1938 WPA Artwork featuring the Tar Pits

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0

USC Digital

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00100/00100850.jpgLAPL


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4...2520AM.bmp.jpgGoogleSV

The west side of Crenshaw at 43rd Place, the and now. The Van de Kamp's reflected in the leftmost window of the top shot is seen below...


http://jpg1.lapl.org/00100/00100849.jpgLAPL

:previous: very interesting before and after GW. Disturbing how buildings are poorly treated over time.
__



Beale's Cut located in the Santa Clarita Valley, Los Angeles County.

http://imageshack.us/a/img194/8647/scutlapl.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=73036

An early access road by Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a landowner and surveyor, who in 1863 made the 90' cut for stagecoaches.






below: Another striking view with wagon.

http://imageshack.us/a/img594/2479/a...870swatera.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=53280






In this incredible photograph from 1923, silent film star Tom Mix (more likely a stunt double) jumps over Beale's Cut
in the lost silent 'Three Jumps Ahead'.

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/470/sth...ead1923tom.jpg
http://www.elsmerecanyon.com/canyonm...alesmovies.htm






below: A later view of Beale's Cut with an automobile.

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/3826/scut1930sn.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/photogallery/newhall.htm
__


Supposedly you can see Beale's Cut from the Sierra Highway but I haven't located it yet. :(
__

Well yes, it sucks, but I meant that compared to most new buildings being built nowadays, its better than most of them, in that its not a pile of random shaped colorful things stacked on top of eachother (again, see new genesis apartments on 5th and main, or the new thing they are building on the corner of 2nd and los angeles street).

Personally I would rather there be a 2-3 story building go in, that way the alexandria doesnt get screwed over, and an alleyway can always be included as well. The parking lot sucks big time, there is a feeling of dead space when you walk by.

I am worried though about the proposed 35 or 40 story building they want to put at 6th and main in front of the pacific electric building, I do not know much about it, I have not seen any renderings yet, but I am 109.2% sure it will be awful.

The alexandria is limited to people with a certain income, I think the max is something like 30 some grand a year, so if you make more than that, you cant live there.

I wish I could reply sooner, my computer always seems to be in the shop getting fixed...

http://imageshack.us/a/img825/4343/aabfuneralinfo.jpg



1430 what?
http://imageshack.us/a/img7/9981/aabfuneral.jpg
ebay





http://imageshack.us/a/img29/9223/aa...erior1890s.jpg
ebay



reverse side
http://imageshack.us/a/img837/7347/a...ralreverse.jpg

__

Oh wow, what an amazing find.:multibow

I believe it says "Oil Field East from Corner 1st St. & Belmont."

http://imageshack.us/a/img21/4568/aa...toilfields.jpg
ebay
__

postmarked 1912
http://imageshack.us/a/img24/9978/aablockmysterypc.jpg
ebay

__

Prospect/Vitagraph Studios
 

Here's an undated (circa 1926) shot taken from the opposite direction with the Shakespeare Bridge (1926) on the upper left and the site of the Prospect Stairs upper right.
The worthy-of-exploration neighborhood is a bare, brown hillside. Shakespeare Bridge crosses the little canyon where the headwaters of Sacatela Creek rose.
The two little bungalows, connected by the entrance arch, at Prospect and Talmadge (right of center, at bottom) are still there of course.
Sorry it's so huge, but the detail is fascinating:
http://deadwrite.files.wordpress.com.../warner021.jpg
deadwrite.com

http://www.angelenoliving.com/sites/...Studios-sm.jpg
angelenoliving

Three extras actually drowned here during the filming of Noah's Ark (1928). John Wayne
and Andy Devine, also working as extras on the film, obviously escaped.

and here's a small version of the big photo in case anyone doesn't want to scroll around:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...84629%2BAM.jpg

Here you go, via Google Maps & Street View:

Link to Google Maps

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x...122%2520PM.jpg

That groove in the distance just to the right of the power pole is Beale's Cut. It's not a terribly close view but if you try to get closer on the road there is another ridge blocking the view. Also, the lower part of the cut has collapsed dirt in it so it's not as big as it once was.

Also in the photo: just left of the pole, along the roadside, is a clearing with a set of stone markers. Go a bit further north with Street View and you can see them. It looks like they once held plaques which someone has made off with. Maybe they described Beale's Cut?

