noirish Los Angeles

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

My Lord, the way this city mistreats its beautiful pieces of history...

That said, thanks, Flyingwedge!

(Does that mean there are only TWO buildings remaining from that 1899 photo?)

In June, 2017, at least, the quondam Wilcox Bldg. was still for lease.


gsv

Hmmmm. Very convenient for our NLA Clubhouse.



And postal service for our blackmail letters business correspondence is just steps from the front door!

I wonder if it has space for a billiards room, indoor pool, and wine cellar...?

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Happy Natal Anniversary ER.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for the information Mr. Henry Huntington esq. I have to admit, I haven't quite grasped the minutiae (minutiae for me, anyway) of the different r.r. lines.


For example..I was surprised to see this Pacific Electric Feight Depot so close to the Bekin Building on Highland Ave.( at Santa Monica Blvd.)


from our amateur rail fan again.

"Original Slide PACIFIC ELECTRIC RAILWAY, Hollywood Freight Station. 1950s'


eBay.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Note the railroad spur in the background on the right.

I lightened the slide so we could see the station better.



See. ...No applause necessary.








re: The massive Hollywood Storage / Bekin Building in the background.


A reminder for new comers. (hmm..it wouldn't be a reminder then) Whatever.


organizinglosangeles

There was a NIGHTCLUB on top in the 1920s. (sounds like a Hollywood fable...but it's true!)




Ok, I'm leaving now. Have a great Fourth of July everyone!
.

^^^^^

How did Bekins work? Did people rent storage bins inside the giant buildings by the month like you do in self storage places today? As a kid in the 1960s I do recall Bekins moving vans everywhere. Is Bekins still in business?

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

organizinglosangeles

There was a NIGHTCLUB on top in the 1920s. (sounds like a Hollywood fable...but it's true!)

The top floor was also home to television station KTTV in its first year of operation, 1949. I assume those broadcasting towers on the roof came in handy. Staff members complained they had to walk in a crouch because the ceiling that supported the hanging television lights was so low.

[Handsome Stranger]

The same storage building made a cameo appearance in the third season opener of The Beverly Hillbillies, "Jed Becomes a Movie Mogul" (1964).





The Beverly Hillbillies was almost entirely filmed on the stages at General Service Studios (now called Sunset Las Palmas Studios), just two streets east of the former Bekins building. How convenient to step outside a soundstage and dress up the lot as "Mammoth Pictures" for this episode, eliminating the headaches associated with location filming.



There's also a brief look at some of the buildings on the opposite side of Las Palmas Avenue, all of which are gone now, I believe.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

The top floor was also home to television station KTTV in its first year of operation, 1949. I assume those broadcasting towers on the roof came in handy. Staff members complained they had to walk in a crouch because the ceiling that supported the hanging television lights was so low.

Somewhere in there resides the Lost Ark of the Covenant.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

(Does that mean there are only TWO buildings remaining from that 1899 photo?)

Original (MUCH LARGER) photo on Shorpy:

https://www.shorpy.com/node/7263?size=_original#caption

The big four-story building with the many domes and skylights near the lower right corner of the 1899 photo, the Phillips Block,
burned down in late 1912, and the rest of the foreground of the photo is now mostly Spring Street and City Hall so we must look
closely to find extant structures.

At least one other remaining building is identifiable in the 1899 photo, 242-48 E. 1st Street:



Previously posted by Scott Charles



Here is two-story 242-48 E. 1st on the 1894 Sanborn Map, showing The Emery Lodging House is upstairs at 244-1/2. Next
door to the west is narrow, three-story 238-40 E. 1st Street with its angled rear wall. The old Wallace Woodworth home
(Kysor and Mathews, c. 1871), which will be demolished c. 1910 when San Pedro Street is realigned and extended north
of 2nd Street (to connect with what had been Wilmington St., in the lower right corner below), is south of 242-48 E. 1st:



Library of Congress



Here is a close-up from the 1899 photo, which looks SE, with the above-referenced buildings marked. The arrow points
to the middle of 242-48 E. 1st Street; the left/east side of its front is obscured:



Shorpy



In this 1949 Arnold Hylen image we see 242-48 E. 1st Street (with the red dot) and 238-40 next door on the right:



2001-0554 @ CA State Library



This photo was taken in August 1962, showing red-dotted 242-248 and the changes that have occurred on this stretch
of 1st Street since 1949:



CHS-41613 @ USCDL



2021 Update: Here is Huntington Digital Library image 410957, showing what appears to be a 1950s photo taken between the previous two photos:
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/i.../0/default.jpg



Contemporary Google Aerial of 242-48 E. 1st Street:





June 2017 GSV of 242-48 E. 1st Street:




Google



I believe 242-48 E. 1st Street first appears in the 1893 LA City Directory:



fold3.com and LA Public Library

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The big four-story building with the many domes and skylights near the lower right corner of the 1899 photo, the Phillips Block,
burned down in late 1912, and the rest of the foreground of the photo is now mostly Spring Street and City Hall so we must look
closely to find extant structures....

Wow, that is some amazing sleuthing, Flyingwedge - I can't believe you were able to pick that single building out - I spent quite a long time digging through the details, and all I could recognize (as still standing) was Vibiana. Thanks!

