Quote:
Originally Posted by tovangar2
My 1948 Gillespie's Guide shows Castelar running parallel with and between Hill and North Broadway. The whole nest of little streets in that area has been cleaned up, straightened and the blocks made larger. Castelar Elementary School (LAUSD schools are almost always named for the street they're on) still exists at the corner of Yale and College. Presumably the old entrance would have faced Castelar.
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I don't have a '1948 Gillespie's Guide' but I do have a 1945 Renie' Atlas, a 1942 Shell Street Map and two mid-'50's insurance company giveaway street maps and I believe what you are looking at are the streets prior to the reconfiguration which came with the Hollywood freeway grading of Fort Moore Hill which would have been '48, '49 or '50ish. Strictly speaking Hill Street never ran parallel to Castelar and N. Broadway. North of Sunset, beginning at N. Broadway and going west you next have Castelar, Teed and then the little stub of Hill Street where it bends to the west pretty much directly across Sunset from where it has descended the north slope of Fort Moore Hill. This little stub would become N. Hill Place, Hill Street proper would move over and lay atop the Castelar roadbed (with the exception of the section from Sunset to Ord which would become W. 1st Street Road, the new Hill Street roadbed being laid slightly to the east for this section) and be joined at Sunset with the new Hill Street now skirting the east slope of Fort Moore Hill. Teed Street will suffer the indignity of simply being abandoned. All that remains is a little waste area between buildings. So much for the former site of the J.W. Robinson mansion and later the Regina Coeli (Mother Cabrini) Orphanage. I might add that by the time Mother Cabrini purchased the property from Julia Barnum, the widow of J. W. Robinson the address of the property had become 610 N. Hill Street. I don't know if the Castelar Elementary School ever faced Castelar (now Hill Street) although its playground borders Hill Street but it certainly isn't unusual for an elementary school to bear the name of a major through street but 'face' on another smaller and presumably quieter side street. In the late '40's and early '50's I attended Santa Monica Boulevard Elementary School, the main entrance of which was not on Santa Monica Boulevard but on N. Van Ness across from the Hollywood Cemetery and Paramount Studios and even then the vast majority of students entered the school from the North Ridgewood Place side. There was no entrance on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Castelar Street (now Hill Street) as viewed looking south from Bernard Street before construction of the new thoroughfare, February 13, 1936
Photograph of Castelar Street (now Hill Street) as viewed south from Bernard Street before construction of the new thoroughfare, February 13, 1936. A muddy lot can be seen at center. Bernard Street is visible across the foreground, while a portion of a one-story building can be seen at left next to a tree. One- to two-story buildings can be seen beyond the lot, while City Hall is visible in the distance to the left of center. Castelar Elementary School would be on the right in the first tree line.
USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
Same shot almost exactly two years later...
Castelar Street (now Hill Street) as viewed looking south from Bernard Street after construction of the new thoroughfare, February 10, 1938
Photograph of Castelar Street (now Hill Street) as viewed south from Bernard Street after construction of the new thoroughfare, February 10, 1938. Several automobiles can be seen on a paved road running from the foreground into the center background. Utility poles line the road at left, while a portion of a one-story building is visible at left. A leafless stump of a tree can be seen near the building. Dirt lots can be seen on both sides of the road, while buildings can be seen beyond the lots. City Hall can be seen in the distance at center.
USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960