A view north from the roof of the Chamber of Commerce in 1932.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3...thfromther.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: Another view north from the roof of the Chamber of Commerce Building in 1937.

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/3...thfromther.jpg
usc digital





Below: Here is an undated view from the roof of the Chamber of Commerce Building.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3...thfromcofc.jpg
usc digital archive

Hi Sopas: In the late 30's and into the 40's I believe that a cup of coffee was a nickel, as was a phone call or a bottle of Pepsi, and that ten cents bought a loaf of bread.

if it keeps on raining the levee's gonna break........
 

Charles Mallory Hatfield (c. 1875 – January 12, 1958) was an American "rainmaker". He was born in Fort Scott, Kansas in 1875 or 1876. His family moved to southern California in the 1880s. As an adult, he became a salesman for the New Home Sewing Machine Company. In 1904 he moved to Glendale, California.

In his free time he read about "pluviculture" and began to develop his own methods for producing rain. By 1902 he had created a secret mixture of 23 chemicals in large galvanized evaporating tanks that, he claimed, attracted rain. Hatfield called himself a "moisture accelerator".

http://coto2.files.wordpress.com/201...san-diego1.jpg
Source: World Press http://coto2.files.wordpress.com/201...san-diego1.jpg


In 1904, promoter Fred Binney began a public relations campaign for Hatfield. A number of Los Angeles ranchers saw his ads in newspapers and promised Hatfield $50 to produce rain. In April, Hatfield and his brother Paul climbed to Mount Lowe and built a tower where Hatfield stood and released his mixture into the air. Hatfield's apparent attempt was successful, so the ranchers paid him $100.

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ.../images/p5.jpg
Source: San Diego history http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ.../images/p5.jpg

Contemporary Weather Bureau reports stated that the rain had been a small part of a storm that was already coming but Hatfield's supporters disregarded this. He began to receive more job offers. He promised Los Angeles 18 inches of rain, apparently succeeded, and collected a fee of $1000. For this effort, Hatfield had built his tower on the grounds of the Esperanza Sanitarium in Altadena, near Rubio Canyon.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043709.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043709.jpg

In 1915 the San Diego city council, pressured by the San Diego Wide Awake Improvement Club, approached Hatfield to produce rain to fill the Morena Dam reservoir. Hatfield offered to produce rain for free, then charge $1,000 per inch for between forty to fifty inches and free again over fifty inches. The council voted four to one for a $10,000 fee, payable when the reservoir was filled.

Councilman Walter P. Moore is to have commented, “If he fills Morena, he will have put 10 billion gallons into it, which would cost the city one tenth of a cent per gallon; if he fails to fulfill his contract, the city isn’t out anything. Its heads the city wins, tails Hatfield loses.”

Hatfield headed for Lake Moreno with his youngest brother Joel, not waiting for a written agreement. By Jan. 1, he built a large tower where he sent chemicals into the air via evaporation from a large shallow pan.

The Hatfield tower at lake Morena
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ.../images/p8.jpg
Source: San Diego History http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ.../images/p8.jpg

On January 5, 1916 heavy rain began - and grew gradually heavier day by day.

Between the 15th and the 19th, the mountains east of San Diego received more than 17 inches of rain. Near Old Town, the San Diego River wiped out the concrete bridge and the Santa Fe Railroad bridge, which was weighted down with freight cars.

Flooding in the Tijuana River Valley wiped out a small community known as “Little Landers” killing two and leaving 100 people without homes.

The Sweetwater Dam in southeast San Diego County, built in January 1888, had overflowed safely during storms in 1895. But this time the spillway was not large enough to contain the water, and two sections of the abutments were destroyed.

The Lower Otay Dam, where water level rose more than 27 feet in 10 days, gave way on Jan. 27th. Thirteen million gallons of water were released, sending a wall 20-40 feet high toward the Tijuana River Valley. Farms, citrus groves and homes were swept downstream.


