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ethereal_reality Feb 2, 2011 2:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhdantholz (Post 5148690)
NOT 1932---check cars, 2nd from right; NO running boards (Only cars made after about 1939) and the grill mark this as 1940s.

Thanks for correcting the date mhdantholz.
Many of the photographs in the USC Archive are mislabeled. I obviously missed this glaring mistake.

mhdantholz Feb 2, 2011 2:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 4404478)
below: Hollywood with Capitol Records 1965.


http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3...apitolreco.jpg
Julie Wilson

That T-Bird, right was a real "c*nt wagon"---girls really paid attention when you pulled up in one of those. Power under the hood, big bankette seats---mm-m-m.
Question: With these little bucket seats and center-divider/console in cars today, how's a young guy on a date make his move ??

mhdantholz Feb 2, 2011 2:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4378620)
Beverly Hills City Hall, circa late 1930s (?). Intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive. Notice the street names stenciled on the curbs on the street corners. I've noticed these in photos of Beverly Hills pre-mid-1950s. If you've seen the opening credits of the movie "Sunset Boulevard," they do an extreme close-up of such a sign. I guess back then, Beverly Hills didn't use regular signs and signposts for street names?
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1...lscityhall.jpg


Palm-lined Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, 1942.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/366...everlyhill.jpg

Those palms are a lot taller now. Both photos from the USC archive.

Check out that girl: The SUIT ! The HAIR !! The SHOES !!!
Be still my beating heart...

Los Angeles Past Feb 2, 2011 3:08 AM

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...ama1910sky.jpg

Just got this neat triple-postcard panoramic view of Downtown as viewed from the observation deck of Angels Flight.

I realize you can't see much detail in this thumbnail, but for a very nice 5733x1112, 300dpi enlargement, click here. I guarantee you won't be disappointed! (There's also a decent 2592x503, 72dpi image of the panorama available on my most recent blog post.)

I came up with a date of Summer 1910, based upon the fact that the second L.A. Times building has not yet been bombed, and the Hall Of Records appears to be in the very earliest stage of its construction. If anyone can provide a closer approximation, please do!

-Scott

mhdantholz Feb 2, 2011 3:38 AM

I took the Angel's Flight many, many times in the 1950s---downtown L.A. was great for a young boy.
We moved in 1960, and when I finally got back 1972, while in the USMC, I was aghast: Nothing---I mean not even a shadow was left of the L.A. I knew and loved.
Thank you excabby, and especially ethereal_reality---God bless you and those who love you !

mdiederi Feb 2, 2011 4:22 AM

Pasadena Cycleway (a freeway for bicycles) in 1900. Made mostly of wood, the elevated cycleway was designed to run from the Hotel Green in Pasadena to the Plaza in Los Angeles, and was an attempt to speed up transportation and accommodate the booming bicycle craze at the time. In some areas the cycleway was planned to be 50 feet above the ground. The toll was going to be 10 cents for a one-way trip or 15 cents for a two-way ticket, or cyclist could take one of the trains back up the hill. The sudden popularity of automobiles quickly made the cycleway obsolete and the project was abandoned after only one and a half miles of the intended nine mile track was completed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...cleway1900.jpg
looking south, ca.1900.
Pasadena Museum of History

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...iaCycleWay.jpg
Pasadena Museum of History

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...-cycle_way.jpg
Pasadena Museum of History

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...y/00061163.jpg
The Cycleway passes behind the Pasadena Grand Opera House on Bellevue at Raymond in 1900.
Pasadena Museum of History

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ory/horace.jpg
Horace Dobbins, creator of the California Cycleway in 1900 showing off what would be the Cycleway's downfall, an automobile. Pasadena Museum of History
http://highlandpark.wordpress.com/20...rnia-cycleway/







And speaking of speeding up transportation, here's some early L.A. hot rod history.

The earliest hot rod parts stores.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ts_resized.jpg
George Wight’s Bell Auto Parts and Racing Equipment, established in 1923. Originally a junkyard, this building was built in 1928 at 3633 Gage Ave in Bell. The building still stands and I think there may be a bail bonds business occupying it now.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...446547&page=13


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...op_resized.jpg
Lee’s Speed Shop, opened in 1929, sharing space with a junkyard, at 3263 San Fernando Road in Los Angeles. The shop moved in 1933 to 4557 Alhambra Avenue. Closed in 1937 and moved to Oakland.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...446547&page=13


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...01_resized.jpg
Karl and Veda Orr’s Speed Shop in 1940 at 11140 Washington Place in Culver City. The shop quickly became a hangout for area hot rodders. It seems they closed the shop sometime in the 1950s, but reopened it on Sierra Highway in Mint Canyon, California in the 1960s.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...446547&page=13


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ition-1948.jpg
The first annual Hot Rod Exposition was held in 1948 at the National Guard Armory in Los Angeles, California. 55,000 people visited the show during the three days it was held. The very first issue of Hot Rod Magazine was created as the program for the show. The whole show was the idea of Robert E. Petersen, he wanted to arrange the show in order to raise money to build a dragstrip. The actual dragstrip was never built.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...446547&page=13

transitfan Feb 2, 2011 3:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhdantholz (Post 5148690)
NOT 1932---check cars, 2nd from right; NO running boards (Only cars made after about 1939) and the grill mark this as 1940s.


