I'm pretty sure we have a photo of President Benjamin Harrison's visit to L.A. on April 22, 1891:

The lower left of Page 2 is Fairbank's Robin Hood.

While browsing photos of church towers to find the one beside the Coolidge banner in a recent post, I happened upon this shot of Moreton Bay fig which was a dead ringer for one in another recent post:

https://i.postimg.cc/wjfs03B1/CHS-41297.jpg
USC Digital Library

Happily though, this tree is going strong, unlike the one formerly at Compton and 20th. (I hope somebody got punished for cutting that one down, but fat chance of that) In fact, it's considerably bigger now. 11000 National Blvd.

Back around page 2292 there was some discussion on big trees from a 1930s guidebook, and there was a mention of another fig on Cedar St. in Glendale. It didn't give an address, but the tree at 1253 Cedar puts Disneyland's Tarzan Tree House to shame.

Regarding the giant oak in Bouquet Canyon, here's an excerpt from Trails of the Angeles by John W. Robinson, 1971 ed. page 46:

Nestled in protected recesses on the north slope of Sierra Pelona are isolated groves of live oak, some of them patriarchal in stature. According to the American Forestry Association's Big Tree Register, the world's largest Canyon Live Oak - measuring 37 feet, 4 inches in trunk circumference - stands in a shallow draw on this north slope. Unfortunately, the tree was severely damaged in a brush fire a few years ago. Today only its burned hulk remains, stark fingers pointing skyward.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds


The 1920, 1930 and 1940 censuses all show the Purple family at 1840 Middleton Place (near Exposition Bl./Western Ave.).....


....GSV confirms this is the location, as the house with the chimney seen across the street still stands...

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

....the Purple home is the handsome beige Craftsman.



This from Family Search.org.....


"The Life Summary of Samuel Maus Purple

When Samuel Maus Purple was born in 1878, in Illinois, United States, his father, Frank Purple, was 31 and his mother, Sue A Maus, was 26. He married Florence Regina Anders on 16 December 1905, in Los Angeles, California, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He lived in Hyde Park Township, Cook, Illinois, United States for about 20 years and Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States for about 30 years. He died on 5 May 1965, in Monterey, California, United States, at the age of 87."


In the '20 census Mr. Purple shows as a furniture salesman, in the '30 count he's a "sales manager" at an "investment broker", I guess that means he was selling stocks, a ballsy move in 1930...


....here's the '40 book....


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds




https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

...so he's now a "consulting engineer" doing "research ____?".....apparently, archaeology was just a hobby.

Research work.

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I happened upon this photograph a few months ago on eBay.


It is an amazing OOAK photograph, dated 1918, of the backside of the viewing stand at the "Los Angeles Motordrome". (per the eBay seller)


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/9a1FFL.jpg


BUT I'm not sure if it's the track that was located in Culver City (just south of MGM Studios) or the track in Beverly Hills (where the Beverly Wilshire Hotel stands today).





As it appeared on eBay.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/BwN6UJ.jpg

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I'll stick with my moto-theme with this photograph of motorcycle team members. . .

As described on eBay:..."Vintage 1947 MOTORCYCLE RACE - 'Smiling TEAM RIDERS' - 8x10 Original Photograph."

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/N16cdQ.jpg
eBay



The reverse.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/YGl1yJ.jpg

Additional information.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/2Z3y3e.jpg
SOLD / no longer listed




The skid-plate on this dude's boot is soooo cool.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/924/yyJAdv.jpg
detail


A closer look.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/rhh9vS.jpg
detail

It looks like a little toboggan.





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. . .from the same eBay seller.


"Vintage 1947 MOTORCYCLE RACE 'Team Casper Rider Line-Up 8x10 Original Photograph"

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/RG084H.jpg
eBay



Info.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/iyWMio.jpg
SOLD

At least we have the team's name. . .Casper.

