noirish Los Angeles

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by Los Angeles

Another pic that may have been posted here before. I think I see the house in the bottom corner of the Rancho La Brea land just east of the May Company

I Love LA, But...
"This photo was likely taken sometime in the early 1940s when the area was cleared for the complex. Note Gilmore Stadium still stands on Gilmore Island, and you can even make out Pan Pacific Auditorium (both upper right)."
Photo seems to be from Dick Whittington

_________________________

An equally revealing photo of the same area and time. May Co, May Co's Auto Department and Simon's are distinct. If only the image were larger.
C.St.Lib

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This amazing weather vane was atop the main dome of the Moorish-style Le Grande Station.
The station, located just south of the First Street viaduct at 2nd Street and Santa Fe Avenue, was the main passenger terminal
of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.


detail/ebay

1895 - Getting set for trip to San Diego.






All fromCalLib

[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Another beauty gone!

1932 Wise Department Store, Northeast corner of Broadway and Pine - Long Beach
library.ca.gov

OK, I've been wrong before, but I believe this building still exists (more or less). The footprint of the building at that address is exactly the same, although the building seems to have been extensively modified. The northern portion seems to have been reduced to a parking garage, but most of the rest has been built up to the full height of the original. Notice the large gap between the fourth and fifth floors, the overall height of both buildings, and the Pine Avenue side, which shows 3 short sections, followed by a larger section, then 3 more short sections. Still there, but only a shadow of what it once was.
image by Google.com/Maps
image by Bing.com/Maps

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by Albany NY

OK, I've been wrong before, but I believe this building still exists (more or less). The footprint of the building at that address is exactly the same, although the building seems to have been extensively modified. The northern portion seems to have been reduced to a parking garage, but most of the rest has been built up to the full height of the original. Notice the large gap between the fourth and fifth floors, the overall height of both buildings, and the Pine Avenue side, which shows 3 short sections, followed by a larger section, then 3 more short sections. Still there, but only a shadow of what it once was.
image by Google.com/Maps
image by Bing.com/Maps

You deserve credit for being correct. Per the LA Times, "Wise Department Store (1929). Rebuilt in steel and glass."http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-...ce-buildings/4

Unfortunately, keeping the footprint hardly preserved the 1929 building's original "look." If you were on the street looking for the Wise building, you might walk right past it. The original version stirs a little passion, the other makes me think Klaatu gave the wrong instruction to Gort.

"Gort Klaatu Barada Niktu."

[Chuckaluck]

1895 somewhere in LA




CalLib

[Chuckaluck]

Civilization 1895 (Spring St. looking north)
CalLib

[ethereal_reality]

originally posted by ChuckaLuck


This the Southern Pacific's Arcade Depot at 6th & Central.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Below: The Arcade Depot in 1900.



usc archive












unknown



unknown



usc archive


Below: And last but not least my favorite find.

This photo was listed under photographs showing vacant lots.
To my surprise when I enlarged it, there was the Arcade Depot in all it's glory.



usc archive

This is the Arcade Southern Pacific Depot looking east on 5th Street in 1890.
Notice the 'Narcisse House' on the right.

These earlier stations/depots were rendered obsolete once Union Station was completed in 1939.
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[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

originally posted by ChuckaLuck


The last photograph you posted is the Southern Pacific's Arcade Depot at 6th & Central.

Once the Los Angeles Union Station was completed in 1939 these earlier stations/depots were rendered obsolete.
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Yeah. I was looking for your earlier posting to attach the Arcade Photo and in my haste, included it with the other photos. I am easily distracted by strangely shaped weather vanes and big palm trees.

[ethereal_reality]

Completely understandable ChuckaLuck.
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Here is an intriguing 'mystery'. A vintage pin showcasing a 'Rat'. Is it Masonic? Literary? A secret society? Tongue in cheek?


ebay




below: back side.


ebay
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[BifRayRock]

The Marvelous Security First National Bank of Los Angeles Building 1929. The preexisting neighbors must have "enjoyed" the construction cacophony.







