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bighen Jan 9, 2014 5:50 PM

Chinatown
 
Thank you for sharing the photographs of your trip to Chinatown FredH! I particularly liked the one of Grandview Gardens restaurant you took:



http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3552/k4oa.jpg
My photo

Here are a couple of pictures of Grandview Gardens back in the 1940's. I enjoyed going there in the 1960's and 1970's.

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/2355/sqyb.jpg


Source: LA Public Library

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/6002/ofx9.jpg

Source: LA Public Library

FredH Jan 9, 2014 7:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6400032)
FredH, thanks for sharing your trip to Chinatown with us via your photographs.
The melancholy feeling was already in place way back in the 1980s. I felt this what part of it's charm.
It's nice to see the old 1940s neon still in place, especially on the two souvenir shops you highlighted.


I'm amazed at how cheap lunch is here, $4.75 with tea...in Los Angeles!
As an example, there's a nice chinese restaurant next to where I live here in Lafayette IN and their lunch specials are
$7.50 without complimentary tea.


ER - If you recall, there is another part of Chinatown across Hill Street. This section looks even more forlorn:

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/6388/cd3e.jpg
My Photo

Paper lanterns, a large banner, but no people.

You have to shop around for lunch deals. The wife and I ate at a Dim Sum place just down Broadway and spent $24.00. Tea was $1.20 each. Grrr!

Funny story since you live in Lafayette. We know a couple from China who came over here after college. Their son was born here. Last year, they sent him off to Purdue (wants to be a pilot) and the university matched him up in the dorm with a kid straight from China. Couldn't get along with the kid...I guess it was a culture clash.

Martin Pal Jan 9, 2014 9:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal (Post 6399373)
…and [the Malibu model] also includes the one million dollar Rindge Castle with 54 Rooms which was built by the family who Founded Malibu. It alone cost $6,500 to duplicate.

http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/...CCB212C53EA5D0

I couldn't find any previous photos posted of this place on this thread. There are some posts about Rindge and Tovanger had mentioned the "50-room Castle Malibu built for May (it burned in 1970)."

I found a site that says: Her [May's] unfinished "castle" along with 26 acres acres of land and thousands of crated Malibu Potteries tiles, were sold in 1942 to the Franciscan Order for $50,000 (today's Serra Retreat House, rebuilt after a 1970 brush fire).

http://www.malibucomplete.com/mc_history_rindge.php

So far, I haven't found any historic photos of this place.

GatoVerde Jan 9, 2014 10:09 PM

1874 Map
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5911216)

This next one's huge, but one couldn't read it otherwise.
http://www.lanopalera.net/LAHistory/LAMap1871.gif
Howard Metcalf
Los Angeles 1871. Bunker Hill looks more riven with canyons in this view than it does in photos. The town curves around it with the cemetery in isolation on Bunker Hill overlooking Ft Moore Hill.
I wonder what they did with the bones when Bunker Hill was built over.

The Nickel is farmland.
Drawing based on the 1929 Women's University Club of LA map
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...64l+pm000231))

Correction: The above map shows an incorrect location for the cemetery. It was actually on top of Fort Moore Hill, not on Bunker Hill.

A couple of things I found interesting about this map posted a while ago by tovangar2:

1) It shows Weller Street as a dominating factor in early LA streets;

2) lists the Bella Union Hotel as the old Mexican government offices -- I didn't know it was a Mexican era building. It started me wondering if there were other multi-storey Mexican era buildings;

3) shows the Protestant cemetery on the East side of Fort Moore hill;

4) lists a church at the Eastern base of Pound Cake Hill as the first Protestant Church in the city. I've seen photos of a small church at the base of the High School stairs but I wasn't able to find them now to post here -- I'll keep looking.

Here are some quotes I pulled from Harris Newmark, Sixty Years in Southern California regarding the city cemetery:

"Two cemeteries were in existence at the time whereof I write: the Roman Catholic—abandoned a few years ago—which occupied a site on Buena Vista Street, and one, now long deserted, for other denominations. This cemetery, which we 104 shall see was sadly neglected, thereby occasioning bitter criticism in the press, was on Fort Hill. Later, another burial-ground was established in the neighborhood of what is now Flower and Figueroa streets, near Ninth, many years before there was any thought of Rosedale or Evergreen."

