^It says "KENSINGTON."

Thank you "Mr. Downtown". I couldn't read that sign at all.

The Chamber of Commerce was John C. Austin and Donald Parkinson. Would be a pretty grand preservation fight were someone to try and knock it down today.

Nov. 6, 1967:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5045/...a7f13914_b.jpg

More about the Occidental Center
http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6109

It's funny to see this picture. Whenever I would drive on the 101 South and take it 5 South, I would look to my right and see a paved road. I always wondered what it was until one day, I don't know how, I uncovered it being a part of an interchange.

The long interchange connected to what is now a freeway that is a part of the 101, but then splits into the 60 East or the 5 south. It runs along the border of Boyle Heights.

Always loved this building. I think people don't see it enough because they're always looking at Julia Morgan's Examiner.

This was the Commercial Club of Southern California, a men's club with 1400 members when Mayor Cryer broke ground Dec. 31, 1924.

How can you not cotton to a brick & terra cotta Italian Renaissance high-rise replete with billiard and card rooms, lush lounges, paneled dining rooms, swimming pool, gymnasium and turkish bath on sixth floor, and a fifth floor just for ladies? The top six floors had rooms for all the leaders of industry, and whatever their needs may have been. The floor plans were executed by Edwin Bergstrom, the general plans, Curlett & Beelman.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/...76d846aa_b.jpg
USC DigArch http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-CIT-BUI-041

From what I can ascertain it became the Case Hotel just after the war. In 1965 the federal Office of Economic Opportunity turned it into a girl's vocational school. http://www.flickr.com/photos/auntylaurie/4980967684/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/7976130...n/photostream/

Never have been inside to investigate what may be left of its originality...

The shape of the rooftop sign, vis a vis the actual lettering, is a little odd, isn't it? I uncovered these, which show the structure of the signage as having an older origin:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5208/...714ac90a_b.jpg
USCDigArch http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...arch/CHS-36024

February, 1932. Look at that massive sign -- do you see what it's doing? It has a star/rocket/firework, whatever, that shoots up from its left, makes an arc along the top, descends down to just above the lettering, and explodes into many (for lack of a better term) explody bursts! Obviously all done in hundreds of incandescent bulbs, probably of many varied colors. What I wouldn't give to go back and see that.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5250/...9f09b33e_o.jpg

(Captain Paul Chandler [l] and Louey Shuck [r] on the Chamber of Commerce rooftop.) http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081873.jpg

For more than you could conceivably want to know about this building, see http://www.onbunkerhill.org/HotelBelmont

Can't help but wonder if the architect was hip to the '57 Armet & Davis Donly's (later Conrad's, now Astro)...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5243/...c8e9eee6_b.jpg
http://www.you-are-here.com/modern/astro.html

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5290/...44992270_z.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansas_...an/3359886111/

some images of the demolition of the old courthouse.

this image clearly shows the elevator machine equipment for the exterior "honeymoon" elevator that was hidden within the tower spire

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...03E0FE7C8?v=hr

Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...03E0FE7C8?v=hr

the next two images are the newspaper photographic engraving plate and subsequent article image about the courthouse demolition

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...6B06A5A0C?v=hr
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...F8D3252B4?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...F8D3252B4?v=hrhttp://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...6B06A5A0C?v=hr


sigh................:(

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...AAF54C08E?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...AAF54C08E?v=hr

this last image has nothing to do with the demolition of the structure. it's a very striking 1933 image that was taken with an infra red filter

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...ABF138662?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...ABF138662?v=hr

Ok all, Los Angeles Magazine (or so it became in April of '61, after having been named LA and then Prompter) has archived all of their covers. The vast majority are of celebrities or what then passed for celebrity, which is enjoyable in its own right. But as you can see, many, especially the earlier issues, are of a different bent...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5164/...7834c3c3_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/...096d6f8a_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5282/...2f915953_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5044/...2177d669_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5170/...ed3a2e35_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/...c5cfd095_b.jpg

And they ooze with all the midcentury artwork appeal. Remember when Adolph Gottlieb attacked LA?

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5090/...92c9262f_b.jpg

See 'em all here:

http://origin-www.lamag.com/photopages/albums.aspx

That was the ramp from the westbound San Bernardino Frwy to the southbound Santa Ana Frwy. Once I-5 was built, it was redundant and probably came out when the El Monte Busway went in. HistoricAerials.com still shows it in 1980:
http://i52.tinypic.com/8xsqjk.png

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...35653%20AM.jpghttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...35627%20AM.jpghistoric aerials.com

NGZ--Noir Ground Zero--1948 and 2005


Thanks to MrDowntown for introducing me to historicaerials.com--the shots above are just a sample. The site itself allows for comparisons by splitscreen and overlays in various formats at various points from 1948 to 2005. Next stop, Berkeley Square.

