The lives of bricks
 

From this

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2338/...478574babf.jpgUSC


To this

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018248.jpgLAPL


To this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...os_Angeles.JPGWikipedia


I never knew that the bricks from the old City Hall, built in 1888 on Broadway and demolished after the current one was built in 1928, were then used to build the Heinsberger Decorating Company, still standing and looking great at 7415 Beverly Boulevard.

:previous:
Wow really? I didn't know that either. That's really awesome!

I agree, that is totally amazing. Good find GaylordWilshire.

edit. oops. more to come.

Kodachrome postcard...

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/richfieldcolorpc_lg.jpg

Can there be any doubt that this amazing jewel was Los Angeles's single most grievous architectural loss of the 20th century?

:previous:

It looks so great in the morning sun.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CULWYCEvos...lshire+092.JPGlaplaces


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CULWYCEvos...lshire+089.JPGlaplaces


Well, maybe we have a little bit of consolation in the 1931 Selig Retail Store on the nw corner of Western and 3rd. Architect Arthur Harvey
was clearly inspired by Stiles Clements's 1928 Richfield Building. After his 1928 Chateau Elysee (now better known as the Scientology
Celebrity Center), Harvey really got on the Deco bandwagon--two other of his L.A. works are the American Storage building and the Wilshire
Professional Building. Imagine if they, too, had been done in black and gold:

http://www.you-are-here.com/building...an_storage.jpgyou-are-here
American Storage Company building, 3636 Beverly Blvd

http://www.you-are-here.com/building/professional.jpgyou-are-here
Wilshire Professional Building, 3825 Wilshire

Fire at the Richfield Building in 1954.


http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7...ldfire1954.jpg
unknown/possibly ebay

To be honest, I wasn't aware there was ever a fire at the Richfield Building.
Does anyone know the details? It looks rather intense.

One of the most extraordinary sets ever built in Hollywood.
D.W. Griffith's vision of Babylon for his epic Intolerance 1916.


http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5...leranceset.jpg
D.W. Griffith





Below: The crumbling Babylon set from D.W. Griffith's Intolerance at Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd in 1918.
More specifically, this photo is the southwest corner of Prospect Ave. & Talmadge St.


http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5...stcornerof.jpg
unknown

Above: The set stood derelict for nearly four years until it was finally destroyed by order of the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1919.





Below: 94 years later, this photo shows that two of the houses still survive at the southwest corner of Prospect Ave. & Talmadge St.

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/8...stcorner2a.jpg
Craigzone

thanks for letting me in! i grew up on maryland drive, which is a short, 4 block street north of sixth street, between fairfax and san vincente. it was a great neighborhood. all of the photos of the Miracle Mile bring back a lot of memories. there's one place i've been looking for pictures of, and not finding any. not sure it would qualify for the "noir" theme of this thread, but if anyone has a link, i'd love to see it. in the mid 1960s,when i was a kid, there was (believe it or not) a little amusement park at the corner of beverly blvd and la cienega. it had a haunted house, bumper cars, carousel. this was on the SW corner, across la cienega from what was then the rexall drug store. even more interesting, directly to the west, the southeast corner of beverly and san vicente, there was a little pony stable with, as i remember, about 10 ponies and oval riding rings. kids would ride the ponies...i did many times. i remember going there on weekend mornings very early to give them apple slices and carrots. then one day, all the ponies were gone...anyway, if anyone has any photos...or links...i'd love to see them....but this thread is awesome. and eerie...i had no idea what bunker hill looked like prior to the construction of the new city hall....i wish the old chinatown was still there. i live near baltimore now...they did a similar thing in the 1980s.

Are you Harla Ann or Libby Mae?
 

:previous:


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics27/00063268.jpgLAPL


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068991.jpgLAPL
The library's caption reads: "Libby Mae Simon and Harla Ann Simon have fun on a car ride at Kiddyland, an amusement park located at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. The site of the park is now occupied by the Beverly Center." (Love those little Cadillacs.)


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068992.jpgLAPL
The library's caption reads: "Harla Ann Simon rides a pony at Beverly Park, also known as Kiddyland, an amusement park located at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. The site of the park is now occupied by the Beverly Center."

And you will want to watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUYc3uZbRW4

wow...thanks!!!! i did watch the video. funny...i really couldn't remember the name...neither beveryly park, nor kiddieland. but i remember the place...thanks again!!!

Is that fire or fog--or perhaps a fire in a nearby building? The lights on the tower are still lit.... Anyway, the only news of fire in the Richfield I found was from December of 1967, not long before the demolition. Apparently, the fire was one more excuse for the dimwits at Arco to decide to tear it down. (You can't help but wonder what the publicity value, at least locally, might have been had they had the brains to save it as a symbol of "black gold.")

In July 1954, there was, apparently, a fire at a Richfield refinery near Wilmington.

PS Naturally, after I wrote all that I see what appears to be flames on the left... so forget the fog....

http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft5779n9fb/hi-resCharles Mace 1945/Calisphere

Full history here: http://losangeleshistory.blogspot.co...-also-see.html

It looks pretty much the same now. Apparently it belongs to Father Flanagans Boys Town.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...80443%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View

GaylordWilshire, thanks for trying to find out details of the Richfield Building fire.
I've researched it as well.....but have always come up empty handed.

I'm almost sorry I found that photograph.

Does anyone know if these spiral staircases still exist?

This one is on the Pasadena Freeway at Riverside Drive in 1956.


http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3...afreewayat.jpg
usc digital archive

GaylordWilshire, since you're into the residential aspect of Los Angeles architecture I thought you might appreciate this photo.

The only information I have is 'General Harrison Otis House'.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3...isonotisho.jpg
usc

:previous:


See http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...e-see-our.html

Otis's house was at 2401 Wilshire, at Park View--one of the first houses built on my namesake boulevard. Later it became the Otis Art Institute. Gone now.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics19/00009289.jpgLAPL


When it was the Otis Art Institute (Elks Building in the background):
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026016.jpgLAPL

sears roebuck 5601 santa monica boulevard in hollywood 1928 and now

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/...2e1f754b_b.jpg

it's hard to believe that these two images are the same building:eeekk:

here's another building that lost it's fenestration's over time, the nuwilshire theater 1314 wilshire boulevard in santa monica 1938 and now

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/...5b5731f5_b.jpg

yep, still there, albeit looking a tad disheveled from years of wear and tear though, (enter at your own risk :uhh: )

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/...4073f1ba_b.jpg