Actually, would have to be 1947 or later--note the dual trolley wire in the pic (sorry, multi-quote doesn't seem to be working). That is for the #3 trolley bus, which replaced the 3 streetcar line in 1947, when 5th and 6th Sts were converted to one-way operation.

mhdantholz Feb 2, 2011 5:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 4565867)
Here's a photo of the Triangle Pharmacy on Washington and Hoover.


http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2...epharmacyc.jpg
usc digital library



A map of it's location.


http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/6...ngeles1908.jpg
1908 map

*WHEN* was the last time you entered a store through an entrance WIDE-OPEN to the street ???

GaylordWilshire Feb 2, 2011 9:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4395873)
Wilshire and Bonnie Brae, 1937. From the USC archive.
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/475...nniebrae19.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhdantholz (Post 5148702)
I simply MUST have that car 2nd from right, license plate 2C 92 41. It is TOO COOL for this planet. And scope out the license plate mounts.


Well, mhdantholz, you need to get yourself down to the corner of Wilshire and Figueroa. Paul Hoffman will have one for you:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013931.jpg


The batwing rear window distinguishes the '36 and '37 Studebaker coupes. If Hoffman is out of stock, you might try checking one out at a car show:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...32118%20PM.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...32118%20PM.jpg



http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...imstudecar.jpghttp://imcdb.org/vehicle_331681-Studebaker-Dictator-1936.html
Speaking of Studebaker batwing coupes, above is Porky Pig driving past one as he travels
east on Sunset toward Gower in 1940's You Ought to Be in Pictures. The Stude in this picture
has a rumble seat, as does the restored example in the picture below. (Btw, Chappell's Cafe
in Porky's picture was at 6100 Sunset. A Denny's is there now.)

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...34610%20PM.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...34610%20PM.jpg


And finally, a great shot north from just south of the Sunset/Gower intersection. What is the Churrigueresque-looking building at the
SE corner, now gone?
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics39/00039221.jpgLAPL
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics39/00039221.jpg

Beaudry Feb 2, 2011 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5074450)

Plus, I wasn't even aware of the Chapel of the Pines. Out of curiosity I googled it.

Here is a vintage photo of the interior.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5...fthepinesi.jpg
/lisaburks




There are some contemporary photos of the interior here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisabur...n/photostream/

Was rummaging through the various and found this, and recalled, there was a post on the Chapel of the Chimes...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/...b96c6e11_b.jpg

Here, referred to not as CotC, but only as "Main Chapel, Los Angeles Crematory and Columbarium Association." 1605 Grover Street -- Grover becomes S. Catalina ca. 1935.

Interesting to compare the flickr photos in er's link to the interior here.

It further reads on its backside:

ANNOUNCEMENT: You and your friends are invited to join us in a series of Sunday afternoon (3 to 4) half-hour musical programs and short addresses on "Cremation -- The Fire-Wisdom Way, Ancient and Modern" by Well-Known Cremationists By Joint Auspices of Los Angeles Cremation Society and "Rosemary League of Loving Remembrance"

What I wouldn't give to have been there, I'm guessing early 20s? to hear those "wacky cremationists" with their nutty ideas. Who do they think we are, heathen Urnfields?

Around the side: Casket stands here & is lowered just as though it were going into a grave -- electric catafalque? Original to the 1903 structure? Too cool.

GaylordWilshire Feb 2, 2011 11:40 PM

Answering my own question (post #2709)
 
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics50/00059872.jpgLAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics50/00059872.jpg

The Churrigueresque building at the SE corner of Sunset and Gower was the Columbia Drug Co., popular
with the cowboys of Gower Gulch who came to check out the competition, the girls, and the magazines at
its outdoor newsstand. Judging by the Mustang, it appears to have still been standing at least until the
mid '60s.

ethereal_reality Feb 3, 2011 12:17 AM

Porky Pig driving down Sunset made me smile. :)

westcork Feb 3, 2011 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdiederi (Post 5148895)
Pasadena Cycleway (a freeway for bicycles) in 1900. Made mostly of wood, the elevated cycleway was designed to run from the Hotel Green in Pasadena to the Plaza in Los Angeles, and was an attempt to speed up transportation and accommodate the booming bicycle craze at the time. In some areas the cycleway was planned to be 50 feet above the ground. The toll was going to be 10 cents for a one-way trip or 15 cents for a two-way ticket, or cyclist could take one of the trains back up the hill. The sudden popularity of automobiles quickly made the cycleway obsolete and the project was abandoned after only one and a half miles of the intended nine mile track was completed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...cleway1900.jpg
looking south, ca.1900.
Pasadena Museum of History

Great find Mdiederi
A friend of mine, Dennis Crowley, was working on a project to restore the Cycleway before he passed away in 2008. The project is documented here:
http://www.californiacycleways.org/project.htm

GaylordWilshire Feb 3, 2011 1:26 AM

Routine Mayhem and Vice in Old L. A.
 
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...ptsclubbus.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...0/sptsclub.jpg
In and out at the Sportsman's Club, 10011 S. Western


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...firevt56th.jpg
Aftermath of fire at Vermont and 96th


http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...nty%20raid.jpg
Panty raid at USC


http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU.../55mercpot.jpg
Imagine how many wigs could be tightened with a '55 Mercury trunkful of pot....


