Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
MR, thanks for the information on the Sunset Hotel & San Fernando Hotel. The two postcards are much more interesting with your help.
Also...I now know the two buildings that are looming in the background of these China City photographs.
The Sunset/Hill Hotel

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Okay, what's up with the 'flames' coming out of the two shorter turrets on the Sunset? Lol, that's great.
We've seen this next image before but I just realized the two hotels are in it...
Looking northeast along Buena Vista (Justicia) from the County Court House, C.C. Pierce, ca.1889
Residential buildings dominate at left, lining west side of Buena Vista (Justicia), while commercial buildings are at right. A horse-drawn carriage can be seen driving down the street at left, while smoke belches from a factory at center likely one of the iron works, Llewellyn or Baker or one of the brick yards. A field can be seen in the right background, while mountains rise in the background beyond the field. Legible signs include: "Sunset Wine Co., wines, brandies, whiskies, Goldschmidt Bros.", "Agency for Tom Howe Bourbon, O.P.S.", "Ghirardelli's breakfast cocoa"..., "Frey's Mantel", "Lumber, building material, sash doors and blinds; Kerckhoff-Cuzner Mill & Lumber Co.", ..."Wood m[...], 610", "National Hotel", "Drugs", "Los Angeles Furniture Co.", "Hoffman Hotel", "Furniture, carpets, wallpaper, bedding, shades, etc.", and "Stearns Machine Works". Brunswig Drug Company, the Pico House, Merced Theater and the Masonic Hall can all be seen at center and center right. The squarish, three story brick building at left in the middle distance (seeming to balance on the tip of the turret of the little white house on Buena Vista) is the San Fernando Hotel at the NE corner of San Fernando (N. Spring) Street and Ord. The tower/turret to it's immediate left is the corner of the Sunset Hotel on the NW of the same corner. This is the earliest image of these two hotels I've been able to find.
USC digital archive/Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960