

Posted by Shorpy member 'woodchuck' - 09/19/2011



https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7489/...824d597a_o.jpgPico Boulevard construction, 1925

Mules pulling construction wagons, Pico Boulevard Heights [Picfair Village], 1925.

USC digital archive/Dick Whittington Photography Collection, 1924-1987

Picfair Village
 

That second photo is well west of Pico-Union:

"Picfair Village takes its name from the majestic Picfair movie theatre which stood at the corner of Pico and Fairfax until the early 1980s.

Initially hailed as "the New Wilshire...[and] a delightful place for a home," what is now Picfair Village was part of the Santa Monica Land and Water Co.'s 1922 development called Pico Boulevard Heights. Their tract office was located on the Pico street car line at Fairfax and Pico. They offered "choice lots on Genesee Street" starting at $1,250.

What is now Picfair Village was once home to the author Walter Mosley for a while, and one of his characters lived on Stanley."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picfair...e,_Los_Angeles

Just to confuse things Pico Heights post office is just west of Pico-Union

I think I indicated the location issue.

I suspect...
 

Bruno, Mignonette, Fremont, Old County Courthouse ?

Return to Ladera Park
 

I wanted to go back to ensure I hadn't missed anything and to take more and better photos. One of the first things I noticed was that two of the four
loose stones I posted about previously are now missing! I guess I'll find out more about that in a week or ten days . . . .

And thanks to Beaudry for the tip about Ladera Park in the first place! After thinking about it, I have to believe all of these walls have been up since 1936, rather
than having been moved or reconstructed later on. FWIW, the parking lot can be seen on the 1952 aerial at Historicaerials.com.

So anyway, this is the north wall of the Senior Center parking lot, along the south side of 62nd Street, across from Ladera Park:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...d.jpg~original

The east wall:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...9.jpg~original

There's just a low edging of old courthouse stone along most of the south side:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...a.jpg~original

The southwest corner:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...d.jpg~original

The west wall, leading toward a locked gate behind the Senior Center:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...w.jpg~original

Behind the locked gate behind the Senior Center:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...l.jpg~original

A wall segment:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...w.jpg~original

And in Ladera Park on the north side of 62nd Street, by the tennis courts, is this old non-working drinking fountain:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...2.jpg~original

All Flyingwedge photos

Old County Courthouse
 

:previous: Beautiful coverage FW. I hope you have time at some point to go to City Terrace to document the carved stones.

As always beautiful coverage. Congrats.

:previous:

Twice! :uhh:

I believe our own board member and uber-awsome NLA contributor tovangar2 lived in that area for awhile. You might could flag her down with a PM.

Also.. I don't know if this interests you or not but the area bounded by Figueroa (east) to Union (west), Pico (north) and Washington (south) used to be Maj. Horace Bell's farm until he subdivided it and sold it off sometime in the 1870s.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=25803

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=25834

Also conservative (ex KABC) radio talk show host Larry Elder grew up in the Pico-Union district, his father operating a small dinner there. I know for a fact that he loves talking about it. He's approachable by various means.

:previous: Thought I saw a '30s image of 176 N La Brea location (near Beverly Blvd.), but unable to locate it thus far.


1945 - Ahren's Kitchen (and Bakery), located on the corner of Larchmont and Beverly.


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics28/00063832.jpghttp://jpg3.lapl.org/pics28/00063832.jpg

Speaking of moving stones, I'm reminded of an old post about the mobile bricks of the 1888 city hall: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1801


And there's this: http://losangeleshistory.blogspot.co...-also-see.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...os_Angeles.JPG

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/imag...s/previous.gif

..and thrice!
Thank you Flyingwedge.

Speaking of Plessier, a '32 view of the Wiltern that Barbara Stanwyck might appreciate. The film is "The Purchase Price," but judging from the advertising, the audience apparently chose talent over the project.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/54948/rec/1

Pico-Union
 

There's not much. This is from the Pico-Union Project (1153 Valencia St):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2...31747%2BPM.jpg

These two from the Evangelical Free Church 1356 S Albany:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h...35910%2BPM.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...40140%2BPM.jpg

Those two organizations would probably have better copies.

Also, gsjansen posted an lapl shot of Lake looking north from 12th earlier on the thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2032

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

Nah, I never lived there, but a couple of my kids do now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psk6nw5u75.jpg

I suppose it would be bad form to snake one of those while the building is still standing. I wonder if they're open on Sundays.

