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GaylordWilshire Nov 22, 2012 1:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5910368)

https://www.raremaps.com/maps/medium/23059.jpg
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps

Pearl St was later Figueroa and Diamond and Court St are still with us, as are Depot, Bunker Hill, Yale, Cleveland and College, but I didn't know there were two Beaudrys or a completely different Figueroa. I'm getting extremely lost looking at this.
Damn freeways, they cut everything to ribbons.


Way before the Harbor Freeway (i.e., pre-20th century), Figueroa's alignment was straight northward (though not due north, of course) following the alignment of Boylston, toward Angelino Heights. At some point, Pearl, which angled slightly eastward off Figueroa just above Pico, became the new northward Figueroa. The old Figueroa north of Pico then became Boylston. (I thought we'd written about this, but of course the search feature here is basically useless. Grumble grumble.) So... Figueroa on your map is now Boylston; Pearl on the map is the current Figueroa alignment, which, if continued southward on the map, would meet the southbound Figueroa at Pico; and the right-hand Beaudry Ave is the present Beaudry. (Not sure what's going on with that second Beaudry.)

Correction per ProphetM's info in post 10386 above: The left-hand Beaudry is the present Beaudry; the second Beaudry shown on the map became Fremont.

GaylordWilshire Nov 22, 2012 2:14 PM

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1501/pavo1000sh.jpg
Vintage Los Angeles/Charles Phoenix

rick m Nov 22, 2012 8:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzilla (Post 5910385)
Your guess is as good as mine. Since that tree is in the foreground, it clearly looks bigger than the other subjects, especially City Hall. Bear in mind that the buildings look to be a street away and at a lower grade. It may not be as tall as the Grant and Sherman sequoias, but the tree is still tall.

1963 - Rear of unknown Bunker Hill Apt house. (How would it have performed in a decent quake?)
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...HTF3Y5VGVY.jpg

1965 - view Bunker Hill, exact location unk.
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...G6JILMMG4D.jpg

CalStLib

The enormous tree discussed was within the perimeter stone wall of the old Bradbury manse - just across from the Bixby home on No.Hill St. - also across from the Stevens Apts (corner at Court St.- Maybe a weedy ash tree grown to near 4 stories tall..

ProphetM Nov 22, 2012 9:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5910368)
I don't think this has been posted before.

I remember there were still big, old frames houses on Beaudry across the Harbor FWY from DTLA in the 70's. Some got moved and the rest were cleared.

https://www.raremaps.com/maps/medium/23059.jpg
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps

It was made by Renshaw Litho in 1884.

Pearl St was later Figueroa and Diamond and Court St are still with us, as are Depot, Bunker Hill, Yale, Cleveland and College, but I didn't know there were two Beaudrys or a completely different Figueroa. I'm getting extremely lost looking at this.

I understand Beaudry's Tract 2 was over in what's Chinatown now, but the Park Tract is a bit harder, even though Temple and Pearl are clear enough.

Damn freeways, they cut everything to ribbons.

I did an overlay with Google Maps.

Here's a non-overlay for reference:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R...452%2520AM.jpg

Here's an overlay on the map:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-n...parktract1.JPG

And here's an overlay on satellite:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...parktract2.jpg

So Figueroa became Boylston, Pearl become Figueroa, the right-hand Beaudry became Fremont and most of Bellevue became Sunset Blvd. At the rightmost edge of the tract map, Philadelphia became Grand Ave.

And yes, the freeways did a number on this neighborhood, and a school took out most of the rest. The only non-apartment home left in the entire tract appears to be at the back of 1160 Bellevue. Zillow.com calls that parcel Park Tract Lot 17 and says a multiple-occupancy home there was built in 1926, but you can see a house at the back so I don't know if they're talking about that one or the larger building in front (or a combination of both). LA County GIS-NET won't load for me today to get any more info.

tovangar2 Nov 22, 2012 9:56 PM

Figueroa/Bolyston & Grasshopper/Pearl/Figueroa
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5910440)
Way before the Harbor Freeway (i.e., pre-20th century), Figueroa's alignment was straight northward (though not due north, of course) following the alignment of Boylston, toward Angelino Heights. At some point, Pearl, which angled slightly eastward off Figueroa just above Pico, became the new northward Figueroa. The old Figueroa north of Pico then became Boylston. (I thought we'd written about this, but of course the search feature here is basically useless. Grumble grumble.) So... Figueroa on your map is now Boylston; Pearl on the map is the current Figueroa alignment, which, if continued southward on the map, would meet the southbound Figueroa at Pico; and the right-hand Beaudry Ave is the present Beaudry. (Not sure what's going on with that second Beaudry.)

