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ethereal_reality Feb 4, 2011 12:39 AM

originally posted by BEAUDRY
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/7672/aaabeaudryr.jpg




hmmm.....he vaguely resembles Bobby Kennedy (same teeth.....gopheresque). ;)

ethereal_reality Feb 4, 2011 12:58 AM

below: originally posted by westcork

And here is another view of the hospital from Sunset and Beaudry 1928
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...EN-28-185?v=hr
USC[/QUOTE]

I am surprised the hospital lost it's dome as early as 1928.
A loss like this is often a result of an earthquake...but the largest earthquake in the area was in 1933 (the "Long Beach" Earthquake).

ethereal_reality Feb 4, 2011 1:24 AM

Here is a rarity.

The "Round House" built by Ramon Alexander in 1854.
Located on Main Street south of 3rd Street....it was last used as a kindergarten school in the 1880s.


http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/590...useonmains.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5...roundhouse.jpg
usc digital archive



In actuality it was a 12-sided structure.
Does anyone have additional information on this unique structure?

sopas ej Feb 4, 2011 4:50 AM

^^^
I've read elsewhere on the internet that it was also once a saloon. I don't know anything else about the structure.

Undated photo of area near Olympic Auditorium, from the USC Archive:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...lympicaudi.jpg

This was obviously taken when the Hollywood sign still said "HOLLYWOODLAND" and before the I-10/Santa Monica Freeway was built, which is just a block north from the building formerly known as the Olympic Auditorium today. I've always wondered what was torn down to make way for the freeway. Looks like it was once an interesting area, a mish-mosh of architectural styles, residential buildings and businesses, churches, garages...

Edit: I was going through the USC Archive again and this picture is listed on their website twice, the other photo being captioned with the year 1939.

malumot Feb 4, 2011 5:29 PM

That a great Whittington, Sopas.

I don't get up to L.A. much anymore (the few interesting and civilized areas are overlain by a general craptastic funk) but when I do, I pay attention.

And I noted (even back then) the impressive 5-story, brick-faced, double-wing apartment/hotel near the lower right of the photo. That's at Grand and 17th, one block north of the Olympic, at Grand and 18th (lower left of photo).

They both still stand.


Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5151467)
^^^
I've read elsewhere on the internet that it was also once a saloon. I don't know anything else about the structure.

Undated photo of area near Olympic Auditorium, from the USC Archive:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...lympicaudi.jpg

This was obviously taken when the Hollywood sign still said "HOLLYWOODLAND" and before the I-10/Santa Monica Freeway was built, which is just a block north from the building formerly known as the Olympic Auditorium today. I've always wondered what was torn down to make way for the freeway. Looks like it was once an interesting area, a mish-mosh of architectural styles, residential buildings and businesses, churches, garages...


PHX31 Feb 4, 2011 7:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5151256)
Here is a rarity.

The "Round House" built by Ramon Alexander in 1854.
Located on Main Street south of 3rd Street....it was last used as a kindergarten school in the 1880s.
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5...roundhouse.jpg
usc digital archive



In actuality it was a 12-sided structure.
Does anyone have additional information on this unique structure?

Holy cow that lady's trike is awesome!

gsjansen Feb 4, 2011 8:00 PM

a 1936 aerial looking north easterly across the intersection of los angeles street and aliso street. (i believe that this image was posted quite awhile ago, but at the time, i wasn't exactly sure in my mind where this was truely located).

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...b88f14d7_b.jpg
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-4129-C?v=hr

the jennette block, (which contains the garnier building), is at the upper left hand corner, calle de los negros is across the street from there. the street car on the left is turning from going northbound on los angeles street to east bound on aliso street.

a kind of haphazard then and now view using bingmaps, (sorry for the distortion in the now image)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5055/...36f243c6_b.jpg

and here's a companion photo. this time we are looking north across the intersection of alameda and aliso.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...11bcb665_b.jpg
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-4129-T?v=hr

los angeles street is at the top left. san pedro street is the street that terminates at aliso street. (today san pedro terminates at temple).

gsjansen Feb 4, 2011 8:45 PM

woo hoo! park at the park in '52 :eeekk:

building the underground garage under pershing square 1951

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr

Los Angeles Past Feb 4, 2011 9:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5152233)
woo hoo! park at the park in '52 :eeekk:

building the underground garage under pershing square 1951

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-32448?v=hr


My mom used to work for Edwin Lester at the LA Civic Light Opera, so we went to many LACLO shows at the Auditorium in the early 1960s. (I particularly remember seeing 'Carousel' and 'Camelot' there.) Anyway, I remember that parking garage vividly, and it always looked to my little kid eyes like it must have been there forever. I had no idea before this that it was actually only a couple of years older than I was! What a surprise...

