tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83920989955781108962024-02-20T00:57:40.102-08:00Los Angeles PastA vanished city lives again...J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-13739411545508055042024-01-26T16:00:00.000-08:002024-01-26T23:22:05.096-08:00Coda<p>Well, after years of inactivity, I think it's finally time to make it official: this blog is closed.</p>
<p>Not that I've lost interest in Los Angeles history. Not at all. I still find the subject as captivating as ever. What changed is that I learned pretty much everything about old L.A. that I set out to, and more to the point, some time ago, I shifted the focus of my historical sleuthing to the town of my birth – <a href="https://covinapast.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Covina, California</a> – and decided that's where I should concentrate my efforts thenceforth.</p>
<p>So, that's – 30 – for me here! Time to join all those who have gone before me in Los Angeles past.</p><br>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/HoltonPalmsColorResto_nathanMarsak.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="https://losangelespast.blogspot.com/search/label/longstreet%20palms" target="_blank">The Longstreet Palms</a>. Photo courtesy Nathan Marsak.</span></center></p><p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-59113893863984250752018-03-11T20:35:00.000-07:002024-01-26T16:18:28.202-08:00The New Court House<p>A brilliant, early view of the Los Angeles County Court House, brought to our attention by <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=8111361&postcount=45841">user Flyingwedge on the noirish Los Angeles thread</a>. It's the sharpest image of the place I've ever found. It's also noteworthy to me because this is the first time I've seen the Court House without its landmark twin Canary Island palm trees on either side of the lions guarding the steps up from New High Street, which suggests the photo was taken very soon after construction was completed in 1891.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Cable%20cars%20in%20front%20of%20Los%20Angeles%20County%20Court%20house%2C%20Temple%20and%20New%20High%20Sts.%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20UCLA%20Islandora%20Full.jpg"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Cable%20cars%20in%20front%20of%20Los%20Angeles%20County%20Court%20house%2C%20Temple%20and%20New%20High%20Sts.%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20UCLA%20Islandora%201152.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Image courtesy <a href="http://digital.library.ucla.edu/collections/islandora/object/laviews%3A265">Islandora/U.C.L.A. Digital Library</a>. Click photo for full-res file.</span></center></p>
<p>The image is so crisp, <a href="https://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2012/07/court-house-cornerstone.html">the 1888 cornerstone</a> is clearly discernible on the edifice's northeastern angle (arrow).</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Cable%20cars%20in%20front%20of%20Los%20Angeles%20County%20Court%20house%2C%20Temple%20and%20New%20High%20Sts.%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20UCLA%20Islandora%20Detail%201.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Image courtesy <a href="http://digital.library.ucla.edu/collections/islandora/object/laviews%3A265">Islandora/U.C.L.A. Digital Library</a></span></center></p>
<p>I love the little slices of everyday life you can find in these old shots. Like the snappily-dressed gentleman busy stuffing a handful of letters into a curbside mailbox. And a decade-plus before automobiles and bad driving became a defining characteristic of denizens of Los Angeles, there's a speeding, single-occupancy carriage passing a cable car on the right.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Cable%20cars%20in%20front%20of%20Los%20Angeles%20County%20Court%20house%2C%20Temple%20and%20New%20High%20Sts.%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20UCLA%20Islandora%20Detail%202.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Image courtesy <a href="http://digital.library.ucla.edu/collections/islandora/object/laviews%3A265">Islandora/U.C.L.A. Digital Library</a></span></center></p>
<p>Finally, speaking of cable cars, this one's from the <a href="http://www.onbunkerhill.org/temple_cable_railway/">Temple Street Cable Railway</a>, which ran 1-1/2 miles up and back Temple Street from Spring Street to Belmont Avenue from 1886-1902.</p><p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-17620215718575263482017-11-10T20:25:00.000-08:002017-11-11T15:45:54.397-08:00Temple Square, c.1897<p>A remarkable photo I found just today on the <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/10775">Huntington Digital Library website</a> shows a bustling <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2008/05/temple-and-main-streets-los-angeles.html">Temple Square</a> circa 1897.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Junction_of_Main_and_Spring_Streets_Los_Angeles_Cal_crop.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll2/id/10775">Link to full-res image</a>.</span></center></p><br>
<p>Some notable landmarks: at center is the Temple Block (1871-1926), down Spring Street to the right can be seen the ornate cupola of the Phillips Block (1887-1912), in the distance is the grand four-storey Hotel Nadeau (1883-1932) at Spring and First, and even farther away, peeking out from behind a line of telephone poles is the pyramid-topped tower of City Hall (1888-1927) on Broadway. At far right on the NW corner of Main and Temple is the Downey Block (1872-1904), the first home of the Los Angeles Public Library.</p>
<p>The HDL page gives a date range of 1880s-1890s, but I can say with reasonable assurance that it is probably 1897 or late 1896 due to the presence of two 45-star US flags (and one 44-star) that can be seen in the detail below. (The flag officially gained its 45th star on July 4, 1896.)</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/45and44starflags_lapastblog.jpg"></center></p><br>
<p>What puzzles me a bit is that part of the landmark Newmark Fountain (1882) is still in place in front of the Temple Block (red oval). The fountain was <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/08/mystery-photo-d.html">reportedly "smashed to pieces"</a> by a collision with a horse carriage in 1892, but this photo clearly shows that at least the base of Newmark's gift to the city remained <i>in situ</i> after Utah entered the Union.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/newmarkfountainremnant_lapastblog.jpg"></center></p><br>
<p>One-hundred-and-twenty years later...</p>
<p><center><iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m0!4v1510372910677!6m8!1m7!1snJ9rgcv5SDeOqrUjPelIow!2m2!1d34.05451589511901!2d-118.2412311654499!3f231.63964833253667!4f-2.045687196052029!5f1.9587109090973311" width="1024" height="768" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p><p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-39817934542931027682017-07-28T22:23:00.000-07:002018-04-17T03:35:44.462-07:00The 5 of Palms<p>Nitrocellulose playing card by postcard maker M. Rieder depicting <a href="https://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2009/10/palm-drive-then-now.html">Palm Drive and the entrance to Singleton Court</a>, 1907.</p>
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<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/palms_rieder_playing_card_recto_lapast_1024.jpg"><br>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/palms_rieder_playing_card_verso_lapast_640.jpg">
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<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-68317878247348681512014-10-19T18:02:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:04:59.611-08:00The cornerstone ceremonies, 1888/1936<center>
<p><a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2726"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CourtHouse1888lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">View looking southwest from near today's intersection of Temple and Spring Streets. Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2726">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p><br>
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<p>Recently, I found quite a bit of new information on the cornerstone of the old Los Angeles County Court House, which expands upon <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2013/03/courthouse-time-capsules.html">my post here from last year</a>.</p>
