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Los Angeles Times, November 27, 1953

Amazing that we're talking about Beaudry's house that was the crux of the end of Gernot Kuehn's book. We are truly the coolest people in the world, ever.

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A pic from November 2009/originally posted by Sopas_ej.
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Sopas_ej



My God, they did a GREAT job restoring the Brunswig Building!


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Jesus E. Salgado (no date), SSC




Below: The Brunswig Building is far right in the photo below (this has been posted before...but it's still cool to compare).


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usc archive

GaylordWilshire, I've never been able to place this building until you posted the above photograph.
Doesn't this look like the same building as Sister Aimee's Bible School??


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unknown

Brunswig Building looking SW across the plaza
 

In this 1900 photo, the Brunswig Building's ornamental mansard facade is being constructed. The building directly across main street from the Brunswig is Pico House

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LAPL

I was confused about which building was which--
while in an earlier pic of yours the smaller wedge-shaped
building on the corner had a sign on its gate indicating it was the
Bible school, it makes sense that that must be Sister's house--
the big building must be the Bible school. (Or maybe Sister lived in
the big building and the marionette lived in the little one.)
Your pic here is definitely the same building (Corinthian columns,
top gothic-arched windows--a real L.A. architectural mishmash),
though you can't see the house at left or the temple itself. This
could be a pic of the opening-day celebration of the school in 1925.

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Vaughns

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xroads

Here is an amusing website, with further links to pics, and fabulous
musical accompaniment (oh Sister!):

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/reli...mple/index.htm

according to this 1927 photo and the accompanying caption, the corner structure was the home of harmony of Sister Aimee, and her mother

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LAPL

This Angelus Temple residence, once a home of harmony in which Aimee Semple McPherson and "Mother" Kennedy dwelt together in peace and accord, later a fortress in the Angelus Temple war from which Mrs. Kennedy fired broadsides of charges against her daughter. Living alone in the deserted home, surrounded by temple activity of which Mrs. Kennedy was a leader for eighteen years, Mrs. Kennedy said, "I am broken-hearted and I haven't had any food or water in this house for three days."

this is a photo of the "new Sister Aimee residence on Manhattan Place after she moved out of the temple residence

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LAPL

The accompanying caption reads;

A new home on South Manhattan Place, which served as the residence of Aimee Semple McPherson after she moved out of the parsonage at Angelus Temple. The new headquarters of Aimee Semple McPherson, from which she directed Angelus Temple activities and conducted her battle against Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, which threatened to lead into court. While Mrs. Kennedy expressed doubt of Mrs. McPherson's kidnapping story, Mrs. McPherson answered that her mother was trying to break her in the new temple war.

hmmmmm, i'm gonna need to do some reading up on the illustrious Mrs. McPherson. I only remember her kidnapping scandal, not the war between her and Mother Kennedy as a fallout over the scandal

The Foursquare Church is sadly now dwarfed by a pretty mammoth parking structure.

Just catching up on some old posts. er, very glad you posted something on TT. She is premier LA Noir. Wrote a little bit about her here.

Again, Thelma Todd! She gets my, uhm, dancing banana. :banana:

I never knew Sister Aimee had a 'mini-me' marionette.



It reminds me of Fritz Lang and his wooden monkey, Peter.

http://imageshack.us/a/img689/1999/aabbul2langpeter.jpg
http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/2007/08/...ction-232.html

(He was eventually buried with it)

Hollywood = stranger than fiction.

A challenge
 

To me, one of the great architectural mysteries of L.A. has always been Berkeley Square. Ever heard of it? The "10" took it out in the '60s. In some ways it's even more mysterious than old Bunker Hill--it too has physically vanished, but there seems to be little photographic evidence of it left. It was a gated private east-west street between Western Ave. and Gramercy Place. The houses were all big--Sam Watters features one in his Houses of Los Angeles 1885-1919, and here are some lesser-quality pics of some of the others, along with shots of the gates. Occasionally I'll run across references to the street in bios of early L.A. businessmen, lawyers, and judges. Can anyone find any more (and better) pics of Berkeley Square, any more information on it at all?

EDIT: I did it myself--for a full history of Berkeley Square, see berkeleysquarelosangeles.com

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New High Street area.


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usc digital archive

Very interesting article, Beaudry. Where and when was it published?

Reading it made me wanna look up the Westminster Hotel. It looked like a great building indeed.

I wouldn't doubt these pics of the Westminster Hotel were posted before (I'm too lazy right now to look through this thread) but I'll post some pics anyway.

