A rather crude play on words from the days of "Duz" detergent was: "If DUZ won't do it, CHEER won't Cheer it, and Tide won't Tide it, then get New Blue FUG and FUG it!"

Soapy, sloppy and sad.
 

Clip from the TV show: http://youtu.be/FVhmYFfUVhk

Jack Bailey, the unctuous, nasal toned, toothy host, was always one to point out that he hosted a TV show titled ..."Queen For A DAY". This was after someone gave him a rude cat-call during an interview. Some of our Forum members may recall that iconic LA day.

Jack appeared in six films and many TV series. Has 2 Stars on Hollywood Blvd.

Wouldn't it have been wonderful if a new washer and dryer would have really solved those lady's life problems.

Geez, Gaylord. You had to dig up the census?! ;)

Tell me - do you know where Hoffa is buried?

Both of these photos -- not taken at the same time -- show the west side of Broadway, just north of 5th Street. In the top photo, the building we see only the left-hand side of is the same building that we see all of in the bottom photo.

In the top photo above, the Broadway Drapery and Furniture Co. building lacks the lettering above the fourth floor windows that it has in the bottom photo and in this c. 1908 shot (see link for entire photo):
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psfc871165.jpg
USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/1799/rec/157

Summit Drive
 

If this really is Summit Drive, and I do believe it is, then Coldwater Canyon isn't anywhere in this shot. Eastwards of this vantage point there is first North Beverly Drive in a small canyon of its own, and then further east we come to Franklin Canyon. Coldwater is on the far side of Franklin Canyon with respect to this shot; it's not visible here except possibly in the far distance.

The Gage Mansion in Bell Gardens
 

Lorendoc and I got together yesterday for a little more urban exploration, and one of our stops was Gage Mansion at 7000 East Gage in Bell Gardens. This is one of a hundred or so sites on my "Visit One Of These Days" list. I knew nothing about this place except that it was said to be the oldest standing residence in L.A. county. (Construction began either in 1771, or 1795, or some other year, depending on who we believe.)

Driving west on Gage just west of Slauson, we hoped for the best and searched the left side of the street for something resembling a 200 year old mansion. We saw a sign for 7000 E. Gage, but the property was quite the opposite of what we expected!

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/Google.7000Gage.jpg
https://www.google.com/


We drove around the lot and saw plenty of mobile homes, but no mansions. Puzzled, and wondering if I'd typed the address wrong or if (horrors!) the building was gone, Lorendoc parked and I went to inquire to inquire at the office. After some minutes an older woman emerged, coughing profusely but determined to help me. She assured me that it was indeed there -- on the other side of the lot, behind the pink mobile home. I hopped back in the car and sure enough, there it was:

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN3004.JPG


Though surrounded and partially hidden by mobile homes it really is quite large, and the term "mansion" seems fitting. Here's a satellite view, to show you what I mean. (Only in L.A. would the county's oldest house sit almost forgotten, walled off by mobile homes, right? But I'm glad it wasn't torn down.)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/gage.sat.jpg
https://www.google.com/


Because the mansion is so tightly hemmed in it's hard to photograph, but here are a two shots of the front, and one of the rear:

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN2996.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN2997c.jpg

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN2998.JPG


This plaque near the front states:

CASA DE RANCHO SAN ANTONIO

"Contained within this building are the remaining portions of an old adobe house built by Francisco Salvador Lugo and his son Antonio Maria Lugo. Francisco Lugo was a prominent early landholder and Antonio served as the alcalde* of Los Angeles. They completed the building by 1810. Henry Tifft Gage acquired the property in 1880 and lived here from 1883 until 1924. Gage served as the governor of California from 1899 to 1903."
*magistrate

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN2995b.jpg


A plaque fastened to the outside of the building states that construction of the original dwelling began in 1771. (Another plaque has a small pane of glass with a section of the original adobe exterior visible behind it. I wonder to what extent this current structure resembles the 18th century house.)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN3001a.jpg


The place was securely locked but after reading the note not the front door I wondered when the board meeting would be re-scheduled, and if I could pop in to see the interior. :)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/DSCN3002.JPG


The Los Angeles Almanac:

