Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
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I found
an article about the history of the Firestone Park Sheriff's Station which includes the details below:
"In the early 1920’s, a decision was made to open the first real Sheriff’s Station in the Florence/Firestone Park area and this flagship effort, Station #1, had its beginnings in a leased storefront facility in the 1600 block of Florence Avenue near Maie Avenue. The First Station had an authorized complement of 25 Deputies: they fielded two patrol cars and two motorcycles and provided a small detective unit to investigate crimes. This was actually the catalyst for the planning of additional stations throughout the County.
The first facility, housing Station #1, on Florence Avenue was soon outgrown and a second leased building at 2201 Firestone Blvd. was opened in 1938. It served the Department's needs until the third and last Firestone Station, at 7901 S. Compton Avenue, was dedicated in 1955.
In its heyday, this station, with over 300 sworn and civilian personnel, served a racially diverse population approaching 250,000 in a patchwork area that covered over 40 square miles. Its jurisdiction was bounded on the north by Slauson Avenue, on the south by Lomita Blvd., on the west by Normandie Avenue and by the Los Angeles River on the east."
That means that the picture above shows the first Florence/Firestone Station which was on Florence Avenue. I'm pretty sure that the current building at that location isn't the one pictured here, and the building reflected in the window (whatever it was) has been replaced by a parking lot. By the time the pamphlet in
e_r's original post was published (1946), the sheriff's station had moved to Firestone Boulevard address.
Wikipedia says that the Florence and the East Los Angeles stations were the first sub-stations to open in 1924. It also says that the Florence station became the Firestone Park station in 1955 (which is when they moved to their third location at 7901 S. Compton Avenue), yet the picture below clearly shows the 2201 Firestone location with a "Firestone Park" sign.
www.pinterest.com
The lamps have gone, and the windows are a different design, but this building still stands.
GSV
I also found
a 1993 LA Times article about the closing of the Firestone Park station on S Compton Avenue. It was designed by James H Garrott Jr, a prominent African American architect, was the first station in the county to be commanded by an African American captain, and the first sheriff's station in the county where African American deputies were allowed to ride in patrol cars. The building is now the Century Station Youth Activities League (YAL). The StreetView image below is from a couple of years ago (the latest image is quite blurry).
GSV