"For years, such was the neglect of the Protestant burial ground that in 1860 caustic criticism was made by each newspaper discussing the condition of the cemetery: there was no fence, headstones were disfigured or demolished, and there was little or no protection to the graves. As a matter of fact, when the cemetery on Fort Hill was abandoned, but few of the bodies were removed."

"Elsewhere I have indicated the condition of the public cemetery. While an adobe wall enclosed the Roman Catholic burial-place, and a brick wall surrounded the Jewish resting-place for the dead, nothing was done until 1863 to improve the Protestant cemetery, although desecration went so far that the little railing around the grave of poor Mrs. Leck, the grocer's wife who had been murdered, was torn down and burned. Finally, the matter cried to Heaven so audibly that in January, Los Angeles Masons appropriated one hundred and fifty dollars, to be added to some five hundred dollars raised by popular subscription; and the Common Council having appointed a committee to supervise the work, William H. Perry put up the fence, making no charge for his services."

The question of the City Cemetery is of particular interest to me. It was never an official cemetery which may account to the lack of an exact boundary, especially before the land boom of the 1880s. After that, there was an attempt to register the graves in order to demarcate most of the hill and cemetery for housing development. The registers clearly however clearly listed far fewer people than had actually been buried there. From memory, I think the city register listed less than 200 people as buried there, but even just recently scores of bodies were disinterred for the construction of the current High School for the Arts at Fort Moore Hill.

I remember reading somewhere that in the early years following the Mexican American War Protestant people didn't want to bury their kin with the Catholics in the their cemetery by the plaza, but often had no choice. There are stories of people digging up the bodies and reinterring them on the hill.

Another noirish story I remember reading in old newspaper clip c. 1920 was about an effort to get rid of whatever was left of the cemetery. It complained about "miasma" from the graves harming the students at the adjacent high school. There was also an article about student using the neglected mausoleums as a public sex environment.

There were many notable graves at this unofficial cemetery, most of them moved to one or another of the local cemeteries. Many are at Evergreen and Rosedale. Robert Carlisle, who died in front of the Bella Union after crashing a society wedding party, was reinterred at Rose Hills.

On Robert Carlisle, also from Harris Newmark:
"While these festivities were taking place, a quarrel, ending in a tragedy, began in the hotel office below. Robert Carlisle, who had married Francisca, daughter of Colonel Isaac Williams, and was the owner of some forty-six thousand acres comprising the Chino Ranch, fell into an altercation with A. J. King, then Under Sheriff, over the outcome of a murder trial; but before any further damage was done, friends separated them.

About noon on the following day, however, when people were getting ready to leave for the steamer and everything was life and bustle about the hotel, Frank and Houston King, the Under Sheriff's brothers, passing by the bar-room of the Bella Union and seeing Carlisle inside, entered, drew their six-shooters and began firing at him. Carlisle also drew a revolver and shot Frank King, who died almost instantly. Houston King kept up the fight, and Carlisle, riddled with bullets, dropped to the sidewalk. There King, not yet seriously injured, struck his opponent on the head, the force of the blow breaking his weapon; but Carlisle, a man of iron, put forth his little remaining strength, staggered to the wall, raised his pistol with both hands, took deliberate aim and fired. It was his last, but effective shot, for it penetrated King's body.

Carlisle was carried into the hotel and placed on a billiard-table; and there, about three o'clock, he expired. At the first exchange of shots, the people nearby, panic-stricken, fled, and only a merciful Providence prevented the sacrifice of other 348 lives. J. H. Lander was accidentally wounded in the thigh; some eight or ten bystanders had their clothes pierced by stray bullets; and one of the stage-horses dropped where he stood before the hotel door. When the first shot was fired, I was on the corner of Commercial Street, only a short distance away, and reached the scene in time to see Frank King expire and witness Carlisle writhing in agony—a death more striking, considering the murder of Carlisle's brother-in-law, John Rains. Carlisle was buried from the Bella Union at four o'clock the next day. King's funeral took place from A. J. King's residence, two days later, at eight o'clock in the morning.

Houston King having recovered, he was tried for Carlisle's murder, but was acquitted; the trial contributing to make the affair one of the most mournful of all tragic events in the early history of Los Angeles, and rendering it impossible to express the horror of the public. One feature only of the terrible contest afforded a certain satisfaction, and that was the splendid exhibition of those qualities, in some respects heroic, so common among the old Californians of that time."


