The Theme Hosiery Building then and now.


http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/5...sierybuild.jpg
usc

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/910...ouarethere.jpg
you_are_here

http://www.you-are-here.com/building/hosiery.html

I love the advertisements in this photograph.....especially the giant hand reaching for the Lily Cream.

Looking north along Main Street from the roof of the Pacific Electric Building, ca. Jan 1, 1905

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1...ongmainfro.jpg
usc digital archive

I love both as well......



http://thebayarea.thistv.com/view/se...ghway%20Patrol

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...0/stocking.jpg
Bettmann/Corbis http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...0/stocking.jpg

Los Angeles, August 6, 1949: "Marie Wilson is hoisted thigh-ward in a bosins chair to compare gams with a 35-foot model of one of the famous Wilson legs. The two-ton plaster statuary, designed to advertise hosiery, was unveiled by Marie amid the fanfare of a Hollywood-type premiere."


ethereal-- your shot of the Theme Hosiery building reminds me of the leg above--I know I've seen a shot of the building on which this leg was perched, maybe even on the forum, but cannot find it now. I believe the building was in West L.A.


Another shot of the Theme Hosiery Building:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00084/00084210.jpg
LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/00084/00084210.jpg

Before Rockingham, Before the Fall
 

While searching for the building on which sat the giant leg (so far unsucessfully), I found a few interesting items. (Not sure why a search for "leg" turned this one up, which appeared among many weird photos of diseased legs....)

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...576/oj1970.jpg
USC Digital Library http://lh.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TUW...576/oj1970.jpg

USC caption: "GRACIOUS LIVING--O.J. Simpson, his wife, Marguerite and daughter Arnelle, enjoy the luxury of their new $100,000-plus home in the Sky Crest section of Bel-Air. The former USC star, recently named the outstanding college football player of the 60s, will start second pro season with he Buffalo Bills July 17. Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1970"

Another scene of "Late Noir" L.A.
 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU.../s576/mels.jpg
UCLA Library http://dlproj.library.ucla.edu/deriv...0327862a_j.jpg

UCLA caption: "VANTAGE POINT--Van across street from Mel's Sporting Goods in Inglewood shows view Patty Hearst would have had during alleged shoplifting and shooting incident there on May 16, 1974. Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1976"

Mel's was at 11425 Crenshaw. It's now a parking lot. Here's an interesting piece describing the day Patty visited and the store's ultimate fate: http://www.rickross.com/reference/sy...bionese43.html

Ah, very interesting. I've driven by the Ribét Academy on the 2 Fwy (Glendale Freeway), a freeway I rarely ever use, and one that seems like it never gets fully packed, not that that's a bad thing. So is the school building, I wonder, the same factory building, extremely remodeled, or is the school building a completely different building? I'm going to assume it's the same; the proportions look right.

Seeing this post made me look up the Ribét Academy online. The Academy itself was founded in 1982, and the school has been at that current location since 1992. Before that, from 1960 until its closing in 1991 because of declining enrollment, it was an all-boys Catholic high school called Pater Noster. And then of course, prior to that, it was the Theme Hosiery factory; kind of funny to me that a women's stocking factory would become an all-boys school.

This article actually answers my question of the building being the same building; it is indeed the same. From lageneology.com:
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4...olarticle2.jpg


When looking at old maps of the Los Angeles area, it's interesting for me to learn that sites I always assumed were there from the start, turn out to have been something else originally. Example, some years ago I saw an old map of Long Beach, and was surprised to learn that where the VA Hospital is now, was once the Long Beach Naval Hospital (interesting to me, because my mother worked at the VA Hospital there, and I'm an alumnus of Cal State Long Beach, which is right next door to the VA Hospital). And, according to the 1943 Renié Atlas I have, what is now the campus of Mt. San Antonio College in the city of Walnut used to be the site of a sanitarium called the Pacific Lodge State Hospital.

Hmm, looking at the Mt SAC website right now, it doesn't mention that it was once the site of a state hospital; on the history link, it says that the site was once part of the 48,000-acre Rancho La Puente, and that during World War II, the "facility" was converted into an Army hospital and then later into a Navy hospital. Hehe.

Thanks for that link to Highway patrol! So far I've only watched the intro but I foresee a "wasted" afternoon. I haven't seen HP in over 45 years but can still remember Brod Crawford growling up and down the highway.

sanderson hosiery company 1949
barrington and olympic west los angeles

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/...455e88db_b.jpg

and very noirish to boot!


Actress Marie Wilson participating in a stunt ad unveiling the 34 foot sanderson hosiery leg 1949

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/880...b03e0c_landing
Source: Life http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/880...b03e0c_landing

happy lookin' she ain't.....sheeesh, what's a girl gotta do to get a part in this town?

:previous:

Thanks, gs. There it is--Sanderson at Olympic and Barrington. Maybe I never have seen a picture of the actual building (the plinth itself can't have been big enough to contain the factory, or even offices, could it?). What do you suppose ever became of the leg? My guess is that it became a prop in one of my favorite movies of all time:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...50ft-woman.jpg

Some early fire fighting shots.