<p>This newspaper article describes the ceremony of the laying of the cornerstone when construction began in the spring of 1888.</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: larger"><b>THE TIMES, LOS ANGELES, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1888.</b></span></p>
<p><b>THE NEW COURTHOUSE.</b><br>
–––––––––––<br>
<b>Laying of the Corner-stone Today–
All Ready.</b></center></p>
<p> An event of considerable importance to the community at large will take place this afternoon, when the corner-stone of the new courthouse will be laid, under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of California, Grand Master Hiram Nathan Rucker officiating.<br>
The ceremonies promise to be both impressive and imposing in character, and arrangements have been made to accommodate some thousands of spectators. The members of the Darius Lodge will assemble at their lodgerooms at 1 o'clock, and appear in the procession as members of the Grand Lodge.<br>
Cœur de Lion Commandery No. 9, Knights Templar, will assemble at its asylum at the same hour, and will act as escort to the Grand Lodge.<br>
Delegates from all the Southern California lodges will be present, and it is expected from 300 to 400 of the Masonic brethren will be in line when the procession leaves the Masonic Temple. From thence they will wend their way down First street to Main street, Main street to Temple street, Temple street to Castelar street, and counter march on Temple to courthouse site.<br>
A platform will be erected surrounding the stone to be laid, upon which the grand officers of the Grand Lodge, the office bearers and the Masonic choir will be accommodated.<br>
The attendant ceremonies will be initiated by the band playing an appropriate selection. The Very Rev. Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge will offer prayer, after which an ode will be sung by the Masonic choir. T. E. Rowan, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, will then invite the Grand Master to lay the corner-stone, and the Grand Master, on behalf of the fraternity, will express his acceptance of the invitation and his readiness to perform the service proposed.<br>
The ceremony of laying the stone will then be proceeded with and laid according to the ancient usage, with Masonic honors.<br>
The Grand Master and his officers will then return to their seats while the choir sings another ode.<br>
An oration will then be delivered by the Grand Orator, after which the entire assemblage, accompanied by the band, will join in the "Old Hundred," and the ceremonies will be terminated with a benediction by the Grand Chaplain.<br>
The processions having reformed will return along Fort street to Third street; Third street to Main; Main to First street, and along First to the Masonic Temple.</p>
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<p>The monumental edifice – clearly built to endure for the ages – was torn down after standing for only 48 years. When it was being demolished, the highlighted section below containing the cornerstone (outlined in white) was left intact.</p>
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<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/cornerstonegrouping_lapast.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2726">U.S.C. Digital Library</a></span>.</p>
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<p>The red circle shows the same grouping on the day the time capsule inside the cornerstone was opened on May 12, 1936.</p>
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<p><a href="http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043380.jpg"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00043380_redcircle.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043380.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span></p>
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<p>The following day, the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> ran this front page article on the ceremony. The writer's somewhat bemused tone here differs from the more formal presentation of the earlier article. He makes light of just about everything and everyone. I had to chuckle, myself, when I read about the bottle of old whiskey that was rumored to have been placed in the cornerstone!</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: larger"><b>COURTHOUSE SEAL OPENED</b></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: larger"><b><i>Old Cornerstone Relics Found</i></b></span></p>
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<p><i>Thousands Attend Ceremony Which Yields Papers Printed in 1888</i></p>
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<p><b>BY THOMAS TREANOR</b></p>
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<p> Yellow as great-grandmother's letters, a bundle of historic papers was lifted into the shimmering sunlight yesterday after forty-eight years in a slab of rock.<br>
Some 2000 persons stood on tip-toes and peeped over one another's shoulders as Marshall Stimson, president of the Historical Society of Southern California; Joseph Mesmer, president of the Pioneer Society, and an overalled workman with a chisel cracked the cornerstone of the old County Courthouse and pulled out a little copper box.</p>
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<b>BANK BOOK DRAWN OUT</b>
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<p> They were gathered at the red sandstone ruin at Temple street and Broadway, kicking up a haze of white mortar dust, and pushing aside a cordon of deputy sheriffs to crowd round the platform and watch Mesmer reach inside the box, draw out a sheer of paper and shout:<br>
"Bank book of the public schools of the city of Los Angeles."<br>
"For what year?" called out an elderly lady.<br>
"For the year 1888, the year this cornerstone was laid," answered Mesmer at the top of his voice.</p>
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<b>BLANK PAPER</b>
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<p> He reached into the box again and pulled out another surprise–a blank piece of paper.<br>
"The letterhead of the county of Los Angeles," he said.<br>
He reached in again: "A bird's-eye view of the Santa Ana Valley." And again: "A copy of the Los Angeles Times, Thursday, April 26, 1888."<br>
He coughed and his voice cracked. He shook his head defiantly and shouted again:<br>
"A medical prescription by Dr. Kurtz. I don't know what for."</p>
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<b>STIMSON NEXT</b>
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<p> His voice wavered again and he grinned and turned to Stimson who reached in for the next surprise and shouted so he could be heard across the street:<br>
"Program of the Sixty-second Anniversary Ball of the International Order of Odd Fellows. Does that stir up old memories?"<br>
For half an hour he reached in, plucked out a paper and shouted until towards the end his voice was beginning to scratch too. Finally he gave the last shout:<br>
"A brown 2 cent stamp."</p>
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<b>CROWD DISPERSES</b>
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<p> The crowd dispersed. Such a crowd will never gather again in this city. There were men and women there many of whom had not seen each other for forty-eight years, men and women who saw the cornerstone, which was opened yesterday, laid with pomp and great ceremony.<br>
As The Times of April 26, 1888, put it: "An event of considerable importance will take place this afternoon."<br>
One of the oldest was A. C. Shafer, 92 years of age, who was elected a City Councilman in 1888.<br>
"To tell you the truth I don't remember much about the laying of the cornerstone," he said. "I didn't care much for that sort of thing in those days. There were other things I liked better."</p>
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<b>RECOLLECTIONS VAGUE</b>
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<p> The pioneers were not especially gregarious. Most of them found a seat early, sat there throughout the ceremonies and paid scant attention to their contemporaries. Each was surrounded and ministered to by a little bodyguard of friends and relatives.<br>
Their recollections were surprisingly vague.<br>
A considerable fright was thrown into the arrangements committee when S. W. Duncan, father of the Topsy and Eva Duncan sisters, went to Stimson and reported the wrong stone had been located.<br>
