noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

Great post, Flyingwedge.


www.historicmapworks.com


Google Maps

HossC, your post inadvertently answered a question I posted back in September of last year!


This past fall I asked if anyone knew the origins of the building that is currently home to the Los Angeles Leadership Academy. (shown below)


gsv / Ave. 33


I also included this photo of overgrown steps behind the facility that appear to end at a retaining wall. (an old escape route? )


gsv / as seen from Ave. 32


I noticed the building in question on HossC's baist map.




It took me a while to decipher it because of the blurriness.....................it says Florence Crittenton Home.


I went back and looked at my gsv views and realized the answer was right there before my eyes, but I couldn't read it from the google-mobile.


gsv


Here is the plaque close-up.


http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2015/0...regnant-girls/


It turns out, back in the day Lincoln Heights was a haven and hiding place for unwed pregnant girls.

"Lincoln Heights’ relative seclusion made it seem like a location where pregnant girls would feel safe. When the Florence Crittenton home opened its doors in 1915,
Lincoln Heights would have been considered a quiet, secluded corner of northeast Los Angeles. The Crittenton Home shared similar philosophies with the Booth Home,
but there were no spiritual components, and a number of staff were volunteers."

and there was this...

"In a different era, the Lincoln Heights maternity homes served two purposes: to nurture unmarried, pregnant girls and to hide them. That was the case with the Booth Home
for Unwed Mothers (on Griffin Avenue) and the Crittenton Home (on Avenue 33), which operated for decades only a few blocks apart when Lincoln Heights was a refuge
for frightened girls and their children."

"fallen women" was also mentioned, but this outdated term is too cruel to even consider.
__
The Eastsider, at http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2015/0...regnant-girls/



Here is the former Booth Home for Unwed Mothers (today it's a charter school)


gsv / Griffin Ave.

"The Booth Home, a Mediterranean-style property, was donated by a wealthy benefactor and was operated by the Salvation Army until 1993.
A booklet from the 1950s details the Booth Home as a place for “Spiritual and Medical aid” for women. In the 1960s the number of beds in Lincoln Heights
was well over 120."


Here's the plaque from this building.


http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2015/0...regnant-girls/

What's strange is...
I haven't been able to find a vintage photograph of either place!


__

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Here's the El Dorado Lanes in January 2016, closed for renovation:

GSV

Here it is reborn in April 2016 as Bowlero (I haven't looked inside yet):

Flyingwedge photo taken out of the driver's side window, waiting for the traffic signal to change

My elderly cousin lived in a small but beautiful mid-Century Modern house in Westchester just a few blocks from El Dorado lanes. We'd often go to the coffee shop there for lunch--it was quite good for a bowling alley diner. I wonder if it still exists....

[Lwize]

Originally Posted by Mstimc

My elderly cousin lived in a small but beautiful mid-Century Modern house in Westchester just a few blocks from El Dorado lanes. We'd often go to the coffee shop there for lunch--it was quite good for a bowling alley diner. I wonder if it still exists....

I used to go there when it was Pepe's, and get cheap prime rib dinners there. It was so good. But Pepe's has been gone since the 1990's IIRC. I don't remember what replaced it.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by odinthor

I have a deal of unidentified flotsam in my personal collection. This splendid photograph, from the photo album of an unidentified Someone, is identified by that Someone as "Street in Los Angeles." By the mix of architectural styles, it would seem to be--if in downtown L.A.--the sort of streetscape one would find in the south 100-south 400 blocks, or so; but I see nothing familiar, and I would think that the double-horned peak of the tower at dead center would be ever-memorable. There is lettering on the front of the trolley, but, play with contrast and so on as I will with the photo, I can't quite make it out. The British flag at right is intriguing and perhaps a clue to the date though not to the location. Of even less help is the photo on verso of the album page, which I'll share at some point, showing a cluster of structures identified as "Residence of Fred Robinson, Los A." Does anyone recognize anything in the photo?


From the odinthor collection.

