Welcome, and Farewell

Welcome to the best little L.A. history blog on the internet!

Los Angeles Past is written as an introductory reference for people who know little or nothing about the history of the City of the Queen of the Angels. (Yes, that's the actual Anglicized name, not City of the Angels. See, you've learned something new already!) Expert L.A. historians will probably not find much here that will broaden their existing knowledge, but if this is all new to you, I guarantee you will find this collected material to be genuinely fascinating.

This blog contains only 10 short pages, but by the time you finish reading them, you will have learned more about the vanished city of pre-World War II Los Angeles than you have ever known before, or could even imagine. Five years ago, this was all new to me, too, and this blog charts the course of historical discovery I've followed since then. It's been a thrilling and very personally rewarding journey for me. However...

Just as I am welcoming you here, I regret to announce that I am closing Los Angeles Past. I won't be contributing any more new articles. I've now spent more time studying L.A. history than I spent studying in college, and since life is short and I'm pushing 60 now, it's time to move on. In any case, I've already learned everything about old L.A. that I set out to learn. Mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned, and in gratitude for all the knowledge I've acquired, I hereby dedicate this blog to the great City of Los Angeles, to our forebears, to you, and to posterity.

While I won't be contributing new articles, I will still welcome comments and criticisms. Although I have striven for complete historical accuracy in my accounts, I know there must be some mistakes and errors of omission and interpretation in this material. So, if you find discrepancies, or discover something new on your own, please comment and let me know! I may not be actively posting anymore, but I will always be happy to correct or amend what I've already contributed.

So, I now bid you farewell. The time has finally come for me to join all those who have gone before me, in Los Angeles past.

 

Palms puzzle finally solved

For the better part of five years, I have been curious about the origins and subsequent history of "General Longstreet's Palms," which may be the oldest trees in Los Angeles. Yesterday, reader Bradford Caslon pointed me to this online excerpt from the 2008 Images of America book, "West Adams," by Suzanne Tarbell Cooper, Don Lynch and John G. Kurtz, which has provided the crucial last pieces of the palms puzzle.

The authors make clear something that I have known for some time: that the "General Longstreet" whose name is associated with the ancient palms is NOT the Confederate Civil War General James Longstreet. The man who built the mansion off West Adams Boulevard with its once-world-famous twin lines of Washingtonia fan palms was a General Charles Longstreet, who died in Los Angeles in 1877. The year of his death suggests that the date given by the USC Digital Library for one of the earliest photos of Palm Drive (c.1875) is very likely correct. The even older image below (the earliest-known photo of the Longstreet Mansion and Palm Drive) therefore probably dates to c.1870, which I now feel comfortable assigning as the time that the palms were actually planted. Since fan palms of that height are no less than 5 years old, I therefore believe it has now been conclusively established that these trees did, in fact, begin their lives during the American Civil War, approximately 150 years ago.



Dating to c.1865, then, these palms are older than almost every man-made structure not only in Los Angeles, but in all of Los Angeles County, as well. I am so gratified to know that the remaining palms are now recognized for their historical significance by the good people of Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital, who I'm sure will protect these venerable Civil War veterans for as long as they shall live.

Finis.

 

Court House revisited

Nice postcard of the old County Court House circa 1909, viewed from what today would be the intersection of Temple and Spring Streets. At the present time, the trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician is underway at this exact location, though obviously not in this exact building.





I'm amused by "Chester's" description on the reverse – how buildings typically "look better on post cards than they do real where you can get a good look at them." Presumably that was Chester's opinion with regard to the Court House in particular.

 

Main Street at Temple, Then & Now

Looking south on Main Street from Temple.

c.1879:  On the corner, the Temple Block.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


2011:  Now it's all City Hall.


Photo by J. Scott Shannon

 

My first (and last) ride on the Red Car

This video really affects me in a personal way. You see, back in 1961, my mom actually took me on one of these last Pacific Electric trolley runs down to Long Beach – a train ride exactly like the one depicted in the film. Although I was only 6 at the time, I still have some very clear memories of that excursion that took place that day half a century ago...



I think it was a school day, but one morning after breakfast, Mom just bundled me in the car and told me we were going Downtown to ride the last of the trolleys. She wanted her son to have that same experience that was so much of a part of her daily life when she was young. I'm really glad now that she did!

Anyway, before we rode the Red Car, we went to Angels Flight. That was the first of the two times I got to ride it, and it was a big thrill. Then we stood at a street corner for awhile – I guess it was probably Third and Hill – waiting for a street car to take us to the PE station. I'll never forget the NOISE of that intersection; how LOUD the general hustle-and-bustle of the city was. It was nothing like out in the suburbs. And I was especially impressed by the electric arcs and the sparks that shot out from the trolleys' contact with the overhead wires. Snap! Crackle! Pop!

