Buckley's eternity just got a bit more interesting...
 

Gore is on the way.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7257/7...a6d6a200_o.jpg
gorevidal

Gore Vidal (1925-2012)

And this earth will be the poorer for his absence.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7246/7...fe725ea3_o.jpg
redcarad, 1935

This is such a great photo! Thanks for posting it Hobocat.

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How about the Hotel SNOW? According to the accompanying notes, "Build in 1910, it has the name 'FINKLE' carved on the top front of the building." No address given. Date given is "191-" (1909 Directory lists a Fredrick C Finkle as a consulting engineer Hellman Bldg., 411 S. Main.http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...rch_doc=finkle (1915 Directory lists SNOW Hotel at 804 W. 6th Street)http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...el&submit=Find

http://jpg1.lapl.org/spnb01/00007314.jpg

And then there is this undated photo of the same Hotel SNOW with a given address of Flower and Sixth Streets (near the equally obscure "SEMINOLE Apartment Hotel." (1923 Directory lists SEMINOLE at 620 S. Flower - name may have been co opted since 1942 Directory only lists Seminole Hotel at 5119 Avalon Blvd., which appears to have been a Wilmington Address)http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=Los+Angeles+City+Directories%2FLPU00000%2FLL000005%2F00000001&view_width=20&rotation=0&query1=&query1_field=0&collection_filter=false&search_doc=seminole&submit=Find"]http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...le&submit=Find[/URL]

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013892.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013892.jpg

Curiously, there is another building bearing the FINKLE name. In or around 1920, it was located at 316 South Spring Street. (Have no idea if this name is directly associated with the HOTEL SNOW.) Coincidentally, the 1942 directory lists a "FINKLE ARMS" at 912 S. Figueroa.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics18/00018597.jpg all photos from lapl

These two images may not have been posted. Panoramic View of Downtown, circa 1910. Unfinished Metropolitan Bldg. features prominently in second shot.

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...183D508E2?v=hr

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-5054?v=hr

There may be much larger versions of these photos considering that the source notes identify many signs that are not apparent to my untrained eyes in the first image. One such sign is that of the Seminole Hotel, mentioned above. Here is the source: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1343841741294

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/7...75d61a19_o.jpg
los angeles city hall, julius shulman 1933

“City Hall, Los Angeles, 1933, John C. Austin, John and Donald Parkinson, Albert C. Martin” by Julius Shulman. J. Paul Getty Trust. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute.

From this angle and on this date, I think this standing water in the foreground may be in Chinatown. Okay that's not the Federal Building under construction, not in 1933, so what is it? On the other hand, I believe you can see the Los Angeles Times building peeking out from the left shoulder of the City hall. It appears the Times building has its roof on, which would place the photo later than 1933, the Times building being under construction in 1934 and opening in 1935.

Well, I think I can see where Mr. Shulman set up his camera to get this shot. I think he set up on the roof of a building northeast of City Hall, but which building? I believe the intermediate building between the lense and the Hall of Records is the International Savings & Exchange Bank on the southwest corner of Main and Temple (on the same plot of land as the new City Hall). Look at this image from 1927, I think you can clearly pick out the International Exchange & Savings Bank and by lining it up with the Hall of Records and then following that line to the northeast, you end up very near the corner of Aliso and Los Angeles Street or, perhaps, Arcadia and Los Angeles Street. I believe the standing water is on the flat roof of a building near the south end of Calle de los Negros.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7...bede3459_o.jpg
downtown Los Angeles, 1927

I'm convinced the date on the Shulman photograph is incorrect, perhaps by as much as four or five years. The Times building places it in at least 1935 and maybe later and the construction in the right midground seems most likely to be the Federal Building. The Baker Block also helps place the camera near the south end of the Calle de los Negros.

for comparison....

http://imageshack.us/a/img833/3432/a...enter1960s.jpg
ebay

Chuckaluck, the Hotel Snow eventually became the Southland Hotel. I wasn't aware of the 'FINKLE' inscription...very interesting.


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Sorry I missed your earlier post where you clearly mentioned "Snow."http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2591

From the later photos of the Southland, it appears that the "FINKLE" inscription and assorted building jewelery - were long gone before the old gal met her demise.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5167/5...eb9482e1_b.jpghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/3930393...9832/lightbox/

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5202/5...f30815ec_b.jpghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/3930393...9277/lightbox/

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5289/5...cc9b2c0f_b.jpghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/3930393...9439/lightbox/

No, it definitely is the federal building. You can make out the towers of the Baker Block in front of it. So the date is wrong - it's more like 1938. The foreground building from which the picture was taken is part of Union Station. All those poles sticking up are rebar - you can just make out the ribs on a couple of the ones closest to camera.

The wall of the structure on which the cameraman is standing is divided by support pillars; take a look at the rightmost pillar (beneath the federal building construction). There are little curly-cue decorations on either side of the pillar. These can still be seen along the south side of Union Station:

http://goo.gl/maps/P0oYW

So, the photo was taken from near there. There are no holes in the low wall in the old pic, so it's not that exact spot - it seems like a west-facing wall rather than the south-facing one in my Google Maps link, so the site is probably somewhere on the old ramp/structure where the water district building is now located.

The SEMINOLE Apartments, presumably in its heyday.
Hadn't seen it mentioned before, except above post (ran though the search function, but that doesn't mean it is not in its second or third run).

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5054/5...9e9b1be0_o.jpghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/3930393...0681/lightbox/

Yes (see my subsequent (edit) comments). I hadn't considered Union Station as I wasn't thinking that late yet and it seems a bit farther than it appears to be. But the angle is spot on and the presence of rebar in the foreground roof bears it out. I think you're right. So we are east of Alameda. And at least 1939. I think I'm going to be calling the archivist at Getty to let him in on it.

I've been waiting for someone to do a post on the Selig Zoo...and you did it beautifully BifRayRock.


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Aerial view of Lincoln Park today. Notice the small street named Selig Place (circled in red).

http://imageshack.us/a/img546/7226/a...parkaerial.jpg
google earth

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Yep, it's the Federal Building alright. See the seventh photo down here.

-Scott

This short (2:11) video contains some amazing 'then & now' transitions of the old Pacific Electric tunnels.

http://imageshack.us/a/img542/644/aa...sthennow1a.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk2xh...eature=related

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and this longer video is even better.

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/1126/a...etolongbea.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebboO52In1w

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Thanks for the link, Scott. Pretty clearly the whole issue of the new construction right there, the structural steel, the relative location, the Baker Block. I think we've pretty clearly established the Shulman photo must date from 1938-39 and not 1933. (and I must say, I sometimes forget what a great blog you've got.)

:lmao: The zoo would probably be charged the child endangerment today for that. Still, that cracked me up.

No lie.
Check out the light mast in this frame from Scott's blog (don't laugh at my obsession).
It's an older one rigged for climbing and set almost directly in front of the St. Charles (Bella Union!) Hotel.
That makes three light masts that are out of place according to popular history. Ferguson Alley, the Plaza Church rectory and now the St. Charles Hotel.


http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...00013999-1.jpg
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2...ker-block.html

Edit:
...or maybe not. It seems the older "climber" model was soon replaced with this higher and maybe even more powerful self-adjusting electrode gap model soon after.