Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
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Here's a rppc aerial of downtown Los Angeles that someone has annotated.
Link
This is also a good view of the old Biltmore Theater that was located directly behind the Biltmore Hotel.
A view of the front of theater facing 5th Street.
LAPL
I have never understood the open areas. .... To me it looks like a parking garage.
See those four urns. ..................................................................................................................................................... 
Here's one up close. ...Instant death if you find yourself standing below one during an earthquake.
losangelestheatres
1949 - "Up on the balcony level breezeway with a policeman inspecting one of the giant vases after someone had tried to push one into the street."
hmmm. . .I had always heard that most of the precarious architectural ornament, like this mega-urn, were removed from buildings in Los Angeles after the 1933 Earthquake. ....I was misinformed.
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If the locations for that photograph is correct, I'm guessing that the urns were replaced at some point in the building's life. The facade view shows (to me), a wider opening on the urn top and either curved handles or decorative embellishment (snakes?) on the sides of the necks of the urns. The Urn the policeman is next to has a much slimmer, simpler neck and top.
Perhaps the urns were damaged in the 1932 quake, or were replaced with sturdier versions, and the style was modified to a cleaner profile as shown here?