"That stone on the northeast corner that you plan to open isn't the one at all," he said. "You ought to be opening a stone in the arch. I know. I put the mortar in myself."</p>
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<b>BOARD MEMBERS CALLED</b>
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<p> This was Monday night, about sixteen hours before the great ceremony was to take place. Stimson called all the members of the Board of Supervisors.<br>
"I'm not sure which one it is," said each one.<br>
He called on this friends.<br>
"We don't know," they said.<br>
Finally he called Attorney Ray Howard, who said:<br>
"I was there at the time. The cornerstone is in the arch, I'm pretty sure."<br>
"Ray," said Stimson, "how old were you at the time?"<br>
"Eight years old," said Howard.<br>
"Well, I'm going to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning and find out for sure. I'm not taking the word of an 8-year-old boy."<br>
At 6 a.m. Stimson and a workman were on the scene, tapping stones. Not a stone in the arch rang as if it had a hole in the center. So they decided on the stone in the northeast corner that bore the date, 1888.<br>
"Let me tell you, I was glad it was the right one," said Stimson after the ceremony yesterday. The other cornerstone, long rumored in tradition will be carefully watched for by workmen for it is said to contain rare old whiskey, packed in as a prank.</p>
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<b>CROWD GATHERS EARLY</b>
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<p> The crowd began gathering early. By 11:30 a.m. the platform reserved for old-timers was crowded and some of the most elderly had no seats.<br>
"I told them they should have built it twice as big," grumbled Stimson.<br>
The supposed cornerstone with 1888 carved on it sat in a fragment of wall the wreckers left standing. After a preliminary speech by Edwin A. Meserve, representing Ramona Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West, presentation of nearly fifty persons who were present at the laying of the stone, introductions of Miss Frances E. Mullard and Miss Frances Marshall, veteran county employees, and presentation by Paul Dougherty of Long Beach of the chisel used in fitting the stone in place, the boss workman shouted, "Let her go, Red."</p>
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<b>STONE MOVED</b>
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<p> Red, sitting in a crane, pulled a lever and with a great clatter of machinery a wire cable girdling the cornerstone tightened. The stone rose into the air and swung over the heads of onlookers to the platform where it was lowered without a hitch.<br>
The copy of The Times taken from the cornerstone contained eight pages. This morning's contains forty-four pages, showing its growth with the city.<br>
Among the old-timers who attended the laying of the cornerstone and were invited for its opening yesterday, almost all accepting, are:<br>
Senator R. F. Del Valle, Charles H. Shaffner, Boyle Workman, S. W. Duncan, Attorney Ray Howard, Paul B. Dougherty, Julius Krause, architect and engineer, who worked on the building for fifteen months; Miss Mary E. Foy, T. R. Griffith, Mrs. T. D. Barton, George Cordier.<br>
William M. Stevens, Arthur Potts, Elizabeth Hale, William W. Jones, Fred W. Beau de Zart, Dr. Robert W. Miller, F. L. Benedict, Mrs. Mulvina Lott, Frank Leplat, Albert F. McDonald, Mrs. Hattie M. Goodrich, Mrs. Albert A. Eckstrom, A. C. Shafer, I. B. Wood, Milton R. Levy, O. E. Bly, Morris Albee, Refugio Bilderrain, W. A. Spalding, then an editor of The Times; I. B. Dockweiler, Adolph Ramish, Will Anderson and Herman C. Lichtenberger.</p>
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<p>Today, the cornerstone resides in front of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center at the intersection of Temple and Spring Streets, only about fifty feet away from its original placement in the 19th century courthouse. Photo taken September 20, 2014.</p>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/losangelespast/15392031079/"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/15392031079_14f2b8b303_b.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/losangelespast/15392031079/">J Scott Shannon on Flickr</a>.</span>
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<p>Newspaper article transcriptions ©Los Angeles Times, Tribune Publishing. Used with purchased license.<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-11254632396101585752014-10-06T17:28:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:05:36.552-08:00Bruno Street – The last granite roadway in Los Angeles<p>I first learned about the granite-paved roadway of <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/NM5Yy">Bruno Street</a> from <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-211-granite-block-paving.html">a post in Floyd B. Bariscale's Big Orange Landmarks blog</a> back in 2009, when my obsession with vanished Los Angeles was just gaining its initial momentum.</p>
<p><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/15255401030_7753c8137a_b.jpg"></p><br>
<p>That linked article above tells the whole story better than I can, so if you want to learn the history of Bruno Street, there's your ref. This post, however, is mostly about my own recent visit, and the granite paving stone (actually known as a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sett_%28paving%29">sett</a>") that I was able to score there.</p>
<p><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3929/15413419025_067b4fec56_b.jpg"></p><br>
<p>If you read <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-211-granite-block-paving.html">the Big Orange Landmarks post</a>, it mentions that, about six years ago, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works did some repaving on Bruno Street, and they left a small pile of the granite setts behind afterward. Well, it turns out some of those discards are still there, so I asked the manager of the <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/homegirl-cafe-and-catering-los-angeles">Homegirl Cafe</a> that owns that particular piece of property if I could maybe have one, and he said yes! He gave me a really nice specimen, too, as you can see for yourself below. (Thanks, Joel!)</p>
<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15226705900_4469df4fdc_z.jpg"></p>
<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2944/15226828307_a5d87aabb8_z.jpg"></p>
<p>The side that was once part of the roadway surface was doubtless the one shown directly above; that face is slightly discolored and has a degree of smoothness to it, while the other side is still rough and essentially pristine.</p>
<p>What's really impressive to note about these stones is that they are clearly hand-hewn. Every sett was created with a chisel, hammer, and brute muscle power, and they were obviously set in place by hand, too, one by one.</p>
<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/15226719570_376a3504f3_b.jpg"></p><br>
<p>Not coincidentally, about three weeks previously, a fellow amateur L.A. historian, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelryerson/">Michael Ryerson</a>, had given me a red paving brick he had recovered from a remnant of old Mignonette Street, on the other side of downtown off Fremont adjacent to the Harbor Freeway. The story of his own paving stone odyssey can be enjoyed <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6701744&postcount=23216">here</a>.</p>
<p>This is the Mignonette brick that M.R. gifted me. (The impressed initials stand for <a href="http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6643432&postcount=22425">Los Angeles Pressed Brick Co.</a>)</p>
<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/15449365301_4198024fa7_z.jpg"></p><br>
<p>And finally, my two Los Angeles paving stone treasures, now on display here at home.</p>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/DSC09206_lapast_sky.jpg"></p>
<p>All photos © <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/losangelespast/">J Scott Shannon</a>.<p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-79689748624492466502014-09-30T15:20:00.000-07:002018-04-13T09:54:29.171-07:00Palm pilgrimage<p>September, 2014, marks the centennial of <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6130030&postcount=14633">the 180-year-old Hammel/Arcade Depot palm tree's transplantation to its forever home in Exposition Park</a>, so my first visit to L.A. in two years was nicely timed.</p>