All pics: http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/s...les/?start=all

ethereal_reality Feb 3, 2011 1:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5149933)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics50/00059872.jpgLAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics50/00059872.jpg

The Churrigueresque building at the SE corner of Sunset and Gower was the Columbia Drug Co., popular
with the cowboys of Gower Gulch who came to check out the competition, the girls, and the magazines at
its outdoor newsstand. Judging by the Mustang, it appears to have still been standing at least until the
mid '60s.


First of all, my minor in college was Art History and I STILL had to google "churrigueresque". ;)

The Columbia Drug Store looks like such a great place with it's unique architecture and outdoor book stand.
Using Google Street Views I recently "toured" the street I used to live on in West Hollywood.
I was delighted to see that the outdoor book stand at Hancock & Santa Monica Blvd was still in business.

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/9...tandhancoc.jpg
google street views

Is this a rarity or are outdoor book stands more common than I remember?
In this case, the building is new and yet the book stand survived. I think that's great.

malumot Feb 3, 2011 2:07 AM

For you Red Car and LARY foamers out there----
 
Lot of streetcar pix. Click the active links at the far left of the table for more pics of each line.

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/lary.htm#stats

Spring & Sunset

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/SpringatSunset.jpg

9th and Main.

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/9thMain.JPG

Beaudry and 6th.

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/sixthstreet.jpg

San Pedro nr 8th.

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/sanpedrostreet.jpg

Fifth and Olive

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/5thatOlive.jpg

malumot Feb 3, 2011 2:30 AM

Historic Core at Sunset
 
Thanks to Eric.

http://blogdowntown.com/

If you keep Bunker Hill behind and to the right of you.....this view really hasn't changed much in years (excepting the Reagan State Building in the foreground and the lonely Transamerica, of course)

http://blogdowntown.com/

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/...596078bd_b.jpg

westcork Feb 3, 2011 2:30 AM

MichaelRyerson, here is another shot that contains the Bellevue Arms Apartments. This is taken from Sunvue one street over.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../AAA-EN-106-34
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../AAA-EN-106-28

I found something interesting here on Sunvue Circle (now Sunvue Place). There is a reference to the "Old Sisters' Hospital" on Sunset, right about where the old Metropolitan Water District building located. But he hospital was already gone by 1930.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...EN-106-34?v=hr
USC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zilf/12...3740/lightbox/

http://www.cardcow.com/images/set365/card00317_fr.jpg
Cardcow

And here is another view of the hospital from Sunset and Beaudry 1928
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...EN-28-185?v=hr
USC

westcork Feb 3, 2011 3:37 AM

Landslide
 
Aerial view showing a close-up of the top of the Elysian Park landslide, showing the 53-foot drop-off of the ridge road. The photo was taken on December 14, 1937, directly over the top of the landslide. Riverside Drive is located to the right below. This was caused by a broken water pipe.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064900.jpg
LAPL.ORG

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics25/00032055.jpg
LAPL.ORG

View from Riverside Drive
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics19/00029071.jpg
LAPL.ORG

Beaudry Feb 3, 2011 8:14 PM

Now here's one y'all haven't seen, I'm guessing, it being a snapshot from your average pile of thrift store snapshots.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/...0bf13c88_o.jpg

The only information we have is that it's a stamped Minox print, 16.8.67. So, who was shooting in Los Angeles with a foreign spy camera during the summer of love? And why is this guy in a robe and sandals in the middle of the Bradbury?

ethereal_reality Feb 4, 2011 12:39 AM

originally posted by BEAUDRY
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/7672/aaabeaudryr.jpg




hmmm.....he vaguely resembles Bobby Kennedy (same teeth.....gopheresque). ;)

ethereal_reality Feb 4, 2011 12:58 AM

below: originally posted by westcork

And here is another view of the hospital from Sunset and Beaudry 1928
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...EN-28-185?v=hr
USC[/QUOTE]

I am surprised the hospital lost it's dome as early as 1928.
A loss like this is often a result of an earthquake...but the largest earthquake in the area was in 1933 (the "Long Beach" Earthquake).

ethereal_reality Feb 4, 2011 1:24 AM

Here is a rarity.

The "Round House" built by Ramon Alexander in 1854.
Located on Main Street south of 3rd Street....it was last used as a kindergarten school in the 1880s.


http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/590...useonmains.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5...roundhouse.jpg
usc digital archive



In actuality it was a 12-sided structure.
Does anyone have additional information on this unique structure?

sopas ej Feb 4, 2011 4:50 AM

^^^
I've read elsewhere on the internet that it was also once a saloon. I don't know anything else about the structure.

Undated photo of area near Olympic Auditorium, from the USC Archive:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...lympicaudi.jpg

This was obviously taken when the Hollywood sign still said "HOLLYWOODLAND" and before the I-10/Santa Monica Freeway was built, which is just a block north from the building formerly known as the Olympic Auditorium today. I've always wondered what was torn down to make way for the freeway. Looks like it was once an interesting area, a mish-mosh of architectural styles, residential buildings and businesses, churches, garages...

