noirish Los Angeles

[sopas ej]

Very interesting pics.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Oh, and in my opinion...Shirley Maclaine should have won for 'The Apartment'.
(It's one of my favorite movies)

Oh, I think she should have won too, she was great in that movie. A great film, too.

[ethereal_reality]

Below: An audacious plan for a helicopter terminal attached to Union Station.
(notice the 4 tiny helicopters on the roof....this place is immense)



usc digital archive



Below: Dated April 4th, 1965.



usc digital archive

[sopas ej]

Very interesting. That proposed helicopter site is now where the MTA headquarters building is located, I think.

[ethereal_reality]

Proposal for a Labor Center 1945 at Third and Vermont St.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/91207/rec/1

[ethereal_reality]

Previously I posted a proposal for a Music Center at 6th and Hoover.
Below is an illustration I overlooked.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/91144/rec/3

# # # #



below: I will re-post this excellent view for comparison.


usc digital archive

[ethereal_reality]

Here's an interesting illustration from 1938 showing a viaduct to be constructed adjacent to Sunset Blvd.



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/17212/rec/4


I'm not too familiar with this area.
So......what tunnel is that?
Also was this proposal eventually built.....if so, what did they gain?

...sopas_ej?

[sopas ej]

Cool find! I looked at this for a number of seconds and then I knew where this is. The drawing isn't to scale, but this is the southern edge of the modern Chinatown, where Broadway intersects Cesar Chavez Ave. (of which that stretch used to be Sunset Blvd.), the view is looking south. The tunnel is the Broadway tunnel, which no longer exists, because most of the hill has been removed. The viaduct was never built.

I don't remember if I posted these photos a while back and hehe I'm too lazy to look through the pages of this thread, but here are some comparison photos, courtesy of the LAPL:

Sunset and Broadway looking south, 1929:


Same view, 1951:


Same view, 1971:


As you can see the hill and tunnel are gone. I remember when I first learned that there used to be a hill and tunnel there and was totally surprised. The one story brick building on the corner still exists today.

Here's the same general view today, courtesy of Google Earth:


That viaduct plan is interesting. I'm very sure it was a plan to make traffic flow more smoothly, especially considering back then, there were the PE streetcars going through that area. The viaduct looks similar to one that does exist a little west of this location, where 1st St., 2nd St., Beverly Blvd. and Glendale Blvd. all intersect.

[ethereal_reality]

Wow, great information and comparison pics sopas_ej.

It's absolutely amazing that the one-story building survived all the changes.
Not in a million years would anyone guess that there once had been a hill and a tunnel directly behind that building.

Looking closely at the 1929 foto really makes me long for the old days.
All the characteristics that made that small area interesting have been wiped off the map
....and all to accommodate more and more traffic.

Thanks again sopas_ej, for taking the time to answer my questions.

[kanhawk]

This thread has educated me on one thing in particular. Just how much hills were completely flattened in some cases to make way for new roads and developments, as we see in the latest set of photos. The total level of earth moving over the years must have been enormous. The Los Angeles "basin" must have been a much hillier place than it is today.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Wow, great information and comparison pics sopas_ej.

It's absolutely amazing that the one-story building survived all the changes.
Not in a million years would anyone guess that there once had been a
hill and a tunnel directly behind that building.

Looking closely at the 1929 foto really makes me long for the old days.
All the characteristics that made that small area interesting have been
wiped off the map. And all to accommodate more and more traffic.

Thanks again sopas_ej, for taking the time to answer my questions.

No prob, ethereal. My pleasure. And I agree, downtown LA would be a far different place today if they had kept those older structures-- and hills.

Originally Posted by kanhawk

This thread has educated me on one thing in particular. Just how much hills were completely flattened in some cases to make way for new roads and developments, as we see in the latest set of photos. The total level of earth moving over the years must have been enormous. The Los Angeles "basin" must have been a much hillier place than it is today.

Oh definitely, particularly downtown. To be honest with you I didn't know we had the technology to remove complete hills back then. Obviously the LA basin is crisscrossed by earthquake faults, which create these hills and knolls. Makes me wonder that maybe the earth is slowly but surely still creating these hills even though they've been removed by people.

____________________________________


Here's the west end of the 3rd Street tunnel through Bunker Hill in 1963:

From lapl.org

Here's the same view in 1985:

From lapl.org

Completely different view, you wouldn't think it was the same place. The tunnel still exists, but Bunker Hill has been graded lower, and virtually nothing exists from the earlier photo.

Here's the east end of the same tunnel, the Angels Flight end, circa 1934:

From lapl.org

I love this pic. The guy in the foreground is blurred, obscuring his identity, but in my mind, he's a guy who's down on his luck, just finished walking through the tunnel, maybe he's gonna grab a sandwich at the place on the corner, maybe he's gonna do something seedy... or not. I love the streetlamp, too; already by 1934, it's from a totally different era, from the generation before, like it represents a part of the city that the city forgot/neglected...

