then & now.


Thanks to so-cal-bear and bighen for identifying this photograph as Pico & Flower.

1990
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...903/lsFpoa.jpg
-file



2015
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...673/tBU2JQ.jpg
GSV


The large brick building on the right is the Oviatt hotel.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...903/itqQBP.jpg
detail / gsv


The old Vogue Tire building, that so-cal-bear pointed out, still stands (next to the Oviatt) -the Vogue sign now says 'Fabrics'.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/bRJ4CT.jpg
GSV



Also standing: the brick apartment building down the street. (but trees are blocking today's view)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...911/n5Zemi.jpg
GSV



below: Can anyone read the sign on the side of this building in the 1990 photograph? I've tried, without success.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/YjTrFg.jpg
1990 / detail

Is it Casa B_ _ _ something?
__

:previous:

That's the Casa Della apartments at 1349 S Flower...

Dodson Tire--originally MacDonald-Dodson-- moved to 1323 some time between 1954 and '57 from 1317 S Hope: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=10205

Speaking of "No-Nose" Nanette (as I've heard theater people call her), she lived here with her parents, Raoul and Lillian Fabares, in 1930:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...0/nannette.jpgGSV
909 North Hobart Blvd

Underneath the remodeling, there appears to be Craftsman details

:previous: Thanks for the 'Casa Della' info. GW, and the pic. of Nanette's childhood home on Hobart.

I just came across this photograph. (I've searched and couldn't find it on the thread)

The somewhat vague description says it's Compton.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...537/i1WOFO.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h7...panyinteru.jpg


Here's the complete description.

"Pacific Electric Company interurban streetcar 1221, palm trees, sedan automobiles,
and businesses in Compton (Los Angeles County), California."

But the question is....where in Compton? Doe anyone recognize the attractive white building with the tiled roof?

_

The caption just says "F.I. Jacobs home in Calif", but the seller's description added circa 1920s Los Angeles. Initially I checked through the 1920s CDs, but couldn't find
anyone called F I Jacobs. The number by the door is 5201, but none of the F Jacobs lived at that number. Then I found an article about a Civil War veteran named
Francis Irving Jacobs. Born in 1846, he moved to Los Angeles on May 9, 1914 and died there on December 4, 1919.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...e.jpg~original
eBay

With this new information I quickly checked earlier CDs, and found Francis I Jacobs listed at 5201 S Wilton Place in the 1918 CD. The article says that his widow, Mary,
lived in Los Angeles until her death on January 9, 1943. According to the City Directories, she was still living in S Wilton Place into the 1930s. I thought it was unlikely
that the house was still standing, but here it is (with some alterations). The usual property websites list the built date as 1913, which ties in nicely with Mr Jacobs' move
to California.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
GSV

T2, I really like this house with it's unique 'ship's prow' dormer.
So what exactly happens once a building is condemned?
Is there any way to save it?
__

ER: I wouldn't worry about searching the thread. I love everything you post...old or new or repeat!.

The thread is so huge now that most all of us have no idea what was posted years ago.

Take care and good to see you back from Illinois. I used to live in Champagne for the one year I attended U of I., Today, I have no idea why I was there...LOL
The house I lived in is long gone, as is the frat house I worked in. But it was fun.

Doug....;):):tup:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...rketbasket.jpg


Full expandable view here:
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm...id/77113/rec/1

I dug around a little--a Morris Garage--there is one at far right in the bigger picture--was listed at 601 E Compton...to the west of this address on a the corner today is an interesting Deco building, but it does not seem to correspond to the Market Basket... or maybe it was a block farther west, now an empty lot... or not on Compton Blvd at all. no Market Basket listings in Compton CDs in the '40s. There appears to be a post office at far left of big pic, but not enough detail to confirm that this is Compton. There is a "Pete's" filling station at the far right--also not in the 1946 Compton directory. To its left appears to be a possible street number--maybe 146 or 146. I think one of our foamers will have to sort this one out based on the PE car and the interurban routes.

