Downtown Today
 

I've lived in Los Angeles pretty much all my life and never thought much about downtown. This entire thread has definitely piqued my interest. I had some time after jury duty this morning and took a few pictures around the area. There appear to be things happening at the Hall of Justice. Apparently the study to form the committee to fund the task force to approve the process for determining if the building is worth saving is doing something, as the gate was open and a few worky looking trucks were inside:
http://imgur.com/X89GI.jpg
John Bange 2011


Too awesome looking a building to stand empty for as long as it has. The Clara Foltz building across the street (the one in the background that looks like a giant AC condenser) is such a monstrosity in comparison.
http://imgur.com/6b3rA.jpg
John Bange 2011


They're busy as bees building the new civic center park:
http://imgur.com/fm8d6.jpg
John Bange 2011


...but the lot with the foundation of the old State Offices building they tore down 30+ years ago, that apparently will continue to remain a fenced off "hobo park":
http://i.imgur.com/xOHc0.jpg
John Bange 2011

When I'm back downtown in 2 weeks for jury selection, I'm definitely going to make a list of places to snap pictures, and I'll bring my real camera instead of just my phone.

Hall of Justice
 

[QUOTE=jbange;5348674]I've lived in Los Angeles pretty much all my life and never thought much about downtown. This entire thread has definitely piqued my interest. I had some time after jury duty this morning and took a few pictures around the area. There appear to be things happening at the Hall of Justice. Apparently the study to form the committee to fund the task force to approve the process for determining if the building is worth saving is doing something, as the gate was open and a few worky looking trucks were inside:
http://imgur.com/X89GI.jpg
John Bange 2011


Too awesome looking a building to stand empty for as long as it has. The Clara Foltz building across the street (the one in the background that looks like a giant AC condenser) is such a monstrosity in comparison.
http://imgur.com/6b3rA.jpg
John Bange 2011


Welcome to the thread jbange! Great pictures!!! About the Hall of Justice, just day before yesterday the county board of supervisors finally approved the rest of the money to complete the retrofit and restoration. They are expecting occupancy in 2014. I am attaching a link to blogdowntown where I read about this latest development. Good News!:banana:

http://blogdowntown.com/2011/07/6314...ice-renovation

~F3

another movie where bunker hill gets a starring role!

the 1957 Mike Hammer flick, My Gun is Quick starring Robert Bray as Mike Hammer

Running up the stairs from clay street to olive street between the Hillcrest and the Astoria

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6138/...c06a0e4b_b.jpg

Emerging from the steps on olive street

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6009/...de40f063_b.jpg

Turning right on third street from olive street

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/...21040607_b.jpg

looking east on the 6th street overpass towards the monarch hotel and bunker hill

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6010/...493488b4_b.jpg

Any of those locations from "My Gun Is Quick" still there? I saw it about a month ago and thought it was pretty good. I remember those steps and the car making the turn. There were some other interesting locations. Any idea where the house on the bay was? Oh yeah, Whitney Blake was pretty easy on the eyes!

Welcome to the thread jbange!
Looking forward to your photos from the next time you're downtown for jury selection.
The area with the old foundation was a big surprise for me.

After day one of "Carmageddon", I'm more convinced than ever that the best thing to do with the 405 is just to blow it up - all the way from the northern San Fernando Valley down into Orange County - just blow it up and plow salt in the ruins. This has been a glorious day on the westside of Los Angeles.

O.c.d.
 

Is it weirdly obsessive that I am answering a question that etheral_reality posed, almost two years ago, on the thread??? Probably, but I'm good with that!

e_r posted this picture way back on Page 17
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1959/club17.jpg
with this text/question "Below: NE corner of Hollywood and Las Palmas.
I wonder where the 'passageway' led to? A mystery for sopas_ej to solve perhaps"

Tonight, as I was continuing my dig through 50 years of LA Herald-Examiner archives, I found that Club 17 was busted for having an illegal gambling parlor in a large hidden room at the back of their building. It had gone undetected for a number of years because, as the owners knew, police monitored all bars for gambling so they had theirs set-up to where gamblers entered through the innocuous little typewriter shop, rather than the club. There was a hidden passageway at the back of the TW shop. The shop owners were, of course, in on the scam and got a small cut of the gambling proceeds. It was suspected that this was one of Mickey Cohen's operations.

and there you have it!:D

Great detective work fab_fifties_fan!! That is a fascinating bit of history.

