Quote:
Originally Posted by tovangar2
Angels Flight and Devils Walk. LOL. That's funny.
I don't blame you for not noticing the building. By the post-war era almost all ground-floor shops had been modernized on the old buildings. I noticed this one in particular because I walked towards it from 5th and Flower every weekday (I also have a habit of looking up to check out old facades, which sometimes leads to walking into lampposts, other pedestrians, etc. So dorky). When I knew it in the 70s, the guano on the bay-window roofs was inches thick and pigeons used to fly in and out of the windows. The remembered glamour of 50s DTLA had flown. I used to wonder about the history of the place. I never guessed it was once a free-standing hotel in a mostly residential district. Research was so difficult in those days. No one appreciates the net more than I do.
Thank you e_r and SoCal1954 for your kind words.
P.S.
I'm still unsure. "BATH" is clear enough. |
USC Digital Archive
LA Herald 8-26-1874
LA Herald 6-28-1879
LA Herald 10-7-1879
This is a first post for me
From the early 60s through the early 70s, I stopped in at the news store on 5th street around the corner from the Willoughby at least once a month. I’ve always liked the building but never knew its name until recently.
It does say “Bath.” The A.L. Bath Building was built in 1898. “Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood” (2008) says that the 30-unit Hotel Willoughby opened there in 1898 and in 1917 the furnishings were all sold and the hotel closed.
I don’t know who A.L. Bath was, but I did find a few news snippets about him from the Los Angeles Herald from 1874 and 1879. He purchased the property at the southeast corner of Hill and 5th in 1874. I’d be interested to know what was on the property in the 24 years from 1874 to 1898.