Edit: I was going through the USC Archive again and this picture is listed on their website twice, the other photo being captioned with the year 1939.

malumot Feb 4, 2011 5:29 PM

That a great Whittington, Sopas.

I don't get up to L.A. much anymore (the few interesting and civilized areas are overlain by a general craptastic funk) but when I do, I pay attention.

And I noted (even back then) the impressive 5-story, brick-faced, double-wing apartment/hotel near the lower right of the photo. That's at Grand and 17th, one block north of the Olympic, at Grand and 18th (lower left of photo).

They both still stand.


Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5151467)
^^^
I've read elsewhere on the internet that it was also once a saloon. I don't know anything else about the structure.

Undated photo of area near Olympic Auditorium, from the USC Archive:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...lympicaudi.jpg

This was obviously taken when the Hollywood sign still said "HOLLYWOODLAND" and before the I-10/Santa Monica Freeway was built, which is just a block north from the building formerly known as the Olympic Auditorium today. I've always wondered what was torn down to make way for the freeway. Looks like it was once an interesting area, a mish-mosh of architectural styles, residential buildings and businesses, churches, garages...


PHX31 Feb 4, 2011 7:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5151256)
Here is a rarity.

The "Round House" built by Ramon Alexander in 1854.
Located on Main Street south of 3rd Street....it was last used as a kindergarten school in the 1880s.
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5...roundhouse.jpg
usc digital archive



In actuality it was a 12-sided structure.
Does anyone have additional information on this unique structure?

Holy cow that lady's trike is awesome!

gsjansen Feb 4, 2011 8:00 PM

a 1936 aerial looking north easterly across the intersection of los angeles street and aliso street. (i believe that this image was posted quite awhile ago, but at the time, i wasn't exactly sure in my mind where this was truely located).

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...b88f14d7_b.jpg
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-4129-C?v=hr

the jennette block, (which contains the garnier building), is at the upper left hand corner, calle de los negros is across the street from there. the street car on the left is turning from going northbound on los angeles street to east bound on aliso street.

a kind of haphazard then and now view using bingmaps, (sorry for the distortion in the now image)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5055/...36f243c6_b.jpg

and here's a companion photo. this time we are looking north across the intersection of alameda and aliso.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...11bcb665_b.jpg
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-4129-T?v=hr

los angeles street is at the top left. san pedro street is the street that terminates at aliso street. (today san pedro terminates at temple).

gsjansen Feb 4, 2011 8:45 PM

woo hoo! park at the park in '52 :eeekk:

building the underground garage under pershing square 1951

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr

Los Angeles Past Feb 4, 2011 9:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5152233)
woo hoo! park at the park in '52 :eeekk:

building the underground garage under pershing square 1951

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr


My mom used to work for Edwin Lester at the LA Civic Light Opera, so we went to many LACLO shows at the Auditorium in the early 1960s. (I particularly remember seeing 'Carousel' and 'Camelot' there.) Anyway, I remember that parking garage vividly, and it always looked to my little kid eyes like it must have been there forever. I had no idea before this that it was actually only a couple of years older than I was! What a surprise...

-Scott

Beaudry Feb 4, 2011 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5151467)

Undated photo of area near Olympic Auditorium, from the USC Archive:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...lympicaudi.jpg

This was obviously taken when the Hollywood sign still said "HOLLYWOODLAND" and before the I-10/Santa Monica Freeway was built, which is just a block north from the building formerly known as the Olympic Auditorium today. I've always wondered what was torn down to make way for the freeway. Looks like it was once an interesting area, a mish-mosh of architectural styles, residential buildings and businesses, churches, garages...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...09b65540_b.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1296853575049
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/...426a5f61_o.jpgmaps.bing.com

Malumot is talking about the Young Apartments. Which I love, as I love much of this area, since I would roam about in it ca. 1983 as a wayward youth frequenting punk rock shows at the Olympic.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5292/...0fa694c3_b.jpgmine

Surprised we haven't mentioned the Young. It's a nice slice of remaining early LA. Never been inside; it having been a slum for so long means it's either remarkably intact, or horribly butchered. I need to check it out. Largest ballroom? Disappearing beds? Mahogany?

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5091/...35bec02c_o.jpgproquest July 28 1912

Of course there is assorted drama over the course of its long life.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/...48b97e4e_o.jpgproquest
(Vilalee Goddard was despondent because her husband George cruised off to visit his mother in Walnut Park on New Year's Eve. New Year's! [1938] So Vilalee, 38, takes a .38 and commits suicide, or so ruled County Autopsy Surgeon Wagner. But twice in the chest and THEN one through the head? Damn.)

The Young became vaguely famous in the early 80s for being owned by former San Diego councilman graduated to notorious LA slumlord Michael Schaefer. Schaefer was in court lots, and thus in the papers, for his rubble-filled, rodent-infested apartments. Tenants in his structures (including the Young) faced eviction as Schaefer elected not to pay DWP et al. utility bills for the properties.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/...b7129187_b.jpgproquest

He wouldn't install smoke detectors or repair fire doors and was sentenced to 45 days in jail; served ten. The building is sold to one Bradley Thrasher, who doesn't do much better -- in 1985 he gets a million-dollar loan from the CRA to fix life-threatening problems, doesn't, and thereafter faces six months/$1,000 fine for code violations. In 1986 the Young lights on fire, and 40 tenants had to be rescued from the fire escapes by hook n' ladder because the fire escape drop-downs didn't work. Thrasher serves 60 days concurrent with other code violations at the Young.