Wrigley Field
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley...Los_Angeles%29

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ng_Day_LOW.jpg
Wrigley Field's opening in 1925, a full year before the Cub's stadium in Chicago changed its name to "Wrigley Field".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wr...ng_Day_LOW.jpg

In 1925, the Angels moved from their former home at Washington Park (which was also known as Chutes Park) to the brand new Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles, on the block bordered by 41st Place to the north, South San Pedro Street to the west, 42nd Place to the south, and Avalon Blvd to the east. (Speaking of Avalon, at that same time Mr Wrigley also owned Santa Catalina Island, and the Chicago Cubs were holding their spring training in that island's city of Avalon, whose ballfield was located on Avalon Canyon Road and was also known as "Wrigley Field.")

Left Field - 340 ft, Left Center Field - 345 ft, Center Field - 412 ft, Right Center Field - 345 ft, Right Field - 339 ft, Backstop - 56 ft. Capacity was 22,000 seats.

The Angels played at Wrigley Field until 1957. The park was closed in 1965 and demolished in 1966. The site is now occupied by the recreation facility called Gilbert Lindsay Park which was originally the parking lot. The park has a ballfield in the northwest corner of the property. The original site of the Wrigley diamond and grandstand is occupied by the Kedren Community Mental Health Center and parking lot.

Wrigley hosted many other things, including both versions of the Hollywood Stars, the original (who became the San Diego Padres in 1936) and the second version (the relocated Mission team from San Francisco; it used Wrigley in 1938 before Gilmore Field in Hollywood opened in 1939), as well as the initial season of the American League Angels in 1961 (they joined the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine in 1962). Wrigley was the site of the first NFL Pro Bowl in 1939, long before the Rams moved in from Cleveland, and there were a number of professional boxing matches there as well. Martin Luther King spoke at a civil rights rally there in 1963.

A correction: Wrigley wasn't razed until 1969.

Thanks for that follow-up, Fab Fifties Fan. Fascinating stuff!

And you reminded me of something. Twelve years ago I spent a week house-sitting for some friends of mine in the hills above Sunset and Fountain (Franklin Hills). The owner believed that his house had been used at one time as an illegal gambling parlor. The ground level of the house had been modified at some point such that there were no fewer than six doors leading outside, most of them on the sides of the house. These were presumably added so that several people could make quick exits in the event of a raid.

At the front of the house, there had been added near the eaves a curious little figure of an owl. The owl's eyes were small red light bulbs, with the switch for the eyes on a wall inside. (They were still functional when I stayed there.) In theory, the owl's eyes would have been illuminated as a signal to let patrons know that it was safe to come inside and gamble.

Here are two photos I took when I was house-sitting. In the first photo, the red circle shows where the owl is situated.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6...R63z4/DH02.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...MBcCA/DH03.JPG

I've also heard that there were at one time gambling ships located three miles off the coast in Santa Monica Bay.

This Wrigley Field was used for the old TV show, Home Run Derby. It was a pretty low key show where sluggers of the day competed to see who could hit the most home runs in a batting practice set up. I remember Bob Lemon and Rocky Colavito being on it. I'm sure Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew must have appeared but don't remember for sure. It used to be on WOR Channel 9 or WPIX Channel 11 weekday afternoons.
It was also used in a pretty good B movie, Armored Car Robbery. I remember being surprised when the armored car pulls up to the stadium, there's a row of regular houses across the street. It struck me as odd that a ballpark was plunked down in the middle of a residential area. Maybe it was not uncommon back then, but it was new to me.

Home runs hit over the left field wall ended up in the back yards of homes, and even broke more than a few windows over the years.

Also used in the film version of Damn Yankees (1958)...

-S

Gambling...
 