<p>Upon my arrival, though, I was initially alarmed to see that the ancient veteran had been the recent recipient of a rather severe trimming of its crown.</p>
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<p>The arborists' perhaps overzealous labors left me with a nice souvenir of my palm pilgrimage, however: this shorn sheath fragment from <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-oldest-living-thing-in-los-angeles.html">The Oldest Living Thing in Los Angeles</a>.</p>
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<p><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3931/15405100595_356f564bc2_b.jpg"></p>
<p>All photos © <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/losangelespast/">J Scott Shannon</a>.</p><p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-51564672249834502912014-05-19T13:47:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:08:55.093-08:00"French Flats"
<p>Some years ago, while browsing digital archives online, I came across this photo of a dilapidated old Los Angeles apartment building. I found its quirkiness to be instantly endearing. It looked totally ramshackle, but at the same time, its architectural details suggested to me that it might have had a much more elegant past.</p>
<p><center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/RYBEBUE4PKFX91FE98UPHTF3Y5VGVY.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">William Reagh, photographer. Courtesy <a href="http://catalog.library.ca.gov">California State Library</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>
<p>So where exactly was this intriguing structure? No way to tell. The photograph's description contained no information more specific than it was taken on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles in 1963.</p>
<p>Not long ago, I found another photo of the building, but this time in color. Looking closely, I could tell it was taken around the same time as the black-and-white one (note the same three potted plants on the bottom floor porch). Moreover, this photo's online description did contain a specific address. It was 224 South Olive Street.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/6274"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/408063.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"Bunker Hill from Clay Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, looking west," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/6274">Link to full-res image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>
<p>Now I was anxious to find out what it looked like from the front. Thankfully, after a little more searching on the Huntington Library site, I found exactly what I was looking for. 224 is the building at right in the photo below.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8855"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/411291.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"Olive Street between 3rd and 2nd Streets," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8855">Link to full-res image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>More history sleuthing after the jump!</p>
<a name='more'></a>
<p>Next was to find out when 224 was built. The Sanborn fire insurance map for Los Angeles for 1888 shows a vacant lot at the site. Our apartment building appears for the first time on the 1894 Sanborn map, as 222 South Olive, and its name is given as "French Flats." Easter egg! Come to think of it, its architectural elements did have kind of a New Orleans flair to them...</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-and-homework#S"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1894sanborn_640.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-and-homework#S">Los Angeles Public Library, Sanborn Map Collection</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>Here's the 1904 Sanborn map showing our building as 224 South Olive.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-and-homework#S"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1906sanborn_640.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-and-homework#S">Los Angeles Public Library, Sanborn Map Collection</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>
<p>1894 is also the first time that the address appears in the Los Angeles City Directory. And thanks to the amazingness of the internet, I was even able to find out who 224's residents were in that year. They were John B. and Grace E. Coates; Leo G. Hafner, an optician; Hannah Jarvis, a widow; Sargent H. Jewell, a stenographer; Milton M. Lyon, a pressman; Caroline M. Phelps, a widow; Emil J. and John C. Roller; Frank E. and Lucy A. Wright. There were only 7 flats at 224, though, so I'm guessing perhaps the widows Jarvis and Phelps might have been roommates sharing one of the apartments.</p>
<p>Given the occupations and life situations of its tenants, it's evident that 224 wasn't "elegant" as I initially imagined. It was solidly middle class. Judging by the photo below, though, it was quite pretty when it was first built, and the view of downtown the residents had from their back porches must have been grand. I know I would have considered myself fortunate to live in such a nice place.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/14959"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/224olive1895_lap.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"French Flats" in 1895 (center). <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/14959">"Looking south on Broadway from Court house, Los Angeles</a>" (detail), Courtesy University of Southern California Digital Library</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>Back to the question of age – if we assume that French Flats was built <i>circa</i> 1894, and the last photos of it were from 1964, then it was roughly 70 years old at the time of its demolition.</p>
<p>Finally, it turns out I had an unexpected personal connection to 224 South Olive. When I looked at Google Maps Street View to see what is there now, I had to smile when I saw that it is actually the exact spot where I got a parking ticket in 2010!</p>
<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-46511608283644786792014-05-16T09:09:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:09:13.609-08:00Last Vestiges of Temple Square<p>City Hall is perhaps Los Angeles's most iconic and widely recognized landmark. Relatively few are aware, though, that for decades, one of L.A.'s earliest skyscrapers stood directly in the shadow of City Hall at the southeast corner of Spring and Temple Streets.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Savings_%26_Exchange_Bank_Building">The International Savings & Exchange Bank Building</a> was erected in 1907. When new, it towered over <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2009/11/temple-square.html">Temple Square</a> and was among the most prestigious business addresses in the city.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8746"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/411182_1954.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"International Bank Building," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8746">Link to full-size image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>
<p>When construction of the present City Hall began in 1927, almost every structure on the site from Temple Street south to First Street was razed. For reasons that I've never been able to ascertain, however, the Bank of Italy Building, as it was then known, was spared demolition. This aerial view shows the Civic Center circa 1937. The now very much out-of-place bank building can be seen just to the right of City Hall, across Temple Street from the vacant lot where the old <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2010/10/million-dollar-post-office.html">Post Office and Federal Building</a> once stood.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics51/00075427.jpg"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00075427.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics51/00075427.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>
<p>In contrast to the magnificent and monumental new City Hall, the dingy, aging Bank of Italy building became increasingly regarded as an eyesore. For years, it housed the city's Department of Public Health, but finally, in late 1954, the last remaining structure which stood along <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2009/05/spring-street-diagonal.html">the old diagonal alignment of Spring Street</a> was ordered taken down.</p>
