This is the best view of this corner I've ever seen. Ethereal, you definitely have a knack for finding great images! I really liked that photo of Figueroa and First you posted yesterday, too. Keep 'em coming! I hope this thread goes on forever. :tup:

Thanks Scott.....you're always very kind to show your appreciation.

Intrigued by "We Sell the Earth" over the entrance, I came up with this ad for the real-estate firm Bassett & Smith--scroll down--the publication itself is fun to look at.

http://books.google.com/books?id=0Wc...0earth&f=false

Yes it is, on Fairfax and Melrose. Unlike Los Angeles High School, it looks like they kept one older building, which I will guess is an auditorium or something.

Great pics btw, ethereal! I really like that map, too!

I've been burning cds tonight, and this pic caught my eye.
I guess I've had Pomona on my mind since viewing sopas_ej's excellent photos from yesterday.






Below: Pomona High School 1902.


http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2...ighschool1.jpg
usc digital archive


What a proud and soaring building.

Another beautiful example of scholastic architecture.


http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8...terlaterpa.jpg
usc digital archive



Above: Clearwater (later Paramount) School.

Below: Hotel Palomares in Pomona.


http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8...lomaresinp.jpg
usc digital archive

ethereal, those pictures of the downtown YMCA remind me of another building near my home -- one of my favorite buildings in Los Angeles, and relevant to your post because it's a former YWCA. I was surprised to see that one of my favorite blogs, Big Orange Landmarks, did a profile of it and I didn't even know!

Mary Andrews Clark Residence

As Floyd B. Bariscale points out, the building is so large, it's hard to capture in a photograph. So here's the bird's eye view from Bing:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2699/...1d664cd4_o.jpg

The building has appeared in countless movies, and portrayed a mental hospital in at least two that I know of: "Changeling" starring Angelina Jolie, and "The Ring 2" starring Naomi Watts.

A commenter at B.O.L. even posted the building's old phone number! HU 3-5780

ethereal, great pics of those old school buildings. And the YMCA has a sign that says Los Angeles Conservatory of Music & Art; did it really have a music school there, I wonder?

Johnny Socko, that's cool info about the Mary Andrews Clark Residence; I've driven by that building many times and have always liked it, but never knew what it was.

Aliso Street viaduct, early 1950s
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4...aductearly.jpg
USC archive

This of course is now the 101 freeway headed west into the LA Civic Center/downtown LA area. This photo really puts things into perspective for me, on how huge those gas storage tanks were. They look like they dominate the skyline. It's funny to me that those tanks basically were like a gateway into downtown when approaching from this route; I always associated the City Hall and the skyscraper skyline as being the visual focal point when headed this way. This would make a great "then" for a then and now. Looking at the lamp posts on the Aliso St. viaduct, I think it's a shame they couldn't have kept the old twin-pendant street lamps. This picture was also taken not too long after the Pacific Electric streetcar was abandoned through this area; you can see the curved right-of-way along the bottom left corner of the photo; the poles that held the trolley wires are still standing too at this point in time.

Old Plaza Firehouse, early 1950s
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/266...ouseca1951.jpg
USC archive

This picture fascinates me, not only for its run-down, film noirish qualities, but also for the fact that the old late 19th Century firehouse at this point became a dumpy cafe. Talk about adaptive reuse! It was always my assumption that this building used to be a firehouse, and was just later abandoned (and of course is now a museum). But in fact, the old Plaza area was still a living, working part of town. I like the Plaza today for the fact that it's where the city of LA began, and that it's all fixed up, but now, it just has that museum look to it, artificially frozen in time, apart from Olvera Street (which isn't what it once was either).

Compare the above photo with this:
1968
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00079/00079160.jpg
LAPL

And this:
Today
http://www.inetours.com/Los_Angeles/...za_SW_7313.jpg
inetours.com

That was indeed a fantastic photo from a perspective I had never seen before. I agree 100% with everything you said -- this was not at all the "grand entrance" to downtown that people my age are familiar with.

And what a coincidence it was to see that abandoned PE right-of-way. Minutes ago, I finished reading this book, which was an early Christmas present from my wonderful wife. It's chock full of amazing pictures, including the very last LARY streetcar entering the railyard after its final run in 1963. A very informative book, but very sad. :(

(My wife also got me this book and this book. I can't wait to dive in!)

:previous:
Wonderful wife indeed, Johnny!

I have this book too. Needless to say I've looked at it and have read it to death.

sopas-ej I loved the comparison photos of the Plaza Fire house.

I have a couple to add to your collection.




Below: Plaza Fire House 1888.



http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4...rehouse188.jpg
usc digital archive





Below: Plaza Fire House 1920.


http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/4...rehousein1.jpg
usc digital archive





Below is the great 1951 photograph posted by sopas-ej. 30 years later than the above photo.



http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/5...afirehouse.jpg
usc digital archive

Above: If you look closely, you can make out the 'ghost' sign for the 'Cosmopolitan Saloon' on the side of the building.
It's great how one photograph can lead to discoveries in another. Thx again sopas-ej.

It's also interesting how the 1951 is very 'noir' looking, while the 1920 photo isn't (to me anyway).
The 1920's photo seems more 'frontier' or 'western'.

;) The tanks actually were quite a grand/impressive entrance to the city, just not a very attractive one. :D In our post-9/11 world, though, I'm glad they're gone now. They'd be way too tempting as a terrorist target today, that's for sure...

ethereal those are great photos of the Plaza Fire House! I agree with you, the 1920 photo doesn't look noirish to me either. I wonder how long the fire house was an actual working fire house, since by 1920 it was already a saloon, hotel and cigar store. Very interesting!

You wouldn't even need a deliberate act to result in a disaster, as seen in the Pittsburgh Gasometer Explosion. I remember reading about this in "The Book of Lists" as a kid.

I found an interesting post on LA's gas tanks in BlogDowntown, which also references the Pittsburgh disaster.

This photograph is looking north on Spring Street from between 8th & 9th Street in 1939.



http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/115...orthsouths.jpg
usc digital archive

Christmas noir


http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/933...nnoirfacin.jpg
usc digital archive



Above: Facing north on South Broadway at West 7th Street.

Here's another view of the southern intersection of Spring and Main Streets (the northern intersection of Spring and Main being Temple Square - was there ever a name for this "square," too?)


https://otters.net/img/lanoir/CHS-5767.jpg
USC Digital Library


Anyway, what I really like about this photo was my unexpected discovery of the store in the extreme left foreground, on what would have then been 10th Street (now Olympic Blvd.). It's a used record store, in 1917! I always thought those were an innovation of the 1960s. It makes sense, though, that there would have been a demand for a "record exchange" as far back as sound recordings were being marketed - people wanting to trade in records they don't listen to anymore for ones they don't already have. Still, it's a little surprising to me to find such a thing at this early stage in the history of recorded sound...