:previous: GaylordWilshire, thanks so much for the link to the BIG photo (at the Denver Library of all places!!)

I see the Morris Garage you mentioned.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/K6CVuU.jpg
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm...id/77113/rec/1

Hopefully we can unearth more information on the 'Market Basket' building.
__


So what do you think is going on at street level?
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/APuuLq.jpg

It looks like an 'open-air' store front that's been blocked by a multitude of small doors.

(the 'target' billboard at left is interesting as well)


_

NE corner of Wilshire and Normandie
 

We've seen the Oasis Church, formerly the Wilshire Christian Church, in many photos:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...8.jpg~original
GSV August 2014

But I don't think we've ever gone inside:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...n.jpg~original
CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...1Q7PN2YJ94.jpg

The church was dedicated in April 1927. These two interiors photos may have been taken around that time:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...h.jpg~original
CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...3VIHABU5SM.jpg

This photo of the Normandie side was taken c. 1927. The glass in the large round window has yet to be installed. The building in the lower left corner is the church's previous home, which opened in June 1911:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...c.jpg~original
LAPL -- http://jpg1.lapl.org/00076/00076732.jpg

I don't think we've seen that 1911 building before, so here is the Wilshire side:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...s.jpg~original
June 1916 The Building Age @ Hathitrust -- http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...ew=1up;seq=419

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...l.jpg~original
Floor plan of 1911 building -- http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...ew=1up;seq=420

According to Big Orange Landmarks, where there's a nice post on the church, the 1911 building was replaced in 1959: http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.c...an-church.html

:previous: Very impressive views of the interior of the Wilshire Christian Church FlyingWedge.


Earlier in the week, I posted this posted 'mystery' location.

Someone PM'ed me saying they thought this might be a railway 'loop' in East Los Angeles.

After numerous searches, I think a possible location might be the intersection of 1st Street and Chicago Street (there is a pocket park at that location today)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/oGEOG8.jpg
GSV

below:
I've tried, but I haven't been able to 'line up' a modern view to match the vintage photograph. :(

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/srVrAK.jpg
GSV

HossC, could you dig up a vintage aerial to see if there was ever a transit 'loop' at this location?

__

749 Columbia Ave 90017
 

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g...75159%2BPM.jpg
gsv

I seem to have made an erroneous assumption re that Victorian house being condemned. LAMC Section 41.24 is here (in the same general section that bans hurdy-gurdys and spite fences). One needs the owner's permission to enter, not the city's as I'd thought.

Maybe the house is being rehabbed/restored and the sign is for public safety and/or an attempt to keep squatters out.

I'll keep an eye on the property. Maybe the old house will become a showplace.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...74750%2BPM.jpg
gsv

Also on Columbia is a beautiful, classically-inspired home at No. 718, built in 1900 and a wee, dear 1890 cottage at No. 716. They last sold in 1979 for $45K and $14.5K respectively. The 1926 Mayflower Hotel still dominates the neighborhood. Curlett and Beelman did a nice job on the back.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-f...82710%2BPM.jpg
gsv

(...and btw, who on earth would want to ban hurdy-gurdys?)



Welcome back.



And thank you Flyingwedge. I did not recall that that gi-normous edifice was built in the bungalow church's front garden

A huge THANK YOU to ER, GW, CBD, Tovanger, Flying Wedge, and everyone else on this site for the gift of this site. My son (a UCLA student) was home for spring break this week, so yesterday, we hopped on Metrolink, crossed the Orange Curtain, and went to Union Station to start a day of urban exploring. We went all over, from the Bradbury Building to Walt Disney Hall (to the tune of 8.5 miles according to my FitBit). Our trek was given a lot more meaning and depth because of what I've learned here. I helped my son picture the Broadway of the 1930's, lit with theatres from one end to the other, and even shared some noir-ish tales learned here. Thank you guys so much for making a great day truly memorable!