<p>Here, looking far older than its actual years, the once-proud grand lady of Temple Square is succumbing to wreckers in January, 1955. The vantage point is the former site of <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2008/09/birthday-postcard.html">the old 1888 Court House</a>, at that time occupied by a cluster of wartime-era wood frame office structures.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8769"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/411205_011655_horizrot.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"International Bank Building being demolished," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8769">Link to full-size image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>Going, going...</p>
<a name='more'></a>
<p>March 5, 1955. Now you see it...</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8765"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/411201_030555.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"International Bank Building going down," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8765">Link to full-size image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>
<p><p>Now you don't. Demolition completed, August, 1955. In the background, the lonely victorian <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/05/may-20-1958.html">Amestoy Block</a> – the last remaining vestige of Temple Square – will itself be torn down three years later.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8770"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/411206_0855.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"International Bank Building is gone," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8770">Link to full-res image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-27400490836191248272014-05-15T07:02:00.002-07:002017-11-10T22:11:11.016-08:00Downtown Views, 1880s<p>Looking north on Main Street from the northwest corner of Fifth Street, <i>circa</i> 1886.</p>
<p><center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/mainstreetnorthof5th-2-lapast.jpg"></center></p>
<p><a href="http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008653.jpg">The house</a> whose entrance can be seen at far left was built in 1869 at 343 South Main Street, and was the residence of one John H. Jones until 1900. In 1901, with a new address of 447 South Main, the house became <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5300817&postcount=3964">The Belmont, a cafe specializing in oysters and other seafood</a>. By 1907, the restaurant was known as <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5300819&postcount=3965">The Beaumont</a>. The Rosslyn Hotel was built on the site in 1911-1912. Today, it is known as <a href="http://rosslynlofts.net/">Rosslyn Lofts</a>.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="https://goo.gl/maps/cdocRQdLbSw"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/mainnorthof5th2014-goog.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Click image to see <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/cdocRQdLbSw">Google Maps Street View</a>.</span></center></p>
<p><center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/divider.png"></center></p>
<p>Fort Street (now Broadway) nearing First Street, also <i>circa</i> 1886.
<center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/fortbroadwayandtimesbuilding1886-2-lapast.jpg"></center></p>
<p>In the background, <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/8875">the brand new home of the Los Angeles Times</a> towers over its pueblo-era neighbors. The first three-storey brick structure built on Fort/Broadway, the Times Building heralded in the era during which the street grew to become the principal commercial district of old Los Angeles. The Times Building was destroyed in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times_bombing">a unionist terror bombing in October, 1910</a>.</p>
<p>Today, the Los Angeles Times occupies the entire city block bounded by Broadway, Spring, First and Second Streets. The Times' <i>West Building</i> (1972) looms at right.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="https://goo.gl/maps/XEiaCdJxf2U2"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/broadwayatfirst2012-goog.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Click image to see <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/XEiaCdJxf2U2">Google Maps Street View</a>.</span></center></p>
<p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-22919109363043429392014-05-02T21:36:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:11:55.421-08:00Little House on Pearl Street<p>This is Los Angeles, almost exactly a century ago. Doesn't look very familiar, does it? That's because, with the exception of a few homes in the hills in the far distance, every single structure you see in this photo is now vanished off the face of the earth.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15799coll65/id/1361/rec/61"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/500blockbetweenfigueroaandflower_c1916_sky.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"Panoramic view of Los Angeles, showing Sixth Street, Figueroa Street, Flower Street, east side of Sixth Street, ca.1916" (detail), C.C. Pierce, photographer. Courtesy USC Digital Library/California Historical Society. <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15799coll65/id/1361/rec/61">Link to full-res image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>When the picture was taken in 1916, this area was called the <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2010/02/where-skyscrapers-rise-today.html">Apartment District</a>. Today, it's the heart of the Financial District. The street to the left is Figueroa (formerly Pearl), and that's its intersection with Fifth Street at left. From 1928-1968, to our immediate right and just in back of us here, the late, lamented <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2009/05/richfield-building.html">Richfield Building</a> once stood. Now, the twin towers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_National_Plaza">City National Plaza</a> would be directly in front of us, and past the Streicher Apartments, that entire city block is now occupied by the <a href="http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/photos/index.html?propertyID=1004#photo_section_1Link">Westin Bonaventure Hotel</a>. From the left edge of this picture into the hills to the north, the Harbor Freeway (I-110) now cuts a wide swath through this old residential neighborhood, and atop the hill at far upper right (if we could see through the buildings in front of us, that is), we would be able to catch a glimpse of the top of the <a href="http://www.musiccenter.org/about/OUR-VENUES/Our-Theatres--Concert-Halls/#Walt%20Disney%20Concert%20Hall">Walt Disney Concert Hall</a>, and the <a href="http://www.musiccenter.org/about/OUR-VENUES/Our-Theatres--Concert-Halls/#Dorothy%20Chandler%20Pavilion">Dorothy Chandler Pavilion</a> just beyond.</p>
<p>
<p>But this post isn't about any of these grand modern buildings. It's about the oldest structure you see in the photo above that was still standing in 1957 when the photo below was taken. See that rather forlorn-looking little wooden house in the rear of the parking lot?</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8611"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/411047_lightmodfull.jpg"></a><br><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/oldestdtlabuilding030157.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">"Oldest building in downtown Los Angeles," Palmer Connor, photographer. From the Palmer Connor Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/8611">Link to full-res image</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>That's the exact same building with the square white side that's in the right foreground of the picture at top. Although some architectural elements of the house suggest it might be from the 1870s, the structure actually makes its first appearance on a Sanborn fire insurance map in Volume 3 of the 1894 edition (it was not present in the 1888 edition). Its original address was 516 Pearl Street. When the St. Dunston Hotel was built on that property not long after the turn of the last century, though, the little house was moved to the rear of the lot and became 516-1/2 Figueroa. It was this move back from the street frontage that probably saved it from the wreckers for as long as it was.</p>