I understand that Carlisle had a diamond in each of his front teeth and that grave robbers broke into his tomb and stole his face off. Grave looting, and Carlisle's tomb, in particular, were cited in a news article as another reason for the permanent removal of the cemetery.

As to where those recently discovered remains found under the new high school ended-up is a very intriguing question to me. The question is even more noir when I consider that it's probably tied-up with the price of real estate.

Seriously, though, I'd like to know where the bodies ended-up. Any help is welcome.

ethereal_reality Jan 9, 2014 11:53 PM

:previous: Interesting GatoVerde. I like the part where the guy had his face ripped off for his gold teeth. ;) ouch!


Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal (Post 6400518)


imageshack started a new format today/I'm trying to figure it out.
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/82...0/713/3il7.jpg

Does anyone else use imageshack? How do I get my image to show up on the thread?


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150...0/713/3il7.jpg
ok. I figured that out. Now I have to work on making the damn thing bigger.

__
here we go.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/713/3il7.jpg

Martin Pal, I wasn't aware of this dam the Rindge family built on their property in the 1920s.

thanks for supplying that link.

Retired_in_Texas Jan 10, 2014 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 6399647)
Chop Suey was nowhere to be found. I had a hope that Hop Louie would come through:
.

There is a good reason why you don't see "Chop Suey" on the menu of any authentic Chinese restaurant. It isn't really authentic Chinese cuisine, it is Chinese American first showing up among Chinese vegetable field workers in the 1890s.

HossC Jan 10, 2014 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6400713)
imageshack started a new format today/I'm trying to figure it out.
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/82...0/713/3il7.jpg

Does anyone else use imageshack? How do I get my image to show up on the thread?

Help.

I don't use imageshack, but you could try manually changing the url & /url tags to img & /img tags as a workaround:

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/82...0/713/3il7.jpg

ethereal_reality Jan 10, 2014 12:41 AM

thanks HossC. I think I got it licked. :)

http://<a href="https://imageshack.c...0/706/5em3.jpg/v2/1280x1024q90/706/5em3.jpg[/IMG]

maybe not. lol



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/706/5em3.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/706/5em3.jpg

whoa. double. -bank at N. Broadway and Avenue 22. (I'm pretty sure we've seen it before, but i'm not certain)

__

FredH Jan 10, 2014 2:12 AM

Complete air change every 4 1/2 minutes! Wow

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/49...90/27/yjw1.jpg
eBay

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/52...0/842/8wt6.jpg
eBay

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/50...90/39/z3h8.jpg
eBay

Building still there
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/735x362q90/9/cnn0.jpg
Google Street View

FredH Jan 10, 2014 2:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas (Post 6400743)
There is a good reason why you don't see "Chop Suey" on the menu of any authentic Chinese restaurant. It isn't really authentic Chinese cuisine, it is Chinese American first showing up among Chinese vegetable field workers in the 1890s.

Retired_in_Texas - We had a running comment a good ways back on the thread about all the "Chop Suey" signs on the Chinese restaurants back in the 1930's.
We wondered what the attraction was to chop suey back then. I wanted to scout around Chinatown to see if any of the old signs were still around. Not a one is still there.

The only Chop Suey sign which seems to still exist around L.A. is on the Far East Cafe in Little Tokyo:

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/54...0/833/rfw3.jpg
Wikipedia

By the way, about a year ago I asked my wife (she's Chinese) what chop suey was and she looked at me like I was nuts.
Not the first time that has ever happened though.

ethereal_reality Jan 10, 2014 2:58 AM

This is an amazing view. I'm still trying to figure out the photographer's exact point of view.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...90/69/j6s1.jpgebay

FredH, considering the Wilshire-LaBrea Recreation Center.
The cocktail lounge in the building was called the Cabana Room.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9620

__

Ninja55 Jan 10, 2014 3:19 AM

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7450/1...656a36d1_c.jpg

I wonder how long the beacon was used? This old napkin is from my personal collection.

Retired_in_Texas Jan 10, 2014 5:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 6400884)

By the way, about a year ago I asked my wife (she's Chinese) what chop suey was and she looked at me like I was nuts.
Not the first time that has ever happened though.

