Originally Posted by Yak (Post 6234218)

My brother sent me a link to this thread a while ago; I'm finally chipping in.

My family lived in the castle at 4857 Melrose Ave. circa 1965-1977. During that time I aged from circa 3 to 15 years old.

On that slab shown in the thread, I believe the missing parts read "1949-1957" for the years that Milt Hopkins built the castle; and "Alexander Korens Konya," my Father who built the fountain w/ statue pouring water over herself, which is no longer there.

The thread shows a photo of the castle from "1935". That is definitely incorrect as the castle was built circa 1949-1957.

I once heard that Hopkins used material left over from the building of the Hollywood Freeway which he purchased cheap.

After completion, Hopkins moved into the castle with his wife & lived there until we purchased it around 1966. You should have seen it back then. Hopkins had built dozens of little lights embedded in concrete throughout the property which featured a working water wheel which fed an artificial creek which flowed into a sizable pond. The yard had many cool features, making it great for hide & go seek, inspecting plants & animals, outdoor meals, etc.

The parties mentioned in the thread occurred when we went on a family road trip and rented the castle out for a few months.

In semi-retirement, my Dad spent a lot of time gardening and upgrading the property. In addition to the fountain mentioned above, he also built the concrete walkway which still spans the bridge today, the driveway, and a fenced in table tennis area.

The interior also had the "castle" feel with big mirrors, high ceilings & windows & curvy edges to the walls. My parents decorated with antique furniture which seemed to fit in perfectly.

Even though it was "everyday" for me, I always felt special & priveleged to be living in such a cool home. When my Dad passed away, it was just too much property for my Mom & her 2 boys to maintain, so Mom sold it and it got converted into a French Restaurant. Since then it has also been a Korean Resaurant, & more recently it seemed like some kind of Korean dinner club. Currently it seems boarded up.

Our family and the house were featured regularly in the Wilshire Press newspaper and at least once on the local TV News.

I sure loved growing up there; the castle itself seemed like one of the family.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 4647420)

Here is a great photo showing the Hill Street Pacific Electric Station.


http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/815...electrichi.jpg
usc digital archive



Below: I found this schedule/map showing a Mount Lowe route (through a wonderland) for $2.50.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 6010623)

Originally Posted by Tetsu (Post 6235516)

Back in October 2011 GaylordWilshire posted about the Jeffries family in Cypress Park. Above is a picture of their home, which if I'm not mistaken once stood at the NW corner of Figueroa & Cypress Street. But there was another house nearby, at 901 Isabel Street, that I always knew as the home of Jim Jeffries himself. When I first discovered it back in the early 90's, it wasn't in the best of shape and was downright creepy, a Classical Revival mansion standing atop a small hill, with a commanding yet dark presence. Back then, it looked something like this pic I found on Flickr:

http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3fbf810d.jpgFlickr

Well, according to local historian Charles Fisher, this was never the Jim Jeffries house (Fisher acknowledges it has been referred to in numerous publications as such, however erroneously). It was designed by John C. Austin of LA City Hall & Griffith Observatory fame, built in 1905 for restaurateur Max Nickel. It has come to be known as the Nickel-Leong house because it was sold to Jeung Leong in 1936, whose son, Gilbert Leong, designed many of the buildings in LA's new Chinatown. Here's a picture of the Nickel-Leong mansion in somewhat better days, looking like a transplant from a Southern plantation:

http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/...ps37527992.jpgCharles Fisher

I drove by several months ago (totally would've taken pictures, had I discovered Noirish Los Angeles back then!) and found that, while not in horrible shape, it could certainly benefit from a renovation. But, unlike so many of LA's great architectural gems, at least it still stands.

Originally Posted by BifRayRock (Post 6225491)

In that same Beverly Boulevard neighborhood is another building that looks as though it might have rooftop archers. On the NW corner of Sweetzer and Beverly is a two story deco structure. 8301 Beverly Blvd. Any information concerning the building's history or what it started it out as?



http://www.kates-co.com/properties/8...301beverly.jpg http://www.kates-co.com/properties/8...301beverly.jpg

Originally Posted by Lorendoc (Post 6235720)

3940dxer and I made it to the top of Wulff's Peak in Lookout Mountain Park/Doheny Ranch Tract today. We will post some then-and-now pictures and describe what led to the identification of the Inn site in the next few days. Thanks as always to the remarkable posters here for providing hours and hours of enjoyment for me - am up to about page 450.