http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics31/00065261.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics31/00065261.jpg

The caption for the photo sayz............

Exterior view of Mercado Mexico, with produce on display near the sidewalk, at 409 North Broadway in 1940. Its signs (except on the awning) are written in Spanish, indicating that it is a Tienda de Abarrotes Mexicana, and offering free home delivery. The Cafe Colon is next door at 411. A shoeshine establishment is seen on the left.

however, isn't that fort moore hill behind with the "it's in the examiner" sign beside it?

that means that the actual address of cafe colon....( :yuck: ) is 411 N. main Street

here's a street view

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013978.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013978.jpg

and the caption for this photo says it's north main.............(they were bound to get it right sometime).......

some more images of 411 n main

1939
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014013.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014013.jpg

1888
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014046.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014046.jpg

1874....(ok ok, i know the building hasn't been built yet, but it is the future location of cafe colon :yuck: )

http://jpg2.lapl.org/spnb1/00017165.jpg
Source: LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/spnb1/00017165.jpg

and one more....

a now (googlemaps street view) and then (1883) looking south from the plaza on main street. you can see 411 n. main street just to the right of center in the 1883 photo

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/...be411738_b.jpg

1904 Panorama
 

I recently obtained this panoramic "double postcard" view of Downtown, circa 1904. (I think it may actually be a M. Rieder photograph, but that's only my amateur opinion.) Anyway, I just think it's a really neat view of Broadway and the Edwardian cityscape in general! Hard to grasp that it hasn't even been a hundred years yet since the city looked like this...

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/1904panoramapc_lap.jpg

Is there any way a normal person living here today would recognize this as Los Angeles? Amazing that a city of such significance could change so completely in only one-and-a-half human lifespans, isn't it!

(For those who may want a better look at the old city, there's a nice hi-res enlargement of this image available on my most recent blog post.)

-Scott

That's a really amazing sequence of images there. That's right where the 101 slot cuts through the landscape today...

Vintage Bunker Hill
 

Bunker Hill photos always hugely appreciated. Thanks!

west side of main street between temple street and republic street 1940 and now

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5282/...475450d5_b.jpg

Beaudry
 

---------------------------------------------------------------
Beaudry - You're the best. (Well a lot of you are.) I keep coming back here like moth to a flame. Thanks for all the recent posts, and the informative background.

In trying to answer a question I pose to myself (Why do I find Bunker Hill so fascinating?), here's a couple really brief reasons I came up with---

The hill itself. Sounds obvious, but......that was a VERY steep hill in parts, as Beaudry pointed out in his most recent Third Street photos. There was a reason why there was demand for such a thing as Angel's Flight. And 100 years ago they didn't have the earthmoving capability they do now. A little scraping and tunneling here and there but they pretty much worked with what they found....and that led to some very interesting streetscapes.

Take the Second and Third Street tunnels....If road-builders came upon that barrier today they would simply V-cut it. Ho hum. And no way would you get anything like The Sawyer (and many others) that are only three stories on the uphill end but 8 stories on the downhill side! I surely don't see unique curiosities like that where I live, on the Broad, Beige Plains of Irvine......LOL

The other thing I find fascinating is that so many of the structures are of the same vintage, which lends something of a consistency and repetition to the streetscapes. (By extension, the first rule of landscaping is repetition of a theme.) You have your late 19th century Victorians and early 20th century apartment/hotels, but the place was pretty much built out by the mid-1920s.

Most cities have become a hodgepodge of old and new architecture. The result usually isn't very pleasing. Or even jarring, if one considers NYC's Grand Central Station juxtaposed against the Met Life Building. And to be fair, the New Bunker Hill works pretty well precisely because of that same reason...it is pretty much ALL more modern architecture.

Back to work. Thanks again to all the posters.

Sopas ej – Thanks for the new night photo of the DOH overhead sign at the Alameda St exit. Love the photos of early Los Angeles freeways, signs, and traffic.

I agree, the entrances to California Freeways are very easy to find due to the excellent signing. Not sure if the modern California green and white FREEWAY ENTRANCE sign is an outgrowth of the ACSC FREEWAY sign, but it sure makes finding the on-ramp easier!

Need more old photos!

CASIGNS

Below: I couldn't resist posting these 3 photos because they scream "L.A. Noir".