Hey thanks for posting this great photo looking south on Main Street from just north of Market Street, perhaps from
Main and Requena Streets. The tall building on the right is the Bullard Block (1896), which was built on the site of the
Temple Clocktower Courthouse. Market Street ran between Main and Spring on the north side of the Bullard Block, and
Court Street did the same on the south side. The Bullard Block is much easier to recognize from its Spring Street side:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The Bullard Block (seen before on the thread):

pinterest

In your photo, the building to the left of the Bullard Block, with the tower, was on the SW corner of Main and Court, which
we have a good view of here. The steps at lower right lead up to the old courthouse:

001386354 @ CA State Library

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Hey thanks for posting this great photo looking south on Main Street from just north of Market Street, perhaps from
Main and Requena Streets. The tall building on the right is the Bullard Block (1896), which was built on the site of the
Temple Clocktower Courthouse. Market Street ran between Main and Spring on the north side of the Bullard Block, and
Court Street did the same on the south side. The Bullard Block is much easier to recognize from its Spring Street side:


In your photo, the building to the left of the Bullard Block, with the tower, was on the SW corner of Main and Court, which
we have a good view of here. The steps at lower right lead up to the old courthouse:

001386354 @ CA State Library

Fantastic, thanks, Flyingwedge! That block of Main is less familiar to me than others, mainly because there were few if any postcards of that stretch (and my main familiarity is via postcard views). Something for me to add to my "Visit to Old L.A." site!

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This past fall I asked if anyone knew the origins of the building that is currently home to the Los Angeles Leadership Academy. (shown below)


gsv / Ave. 33

It turns out, back in the day Lincoln Heights was a haven and hiding place for unwed pregnant girls.

"Lincoln Heights’ relative seclusion made it seem like a location where pregnant girls would feel safe. When the Florence Crittenton home opened its doors in 1915, Lincoln Heights would have been considered a quiet, secluded corner of northeast Los Angeles. The Crittenton Home shared similar philosophies with the Booth Home, but there were no spiritual components, and a number of staff were volunteers."

What an interesting post, e_r. I spotted that building's appearance on the 1921 map, but didn't even get as far as trying to read its name. I found these two undated exterior views of the Florence Crittenton Home at LAPL. They might not be that old, but I can't see any palm trees directly in front of the building.


LAPL


LAPL

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here is the former Booth Home for Unwed Mothers (today it's a charter school)


gsv / Griffin Ave.

"The Booth Home, a Mediterranean-style property, was donated by a wealthy benefactor and was operated by the Salvation Army until 1993.
A booklet from the 1950s details the Booth Home as a place for “Spiritual and Medical aid” for women. In the 1960s the number of beds in Lincoln Heights was well over 120."

What's strange is...
I haven't been able to find a vintage photograph of either place!

That article e_r posted from The Eastsider contains some great recollections in the comments section. There's also an article at The Eastsider specifically about the Booth Home. One of the commenters called Fred says:

"This is actually a charter school now. Also, it wasn’t always Mediterranean style. It used to be a beautiful, all red brick building. I’ve looked for pictures forever, but can’t find any. I live on the same block as this building, and can verify, this used to be a bad girls home. “Unwed mothers” is a nice way to put it, but we used to get gang members, suicide cases, and lots of runaways, girls getting picked up by their boyfriends while trying to sneak out/escape.

It was really crazy growing up with that thing on my block. Too bad they stucco’d it. It used to be look really cool."

This makes me even more determined to find a picture of the building before "they stucco’d it"!

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Lwize

I used to go there when it was Pepe's, and get cheap prime rib dinners there. It was so good. But Pepe's has been gone since the 1990's IIRC. I don't remember what replaced it.

I also used to go there for those. Not Lawry's quality but not bad at all. I believe they were $5.99, a great price at the time.

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by HossC

What an interesting post, e_r. I spotted that building's appearance on the 1921 map, but didn't even get as far as trying to read its name. I found these two undated exterior views of the Florence Crittenton Home at LAPL. They might not be that old, but I can't see any palm trees directly in front of the building.


That article e_r posted from The Eastsider contains some great recollections in the comments section. There's also an article at The Eastsider specifically about the Booth Home. One of the commenters called Fred says:

"This is actually a charter school now. Also, it wasn’t always Mediterranean style. It used to be a beautiful, all red brick building. I’ve looked for pictures forever, but can’t find any. I live on the same block as this building, and can verify, this used to be a bad girls home. “Unwed mothers” is a nice way to put it, but we used to get gang members, suicide cases, and lots of runaways, girls getting picked up by their boyfriends while trying to sneak out/escape.

It was really crazy growing up with that thing on my block. Too bad they stucco’d it. It used to be look really cool."

This makes me even more determined to find a picture of the building before "they stucco’d it"!

I found a fuzzy newspaper picture from the opening January 1915. Apparently the neightborhood NIMBYs weren't too thrilled at first but came around.

LA Times 1-4-1915

The papers says they moved here from the old Florence Crittenton home at 17th & Santee. I also read that there were F.C. homes around the country, founded by Charles N. Crittenton in New York on Bleeker St. c. 1884 after the death of his daughter, Florence. LA apparently already had a F.C. home in 1896 when he made a tour stop in his private rail car, "Good News."

