noirish Los Angeles - Page 1623

HossC · #**32441** Posted **Dec 8, 2015, 8:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bristolian

I don't believe this photo of the Gardena Pacific Electric station has been seen here. I'm not sure of the exact location but I think the route ran along Vermont Avenue in Gardena.

eBay

Quote:

Originally Posted by transitfan

The route to Gardena did run along Vermont to just south of Gardena Blvd, then curved to the west. At Normandie, a line branched off to Torrance and San Pedro, while another continued westerly/southwesterly to Redondo Beach. Much of the trackage to Torrance survives, while there is no trace of the Redondo line after the tracks dead end into a lumberyard on Western Av just south of 166th St.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wig-Wag

Ira L. Swett's Lines of Pacific Electric - Southern District, shows the Gardena Station stop as 163rd., Street. This would be on South Vernon Avenue.

The original image is available without a watermark at LAPL. Their description says "Looking across the street torwards the Gardena station, located at 16417 Vermont Avenue, which serves both the Pacific Electric Railway Company and the Southern Pacific Railroad Company." I think this 1952 image shows the station building. It disappears between 1963 and 1972.

Historic Aerials

HossC · #**32442** Posted **Dec 8, 2015, 9:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thx HossC. Now I'm wondering where that big building went. Maybe lost in '94?

I think it might me the screen tower of the Compton Drive-In Theater at 2111 E Rosecrans Avenue. The picture below is from 1977.

www.dwell.com

Here it is in 1980. The car wash is one block to the west (left).

Historic Aerials

The drive-in parking lot can still be seen quite clearly on the 2004 aerial image, although much of it is covered by grass. The upper part is now occupied by houses.

ethereal_reality · #**32443** Posted **Dec 8, 2015, 9:33 PM**

Good sleuthing Hoss. It never occurred to me that it might be a drive-in theater.
I can see my "astro-space thingy" in your aerial.

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tovangar2 · #**32444** Posted **Dec 8, 2015, 10:26 PM**

Thx Hoss. I never would have found it. I was looking for a big building.

.................................................................

For those for whom "Walk on the Wild Side" meant something, Holly Woodlawn died on 6 December in Los Angeles. She was 69.

ethereal_reality · #**32445** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 12:43 AM**

'mystery' park. -postmarked 1910. ('mystery', in that I've never heard of it before)

"Children's Playground, 204 North Fremont Avenue, Los Angeles" T. Wiesendanger

old file / eBay

The playground appears to have had an open-air pavilion of some sort. Do you think this playground appears on any old maps?
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below: "Apartment Houses owned by T. Wiesendanger, Los Angeles, California."

Wiesendanger's empire, enlarged

Does anyone recognize any of Wiesendanger's apartment buildings?

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Here's how the postcard appeared on eBay.

Do you think Mr. Wiesendanger handed this postcard out to his tenants during the holidays? That would explain the "Compliments of the Season".

and lastly, an enlargement of the reverse.

-I need some serious help on the translation.

Surprisingly, this is still on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...-/221843534666

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HossC · #**32446** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 1:27 AM**

The T Wiesendanger properties are a little clearer on this LAPL version.

LAPL

The 1910 Baist map shows 204 N Fremont Avenue as "Geneva Flats".

www.historicmapworks.com

ethereal_reality · #**32447** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 1:28 AM**

Thanks for the 1910 baist map Hoss.
I didn't realize there was a copy of the Wiesendanger postcard at lapl.* I thought I had found something extremely rare.

*I just noticed the lapl version is missing the top half that shows the Fremont Avenue playground.
_________

OK, I am pretty sure this is a rare postcard.

"Bird's Eye View of East Los Angeles Cal." Can anyone pinpoint this early vantage point?

eBay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Postcard-Bir...oAAOSwnipWYwMW

The postcard has an undivided back, so it dates to pre-1907!

reverse

ethereal_reality · #**32448** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 2:10 AM**

posted earlier by HossC

I couldn't help but notice the writing on this apartment building (outlined in red above)

detail

Does it say Helvette?

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HossC · #**32449** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 2:35 AM**

It's "Helvetia" at 212 N Fremont Avenue - just above the "Geneva Flats" I arrowed on the 1910 Baist map.

www.historicmapworks.com

This list of T Wiesendanger's properties that I found in the 1910 CD might help to identify some of the other locations.

LAPL

My post on the Occidental Apartments from last December includes this 1955 view. Fremont Avenue is in the lower-left corner, and I think the apartment buildings there are the same as on the Baist map.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

tovangar2 · #**32450** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 7:11 AM**

Wiesendanger is all over the LA Herald from the 1880s, ending in the teens (over 3,000 hits).