<p>Quite amazing to think that, in 1957, the "oldest building in downtown Los Angeles" had only been standing for about 65 years. And yet, 60-70 years was pretty much the maximum life span of any 19th century building in the old city. Los Angeles, impermanence is thy name...</p>
<span style="font-size: smaller"><p>(For more on this story, click <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6559590&postcount=21184">here</a>.) </span><p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-43283505992403411522014-02-14T02:28:00.000-08:002020-05-28T17:38:31.484-07:00View from atop Crown Hill, c.1886<p>This has to be one of the more remarkable images of historical Los Angeles that I have ever seen. The year is around 1886, and we're looking south toward what would become Long Beach from the present site of Belmont High School, near the intersection of Beverly Blvd. and Glendale Blvd. In the far distance at right is the still-recognizable profile of the Palos Verdes peninsula, at left, the Santa Margarita Mountains by San Clemente, and in between, what today is solid cityscape was then nothing but sparsely-settled open rangeland as far as the eye could see.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://otters.net/img/lapast/viewsouthfromcrownhill_losangeles_c1886_lap_lg.jpg"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/viewsouthfromcrownhill_losangeles_c1886_lap.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Click image to enlarge.</span>
</center></p><br>
<p>The photo was taken from the roof of the Belmont Hotel, which was located atop Crown Hill at the end of the old Second Street Cable Car line.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2124"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-6092_lap.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2124">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>, California Historical Society.</span>
</center></p><br>
<p>The contemporaneous photo below shows the Belmont Hotel (upper left) as seen from Bunker Hill. The vantage point is near what would later become Hope Street overlooking Third Street (the road at the extreme left edge of the photo is Third). Today, the Harbor Freeway (I-110) runs left/right directly through this little valley. The familiar hills overlooking Hollywood can be seen in the distance.</p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/5598"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-7038_lap.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/5598">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>, California Historical Society.</span>
</center></p><br>
<p>To learn more about the historic Belmont Hotel, click <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6443855&postcount=19483">here</a>.</p> <p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-60837737758690725772013-05-23T02:29:00.001-07:002017-11-10T22:15:38.992-08:00Gay Nineties' L.A.<p>Recently, I happened upon these nice views of Los Angeles from the 1890s.</p>
<p>The 200 block of South Broadway was one of the more active centers of civic life in its time. </p>
<p><center>
<a href=""><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/KYIRHJ1KRLIJGAXFYIYKJB68V2VMJY1-1.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://catalog.library.ca.gov">California State Library</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>The almost brand new City Hall (1888-1928) dominates the right of the picture. Several other landmarks of the day can also be seen here. The tower of Los Angeles High School is partially visible to the left of the power poles. The clock tower in the distance is that of the Los Angeles County Court House. The tall spire next to that belongs to the First Presbyterian Church at the SE corner of Broadway and Second Street. And, the gothic structure just barely visible between City Hall and the Crocker Building (with the two bay windows) is Los Angeles's first Jewish synagogue. </p>
<p>Nothing special to see there <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/xI6Xs">today</a>, unfortunately.
</p>
<p><center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/divider.png">
</center></p>
<p>This quaint brick sideroad – complete with baths and a French restaurant – was Requeña Street (later renamed Market Street). The ornate Victorian on the left is the United States Hotel (1886-1939), and on the opposite corner is the Amestoy Block (1887-1958) – <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/05/may-20-1958.html">the first brick office building in town (and the first to have an elevator)</a>. The clock tower behind, once again, is the Court House. </p>
<p><center>
<a href=""><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/XNUHJAVHPA2J9L13UIHT2SBPYETYE81-1.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://catalog.library.ca.gov">California State Library</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>The U.S. Hotel and the Amestoy Block looked much nicer from the front. Click below to view the two from Main Street. </p>
<a name='more'></a>
<p>Taken shortly before the hotel's demolition in 1939. </p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll170/id/19736"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/DW-86-76-19-ISLA.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll170/id/19736">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>/Dick Whittington Photo Collection.</span>
</center></p>
<p>This is the view from the same vantage point today. Look over your right shoulder – you're standing right in front of City Hall! </p>
<p><center><iframe width="700" height="394" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Main+Street,+Los+Angeles,+CA&aq=0&oq=main+street&sll=37.269174,-119.306607&sspn=13.676694,20.126953&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Main+St,+Los+Angeles,+California&layer=c&cbll=34.053821,-118.241889&panoid=Mwc0S46kRjWy-ZCvu8J4KQ&cbp=13,158.38,,0,-0.2&ll=34.045779,-118.241901&spn=0.028021,0.060081&z=14&output=svembed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Main+Street,+Los+Angeles,+CA&aq=0&oq=main+street&sll=37.269174,-119.306607&sspn=13.676694,20.126953&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Main+St,+Los+Angeles,+California&layer=c&cbll=34.053821,-118.241889&panoid=Mwc0S46kRjWy-ZCvu8J4KQ&cbp=13,158.38,,0,-0.2&ll=34.045779,-118.241901&spn=0.028021,0.060081&z=14" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small></center></p>
<p>Perhaps needless to say, Requeña/Market Street no longer exists. It's now forever part of the vanished city that fascinates me so much.</p> <p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-25250319018273543152013-05-16T16:40:00.001-07:002022-01-04T02:22:29.322-08:00The oldest palm tree in Los Angeles
<p>Many by now have probably seen <a href="http://www.lamag.com/citythink/citythinkblog/2013/04/16/citydig-las-oldest-palm-tree">Nathan Masters's recent blog post</a> or <a href="http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/commentary/where-we-are/remembering-whats-always-been-here-the-citys-oldest-palm.html">read elsewhere</a> about this lone palm tree standing today in front of the Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park.</p>
<p><center><a href="http://goo.gl/maps/ai6Vz"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/oldestfanpalmexpositionpark_googlestreetview.jpg"></a><br><a href="http://goo.gl/maps/ai6Vz">Google Maps Street View</a>.</center></p>
<p>
<p>At approximately 180 years of age, it is almost certainly the oldest-known palm in Los Angeles, and the stereoscopic photograph below from <i>circa</i> 1873<a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6131395&postcount=14665">*</a> may just be the oldest-known image of said tree (the smaller palm on the left).
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/The_Fan-leaf_palm_from_Robert_N_Dennis_collection_of_stereoscopic_views_lapast.jpg"></p>
<p>My attempt to reproduce the original camera image.<a href="http://otters.net/img/lapast/hammelfanpalms_c1873_lapast_lg.jpg"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/hammelfanpalms_c1873_lapast.jpg"></a><br><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Fan-leaf_palm,_from_Robert_N._Dennis_collection_of_stereoscopic_views.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>, public domain.</center></p>
<p>
<p>The basic story of how the palm ended up in Exhibition Park is told on its commemorative plaque.</p>
<p><center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/DSC08951_lapast.jpg"><br>
Photo by J Scott Shannon.