You're welcome Handsome Stranger! So fascinating about the Franklin Hills house! I would love to know who's house it was "back in the day". The owl is kinda creepy as is and must have been really creepy with its red eyes illuminated! There were definitely gambling ships off the coast and I remember seeing a post about them on either this thread or one of the other threads/blogs that I visit. I'll snoop around a bit!:sly:

~F3

:previous:

I sure hope someone strips that gross carbuncular layer of stucco off that house soon--

the Rex was probably the most well-known of the gambling ships-- there was the "Battle of Santa Monica Bay"-- I thought we covered them here, but a "search" doesn't turn up the Rex or "gambling ships"-- but see what you can find, F3

there were several gambling ships that served the los angeles area in the 1930's.

Typically the ships would be moored 3 miles off shore, and patrons would arrive by water taxi service out of long beach and san pedro.

The Juanita Water taxi alongside a gambling ship

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics39/00039407.jpg
Source: LAPL

As GW mentioned, the Rex was probably the most famous of these illicit cruisers

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics40/00039675.jpg
Source: LAPL

there was also the Mount Baker

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics40/00039688.jpg
Source: LAPL

The Tango

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics40/00039687.jpg
Source: LAPL

The Johanna Smith

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046118.jpg
Source: LAPL

the Lux, also known as the Bunker Hill....(that's where i would have gone for my prohibition gamblin' and hootch fix!)

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics40/00039676.jpg
Source: LAPL

sometimes the long arm of the law would catch up with these operations

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046129.jpg
Source: LAPL

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics40/00039685.jpg
Source: LAPL

and every so often, the ships would be subject to organized union issues

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046114.jpg
Source: LAPL

Amazing finds gsjansen!!! I Must say I'm partial to the Johanna Smith as that is my niece's name since her marriage last year!!!

~F3

Thanks for all the great photos, gsjansen. I don't know much about this part of Los Angeles history and it fascinates me. I wonder when and how the business of the gambling ships finally stopped.

And the neon sign in that last photo is a beauty!

I love that story about the owl with red light bulb eyes.

The Sunnyside Apartments on 9th Street.

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/5...tonninthst.jpg
usc

Have we somehow missed this beautiful apartment on this thread......or has my memory failed me

_________

A postcard of the slightly sinister looking Villa Carlotta Apartments at 5959 Franklin Ave.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/8...tavintagel.jpg
ebay




The Villa Carlotta in 1926.

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3...ta1926at59.jpg
unknown


The Villa Carlotta in the 1940s

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8...tainthe194.jpg
lapl




The Villa Carlotta entrance; now overgrown with trees and shrubs.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8...taentrance.jpg
usc




The Villa Carlotta today looking north on Tamarind Ave.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5...taasseenfr.jpg
google street views




The Villa Carlotta on the right; looking south on Tamarind.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/6...talookings.jpg
google street view




Great old door of the Villa Carlotta.

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1...arlotta1ss.jpg
Steve Silberman


Mail boxes in the lobby of the Villa Carlotta.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/565...ttalobbyss.jpg
Steve Silberman

Don't know when the gambling ships gave it up but my Dad was a craps dealer on the Rex, working for Tony Cornero who died in the early 50's. My Dad lost his four front teeth when an inebriated woman whacked him with a bandana full of dice that he had given her.

Villa Carlotta
 

Yayyyy etheral_reality, I'm so glad you posted more pics of the Villa Carlottas. :banana:
I had also posted about them a couple of weeks ago (#4174) because they are really a special place to me. Living there was a great experience as the apartments are really unique! Many of the apartments are townhouse style with living room, dining room and kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. Tons of woodwork and everything very spanish in style.

I still have not come across anything noir that happened there, but I'm positive there had to be, so I'll keep looking!!!

~F3

Fab_Fifties_Fan

It is so cool that you actually lived at the Villa Carotta! Do you have any photos from your time there?
Whenever I hear the name I think of Carotta Valdez in Hitchcock's Vertigo (one of my favorite movies).

link to Fab's previous Villa Carlotta post.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=4174

_________

My obsession with the Villa Carlottas
 

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...ivingroom.jpg/Sadly, I don't have any pictures from my time there that show much of the apartment. We were major party kids back then and usually couldn't focus well enough to take pictures! BTW, Vertigo is one of my all time favorites as well!

