Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire
LAPL
I've puzzled over this Schultheis shot for a while now. It's labeled by the LAPL as "Alvarado Street in the Westlake area," which seems accurate. I would assume that it would have been shot more in the upper reaches of Alvarado, where high Victorians were built, rather than below MacArthur Park. I've even held a mirror up to what appears to be a sign on top of a steep-roofed building that might offer a clue, and can't read it. Perhaps someone more familiar with the area might have an idea of what that building might be. I wonder if what caught Schultheis's eye might have been the juxtaposition of the vertical Victorian with the horizontal lines of the low building, and the spikes of the lamps and the house. Also...the lamps themselves might offer a clue. They were used on Alvarado, but perhaps only on certain stretches.
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Found it! Or at least I'm 99% sure I did. What we're looking at is approximately 825 South Alvarado, in between 8th Street and 9th/James M Wood Blvd. I first found it by scanning over
Historic Aerials footage from 1948:
And after that I went to the usual places to find more evidence:
![](http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6115/losangelesaerial1940080.jpg)
August 7, 1940, LAPL
Zeroed in:
![](http://imageshack.us/a/img515/7663/19400807.jpg)
LAPL
Of course one of the key pieces to go on was the large building with rooftop sign in the background, which seems to match with what we see in this cropped aerial:
![](http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/751/1954.png)
1954, USC
That building is the former William Penn Hotel at 2208 West 8th:
![](http://imageshack.us/a/img839/7238/pennwhittington.png)
1929, Dick Whittington, USC
Antiquarius
But back to the houses, here's another severely cropped aerial, this time looking south, with the 1930s-era house hidden by its Victorian neighbor:
![](http://imageshack.us/a/img163/5941/1960iz.jpg)
1960, USC
The Queen Anne was gone by 1972, while the deco house disappeared somewhere between then and 1980. This is from 1972:
![](http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6895/1972.png)
Historic Aerials
Here's what's there today:
^ note the streetlights to the far right...a dead ringer for what we in the original shot, though the ones in the original shot have long since disappeared in favor of a parking lot entrance. Also note that the William Penn Hotel has lost its chateau-esque roof; it looks like it was gone by the time the 1972 aerial was taken.
Also note the fire hydrant at the far corner of the property:
It doesn't look to be an exact match to the one in the original shot, but it's close, and it seems to be in the right location:
![](http://imageshack.us/a/img21/9803/losangeles1938midalvara.jpg)
Hermann Schultheis, LAPL
Lastly for now, I couldn't find any shots showing the sign on the roof of the William Penn, though looking at the above it does seem like you can kinda/sorta make out a backwards "PENN". Other than that I'm stumped on the sign.