Terrific findings on the wooden footbridge gsjansen. It's especially fun finding it in the old illustrations dating waaaay back when.

re: the second illus.
I would have loved to live on Casanova Street. ;)

Cornfield footbridge
 

Hello!

I discovered this thread and site about a month ago, and have really enjoyed reading my way to page 200. So many beautiful photos and great insights to the history of Los Angeles. My thanks to all of you generous posters.

I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980's, when I was in my twenties. I would watch old movies and spend some time on weekends trying to find the actual locations. It was a huge disappointment to discover Bunker Hill had basically been scrubbed off the face of the earth. Of course, there were and still are many great sites to see.

I managed to find the wooden pedestrian bridge over the Southern Pacific Cornfield yards one day in 1987. I'm no Dick Whittington, but here are a few photos I took that day, on and from the bridge. I owned only one 50 mm lens for my Nikon then, and I wish I could have taken some shots with a wider lens. (sorry)

There was only one train in motion the afternoon I was at the yard. It struck me that most of the equipment seemed like it was just being stored there, and there was a very long "dead line" of locomotives (not visible in these pics). Kind of sad, but quite a contrast to the view gsjansen posted on page 200!



http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o.../pedBridge.jpg
Personal collection

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...cornfield2.jpg
Personal collection

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...cornfield1.jpg
Personal collection

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...cornfield4.jpg
Personal collection

Thanks for posting your pictures, Kelton. First-hand photos like these are such a pleasure.

wow! great images KV! (i've got a thing for acronym's), those personal photographs of the cornfield yards are wonderful. thank you so much for posting them.

You are very welcome, Floyd and gsjansen! My pleasure.

I like the acronym!

Those are great pictures, Kelton! Did you happen to get any of the roundhouse where the trains would get turned around? There's an old Our Gang comedy that makes use of it. It was around there somewhere.

If it was still there, I'm not sure I'd chance crossing that footbridge. I was over by the 6th street(?) viaduct taking pictures of the tunnel from "Them" a couple of years ago and there were some scary characters hanging out down by the opening to the tunnel. I wouldn't want to meet them on the footbridge. I'd rather take my chances with giant ants.

Great pics, Kelton Verdugo!

I really like this pic, being that you can see the North Broadway bridge/Buena Vista Viaduct pre-restoration. It dates from 1911. I assume some time in the 1950s, the architectural details of this bridge were stripped away. Around the year 2000, the bridge was seismically strengthened and the details that were removed in the 50s were recreated, so now it has the cool-looking columns, balustrades and globular streetlamps. From what I've read, these details were designed to be admired by people on trains going underneath the bridge. Riding the Gold Line today, you can do just that.

Thank you for your comments, Mike and sopas.

It's funny you should mention your concern about the safety of the bridge, Mike. When I was walking it, I noticed an entire missing floor plank. Fairly visible in the daylight, but could have been a hazard for anyone crossing at night. I don't recall seeing the roundhouse in the area. I have an old issue of "Classic Trains" magazine that has a nice aerial photo showing both the Cornfield and the Bullring yards, with locations numbered. I will try to dig it out, and find where the roundhouse(s) was located. Looking at gsjansen's posting of the birdseye map illustrations, the roundhouse didn't stay in one place for too long.

This is getting pretty trivial, but I think I can notice some differences in the appearance of the bridge from the 1940s photographs, to when I was there in '87. There appears to be an angular jag, say in the first 200 to 300 feet from Broadway. I recall the bridge being straight, and the most obvious difference to be seen in the "This Gun For Hire" footage, is that the bridge was once entirely open topped. An overhead framework can be seen in the '87 photo. But it only makes sense the bridge would have been rebuilt a few times.

It really startled me to see the old bridge went all the way back to 1891 (or at least an earlier version). Damn, I love this thread!

Thank you sopas for the information about the Broadway/Buena Vista viaduct. I had no idea it was that old! Wow! I must go take a look at the new clean up and ornamentation work on my next L.A. visit. I really appreciate and enjoy your knowledge of Los Angeles history.

New in Town
 

Hello All! Stumbled across this thread a couple of weeks ago and have now been through all pages. What an incredible place to immerse myself in both Los Angeles and Film Noir history. I have lived in San Diego for 30 years now but have always been fascinated in LA history, especially during the war years. My mother lived and worked in LA for over two years during WWII while my dad was in the Marines and either in the South Pacific or stationed here in San Diego at Camp Elliott. Mom always regaled me with wonderful stories of life in LA as seen through the eyes of a 19-21 year girl old from Albuquerque NM. During mom's time in LA, she lived in an all women's boarding house that was in a converted mansion on St Andrews Place, just a block or so off of the intersection of Wllshire and Western. Mom worked at Schwabacher-Frey and Co. which was at 736 S. Broadway (I tried seeing if I could find 736 in any of the pictures on the thread, but couldn't. So if any of you have a picture in your files, I would love to see it!). In the late 80's, I drove mom up to LA and we were unable to locate the boarding house as it looks like it was replaced by a really ugly 60's apartment complex. When we drove downtown to see her old workplace, we were unable to as Broadway was torn up and that block was closed off. Mom took a look at some of the people on the sidewalks and decided that she did not want to get out and walk to see it! As we drove around the downtown streets, she got very upset about all the beautiful buildings she remembered that were no longer there. She eventually said "let's get out of here" and we left. Sorry that my first post is so long but I am a journalist by trade and can be very verbose.:speech:

Great stuffs! I'm glad to see those photos, Where did you get those cool stuffs? Anyway, thanks for sharing!

