noirish Los Angeles

[sopas ej]

Great photos, gsjansen. I don't remember ever seeing interior shots of the CA State Building, it looks like it was actually gorgeous.

Regarding the train stations, I remember as a teen when I first drove along Alameda Street in the industrial area and became curious about all of the train tracks embedded in the pavement; I had assumed they were leftover from the Pacific Electric streetcars, but I always wondered about the spur tracks that would veer off into solid blocks of buildings. I never thought that train stations and rail yards might've lined Alameda.

This picture that was posted earlier by Beaudry puts it all in perspective:

USC Archive

It makes it obvious that people arriving and leaving on the Southern Pacific Trains through the station on Central Avenue would have ridden up and down Alameda Street, along with auto and truck traffic. I always had it in my mind that these trains traveled in their own right of way to the station, not sharing traffic with other vehicles on a busy street.

[gsjansen]

This 1954 Dick Whittington aerial is one of my favorites. Work on the 4th street viaduct hasn't commenced yet. The Zelda and the Fremont are still in existence. people are still living their daily lives on Cinnabar Street, Sack Alley, Clay Street, court street and olive court. Stuart K. Oliver is still thrilled with his newly built hill top home (so close to work even!), with the great views to the west at 4th and hope. and most importantly, Bunker Hill Avenue is a beautiful hill top residential street, lined with some of the best examples of Queen Anne Victorian Architecture, that extends all the way from 4th to Temple.


USC Digital Archives


This 1955, the 4th street viaduct work has begun. The Zelda no longer exists at the SW corner of 4th and grand, (lower left hand corner). Stuart K. Oliver is probably going nuts over the noise of the grading, cutting, and street work going on right next to his house, (just below left from center). Sack Alley is clearly visible in the center of the photo. Cinnabar Street is below right of center.

Whta i truly love about this particular aerial, is the amazing clarity it gives of so many of the residences on Bunker Hill Avenue. If only the photograph was taken about 300 feet to the east, and 300 feet to the north....WOW! That would have been an amazing image!


USC Digital Archives

[gsjansen]

this 1910 aerial is amazing looking west across bunker hill.


USC Digital Archive

I circled up some of the landmarks in this photo

Starting on the left

yellow = fremont (sw corner 4th and olive)
turquoise = Rose mansion (se corner 4th and grand)
red = zelda (SW corner 4th and grand)
orange = hildreth (nw corner hope and 4th)


Middle photo

Dark blue = Ems (olive street between 3rd and 4th)
turquoise = bradbury building (se corner 3rd and broadway)
green = hillcrest inn and sunshine apartments (3rd street between clay and olive)
Orange = old city hall (broadway between 3rd and 2nd)
pink = melrose and Richelieu (grand avenue between 2nd and 1st)

far right

green = bradbury mansion (sw corner hill and court)

[gsjansen]

i found another photo dated 1886 showing that porchefied behemoth featured so prominently while masquerading as 127 flower in Kiss Me Deadly.



it's on the left side of the photograph


USC Digital Archive

the photo is from up on fort moore hill looking north. the road leading north in the photo is now n. hill place. Sunset is running parallel just below fort moore hill

[ethereal_reality]

Wow, excellent photos everyone!
I was out of town for a few days so it was great fun to find so many interesting posts.

Thanks for color coding the 1910 aerial photo of Bunker Hill gsjansen.
I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it. Also, in that same photo you get a pretty good view
of Court Flight in the extreme right of the pic.

[ethereal_reality]

Berkeley Bancroft


Above: 135 E. 2nd St. & Los Angeles St.
They're advertising clean beds in the upstairs windows.

[ethereal_reality]

200 N. Main Street




Berkeley Bancroft


That's a HUGE tooth (with roots) in that 2nd story corner window.

[gsjansen]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

in that same photo you get a pretty good view
of Court Flight in the extreme right of the pic.

Court flight is actually just out of view'

i did find this additional 1910 view taken from the same balloon, which is angled more to the north west, and court flight is very visible in this angle


USC Digital Archive

i dug out my crayons again, and marked it as follows

starting on the left

yellow = dome (sw corner 2nd and grand)
green = melrose and Richelieu (eastside of the block between 2nd and 1st)
blue = argyle (ne corner of 2nd and olive)

middle of the photo

green = Los angeles times mirror (ne corner of 1st and broadway)
purple = bradbury mansion (sw corner of court and hill)
aqua-marine = court flight (court street, west side of broadway between temple and 1st)
red = hall of records which is under construction (east side of broadway between 1st and temple)
mustard = old courthouse (temple street between broadway to the west and spring to the east)
yellow = the old los angeles school building on fort moore hill (nw corner of california street and castelar)
pink = 601 sunset boulevard (nw corner of sunset and n. hill place)

bottom right of photo

orange = temple block (intersection of temple, main, and spring)
blue = post office (nw corner main and temple)

[Los Angeles Past]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

200 N. Main Street




Berkeley Bancroft

That's the Amestoy Building (1887-1958) at the NE corner of N. Main and Market Streets. It was purportedly the first office building in L.A. to have an elevator. Across Market was the venerable United States Hotel, which you posted about here previously.

It amused me to find this building referred to in the USC Digital Library as "Ames Toys".