However, I have been collecting pictures of the place for years. I had a friend of a friend who sub-let there for six months a couple of years ago and I was able to drive up from San Diego and explore the place again. It is very hard to describe, so here are a few more shots from my collection.

The lobby and courtyard are really magical. I love the natural patina that has enveloped everything, complimenting its age and charcter. The lobby has beautiful arched windows and doors to the courtyard:
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8...lobbypiano.jpg
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/8...obbypiano2.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4766/vcfountain.jpg
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5566/vccourtyard.jpg

As I stated earlier, many apartments are townhouse style and quite spacious but even the studios are huge. A 1930's write-up, that I came across years ago, boasted that "even the studios are large enough to fit a grand piano in the living room!". Its true. Here are some interior shots that I have collected:

A typical funky living room in a two story unit. That is the dining room/kitchen entrance behind her.
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/274...livingroom.jpg
There are five arched windows and one arched french door to the courtyard.
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2...ivingroom2.jpg

One bedroom has a juliet balcony overlooking the courtyard.
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8927/vcbedroom.jpg
the bathroom
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7875/vcbathroom.jpg

This shot was from an article in Metropolitan Home magazine a couple of years ago, shortly before it ceased publication. This designer had redone a studio at the VC, so the shot gives you an idea of how spacious the studios are.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/911/vclivingroom.jpg
All photos are from personal collection

The Rex
 

That is a great story cleats! I am sure he saw a whole lot of everything on the Rex. I've read that the Rex had its own madam who ensured her girls were aboard for every cruise:tomato:

Just stumbled across this mystery photo in the "Vintage Los Angeles" pool at Flickr. It's dated February 1938 but there's no specific location given. Griffith Observatory is barely visible at the left.

It looks like the cross street in the middle of the photo intersects at an angle, which made me think it could be San Vicente. But I can't quite match up the topography in the photo with the intersections of San Vicente I am familiar with.

Anyone have any insight into where this photo might have been taken?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6052/...4f8d909e_b.jpg

source: Flickr

That is amzing and such a fun story! It would be interesting to get to the truth behind it.

Thanks for sharing!

Rail Line in Long Beach
 

Browsing through this thread, I have seen a lot of posts about the old red car rail lines.

I stumbled upon this one day when looking up directions in Long Beach.
I have created a Google map that highlights where the now abandoned route went.
It is very interesting in that Long Beach never restructured or rebuilt the area and most of it is an empty stretch of land. There are a few parks, houses, storage yards and the like. The best part is that the land was never altered and the homes were built on a diagonal from the rest of the neighborhoods!

Check out the map I made, and the pins that go along with it. Start from the northern tip of the map and make your way down the historic rail line!

Note: it is best to zoom in a little, but note that halfway through the map freaks out for a minute, so you may need to zoom out a bit and then zoom back in.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0...b3aa48792089b1

Red Cars
 

That is great stuff pwrof3, thank you so much for sharing!!! With the fact that so much of the route land is still open, it makes one hope that maybe, just maybe a new line will be built someday. That would be awesome:yes:

Now for some red car sadness:
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5...doftheline.jpg
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7...inalisland.jpg

A small number of the retired red cars were sold to other cities around the world that still had the foresight to realize the ongoing need for electric transit. The vast majority, however, were stripped of anything that could float and then dropped into the ocean to serve as foundations for coral reefs.

Grrrr:hell:

LAPL

Heart-rending :(

The Hollywood cars are my favorite Red Cars. Happily, 2 of them (637 and 717) are preserved at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris. 717 is in running condition, I think they are trying to restore 637 to run (if they haven't already done so, I haven't been to OERM in 15 years).

Question for you Los Angeles experts
 

I was cruising back through the thread (again) now that I am more familiar with vanished Los Angeles and am curious what the rounded building with the arches is right of center in this photo? I should probably recognize it by now, but I don't.