</center></p>
<p>
<p>The fascinating details of the palm's earlier journey from a back yard on San Pedro Street to the Southern Pacific Arcade Depot in 1888 have been meticulously detailed <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6130030&postcount=14633">here</a>.</p>
<p><center>
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/sanpedrostreetpalms.jpg"><br>Taken <i>c.</i>1888, just prior to the move to the Arcade Depot...<br><br>
...where it stood greeting travelers for the next quarter of a century.
<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-4258_crop.jpg"><br>
Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2388">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>/California Historical Society.
</center></p>
<p>
<p>While the palm at Exposition Park may be the oldest documented <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonia_filifera">Washingtonia filifera</a></i> in Los Angeles, we shouldn't forget the oldest-known examples of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonia_robusta">W. robusta</a></i>: the <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2011/11/palms-puzzle-finally-solved.html">Longstreet Palms</a> (below), the story of which I've told here <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/search/label/longstreet%20palms">many times</a>. These Civil War-era veterans are at least 150 years old, and are therefore no less worthy of monument status than their cousin in Exposition Park.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Los_Angeles_Washingtonia_Robusta.jpg"><br><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles_Washingtonia_Robusta.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, original photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/waltarrrrr/4990960860/">waltarrrrr on Flickr</a>.</center></p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/Avenue_of_Palms_Los_Angeles_California_USA_by_Strohmeyer_amp_Wyman_lapast.jpg"><br>
<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avenue_of_Palms,_Los_Angeles,_California,_U.S.A,_by_Strohmeyer_%26_Wyman.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>, public domain.</center></p>
<p>
<p>The Hammel Palm and the Longstreet Palms were each world famous in their day. Now that they have all arisen out of obscurity, I think it's wonderful that their historical importance is once again being acknowledged, and celebrated. </p>
<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-81194608115865537642013-03-19T01:48:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:20:54.767-08:00Third Street, Then and Now<p>Third Street looking west from Spring Street, <i>circa</i> 1888: </p>
<p><center>
<a href="http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20%281800s%29_Page_2.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/3rd_St_1800s_1024.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20%281800s%29_Page_2.html">Water and Power Associates</a>.</span>
</center></p>
<p>Up on Bunker Hill stands the ornate victorian <a href="http://onbunkerhill.org/crocker_mansion">Crocker Mansion</a>, built in 1886. Next to it, in 1901, another old L.A. landmark would be constructed: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_Flight">Angels Flight</a> funicular railway. </p>
<p>
<p>The same view today: </p>
<p><center>
<a href="https://goo.gl/maps/5pZ1GAJHatE2"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/googlestreetview_thirdstreetfromspring.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/5pZ1GAJHatE2">Google Maps Street View</a>.</span></p>
</center>
<p>The famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building">Bradbury Building</a>, left, was constructed in 1893, and is now the oldest office building in Los Angeles.</p> <p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-57016421370988961202013-03-05T07:32:00.000-08:002017-11-10T22:21:11.944-08:00Courthouse Time Capsules<p>A set of photos of the removal of <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2012/07/court-house-cornerstone.html">the cornerstone of the old Los Angeles County Court House</a>, May 12, 1936. </p>
<p> The cornerstone ceremony as viewed from atop the Hall of Justice, across Temple Street. At this point, the cornerstone is still <i>in situ</i> in the small remaining section of wall standing by the crane at left of center. </p>
<center>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00043380.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043380.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span></p>
</center>
<p> The cornerstone is hoisted free. In the background, at right, across Spring Street, can be seen the rear of the <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2010/10/million-dollar-post-office.html">1909 Federal Building</a>, and to its immediate left, up Main Street, the <a href="http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2011/08/baker-block.html">Baker Block</a>. </p>
<center>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00018440.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018440.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span></p>
</center>
<p> Here, the granite block is being lowered onto a makeshift platform as the assembled crowd looks on. </p>
<center>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00018442.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018442.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span></p>
</center>
<p> The time capsule – a small box which appears to be made from tin – is about to be opened by Marshall Stimson, president of the Historical Society of Southern California. Inside were various mementos, newspapers, cards and event programs from the Los Angeles of 1888. <small>(Ref: <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5937488&postcount=10894">Courthouses of California: an illustrated history, by Ray McDevitt, California Historical Society</a>.)</small></p>
<center>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00018441.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018441.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span></p>
</center>
<p> The cornerstone today, on display at the southwest corner of Spring and Temple Streets. It sits in the shadow of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, which has occupied the site of the old Court House since 1972. </p>
<center>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/court_house_cornerstone_time-capsule_lap.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/losangelespast/7687941700/">Photo by J Scott Shannon</a>.</span></p>
</center>
<p> Here, Supervisors Frank Bonelli, Warren Dorn and Kenneth Hahn prepare to place a new time capsule into the cornerstone of the 1958 Los Angeles County Courthouse on October 31, 1958. Now to find out what is in <i>this</i> time capsule! </p>
<center>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00093272.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093272.jpg">Los Angeles Public Library</a>.</span></p>
</center><p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-90275779329612121272013-02-25T22:50:00.000-08:002017-11-10T22:21:25.793-08:00The 1924 Olmsted "Major Traffic Street Plan"<p><a href="http://www.lamag.com/citythink/citythinkblog/2013/02/20/citydig-how-three-men-tried-to-solve-las-traffic-problem-in-1924">This recent post</a> by Glen Creason on Los Angeles Magazine's City Think blog introduces readers to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Law_Olmsted,_Jr.">Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.</a> <i>et al.'</i>s grandiose "Major Traffic Street Plan" of 1924.</p>
<p>I first acquired this map out of curiosity, mostly because some of the street routes and parkways proposed in it looked significantly different than the ones Los Angeles eventually ended up with. </p>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/majortrafficstreetplancover_sky.jpg"></p>
<p>Here's the basic mission statement of the plan. </p>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/majortrafficstreetplanmission_sky.jpg"></p>
<p>The legend (the map is far too large for me to scan in its entirety, unfortunately): </p>
<p><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/olmstedplanlegend_lap.jpg"></p>
<p>Several new scenic arteries were proposed, one of which was to be called "Arroyo Seco Parkway" (described in the plan as a "radical thoroughfare"). That and "One Hundredth Street" (Century Boulevard) seem to be the only major roads from this plan that ended up being built, though. </p>
<p>One of the rejected proposals was for the Downtown portion of First Street to be widened to 150 feet, and then extended northwest up to Hollywood – clearly a 1924 approximation of what would become the Hollywood Freeway a generation later.</p>
<p>Another interesting proposal was a road called the "River Truck Speedway," which was to run somewhat adjacent to the Los Angeles River and was intended solely for use by commercial vehicles. Obviously this idea didn't get past the drawing board stage, either. </p>
<p>Other proposed roads that were never realized were the "Hollywood-Palos Verdes Parkway," the "Silver Lake Parkway," and parkways for portions of Wilshire Boulevard (west of Crenshaw), Cahuenga Avenue, Riverside Drive, Franklin Avenue/Los Feliz Boulevard, Griffith Park and Mulholland Drive. </p>