I'm not sure how I missed this location - I must have started my search along E 1st Street too far east! The "modern view" above doesn't line up because it's looking in the wrong direction. The original was taken from Chicago Street, although the additional trees now prevent any meaningful comparison.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ocketPark1.jpg
GSV

Here's a 1952 aerial view which shows the park when it was much smaller, with room for streetcars to stop on the north side.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ocketPark2.jpg
Historic Aerials

Incidentally, the large building below the park on the aerial above (it's just out-of-shot to the right of the original image) is the previous incarnation of the Benjamin Franklin Branch of the Los Angeles City Library. It's "that impressive building down at the end of the street" in this slide posted by e_r back in January.

Sorry, I've got no Compton reference stuff to bring to the table, but this then must be Willowbrook Ave. The PE didn't just wander anywhere it liked. My lousy memory from the 1970s thinks that the street was essentially residential then as it seems to be now. So the thought is that businesses would be clustered around the major E-W intersections: Rosecrans, Compton Blvd, Olive St. Good hunting to the hunters!

In short, there likely was never a loop in the location at E. 1st and Chicago. This is a certainty in the era of the P Pico streetcar. Perhaps the poster is remembering the end-of the-line loop for the P Pico line at N. Rowan and E. Dozier, a little farther east. That's been shown back in the day in noirish posts, I think, and is a bus loop today.

In fact, if the two PCC streetcars shown are supposedly on the same loop, they'd run into each other. This is not considered good practice.

What I did find was an earlier record of transportation around E. 1st and Chicago. Mira:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8740/...c5a216ed_o.png"Los Angeles Railway, Interurbans No. 11", Ira Swett, ed.

From 1889 to 1896, the Pacific Railway Co. ran cable cars(!) down E. 1st, past this very site. Again, it wasn't the end of the line at Chicago St., so no turntable or loop was likely here. What there was at the intersection where the Benjamin Franklin library is now was the powerhouse for the cable line. Note the remark on the map that it was closed 1987, remodeled 1910. I'm thinking it was the conversion for the library, which was at a different location earlier. The grand building shown earlier in e-r's slide certainly has the power station look.

tovanger2 wrote:
(...and btw, who on earth would want to ban hurdy-gurdys?)

You might say that when hurdy-gurdys are banned, only criminals will own hurdy-gurdys. There were way too many at the time, basically. Consider roving hurdy-gurdy gangs at the same location, like a park or outside of your house, all playing different tunes simultaneously for hours at a time, and on a regular basis, to boot. Add in begging monkeys (illegal now?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkIxAnRSS2o and begging children knocking at your door and window or tugging at your sleeve, all the time. Pretty soon you'll either curl up and try to hide (Starbucks today is the last refuge of scoundrels but wouldn't help here), or you'd go postal and go gunning for hurdy-gurdys. Maybe for Donovan, too.

Not LA-related but there was a 1880s/1900s era composer or writer who teed off on hurdy-gurdy men in the newspapers. They read that and descended on his house in droves and played for days and days.

Today, multiple competing street musicians with amps at your local flea market or farmers market is bad enough. Nowadays we also have restaurant/bars that pipe the music to the street to draw customers, then get into sound wars with their restaurant/bar neighbors. If you live nearby, good luck.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/4obDVo.jpg
posted earlier

I PMed the person who suggested the Lani Vest Pocket Park at 1st and Chicago used to be a transit loop.

He led me to this.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/BeTeyg.jpg
flickr/metro library archives

"1st / Chicago loop, East los Angeles, 1956"

I looked into the 'history' of Lani West Pocket Park, and not one source...mentions that it used to be a transit loop.

_

At least one gent who did battle with the hurdy-gurdy men was Charles Babbage, of Difference Engine (early computer) fame, and the story is ascribed as happening to him.

Cheers,

Earl