***
I remember seeing a short called "Andy Hardy's Dilemma" (released in December 1940; made for the Community Chest), where Andy & Judge Hardy drive around L.A.,visiting charities, including the Salvation Army home for unwed mothers. That must be the Booth home, I guess.

andyhardyfilms.com

[HossC]

Before we leave the Prudential Building (I'm sure we'll be returning), here are two more small Julius Shulman photosets. The first is "Job 373: Wurdeman & Becket and Harry Bennett, Prudential Building (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1948".


Getty Research Institute

The second set is "Job 3070: Wurdeman & Becket and Harry Bennett, Prudential Building (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1960". Taken twelve years later, it has these two color shots of the interior.





Both from Getty Research Institute

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Here it is reborn in April 2016 as Bowlero (I haven't looked inside yet).

A bowling ball with antlers?

[HossC]

When I found the pictures of the Florence Crittenton Home earlier, I noticed that the image numbers were two apart. Looking for more pictures, I tried the one in the middle, but it was almost the same as one of the ones I posted. Then I looked either side, and found this 1967 image of the Lovejoy Apartments at 529 3rd Street. The Lovejoy has been mentioned several times either in passing or because it's in the backround of a view, but I can't find a close-up picture NLA.


LAPL

A search for more pictures of the Lovejoy led to this color shot looking across Grand Avenue at the New Grand Hotel.


LAPL

Checking the image number above the the Florence Crittenton Home pictures, I found this 1975 image of the Maplewood Apartments.


LAPL

There's no address with the picture above, so I turned to the City Directories. They gave me an address of 912 Maple Avenue. From the building records, and assuming I have the right location, it looks like the apartments were built in 1913 and demolished in 1987. Here they are, just below center, on the 1914 Baist map.


www.historicmapworks.com

[ethereal_reality]

Very interesting Hoss!





Thanks so much for the vintage images of the Florence Crittenton Home HossC and NoirCityDame.

The neighbor's comment about the Booth Home once being red brick has really wet my appetite.
I've looking all afternoon for a pre-stucco photograph but haven't found anything even close. -disappointing to say the least.
__


Here's another comment from Eastersidela.

" I grew up right down the street from Crittenton and remember those girls well. They mostly kept to themselves and never caused trouble.
We would see them when they’d walk to the little market on Griffin Ave with their baby bellies just about bursting."
_______



After driving around in the google-mobile, I believe I found the market the girls visited.


gsv

I first noticed this building a few years ago. I remember because at the time it reminded me of a 'frontier town'.

here's a straight on view (it's no longer pink)

gsv

The old Florence Crittenton Home is directly behind the market, on the other side of that hill.







Here's an aerial (with a little imagination, there appears to be a pathway)


google_earth

The old market is at lower left (where the bus stop is designated), the Crittenton Home (now the Leadership Academy) is the large red-roofed building at upper right.

I wonder if the Crittenton girls ever took a short cut behind 3321 N. Griffin Avenue (green dot above) and across the property where Von Keith's 'show' house once stood.

As a reminder, here is 3321 N. Griffin Ave. again / thanks Flyingwedge

gsv / detail


And a final reminder, here is Mr. Von Keith's residence atop the before-mentioned hill, behind 3321 N. Griffin Ave.

courtesy of Flyingwedge

CA State Library

__

UPDATE:

I was correct about the market. Here's another comment that mentions the La Fortuna by name.

"I was a resident of Crittenton Center on Avenue 33 from 1989-1993. I had my son there.
I was one of those girls with my big pregnant belly walking to the La Fortuna market on Griffin Ave.
I knew that the group home had been used in the past for young women to come have there baby in hiding,
out of shame and embarrassing their families, but to actually hear a story from one of those girls is very profound for me."

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[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' turn.


eBay

Does anyone recognize this street?
__

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' movie set.


eBay

It's not rocky enough to be Corriganville.

Does anyone recognize the tall hill in the background?

__

[ethereal_reality]

Furniture Industries Banquet, Biltmore Bowl Los Angeles, July 29, 1937.


eBay







Here's the whole photograph / it's not quite as clear.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Photo-...p2047675.l2557




And for added measure, here's the right side of the room.


eBay

_

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by Lwize

I used to go there when it was Pepe's, and get cheap prime rib dinners there. It was so good. But Pepe's has been gone since the 1990's IIRC. I don't remember what replaced it.