Proving the communication disconnect between males and females has no cultural boundaries.

Retired_in_Texas Jan 10, 2014 5:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ninja55 (Post 6400920)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7450/1...656a36d1_c.jpg

I wonder how long the beacon was used? This old napkin is from my personal collection.

thought I'd fix the image display for you.

For everyone else, I find it interesting that matchbooks for many restaurants displayed "Dine, Dance, Romance" ahead of more pertinent information on the restaurant. Anyone have a fix on the claim of "Romance?"

Now to the beacon, which has an interesting history:

The Lindbergh beacon was installed on top of City Hall in 1928. Originally white, the light was replaced with a red light in 1931 after the U.S. Department of Commerce deemed the bright beacon a hazard to air safety. During WWII the light was turned off, relit once in 1947, and finally removed.

The Lindbergh beacon was rediscovered in the early 1990s. After restoration, it was put on display in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX and relit for the first time in 45 years on April 22, 1992. The beacon was reinstalled on top of City Hall in 2001 and is lit on special occasions.

articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/09/local/me-43908

GatoVerde Jan 10, 2014 5:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6400713)
:previous: Interesting GatoVerde. I like the part where the guy had his face ripped off for his gold teeth. ;) ouch!

Well, the guy was dead so he didn't feel it. Here's the cite:
"FACE CARRIED AWAY FOR TEETH SETTINGS." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 2. Aug 10 1907. ProQuest. Web. 10 Jan. 2014 .

CityBoyDoug Jan 10, 2014 5:39 AM

Show us the real tinsel....
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas (Post 6400743)
There is a good reason why you don't see "Chop Suey" on the menu of any authentic Chinese restaurant. It isn't really authentic Chinese cuisine, it is Chinese American first showing up among Chinese vegetable field workers in the 1890s.

What? Chop Suey is not real Chinese food. I suppose there's no Santa or Easter Bunny too. LA, the land of make-believe. :D:cool:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psff108ee8.jpgwiki

ProphetM Jan 10, 2014 6:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatoVerde (Post 6400573)

4) lists a church at the Eastern base of Pound Cake Hill as the first Protestant Church in the city. I've seen photos of a small church at the base of the High School stairs but I wasn't able to find them now to post here -- I'll keep looking.

We took a good long look at that church quite awhile back - nearly a year ago. Look for several photos on pages 632-634, and lastly a couple of overlays that I made placing the church in the modern cityscape - my second attempt first appeared on page 636. Here it is again:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L...thanasius2.jpg


Quote:

Seriously, though, I'd like to know where the bodies ended-up. Any help is welcome.
According to findagrave.com,

Quote:

Many were relocated to Rosedale, with others removed to Evergreen Cemetery, Hollywood Cemetery, Calvary, and Rose Hills. Most of the removals were not documented, however, and the final resting place of many LA City Cemetery residents is unknown. A full burial list and complete history of the cemetery can be found the Southern California Genealogical Society website.
There is a burial list but it's not actually complete - the source is a recently-rediscovered burial register covering the years 1869-1888.

It is also noted at findagrave,
Quote:

In 2006, during construction of the Grand Avenue School, which was built on the site of the old Fort Moore Hill, archaeologists discovered a variety of artifacts, including empty caskets and partial or complete remains of approximately 80 people. After attempting to identify them based on notes, jewelry, etc., the remains were transferred to Angelus Rosedale Cemetery and reinterred.
It seems pretty likely to me that some bodies may still remain on Fort Moore Hill, just because they missed being dug up by construction. So far.

Those Who Squirm! Jan 10, 2014 6:40 AM

Nate 'n Al's was (and is) at 414 North Beverly Drive and is a Southern California institution. It's obviously still at the same location, although it seems they've expanded into the space formerly occupied by "Bruce's". (Er...sorry Bruce!)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5522/1...e911ce8c_b.jpg
(Created from GSV)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6399888)
Beverly Hills...not sure of the street.
http://imageshack.us/a/img14/6586/18kv.jpg

My first name is Bruce so that store caught my eye. :)
__

Very interesting miniatures Martin Pal. I had no idea they existed, so thanks for bring them to my attention.


Tourmaline Jan 10, 2014 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 6400848)


:hi: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9642

JScott Jan 10, 2014 1:00 PM

.


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