Unreal that this is a photo of Los Angeles.

Yes, that's a heartbreaker alright. What a waste. It's interesting to note that, when the post office was torn down, its bits and pieces were dumped in Chavez Ravine, where of course Dodger Stadium is now. Here's a Nuestro Pueblo reprint from The Daily Mirror blog telling the story of the post office/federal building's fate:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...o-puebl-8.html

-Scott

Scott, I belatedly added a 'thank you' to you in post #419.

I wanted to make sure you go back and read it.

Cool! Thanks! Like I said, I'm just delighted to have found this thread in time to contribute to it. Hopefully others will find it in the future and discover as well just how fascinating Los Angeles history is. :-)

It's really incredible, isn't it? Absolutely everything in that photo is gone today; completely obliterated. Old L.A. truly is a vanished world...

Scott, on the LAPL website, I just entered 1888 city hall. There were some interior shots that popped up too, many of the library that was housed there.

Welcome to the forum, BTW! I'm glad you've joined and contributed pics, they're really fascinating!

Yeah, so much history was erased. That's why it gets to me sometimes when people say that LA has no history and has the characteristics of any other "Sun Belt" city-- of which I don't consider LA to be a part of, but that's another topic of discussion, I suppose.

And the hustle and bustle that went on downtown back then... it really was a vibrant place.

Interior shots of old City Hall! I'm in heaven!

One thing that's sadly lacking in the various archives are photos of buildings' interiors. I would love to know what the inside of the Court House looked like, or any number of other vanished L.A. landmarks. Perhaps indoor photography was not very practical in the old days, who can say? It's just a shame that we will probably never know what the interiors of these grand buildings looked like...

-Scott

I could linger and study each one of these great photos for days.

Thanks for posting them everybody.

Hmmmm... After looking at these two photos, it looks like a full story was added to the top of this building. I started counting the floors, and the bottom photo has 7 stories instead of the original 6. I'm thinking the top wasn't removed, but another floor was added and made into a different style. Very interesting. I wouldn't doubt that this was not an uncommon thing to do; I know of a building in Old Pasadena that had a floor or two added to it in the early 20th Century. The Masonic building in my town of South Pasadena also apparently used to be a shorter building when it was originally built.

On the flip side, there's also an old building in Old Pasadena that had its top floor removed.

Yes ethereal, most of those buildings are gone. I believe they were knocked down for the 101 freeway; the area also has surface parking lots. The 5-story building across Main Street from the Pico House still exists and is being refurbished. In the Google Earth photo I posted of the Pico House, it's the building in the right of the photo with the tarp on it.

Here's a modern-day view of Arcadia and Spring Streets, looking east, a similar view to the above photo, courtesy of Google Earth:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6...andarcadia.jpg

Depressing, huh? I still like this area because of the history-- what's left of it, anyway. To think that the huge megalopolis of Los Angeles began near here at the Plaza as a dusty little pueblo.

You're absolutely right! Hah! That totally escaped my notice. So interesting!

View from the Court House tower, c.1900
 

Downtown Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th century, in living Photocrom color...


http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pp...800/17897v.jpg
Library of Congress

The full-resolution image is available here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...les_17897u.jpg

Completely unrecognizable from how it looks today, isn't it? All that change, from then 'til now, took place in only 1-1/2 normal human lifespans. It almost defies imagination...

-Scott

Yeah when you sit down and comprehend the change thats already happened, it baffles the mind. And it's only going to change even more as LA rediscovers it's need for rail.

BTW, welcome to the forum, LAP! Great website!:tup:

The following three photographs were labeled "buildings to come down for new Civic Center".


Below: This one was also labeled "low income housing".

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2...comehousin.jpg
usc digital library






Below: This one was also labeled, "center building built in 1884".


http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8...ldgbuilt18.jpg
usc digital archive





Below: This looks like a nondescript alley...but it's intriguing all the same.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7...obuilttorn.jpg
usc digital archive

Below:
The northeast corner of 1st and Spring Street where City Hall is today.


http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5...stcornerof.jpg
usc digital archive

I found this is one of my older files.

The only description was "The future site of the new City Hall".

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/3...lacityhall.jpg
unknown


Sopas_ej or Scott....do you recognize this building?
I believe it says 'County Bank' on the cornice.

I love these photos! I hope no one minds, but I decided to look up old photos of Long Beach at lapl.org and share. It may not be LA proper, but it's at least LA County! :) They're not as impressive as a lot of the LA shots, but worthy of note:


http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077284.jpg
Lincoln Park, 1920s.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077179.jpg
Seaside Way, 1928. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think any of that exists anymore.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081553.jpg
City Hall, 1930.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics46/00072759.jpg
Aerial from the 1930s.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081561.jpg
Another from 1932.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077202.jpg
Pine Ave, 1930s.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077197.jpg
Pine Ave, 1930s.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081575.jpg
Ocean Blvd, 1930s.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081555.jpg
The beach with the infamous Villa Riviera before the breakwater ended the waves, 1938.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077421.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00076/00076484.jpg
This one is from the 1940s. I think those things behind it are oil rigs.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081540.jpg
A panoramic, this time from the 1950s taken from around where the Queen Mary is docked.


It's hard to tell how much was lost in the earthquake and subsequent urban renewal, but I feel like aside from the larger buildings, a lot is gone.

This is the Temple Block! It was the principal professional building in Los Angeles when it was built in 1871.

-Scott

The Los Angeles National Bank building. I think that went up in 1887...