noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

Originally Posted by HossC

Broadway was the end of the 5 Line. Here's the area in 1952.


Historic Aerials

There have been many changes on the east side of Hawthorne since then ...


Google Maps

Originally Posted by HossC

I like the street layout too, particularly the quirkiness of one circular central island and one square. It survived until at least 1972, but was gone by 1980.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I hope we hear from someone that grew up in Hawthorne Hoss. I'd love to learn more about this neighborhood with the 'island' parks.

I'd also like to hear from someone who grew up there. In the meantime, I've been looking into what replaced the islands. The large structure visible on the Google Maps view above is/was Hawthorne Plaza. The 40-acre site seems to have been cleared in 1975, and the new mall opened in stages through 1977. Unfortunately, it soon faced competition from neighboring malls such as South Bay Galleria at Redondo Beach, and the area's prosperity turned out to be a blip rather than a trend. Following decline through the early-90s, the mall eventually shut its doors in 1999, and has remained boarded-up ever since.

I found a couple of videos about the mall. The first, Good Bye Hawthorne Plaza, starts with vintage photographs, some showing the old 'island' road layout (below). These are followed by a montage of shots of the mall in various states of disrepair - I think the editor got a little carried away with video effects in the middle. Skip on to the six-minute mark and there's a good summary of the mall's history at the end.


Jerry Miles/YouTube

From the text at the end of the video:

"The mall had a very short lifespan, making it a colossal failure in a commercial sense. In addition, it was a colossal failure in a redevelopment sense. It probably left Hawthorne Boulevard commercial strip worse off than it found it. Although it faces the street, its monolithic exterior is uninviting to pedestrians and inappropiate in a 'downtown' setting."

Some of the "monolithic exterior" along Hawthorne Boulevard.


GSV

For contrast, here's the other side of the street from the same spot.


GSV

The second video I found is called Hawthorne Plaza - Dead Mall | ep. 16 | Tom Explores Los Angeles. It combines vintage footage of the mall when it was open with some urban exploration showing how the mall looks today.

Although the mall closed over 15 years ago, it still gets used for filming from time to time, and has appeared in movies such as Minority Report (2002), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), and Gone Girl (2014). The makers of the 2006 movie The Green Hornet even converted the top of the parking structure into a quarter-mile section of freeway (below).


www.seeing-stars.com

The mall's future seems uncertain at the moment. I was amused to see one proposal where the redevelopment includes towers that pay tribute to the island road layout. The circular tower they've used looks suspiciously like part of the Westin Bonaventure .


www.placehood.org

[ethereal_reality]

That last image is pretty funny. Thanks for your research Hoss.

I really like this pre-mall view.

originally posted by HossC.




below: Hawthorne Plaza Mall today.


http://mlkshk.com/p/Y9JA


wiki

Yes, it's big!!


http://www.seeing-stars.com/Location...olf/Mall.shtml



The area between the mall and the parking garage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIhxXYfScw

Eerie.

[ethereal_reality]

I realize HossC already posted a comparison pic. / but I couldn't resist.

Hawthorne Plaza (east side of Hawthorne Blvd.) This actual makes the Beverly Center look user friendly.



...and directly across the street. (west side of Hawthorne Blvd.)

GSV



I'm intrigued by this building. (I'm pretty sure the intricate architectural flourishes were added later)

GSV


It seems to have been inspired by Islamic architecture. (especially this entrance)


detail/gsv

____________





Further down Hawthorne Blvd. at 129th Street there is a fairly interesting art deco building.


GSV


I especially like the three lines and three circles.




The corner as seen from 129th Street.

GSV

corner detail

GSV

Of course the modern signage f*cks it all up.
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[ethereal_reality]

I posted this back in January.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

City bus to Disneyland. 1960s or70s

ebay

I recently came across this side view.


eBay

Does anyone have an idea what hotel is advertising $1.00 rooms? (rooftop sign at far right)

A dollar is awfully cheap....maybe it's $10.00 rooms....or maybe it's advertising hot baths for a $1.00
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[ethereal_reality]

"San Pedro (Los Angeles Calif.) 1910."



http://hdl.huntington.org/

The Edison Electric Co. (no street address given) Identified as San Pedro.