:previous:

That's the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Hill & 6th. Here's a nice early shot of it:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics46/00042634.jpgLAPL

Thank you GaylordWilshire! I was guessing church or auditorium.

~F3

The first bar to open after the repeal of prohibition.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/155...ute1a6lapl.jpg
lapl



http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9...on1933oneo.jpg
lapl

Does anyone know where in L.A. this was located?

They don't make saloons like that anymore.

I wonder if this bar was named after the Malamute Saloon in 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew'?

-S

Hmmmm, the address over the door is 1016 but 1016 what????:koko:

:previous:

Well, there was once a bread made in L.A. called Log Cabin. Looks like that might be one of its signs to the right in one of the pictures below. Maybe the Malamute was once a bakery....

Seeing this photo made me remember "driving" past it in the L.A. Noire video game.
I looked it up to see if it was still there, and it is.
I've lived in Los Angeles my entire life and have never been to this part of town, mostly due to not wanting to be get stuck there at night.

If you look at the modern photo, it almost loses the noir quality when shown in color, doesn't it?

https://sn2files.storage.live.com/y1...ill.jpg?psid=1

^^^That is quite an impressive building pwrof3.



I've posted numerous photos of adobes that survived into the 1940s in the old Sonora town area.
I remember the building with the Wrigley's gum advertisement but not the El Adobe Cafe.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1...n1940froms.jpg
usc digital archive

What is on the roof......tar paper?

Woodbury Illustration
 

Hey Scott,

Just stumbled across this image of the 1923-36 Woodbury College. Not a photo, but a heck of alot better that that mega copied flyer.

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/8...iglocation.jpg

~F3

SDPL

:previous:
Outstanding! Thank you so much!

Where is this??: my favorite game!
 

Thanks for the picture and question Handsome Stranger. My guess is Wilshire Blvd around Doheney or Robertson.

In this pre Beverly Wilshire Hotel 1929 shot of Wilshire in Beverly Hills, you can see the water tower in West Hollywood that serves as a reference to the mystery shot. I think it was taken further east around Doheney or Robertson.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics01/00020301.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics01/00020301.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics01/00020301.jpg

In this 1929 photo of Wilshire looking east from Fairfax, you can see the transition from the characteristic Los Angeles Wilshire street lights, to the Beverly Hills Wilshire street lights seen in the mystery photo.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...HS-7136.1?v=hr
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...iew/CHS-7136.1

But in this areal looking NW from Wilshire and Doheny the Wilshire street lights are not the same.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics01/00020269.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics01/00020269.jpg
So, in the end I'm still stumped! It could be Olympic or even Pico, on the eastern side of Beverly Hills though, for sure.

Pacific Mutual Building: then and now
 

All pictures are taken from LAPL and USC Digital Archive.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/1066/uffwp.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Corner of 6th St and Olive, 1930 and 1951.



http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8964/pageju.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
6th street and Olive, 1931 and 1975. Notice a sight of the old Richfield Tower in the picture above.


as time went by...

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/8020/montajeh.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

... the beginning:

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5364/1909s.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5605/87746793.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/7733/chs6791.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Great then and now photos Sebisebster!!!

So very interesting. I have to say that I'm most intrigued by the 1930 photo with the very cool clock on the roof and the backdrop of the Pacific Mutual Life sign. I am sure it all lit up at night and I am now obssessed with imagining the colors, etc. It must have truly been a sight to see!

~F3

.

Thanks for that follow-up, LAboomer52. Glad you pointed out the Beverly Hills street lamps, and the water tower! I think you're right that the street could be Olympic or Pico.

This photo that LAboomer52 posted reminded me of the open question from when it was posted way back in the thread. What was that odd walled building center left?

I am now wondering if it had been a hanger for the airfield that was once on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax??? It looks a lot like a large cavernous maintenance hanger that used to be here at the San Diego airport.


In this 1929 photo of Wilshire looking east from Fairfax, you can see the transition from the characteristic Los Angeles Wilshire street lights, to the Beverly Hills Wilshire street lights seen in the mystery photo.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...HS-7136.1?v=hr
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...iew/CHS-7136.1