That said, a few months later in January 1987, it is made LA Historic-Cultural Landmark #317.

Again, no idea as to its interior awesomeness. Its exterior never ceases to delight when heading to that 110 onramp.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5020/...101707ac_b.jpgmaps.google.com

MichaelRyerson Feb 4, 2011 10:28 PM

Thanks Westcork, unfortunately the pic
 
shows as one of those little x-in-a-box things. still working my way forward in the thread on page 45 today. I appreciate you watching for more on the Bellevue. Will post something more lengthy when I get to the end of this great thread.

MichaelRyerson Feb 4, 2011 10:29 PM

See? I don't even know how
 
to reply to the correct post. damn.

ethereal_reality Feb 5, 2011 12:23 AM

FYI

"Kingofthehill" has posted some wonderful photos of art deco architecture in Los Angeles.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=162327&page=6

scroll down to post #109

Beaudry Feb 5, 2011 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5136882)
If I remember correctly Beaudry has an affinity with the old Southland Hotel that was located at Sixth and Flower.



below: I found these never before seen (on this thread anyway :) ) photos of the Southland (formerly the Snow).

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2...landin1916.jpg
ebay

above: It looks like there are glass globes (electric?) atop the various pinnacles on the rooftop.
I also like the semi-ornate apartment building on Flower Street that you can see just behind the Southland.





below: The same photo with a slightly different vantage point. Here you can see the neighboring highrises.

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6...screengrab.jpg
ebay






below: A southward continuation of the above photographs.

http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/1860/1916m1a.jpg
ebay


This view is looking southeast along Flower Street.
Notice the semi-ornate apartment building that I liked so well in the first photo (in this pic it is far left).
The adjacent building to the south is handsome as well. (also notice the lone house)





below: Southland Hotel ephemera.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/6547/scollection.jpg
Beaudry's collection

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3...ollection2.jpg
Beaudry's collection


Beaudry, I hope you don't mind me using these last two images.

What I mind is that that image -- which I'm assuming was a glass plate? -- I missed out bidding on. Because it would have been miiiine. At least it's recorded here for my slathery worship, thank God.

You have a good eye -- I too like the Seminole Apartments. 620 South Flower. This is the best photo of its facade ON THE PLANET. Whoever now owns this image, I will trade you my Packard for a good blow-up.

And the globes atop the Southland? Yes, I actually dripped actual drool. (And yes, there is something wrong with me and no, I hope it is never cured.)

And e_r, of course I don't mind you using my images herein, that's what my collection is for, and the internet is for, especially sites like these and particularly this thread.

However, I will say this to anyone to whom it may apply (can't presume to speak for other posters on this thread, but let's pretend I do): if I post something cool, whether it be a previously unseen image or some heretofore unexamined research, and you snag said image or idea, credit this thread. That's not only due research diligence but also common courtesy.

Looking up Flower from 7th. The Snow/Southland at the SW corner of 6th. There's the Seminole, mid-block, right.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5051/...ba2f3a49_o.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013892.jpg

The Seminole

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5054/...9e9b1be0_o.jpg

from http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal10a.html -- this is a fascinating postcard because it bears no relation to reality. Most postcards don't; and that's ok. But taking "artistic license" and putting it on a corner? Puh-leeeze. Gratuitous fanciful rooftop signage is a hallmark of early hotel postcards but -- placing it on a corner, was that supposed to entice out-of-town rubes to whom the card was sent? In any event, there was in fact an alley to the south of the Seminole. That the postcard makes it look like a street we'll chalk up to Angeleno boosterism.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/...09cecc37_o.jpg

Guess who built the Seminole? R. B. Young & Son, who built the Young Apts I wrote about earlier today. It opens in the spring of 1911. 72 apartments of two and three rooms each, and 12 single rooms. The exterior was of red pressed brick and marble trimmings. The Orenas being the wealthy Spanish family who owned the block.

What's most notable in the eBay image is that they've added the large Franco-Renaissance northern addition to the Seminole (yep, all one structure according to atlases of the times). I further drool over the cast iron & glass marquis.

Now go back (scroll up) to that image and look at that lone house at 630 S Flower. The houses next to it have had their driveways laid out, but they're still empty lots. By the car I'd guess this to be about...1915? I'm no car expert. But I think I'm about right. And the reason those plots are empty? Our current economic sitch is nothing compared to the Panic of 1910, much less the Recession of 1913-14, where business and trade activity dropped 20-25%. Lest we forget the insane downturn of 1918-19 due to the postwar unemployment jazz. (Never ceases to amuse that people think that whatever's happening now is somehow the a) first and b) worst it has or ever will happen...) In any event, empty plots with driveways. Telling. I still can't believe I don't own this image. I always marry the inquisitive to the acquisitive. So sue me.

Beaudry Feb 5, 2011 2:04 AM

So after writing about The Young Apartments and its "disappearing beds" I got to thinking about...disappearing beds.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5255/...c5d1bff5_o.jpg

The Holmes Disappearing Bed Company was located at and had its display rooms in 671-681 of the Pacific Electric Building. They also kept a ground floor office there. HDBC, for example, installed seventy-three Disappearing Beds at the YMCA hi-rise downtown (715-729 Hope St).