Series from C.St.Lib


Today
google

Next door - E. Clem Wilson building. Entryway detail.
C.St.Lib

[BifRayRock]

Eating at the hat has been covered in this thread from page 8 onward. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=148 3427 Wilshire originally opened in '26. I've wondered how so many posts managed to crop out the Gaylord built in '24.

C.St.Lib

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...9QEwAg&dur=667

google

google

Brown Derby from Ebay. Seller indicates '40s, Early '50s cars belie this.

[MichaelRyerson]

.

[MichaelRyerson]

View of new Hyperion-Glendale Boulevard bridge over the Los Angeles River, Los Angeles, 1928

Photograph (engineering notebook photoprint) of new Hyperion-Glendale Boulevard bridge over the Los Angeles River (still under construction, note scaffolding), Los Angeles. Looking north from hills on south side of Los Angeles River. The bridge is under construction. Trees line the river. A cityscape (buildings are mostly dwellings, some commercial) looking up Glendale Boulevard which has a streetcar line going up the middle lined with palm trees. Automobiles are parked in the staging area at the base of the construction. Also visible are: piles of lumber, tree branches in the extreme foreground, some buildings in the foreground, trees and hills in the distance, construction lines are strung across the middle of the image, crane working in the river bed, streetcar. Legible signs include: "Forest Lawn Memorial Park", "Riverside Lumber Yard".

USCdigital archive/Automobile Club of Southern California engineering notebook photoprints, 1922-1941




View of Hyperion Bridge, Los Angeles, 1932

USCdigital archive/Automobile Club of Southern California negatives, 1892-1963




Hyperion Avenue over the Los Angeles River (2)

bridgehunter.com




Hyperion Avenue over the Los Angeles River (1)

bridgehunter.com




north figueroa street viaduct, february 1938

This was the cover of California Highways and Public Works from February 1938. The copyright was not renewed and has thus expired. This specific image comes from <a href="http://www.scresources.com/highways" rel="nofollow">www.scresources.com/highways</a>. In the present configuration this is the lower bridge.




Birdseye view of completed North Figueroa Street bridge looking northeast from hilltop, 1938

Photograph of a birdseye view of completed North Figueroa Street bridge looking south from hilltop. "Received. Examiner reference library" -- stamped on verso, dated, "September 8, 1938". We are looking at the just completed (road barriers still in place) North Figueroa Street Viaduct over the Los Angeles River. This section will become part of the Arroyo Seco Parkway in two years (1940).

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Prints Collection, late 1920's - 1961




north broadway bridge

North Broadway (Buena Vista) over the Los Angeles River
bridgehunter




Sixth Street Viaduct spanning the Los Angeles River, showing the large bridge, C.C. Pierce, 1932

Photograph of the Sixth Street Viaduct spanning the Los Angeles River, showing the large bridge, 1932. A long, stone bridge with massive arches and thick supports extends from the left foreground to the right distance. Light poles line the edge of the bridge. Railroad tracks lie below the bridge in the foreground while a train rides along a second set in the background.

USCdigital archive/Title Insurance and Trust / C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

The interior of a grocery store just before opening time. 1936

The interior of a grocery store before it opens showing the merchandise in display cases and people looking in through the windows. Unfortunately, no name, no address. Beautiful shot though.

USCdigital archive/Getty -- Faces of LA, 1936-1958/Dick Whittington Collection

Sometimes you have to dig a little for names and addresses, otherwise it's just a picture:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2948

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3522

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3521

[MichaelRyerson]

.

[ethereal_reality]

Wow, two great recent posts.

I have never seen construction photographs of the little art deco gem that is Security First National Bank.
Thanks for posting them bifrayrock....they're exceptional.

Excellent post on the bridges MichaelRyerson. I especially liked the before/after of the Hyperion-Glendale Blvd. Bridge, as well as the hilltop view of the North Figueroa Bridge.
The small cluster of buildings just to the left of the N. Figueroa Bridge looks a tiny studio 'backlot' (I know it's not though)
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found on ebay


I had to laugh at myself. When I initially came across this snapshot I looked for two tourists named Holly and Norm. LOL
Obviously it's the corner of Hollywood & Normandie. Offhand, I'm not sure if the building is still there or not.

