noirish Los Angeles

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"A stairway descended to the platform from the bridge." The center area is perfectly suited for mass transit...it's hard to believe it was eliminated.
Thx for the information Ed.





below: "Malt Shop, 12806 W. Washington Blvd. Los Angeles CA."



eBay

"Outside our first Malt Shop." -cute.




I'm pretty sure I've located the Malt Shop building, but the street number is 12804 (as opposed to 12806 in the vintage photograph)


GSV

In the vintage photograph there is an empty lot to the left of the Malt Shop; I believe this is where the two-story building stands in the GSV view.


To the right of the '12804' building, the laundromat is inexplicably numbered 12822. (see below)


GSV

So what do you guys think....is the '12804' building the old Malt Shop?
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Grab a snack and get some sleep?


11056 West Washington - Coast Motel

https://fedora.digitalcommonwealth.o...ess800/content


Get the grime off

https://fedora.digitalcommonwealth.o...ess800/content



Get down to business Room service?
https://fedora.digitalcommonwealth.o...ess800/content

[Martin Pal]

Re: the b&w malt shop photograph, on the side of the building it looks like it says:
FRENCH FRIED
POPCORN.

Maybe there's a word or two not visible?

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

What do you folks think? Are my boundaries of the "hill" neighborhoods accurately presented?

Two great posts #45879 by Beaudry and #45881 by Scott Charles.
We had to wait almost 9 years to get those clarifications ! The California Street section gave me headaches to reconstruct mentally so much everything disappeared and photos missed. Thanks Beaudry ! And now we have a synthetic overview of classic (1930s) and current Downtown. Thanks Scott Charles ! I guess that the section surrounded (clockwise) by Figueroa or Flower, Temple, Grand and First streets was called "Bunker Hill". Odinthor please ?

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

Two great posts #45879 by Beaudry and #45881 by Scott Charles.
We had to wait almost 9 years to get those clarifications ! The California Street section gave me headaches to reconstruct mentally so much everything disappeared and photos missed. Thanks Beaudry ! And now we have a synthetic overview of classic (1930s) and current Downtown. Thanks Scott Charles ! I guess that the section surrounded (clockwise) by Figueroa or Flower, Temple, Grand and First streets was called "Bunker Hill". Odinthor please ?

My impression from my parents' usage and from movies, lit, and so on, is that the whole crescent from Fort Hill to the Central Library was loosely called Bunker Hill. It would be very Angeleno if everybody meant something different by "Bunker Hill"!

[HossC]

Is it worth noting that the only extant part of Bunker Hill Avenue is North Bunker Hill Avenue, between Cesar E Chavez Avenue and New Depot Street? Did anyone's definition of Bunker Hill ever extend that far north?

I'd forgotten that image of California Street, Beaudry, so thanks for the reminder (and enlargement).

Also, thanks to Scott Charles for the animated overlays.

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Certainly, some of the old hills are more easy to understand, but with say, Normal Hill - all I know is that the Public Library stands on what used to be Normal Hill. But I have no idea whether Normal Hill covered one square block or six square blocks! And as to Poundcake Hill, I'm pretty much completely lost!

I didn't see this mentioned so I just thought I'd chime in about Poundcake Hill. That was the hill on which the original high school was constructed, essentially an extension of Court Hill with another small rise as Court Hill descended towards the southeast. The school building was later moved over to Fort Moore Hill to make room for the construction of the red sandstone county courthouse, the one you marked in your aerial photo. Some of the hilltop was clearly removed to make a larger flat surface for the courthouse; from courthouse photos it looks like it was basically cut down to be about level with Broadway. But it was still definitely a hill from the other side, as evidenced by the large staircase leading up to the courthouse from the corner of Temple and New High Street, as well as a retaining wall along New High. A below-ground entrance to the courthouse existed along the retaining wall on New High Street. When Spring Street was cut through, most of New High next to the courthouse was eliminated along with the corner containing the stairs, and the retaining wall would have needed to be even taller at the new corner of Temple and Spring.

Today the entire thing is gone, being home to the Foltz Criminal Justice Center and the adjacent southeast end of Grand Park.

Here's an article at KCET about the lost hills, by Nathan Masters, which shows Poundcake Hill both before it held the high school (when it was called Telegraph Hill) and early during the school's stay.
https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/t...wn-los-angeles
Normal Hill is mentioned as well. It is my understanding that Normal Hill was kind of the furthest tail end of Bunker Hill.

[odinthor]

Fort Hill was Loma de las Mariposas in the pre-Yankee era; but I think that's the only name any of the hills had in that era.