Originally Posted by Bristolian

I also used to go there for those. Not Lawry's quality but not bad at all. I believe they were $5.99, a great price at the time.

I don't know that the place that replaced Pepe's had a name per se, but it was pretty good, and still reasonable. The fried chicken dinner was especially good!

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

As a reminder, here is 3321 N. Griffin Ave. again / thanks Flyingwedge

gsv / detail

__

Don't be too quick to thank me, e_r, I had the address wrong. It's 3320 N. Griffin, not 3321. My special apologies to you too, HossC.

But did we know that 3320 N. Griffin was designed by architect Robert Brown Young? He designed it for his brother, who is
mentioned in the article about the big Von Keith place behind it burning down. In fact, 3320 caught fire a little bit when the
Von Keith place burned, but obviously it was saved: http://cityplanning.lacity.org/Staff...HC-2012-50.pdf

More: http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2012/0...oric-landmark/

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Furniture Industries Banquet, Biltmore Bowl Los Angeles, July 29, 1937.


eBay


_

Summertime....lots of white shoes. People were so seasonally fashion conscious in those days.

The Biltmore Bowl...all very chichi.
Thanks for posting ER....very cool photo!

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

HossC, your post inadvertently answered a question I posted back in September of last year!


This past fall I asked if anyone knew the origins of the building that is currently home to the Los Angeles Leadership Academy. (shown below)

"In a different era, the Lincoln Heights maternity homes served two purposes: to nurture unmarried, pregnant girls and to hide them. That was the case with the Booth Home
for Unwed Mothers (on Griffin Avenue) and the Crittenton Home (on Avenue 33), which operated for decades only a few blocks apart when Lincoln Heights was a refuge
for frightened girls and their children."

"fallen women" was also mentioned, but this outdated term is too cruel to even consider.
__
The Eastsider, at http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2015/0...regnant-girls/



Here is the former Booth Home for Unwed Mothers (today it's a charter school)


gsv / Griffin Ave.

"The Booth Home, a Mediterranean-style property, was donated by a wealthy benefactor and was operated by the Salvation Army until 1993.
A booklet from the 1950s details the Booth Home as a place for “Spiritual and Medical aid” for women. In the 1960s the number of beds in Lincoln Heights
was well over 120."


Here's the plaque from this building.


http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2015/0...regnant-girls/

What's strange is...
I haven't been able to find a vintage photograph of either place!


__

The Salvation Army women's home at 2670 N. Griffith Ave.

Poking around about it I found out the original home opened in 1899, in an exising house the S. A. purchased for an unwed mother's home. The street number was 330 N. Griffin at the time. It could house 24 girls and was run by Adjt. (later Capt.) Nellie Truelove. Many of the stories of the girls were horrifying- really, really young girls too.

By 1903 the street number was 2670 N. Griffith Ave. One of Nellie's kind ads:

LA Herald

Nellie died in January 1904. In November 1904 an annex, called the Truelove Memorial Rescue Home annex opened next to the original home, planned by Nellie before her death.

LA Herald

On May 29, 1925, Salvation Army’s Evangeline (Eva) Booth of New York dedicated the new "Salvation Army Women’s Home" with hospital on the grounds of 2670 N. Griffin. It was Spanish style, with stucco exterior and the could accommodate 65 girls and 35 babies.

lat 5-30-25

In November 1927 the city condemned the original wood-frame building-now called Truelove dormatory- and it had to be vacated. Nearby houses were rented to handle the overflow until an addition could be built. It was being refered to as the Salvation Army Rescue Home for Girls.

May 1, 1929: the new $125,000 addition, with two new wings and a courtyard patio in between were dedicated. It was being called the Salvation Army Women’s Hospital and Maternity Home. Again just a fuzzy newspaper photo:

lat 4-28-29

By 1944 there are references to 2670 as the S.A.'s Booth Memorial Hospital

May 21, 1948, the Salvation Army Corps nurses quarters dedicated at "Booth Memorial Home & Hospital."

May 26, 1962: Groundbreaking for a new hospital building at the Salvation Army Booth Memorial home & hospital

Maybe a photo will turn up under one of the older names.

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent information on the Booth Home Noircitydame! Thanks so much.

-will try googling the different names and variations in hopes of turning up a red bricked Booth home.
__

*I just notice you mentioned, per the newspaper blurb from 1925, a stucco building. -so perhaps the neighbor's recollection from eastsiderlsa was mistaken.

or......maybe it was the annex that was red brick?





Oy vay, am I ever confused!

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