Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6718657)

Okay, I might take this on. Give me a couple of days to sober up and then I'll tell ya. By the way, do we think the names are all in the mysterious CDs? Anybody got a lead on the names of the owners of the house on the NW corner of 4th and Grand Avenue and/or the name of the owners of the house on the SW corner of 4th and Hope Street?

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 6718494)

As Michael R said, it is the New High Street Brunswig Drug Annex building.

Here's another view taken from city hall in 1969 that clearly shows the building

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5004/...a6150b93_o.jpg GSJ
I think I had originally found this image on the USC site.......but not entirely sure............

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6716390)

No, I don't think so. I don't see anything on the vacant lot on the NE corner of 4th and Grand Avenue in the picture of the model you included in your post.
Madame Hershey had her house split in half in 1906 (at about the time she had taken up residence in, and was in negotiations to buy, the Hollywood Hotel
from Whitley) in order to move it to the new resting place at the 4th Street stub overlooking Flower Street but I've found no evidence she left any part of
it at 4th and Grand. I've always assumed it had to be split in half to make the move feasible, the house in one piece being too unwieldy. In fact, in images
dating from at least 1911 I find a wholly empty lot at NE 4th and Grand across which we can get a clear view of the Brunson. Certainly by this time Almira
Hershey had been living up in the Hollywood Hotel for several years.


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7364/...89fc3b9a_o.jpgHershey residence, 4th Street and Grand Avenue, 1893

Exterior view of Almira Parker Hershey's two-story Victorian Gothic style home located on the northeast corner of 4th Street and S. Grand Avenue on
Bunker Hill. Built at a cost of around $50,000 and designed by architects Curlett & Eisen, the Heshey Mansion was completed in 1888. In 1906, Almira
Hershey had this home moved to 750 W. Fourth Street and commissioned architects C.F. Skilling and Otto H. Neher to split it in half to turn it into an
apartment building. After the apartment building opened in 1907, it was named the Castle Towers, reminiscent of the structure's "castle-like features."
The Castle Towers Apartments sat on the stub end of 4th Street, on the south side, overlooking Flower Street, wedged behind the Barbara Worth ne
Briggs Apartments. At 750 W. 4th this put them across the street from Margrethe Mather's studio in the Hildreth carriage house at 715.

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6717935)

We share a particular interest in the 4th Street stub. Well, here it is (sort of). I think I've posted this before.


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7348/...b8b07f37_o.jpgLooking west on 4th Street from 4th Street barricade at Hope Street, 1937

Looking west down 4th Street from the 4th Street stub at Hope Street. The steep slope between Hope and Flower prevented 4th Street from going through. We are looking across Flower Street (out-of-frame at the bottom) to Figueroa (with the truck in the intersection) and to Fremont with the white Hotel Percivel at 1017 W. 4th Street. Down here, the little 'street' that runs to the right from 4th is the ever elusive Sack Alley which only runs from 4th Street to 3rd Street. The five story building which backs up to Sack Alley is the Imperial Apartments at 350 S. Figueroa. Frustratingly close to my most hoped for image. If the camera were to simply pan right 90 degrees, we would be looking directly at the Hlidreth carriage house at 715 W. 4th Street, the studio of Margrethe Mather. And in 1937, she might very well have been there on the day this shot was taken. It pleases me deeply to think she enjoyed this exact view, occasionally must have stood right here and looked down on Sack Alley. Similarly, if we were to look the other way, 90 degrees to the left, we would be looking at the Castle Tower Apartments, the repurposed Hershey Mansion.

USC digital archive/Automobile Club of Southern California collection, 1892-1963

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6718362)

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3855/...5feb84df_o.jpgLooking northeast from 5th Street and Figueroa, 1916

Nice, clear shot of the Castle Tower Apartments snuggled in behind the Briggs with the Hildreth Mansion peeking over the rooftops. In 1916 the slope below the Castle Tower is still intact with a staircase leading up to the 4th Street stub at Hope Street. This slope will be graded away for Flower Street parking and the staircase will be lost. But here it is still in use. It is possible to see just the barest corner of the Hildreth carriage house showing off the left edge of the Castle Tower (in sharp silhouette against the Glen Arm Apartments). But there is one particularly interesting thing in this image. Two properties north of the Hildreth is a little white blockish unnamed apartment building at 345 S. Hope Street. The Stuart K. Oliver house will be built on the lot between the Hildreth and this little apartment building. Moving north we can see that the Glen Arms Apartments are in place at 333 S. Hope Street and then the rather large, squarish Sawyer Apartments with the flat overhanging cornice at 327 S. Hope Street. And that is pretty much all of the cluster of houses and buildings in the immediate area north of the Hildreth on Hope for now we find a wide expanse of open ground before we come to the Rowan Apartments with the slab side and the large painted sign near the roofline. The address here is 122 S. Hope so we're looking across over two full blocks magically compressed by the camera lens. Next to the Rowan, in the shadows, is the smaller Bunker Hill Hotel (116 S. Hope and brand-spanking new in 1916) and just to the left of the Rowan and the Bunker Hill we can see the back of the Majestic Apartments at 702 W. 1st Street. But here's the interesting part (at least to me) look at the Hope Street roadbed above the retaining wall. Do you see it? It hasn't been graded yet! In fact, it is literally two wagon tracks cut into the hill side, no grading, no pavement, just a dirt track!And it appears the same goes for 2nd Street where it comes down and runs across Hope Street and, below the retaining wall, the Hope Street incline (which is graded and paved) where it runs down to the 3rd Street tunnel. Sorry for my enthusiasm but that's the neatest image of an unimproved Hope Street you're gonna find. There are lots of my favorite buildings in this shot but that little stretch of a rural Hope Street is the best part.