Here's a larger area view via Google Maps:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...2520PM.bmp.jpg

Beale's Cut is circled in green. Circled in red is the south entrance of the San Fernando Tunnel - that very long railroad tunnel we were discussing back on page 497! The north end is beyond the north edge of the map.

ER:.....Here is Beale's Cut on Google Earth [the nearby roads are named. At the right is highway 14. I marked the cut by an orange dotted line near the middle of the picture. A friend and myself did a photo shoot along this highway back in August 1984. All went well until the Highway Patrol showed up. We did visit the 280' cut itself but I am not sure if you can today. I recall George and I hiked a few blocks to the cut area.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../bealescut.jpg

I don't think you can see the cut from Sierra Highway but this was a while ago for me.. [ Edit: Prophet M...thanks for the photos.!]

:previous: Thanks ProphetM and DouglasUrantia. Very cool. :)


posted by ProphetM
http://imageshack.us/a/img525/1587/sprophetm.jpg

Totally surprised that Beale's Cut is a 'stones throw' from the old San Fernando Tunnel, once the world's longest tunnel. (see below)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9921

and here
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9926

Los Angeles City Oil Field
 

Yes, that's the 1000-well Los Angeles City Oil Field. It has its own wiki page. The view is near where LAUSD tried to build the new Belmont High at 1st & Beaudry (I watched the land being cleared and the buildings start to go up from space I was using high in the 3rd & Hope Tower in about 2000). The builders failed to vent for radon gas and other contaminants, a danger of old oil fields, and it all went horribly and expensively wrong. The project was radically scaled back and some of the land is now Vista Hermosa Park. This is just south of, or part of, the old Park Tract.

If anyone remembers the Fairfax Ross Dress-for-Less blast in 1985, then they know what can happen if one builds on old oil fields without precautions:
http://www.stanford.edu/~meehan/la/fire4.gif
LAT

:previous: Interesting details T2. thx

I also loved that aerial of Vitagraph Studios and the Shakespeare Bridge.

detail of the photograph originally posted by Tovanger2
http://imageshack.us/a/img28/207/aab...erialt2ssp.jpg


The Shakespeare Bridge was built in 1926 by J.C. Wright.
The ravine over which the bridge was built was once a perennial stream called Arroyo de la Sacatela.




below: Early views of the Shakespeare Bridge.

http://imageshack.us/a/img96/3997/aa...arebridge1.png
http://takesunset.com/tag/architectural-landmarks/






http://imageshack.us/a/img831/5318/a...arebridge2.png
http://takesunset.com/tag/architectural-landmarks/





below: The Shakespeare Bridge today.

http://imageshack.us/a/img268/6300/a...ebridgetak.jpg
http://takesunset.com/tag/architectural-landmarks/




A view from below... (Sacatela Creek has long been covered over)

http://imageshack.us/a/img803/3995/a...ybigorange.jpg
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.c...re-bridge.html



...a view from above. (the large building circled in red is John Marshall High School)

http://imageshack.us/a/img42/3964/aa...klinhills1.jpg




John Marshall high School in 1931.

http://imageshack.us/a/img138/3101/a...marshallhi.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=51008

__


A further look at Arroyo de la Sacatela (feeding into Bimini Slough).

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/2337/aabshakesarroyo.jpg
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_fo...t-streams.html





We all recognize Bimini Slough because of the oft-posted Bimini Baths, located downstream from the Shakespeare Bridge
and the Arroyo de la Sacatela.

http://imageshack.us/a/img195/6234/a...iminibaths.jpg
http://laecovillage.wordpress.com/20...-bimini-baths/
__



Past posts on the Bimini Baths (along with El Patio Gardens/Rainbow Gardens/Palomar Ballroom...same place different names)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=644

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=645

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=631

__

geology of LA
 

One has to love how water, gas and oil keep rising to the surface in LA, no matter how much we pretend otherwise. Sacatela Creek can still cause havoc at Wilshire and Mariposa.

BTW, the last well of the Los Angeles City Oil Field is supposed to be still pumping somewhere on two-block-long S Mountain View Ave, but I'll be darned if I find it.