-Scott

Beaudry Feb 4, 2011 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5151467)

Undated photo of area near Olympic Auditorium, from the USC Archive:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...lympicaudi.jpg

This was obviously taken when the Hollywood sign still said "HOLLYWOODLAND" and before the I-10/Santa Monica Freeway was built, which is just a block north from the building formerly known as the Olympic Auditorium today. I've always wondered what was torn down to make way for the freeway. Looks like it was once an interesting area, a mish-mosh of architectural styles, residential buildings and businesses, churches, garages...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...09b65540_b.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1296853575049
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/...426a5f61_o.jpgmaps.bing.com

Malumot is talking about the Young Apartments. Which I love, as I love much of this area, since I would roam about in it ca. 1983 as a wayward youth frequenting punk rock shows at the Olympic.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5292/...0fa694c3_b.jpgmine

Surprised we haven't mentioned the Young. It's a nice slice of remaining early LA. Never been inside; it having been a slum for so long means it's either remarkably intact, or horribly butchered. I need to check it out. Largest ballroom? Disappearing beds? Mahogany?

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5091/...35bec02c_o.jpgproquest July 28 1912

Of course there is assorted drama over the course of its long life.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/...48b97e4e_o.jpgproquest
(Vilalee Goddard was despondent because her husband George cruised off to visit his mother in Walnut Park on New Year's Eve. New Year's! [1938] So Vilalee, 38, takes a .38 and commits suicide, or so ruled County Autopsy Surgeon Wagner. But twice in the chest and THEN one through the head? Damn.)

The Young became vaguely famous in the early 80s for being owned by former San Diego councilman graduated to notorious LA slumlord Michael Schaefer. Schaefer was in court lots, and thus in the papers, for his rubble-filled, rodent-infested apartments. Tenants in his structures (including the Young) faced eviction as Schaefer elected not to pay DWP et al. utility bills for the properties.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/...b7129187_b.jpgproquest

He wouldn't install smoke detectors or repair fire doors and was sentenced to 45 days in jail; served ten. The building is sold to one Bradley Thrasher, who doesn't do much better -- in 1985 he gets a million-dollar loan from the CRA to fix life-threatening problems, doesn't, and thereafter faces six months/$1,000 fine for code violations. In 1986 the Young lights on fire, and 40 tenants had to be rescued from the fire escapes by hook n' ladder because the fire escape drop-downs didn't work. Thrasher serves 60 days concurrent with other code violations at the Young.

That said, a few months later in January 1987, it is made LA Historic-Cultural Landmark #317.

Again, no idea as to its interior awesomeness. Its exterior never ceases to delight when heading to that 110 onramp.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5020/...101707ac_b.jpgmaps.google.com

MichaelRyerson Feb 4, 2011 10:28 PM

Thanks Westcork, unfortunately the pic
 
shows as one of those little x-in-a-box things. still working my way forward in the thread on page 45 today. I appreciate you watching for more on the Bellevue. Will post something more lengthy when I get to the end of this great thread.

MichaelRyerson Feb 4, 2011 10:29 PM

See? I don't even know how
 
to reply to the correct post. damn.

ethereal_reality Feb 5, 2011 12:23 AM

FYI

"Kingofthehill" has posted some wonderful photos of art deco architecture in Los Angeles.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=162327&page=6

scroll down to post #109

Beaudry Feb 5, 2011 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5136882)
If I remember correctly Beaudry has an affinity with the old Southland Hotel that was located at Sixth and Flower.



below: I found these never before seen (on this thread anyway :) ) photos of the Southland (formerly the Snow).

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2...landin1916.jpg
ebay

above: It looks like there are glass globes (electric?) atop the various pinnacles on the rooftop.
I also like the semi-ornate apartment building on Flower Street that you can see just behind the Southland.





below: The same photo with a slightly different vantage point. Here you can see the neighboring highrises.

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6...screengrab.jpg
ebay






below: A southward continuation of the above photographs.

http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/1860/1916m1a.jpg
ebay


This view is looking southeast along Flower Street.
Notice the semi-ornate apartment building that I liked so well in the first photo (in this pic it is far left).
The adjacent building to the south is handsome as well. (also notice the lone house)





below: Southland Hotel ephemera.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/6547/scollection.jpg
Beaudry's collection

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3...ollection2.jpg
Beaudry's collection


Beaudry, I hope you don't mind me using these last two images.