The tide is starting to rise at lower otay dam
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p10.jpg
Source: San Diego History http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p10.jpg

Lake Morena filled to the brim
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...mages/p20t.jpg
Source: San Diego History http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...mages/p20t.jpg

The remains of the sweetwater dam
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p25.jpg
Source: San Diego History http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p25.jpg

The remains of the concrete bridge in old town
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p18.jpg
Source: San Diego History http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p18.jpg

The next morning, the city treasurer and Naval Reserve officer Don Stewart, surveyed the damage where the river met the ocean. He found a delta several hundred yards wide. Debris from the dam 12 miles inland lay on the beach. He saw many Japanese residents who lived in the valley looking for their dead from small boats. Estimates of deaths varied from 18-65 in the aftermath.

Lake Morena received more than 35 inches of rain, enough to rise 18 inches above the crest of the dam. Hatfield had completed his part of the deal.

Downtown San Diego after the deluge
http://www.sdnn.com/wp-content/galle...6_hatfield.jpg
Source: San Diego News Network http://www.sdnn.com/wp-content/galle...6_hatfield.jpg

Hatfield talked to the press on February 4 and said that the damage was not his fault and that the city should have taken adequate precautions. Hatfield had fulfilled the requirements of his contract - filling the reservoir - but the city council refused to pay the money unless Hatfield would accept liability for damages; there were already claims worth $3.5 million.Hatfield tried to settle for $4000 and then sued the council. In two trials, the rain was ruled an act of God but Hatfield continued the suit until 1938 when the court threw the case out.

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p12.jpg
Source: San Diego History http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...images/p12.jpg

Hatfield with his brother
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043719.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043719.jpg

By the end of the 20's, hatfield's rainmaking career in southern california was coming to an end. The Colorado River and the Boulder Dam Act of 1928 created water for a thirsty California, the Great Depression came, and scientists eventually learned to squeeze water from rain clouds by sprinkling them with silver iodide crystals. Hatfield’s career as a rainmaker had dried up. He settled in Eagle Rock, and once again began selling sewing machines as he had many long years before.

Charles Hatfield was offered large sums for his rainmaking process on several occasions. Hatfield decided the formula was "too devastating a force to unleash to any one individual, or to a group of bureaucrats who might misuse it. When Hatfield died in 1958, he took his secret to the grave

Charles Hatfield attends the opening of the Burt Lancaster movie, "The Rainmaker" in 1956

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043713.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043713.jpg

Apropos theme gsjansen. Here are some more historic flood images in honor or our current deluge.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ederi/1938.png
February 27, 1938. Heavy rains caused by a storm from the Pacific Ocean led to the flooding of Santa Ana, San Gabriel and Los Angele’s rivers. 115 dead, 5,601 homes destroyed
http://www.247quoteus.com/general/67...ural-disasters


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Flood-1903.jpg
A 1903 flood inundates Compton, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Co...Flood-1903.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...SA-c1960-1.jpg
Flood damaged street, Los Angeles, California, USA, c1960. Artist: Unknown
http://www.diomedia.com/public/en/31...geDetails.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ee_breach.jpeg
Los Angeles River and Victory Boulevard 1938.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Flood_of_1938

http://www.semp.us/_images/biots/Biot369PhotoI.jpg
http://www.semp.us/publications/biot...php?BiotID=369

http://www.americahurrah.com/images/LosAngeles.jpg
Flower Street 1955.
http://www.americahurrah.com/Flood55/LosAngeles.htm


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../Converter.jpg
1938, Los Angeles Street, Anaheim
Photograph donated by Ewold Schulz.
Anaheim Public Library Photograph Collection
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt8199q44r/


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...onverter-1.jpg
1938, Intersection of Los Angeles Street and Broadway, Anaheim
Anaheim Public Library Photograph Collection
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt5w101897/


http://blogging.la/wp-content/upload...4/montrose.jpg
Montrose: In this view, the photographer is standing where Mayfield Ave used to be, looking down toward the intersection of Rosemont and Montrose. The flood had spread out at this point, creating a wide moonscape where houses and streets had been the night before. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office collected 40 bodies and noted 75 people missing by January 4, 1934. Three years after the disaster, 45 persons remained unaccounted for.
Photo: Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley.
http://blogging.la/2009/04/23/songs-...woody-guthrie/

