Very cool photos, ethereal! I particularly like the view of this:
usc digital archive
I'm amazed at the few single-family homes that still existed and that were were being encroached upon by commercial buildings at that point in time; at mid-left you can also see Pershing Square and the Philharmonic Auditorium before its 1930s Moderne remodel (and eventual demolition, of course), and the area where the Biltmore Hotel would be built.
Looking it up on Google Earth, the Hotel Bristol was dirty-looking until fairly recently; I assume it got cleaned up when it was being fixed up to become a boutique hotel before those plans fell through. I neglected to say that when I walked by it last month, it looked there were plans for a burger bar to go into one of the commercial spaces at street level, and I guess there were also remnants of the Club El Gaucho, too. Here's the pic from Google Earth:
Also, I was kinda hoping the Golden Gopher would be a total dive, but apparently it's been turned into a hip-looking bar-- perfect for maybe one day an SSP noirish LA thread fan get-together? Hehe!
http://www.goldengopherbar.com/