I have a fetish for the HDBC because they installed them in the Majestic. That is, the Bunker Hill holdout at the corner of First and Hope as penned about here and here: www.onbunkerhill.org/MoreRossmere

www.onbunkerhill.org/SecondBattleofBunkerHill

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/...73412da0_o.jpghttp://www.onbunkerhill.org/georgemann

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5177/...7ff8a99d_o.jpg


Now, since The Majestic AKA 700/702 S Hope is fifty years gone, as is the YMCA downtown, I figured the world would despair at never seeing an actual Holmes. But alas and rejoice!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/...4147e7d8_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2193/...5d869404_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/...1e56c160_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/...1e59e37e_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/...0933a5a1_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/...f6fcbe96_o.jpg

These photos I just found on a Flickr feed via someone named anitajuneparker -- I owe her an immense debt of gratitude for recording this Holmes bed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sniknot/ Whose images of the Holmes appear halfway through this set http://www.flickr.com/photos/sniknot...th/2282319659/

And Holmes Disappearing Bed Company beds were not a downtown phenomenon -- according to a Santa Monica historic landmark site, "The airplane style Craftsman bungalow at 2544 Third Street, was originally the home of the Main Street butcher. This property features overhanging eaves, exposed rafters and large, front wrap-around porch. A built-in secretary in the living room has a “Holmes Disappearing Bed” which slides out from a bottom panel."

I own a house with a Murphy Bed. It's eight feet high and five feet wide and dates to 1907 and pulls from the wall with enormous grandeur. But I'm humbled by the Disappearing Bed. Rrrrarr.

MichaelRyerson Feb 5, 2011 4:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4793350)
Funny, because on Sunday I went to Vidiots in Santa Monica and bought a copy of "The Exiles" just for those extras. The film itself is a great documentation of pre-destroyed Bunker Hill. I saw "The Exiles" after its restoration a few years ago at the Armand Hammer Museum.

Say, you're a big film noir buff, I was wondering if you (or anyone else) could answer a question; at the last Film Noir Festival I sent to, I saw a film but forgot the title; it was set in San Francisco and is about a doctor who is married and has kids, but he has an affair with a woman, then fakes his death so that he can be with her. But of course things go wrong and it has an ironic ending. Would you happen to know which film I'm talking about? I'm wondering if it's available on DVD.

sopa ej, re: post#1017, I think the movie you're thinking of is Nora Prentiss (1948) with Ann Sheridan and Kent Smith as the unfortunate doctor.

malumot Feb 5, 2011 5:53 AM

The Seminole's Neighboring Lots.
 
BEAUDRY ----

First off ....thanks to adding to my post on The Young! You are amazing!

As to those empty lots. That IS a question mark. But would they build the walkways before construction? Or maybe two houses had just been demolished in advance of something else to be built. I dunno. Just asking.

Perhaps there were houses there and they burned. Hasn't been mentioned directly in this now 137 page thread, though I am sure may of us are aware that FIRE was a BIG DEAL in those days. A REALLY BIG DEAL. How many apartments and hotels, like The Young and The Southland, touted their FIREPROOF characteristics. (Whether there was basis in those claims in another matter, of course.)

I've read about a boiler explosion or two on here, but not much on residential building fires. Checked a few LAFD historical sites without much luck. But there has to be some record of fires in these older Downtown structures over the years, and I suspect that list is not short.

Idle thought......."The Southland".....and here all along I thought it was Jerry Dunphy who coined that phrase...LOL

(....and what was that old joke about Jerry Dunphy's first on-air interview being Abe Lincoln.....)

MichaelRyerson Feb 5, 2011 2:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 4802789)
I'm reminded of another great L.A. read: The Drive-In,
the Supermarket, and the Transformation of Commercial
Space in Los Angeles, 1914-1941
by Richard Longstreth.
Sounds dry, but it's not at all. Neither is Longstreth's City
Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile,
and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071505.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics42/00070616.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071511.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071503.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071527.jpg
All LAPL

Reading, reading, reading...I came across this beautiful picture of the Sunfax Market where I worked in the mid-late '50's! Oh my goodness, what a rush to see it. Long post when I finally get to the end of the thread in maybe three or four more days. Gosh the Sunfax! It really was a kind of pretty building, of course we couldn't see it then.

sopas ej Feb 5, 2011 3:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 5152749)
sopa ej, re: post#1017, I think the movie you're thinking of is Nora Prentiss (1948) with Ann Sheridan and Kent Smith as the unfortunate doctor.