Here's a passage from Narciso Botello's Annals in which the hills in question play a big part. The "barracks" referred to would be the structure known variously as Isaac Williams' Adobe and Government House, later the original part of the Bella Union Hotel. The momentarily-occupying Yankees had made it their headquarters. The "hills in back" would, most immediately, be Poundcake Hill and Loma de las Mariposas. This actually is probably my favorite moment in Angeleno history, the rebelling Angelenos mocking and evading the occupying force. (Permission to use kindly given by the author.):

[¶ 180; p. 142; September, 1846] That night, the Californios continued trying to take over the barracks, but were unsuccessful and left, going up into the hills in back to wait for morning. On first light next morning, I saw the Californios march from the peak of the hill down towards town, right next to the barracks, and playing their drum. Gillespie, after seeing the Californios from the barracks, mounted a horse and, joined by six or eight of his soldiers, rushed all the way down the street (Spring Street) in order to catch up with them; but, by the time he got to the ridge of the hill where he had seen the Californios come from—just like I had seen them, because my house was on that street—the Californios were gone, lost among the hills, covered by a heavy fog which had rolled in that day. He searched through the gullies for them, and then returned to the barracks. The Californios had run, scattering across the lower part of a hill, then doubling back at the furthest vegetable plot [huerta], heading in a direction opposite to where they had been seen that morning. This is why Gillespie couldn’t find them. They kept this up for three days, annoying Gillespie every moment of the day.

[ethereal_reality]

re: Oak of the Golden Dream

Originally Posted by odinthor

Thanks, e_r! Though I knew of the related incidents and people, I hadn't heard of the oak.

Originally Posted by HossC

'The Dukes of Hazzard' also filmed at Disney's neighboring Golden Oak Ranch, so now I know how that got its name!

Hoss, earlier I hadn't realized just how close the Oak of the Golden Dream is to the Golden Oak Ranch.


GSV


To get to the tree from the Placerita Canyon Park you have to go through a tunnel under Placerita Canyon road. (really a wash)


GSV



Here' the tree and the tunnel.


tripadvisor

So Hoss, I imagine the Duke's General Lee whizzed over this tunnel and past the Oak many times.
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OH, and if anyone is wondering why the Oak of the Golden Dream is misshapen on that one side.



Here's your answer

This was shortly before the tunnel was built.

[ethereal_reality]

p.s. I forgot to mention there are murals of dubious quality in the tunnel.


100HIKES






In Quieter Times


calishpere

I just came across this 1949 photo earlier this afternoon.

"David Fraser and Alice and Helen Flint visit the "Oak of Golden Dream" in Placerita Canyon."

PEACEFUL.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

Two great posts #45879 by Beaudry and #45881 by Scott Charles.
We had to wait almost 9 years to get those clarifications ! The California Street section gave me headaches to reconstruct mentally so much everything disappeared and photos missed. Thanks Beaudry ! And now we have a synthetic overview of classic (1930s) and current Downtown. Thanks Scott Charles ! I guess that the section surrounded (clockwise) by Figueroa or Flower, Temple, Grand and First streets was called "Bunker Hill". Odinthor please ?

Originally Posted by HossC

Is it worth noting that the only extant part of Bunker Hill Avenue is North Bunker Hill Avenue, between Cesar E Chavez Avenue and New Depot Street? Did anyone's definition of Bunker Hill ever extend that far north?

I'd forgotten that image of California Street, Beaudry, so thanks for the reminder (and enlargement).

Also, thanks to Scott Charles for the animated overlays.

My pleasure! As to the current remnant of Bunker Hill Avenue, I can't imagine that anyone ever considered that area to be part of Bunker Hill.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

Thanks to Scott Charles for the animated overlays.

Yes, I agree...THANKS for the moving overlays Scott. Your maps are fantastic!

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location.

I just happened upon the slide a few minutes ago.


EBAY

Original Slide, View Overlooking Los Angeles, c. 1945
Mount/Film Type: 35mm Kodachrome film, remounted from glass mount to plastic mount

But I can't decide what we're looking at. Are we south of Baldwin Hills? (I think that might be them in the middle distance)

_

[ethereal_reality]

Here's another 1945 slide.


EBAY

Original 35mm film slide

Subject: Burbank street scene, showing the Marcia Ruth Beauty Shoppe, Clark's Barber Shop, Brawley Drug Co., McFadden's, and more. (huh? I only see that one big store )

Date: circa 1945

Mount/Film Type: Kodachrome film, remounted from glass mount to plastic mount
_________________________

Wow, I can't believe how sparse Burbank looks.

_

[ethereal_reality]

I was just about to call it a night....


EBAY

Original 35mm film slide.

Subject: Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood.

Date: circa 1945

Mount/Film Type: Kodachrome film, remounted from glass mount to plastic mount


Boy-Howdy! Someone needs to buy this one!!

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Goodnight

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another 1945 slide.


EBAY


Subject: Burbank street scene, showing the Marcia Ruth Beauty Shoppe, Clark's Barber Shop, Brawley Drug Co., McFadden's, and more.