I really like the emblem of a flaming torch.

detail

It looks like there's a thin rope hanging around it. (not to mention that obnoxious red circle )
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[HossC]

The Arcady is not new to NLA, but the message on the back of this 1947 postcard made me laugh. Poor Bob and Bill really didn't enjoy their stay .



eBay

[ethereal_reality]

"sleep, drink and women" lol



"Three operators standing outside the Los Angeles #2 substation, a street scene with residential buildings in the background." -no date. no street address.


http://hdl.huntington.org/

I'm not sure where the Edison #2 was located,

but at the end of the alley...the building appears to be rounded. Could this be the old Cyclorama??


detail



for comparison

http://www.panoramaonview.org/panora...geofparis.html




souvenir cover with front view.

http://www.panoramaonview.org/panora...geofparis.html


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edit.
Was the #2 substation located behind the Edison General Offices on Fourth Street? Would this location place it close enough to have an alley view of the cyclorama?

I know we've seen a Sanborn map of this area on NLA, but I haven't been able to find it yet.
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[tovangar2]

A friend sent me this clipping fragment:

???

Has anyone else ever heard of the Edison/Metropolitan Water Board/Million Dollar Theater building being called "The Stability Building"?

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"San Pedro (Los Angeles Calif.) 1910."



http://hdl.huntington.org/

The Edison Electric Co. (no street address given) Identified as San Pedro.

Here's another view of the same building.


Huntington Digital Library

"Group Portraits - San Pedro Local Office employees and construction crew." 5/12/1913


Huntington Digital Library

The 1908 San Pedro CD lists the Edison Electric Co at 4th and Beacon. That would tie-in with the 401 address visible on my first picture above. The image below is titled "View of Beacon Street looking south from Fifth Street in San Pedro, ca.1903". I think it shows the Edison building on the far right. There's no point doing a "now" picture as 4th and Beacon no longer intersect.


USC Digital Library

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Three operators standing outside the Los Angeles #2 substation, a street scene with residential buildings in the background." -no date. no street address.


http://hdl.huntington.org/

I'm not sure where the Edison #2 was located,


__

See MichaelRyerson's post here

Werdin Place:

google maps

AKA "Indian Alley"

[ethereal_reality]

stately homes 'mystery'


Here's the vague description at the Huntington Archive:

"Lighting post on Wilshire, [showing large homes in the background]" 1/7/1914




http://hdl.huntington.org/




detail


Does anyone (GaylordWilshire perhaps) recognize these impressive homes?
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Thanks for the additional photographs of the San Pedro Edison Co. HossC.

T2, like you, I've never heard the Edison Building called the Stability Building,

and I didn't realize MichaelRyerson had already spotted the alley view of the cyclorama. I thought I had really discovered something. oh well....

[sopas ej]

^^^^
I believe those are the original Windsor Square light standards. That intersection would be Windsor and Wilshire (I think).

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks sopas, that's a start....I hope the houses are still there. -fingers crossed.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I'm not sure where the Edison #2 was located,

but at the end of the alley...the building appears to be rounded. Could this be the old Cyclorama??


detail

for comparison

http://www.panoramaonview.org/panora...geofparis.html

souvenir cover with front view.

http://www.panoramaonview.org/panora...geofparis.html
__
edit.
Was the #2 substation located behind the Edison General Offices on Fourth Street? Would this location place it close enough to have an alley view of the cyclorama?