"The oldest remaining house in Los Angeles is the Avila Adobe located on Olvera Street (built 1818). It is not, however, the oldest remaining house in Los Angeles County. Shane Kimbler, a Bell Gardens history enthusiast, wrote to point out that early colonist Francisco Salvador Lugo and son Antonio María Lugo began construction in 1795 on what is now known as Casa de Rancho San Antonio or the Henry Gage Mansion. The house is located at 7000 East Gage Avenue in Bell Gardens. It was built to qualify the younger Lugo, a former Spanish colonial soldier, for a land grant from the Spanish crown. In 1810, Antonio María Lugo completed the house and received the grant, naming his new grant Rancho San Antonio. The ranch eventually grew to encompass 29,513 acres, including what are now the cities of Bell Gardens, Commerce, and parts of Bell, Cudahy, Lynwood, Montebello, South Gate, Vernon and East Los Angeles. When California became part of the U.S. in 1850, Lugo, as did all recipients of Spanish/Mexican land grants, began losing portions of his land to the growing population of Yankee newcomers. The ranch adobe, however, continued to be owned and used by the Lugo family.
Don Antonio María Lugo died at the age of 85 in 1860. According to Dr. Roy Whitehead in his book Lugo, "Don Antonio Maria Lugo…rode around Los Angeles and his Rancho San Antonio in great splendor. He never adopted American dress, culture or language and still spoke only Spanish. He rode magnificent horses, sitting in his $1,500 silver trimmed saddle erect and stately, with his sword strapped to the saddle beneath his left leg…People knew him far and wide, and even the Indians sometimes named their children after him, as he was one Spanish Don that they admired."
By 1865, most of the Lugo ranch, divided among five sons and three daughters, had been sold off for as little as a dollar per acre. The original adobe ranch home, however, remained in the family. In 1880, attorney Henry T. Gage, a transplant from Michigan, married one of Lugo’s great granddaughters, Francis "Fanny" Rains. The original adobe ranch home was gifted to Gage as a wedding dowry and it became known as the Gage Mansion. In 1898, Gage was elected to become Governor of California. He served in that office from 1899 to 1903. In 1910, he was appointed by President William Howard Taft to serve as U.S. Minister to Portugal. He resigned after only one year due to his wife’s health problems. Gage lived in the abode ranch house until his death in 1924.
A century later, the Gage Mansion was all that remained of the once great Rancho San Antonio. In 1983, the Casa Mobile Home Park, a cooperative of mobile home owners renting lots on the property, purchased the land and the house from their ailing landlord. Although they were aware of the historical significance of the old house, they had no means of maintaining it. In 1987, then Bell Gardens City Councilwoman Letha Wiles began working to get the house listed on the state historical registry, making it eligible for maintenance grants. It is now listed as California Historical Site Number 984."
http://www.laalmanac.com


I couldn't find any images of Gage Mansion other than this L.A. Times piece, dated 7-24-39. If anyone has any old photos, would love to see them.


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Gage/NuestroPueblob.jpg
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...-mansion-.html

Images mine except where noted.

Gov. Gage
 

Most very interesting post David! I'm not too far from there, I should visit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gage Mr. Gage was a transplanted Midwest attorney who came to CA to find his fortune and married a distant relative of a Spanish land grant owner and acquired her 27 acre property. That property was what was then left of the San Antonio Rancho which is south and east of the LA civic center and bounded on the east side by the San Gabriel River. His "casa" is located right next to this river.

Here is a portrait of Gov. Henry T. Gage and his wife Francisca Gage.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps09a059f7.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps7700c731.jpg
AKSmiley Lib.

Gov. Henry Gage.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psb344d2f9.jpg
CHS

The place has been altered beyond recognition. Here is the Lugo Ranch Home/Gage Mansion in the mid-1930s.


https://otters.net/img/lanoir/CHS-36495.jpg
U.S.C. Digital Library/California Historical Society


The adobe walls can be better seen in this image.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00037219.jpg
LAPL



By mid-century, the house had been reduced from two storeys to one, and its exterior completely re-modeled.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/CHS-35020.jpg
U.S.C. Digital Library/California Historical Society



Profile of the house as shown above looks like it could be this one from your photo:



Hard to believe it's the same place, isn't it? My guess is that all that remains of the original structure are some interior walls.

