Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5988998)

I was amazed when I came across this picture of the Culver City Rollerdrome. I didn't even know it existed.

http://imageshack.us/a/img268/9416/a...arearoller.jpg
http://culverhighalumni.org/photos-f...and-today.html

It's quite an impressive structure isn't.

The rollerdrome was located on the corner of Washington Place and Bentley Avenue. The site is now Tellefson Park.

http://imageshack.us/a/img809/9628/a...rdromesite.jpg

Originally Posted by alester young (Post 5988121)

Hi kznyc2k

What a great post -thank you for hosting this.

I live in the UK and am a keen collector of 1930s/ 1940s US images -there are some really distinctive and outstanding photos here which have great impact.

Pershing Square looked way better with the banana trees -but then L.A. had to have that Joni Mitchell moment and that underground parking lot was a real must have. What a shame...

I looking forward to seeing more of your posts -hope that you can pull some more white rabbits out of the hat!

All The Best

alester young

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 5981293)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8049/8...be000450_o.jpg
Salon Francais, North Broadway, Los Angeles, William H. Fletcher, 1890

The California History Room, California State Library

Looks like a rougher crowd than over at the Parisian bakery.

Originally Posted by BifRayRock (Post 5988280)

Originally Posted by fhammon (Post 5989181)

From Horace Bell's book "REMINISCENCES OF A RANGER":

http://archive.org/stream/reminiscen...lrich_djvu.txt

Of all that Frankish immigration I believe there are only two
survivors in our city, and one is Madame Begon, who is the
owner of a very pretty property on Castelar street, in the upper
part of the city, and the other is one of the prominent vignerons
of the Vineyard city. At the coining of the French Filibus-
ters the Madame was in the very prime of buxom womanhood,
and started a small restaurant at the place where the Ferguson
A; Rose stable now stands, and for a reasonable compensation
would give you, in addition to a well cooked dinner and bottle
of wine, a vigorous lesson in rapier exercise, for which purpose
she kept on hand a pair of gloves, foils and masks. The
Madame was a master in the use of the foil, and my ideal
hero, Bill, was the only one I knew who could stand up to her.
The Madame was emphatically a militaire, had served twenty
years in Algiers as a vivandiere, and as a natural consequence
took easily to filibustering. How the Madame came to Cali-
fornia I am unable to say, but should the reader be curious
to know, let him call on the fat old gray-haired dame who
reclines in her easy chair and lives easily off her rents, at her
residence on Castelar street. As far as the French Sonora
filibustering emigration to Los Angeles is concerned, Madame
Begon stands high.

Originally Posted by Godzilla (Post 5989201)

Surprised no one identified the 4 door sedan

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 1959 Simca 4 door sedan.:photographer:

Originally Posted by fhammon (Post 5989181)

From Horace Bell's book "REMINISCENCES OF A RANGER":

http://archive.org/stream/reminiscen...lrich_djvu.txt

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 5989461)

Thanks for the quote, Bell's book is on my very short list. If I read this correctly, she started out on Ferguson Alley (where the stable was then in business) and then moved up to Castelar. Can't be absolutely sure, the olde language and punctuation sometimes defeats me. My photo was identified as being N. Broadway but we all know about those early captions. Something unsettling about trying to eat your meal while faced with a large woman with a sword.

Originally Posted by fhammon (Post 5989473)

This is what used to be Mme Begon's store on the corner of Ord and Castelar (now Broadway). The "pretty property". She had an apartment in the back. You can see the entrance on the far right side of the building. In addition to the store she had the restaurant.

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...gon&DMROTATE=0 http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/25339/rec/1

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5989214)

Is this Madame Begon and her pretty property on Castelar (from e_r's post http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=11733)?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...124%2520PM.jpg
eBay

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 5989481)

I believe Castelar ultimately became Hill Street while Buena Vista became N. Broadway with the opening of the Broadway tunnel in 1901. With the coming of the 'new' courthouse, that part of Buena Vista that was south of Bellevue (Sunset) and ended at Temple became Justicia.

Originally Posted by fhammon (Post 5989499)

You are correct. I made the change. Thanks.

Originally Posted by kznyc2k (Post 5989344)

I'm a bonafide car nut albeit a younger one, and I've never heard of a Simca. Should I feel embarrassed??