Oh right, I'd forgotten the Figueroa/Bolyston connection. Thanks so much GW for the info. And Pearl was previously Grasshopper. I guess why the heck they named two streets "Beaudry" will have to remain a mystery for now.

And many thanks to you too ProphetM, that's an outstanding graphic you put together (it reminded me too that we still have a bit of Angelina).

I guess, all things considered, Surfridge got off lightly. Obviously coulda been worse.

P.S. At some point I had space high in the 3rd & Hope building and could watch them clear the land and then build the misbegotten "new" Belmont High School (which got named something else in the end) at Beaudry and 1st. I had no idea of the history of the site I was looking at. I'd never heard of the Park Tract.

tovangar2 Nov 23, 2012 12:22 AM

Afton Park?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Horthos (Post 5909598)
I wish I could join in on the conversation right now, but my area of expertise tends to be around the Alexandria Hotel and things that are happening nowadays downtown....

I love the Alexandria & environs. I was just blithering five pages back about wanting the roof and facade illuminations restored to the Alexandria Hotel as was promised by the rehabbers. Since the nuking of Bunker Hill saved the Historic Core, many of us have opinions, I'm sure, on what should be done with it.

There's a good-sized piece of cleared land immediately to the south of the Alexandria (between it and the Arcade Building, which gobbled up Mercantile Place), which backs on to the rear of the distinctly low-rise 1910 Clune's Broadway/Cameo Theater, giving the site a lovely open feeling. It would make a great garden for the Alexandria or a nice public, pocket park (something we don't have enough of). It could be named Afton Park after the hotel that was there (actually the Odeon too was between the Alexandria and the Afton). Open-air movies could be shown on the back wall of the Cameo, which is still intact enough to be returned to its original purpose.

If that sounds more gentrified than noir, no doubt somebody could pull off a crime-of-passion or two there still.

GaylordWilshire Nov 23, 2012 12:23 AM

:previous:

tovangar2

Have had a lot of 'accompaniment' to my Thanksgiving day... family still very loud & jolly downstairs, so I decided to seek a few moments' peace here in noirish, always a nice refuge. I amended my post below... ProphetM is correct about the Beaudry Avenues on your map (west Beaudry = Beaudry, east Beaudry = Fremont).

tovangar2 Nov 23, 2012 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5911091)
:previous:

tovangar2

Have had a lot of 'accompaniment' to my Thanksgiving day... family still very loud & jolly downstairs, so I decided to seek a few moments' peace here in noirish, always a nice refuge. I amended my post below... ProphetM is correct about the Beaudry Avenues on your map (west Beaudry = Beaudry, east Beaudry = Fremont).

Yeah, I got that, but I'm still wondering why there's two streets named Beaudry. It's not like one's Beaudry Ave West and the other's Beaudry Ave East. One's just called Beaudry and the other's....Beaudry. Could maybe only be carelessness by Renshaw Litho. I need to find an old street map to check that.

Many thanks again to both of you for spending so much time on this :-)

tovangar2 Nov 23, 2012 3:35 AM

Pictorial & Birdseye Maps of LA
 
http://www.lanopalera.net/LAHistory/OldPuebloFromW.gif
nopalera
Looking SE in 1940, from Ft Moore Hill, over the site of the original Pueblo (see below) with Union Station in the background.
The building on the lower left, which still stands on open ground, is now the Colima Restaurant at 400 W Chavez Blvd.


http://www.lanopalera.net/LAHistory/OldPueblo.gif
nopalera
The location of the original Pueblo 1781-1815, before it was moved in circa 1815-1835. The original site remains unmarked.