Thank you very much! That was bugging me for the longest time, I couldn't remember the name of the film, nor could I remember that Ann Sheridan played the "femme fatale," which, for some reason, to me that term doesn't really apply to that character; she wasn't really a schemer or backstabber. I am totally unfamiliar with Kent Smith's work. Again, thanks for knowing the film. Now I'll have to see if it's available on DVD to own. :)

MichaelRyerson Feb 5, 2011 3:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5152953)
Thank you very much! That was bugging me for the longest time, I couldn't remember the name of the film, nor could I remember that Ann Sheridan played the "femme fatale," which, for some reason, to me that term doesn't really apply to that character; she wasn't really a schemer or backstabber. I am totally unfamiliar with Kent Smith's work. Again, thanks for knowing the film. Now I'll have to see if it's available on DVD to own. :)

My pleasure. It's available on Amazon although a bit pricy. I'd go for the '9 pack noir'! over 13 hours!

sopas ej Feb 5, 2011 3:34 PM

Thanks very much Beaudry for your post about the Young Apartments. I too was always fascinated with this building, ever since I was a kid, when my family would drive by it on the freeway, and even when I was a teenager, I would drive by that building all the time on the freeway; back then in the 80s, I remember it being run down, covered in graffiti, a total hovel. Now of course it looks much better than it ever has since then. And I didn't realize how old the building is. It's practically 100 now.

That area also always fascinated me, which is why I'm so taken by that old picture I posted. I would drive on the 10, wondering what history was destroyed that I was driving over. And knowing that the Olympic Auditorium was the venue for a number of events during the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, I was wondering what the built environment might've looked like around it during 1932, what the athletes and spectators saw on the way to the Auditorium.

Also in that area was a building that I was fascinated by, the old building of the California Hospital Medical Center. I think it was demolished in the late 90s or early 00s. But it was an old brick-faced building, and I think it had some kind of dome and lantern on top. Maybe I haven't been looking hard enough, but I can't find any pictures of it.

After another quick search, I found this, from college.usc.edu.

California Hospital Medical Center, undated photo
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/9863/calr.jpg

When the old building still existed, it was attached to a 1950s-looking addition, which was attached to something probably built in the 1980s, which still exists:

http://www.chmcla.org/stellent/group...banner_001.jpg
California Hospital Medical Center website

I like the old building much better.

sopas ej Feb 5, 2011 4:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaudry (Post 5152497)
And the reason those plots are empty? Our current economic sitch is nothing compared to the Panic of 1910, much less the Recession of 1913-14, where business and trade activity dropped 20-25%. Lest we forget the insane downturn of 1918-19 due to the postwar unemployment jazz. (Never ceases to amuse that people think that whatever's happening now is somehow the a) first and b) worst it has or ever will happen...) In any event, empty plots with driveways. Telling. I still can't believe I don't own this image. I always marry the inquisitive to the acquisitive. So sue me.

I don't wanna get into a political discussion here, but this is why I believe capitalism, particularly unregulated capitalism, doesn't work, in the sense that there will ALWAYS be periods of boom and bust, and the least regulation of businesses, the more extreme it will be. The decades between FDR's New Deal and Reagan's deregulation saw some recessions, but were not as bad until after Reagan.

Now, back to old Los Angeles. Looking at this thread this Saturday morning, I'm in the mood for breakfast at Langer's Deli on 7th and Alvarado. :)

ethereal_reality Feb 6, 2011 2:40 AM

Straightening Spring Street near the magnificent Hall of Records building in 1929.


http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/4...y1929s2hal.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/584...y1929strai.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/346...yviewstrai.jpg
usc digital archive

At first I thought they were just shaving off the facades to make the building fit. Now I am not so sure.
Were the buildings totally destroyed or modified?

The whole act of straightening Spring Street is a bit confusing to me.
Earlier in the thread I believe we had overhead views of the area....but I can't seem to find them at the moment. :(

ethereal_reality Feb 6, 2011 3:38 AM

Here is an enigmatic photo I found on ebay of an outdoor coffee stand in Los Angeles, ca. 1910

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6...coffeestan.jpg
ebay

Notice the numerous stanchions made out of wood behind the coffee stand.
I can't quite figure out what is going on. Is it perhaps the beginning of a new building?

Can anyone here guess the location?

mdiederi Feb 6, 2011 5:48 AM

756 South Broadway (NE corner of 8th and Broadway), 13 floor "Los Angeles Investment Building", built in 1912 for $1 million, architect Ernest McConnell, later named the "Charles C. Chapman Building" after Chapman purchased the building in 1920. Recently converted to residential lofts by Killefer Flammang Architects (Emporis)

Photo ca.1913-1918
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...HS-2321vhr.jpg
USCDL

Photo circa 1940s.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...-1-ISLAvhr.jpg
USCDL

Photo circa 1960s.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...-1-ISLAvhr.jpg
USCDL

Marble interior hallways.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/...fe1_z.jpg?zz=1
Chapman Flats on flickr

Brass elevator doors.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e%20LA/752.jpg
Killefer Flammang Architects

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...12laic-cvr.jpg
http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/plan...ment/index.htm

The Los Angeles Investment Company was a substantial landholder in the LA area and was a major player in the development of the city and the surrounding area from about 1899 to 1913, designing homes with Ernest McConnell as the supervising architect. The company published about ten collections of bungalow house plans, supplied the land to build the houses on and also all the materials to build the houses. In 1914 the president of the company, Charles A. Elder, was convicted of fraud and the company went out of business.

Charles Clarke Chapman (1853–1944) was the first mayor of Fullerton, California and a relative of John Chapman, the legendary "Johnny Appleseed." He was a native of Illinois who had been a Chicago publisher before settling in Southern California.