When it comes to vanished L.A. neighborhoods, my personal favorite is Berkeley Square, written of here in a number of posts by gsjansen, myself and others. Briefly, Berkeley Square was a private, gated street in the West Adams district approximately parallel to 22nd Street between Western and Gramercy. Successful downtown businessmen, lawyers, doctors, etc, commissioned top architects to build sizeable houses of all sorts of designs. Among the designers were Alfred Rosenheim, Myron Hunt, Elmer Grey, Robert Farquhar, Merl Lee Barker, Arthur B. Benton, and no less than the Greene brothers. It began in 1904, with a few original families remaining until the (very) bitter end ca. 1962, when, after at least a decade of decline, the 10 came through. As these photos reveal, the 10 itself really only took out the houses on north side of the street, although those along the south side went along for the ride into oblivion by being demolished for a school, all this destruction leaving behind only a possible bit of curbing toward the Gramercy end. Pictures of the street and the individual houses are hard to come by. There are a few aerial shots around, but now that I know about historicaerials.com, thanks to Mr Downtown, we can have good side-by-side then-and-later comparisons of Berkeley Square, perhaps even more dramatic than the shots of Bunker Hill below. (I've chosen 1954 and 1972 for comparison because the images are the clearest.)


http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...90957%20PM.jpg
1954: Berkeley Square is the wide street at center


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...91531%20PM.jpg
1954/1972


http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...91522%20PM.jpg
1972/1954

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...91504%20PM.jpg
1972: I am actually amazed to see that the Lee Phillips house at #4 (right center below the ".COM") was still standing in 1972. Phillips was a Los Angeles lawyer who also built the house in Beverly Hills that became Pickfair. Subsequent owners included Haig Marquis Prince, an owner of downtown and Hollywood office buildings whose secretary once slapped him with a paternity suit. The last owner was Bishop "Sweet Daddy" Grace. The picture below is only the tip of an iceberg of amusements when it comes to the bishop--Sister Aimee was a shy nun compared to him. He's worth Googling.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2597/...d1d12e7bdd.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2597/...d1d12e7bdd.jpg


Top four photos historicaerials.com

Thanks very much for that photo, Mr Downtown. And thanks for that website! I'm all looking at different intersections now, from where I grew up, to where I live now, and everything else. Great resource. :tup:

Beaudry, great Los Angeles Magazine covers! I like the artwork for the November 1963 issue, and that topic: Downtown: Is it worth saving?

Beaudry, your posts are amazing.
I loved reading about the Commercial Club of Southern California (Case Hotel).




Below: The Broadway Hotel in the Wilson Block, 1910.


http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/9...yhotelinth.jpg
usc digital archive






Below: Looking north at Spring St. & Main, 1906.
This photo is a bit odd...to me it looks much earlier than 1906.
Also, I hope to god that girl is not choking a puppy.


http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/9...tmainlooki.jpg
usc digital archive

Looking north on Broadway from Fourth Street, 1905. Notice the beautiful streetlights.


http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6...northbroad.jpg
usc digital archive









Below: The Occidental Hotel on the east side of Hill Street between Fourth & Fifth Street, 1910


http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1...talhotel19.jpg
usc digital archive

I'm not sure if these have been posted before.




The view west from City Hall showing Hill Street between 2nd & 3rd St. in 1900.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6...mchhillstb.jpg
usc digital archive






Below: Another photograph of the same area.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3...nd3rd18901.jpg
usc digital archive





Below: This photograph is dated 1888.


http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4...20bhin1888.jpg
usc digital archive






Below: A view from 1906.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/936...20in1906bh.jpg
usc digital archive








Below: The same general area in 1898.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4...20bh1898m1.jpg
usc digital archive

Below: On the extreme right is a portion of the sign Beaudry is describing.
Here it seems the firework/bursts are still there but the lettering is missing.



http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4...northonhil.jpg
usc digital archive

The prop plane is an added bonus.

:previous:
Great photos, ethereal.

And wow, 10 cents to park in that lot all day? I would think that even back then, 10 cents to park all day would be a bargain, considering that 10 cents paid for a cup of coffee back then, no?