What I mind is that that image -- which I'm assuming was a glass plate? -- I missed out bidding on. Because it would have been miiiine. At least it's recorded here for my slathery worship, thank God.

You have a good eye -- I too like the Seminole Apartments. 620 South Flower. This is the best photo of its facade ON THE PLANET. Whoever now owns this image, I will trade you my Packard for a good blow-up.

And the globes atop the Southland? Yes, I actually dripped actual drool. (And yes, there is something wrong with me and no, I hope it is never cured.)

And e_r, of course I don't mind you using my images herein, that's what my collection is for, and the internet is for, especially sites like these and particularly this thread.

However, I will say this to anyone to whom it may apply (can't presume to speak for other posters on this thread, but let's pretend I do): if I post something cool, whether it be a previously unseen image or some heretofore unexamined research, and you snag said image or idea, credit this thread. That's not only due research diligence but also common courtesy.

Looking up Flower from 7th. The Snow/Southland at the SW corner of 6th. There's the Seminole, mid-block, right.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5051/...ba2f3a49_o.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013892.jpg

The Seminole

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5054/...9e9b1be0_o.jpg

from http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal10a.html -- this is a fascinating postcard because it bears no relation to reality. Most postcards don't; and that's ok. But taking "artistic license" and putting it on a corner? Puh-leeeze. Gratuitous fanciful rooftop signage is a hallmark of early hotel postcards but -- placing it on a corner, was that supposed to entice out-of-town rubes to whom the card was sent? In any event, there was in fact an alley to the south of the Seminole. That the postcard makes it look like a street we'll chalk up to Angeleno boosterism.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/...09cecc37_o.jpg

Guess who built the Seminole? R. B. Young & Son, who built the Young Apts I wrote about earlier today. It opens in the spring of 1911. 72 apartments of two and three rooms each, and 12 single rooms. The exterior was of red pressed brick and marble trimmings. The Orenas being the wealthy Spanish family who owned the block.

What's most notable in the eBay image is that they've added the large Franco-Renaissance northern addition to the Seminole (yep, all one structure according to atlases of the times). I further drool over the cast iron & glass marquis.

Now go back (scroll up) to that image and look at that lone house at 630 S Flower. The houses next to it have had their driveways laid out, but they're still empty lots. By the car I'd guess this to be about...1915? I'm no car expert. But I think I'm about right. And the reason those plots are empty? Our current economic sitch is nothing compared to the Panic of 1910, much less the Recession of 1913-14, where business and trade activity dropped 20-25%. Lest we forget the insane downturn of 1918-19 due to the postwar unemployment jazz. (Never ceases to amuse that people think that whatever's happening now is somehow the a) first and b) worst it has or ever will happen...) In any event, empty plots with driveways. Telling. I still can't believe I don't own this image. I always marry the inquisitive to the acquisitive. So sue me.

Beaudry Feb 5, 2011 2:04 AM

So after writing about The Young Apartments and its "disappearing beds" I got to thinking about...disappearing beds.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5255/...c5d1bff5_o.jpg

The Holmes Disappearing Bed Company was located at and had its display rooms in 671-681 of the Pacific Electric Building. They also kept a ground floor office there. HDBC, for example, installed seventy-three Disappearing Beds at the YMCA hi-rise downtown (715-729 Hope St).

I have a fetish for the HDBC because they installed them in the Majestic. That is, the Bunker Hill holdout at the corner of First and Hope as penned about here and here: www.onbunkerhill.org/MoreRossmere

www.onbunkerhill.org/SecondBattleofBunkerHill

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/...73412da0_o.jpghttp://www.onbunkerhill.org/georgemann

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5177/...7ff8a99d_o.jpg


Now, since The Majestic AKA 700/702 S Hope is fifty years gone, as is the YMCA downtown, I figured the world would despair at never seeing an actual Holmes. But alas and rejoice!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/...4147e7d8_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2193/...5d869404_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/...1e56c160_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/...1e59e37e_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/...0933a5a1_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/...f6fcbe96_o.jpg

These photos I just found on a Flickr feed via someone named anitajuneparker -- I owe her an immense debt of gratitude for recording this Holmes bed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sniknot/ Whose images of the Holmes appear halfway through this set http://www.flickr.com/photos/sniknot...th/2282319659/

And Holmes Disappearing Bed Company beds were not a downtown phenomenon -- according to a Santa Monica historic landmark site, "The airplane style Craftsman bungalow at 2544 Third Street, was originally the home of the Main Street butcher. This property features overhanging eaves, exposed rafters and large, front wrap-around porch. A built-in secretary in the living room has a “Holmes Disappearing Bed” which slides out from a bottom panel."