-Scott

[gsjansen]

i was looking for something else, when i stumbled upon this 1892 photo of the old government/post office building located on main street between 4th and fifth at the intersection of winston


USC Digital Archives

whoa..............this is one fine looking building!

some additional images

1893 image


LAPL

looking north up main street from just about where the rosslyn is today. the 1st cupola building is 426 s. main. the towered building in the distance is the westminster hotel at the ne corner of 4th and main


LAPL


I was actually looking for information on the post office building at temple block, nw corner of temple and main. mainly, because i had found this 1863 photo looking from temple block at the spot where the post office will one day sit


USC Digital Archives

this is a similar view taken in 1939 of the post office. (of course in 1939, temple block no longer exists, also, the post office will be demolished later in the year as well). note the hall of justice looming behind the post office.


USC Digital Archives

here's an image looking down from the construction of city hall down on temple block with the post office on the upper left. spring stret still intersects with main and temple prior to re-alignment.


LAPL

[sopas ej]

Wow, more great photos yet again.

Originally Posted by gsjansen

i did find this additional 1910 view taken from the same balloon, which is angled more to the north west, and court flight is very visible in this angle


USC Digital Archive

I've been staring at this for a while now. This is terrific, gsjansen. To think this picture was taken 100 years ago already. I'm particularly interested in the bottom part of the photo, you can see that diagonal block-long street which was originally called Weller Street, in the middle of Little Tokyo. That street is now of course Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Street, and the block and the blocks around it have changed quite a lot since then. In fact a LOT of things shown in this photo have changed since then. It's interesting to see what still exists. Really fascinating.

[sopas ej]

I thought I'd do another then and now.

This was posted earlier in the thread, showing the view east from the LA City Hall observation deck in 1952

USC Archive

Here's the same view, May 26, 2010.

Photo taken by me

I apologize that the modern photo is kinda fuzzy, it's actually a blow-up from a much wider shot I took so that the framing could more closely match the older photo. But what a difference in what's in the foreground. It looked like there was a lot more going on in the older photo. Looks like a lot was destroyed in the area where Piper Tech is now on the left. And of course now there's the elevated HOV/busway, among other things that were destroyed, and the other things that now exist...

[sopas ej]

I guess not all was well in postwar suburban Inglewood, California.

We've already seen pics of the attempted robbery of the cafe on Manchester in Inglewood...

Here's a random house in Inglewood, 1958; the caption to this said "Inglewood divorce."

USC Archive

Murder in barroom brawl, Inglewood, 1952


This one was titled "Inglewood riot, 1952."



A warning film about homosexuals from the Inglewood Police Department; beware of men who look like John Waters and drive a 1960 Ford.
• Video Link

[GaylordWilshire]

Gs-- sopas--ethereal--and all--quite a treasure trove of old L.A. posted over the weekend. As for the Inglewood PD film-- buzzkill, sopas! Just kidding... as much as I like to indulge in all the architectural and noir glories of SoCal of any year before, say, 1965, the dark side of the culture, the antediluvian, Birchian conservatism is worth remembering. "It's the best of times, it's the worst of times" etc. Anyway, I'd at least have waited for a better car than a '60 Ford stripper to cruise by. What junk!

Endangered:


Spreading the word--
http://www.laconservancy.org/issues/...NSpringSt.php4

[gsjansen]

this image that i had posted in my train station thread..........


LAPL

got me wondering about the round building in the middle. I was guessing that it would be located between main and los angeles streets between 3rd and 4th as you can see the northern portion of the westminster hotel at 4th and main. turns out that's exactly where it was. This 1906 sanborn map identifies it as the panorama skating rink



unfortunately, i can't seem to track down any images of the skating rink just yet, (other than the one posted above), but i was able to find images of what ended up being on the site of the skating rink.

the adolphus theater at 320 Main street.

1928 image of the adolphus


LAPL

in later years, the adolphus building was converted into downtown parking.....Hello Los Angeles Street! Greetings from Main Street!


California State Library

[ethereal_reality]

Congrats gsjansen on finding the first photo of the Panorama Skating Rink.

I wonder if it was initially a Cyclorama?

[ethereal_reality]

SW corner of 1st St. & Los Angeles Street 1924.



Berkeley-Bancroft

[ethereal_reality]

N. Alameda St. near Commercial St. in 1924.




Berkeley-Bancroft

[GaylordWilshire]

A Germain Seed & Plant Company commemorative map. (See bottom for link to a larger version.)

The name "Germain" on the map you posted below caught my eye, gs (corner Los Angeles and 4th). For years I've been using
yellow-and-red cardboard reels of green twist-ties in the garden, and noticed that the manufacturer was the "Germain Seed &
Plant Company, Los Angeles, Calif." Apparently the company dates from 1871, and its founder and his family built a number of
downtown buildings. According to "Los Angeles from the Mountains to the Sea" by John McGroarty (an old book available
for online reading, and an excellent resource), these included the Germain Block on Los Angeles Street at Requena (which
became Market Street and which I can't find in my Thomas's or on Google, so I assume it's now under a freeway), the Germain
Hotel at Hope and 10th, and one at the northwest corner of Los Angeles and 4th, the one on gs's map. I haven't found a shot
of that one, but below are a couple of other Germain properties.

USCDL
Main north between 3rd and 4th--Germain's at left


Spring north from below 3rd

For a larger version of the top map: http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Fullscreen..../z1&&brand=oac

[GaylordWilshire]

Cal State Library

Just found this--the Panorama Building and what I take to be Germain greenhouses, presumably later replaced by the Germain Building on gs's map at Los Angeles and 4th.