Date: circa 1945

_

The 1946 Burbank City Directory helps here:

Marcia Ruth Beauty Shoppe 2206 N Hollywood Way
H B Clark's Barber Shop 2004 N Hollywood Way
Brawley Drug 2000 N Hollywood Way

e_r's picture was taken from Victory Blvd, just west of N Hollywood Way, looking NE.
Surprisingly the building at the NE corner of North Hollywood Way and Victory Blvd is still standing:


GSV

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Yes, I agree...THANKS for the moving overlays Scott. Your maps are fantastic!

All too kind, but thanks!

Originally Posted by odinthor

It seems to be the case that what we call Bunker Hill isn't actually named for a particular hill, but rather for a real estate project which was called the Bunker Hill Development because . . . the deal securing water service to the planned area was signed on Bunker Hill Day (June 17).

odinthor, did your source mention the year that this happened? The quote below says that not only was it Bunker Hill Day, it was the 100-year anniversary of Bunker Hill Day. That means that the name Bunker Hill was first put to use in downtown LA on June 17th, 1875:

Spurned by the Los Angeles Water Company, Beaudry constructed his own system of pipes and steam-powered pumps to deliver water to the hilltop from a reservoir below. He also built roads to connect the hill to the developed flatlands below and laid out streets atop the hill.

One of them, which Beaudry named Bunker Hill Avenue in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle fought in Boston, eventually lent its name to the entire hilltop community.

LINK

Of course, the imperative word in the sentence above is the word "eventually" - I wonder how long it was until the name was applied to the entire region, not just the street...

[Scott Charles]

Still hoping to find the "official" boundaries of Bunker Hill, I began searching...

Eventually, I began to notice that the online photos I found of Bunker Hill were often credited to the Title Insurance and Trust Company - so I did a Google search for that phrase, plus "Bunker Hill". The first Google search result was this:



Granted, this document is from the redevelopment of 1958, not from the time of the original 1870s real estate project. However, I figured that this would be as close as I would ever get to finding any official definition (i.e., used in official documents of the state of California) of the boundaries of Bunker Hill.

In addition, I suspect that the term "Bunker Hill" came to be applied to an entire district of the city not necessarily bordered by the original real estate plan - much in the same way that "Hollywood" is not contained within the borders of the original Hollywoodland real estate venture - this article specifies only that Prudent Beaudry bought the land "atop" Bunker Hill, though I don't know if by this they mean only the top.

But back to the document. First, we come across the introduction page:



But the best part, of course, is this:



Eureka! And it pretty much matches the version I drew up a few days ago to a T!

Here is the link to the full 39-page PDF document, in case anyone wants to give it a look. Lots of plans and maps!

http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPG...project_1b.pdf

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location.

I just happened upon the slide a few minutes ago.


EBAY

Original Slide, View Overlooking Los Angeles, c. 1945
Mount/Film Type: 35mm Kodachrome film, remounted from glass mount to plastic mount

But I can't decide what we're looking at. Are we south of Baldwin Hills? (I think that might be them in the middle distance)

_

Griffith Park, the mid-range hills are the hills around Silverlake. I'm not sure of the exact location(my guess is near the Observatory), but I can see Queen of Angels and the house in the foreground looks very familiar.

ETA: It's definitely from the Observatory. I'll find a current pic.
...and here's a pic(from my b-day hike):
20180121_170945_glendale_facebook by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

This was shot on the trail just below the observatory, but the view is pretty much the same.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

All too kind, but thanks!


odinthor, did your source mention the year that this happened? The quote below says that not only was it Bunker Hill Day, it was the 100-year anniversary of Bunker Hill Day. That means that the name Bunker Hill was first put to use in downtown LA on June 17th, 1875:


Of course, the imperative word in the sentence above is the word "eventually" - I wonder how long it was until the name was applied to the entire region, not just the street...

Unfortunately, when I first started casting my net and putting together my notes on L.A., my intent was just to provide "it really happened" material to use and/or reflect on for a projected novel; and so there's a fairly small percentage of facts which I know I picked up from some reputable source, because that's all I deigned to look at, but didn't note down just where. Before long, I realized that my notes might be worth publishing in and of themselves, and so started noting down the sources for new additions to my notes. But . . . still there remained the early unsourced bits . . . of which this was one. From the fact that my note didn't include the year, it's pretty certain that my source didn't either, as I would have certainly picked up that tidbit; but . . . to double-check would, for the reasons stated, be an exceedingly difficult thing to do. Oh, well . . .

And the novel? That will come in the fullness of time. Maybe.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Unfortunately, when I first started casting my net and putting together my notes on L.A.,

And the novel? That will come in the fullness of time. Maybe.

Well Odin, I want to announce that I must to be on that pre-order publication list.