Fire at Broadway & 3rd Street, 1913.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...HS-7636vhr.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1296423229339

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...HS-7635vhr.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1296423229339

Broadway and 2nd Street, ca 1914
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...HS-8213vhr.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1296423229339

I don't know what buildings are on fire, and I also suspect that the last photo dated circa 1914 might be from the same fire as the first two photos in 1913, just shot looking south from Second Street and the first two are shot looking north from Third Street.

^^^Great fire fighting photos mdiederi!

The O.J. Simpson photo is surreal.

The giant LEG is amazing.

;)

Charles E. Miles......the last volunteer Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, ca. 1870s

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/9...emileslast.jpg
usc digital archive

I admire his uniform and fire helmet.
I notice it says 38 on his belt buckle. This must be the number of his Engine Company. ?




below: LAFD demonstration on Hill Street north of 2nd Street, ca. 1915

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/582...lstnorthof.jpg
usc digital archive

The Wright & Callender Building at Hill & 4th Street. Further up 4th Street you can see the Fremont Hotel.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/1...t1909wrigh.jpg
usc digital archive






below: Another view of the Fremont hotel at Olive and 4th Street, ca. 1920.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6...tholive192.jpg
usc digital archive

above: I know this image has probably been posted before...but the Fremont Hotel is such a great building I couldn't resist.
You would be hard pressed to come up with a more "noirish" looking building in all of L.A.







below: I don't believe this angle of the Fremont Hotel has been posted before.
The Fremont is far right and the multi-storied Wright & Callender Building is at the left.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9...ntoverview.jpg
ebay...if I remember correctly.




below: This is a close-up of the small building behind the Wright & Callender Building at 4th and Hill Street.
If you look closely at the above photograph you can spot this building.

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4606/aaafree.jpg

It's easy to imagine a down on his luck "gum-shoe" renting a room in this building partially hidden by the much larger Wright-Callender Building.

whilst mindlessly parusin' the dick whittington collection at the usc archives, (hey a fella's gotta have a hobby, and since i don't golf.............), anyway, i happened upon this photograph which was confusing me, as i couldn't quite pin down from where it was taken, and what it actually was looking at....

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...4443-ISLA?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...4443-ISLA?v=hr

because of the angle of mount lee in the background, i knew it had to be downtown....but where.

of course searching for the most obvious element in the photograph, (hotel knickerbocker), i obviously kept ending up on ivar north of hollywood boulevard (i'm sure i don't have to to tell anyone here). searching for the st. paul hotel didn't fare much better.

then i stumbled upon this photograph;

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...4441-ISLA?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...4441-ISLA?v=hr

i realized that what appears to be the hotel victoria, (or victor....can't quite tell), at the right center of the image is visible at the left of the image that i was trying to locate.

the rex arms was located west of figueroa on wilshire, and at the lower right of the 2nd photograph, the roof of the Jonathon club at the nw corner of 6th and figueroa is visible.

so with that bit of information, i went back to the 1st photograph, and nearly gasped in my realization that both photos were most probably taken from the roof of the richfield building!

the two streets on the right side of the 1st photo is 5th and 4th streets, (they were narrowly spaced at this point, remember, 5th street didn't used to go past the state normal school to the west).

the convergence of streets in the 1st photo is 6th street, boylston street and beaudry avenue.

the street that the hotel knickerbocker is on is fremont avenue. the center of both photographs is where the harbor freeway runs today........yoiks!

another great image which appears to have been taken from the richfield building looking north east

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...4426-ISLA?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...4426-ISLA?v=hr

at the lower right, you can see the edison building under construction in front of the sherwood apartments. the fremont is visible to the right of the rose mansion. the zelda apartments is front and center. the ems is visible to the right of the casa alta, and the astoria at 3rd and olive is poking it's tower above the casa alta.

then (1938), and later (1954) image looking west from union station across alameda street towards the plaza

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5175/...c63a6da2_b.jpg

South on Olive from 9th, 1956
 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...4908_large.jpgLife

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TU...40256%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View

And to think that Ike defeated native Angeleno Adlai Stevenson not once, but twice.
(Stevenson was born just south of here on Monmouth Street in West Adams.) I'm surprised
to see the old five-globe streetlamps still standing this late. The low-rise building at right in both
shots is at Olympic and Olive and was designed by Parkinson. It was once the Federal Reserve
Bank and has now been converted into lofts.



http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics37/00038276.jpgMushet/LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics37/00038276.jpg
The Federal Reserve under comstruction, 1930


In the distance of the contemporary shot is the Occidental Center tower--now the AT&T Center--at 1150 S. Olive, discussed previously:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2...tallifebld.jpg
USC Digital Library http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2...tallifebld.jpg

All,
Thank you for the wonderful posts. I found this thread a few months ago while looking for information on the Richfield building. I have finally made it through the whole thread. You guys are a wealth of information.

Since we are approaching tax season, I would like to remind you all to:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032529.jpg

Or if you like:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics27/00033428.jpg
LAPL.ORG

Welcome to the thread westcork! :)

I really enjoyed your recent posts gsjansen, especially post #2675.
It's so sad how the Harbor Freeway ripped through that very interesting area.



Can anyone tell me what the white building under construction is. The year is 1910.

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7868/aaapano1910.jpg
usc digtal archive




below: Looking west across Pershing Square, ca. 1910

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3...rshingsqua.jpg
usc digital archive