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  #8961  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 1:58 PM
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Such a nice picture but an orphan. Little help?


unidentified california historical image

languishes in the usc archive without benefit of discription nor date. help?

USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
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  #8962  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 3:11 PM
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Have we seen this one before? Lafayette Square, 1940


Aerial view of Lafayette Square in Los Angeles, looking north from Washington Boulevard, ca.1940

"Photograph of an aerial view of Lafayette Square in Los Angeles, looking north from Washington Boulevard, ca.1940. At center is an irregularly-shaped block full of trees and building. A circular road, Victoria Park Place and Victoria Park Drive, can be seen in the middle of the city block. All around, hundreds of small houses and other buildings occupy rectangular city blocks divided by wide, straight street. A tall building can be seen at right. Crenshaw Boulevard extends north at right and West Boulevard extends north at left. The east-west street at bottom is St. Charles Place."

USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
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  #8963  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 7:35 PM
KevinW KevinW is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson View Post

unidentified california historical image

languishes in the usc archive without benefit of discription nor date. help?

USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
The cars all look like they're from the twenties. The billboard at the bottom left mentions the Culver City Speedway, built in 1924. It's now the site of a Costco. Not that the picture is of this, it's just a time stamp.

Auto Racing Memories

I'd say we're looking past downtown and the mountains on the left are the end of the San Gabriels. (thanks Malamut!)

Date wise it's hard to say without any real notable building except the tanks.

I was looking at 1924 aerials and found this one of the business district:

LAPL

Those are definitely the same black tanks. I'll keep looking.

And here they are in a picture with the Plaza:


LAPL

Looking at a map and the relation of the taller to the shorter tank, I'd say this pic was taken from somewhere around 7th and Main looking NE in 1925.

Last edited by KevinW; Aug 22, 2012 at 8:42 PM.
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  #8964  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 7:39 PM
malumot malumot is offline
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AGREED!

You had me on the edge of my seat with that one.




Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
I have to admit, that is one of the most noirish posts we've had in a while. Good job Michael Ryerson.

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  #8965  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 7:58 PM
malumot malumot is offline
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I think those are the San Gabriels (Mt. Wilson and Lowe)

Southern edge of Downtown at left. Famous gasholders north and east of downtown.

My guess....somewhere down by Washington and San Pedro.

Either way - take a gander at that mix of land uses. You sure don't see THAT any more.

Of course, If I'm correct, that would be the same general area as the 1947 plating company explosion (926 E Pico, between San Pedro and Central).....and which is WHY they don't mix land uses like that any more.....



Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinW View Post
The cars all look like they're from the twenties. The billboard at the bottom left mentions the Culver City Speedway, built in 1924. It's now the site of a Costco.

Auto Racing Memories

I'd say we're looking towards downtown and the mountains on the left are the end of the Hollywood Hills. I don't see City Hall so it's got to be pre-1928. I think I see the Normal School at the right in the far distance. I'd love a higher Res. Copy.
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  #8966  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 9:15 PM
malumot malumot is offline
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Anyone notice the price on that map?

50 cents!

That's something close to ten bucks in today's dollars.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Lwize View Post
1928 Rand McNally street maps in and around LA:

Original site:
http://mypantsareonfire.tumblr.com/p...nia-1928-large


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  #8967  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 9:30 PM
so-cal-bear so-cal-bear is offline
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.

Last edited by so-cal-bear; Aug 5, 2013 at 1:48 PM.
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  #8968  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 10:41 PM
rbpjr rbpjr is offline
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[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;5806355]This 1940s viewpoint of City Hall confuses me a bit.


unknown/perhaps ebay

I can't quite place this vantage point. The fence post-like stanchions are unfamiliar...
I believe it is the parking lot at the top of Court Flight...
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  #8969  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 10:53 PM
ProphetM ProphetM is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson View Post

unidentified california historical image

languishes in the usc archive without benefit of discription nor date. help?

USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Found it!

The building in the center is at 12th & Wall St. (we're looking mostly at the 12th St. side.) The larger building a block to the right is at 12th and San Julian. They're both still there.

It appears then that the photo was taken from the top of the Allied Crafts Building, or from the building to the north of it - Maple Tower? Or perhaps a lower floor of one of them while it was under construction. The Allied Crafts Building was built in 1925. The Bendix building would block the left of the photo if it existed, and it was built in 1929.

Here's a street view of the central building in the photo:
http://goo.gl/maps/s1BwG

The distinctive roofline on the inside alley corner gives it away. The larger building at San Julian can be seen in the distance.

Edit: I reproduced the shot in Google Earth:


For this shot, I removed the 3D models of the Bendix Building, Maple Tower, and a parking garage at the SE corner of 12th & Wall. Judging by this, the extremely close roofline at bottom center of the original photo is the Allied Crafts Building, while the roofline in the right foreground is actually a shorter, narrow building facing Wall St. (also still with us, at 1223-1225 Wall St.).

Last edited by ProphetM; Aug 22, 2012 at 11:20 PM.
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  #8970  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2012, 12:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ProphetM View Post
Found it!

The building in the center is at 12th & Wall St. (we're looking mostly at the 12th St. side.) The larger building a block to the right is at 12th and San Julian. They're both still there.

It appears then that the photo was taken from the top of the Allied Crafts Building, or from the building to the north of it - Maple Tower? Or perhaps a lower floor of one of them while it was under construction. The Allied Crafts Building was built in 1925. The Bendix building would block the left of the photo if it existed, and it was built in 1929.

Here's a street view of the central building in the photo:
http://goo.gl/maps/s1BwG

The distinctive roofline on the inside alley corner gives it away. The larger building at San Julian can be seen in the distance.