This next one's huge, but one couldn't read it otherwise.
http://www.lanopalera.net/LAHistory/LAMap1871.gif
Howard Metcalf
Los Angeles 1871. Bunker Hill looks more riven with canyons in this view than it does in photos. The town curves around it with the cemetery in isolation on Bunker Hill overlooking Ft Moore Hill.
I wonder what they did with the bones when Bunker Hill was built over.

The Nickel is farmland.
Drawing based on the 1929 Women's University Club of LA map
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...64l+pm000231))

Correction: The above map shows an incorrect location for the cemetery. It was actually on top of Fort Moore Hill, not on Bunker Hill.

There's also a nifty 1909 birdseye view that shows the Park Tract as built and the rest of town. I spend way too long with the zoom feature on these maps.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_im...5&jpegLevel=80
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...p/~ammem_QiHm:
All my favorite noir locations look so wholesome, although I'm sure LA was just as corrupt back then as it ever would be in the future.

Chuckaluck Nov 23, 2012 5:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BifRayRock (Post 5908550)

January 26, 1931

"View of the open channel from the La Brea bridge at Venice Boulevard before construction of the Sacatela Storm Drain Extension. . . . This residential area will be greatly benefited by the construction of the Sacatela storm drain extension, which will eliminate this dangerous and unsightly open channel".
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...A823521C4?v=hrUSC Digital

ProphetM Nov 23, 2012 5:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5911216)
Los Angeles 1871. Bunker Hill looks more riven with canyons in this view than it does in photos. The town curves around it with the cemetery in isolation on Bunker Hill overlooking Ft Moore Hill.
I wonder what they did with the bones when Bunker Hill was built over.

Some of them might still be there... :uhh:

There's a brief history of the Los Angeles City Cemetery aka Fort Moore Hill Cemetery on Find A Grave.

Even briefer version: The cemetery was active from 1847 to 1879, after which it was closed to all except those who already purchased plots. From the early 1900s to 1947, bodies were relocated to cemeteries throughout the area. The moves were not well documented however and about 80 sets of remains were uncovered during school construction in 2006.

More complete history here, including interments.
According to the history there, in the early days of the cemetery there was literally no one in charge and burials happened without record. In 1884 the city sold off some land that was part of the cemetery complex, for residential development. It's claimed that whatever bodies may have been there (and beneath the new streets) were not removed beforehand. Eventually the board of education gained control of the cemetery, which was down to 5 acres from an original size of about 10 acres.

BifRayRock Nov 23, 2012 5:39 AM

ModernCraft Laundry - 900 N La Brea - Morgan Walls & Clements

Present.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/gogonotes/SO6QF...8/L1020662.JPGgoogle

1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00096/00096761.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00096/00096760.jpgLAPL

Date uncertain
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...REBRTQ4JF8.jpg
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...PREI93QJNN.jpg
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...SXSG11K7T1.jpgCalStLib

tovangar2 Nov 23, 2012 5:50 AM

Fort Moore Hill Cemetery
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ProphetM (Post 5911287)
Some of them might still be there... :uhh:

There's a brief history of the Los Angeles City Cemetery aka Fort Moore Hill Cemetery on Find A Grave.

Even briefer version: The cemetery was active from 1847 to 1879, after which it was closed to all except those who already purchased plots. From the early 1900s to 1947, bodies were relocated to cemeteries throughout the area. The moves were not well documented however and about 80 sets of remains were uncovered during school construction in 2006.

More complete history here, including interments.
According to the history there, in the early days of the cemetery there was literally no one in charge and burials happened without record. In 1884 the city sold off some land that was part of the cemetery complex, for residential development. It's claimed that whatever bodies may have been there (and beneath the new streets) were not removed beforehand. Eventually the board of education gained control of the cemetery, which was down to 5 acres from an original size of about 10 acres.

The Fort Moore Cemetery was notorious, both while it was in use and its haphazard and macabre desecration. I'd already read that SCGS page you referenced. That's one that will keep you up nights. What a town. Our beloved noir era is just one of the beads on a very long string.

P.S. I'm convinced now that the pictorial map of 1871 LA, which I posted previously, shows the cemetery at the wrong location, as I can find no other reference to a Bunker Hill Cemetery, but the Fort Moore Cemetery had already been in use for over 20 years by 1871.