And, of course, the infamous Baldwin Hills Dam disaster in 1963.
• Video Link

The flood photos are very interesting.
I would love to know what was in Chas. Hatfield's "moisture accelerator" (only 23 ingredients...perhaps I can figure it out) ;)

I remember when I lived in L.A. an inch or two of rain created driving CHAOS.
The winter rains would arrive on schedule after many months of dry weather.
The rain would blend with the oil on the city streets and create a frighteningly slick surface.

Very interesting flood photos and story.

Ah, thanks. Still a bargain, I think. I would love to be able to park in a lot downtown for the price of a loaf of bread today.

Has anyone else looked at these great street scene pictures and caught themselves trying to "grab" them with the mouse cursor and move them around a la Google Street View?

Hmmm, "Google Past View", wouldn't that be cool?

two views looking north on main street past the temple block and temple street from the same spot (and altitude) of the se corner of main and market......62 years apart

1863

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-2821?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-2821?v=hr

1925

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-35903?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-35903?v=hr

looking se across hill street from clay street and third street 1876......25 years before Colonel Eddy would build angels flight

the wolfskill orange grove is off in the distance

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-6955?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-6955?v=hr

looking east from third street and clay street 1889. note the panorama skating rink on main street between 3rd and 4th, and the arcade train station off in the distance at 5th and central on the site of the old wolfskill orange grove

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-4303?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-4303?v=hr

looking south down broadway from on top of fort moore hill 1906

wow!

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-7044?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-7044?v=hr

Excellent finds gsgansen.

I especially LOVE this one.

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/758...ntempleblo.jpg

The Post Office looks very regal.....and you can also see the detailing on the Temple Block (lower left).

This is a great "then-and-then"! Could the latter pic have been taken from the very tip-top of the NW cupola of the U.S. Hotel? Is that the tower of the Amestoy that I see there in the right foreground?

And in the earlier view - it looks like the exact same vantage point. Can it be possible that the United States Hotel stood there as early as 1863?

-Scott

Construction of the Harbor Freeway, 1952.




http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive






http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/8...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive

Construction of the Harbor Freeway, 1952.




http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive






http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/8...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive







http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/892...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive






http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8...reeway1952.jpg
usc digital archive

Ghost sign for the Mt. Lowe Railway.




http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/699...ailwaybill.jpg
unknown

Photograph I found on ebay.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2...24n5ebayd5.jpg

Sott, when i saw the two images i immediately thought of you. your interest in not only this particular corner, but also the U.S. hotel and amestoy building is well known.........

i will try and find out as much as i can about the 1863 photo

Why thank you thank you. I cotton to anything about men's clubs because I warm to the idea of telling the wife I'm "at my club" playing billiards and smoking cigars, and of course having my club's name engraved on my calling card and printed in the social directory!

As for this photo, I think it's fascinating to consider it 1906 (above and beyond the puppy-strangling element). I'm sure there are light-pole and street-car-wire experts who can date this to the year-month-and-day; I just think that it's correct because after having read a stack of LA history books, especially the vintage ones, they all paint the same picture: Los Angeles was, until the 20s, basically a backwater, jerkwater place. That's of course oversimplified, we can argue boom and bust til the cows come home, but despite what anyone likes to believe about the city now, it was historically overwhelmingly white, Presbyterian, (need I mention it sided with The South in the Civil War), and lagged behind just about every other major metropolitan area in terms of providing services. That this may be 1906 and indicate an area that was ten-fifteen years out of date is spot-on.

This is the odd duck out of all those awesome shots of Bunker Hill shot up 3rd across Hill -- this is looking north on 3rd across Cinnabar (the Rageley is at the NE corner) and 3rd & Flower is left-center.