ethereal-- the building that looks like the Biltmore is the old Chamber of Commerce building. Here it is in 1968, getting ready to be torn down, the Occidental Center looming:
LAPL
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078700.jpg
And in better days--1939, 14 years from new:
LAPL
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064836.jpg
LAPL
http://http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics25/00062255.jpg
Imagine a child, professional or not, being allowed to do this today--per the LAPL, this
is "...a young girl acrobat [standing] on her head on the roof of the Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce building near the Los Angeles Examiner."