__

[MOliscous]

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Civilization 1895 (Spring St. looking north)
CalLib

Mr. Niles Pease can be found here now:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=73973059

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

found on ebay

I had to laugh at myself. When I initially came across this snapshot I looked for two tourists named Holly and Norm. LOL
Obviously it's the corner of Hollywood & Normandie. Offhand, I'm not sure if the building is still there or not.
__

At least three corners of Hollywood & Normandie appear to have had single story buildings with chamfered corners--the Rose Drug Co. was at 5100 Hollywood Blvd--the southwest corner--and I'm afraid it's history. There is a new single-story building on the southeast (though I suppose there's a chance it might be the old one re-faced). One of the old buildings still stands on the northwest, and it's a little gem even with all the signs:

[ethereal_reality]

Disappointed that the Rose Drug building is gone...but happy to see that nice little building is still around.

[BifRayRock]

Most are familiar with Cawston's Ostriches in South Pasadena and other menageries in East Los Angeles, http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2448 but what about Santa Monica?

There was an Ostrich Farm Railway*, and in 1889 Santa Monica started bird farming with 34 birds on a seven acre tract. http://oceanpark.wordpress.com/top/ocean-park-history/

SM.P.ub.Lib

C.ST.LIB


*

LOS ANGELES OSTRICH FARM RAILWAY COMPANY

The original line of LAP, on Sunset Blvd., came into being away back in 1886 when the 3' gauge Los Angeles Ostrich Farm Railway Co. built its single track line of steam motor railroad from a point in Elysian Park Avenue (Sunset Blvd.) opposite the Sisters' Hospital (now St. Vincent's, then at Beaudry & Sunset) in a general northwesterly and westerly direction along present Sunset Boulevard to Childs Avenue (near Sanborn Junction)and thence northerly, crossing Effie Street and the northern boundary of the city, then up the west side of the Los Angeles River to Kenilworth Station on the Los Feliz Rancho (now Griffith Park), where the ostrich farm then was.

The Ostrich Farm Ry. was incorporated in California on August 5, 1886; among its incorporators was Mr. I.W. Hellman (later to be affiliated with Henry E. Huntington in the famous Huntington-Hellman Syndicate which established the Pacific Electric in 1901). The company's announced purposes were: "to acquire by purchase or otherwise rights of way and lands---and to construct, operate and maintain a narrow gauge steam motor railroad." The proposed road would transport passengers and freight, the cars of which were to be drawn by locomotives or dummies, from some point in Los Angeles City to the Ostrich Farm, about eight miles. The total capitalization was $60,000, of which $8,000 was paid to Mr. G.J. Griffith, the treasurer.

During the latter part of 1886, Mr. W.L. Wicks of Los Angeles constructed for this company a line of railroad 6.387 miles in length which followed the route set forth in the first paragraph. Wicks performed the work under a contract with the company by the terms of which has was to receive a subsidy from various land owners along the line and also all of the capital stock of the company. After the construction work had commenced (1886), all of the stock was issued to Wicks except a few shares which were issued to the directors. On July 9, 1887, an agreement was entered into by Mr. Wicks and the LOS ANGELES COUNTY RAILROAD COMPANY where-by the latter company agreed to purchase the Ostrich Farm Ry. Co. for the sum of $50,000, payable to Wicks in bonds of the Los Angeles County RR. Co. During August, 1887, this deal was carried out.

Operation of this line commenced during the latter part of 1886 and was continued until on or about August 15, 1887, at which time the line was turned over to the Los Angeles County RR. Co. under the agreement dated July 9, 1887.

On September 6, 1888, the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm Ry. Co., together with the Los Angeles County RR. Co. and the Los Angeles & Pacific Ry. Co., entered into an agreement to consolidate, and to form a new railroad corporation to be known the THE LOS ANGELES & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY. This consolidation was effective on September 11, 1888, on which date the LA&P became the owner of all property formerly owned by this corporation.http://www.erha.org/lap_corphist.htm#laofrc