He, like most real estate people, was a self-promoter. He touted his 24 apartment buildings with their "700 happy families" (this in 1910). He was also a complainer: about a fertilizer plant on E 8th, the state of the roads near his properties, his employees, the opening of Kohler St, etc. He tried to get the head of LADBS fired and "all his deputies" (there was an investigation, but there was nothing in it). He wanted a Court Street Tunnel, but didn't get it.

Besides the apartments he also had building lots going in various tracts in Gavanza, Alhambra, near Washington Blvd, etc. Wiesendanger had started out buying and selling houses (and a farm on 18th St) and went on to build cottages (323 S Flower, 986 E 52nd, etc).

He played Lord Bountiful on occasion:

24 December 1910

Holiday candy is nice but how about some fire escapes?:

5 May 1911

14 May 1911

21 May 1911

The guy sounds like he could be exasperating:

8 February 1915

CityBoyDoug · #**32451** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 8:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Wiesendanger is all over the LA Herald from the 1880s, ending in the teens (over 3,000 hits).

He, like most real estate people, was a self-promoter. He touted his 24 apartment buildings with their "700 happy families" (this in 1910). He was also a complainer: about a fertilizer plant on E 8th, the state of the roads near his properties, his employees, the opening of Kohler St, etc. He tried to get the head of LABS fired and "all his deputies" (there was an investigation, but there was nothing in it). He wanted a Court Street Tunnel, but didn't get it.

Mr. Landlord maybe should have spent some money on fire escapes and a little less on candy for the neighborhood kids.
Writing an anonymous letter to a judge.... I kinda doubt will work.

oldstuff · #**32452** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 5:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' park. -postmarked 1910. ('mystery', in that I've never heard of it before)

"Children's Playground, 204 North Fremont Avenue, Los Angeles" T. Wiesendanger

old file / eBay

The playground appears to have had an open-air pavilion of some sort. Do you think this playground appears on any old maps?
__

below: "Apartment Houses owned by T. Wiesendanger, Los Angeles, California."

Wiesendanger's empire, enlarged

Does anyone recognize any of Wiesendanger's apartment buildings?

__

Here's how the postcard appeared on eBay.

Do you think Mr. Wiesendanger handed this postcard out to his tenants during the holidays? That would explain the "Compliments of the Season".

and lastly, an enlargement of the reverse.

-I need some serious help on the translation.

Surprisingly, this is still on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...-/221843534666

__

I had a Spanish-speaking friend translate and the gist (not word for word, due to problems with the writing) is that this person is writing to her sister, sending her love to all the family at the place where they all used to live. She sends a "remembrance" to her family. She is apparently leaving Los Angeles on Sunday the 14th and expects to arrive where her sister is on the 12th. She asks her sister not to write back to the address she had as she will have left there by then.

oldstuff · #**32453** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 6:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

The T Wiesendanger properties are a little clearer on this LAPL version.

LAPL

The 1910 Baist map shows 204 N Fremont Avenue as "General Flats".

www.historicmapworks.com

Mr. T. Weisendanger was Theodore Wiesendanger. He was born in Switzerland in 1851. He was originally a teacher in his native Switzerland before coming to Los Angeles in 1884. He had taught at his alma mater, the University of Geneva. He was given a professorship at USC where he worked until 1886 when he left to enter the business of property development.

The playground shown in the pictures was apparently near a group of apartments that he owned in a single block. This was in connection with the Roosevelt Apartments.

In addition to houses and many lots that he sold, by 1911 he had built 40 apartments, according to his online biography. This same article notes that he was an inventor who tried to eliminate the "drudgery of housekeeping" for tenants in his apartments.

The article/biography gives a list of the main apartment buildings he owned:
Among the apartments owned and operated by Mr. Wiesendanger are the following: The Park Apartments, the Seattle Apartments, the Golden Apartments, the Gaviota Apartments, the St. Louis Apartments, Boston Apartments, Denver Apartments, Michigan Apartments, Geneva Apartments, New York Apartments, Chicago Apartments, the Florence Apartments, the Roosevelt Apartments, the Taft Apartments, Marengo Apartments, Helvetia Apartments, Alhambra Apartments, Portland Apartments, Pittsburg Apartments, Oakland Apartments, Lucerne Apartments, Goleta Apartments, Ramona Apartments, and many of lesser size.

He lived at 227 W. 2nd St., according to an 1895 directory. He appears in several articles regarding court cases where he was involved, either as a party or as a witness. He is listed in one newspaper account where he is a witness in a trial, as a building contractor.

There is a tract of property in Alhambra known as the Wiesendanger Tract.

He died in Los Angeles in 1919. He is buried in the Rosedale Cemetery. The bio on Find A Grave for him gives an address at the time of his death as 1130 W. 7th.

A census from 1920 shows, interestingly enough, an Edward Weisendanger, possibly a nephew, who was working as a fire sprinkler fitter. Maybe there was some inspiration in his choice of careers!

