Here's 1354 South Hill Street in 1931. The sign on the door says "H H Obermiller, Electrical Contractor", although contemporary City Directories only list Harry H Obermiller's electrical business at 318 West 9th Street.
USC Digital Library
USC also include this interior picture. The shield decal on the left says they're a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the sign above the certificates on the back wall says they're an authorized dealer for Telechron springless electric clocks.
USC Digital Library
Normally when the building's still standing I'd say "here it is today", but it's currently painted blue and has a large awning, so I went back to February 2009 for this image. It was also one of the few historic GSV images with the shutters up.
GSV
If Mr Obermiller had looked out of his window, he'd have seen the buildings below. USC have just given this photoset the title "Smog, 1949". The Mercer Hotel at 1347 S Hill Street already looks run down here, but it appears in the City Directories up until 1968. Meanwhile, the Hill Street Market at 1345 appears up until 1973. The brick building on the far left appears to still be standing at 1355 S Hill Street.
USC Digital Library
The buildings above can all be seen in this 1964 aerial.
Detail of picture in
USC Digital Library
I'm obviously not going to let the last image go by without mentioning the tower just north of W 14th Place. I assume it was a thinly disguised oil pump. Here's the site today. As well as the "No Smoking" and "Private Property" signs, there's a small notice by the side gate with an emergency contact number for St James Oil. I checked the 1964 CD, and found that the site's immediate neighbor was the Las Vegas Cigar Factory at 1310 S Hill. In hindsight, I wonder whether cigars and flammable substances should've been that close together.
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That museum sounds really cool. Thanks for the links and info. Wig-Wag and oldstuff.
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