For this shot, I removed the 3D models of the Bendix Building, Maple Tower, and a parking garage at the SE corner of 12th & Wall. Judging by this, the extremely close roofline at bottom center of the original photo is the Allied Crafts Building, while the roofline in the right foreground is actually a shorter, narrow building facing Wall St. (also still with us, at 1223-1225 Wall St.).
Oh man, you're good. That is such a nice photograph and now we know what and where it lives. I especially liked the clear image of the houses. Going back to my FlickR account to update my caption on it. Thanks again.
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  #8971  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2012, 12:13 AM
KevinW KevinW is offline
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Looking at a map and the relation of the taller to the shorter tank, I'd say this pic was taken from somewhere around 7th and Main looking NE in 1925.[/QUOTE]

Come on, I was close. Two blocks over five blocks down and within five years...

Great work Prophet!
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  #8972  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2012, 2:06 AM
ProphetM ProphetM is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rbpjr View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
This 1940s viewpoint of City Hall confuses me a bit.


unknown/perhaps ebay

I can't quite place this vantage point. The fence post-like stanchions are unfamiliar...
I believe it is the parking lot at the top of Court Flight...
If it were at Court Flight, I believe the hall of records would be in between the camera and City Hall.

I think my post about this picture on page 448 may have been missed as we turned over to a new page just 90 minutes later, so I'm going to put it up again here:

Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
This 1940s viewpoint of City Hall confuses me a bit.


unknown/perhaps ebay

I can't quite place this vantage point. The fence post-like stanchions are unfamiliar to me.

__
Compare to this picture from your opening post of this thread:



I bet that night photo was taken from right next to the stanchions. The relationship between City Hall and the old state office building seems to be exactly the same. So, it's Bunker Hill just north of 1st St., standing just west of the Hill St. tunnels. In the night shot above, you can catch just a tiny piece of the railing over the tunnel entrance at bottom center.

Thus, the camera position is the top left corner of this photo, left of the house:

KCET - Lost Tunnels of Downtown L.A.
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  #8973  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2012, 9:15 AM
fhammon fhammon is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past View Post


U.S.C. Digital Library

I'm kicking myself for not remembering the name of the hotel at far left at the NW corner of First and Hill. Dang it - I just can't bring it to mind at the moment...

-Scott

EDIT: Highland Villa! At least I think that was it.
From one of your earlier posts. I'm finding the Highland Villa hotel and this little bend in the road very interesting:



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=865
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  #8974  
Old Posted Aug 23, 2012, 10:37 AM
Los Angeles Past Los Angeles Past is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fhammon View Post
From one of your earlier posts. I'm finding the Highland Villa hotel and this little bend in the road very interesting:



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=865

Heh, yep, quite a contrast to the way it looks today. It's only "Hill Street" in name now...


Google Maps Street View

Last edited by Los Angeles Past; Dec 25, 2017 at 10:07 AM. Reason: Repaired broken image links
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  #8975  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2012, 12:04 AM
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MichaelRyerson MichaelRyerson is offline
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Radial-engine airplane outside the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, ca.1934

"Photograph of a radial-engine airplane outside the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, ca.1934. The high-wing monoplane can be seen in the foreground at right, and a man in a suit is visible near an open door under the wing. The Spanish-style air terminal can be seen in the background. It is a two-story structure with a terracotta tile roof. In the background at left, a tall rectangular control tower is visible. Legible signs include "Grand Central Air Terminal" and "Curtiss-Wright"."


USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
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  #8976  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2012, 1:18 AM
KevinW KevinW is offline
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While looking around at aerials of Culver City and the Speedway I found this shot of the Circus Maximus set from Ben Hur. It's an MGM set. Any idea where this is?

LAPL

Last edited by KevinW; Aug 24, 2012 at 7:43 AM.
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  #8977  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2012, 1:59 AM
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[QUOTE=KevinW;5808880]While looking around at aerials of Culver City and the Speedway I found this shot of the Circus Maximus set from Ben Hur. It's an MGM set. Any idea where this is?
QUOTE]

This is the 1925 production. I think Venice Boulevard and La Cienega?
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  #8978  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2012, 5:01 AM
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ethereal_reality ethereal_reality is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinW View Post
While looking around at aerials of Culver City and the Speedway I found this shot of the Circus Maximus set from Ben Hur. It's an MGM set. Any idea where this is?
Oh my, this photograph is absolutely amazing KevinW!




below: What in the heck is this thing that I've circled in red?



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  #8979  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2012, 7:41 AM
KevinW KevinW is offline
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[QUOTE=MichaelRyerson;5808929]
Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinW View Post
While looking around at aerials of Culver City and the Speedway I found this shot of the Circus Maximus set from Ben Hur. It's an MGM set. Any idea where this is?
QUOTE]

This is the 1925 production. I think Venice Boulevard and La Cienega?
You are so right. I never thought about the sparse development which by the time Chuck Heston was zipping around that track would have been filled in.

And hey, I'm the first post on page 450!!!! This thread blows me away.
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  #8980  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2012, 3:24 PM
Earl Boebert Earl Boebert is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson View Post

Radial-engine airplane outside the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, ca.1934

"Photograph of a radial-engine airplane outside the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, ca.1934. The high-wing monoplane can be seen in the foreground at right, and a man in a suit is visible near an open door under the wing. The Spanish-style air terminal can be seen in the background. It is a two-story structure with a terracotta tile roof. In the background at left, a tall rectangular control tower is visible. Legible signs include "Grand Central Air Terminal" and "Curtiss-Wright"."


USCdigital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
Looks like a Lockheed Vega.

Cheers,

Earl
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