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ethereal_reality Jan 25, 2011 11:31 PM

There are several No Parking signs in this street scene as well.
Here the signs are square as opposed to the diamonds in the above photo.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4...locationjo.jpg
BrerHair on j_journal


There was no date or location provided with this photo. Anyone?

ethereal_reality Jan 25, 2011 11:43 PM

Three parking lots over the years. No dates or locations were given.


http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/182...urnalbrerh.jpg
BrerHair j_journal








http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/7...tsjjournal.jpg
BrerHair j_journal






http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3...sjjournal2.jpg
BrerHair j_journal


After looking at this photo more closely, I believe it is the same parking lot as seen in photo #2.
You can tell by the 2 story Security First National Bank building far left.

sopas ej Jan 26, 2011 12:47 AM

:previous:
Those last two photos are of Wilshire and Grand downtown. It's clear in these shots where buildings were knocked down to extend Wilshire east of MacArthur Park. For decades there were just parking lots after the extension. And of course this section of Wilshire was never the prestigious section of Wilshire.

ethereal_reality Jan 26, 2011 1:08 AM

Thanks for the explanation sopas_ej. :) I appreciate it.




below: USC caption "Looking north on Hill Street from 2nd Street, ca. 1932"
The 4 story building in the center of the photo is the Moore Cliff Apartments.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7...northonhil.jpg
usc digital archive

Can anyone tell me what the sign in the middle of Hill Street is? It looks as if lanterns are hanging on each side of the sign.
Perhaps it's nothing more than "Open Manhole".

Also notice the man on crutches getting ready to board the approaching streetcar.



below: Here is another photo of the Moore Cliff from LAPL.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8...shillstlap.jpg
lapl

kanhawk Jan 26, 2011 1:23 AM

This has a very San Francisco look to it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5138304)
Looking west along 1st Street from Grand Ave. in 1931

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3...westalong1.jpg
usc digital archive


kanhawk Jan 26, 2011 1:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5139323)
There are several No Parking signs in this street scene as well.
Here the signs are square as opposed to the diamonds in the above photo.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4...locationjo.jpg
BrerHair on j_journal


There was no date or location provided with this photo. Anyone?

No idea the date but couldn't you just see Phillip Marlowe walking up to these guys and asking them if they had seen a missing girl or something similar? Great noir shot!:banana:

kanhawk Jan 26, 2011 1:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5139333)
Three parking lots over the years. No dates or locations were given.


[





http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/7...tsjjournal.jpg
BrerHair j_journal






After looking at this photo more closely, I believe it is the same parking lot as seen in photo #2.
You can tell by the 2 story Security First National Bank building far left.

My guess is this one was in 1946 as the campaign sign says re-elect Earl Warren and he was re-elected the first time in 1946. He actually won third term in 1950 but the cars look too old for that.

ethereal_reality Jan 26, 2011 1:47 AM

Thanks for your input kanhawk.....much appreciated.

Those Who Squirm! Jan 26, 2011 4:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog (Post 4305589)
LA is just such an amazing city. The changes that have taken place in such a short period of time is just mind-boggling! It is unbelievable what will change in one's lifetime. This has got to be one of my favorite photo threads on this site. Thanks to everyone that has posted these pictures.

When I was a teenager in the 1970s the pace of recent change was so fast that we didn't have a lot of buildings left that were 90 years old, let alone a century old. Now, though, one of the most encouraging signs is that the architectural fabric isn't being changed at nearly the same pace. As a result, we can now point to a great many pre-war buildings which now remain in active use, or have been repurposed, like the old financial district. And it isn't just downtown, but the same is true in many smaller commercial centers--Santa Monica, Sawtelle, Culver City, and Palms to name a few

For better or worse, the great pulling force which contributed to the rotting away of much of Downtown--exerted by cheap houses in nearby suburbs--has vanished.

gsjansen Jan 26, 2011 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5139323)
There are several No Parking signs in this street scene as well.
Here the signs are square as opposed to the diamonds in the above photo.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4...locationjo.jpg
BrerHair on j_journal


There was no date or location provided with this photo. Anyone?

this image is from 1945, looking westerly from the long gone intersection of bellevue and n. spring street towards the intersection of broadway and sunset boulevard. that's the northern side of fort moore hill in the distance. bellevue avenue was a one block street at this time located between sunset bouelavard to the south, and macy street to the north.

here's a then and now

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/...c3df71eb_b.jpg

note the orange building. the only structure that still survives in both images.

here's a then and now of the intersection of broadway and sunset looking south, that puts it into good perspective. the image you posted E_R was looking at this spot, taken from a vantage point at a right angle to the left

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/...291567cd_b.jpg

it is somewhat astonishing, that the Colima Restaurant building is the only structure in almost all of downtown that is not considered historical in nature, somehow still survives

this an image looking south from the intersection of n. spring and bellevue. pico house is in the distance. the buildings on the left are the spring street side of the sentous block which was located at 617 . main street.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014324.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014324.jpg

sopas ej Jan 26, 2011 1:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5139896)
this image is from 1945, looking westerly from the long gone intersection of bellevue and n. spring street towards the intersection of broadway and sunset boulevard. that's the northern side of fort moore hill in the distance. bellevue avenue was a one block street at this time located between sunset bouelavard to the south, and macy street to the north.

here's a then and now

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/...c3df71eb_b.jpg

Ah OK, I thought that area looked strangely familiar, from previous posts and comments.

