Quote:
Originally Posted by gsjansen
this 1868 shot looking south from poundcake hill is amazing. a completely barren bunker hill before Beaudry's development is on the right. Third street is the main street off in the distance running from right to left. Broadway is the street in the middle of the photo. Hill Street at the base of Bunker Hill is just a dirt path at best. In later years, this view would be looking right smack at the north elevation of the hall of records. this view today would be looking at the north side of the LA times building complex
The street at the lower left side running left right, (court street?), is clearly at an offset angle to the eventual grid. This is the same angle that the old hall of records building will be built to...................................40 years after this photo was taken!!!!! |
That truly is a priceless old photo and I've spent a lot of time staring at it, trying to translate the streets and landmarks to the way downtown looks today. I've also been discussing this image with my mom, who grew up in L.A. in the 30's and 40's. She has had trouble loading the data-heavy pages on this site, but raised some points that I'd like to pass along.
She notes that when the photo was taken, California had been a U.S. territory for only about 15 years and prior to that, it was part of Mexico.
So, she asks, where are the adobe buildings, enclosed patios, chicken yards, etc? (Perhaps they were in some other part of town, and this was all newly built?)
Further, where are the barns for horses, and where are the vehicles? People had to have some type of conveyance to get around.
In
later photos of early L.A. I see lots of horses but not in this shot, or in other very early images of L.A. I have found on this thread. Can anyone shed light on this?
Thanks in advance. I have to say it again - I LOVE this thread.