Heinsberger Design Studio
 

LOL. You're bad. Heinsbergen took that load of bricks as part payment for the work he did in the current City Hall. Curlett and Beelman ran with it.

Info on Anthony Heinsbergen's house is here

:previous:

Also known as the the Heinsbergen Design Studio


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x...insbergen1.jpghttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...insbergen2.jpg
Water & Power


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...insbergen3.jpg
historicplacesla.org

I think there's actually a huge amount of difference lurking behind the largely untouched facades. This particular block, the one bounded by Colorado, Fair Oaks, Union, and DeLacey, was basically the first major redevelopment efforts in Old Town, known as One Colorado. Apparently they tore out lots of what was behind the facades and rebuilt everything fresh, much like what recently happened to the Charnock Block in downtown. It was a bit of a controversial thing. Pasadena Heritage and all the other local preservationists felt that they were ripping out too much "historic fabric." Just a little tidbit I remember from when I was a kid and my mom would make me to the walking tours put on by Pasadena Heritage in Old Town.

1932 - Familiar Cardboard containers, including Ahren's (bottom)
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ens&DMROTATE=0 http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/54948/rec/1

I know what it's like to be stuck for a photo, so I'm happy to try to help!

Let's start with Engine Co. No. 13 (opened 1900) at 2669 W. Pico on the NE corner with El Molino (later Kenmore), c. 1904:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...z.jpg~original
Lafire.com -- http://www.lafire.com/stations/FS013...ation_1000.jpg

This is 1912, looking west on Pico from El Molino/Kenmore. The building with the rounded corner is 2684-86-88-90 W. Pico, on the SW corner, catty-
corner from the fire station. The building is on the 1907 Sanborn map. Dr. Craik -- at first I thought it said Dr. Crank -- is in the 1913 LA City Directory
at 2686 W. Pico:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...i.jpg~original
Lafire.com -- http://www.lafire.com/stations/FS013...e_E13_1500.jpg

There are a couple other photos of Engine Co. No. 13 at the lafire.com site, but you probably don't want all fire department photos.

Here is 1301 S. Westlake, SW corner of Pico, 1910. This house is on the 1906 Sanborn:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...5.jpg~original
HDL -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/11820/rec/45

That's all I could find near your preferred timeframe window. Since you said you could go up to 1965, I'm assuming you've seen these:

Pico and Union 1928: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si.../id/1089/rec/4
Pico and Union 1930: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/6097/rec/220
Pico, Lake, and Hoover 1928: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../70691/rec/322

Good luck with your book!

Heinsbergen house
 

The link in my last post was to info about the 1931 Anthony Heinsbergen house in Pacific Palisades, but not everyone bothers to click links (as e_r has warned me) so here it is in the flesh as it were.

I love how Anthony Heinsbergen surrounded himself with sumptuousness and spent his life doing what he loved. I can just imagine him going from his beautiful home to his gorgeous studio each day to design something new to wow us.

Apparently, Joseph Cotton owned the house after Heinsbergen's death and redid the interiors in plain white with white shag carpeting. The next owner hired someone to recreate the murals from photographs (with varying degrees of success). The house last sold in 2002. It's approx 6K sq ft on four levels.

17800 Tramonto Drive, Pacific Palisades 90272 (somewhat reminiscent of Sebastian's house in "Notorious", 1946):
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...85903%2BPM.jpg

Carved over the door are the words, "Domus Constructa Pigmento" (The house that paint built):
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7...11131%2BPM.jpg

The original murals were oil on canvas:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...95852%2BPM.jpg
pix: art+works

The hillside below the house looks a little alarming in the last gsv (2012):
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-W...03501%2BPM.jpg


UPDATE: As per the Oct 2015 gsv, there's now a four-story house built on the down slope behind the Heinsbergen house. There's room for one or even two more.

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

Fun bit of info re the Heinsbergen Design Studio (not to be confused with the house), A.T. Heinsbergen, Anthony's son, lived his last ten years in the quarters above the studio, behind those little slate-covered dormers. Sounds cozy.

Pico-Union / Doria Apartments
 

Great Pico-Union finds FW

That one Pico & Union corner building you linked to made me think of the Doria again. Probably none are early enough for trbondii though.