In 1952 I was in bootcamp at the Naval Training Center in San Diego...the first two weeks or so we were sent out to Camp Elliott for rifle training...at that time it seemed out in the middle of nowhere...hot, dusty and some marine instructors to boot (a little pun)! I have tried locating the Camp Elliott area today by Google Earth without much success. Would love to see pictures of the area today.

Camp Elliott
 

Hi rbpjr,
All that remains of Camp Elliott are two barracks buildings that the County of San Diego now uses. On google maps if you look at the area just south of where the I-15 and State Route 163 split, you are looking at the west end of the old camp. The camp continued northeast at a diagonal for about a mile.

since we touched on This Gun For Hire in our discussion about the cornfield train yard footbridge, (and it has been quite awhile since the last posting of screen caps from los angeles noir film location shots), here are screen captures from the movie

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake roll into town on the red eye from San Francisco

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2247/...3cb28fe0_b.jpg

The Richfield Building gets a starring role as the headquarters for the Nitro Company. (and there's our old friend the snow/southland hotel next to it like it should be, even though most of the image has been matted)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/...d2c0f032_b.jpg

police converge on alan ladd down from broadway into the cornfield train yard

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3156/...d2789816_b.jpg

alan ladd scrambles up the hill towards broadway from the cornfield train yards

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3217/...c37a8864_b.jpg

alan ladd fleeing north on broadway towards the cornfield train yard footbridge

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/...ba068f08_b.jpg

alan ladd runs onto the footbridge from broadway

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5187/...4c0b936a_b.jpg

alan ladd runs past a woman carrying a baby on the footbridge

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/...4202e626_b.jpg

police yell at the woman from broadway to get out of the way so that they can shoot at alan ladd

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/...4f2dbff6_b.jpg

alan ladd jumps from the footbridge onto a passing freight train

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3486/...2cefea4c_b.jpg

police shooting at alan ladd from the footbridge

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2544/...a340dd21_b.jpg

robert preston on the roof of the richfield building

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3216/...ac925d27_b.jpg

robert preston getting on a window washing rig on the side of the richfield building

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/...b05b2234_b.jpg

robert preston on the window washing rig on the side of the richfield building

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2222/...175b7547_b.jpg

what great movie!

Without Warning
 

I've been off and on here for awhile, so this may be old news. A friend recently lent me a fairly new DVD, (beautiful, crisp print) of a 1951/52 film called "Without Warning." LOTS of good L.A. location photography (brand new freeways, the Produce Market etc.,) the highlight being a good deal of footage of Chavez Ravine when it was still a community of run-down little houses and dirt roads overlooking a very smoggy downtown and surrounding area.

Thanks, FFF...I found a good aerial photo on Wikimapia...I was able to find the rifle range area where we did most of our training...looks like the concrete foundations of the barracks and other structures still remain. Thanks for your help.

Great to see those "This Gun For Hire" frames, gsjansen! It's fun to toggle between those and the aerial photos in your earlier post. Interesting how the art director added the hills into the background of the Nitro building matte shot. Makes it more photogenic, but in reality I wouldn't think you could see such high hills from downtown.

Jeff, thanks for the suggestion of "Without Warning". Another one to add to the DVD want list of film noirs and crime dramas set in L.A.

Demolition collage
 

I did a "demolition" search on LAPL and many noirish images appeared, a few of which are posted here. I hear music when I look at these, and its not a happy tune.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics46/00042869.jpglapl
St.Pauls Cathedral 1925-1980

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026375.jpglapl
LA high demolished 1971

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater3/00015541.jpglapl
Paramount Theater demolished 1961

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043379.jpglapl
Courthouse 1936

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018443.jpglapl
courthouse overgrown and ready to come down 1933

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018248.jpglapl
old city hall 1888-1928

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics48/00058889.jpglapl
1962

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077824.jpglapl
1969

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics18/00018928.jpglapl
temple block comes down for new LA city hall

:previous:

This 1929 postcard, featured in my last blog post, appears to also show the Temple Block during its demolition. I can't be certain of that, but there is definitely some sort of partial structure immediately adjacent to the north entrance of City Hall, and just east of the International Trust & Savings Bank...

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...inpc_sky-1.jpg

:previous:

what an amazing postcard! that is without a doubt the temple block in the process of being demolished.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5061/...37a5feb4_o.jpg

wow!

There's an original wall sconce from inside the Richfield Tower up for sale at the upcoming Los Angeles Modern Art and Design auction. 13.25"h x 16" x 7.5". Estimate: $1,500 - $2,000.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...LA/lot4974.jpg
http://lamodern.auctionserver.net/vi...id/5/lot/1599/