:previous:

Scott:

The Gage house seems distinctly older than any sort of remodeling of the Lugo house after the mid-'30s would have produced--the diamond-paned windows, for one thing, are more of a mid to late Victorian/early Colonial Revival detail. And...according to Historic Spots in California:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J.../lugocompl.jpg


From laokay.com:
Lugo Adobe - Rancho San Antonio
It was built in 1850 by Vicente Lugo, son of Don Antonio Maria Lugo, who was granted Rancho San Antonio in 1810. It was a Monterey-type home made of wood and adobe. It was the main hacienda for the 29, 413 acre Rancho San Antonio. It was vandalized and eventually burned down. A replica of the adobe was built at Lugo Plaza, 2570 Slauson Boulevard, Huntington Park. The replica was built using some of the materials from the original adobe. The replica adobe has been incorporated into a shoping complex with and adobe theme.
6360 East Gage Avenue
Bell Gardens, CA 90201


Also 3940dxer and Lorendoc--GREAT first-hand on-the-scene post. I cannot bring up pictures from it but "A Guide to Historic Places in Los Angeles County" ("prepared under the auspices of the History Team of the City of Los Angeles American Revolution Bicentennial Committee") also seems to describe two different buildings and looks like it may have pictures of each....

Here is La Casa Del Rancho San Antonio from the Library of Congress. I will just post the drawings...
6360 E. Gage Ave.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/c...eet/00001v.jpg
Library of Congress

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/c...eet/00002v.jpg
Library of Congress

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/c...eet/00003v.jpg
Library of Congress


http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/c...eet/00004v.jpg
Library of Congress

Ah! OK, I could never really reconcile the photos of the Lugo House with what remains of the Gage Mansion. Thanks for the clarification! I don't feel so confused anymore. ^^ Thanks!

correction needed.
 

Wonderful job guys! Keep up the good work.


1890's (Was there any adobe left, even then?)
http://waterandpower.org/Historical_...ouse_1890s.jpghttp://waterandpower.org/Historical_...ouse_1890s.jpg







Not far from your expedition is another location that may not hold as much significance as the Lugo home. :no: But those pictured above look like they could use some nighttime entertainment.

The former Gage Drive-In. The primary structure looks as thought it could have been constructed in adobe.

6801 Gage Avenue, Bell Gardens


http://preachthecross.net/wp-content...gedrivein1.jpghttp://preachthecross.net/wp-content...gedrivein1.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6086/6...7bc96379_o.jpghttp://farm7.staticflickr.com/6086/6...7bc96379_o.jpg

http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1052&h=771http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1052&h=771


http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...2&w=1152&h=771http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...2&w=1152&h=771



1981
http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1178&h=771http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1178&h=771

Adobe houses here and there.
 

Amazing work in Bell (or Bell Gardens or Bellflower)! :previous:
(And thank you for the kind words! :shhh:)




1911 - Former Gov. Gage in Big Basin Park, Santa Cruz.
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...2JLDUYK6VP.jpghttp://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...2JLDUYK6VP.jpg














Meanwhile, in that upstart part of town . . . Folks at Olive and Eleventh Streets quietly did their own thing. Not much of a comparison to those mansions on high, but maybe there is something to be said for living in "1890-suburbia," away from all those dang tunnels, shooting galleries, noise from Jim Jeffries' saloon and constant construction? ;) (I don't recognize this photo, but the caption says Olive and Eleventh!)

1890 -
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...2M96G24EEM.jpghttp://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...2M96G24EEM.jpg

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v.../CHS-36495.jpg

http://waterandpower.org/Historical_...ouse_1890s.jpg


Not sure how to process all of this information. I noticed elsewhere, the following reference to vandalism, fire and replica. :shrug:

Don Antonio Maria Lugo
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gls-jvjMy_...licLibrary.jpg


Lugo Plaza
2524-84 Slauson Avenue, Huntington Park (Keeping the dream alive?)
http://www.loopnet.com/xnet/mainsite...Original=Falsehttp://www.loopnet.com/xnet/mainsite...Original=False




The City of Bell Gardens offers a history synopsis, describing several buildings. http://www.bellgardens.org/ABOUTBELL...s/History.aspx


Could some of these referenced structures be seen in the Drive-In aerial shot? http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16455

http://waterandpower.org/Historical_...ouse_1890s.jpg


I love the way this picture is staged. It's like a publicity shot featuring the all-star cast of a movie like GIANT or THE BIG COUNTRY.

All of this stuff taken together indicates that the two-story place, in the photographs and the architectural plans, was Vicente Lugo's house at 6360 Gage, built around 1850 and no longer existing. His father Don Antonio's house at 7000 Gage is the one remaining somewhere inside the Gage Mansion. It seems they both went by the same name, (La) Casa De(l) Rancho San Antonio. Which I suppose is not surprising since they were both houses (casas) on Rancho San Antonio. Not so much a name as a description.

Wouldn't be surprised if both movies played at the Gage Drive-In.


Thanks ProphetM.