I own a house with a Murphy Bed. It's eight feet high and five feet wide and dates to 1907 and pulls from the wall with enormous grandeur. But I'm humbled by the Disappearing Bed. Rrrrarr.

MichaelRyerson Feb 5, 2011 4:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4793350)
Funny, because on Sunday I went to Vidiots in Santa Monica and bought a copy of "The Exiles" just for those extras. The film itself is a great documentation of pre-destroyed Bunker Hill. I saw "The Exiles" after its restoration a few years ago at the Armand Hammer Museum.

Say, you're a big film noir buff, I was wondering if you (or anyone else) could answer a question; at the last Film Noir Festival I sent to, I saw a film but forgot the title; it was set in San Francisco and is about a doctor who is married and has kids, but he has an affair with a woman, then fakes his death so that he can be with her. But of course things go wrong and it has an ironic ending. Would you happen to know which film I'm talking about? I'm wondering if it's available on DVD.

sopa ej, re: post#1017, I think the movie you're thinking of is Nora Prentiss (1948) with Ann Sheridan and Kent Smith as the unfortunate doctor.

malumot Feb 5, 2011 5:53 AM

The Seminole's Neighboring Lots.
 
BEAUDRY ----

First off ....thanks to adding to my post on The Young! You are amazing!

As to those empty lots. That IS a question mark. But would they build the walkways before construction? Or maybe two houses had just been demolished in advance of something else to be built. I dunno. Just asking.

Perhaps there were houses there and they burned. Hasn't been mentioned directly in this now 137 page thread, though I am sure may of us are aware that FIRE was a BIG DEAL in those days. A REALLY BIG DEAL. How many apartments and hotels, like The Young and The Southland, touted their FIREPROOF characteristics. (Whether there was basis in those claims in another matter, of course.)

I've read about a boiler explosion or two on here, but not much on residential building fires. Checked a few LAFD historical sites without much luck. But there has to be some record of fires in these older Downtown structures over the years, and I suspect that list is not short.

Idle thought......."The Southland".....and here all along I thought it was Jerry Dunphy who coined that phrase...LOL

(....and what was that old joke about Jerry Dunphy's first on-air interview being Abe Lincoln.....)

MichaelRyerson Feb 5, 2011 2:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 4802789)
I'm reminded of another great L.A. read: The Drive-In,
the Supermarket, and the Transformation of Commercial
Space in Los Angeles, 1914-1941
by Richard Longstreth.
Sounds dry, but it's not at all. Neither is Longstreth's City
Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile,
and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071505.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics42/00070616.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071511.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071503.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071527.jpg
All LAPL

Reading, reading, reading...I came across this beautiful picture of the Sunfax Market where I worked in the mid-late '50's! Oh my goodness, what a rush to see it. Long post when I finally get to the end of the thread in maybe three or four more days. Gosh the Sunfax! It really was a kind of pretty building, of course we couldn't see it then.

sopas ej Feb 5, 2011 3:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 5152749)
sopa ej, re: post#1017, I think the movie you're thinking of is Nora Prentiss (1948) with Ann Sheridan and Kent Smith as the unfortunate doctor.

Thank you very much! That was bugging me for the longest time, I couldn't remember the name of the film, nor could I remember that Ann Sheridan played the "femme fatale," which, for some reason, to me that term doesn't really apply to that character; she wasn't really a schemer or backstabber. I am totally unfamiliar with Kent Smith's work. Again, thanks for knowing the film. Now I'll have to see if it's available on DVD to own. :)

MichaelRyerson Feb 5, 2011 3:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5152953)
Thank you very much! That was bugging me for the longest time, I couldn't remember the name of the film, nor could I remember that Ann Sheridan played the "femme fatale," which, for some reason, to me that term doesn't really apply to that character; she wasn't really a schemer or backstabber. I am totally unfamiliar with Kent Smith's work. Again, thanks for knowing the film. Now I'll have to see if it's available on DVD to own. :)

My pleasure. It's available on Amazon although a bit pricy. I'd go for the '9 pack noir'! over 13 hours!


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