USC digital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 6718778)

Mr. Ryerson....while you sober up, and I Sober down, you might want to try the WPA household census cards and employee records at USC digital libraries....

I have tried in the past to wade my way through this onslaught of information..........eventually throwing up my hands at the enormity of the records, without being a Los Angeles resident with a free access library card to the library's sanborne maps, I gave up.

But I will have the next drink in your honor...go man go! :cheers:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 6719337)

:previous:

I found listings for 355 South Grand in most of the CDs between 1911 and 1942. The building also seems to have housed various beauty shops from 1926 onwards. Maybe this info will help anyone who fancies taking on the census cards :).


1911: Beatrice Keough, furnished rooms

1915: Beatrice Keough, furnished rooms

1917 Beatrice Keough listed as resident, but not in the furnished rooms section

1918: No listings found

1921: No listings found (Maurice R Walton is listed with apartments at 402 Crocker)

1923: Maurice R Walton, furnished rooms

1926: John D Danton, furnished rooms/Matthaeus (also spelled Matthews) Seeger, beauty parlor/Frances R Parrish, milliner

1927: J D Danton, furnished rooms/Matthew Seeger, beauty parlor

1929: Danton Apartments (John D Danton)/Claire Wacke, beauty shop

1932: John Danton, apartments/Polonia Apartments/Martha Anderson, beauty shop

1936: Ellen Amaker, furnished rooms

1938: Ellen Amacker listed as resident, but not in the furnished rooms section

1939: Amacker Hotel, furnished rooms/Roma Anderson, beauty shop

1942: Amacker Hotel, furnished rooms/Roma Anderson, beauty shop


For some reason, Ellen Amaker's name acquired a "c" between 1936 and 1938. I had a closer look, and found the following listings in the 1936 CD:

Amaker Ellen furn rms 355 S Grand av
Amackher Thos auto park 210 N Los Angeles r354 S Grand av

By the 1939 CD this has changed to:

Amacker Hotel 355 S Grand av
Amacker Thos H (Ellen) auto park 515 W 4th h355 S Grand av

So did Thomas H Amackher marry Ellen Amaker and meet in the middle with their similar surnames? It certainly looks like Thomas moved across South Grand from 354 to 355.

Originally Posted by rick m (Post 6719355)

Fantastic trove here-- Digging into my file later I uncover the earliest factoids: Ms. Hershey purchased 355 S.Grand from a Ms. Grey and in 1907 this became the Hershey Apts briefly- a bit of detail is in LAPL image with title Hershey Apartments but incorrectly stating that this was the structure that was halved and moved to become Castle Towers. Must advise Christina Rice--- Almira built THAT mansion @ n/e corner 4th & Grand but it sure didn't stay in place for more than a decade..

Originally Posted by so-cal-bear (Post 6719652)

I just heard about this story on the Local NPR station while driving on a Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. I got home and looked it up.

Some photos here,

http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp...toric/?slide=1

And even more photos here.

http://lacityhistory.pastperfect-onl...exe?request=ks

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6718980)

Here is the Grosse Buidling back in 1908 when it was the proud home to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/908/3T6n0D.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3036

I like the design of that small building to the right of the Grosse Bldg. Does anyone know what it is? (the roof-line resembles a mission church)

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6719654)

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5560/...29a7a0b3_o.jpgHotel Liberty, 125 Figueroa Street, 1935

Los Angeles City Archives,
Photographer: Los Angeles City Engineering Staff 12/18/1935

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6719667)

I just noticed the Hotel Liberty's facade is shielding a house. (I don't even think it's an addition, it's simply a faux-front to make the house appear like a hotel)

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6719703)

:previous: good research. -thanks for trying to find more info/photos of that little building.



-before we leave the La Leyenda:

One thing that I immediately liked about the La Leyenda was the slanted architectural features* that buttress/frame the top floor windows.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/o1sAAt.jpg
old cd file.


From this angle, you can see they're missing from the building.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...904/VVAbTK.jpg
GSV

*after looking at the vintage photo again, I'm not sure the slanted elements are architectural...could they have been rolled up curtains...or awnings?

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