I know we've seen a Sanborn map of this area on NLA, but I haven't been able to find it yet.
__

Yes, that was the Edison #2 substation at 4th and Werdin. That's 4th Street along the top; Werdin has "302" in the middle of it:

1906 Sanborn @ LAPL

And, yes, that's the old Panorama Building, which originally housed a painting of the Battle of Paris from the Franco-Prussian War (that's a great old souvenir cover, er!).
I don't have permission to show the image, but in the papers of Inglewood founder Daniel Freeman at LMU is a document signed by LA County Sheriff Martin Aguirre dated
August 16, 1889, indicating that Daniel Freeman had bought that painting at auction for $100.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

stately homes 'mystery'

Here's the vague description at the Huntington Archive:

"Lighting post on Wilshire, [showing large homes in the background]" 1/7/1914




http://hdl.huntington.org/

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I believe those are the original Windsor Square light standards. That intersection would be Windsor and Wilshire (I think).

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks sopas, I'll have to check out Wilshire and Windsor to see if the homes are still there. -fingers crossed.

Chuckaluck posted that picture nearly a year ago in post #14581. In post #14583, WS1911 wrote "This is the west side of the 600 south block of Windsor Blvd. in Windsor Square. The house on the left was built in 1911 and the house on the right in 1914."

I think these are the same houses today.


GSV


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

They're both still standing. That's fantastic news HossC.

I see the second one is for sale (or was for sale). Maybe there are interior photos on one of the real estate sites.
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I appreciate you posting the Sanborn map FlyingWedge.
I wonder what Mr. Freeman ended up doing with such a L A R G E painting? Maybe he wallpapered his entire house with it.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

and I didn't realize MichaelRyerson had already spotted the alley view of the cyclorama. I thought I had really discovered something. oh well....

Right click on any photo for a Google image search. That's how I found MR's post

LAT on the very noiry history of Indian Alley/Werdin Place

Werdin and Winston looking south. John Parkinson's 1909 Canadian Building on the right (site of our first Federal Building/P.O. as Flyingwedge explained). 118 Winston (1887) on the left:

gsv

Werdin Pl looking north towards E 4th St. From left, The Hellman Building, the 1897 Van Nuys/Barclay Hotel, The San Fernando Building (1907) and the Jeffries (1927). Substation #2 was on the east side of this section of Werdin. Looks like an expansion of the Edison Building took it out:

gsv

I don't know why Werdin is gated (?)

The Edison Building is still there:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

The Edison Electric Company General Office Building, 120 E. 4th Street, 1904

The Edison Electric Company General Office Building at 120 E. 4th Street. "Sammy" Darnell, foreman, is standing by the entrance to Werdin Alley. Clate Bigg's wagon is down the street." (Sam Darnell was Westside Lighting Company's first lineman, in the mid-'90's, before it evolved into the Southern California Edison Company) This dark building on the right edge predates the San Fernando Building by about four years but the San Fernando Building will go in here and be addressed on the corner of Main and 4th Streets. The alleyway (shown on some maps as Werdin Place) runs between the Edison Building and what will be the San Fernando Building. Down the street, the first building beyond the Edison, with the light colored facing, is the Venice Hotel (soon to become the Hotel Granam) and the slightly shorter, darker Hotel Newport, on the corner of Los Angeles Street. The cameraman has his back to the southeast corner of the Hotel Westminster.

Southern California Edison Photographs and Negatives, Huntington Digital Library

Complete with ghost sign (the former Venice Hotel is still there too):

gsv

A word on the Venice Hotel. It still houses LA's oldest bathhouse, since 1905 (or there abouts):

"Turkish & Electric Baths (now KLYT) – 132 E. 4th Street LA, CA 90013
If it’s more dirt that you’re looking for, walk down to LA’s oldest bathhouse that still operates today and has hosted many a closeted movie star. Most men only bathed once a month at the turn of the century. LA never funded public bathhouses, so the private sector swung into action. You can still see the broken neon sign proclaiming BATHS high above the doorway."
- outtraveler

Hotel (west entrance) and Baths (east door) and some once-was neon:

gsv

[HossC]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Right click on any photo for a Google image search. That's how I found MR's post

This is a great tip, but it only works if you're using Chrome as your browser. I've just checked IE, Firefox and Opera, and none of them have the Google image search option. Firefox has several add-ons available that claim to replicate this feature, but I haven't tried them yet.

[ethereal_reality]

It doesn't work for me either.

[tovangar2]

Another way. I hope this works.