I think this photo is cool, I've never seen a pic from this era which shows the inside of the tunnel:

From lapl.org

[ethereal_reality]

^^^LOL. Sometimes I can be pretty slow.

I have those pics, but I never put two and two together that the pics are of the SAME tunnel until your explanation
"Here's the east end of the same tunnel."

No wonder I'm always confused by the tunnel pics. I never considered the other side of the hill. Duh!




below: A photo of the 3rd Street tunnel, west entrance.


usc digital archive






below: The only description on this photo was Hope Street, Bunker Hill.



Cal State Library

above: Can you imagine the sordid 'going-ons' inside the Hotel Elmar.

This is a good example of a photograph with 'noir' qualities.....
The transient SRO hotel...the lone man....the empty streets and overcast sky.

[ethereal_reality]

OK, the caption on this photo was
"looking southwest from 1st and Clay Street."

But isn't this the west entrance to the 3rd Street tunnel? (I recognize the 3-story building from previous pics)
Obviously many buildings have already been torn down.
But where's 2nd Street then? And I can't find Clay Street on the map I have.

Perhaps it was mislabeled.



usc digital archive

[llamaorama]

Haha, that heliport is sweet. Why couldn't stuff like that have happened? kind of a bummer how positively boring the actual future(now) turned out to be.

Though they never envisioned things like the internet or cell phones either, so maybe its a wash.

[ethereal_reality]

I agree.....but it's hard to grasp the 'future' in the now.
(if you know what I mean)

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

OK, the caption on this photo was
"looking southwest from 1st and Clay Street."

But isn't this the west entrance to the 3rd Street tunnel? (I recognize the 3-story building from previous pics)
Obviously many buildings have already been torn down.
But where's 2nd Street then? And I can't find Clay Street on the map I have.

Perhaps it was mislabeled.



usc digital archive

Actually, I think it is mislabeled. I see where this is. Clay Street no longer exists, it was obliterated when Bunker Hill was regraded. I think this is actually 2nd and Clay. The 2nd Street tunnel also exists, underneath the hill; the 3rd Street tunnel is shorter than the 2nd street tunnel, the hill is irregularly shaped.

I feel fortunate in that last year on ebay, I bought a Renie Atlas of Los Angeles County that dates from 1943, so it shows Clay Street on Bunker Hill, though the tunnels aren't denoted for some reason. But comparing it with my 2001 Thomas Guide, which does denote the tunnels, I can see that the 2nd Street tunnel is longer than the 3rd Street tunnel.

Here are some photos from Tom Wetzel/uncanny.net.

This shows Angels Flight actually crossing over Clay Street in 1943:


Here are some before and after shots.

Looking up Clay Street from 4th Street, back in the day:


The same view in a more recent photo:


Completely different now.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for clarifying sopas_ej.
That 1943 atlas sounds like quite a find.



Below: Angels Flight with the destruction of neighboring buildings.


usc digital archive





Below: Angels Flights with many of the surrounding buildings demolished.




usc digital archive

[ethereal_reality]

Below:
A rare photo of Court Flight, the sister funicular railway of Angel Flight
I believe it's been abandoned in this pic.



usc digital archive


Court Flight (1904-1943) was shorter but steeper than Angels Flight,
rising 200 feet in just over 200 feet.

Court Flight only charged for rides up and not down.
I'm not sure if this was the case with Angels Flight.




Below: In this small but cool photo, the incline and steps are still there....minus the railway cars.


www.onbunkerhill.org

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for clarifying sopas_ej.
That 1943 atlas sounds like quite a find.



Below: Angels Flight with the destruction of neighboring buildings.


usc digital archive





Below: Angels Flights with many of the surrounding buildings demolished.




usc digital archive

I'm not "getting" these pictures. Are there two Angel Flights, or multiple Angel Flights? Is this the same rail line in both pics?

If you look below at the building I'm pointing to with the yellow line, in one picture it is on the "right" of the Angel Flight rail alignment, in the other picture, it is on the "left" of the Angel Flight rail alignment. Am I missing something? These are two different rail lines, right?

[fishrose]

Originally Posted by PHX31

I'm not "getting" these pictures. Are there two Angel Flights, or multiple Angel Flights? Is this the same rail line in both pics?

If you look below at the building I'm pointing to with the yellow line, in one picture it is on the "right" of the Angel Flight rail alignment, in the other picture, it is on the "left" of the Angel Flight rail alignment. Am I missing something? These are two different rail lines, right?

Maybe the negative was flipped? Those were probably taken on film...

[BrandonJXN]

Where was Court Flight?