Great photos of Mr. Eltinge's house, Gaylord. "Bohemian Los Angeles" is another book I've had for a while but I still haven't read it all the way through, I've just skimmed through it in parts; it is of course a very interesting book.
I like those photos of downtown LA, ethereal. I was just there today. Yesterday, in my search for old photos of the Engstrum Hotel, I stumbled upon other photos that made me stare at them all night last night... I'm now fascinated by the area around the Los Angeles Central Library. Apparently that area used to be a lot more hilly than it is now.
I know that LA's Central Library was built on the site that once was the southern branch of the California State Normal School (which evolved into what became UCLA). But I didn't really have it in my mind how that school building was situated on that site and how much it had been altered after its demolition and the subsequent building of the Central Library.
Here's a 1910 photo, looking west on 5th Street from Hill Street; 5th Street dead ends at the Normal School.
USC Archive
Now this is where it got interesting for me. Here's an undated photo; but this is looking west from where 5th Street USED to dead end at Grand Avenue, but here you can see that it was cut through the hill to extend the street. On the left is where the Central Library will be built; on the right is the Engstrum Hotel, with a narrow street in front of it that slopes down and intersects with Grand Ave.
USC Archive
Here's an aerial shot of the nearly completed Central Library, I assume this was taken while the finishing touches were still being put on the Library. You can see the Engstrum Hotel across the 5th Street from it, on the edge of the rise of Bunker Hill. The Edison Building/One Bunker Hill Building to the right of the Engstrum wasn't even built yet, nor was the Sunkist Building, which would rise to its left. Where 5th Street meets the hill looks unfinished, and you can see the narrow street that slopes down to meet Grand Avenue.
LAPL
Here you see the Edison Building (later called One Bunker Hill) being built on the corner of Grand and 5th. It looks like they're repaving the narrow sloping street, and they're also putting in a retaining wall.
LAPL
Here's a photo from 1945. You can see the completed retaining wall and the Engstrum Hotel, sandwiched by the now completed Edison Building and the Sunkist Building, which was built in 1935.
USC Archive
Here's the Edison Building circa 1930s.
publicartinla.com
Flash forward to today, May 2010. The Engstrum Hotel and the Sunkist Building have long been torn down. The Edison Building is now known as One Bunker Hill. The Central Library, having suffered damage in 2 arson fires in 1986, closed, was restored, expanded and reopened in 1993 (resulting in the loss of the east lawn, which was across 5th Street from the Edison Building).
One Bunker Hill, May 2010. The little sloping street in front of this building is now gone. In its place is a 2-story commercial structure which is part of the One Bunker Hill property.
Photo by me
The Sunkist Building, retaining wall and sloping street are of course gone, and in their place are the Citigroup Building, the Bunker Hill Steps and the US Bank Tower. The arches along the wall next to the Bunker Hill Steps curiously remind me of the arches in the retaining wall, if you look at the Sunkist Building photo.
Photo by me
Here's another shot of the Sunkist Building from the 1940s:
USC Archive
This is what's there today:
Photo by me
Here's a view looking east along 5th Street between the Central Library and the Bunker Hill Steps:
Photo by me
Here's a similar view from the early 1920s:
LAPL
What a difference nearly 90 years make, not only in buildings but in topography and street layout!