gsjansen Jan 26, 2011 3:27 PM

this 1948 image is of the block of buildings being demolished on bellevue between n. spring and broadway. the sidewalk overhang for these buildings is visible in the image posted by E_R. Fort moore hill is visible on the left side for location reference

http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/ima...caleFactor=1.2
Source: UCLA Digital Collections http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/ima...caleFactor=1.2


another image that i had seen previously but didn't know quite where it was until i did research on the lugo house and old chinatown.

this looking across los angeles street from in front of the garnier building, (the portion that will be demolished to make way for the 101 freeway), looking towards calle de los negros between aliso street and ferguson alley. the image is dated 1949. the billboard that i had posted earlier that proclaimed chinatown was here to stay is on the right

http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/ima...caleFactor=1.2
Source: UCLA Digital Collections http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/ima...caleFactor=1.2

gsjansen Jan 26, 2011 3:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5139333)
Three parking lots over the years. No dates or locations were given.


http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/182...urnalbrerh.jpg
BrerHair j_journal

northwest corner of 5th and grand 1927. the building that has the baronne sign on top is our old friend the engstrum. the edison building, (or if you prefer, one bunker hill), will be sitting exactly where the parking lot is

ethereal_reality Jan 26, 2011 4:41 PM

gsjansen...thanks so much for clarifying the photos.

I searched and searched for more information on the Baronne and came up with nothing. It hadn't occurred to me that it was the Engstrum.

gsjansen Jan 26, 2011 5:51 PM

a really cool 1943 photograph of people on top of the old courthouse retaining wall along spring street to view a parade honoring Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's visit to Los Angeles.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055473.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055473.jpg

Those Who Squirm! Jan 26, 2011 5:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4322733)
Here's a map of LA's original Chinatown, which was mostly located east of Alameda, where Union Station is now:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics30/00034944.jpg
From lapl.org

And here's a map of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, which includes Olvera Street and the Plaza where LA began as a little pueblo. But see, so much was destroyed to build the freeway ramps, and create landscaping (and a surface parking lot).

Many surface parking lots. If you look at the Plaza neighborhood in Google Earth, you'll see that the dark asphalt of Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 covers most of the area. When I first became interested in this topic around 1978, there were still several turn-of-the-last-century structures in the block where the old Plaza Church is, unlike today when nearly all that space is a huge parking lot except for the Church itself, and the Brunswig Drug building.

Most people don't seem to know that a considerable remnant of Old Chinatown persisted until about 1950, wedged between Alameda and the Plaza. There was a villain in this piece and her name was Christine Sterling. Because of her "success" in transforming Olvera Street into a faux "Mexico-Land", with the backing of the L.A. Times she became a sort of dictator of the Plaza preservation efforts. In effect she decreed that the Lugo House and everything else in those blocks--the old buildings and the businesses and lodgings they contained--were eyesores and had to go. Moreover, she specifically wanted the Plaza area to preserve--as it were--the Hispanic heritage of the neighborhood only, and allowing Old Chinatown to remain adjacent to the Plaza itself would have detracted from that. As we all know, "China Land" had already been prepared for the Chinese.* This is why today, instead of several blocks of historic buildings east of the Plaza, we now have the aforesaid parking lot, plus a bit of landscaping that serves only to emphasize the rush of auto traffic on Alameda and the row upon row of parked cars on either side of Alameda.

ETA: I don't mean to be critical of the desire to preserve and celebrate the city's Latino/a heritage, which is how my statement above might have come off. In and of itself that's a worthy goal. However, before the neighborhood was wrecked, the Plaza was where several ethnic neighborhoods converged, and it was actively used by all of them--Japanese in Little Tokyo, Chinese on the eastern edge, and Hispanics (mostly Mexicans) to the west and north. There was even an Italian section to the north, about whose only traces now are the remains of Little Joe's Restaurant and St. Peter's Church, which is still active and still offers Mass in Italian, last I checked.


*See for eample: William D. Estrada. The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred And Contested Space.. University of Texas Press, 2008. p242ff

gsjansen Jan 26, 2011 5:58 PM

a great color image of the amestoy building taken from city hall. i don't believe i have ever seen a color photograph of this building before!

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019077.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019077.jpg

Those Who Squirm! Jan 26, 2011 6:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4583771)
For years the freeway went right up against the brewery building and I remember as a child that I felt it was weird that the building would be right up against the freeway.

Here's what Beaudry posted some pages back:


At the top center of the photo you can see old brewery building, not as tall as it was originally, right up against the freeway and the lanes curving around the edge of it. After the brewery building was demolished, the jog in the freeway was still there.

(Pictures removed to spare bandwidth; I hope that's OK)

Thanks for bringing up the old Brew 102 plant. I attended UC San Diego between 1975 and 1980, and used to come up to L.A. on Amtrak (only three round trips a day back then). On the way to the train station to go back to SD, I always noticed the big BREW 102 sign from the off ramp. I had no idea the plant was as old as it was until years later.

malumot Jan 26, 2011 7:29 PM

GSJansen....

Amazing! Your knowledge is encyclopedic. And your ability to take street scenes from different eras and link them.....remarkable.

BTW - Anyone notice that brick paving in the WB First @ Grand/1931 shot that Ethereal posted!

Los Angeles Past Jan 26, 2011 8:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm (Post 5140251)
Thanks for bringing up the old Brew 102 plant. I attended UC San Diego between 1975 and 1980, and used to come up to L.A. on Amtrak (only three round trips a day back then). On the way to the train station to go back to SD, I always noticed the big BREW 102 sign from the off ramp. I had no idea the plant was as old as it was until years later.

Hey Triton!

I went to Revelle from '72-'77, so we were at UCSD at roughly the same time.

-Scott


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