The L.A.P.D. reenacting a hold up at the Garden of Allah on Nov. 30, 1951.
Behind the desk are the night clerk and the hotel manager (they look like two shady characters from central casting).

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6...eenactingn.jpg
usc archive


http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2...gardenree2.jpg
usc archive


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6...eenactingn.jpg
usc archive

A more modern Garden of Allah sign on the corner of Havenhurst Dr. and Sunset blvd. in 1959.
The complex was torn down that same year.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4...ignaug1619.jpg
usc archive



Replaced by this bank. (actually a pretty good example of mid-century modern)

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/9...ahnowchase.jpg
google street view


http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/107...enofallah2.jpg
google street view


When I lived in L. A., I was always told there was a model of the Garden of Allah in the bank lobby.
I never took the time to go in and see if it was true. I could kick myself.

A wonderful building with an Auburn-Cord showroom at 3443 Wilshire, pre Equitable Bldg.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8896/...443wilshir.jpg
ucla

Can you imagine spending the extra money to build that exquisite tower.
I believe it is purely ornamental (with it's arrow slit windows and small floor space).

You mean THESE fail to impress you?

(This is all I see, every day. Kind of depressing, actually)


http://millercontracting.net/images/...dlands0001.JPG


http://www.westlingandassociates.com...ter_Detail.jpg

Here is a small article that mentions the Golden Gopher in today's L.A. Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,1031053.story

Well, ethereal, the tower actually belongs to the Wilshire Chrisitian Church next door at the corner of Normandie. Although sometime after your shot the Cord building did acquire a tower--two in fact. The building was owned by E.L. Cord, who not only built the cars sold in the dealership (Fuller Auburn-Cord), but the radio station elsewhere in the building, KFAC ("Kall Fuller Auburn Cord"). (I was sure there were posts here about it, but a quick search didn't bring any up.)

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics32/00065624.jpgLAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics32/00065624.jpg

oops! I'm red faced.

:previous:

Don't be-- it does look as though the church tower could easily be part of the Cord complex. Btw, re the model of the Garden of Allah-- I remember seeing it when it was sitting under plastic outside near the corner of Sunset & Crescent Heights (in the '70s or early '80s). I read somewhere about it being moved into the bank, but also that it is no longer there. I wonder what became of it?

Was this posted before? Found it while researching unions.

Los Angeles Times building bombing, October 1, 1910.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...st-bombing.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times_bombing

A Hoover Primer
 

Hoover Street was the western boundary of the City of Los Angeles as of incorporation on April 4, 1850, from Fountain Avenue south to Jefferson. It now extends north in fits and starts nearly to Los Feliz Boulevard, is interrupted below Jefferson by USC and Exposition Park before continuing south down the shoestring (with a few more interruptions) to the vicinity of the Harbor/San Diego interchange. Without thinking about the dates, many assume that it was named after President Hoover, but in fact, according to http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=419761, "the man it honors is Dr. Leonce Hoover, a Swiss who served as a French military surgeon under Napoleon Bonaparte. After arriving in Los Angeles in 1849 with his wife and three children, he changed the spelling of his name from Huber to Hoover and became a pioneering vintner, growing high-quality wine grapes near what is now the town of Cudahy. Hoover died in 1862; 30 years later, Hoover Street was named in his honor."


Interspersed with commercial development was residential. Here are a few then-and-nows of the latter:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...2520PM.bmp.jpgLAHerald Apr 17, 1901

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061780.jpg
LAPL

The Roy/Otto house at 1515 S. Hoover (at Alvarado), then and now, and, farther below, a detail of the Joseph R. Daniels house at 1507; 1513 remains, while 1507 is gone.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TM...81138%20AM.jpgGoogle Street View

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061668.jpgLAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061668.jpg


And, farther south:

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061551.jpgLAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061551.jpg
The Alfred J. Salisbury house at 2703 S. Hoover.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TM...72545%20AM.jpgGoogle Street View

Across 27th Street from the Salisbury house is the Cockins house by the same architects (Bradbeer and Ferris), at 2653 S. Hoover:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061849.jpgLAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061849.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...23926%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View


:worship:
P.S. to ethereal... I hope you know that it pains me to amend any post of Our Esteemed Founder. None of us would be here if not for you.

That is an extremely nice compliment. Thank you GaylordWilshire.