HossC · #**32454** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

eBay

A look through the CDs gives an address of 911 Diamond Street ...

Looking back at my post on the Occidental Apartments, I realized that they were at the same address as the Portland Flats in the list of Theo Wiesendanger's properties which I posted yesterday. They obviously changed their name, as the same building is shown in the lower-right corner of the playground photos. The name change occurred somewhen before 1918 (the new name is in the 1918 CD), which is close to Mr Wiesendanger's death date of 1919 just given to us by oldstuff. The photo above dates from 1924. I think there are two possible matches for the building on the properties postcard (below), both in the four to the left of Mr Wiesendanger's head.

LAPL

tovangar2 · #**32455** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 7:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Bird's Eye View of East Los Angeles Cal." Can anyone pinpoint this early vantage point?

eBay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Postcard-Bir...oAAOSwnipWYwMW

Maybe Elysian Park, below Point Grand View?

gsv

Point Grand View is on the left at the Grand View Drive turnaround:

googlemaps

"A Visit to Old Los Angeles" pegs the view as the SFV, so I dunno.

broadwy_central_bldg · #**32456** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 7:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

OK, I am pretty sure this is a rare postcard.

"Bird's Eye View of East Los Angeles Cal." Can anyone pinpoint this early vantage point?

eBay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Postcard-Bir...oAAOSwnipWYwMW

The postcard has an undivided back, so it dates to pre-1907!

reverse

I think this might be the confluence of the Arroyo Seco and the LA River, where the 110/5 connector is now.

This guy doesn't want people posting his photos without written permission, but if you have a look at this....

http://www.stevehymon.com/GALLERIES/...Feb-0142-L.jpg

...it appears to be from a similar vantage point. Source: http://www.stevescamera.com/2014/02/...er-arroyo.html

tovangar2 · #**32457** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 7:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldstuff

Mr. T. Weisendanger was Theodore Wiesendanger.

The playground shown in the pictures was apparently near a group of apartments that he owned in a single block. This was in connection with the Roosevelt Apartments.

There is a tract of property in Alhambra known as the Wiesendanger Tract.

Thank you oldstuff.

There's some more on Wiesendanger's bio here. It includes the claim that the Roosevelt was LA's first apartment building. Does anyone know if that's accurate?

The article includes this quote:

"An unfortunate series of legal battles with investors and stockholders whittled his sizable assets down to a tiny fraction of their former worth. At his death, in Los Angeles in 1919, the Los Angeles Times reported that, 'He had only one friend left to say a last farewell.'"

P.S.

Some info on Wiesendanger's Arlington Heights Tract is here (pg 12).

lacountyarchives

ethereal_reality · #**32458** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 8:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldstuff

I had a Spanish-speaking friend translate and the gist (not word for word, due to problems with the writing) is that this person is writing to her sister, sending her love to all the family at the place where they all used to live. She sends a "remembrance" to her family. She is apparently leaving Los Angeles on Sunday the 14th and expects to arrive where her sister is on the 12th. She asks her sister not to write back to the address she had as she will have left there by then.

Thanks for your help with the translation oldstuff. -much appreciated.
_

HossC · #**32459** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 8:45 PM**

I can't see any connection between the images in this 1949 Julius Shulman photoset. It's vaguely labeled "Scenics", and jumps around the city. It's "Job 441: Scenics (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1949". I'll start with this view looking south-east across the UCLA campus.

I'm sure we've seen this canyon before, but I just can't place it.

I love this view looking at DTLA from the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The road heading towards the Hall of Justice is N Hill Street. Along the way it passes the China City pagoda. On the right is a road running around the edge of Chavez Ravine over a decade before the opening of Dodger Stadium.

Here's the I Magnin store at Wilshire and New Hampshire which we've seen many times before. It's now the Wilshire Galleria Department Store.

Another I Magnin further west along Wilshire. In front of Saks Fifth Avenue is an attractive little building housing Nobby Knit Shops. In the background is Haggarty's, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, a Bank of America and the Warner Beverly Hills Theater.

All from Getty Research Institute

Saks Fifth Avenue now extends across the site occupied by Nobby Knit Shops. At some point they seem to have filled in all the windows on the side of the building.

GSV

The old I Magnin store, including an extra floor on the roof, is now also Saks Fifth Avenue.

GSV

ethereal_reality · #**32460** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 9:39 PM**

'mystery' vantage point.

eBay

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadwy_central_bldg

I think this might be the confluence of the Arroyo Seco and the LA River, where the 110/5 connector is now.

This guy doesn't want people posting his photos without written permission, but if you have a look at this....
http://stevehymon.smugmug.com/GALLER...-1/i-rztKr6m/A

I believe you're right broadway_central_bldg., the hills seem to line up.

I think the vantage point would be up near the present day Beuna Vista Meadow. (see below)

google_earth
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