The Red Car ride to Long Beach was actually pretty boring for a fidgety 6-year-old, despite it being my first time ever on an inter-urban train. I do remember the car was filled to capacity. I guess nostalgia was thick among the passengers, as there was little talking. Mostly just the sound of the train wheels going clickity-clack, clickity-clack, all along the rail road track.

When we got to Long Beach, Mom took me to this immense old cafeteria downtown. The ceiling was like two stories high. It was crowded and noisy, and kind of dark inside, even though it was mid-day. I can't recall the name of the big cafeteria, but I think my mom probably went there a lot when she had relatives living in Long Beach in the '40s.

I don't remember the ride back at all. I probably slept all the way. But overall, it was a very memorable day! I think Mom would be surprised how much I remember. At the time, she probably concluded that the experience was wasted on a little child like me, but it turned out it wasn't at all. I really wish I could tell her now how much it meant to me, and thank her accordingly...

I have to confess, I'm really struck by how ancient and worn this film looks. Knowing I was on one of those trains, well, it makes ME feel old, too. I have to say, though, that I am in much better shape after 50 years than this footage is! That's at least some consolation for a man my age. :-)

 

A Drive Through Bunker Hill, 1948.

Richard Schave of Esotouric recently uncovered some remarkable film footage of 1940s Los Angeles on Archive.org.

Go to this page and have a look! (I tried embedding the video here, but it doesn't play satisfactorily at all at DSL speeds.)

The 6-minute film consists of three clips. In the first two, the car with the camera drives west up Second Street starting just west of Olive, then turns south on Grand. In the second clip, the car turns west from Grand onto Fifth Street and drives past the Central Library. The third clip starts just north of Fifth and Flower, proceeds up Flower to First, and ends just as the camera car crests the very top of Bunker Hill.

I think I can date this film pretty precisely to Summer, 1948. Just north of Fifth and Flower is a billboard for RCA Victor televisions that depicts a cartoon donkey and elephant wearing boxing gloves, with a caption saying "Pick a sure winner!" This suggests to me that this is a post-war national election year, with the national party conventions soon to be broadcast (these have always taken place in mid-summer). The style of television depicted on the billboard also looks post-war.



Then, just as the car turns east on First, another billboard advertises a show at the Hollywood Bowl running from July 25-Sept 5; another clue that this is summertime. Also, several of the cars in the film are post-WWII models. Although I'm no real expert on the subject, I don't see any autos here that date later than the 1948-49 model year.

Anyway, I highly recommend downloading the hi-resolution 217.8 MB MPEG4 file on the Archive.org webpage. The size and detail of the image is amazing. It really brings Bunker Hill back to life!

 

The Baker Block

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection/Litho. C.L. Smith & Co., Oakland, CA.


The Baker Block was the architectural showpiece of Los Angeles during the city's centennial decade. In a town still consisting mostly of simple frame houses and adobes, this palace of commerce must have been a truly wondrous apparition. Standing for 65 years – from c.1877-1942 – the Baker Block was located at the southeast corner of Main and Arcadia Sts., only a few hundred feet south of the original Pueblo de Los Angeles. An excellent summary of the history of the Baker Block can be found on Brian Hsu's Urban Diachrony weblog. Here are some pictures of this grand old edifice.

Main Street looking north from atop the Temple Block, c.1880; the Baker Block just right of center. (This vantage point is now occupied by City Hall.)


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


The uptown commercial heart of the old city, c.1880. The Baker Block at left, and the old Bella Union Hotel building at far right.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


Southeast corner of Arcadia and Main Sts., 1880.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


Fifty years later.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


c.1920.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


1938. There goes the neighborhood: the new Federal Building begins to rise across Main Street.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection/Herman Schultheis, Photographer.


Not long for this world, c.1940.


Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection


Today, the 101 "Slot" runs right through the site where the Baker Block once stood...

 

Civic Center panorama, 1946

The Los Angeles Civic Center, viewed from Broadway, March 11, 1946.



Source: Library of Congress.

Link to full-resolution TIFF file at loc.gov (4.6 MB).

 

Rancho lands in 1898

These highly-detailed maps show the boundaries of the former Spanish land-grant Ranchos around Los Angeles County in 1898.


calisphere-eBay

Link to full-res version here.


Here is the section covering the San Gabriel and Walnut valleys. This one actually interests me more, personally, because this is the part of L.A. County that I grew up in.


calisphere-eBay

Link to full-res version here.

I hope you enjoy them. I can study these maps for literally hours on end...