Westminster Hotel in all its glory. The caption on this photo reads ca. 1900 but judging by the women's fashions, it looks more like between 1908-1910.
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USC Archive

Here's the Westminster Hotel on the northeast corner of 4th and Main, around 1888-1898.
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USC Archive

That same intersection some decades later in 1924, with the Westminster looking great surrounded by those other buildings from an obviously different later era but complementing each other nicely IMO. What a hustling and bustling part of downtown that was! Within a decade or so from when this picture was taken, this area would become a seedy rundown part of downtown.
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USC Archive

The Westminster Hotel being demolished, 1960. :( Another piece of LA Victoriana bites the dust.
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For years after the Westminster Hotel was demolished, it was a vacant lot/parking lot. However in the last few years, a structure was being built on the northeast corner of 4th and Main. It's nearly finished, a development called the Medallion. Here are some pics of it which I've ganked from another thread on these forums, courtesy of colemonkee, another SSP poster. These pics were taken March 28, 2010, according to him.

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While it's nice that something has been built here, it uh, still isn't the old Westminster Hotel.

Indeed! I remember when it looked like that; I honestly thought that the building wasn't salvageable, what with all that bracing on it, and thought it would be knocked down/dismantled. Later during the period when it was covered in scaffolding and tarp, I still wasn't sure if they were restoring it or getting it ready for demolition. Of course as it turned out, they were saving it. Looking at that photo, I didn't realize there were still remnants of the "Brunswig Drug Co." sign on it.

Here's another pic I took of it back in November of 2009. It sorta kinda matches the perspective of the photo above.

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9388/p1060919.jpg

I'll definitely try to take more recent photos of it. I'd like to see it without that temporary fencing.

Holy crap wow, thats an amazing restoration. Simply amazing. The building that replaced that Westminster Hotel is vastly inferior, albeit better than a parking lot but compared to what was previously there, well it doesnt even compare. People back in the day who tore those amazing buildings down should be punched in the face and then thrown in jail for life. But I cant believe that they were able to save those above buildings, really glad they did, they are beautiful.

Does anyone know of the company that did that restoration, Id love to see other buildings theyve restored.

R.I.P. Melrose
 

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The Hildreth house, 357 S. Hope--another Bunker Hill extravaganza, but this time, under construction rather than de-struction.

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We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed. ...

:(

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LAPL

sigh.............................

Rochester House
 

In my moving day photos, i posted an image of the Rochester house being relocated. I did a little bit of checking on it's ultimate fate, as i couldn't remember if it was saved after it was relocated..........................

Exterior view of the Rochester Apartments at 1012 West Temple Street 1890

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LAPL

Rochester House 1956

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UCLA Library Digital Collections


The Rochester Apartments at 1012 West Temple Street 1960's

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LAPL

Rochester house from the Harbor Freeway 1967

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The drive is on to move and save the Rochester House, currently 86 years old, and threatened with demolition in the Temple Urban Renewal Project. Photo date: October 17, 1967

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Rochester House being moved 1970

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A "Save Me" sign is still mounted on the Rochester House as it is being moved due to the Temple Urban Renewal Project. Photo date: October 1, 1970.

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The large, historically important Rochester House as it sits at its temporary location in the 1100 block of North Alameda Street on October 1, 1970, after being moved from its former location on Temple Street.

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LAPL

Rochester House, stands in Alameda St. railroad yard awaiting restoration and relocation at Old Plaza historical site, as ordered by appeals court 1971

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UCLA Library Digital Collections

And the fate of this supposedly saved declared historic landmark.............(the text below is from Big Orange Landmarks....Exploring the Landmarks of Los Angeles, One Monument at a Time....... the web site is hosted by Floyd B. Bariscale http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/ )

In August 1967, the El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historical Monument Commission voted to move the Rochester from its West Temple home to Main and Republic Streets as part of the park being developed around the city’s Old Plaza (this Board – different than the Cultural Heritage Commission – had been overseeing the park project since 1965). The Commission also set up a solicitation fund for its relocation and restoration. Over the next few years, money was raised and a HUD grant of up to $100,000 was applied for and contracted. Then, in August of 1969, the Commission decided the Rochester wasn’t allowed in the park after all. Why? Well, the idea was always a matter of disagreement within the Board. Some of the Commission maintained the non-Spanish architecture of the Rochester would look out of place in Old Plaza. Also, they felt other things – like parking space – were more necessary.

In protest, a group made up of private contributors as well as three Board members (John Anson Ford, Dorothy A. Burnaby, and David A. Workman) sued the Commission, claiming the board had voted to move the Apartments, had raised public and private money, and had no right to renege. The plaintiffs won, and the Commission appealed the ruling. Jump to early fall, 1970, when, with verdict pending, the Rochester was moved temporarily to “railroad property just north of Union Station” (i.e. Alameda and Bruno Streets). In early 1971, California’s Court of Appeals upheld the original decision. Later that spring, following the State Supreme Court’s refusal to hear another appeal, the Commission unanimously consented to relocate and restore the Rochester.

After all this, however, that temporary move turned out to be permanent. For whatever reason, the Rochester was allowed to languish further at the Alameda/Bruno site until it was ultimately demolished in 1979.

now that's a noir tale of the darkest kind.............................................

Oops...usually the Proquest heading is at the top. I went back and fixed. It was in the Times, November 27 '53...