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Did a bit of digging but no luck on the house. I did find a listing on Etsy for the same photo:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1199107...9b&ref=hp_rv-1

The listing notes:

Given the only attribution is what is written on the back of the photo, it is possible the house could have been one of Wayne's various property holdings in Los Angeles at on time or another and the museum was one of those "john Wayne Slept Here" sort of deals where someone tried to capitalize on the fame of the former owner; it is also possible Wayne never actually owned the place, but was merely a tenant at one time; I live in Hollywood and the area is rife with various homes and apartment buildings making claims of former occupancy by the famous and/or notorious. The house looks like the style and external layout one sees in the Larchmont/melrose Districts.

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Thanks for your help, HollywoodRocker. ..I appreciate it.

I should have contacted the seller when I first happened upon the photo and ask them about the 'museum' part of their description.
..It doesn't make much sense that the house is now a museum because it's obviously located in a residencial area and, besides that, there's no parking for visitors.



Here's a slide dated 1968 / Los Angeles, California - showing road construction. .or rail(?) work.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/9OAgwp.jpg

Does the area look familiar anyone?





Here's a closer look.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/ng41bJ.jpg
eBay

Now I see that what I thought were rails are large I Beams.

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Here's another slide dated 1968...Los Angeles, California. (but where in Los Angeles)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/IuwExR.jpg
eBay



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So e-r, I suspect but can't prove that the photo looks eastward on Wilshire Blvd. at Harvard St. in Santa Monica. The clues are (1) the street sign on that light standard in front of The Patio restaurant which reads "Ha___rd St." and (2) the upward slope of Wilshire that extends for a couple of blocks. The street name and topography comport, but otherwise this scene has been completely reconstructed since the photo was taken. Perhaps one of our other contributors can come up with something more definitive here or elsewhere.

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Thus far, I've come up empty on this image. Directory search on "Jim's Radio and TV" took me to 911 S. Lorena Ave., which isn't the location pictured. "Humphrey Applicances" and "Vinal Texaco" yielded zilch. There's a hardware store across the street, but the name's obscured.

The one intriguing clue to my addled brain is the "283" prefix for Jim's TV. The photo dates from the era when the 213 area code would've covered most all of L.A. County (hard to believe, I know), and the prefix suggests the southwestern San Gabriel Valley (Alhambra, San Gabriel, Monterey Park). I grew up there but can't recall a street configuration like the one shown.

By George, I think you've got it, HH. We see a Sir George's in the distance about a block away. There was a Sir George's Smorgasbord at 27th and Wilshire in 1967:

https://i.postimg.cc/XYQgYjJ0/Sir-G-LAT-1967-4-23.jpg
LA Times, 4/23/1967

:tup:

Just a shot in the dark, could it be PCH in Willmington/Lomita/Harbor City Area. I used to work off of President and PCH and it has a slight curve and hill thats pretty similar, also there's a Pep Boys (well used to be) in the same area?:shrug:

1315 Pacific Coast Highway is the current Pep Boys address.

"Old Los Angeles" was a tourist attraction, with restaurants and shops housed in historic buildings at 420-444 N. Los Angeles St. It was created by Lewis E. Hanchett, who owned an interurban railroad in San Jose and was part of the group that advocated for Union Station. It was demolished in 1949 and largely replaced by the Hollywood Freeway.
https://images.findagrave.com/photos...5097aacd6.jpeg
Hanchett
1872-1956
Findagrave

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5ba715ee_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...072c30ba_b.jpg
Los Angeles Times 5/1/49

https://cdn.calisphere.org/data/1303...9p0zh-FID9.jpg
https://cdn.calisphere.org/data/1303...p0zh-FID14.jpg
https://cdn.calisphere.org/data/1303...p0zh-FID11.jpg
https://cdn.calisphere.org/data/1303...p0zh-FID12.jpg
California ephemera collection
UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb3...r=2&brand=oac4

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fe62cc83_b.jpg
Arnold Hylen Collection/California State Library

Found a bit more on Wayne's residency in Los Angeles/Hollywood before he decamped to Newport Beach:


https://stevesomething.wordpress.com...-wayne-tour-3/



I did a Google street search of the addresses listed in the article, but the present day locations look nothing like the photo you posted. There is the mention of Wayne living in the "Saenz family home", in Hancock Park; this was the home of Wayne first wife's (Josephine) parents, whose father was the then Consul General for Panama, Cuba and the Dominican Republic (Dr. Saenz disapproved of his daughter dating Wayne since, when they couple first met, she was only 16 years old and Wayne was a poor, struggling actor, not anywhere near the major Hollywood star he would become). Even today, consular diplomats and other foreign officials have residence in the Hancock Park/Larchmont area and my guess the home in your photo was located in Hancock Park may be a fair guess.