It's sad that those two remaining buildings have been stripped of all their dignity, becoming essentially unrecognizable compared to their former glory. And it always blows my mind that 99% of the buildings in the 1899 photo just disappeared.

[ethereal_reality]

While I was snooping around Inglewood and Hillcrest Boulevard earlier in the week, I happened upon this snapshot of the Hillcrest Hotel.


eBay





I imagine it was located somewhere along Hillcrest Blvd. Does anyone know the street address? I'd like to see if the building has survived.

.

[ethereal_reality]

I found this fairly interesting snapshot in one of my old files.



originally from eBay

105 E. Eastern Ave., Los Angeles Calif.

.

[ethereal_reality]

"CAR WRECK(S) 6 Kodachrome Slides, Fedora St. & W. Olympic, Los Angeles"

#1

eBay




#2

eBay






#3

eBay







#4

eBay









Injured Building

#5

eBay






#6

eBay

.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

While I was snooping around Inglewood and Hillcrest Boulevard earlier in the week, I happened upon this snapshot of the Hillcrest Hotel.


eBay

I imagine it was located somewhere along Hillcrest Blvd. Does anyone know the street address? I'd like to see if the building has survived.

The Hotel Hillcrest in Inglewood was apparently on Hillcrest at Manchester Boulevard. Despite having this description, I can't positively identify its location on any vintage aerial photos.



Ebay

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

It's sad that those two remaining buildings have been stripped of all their dignity, becoming essentially unrecognizable compared to their former glory. And it always blows my mind that 99% of the buildings in the 1899 photo just disappeared.

Forget it, Scott, it's Los Angeles. This city has always been unsentimental in discarding its past. Actually, I should include this whole county. Look no further than the two blocks of Sunset on either side of La Cienega. They are more or less unrecognizable to an observer from 20 years ago.

It's even true, albeit to a lesser extent, here in Pasadena. While Pasadena Heritage has done a masterful job in protecting Old Town and the most valuable of the outlying structures, they can't prevent the gradual destruction of the city's overall character. We are slowly becoming overbuilt with mixed-use structures.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"CAR WRECK(S) 6 Kodachrome Slides, Fedora St. & W. Olympic, Los Angeles"

I think both of the buildings featured are still standing, albeit in altered form.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Injured Building

#5

eBay

This one is on the north-west corner.


GSV

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

#1

eBay

I initially thought that the building on the south-east corner had gone, but, upon closer inspection, the detail on the columns appears to be the same.


GSV

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

Forget it, Scott, it's Los Angeles. This city has always been unsentimental in discarding its past. Actually, I should include this whole county. Look no further than the two blocks of Sunset on either side of La Cienega. They are more or less unrecognizable to an observer from 20 years ago.

It's even true, albeit to a lesser extent, here in Pasadena. While Pasadena Heritage has done a masterful job in protecting Old Town and the most valuable of the outlying structures, they can't prevent the gradual destruction of the city's overall character. We are slowly becoming overbuilt with mixed-use structures.

It does seem as doomed-to-happen as the movie Chinatown. This city (LA) has seemingly no respect for its history, unfortunately.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

While I was snooping around Inglewood and Hillcrest Boulevard earlier in the week, I happened upon this snapshot of the Hillcrest Hotel.


eBay

I imagine it was located somewhere along Hillcrest Blvd. Does anyone know the street address? I'd like to see if the building has survived.

.

Originally Posted by HossC

The Hotel Hillcrest in Inglewood was apparently on Hillcrest at Manchester Boulevard. Despite having this description, I can't positively identify its location on any vintage aerial photos.



Ebay

The Hillcrest was at 101 S Hillcrest at what was once the swc of Hillcrest and Queen. It's gone.... The westerly block of Queen Street between Hillcrest and Locust has been deleted and built over. (Nice looking apartment complex there now--I was under the impression that Inglewood was a total pit, but it seems pretty nice, at least in these precincts.)


At center, a little north of Manchester Blvd:

UCSB April 4, 1940


The Hillcrest is gone, but Liz Newcomb's new digs still stand at 108 E Buckthorn:


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for your help GW. I appreciate it.




'mystery' name:

I K R O N R N I L N S

'mystery location.

Transportation themed, amusement park.


eBay (no longer listed)



YOU ASK. Where did I get that crazy name?


DETAIL


And, as you can see, the location is somewhere along south Crenshaw.

_ _ 40 SO. CRENSHAW BLVD. AX 9781.

.

[ethereal_reality]

The seller also included this second snapshot.



eBay

A replica of a Los Angeles Red Car . .and I believe a miniature train is parked behind the white picker fence.

The little park is reminicent of Travel Town in Griffith Park, but as you can see from the background..this area appears to be a more industrial part of town.

.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for your help GW. I appreciate it.




'mystery' name:

I K R O N R N I L N S

'mystery location.

Transportation themed, amusement park.


eBay (no longer listed)



YOU ASK. Where did I get that crazy name?


DETAIL


And, as you can see, the location is somewhere along south Crenshaw.

_ _ 40 SO. CRENSHAW BLVD. AX 9781.

.

e_r, they're alternating light and dark lettering. It's "[something, maybe "Tinker"?] Town Transit Lines."

[odinthor]

LA Times 4/9/1989 via ProQuest via CSULB Library