GaylordWilshire Feb 6, 2011 1:16 PM

Smell the Roses
 
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...433005A79?v=hr
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...433005A79?v=hr



e_r: I wondered if the poles weren't for some sort of exhibition tent-- Agricultural Park came to mind. It doesn't answer your question as to the location of the coffee stand, but when I came across this picture of the rose garden in Exposition Park (which of course once was Agricultural Park), I had to post it.


Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5153492)
Here is an enigmatic photo I found on ebay of an outdoor coffee stand in Los Angeles, ca. 1910

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6...coffeestan.jpg
ebay

Notice the numerous stanchions made out of wood behind the coffee stand.
I can't quite figure out what is going on. Is it perhaps the beginning of a new building?

Can anyone here guess the location?


gsjansen Feb 6, 2011 1:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5153443)
Straightening Spring Street near the magnificent Hall of Records building in 1929.


http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/4...y1929s2hal.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/584...y1929strai.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/346...yviewstrai.jpg
usc digital archive

At first I thought they were just shaving off the facades to make the building fit. Now I am not so sure.
Were the buildings totally destroyed or modified?

The whole act of straightening Spring Street is a bit confusing to me.
Earlier in the thread I believe we had overhead views of the area....but I can't seem to find them at the moment. :(

the buildings in the images are actually the back side of the buildings that fronted on new high street. they lost they're spring street back sides, when spring street was straightened.

1927 aerial

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-6917?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-6917?v=hr

the remainder of the buildings on new high street were gutted when the state building was constructed.

1931 aerial

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...DF739554A?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...DF739554A?v=hr

looking down new high street towards city hall in 1927. this image is taken from the exact location where the state building will be built in three years. all the buildings on the right, are the buildings with the spring street facades removed in your photographs E_R

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-36633?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-36633?v=hr


1924, 1925 and 1929 aerials prior to street alignment and construction of city hall

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/...de7a363c_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/...54b2c6ce_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3406/...b7ee22a5_o.jpg

the 1929 aerial shows proposed street alignment overlay for civic center

gsjansen Feb 6, 2011 2:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5011271)
This is an excellent photograph of an adobe in 1924.

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/252...own1920ist.jpg
usc digital archive


Above: Notice the Wrigley's chewing gum advertisement on the building in the background.


Below: This is a photo of the same area in 1924.
Notice the same turreted building as seen in the above photo. (the one with the Wrigley ad).

Would someone pinpoint the location of this photo. I believe I see Sunset but I'm a bit confused about the cross streets.


http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8...bearea1924.jpg
usc digital archive

the top photograph is looking northeast from new high street towards ord street., (the intersection of ord and new high is just out of view at the lower left). the adobe was on the south east corner of the intersection. the tri tower building, (you can only see two in the photo), was located on the northwest corner of spring and ord.

the building looked down at the north end of christine sterling's disney-esque, china city which was located between main street on the east, spring street on the west, macy street on the south, and ord street on the north.

looking north west from main and macy across china city towards ord street

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics45/00057482.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics45/00057482.jpg

looking south westerly on new high street north of ord street. the tri tower building is at the upper left of the photo, (you can see the wrigley advertisement).

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics28/00063798.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics28/00063798.jpg

the bottom photo is looking north east from fort moore hill. sunset boulevard is running right to left at the bottom of the image. sunset pool on the far right side of the photo is on the south east corner of sunset and new high street.

broadway is the street at the very bottom of the photograph. this image was taken adjacent to the west of the north tunnel portal.

1925 image looking up brodway across sunset boulevard from the north tunnel portal

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-EN-122-3?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-EN-122-3?v=hr

looking south at the north portal of the broadway tunnel from sunset boulevard. your 2nd photo E_R was taken from a point behind the billboard that says direct and consumers on it

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-45775?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-45775?v=hr

a 1955 image looking north easterly from fort moore hill across the new hill street bridge connecting hill street to old castelar street on thenorth side of the 101 freeway. the tri towered building, (minus the wrigley add, and minus it's towers), is on the upper right

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043547.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043547.jpg

this 1950 image taken from where the broaday tunnel used to be, across the construction work of the 101 freeway and sunset bouelvard, shows the tri tower building without it's towers just above, and right of center

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...R-BRO-002?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...R-BRO-002?v=hr

this 1948 image looking west on ord street from main street, shows the building without it's towers

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...UEKES2FT6B.jpg
Source: California State Library http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...UEKES2FT6B.jpg

westcork Feb 6, 2011 4:19 PM

I really wish the USC and LAPL collections were geo-tagged. When you put together a whole collection of photos from the same general area like this^^^ it really gives one a good perspective of what they are looking at, and how the city developed over time. A good example of this is on Flikr on Vokoban's page. This is the guy who meticulously mapped out the theaters along Main Street http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/map/

Los Angeles Past Feb 6, 2011 7:48 PM

:previous: It would have been nice, but unfortunately, a significant portion of both collections were apparently curated by people who had only a cursory knowledge of L.A. history (and in some cases, it seems no knowledge at all), so if the photos had been geotagged, I, personally, wouldn't give them much credence. In fact, every time I look at a photo's accompanying description on the USC and LAPL sites, I take it with a big grain of salt. Some errors I've found on both sites have been absolutely ludicrous. It's really a shame how inaccurate some of the archives' information is.

-Scott


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