The Google search actually is a bit fruitless, since the addresses given are in areas where a lot of older homes have been demolished over the decades and replaced by apartment buildings or newer home construction. I was unable to pin down a home address for Dr. Saenz since the city directories of the time only list the address of of the consular offices and not the homes of the Consul. If the home in the photo is actually in Hancock Park, there is a rather better then even chance it still stands, given there has been relatively little redevelopment in the area and it is still one of the more sought after higher end residential areas in LA and any existing home there is worth more than what would be gained by tearing it down to build, say, an apartment building or even newer housing; that plus the residents of Hancock park are in vehement opposition to anything that threatens the status quo.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

This one is driving me crazy (thanks, e_r!).....I am willing to accept HenryHuntington's solution, it certainly looks like the cross street sign is Harvard....and odinthor's find of a reference to Sir George's located at 27th & Wilshire seems conclusive (although 27th does not cross Wilshire, 27th is Princeton St. at that point)....but I think we are looking the wrong way...if you go a few blocks west, to 25th and Wilshire, and face west, on the south side of Wilshire this appears....


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

....so we have a 1960-ish mid-rise office building, no windows on the side, partially obscuring another similar vintage office building....(by the way, the Surfer Rose building was, for many years, The Round Table Restaurant....after that there is a common driveway, for decades it was shared with Knoll's Black Forest Inn, owned and operated by the always-gracious Norbert and Hildegard Knoll)...

Note Douglas Park across the street, after the park there is a red building, that's a Jack-In-The Box, although without the tall pole sign, we see a Jack in e_r's photo at the same spot....off in the distance in the '68 photo is a Von's sign, there was then, and there is now, a Von's at Wilshire and 13th.


If we pull back a block east to 26th St. we get this....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds


On the right can see a sliver of a gas station, for as long as I can remember that has been a 76 station, but previous to that it was a Standard Oil station, and there's a Standard sign in the original post....this from a '50's directory...


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds


So we see a Standard station, a stretch of greenery, a Jack-In-The-Box on the right (north) side of the street in all images, and a distant Von's....

Now, to see all this from Wilshire/Harvard seems a stretch, the Von's sign is 15 blocks away, that's 3/4 of a mile....



P.S.....after composing the above I kept working this thing, finally found confirmation that we are indeed at Wilshire/Harvard, but facing west....


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

...the office building has an address of 2730 Wilshire, 2736 does not exist anymore...but it did in 1955....


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds



Sir George's Smorgasbord was at the other end of the 2700 block, in the building that for many years housed the Santa Monica location of the Pacific Dining Car.....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds




https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds



The elevated perspective of the photographer, the distance compression due to the focus, the lack of trees allowing a view of the storefronts, and a generally clear day all combined to play serious tricks on the eye.

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Excellent replies EVERYONE! ... I'm impressed. :worship:

___________________________________________________________________________________



A mystery location.


RPPC-Los Angeles CA - Apartment Building - 1905 Real Photo

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/K3xibV.jpg
Currently on eBay


Does anyone recognize this apartment building?





Let's take a closer look at the man and woman walking up the hill.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/Ov6GRU.jpg
detail




And here's a closer look at the magnificent stone wall next door.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/1ZJRYl.jpg

The man appears to be looking up at the people on the balcony.





. . .these people

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/UFsuKU.jpg
detail






Here's the large building peeking around the corner of the apt. bldg.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/16b4gc.jpg
detail



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oops, I forgot the back of the postcard.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/lXvobS.jpg
eBay


As you can see it was postmarked on April 22, 1905.



Oh, and while I have your attention. . . .what's this?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/WVHV3c.jpg
detail

......................................................................................boot scraper?

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