Here's a Wm Reagh (that medallion has gone missing quite recently):
Entrance to the Doria (just for fun. It's not often photographed):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...14316%2BAM.jpg
flickr

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...54018%2BPM.jpg
flickr


And one more from 1928: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll59/id/1090

Pico & Union

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A...2520PM.bmp.jpghttp://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7899/6fzl.jpg

These from this prior post:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17179

and

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...2520AM.bmp.jpgUSCDL

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7585/...7ac88e02_b.jpgPico and Union Streets, Los Angeles Railway crossing, Los Angeles, 1928

USC Digital/Automobile Club of Southern California collection, 1892-1963

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LA/LASnow2.jpg


and in snow, from this prior of Hoss C's: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17130

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N...fontecompl.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...lfonteBOT2.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x...2520AM.bmp.jpghttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...2520AM.bmp.jpg

LAT Feb 23, 1929/GSV

GW was the first to post about the Hotel Cortez (formerly the Hotel Louise) on Columbia Avenue. The full post is here, and contains newspaper clippings and more pictures. Last night I found this postcard which gives us a small look inside.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...C.jpg~original
eBay


Follow-ups on the Hotel Cortez/Hotel Louise:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17447

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17467

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17472

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...s1.bmp-001.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G...OT.bmp-002.jpg


A great ad from the Times of Jan 3, 1928, reminded me of this shot from Chuckaluck's post last year:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033990.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=21939

More views of the traveling courthouse stones:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...2657131&type=3

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...512/stairs.jpg

GW, the illustration in the ad looks to be a dropout halftone or "line resolve" of the photograph. I would offer that somewhere there is a continuous tone photo of the truck as well. Nice work by the graphic artist.

Going by Chuckaluck's previous post showing an address of 1711 Albion Street, Los Angeles, CA, the building on the left is still extant, albeit heavily altered and integrated into a newer structure. Check out a Google satellite view.

Cheers,
Jack

Any idea what this interesting building is/was? (this is a detail of the photograph above :previous:)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...912/zjprXu.jpg
detail

I'm thinking it could possibly be a school (there are kids in a lot to it's right).


...and Albion Elementary School is in the vicinity.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...537/wRqs9r.jpg
google_maps

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5493/...54d78eb8_o.jpgThe great Southern Pacific piggy-back yard, 1934

Hughes Ice Cream on Albion shows just above center. We're looking across the great Southern Pacific piggy-back yard with the Macy Street bridge just out-of-frame at the lower left. The SP roundhouse is just below the Alhambra right-of-way with the Alhambra RR bridge showing at the left. The Main Street bridge is above that with Albion and Hughes Ice Cream just north of the bridge east of the river. See it?

All this and we get the SP River Station 'Cornfield' yard at the left/center and the Taylor Yard upper background as well.

The Windsor Apartments
 

:previous: The American Ice Cream Company was on the Hughes site until recently.


A fashionable and gracious neighborhood grew around the 1921 Ambassador Hotel. One of the new neighbors, the 1926 Windsor Apartments still stands at 7th and Catalina:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-l...12447%2BAM.jpg
uscdl (detail)

It's maintained nicely, although there's maybe too many attention-grabbing awnings:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...12923%2BAM.jpg
gsv

The little gable-top bobbles have gone missing:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U...20440%2BPM.jpg
gsv

The Ambassador and its immediate surroundings in 1956. The Windsor is in the lower-right corner and the Embassy is on the opposite side of the Ambassador, facing Mariposa. Across the top is the 1951 triple-wide 3440 Wilshire building (a big hint of things to come), the 1925 Chapman Park Hotel and Bungalows, the 1926 Brown Derby (at its second location) and the extant 1924 Gaylord:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-I...21852%2BPM.jpg
uscdl (detail)

There was diagonal street-parking on 7th, east of Catalina:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-e...14828%2BPM.jpg
uscdl (detail)

Tourmaline has taken us here before: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=15943

I read somewhere that the Beverly Hills Hotel at one time provided room service to its immediate neighbors. I wonder if the Ambassador did that.

Where did you see that? Could you be remembering the Beverly Hills Hotel bungalows?

:previous:No, it was definitely wealthy homeowners surrounding the hotel. They probably gave the hotel so much business, their wishes could not be ignored. Sorry, I cannot find the reference ATM.