BifRayRock Nov 23, 2012 6:09 AM

624 S La Brea known as Campanile of late.

Present
http://pics3.city-data.com/businesse.../3/6051513.JPGhttp://www.you-are-here.com/modern/campanile.jpggoogle

1928
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...K3R5LC78GY.jpg
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...9QLEXM1LE9.jpg
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...YLKFF2D19J.jpg

1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics39/00039338.jpgLAPL

1940
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...0-18-ISLA?v=hrUSCDigital

tovangar2 Nov 23, 2012 6:23 AM

Sacatela Creek
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck (Post 5911282)
January 26, 1931

"View of the open channel from the La Brea bridge at Venice Boulevard before construction of the Sacatela Storm Drain Extension. . . . This residential area will be greatly benefited by the construction of the Sacatela storm drain extension, which will eliminate this dangerous and unsightly open channel".
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...A823521C4?v=hrUSC Digital

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/CHS-44293.jpg
USC Library
The Arroyo de la Sacatela running through Bimini Slough (undated, pre-1930's photo) looking much prettier than in the photo at top.

The great and powerful Militant Angeleno has the lowdown (literally) on Sacatela Creek. Nathan Masters has something to say on it too.

I read somewhere or other that the creek was filled in with old Pacific Red Cars before it was paved over.

LA's actually a very wet place but almost all the springs have been redirected to storm drains.

P.S. Don't forget Friday is Buy Nothing Day. Make it so.

BifRayRock Nov 23, 2012 6:41 AM

335 N La Brea, currently the Bob Hope Health Center.

http://s3-media4.ak.yelpcdn.com/bpho...MjZ85d0Q/l.jpggoogle



FOrmerly the Pirates Den ('40s): More here>http://historylosangeles.blogspot.co...rates-den.html
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2267/2...c048f81d_b.jpgFLickr

"Waikiki" 1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008772.jpg

BifRayRock Nov 23, 2012 6:53 AM

1000 N. La Brea - Transit Mixed Cement - still very much alive.

Building to right is reputed to have been Aaron Bros' original headquarters and factory.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8182/7...2f919e0d_b.jpgFlickr



1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00096/00096631.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00096/00096630.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00096/00096628.jpg

BifRayRock Nov 23, 2012 7:40 AM

435 N. La Brea - neither rust nor La Brea ever sleep


1940
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...rea&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...rea&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...rea&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...rea&DMROTATE=0 http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...rea&DMROTATE=0<a href='http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2229'>Exterior view of La Brea Food Spot from across the street, ca.1940</a>

Present - http://media.merchantcircle.com/5666...room_full.jpeggoogle

westcork Nov 23, 2012 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5910368)
I don't think this has been posted before.

I remember there were still big, old frames houses on Beaudry across the Harbor FWY from DTLA in the 70's. Some got moved and the rest were cleared.

https://www.raremaps.com/maps/medium/23059.jpg
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps

It was made by Renshaw Litho in 1884.

Pearl St was later Figueroa and Diamond and Court St are still with us, as are Depot, Bunker Hill, Yale, Cleveland and College, but I didn't know there were two Beaudrys or a completely different Figueroa. I'm getting extremely lost looking at this.

I understand Beaudry's Tract 2 was over in what's Chinatown now, but the Park Tract is a bit harder, even though Temple and Pearl are clear enough.

Damn freeways, they cut everything to ribbons.

This is awesome. I suppose the Rochester was part of the Park Tract. There is a great article about it at Big Orange Landmark. Apparently it was to be moved from Temple St. to the Plaza, but the Victorian style didn't fit into the Stearling-esque Plaza.

http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.c...rochester.html

http://bp2.blogger.com/_p9IsUrNH-mA/...+Rochester.jpg
Big Orange Landmarks

Here is a picture of it being moved. This shot is at 2nd and Beaudry, on October 1, 1970.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055395.jpg
Los Angeles Public Library - Herald Examiner Collection

westcork Nov 23, 2012 5:13 PM

I don't think I have seen this posted here before. This is a great little booklet on Angelino Heights posted to Picasa by the Echo Park Historical Society. I will link just a few pages here

https://picasaweb.google.com/1003506...ngelinoHeights


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-h...12/page1.1.jpg
Echo Park Historical Society

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J...512/page10.jpg
Echo Park Historical Society


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