I think the building in question is the one in the City Play Grounds on this 1921 Baist map. It's gone by 1948 (the first image at Historic Aerials). My guess would be some sort of clubhouse for the recreation area. The building is also present on the 1914 map, but the 1910 map just shows an empty lot (no City Play Grounds). The Hughes Ice Cream factory can be seen near bottom on Jetty Street. I don't know how long it was known as Jetty Street, because it's currently part of Albion Street, as it was on the 1910 and 1914 Baist maps.

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

Incidentally, the Hughes Ice Cream factory site is marked as a brewery on the 1910 and 1914 Baist maps. I wonder if the brewery was converted to a factory when prohibition started, or if Hughes built a new factory. The footprints from 1914 and 1921 look similar.

:previous: -Thanks Hoss. Sanborn to the rescue! :)






:previous: So let me get this straight...Mr. Moll was selling both cosmetics and insecticides from the same building? (I hope he was careful not to get his recipes mixed up)

....and then it was a V.D. clinic in 1947?

The noir is in the details.

Thanks for digging up this information GW.
(and I didn't even mention the embalming)
__

This is the 1935 image of the Windsor Apartments that's currently missing from Tourmaline's post. It looks like CSL have kept the image name the same, but changed the name of one of the sub-folders in the address ("a19_1" is now "a21_1"). I wonder if any other hotlinks are affected.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...indsorApts.jpg
California State Library

BTW. The Windsor Apartments appear to have had the same red awnings since at least the late '70s. Here they are in they background of a shot from a season 3 episode of 'CHiPs' called 'Hot Wheels'. A reverse view of this location appears in the season 5 episode 'Diamond in the Rough', when the side of the Ambassador Hotel plays the part of Valley General Hospital.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...rAptsCHiPs.jpg
Rosner TV/MGM TV

I should have mentioned it in my earlier post. Here's your answer HossC.

From age 64 of this Google book.

https://books.google.com/books?id=3g...ngeles&f=false
http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psv294d8qe.jpg

Cheers,
Jack

Re the Windsor apartments

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h...2520PM.bmp.jpghttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H...2520PM.bmp.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...2520PM.bmp.jpg

Times Feb 13 & 20, 1927; Apr 26-1936

Chapman Park Hotel
 

Does anyone know the whole story of the Chapman Park Hotel? I've read (on the net, so it must be true) that the first building (presumably the main hotel) went up in 1925. The Brown Derby was built on the block in '26.

In 1956 view below, the Chapman Park Hotel and Bungalows takes up the entire block with the Chapman Garage across Mariposa (upper left) and the Chapman Studio and Market buildings across W 6th on either side of Alexandria. A regular little Chapmanville:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...42742%2BPM.jpg
uscdl (detail)

It's what happened at the time of the 1969 Equitable Plaza that interests me.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i...35907%2BPM.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...35100%2BPM.jpg

above: nowandthen

Both articles say the hotel will be reconfigured and continue operations. Did anthing remotely like that actually happen? If so, when did it finally close and get demolished? Just curious. Thanks.

Chapman Park Hotel pool, n.d.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...70716%2BPM.jpg
nowandthen
(more pix at the link)

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

Hey, look at that, a sign. Thx

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...2520PM.bmp.jpgCalif State Library


One of the prettiest buildings ever built on early commercial Wilshire Boulevard was this one at the northeast corner of Westmoreland Avenue. Its story, and that of the other low-rise stores that replaced the boulevard's houses, is here: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...lease-see.html

Last Friday I went to a birthday gathering in this area with a couple of friends. My buddies girlfriend suggested we check out this bar thats in her favorite TV show "New Girl" ,low and behold its this building, I cant tell you what the bar is called,but its in the basement and it was very,very,very red, and I was told that they have the best chicken in town....also they dont make old fashions, but the price was fair for a whiskey on the rocks.

The bar is called "The Prince", and it's in more than the New Girl... it stood in for The Brown Derby in Chinatown, when Jack Nicholson/Gittes meets with Faye Dunaway/Mrs. Mulwray during lunch. The Prince is now Korean owned, but the owners have done great job keeping the space looking great. That "chicken" dish is awesome - it's called kyochan chicken (which is triple fried).

Here is what the Prince bar looks like in 2015. There's also a dining room that's similar.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps5aaq6yoe.jpg
Prince Bar

Nearly all of Ellroy is unreadable to me but a major exception is the autobiographical "My Dark Places" VERY disturbing yet fascinating....and about as noir as it gets

http://www.amazon.com/My-Dark-Places...my+dark+places