<p>The Olmsted plan was admittedly visionary in foreseeing the need for wide urban roads that incorporated a variety of modes of rapid transit, but it was probably for the best that it was not adopted. The present system of freeways, although not without its own inherent problems, turned out to be a much better fit for Los Angeles's ever-evolving traffic challenges. </p><p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-48952484871046041712013-02-17T18:29:00.001-08:002017-11-10T22:21:52.876-08:00La Placita Olvera<p>More than a little strange to see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olvera_Street">Olvera Street</a> without any vendor kiosks or restaurants! This photo was taken just prior to the dedication of El Paseo de Los Angeles in 1930. We're looking south here, toward the Plaza.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-36830.jpg">
<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/25151/rec/1"><br>U.S.C. Digital Library</a>/California Historical Society.</center></p><br>
<p>In the distance, two flags can be seen hanging from the front porch of the Avila Adobe: <i>La Bandera de México</i>, and the Stars and Stripes. Zooming in, it can be seen that there are 30 stars in the union. This was the flag of the United States when California became the 31st state in 1850. (The 31-star flag became official on July 4, 1851.)</p>
<p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/30starflag_lap.jpg"><br>
Credit as above.</center><br></p>
<p>Thanks to ProphetM from the <a href="http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6014381&postcount=12521">Skyscraperpage.com 'noirish Los Angeles' thread</a> for identifying this photo as Olvera Street.</p> <p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-47052495184829948362012-11-24T07:09:00.002-08:002017-11-10T22:22:18.958-08:001891 LandmarksApologies for the hiatus. Seemingly endless computer snafus and trainwrecks in my personal life have kept me from spending more time indulging in my favorite avocation. Anyway, recently, I used Photoshop to do a little color mod of this panoramic map of Los Angeles from 1891. The highly-foxed original image cleaned up rather well, I think!<br><br>
Before:
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/losangeles1891_before.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
After:
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/losangeles1891_after.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
The buildings depicted in the margins are worth a much closer look.<br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/bakerblock_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/brysonbonebrakeblock_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
8 more behind the jump!<br><br>
<a name='more'></a>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/cityhall_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/countycourthouse_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/highschoolbuilding_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/hollenbeck_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/phillipsblock_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
</center><br><br>
<center>
<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/templeblock_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
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<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/wilsonblock_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
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<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co."><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/1891map/ymca_lapast.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd436/g4364/g4364l/pm000270.jp2&style=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:3:./temp/~ammem_fREQ::&title=Los%20Angeles,%20Cal.,%20population%20of%20city%20and%20environs%2065,000.%20Litho.%20Elliott%20Pub.%20Co.">Library of Congress</a>.</span>
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J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-42485886597621975222012-10-02T18:14:00.001-07:002018-10-24T20:31:19.891-07:00The oldest building in Los Angeles?<p>Many have already heard about the emerging realization that the Sanchez Adobe in the Baldwin Hills <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/04/opinion/la-ed-adobe-20120904">may be the oldest building in Los Angeles</a>.</p>
<p>Although the structure bears the Sanchez name, it is believed to have actually been built by unknown rancheros fifty years before the land was first deeded to Don Vicente Sanchez in 1843.</p>
<p>This 1840s map depicting the boundaries of "Rancho del Paso de la Tijera" shows the little cottage whose existence has now spanned four centuries.
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<a href="http://www.archives.gov/espanol/herencia.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/diseno-l.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="http://www.archives.gov/espanol/herencia.html">Hispanic-Heritage Links</a> at the National Archives.</span></p>
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<p>The former Baldwin Ranch, <i>circa</i> 1926. The Sanchez Adobe is the taller white building to the left of center.
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<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m9509.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-2967.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m9509.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p>
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<p>Casa de Sanchez, <i>ca.</i> 1924. At this time, the house was already 130 years old.
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<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m2096.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-2966.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m2096.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p>
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<p>Another view of the Sanchez house (right) in the 1920s. Does the adobe outbuilding at left still survive? A modern aerial view suggests a possibility that it may.
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<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m2094.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-2965.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m2094.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p>
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<p>Only a few years later, the two-storey Sanchez house was incorporated into a much larger modern structure that still stands today at 3725 Don Felipe Drive.
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<a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m2093.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-12541.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m2093.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p>
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<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-18418630202689427222012-09-23T02:35:00.000-07:002017-11-10T22:23:18.544-08:00Cahuenga Boulevard, Then & Now
<p><i><span style="font-size: larger">The same spot,<br> on the same road,<br> in three centuries...</i></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: larger"><b>Cahuenga Pass, 1897:</b></span>
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<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-6418_864.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m3368.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></center></p>
<p><span style="font-size: larger"><b>Cahuenga Avenue, 1927:</b></span>
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<img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-6799_864.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m3025.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></center></p>
<p><span style="font-size: larger"><b>Cahuenga Boulevard, Today:</b></span>
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<a href="http://goo.gl/maps/ZhpWD"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/cahuengablvdatwhitleygooglemaps_864.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Click image above to see the <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/ZhpWD">Google Maps Street View</a>.</span></center></p><p>
J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-68205702270868385752012-09-18T18:51:00.005-07:002017-11-10T22:24:20.665-08:00The Cahuenga Valley......before it became better known to the world as "Hollywood."<br /><br />The E.A. Melrose ranch, <i>circa</i> 1915.<br /><br /><center><br /><a href=""><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-5662.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m17435.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span><br /></center><br /><br />Not even yet a century ago. Hard to imagine, isn't it? <p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-32783747644287546872012-09-14T23:17:00.004-07:002017-11-10T22:27:17.102-08:00Panorama of Los Angeles, 1899<p><center><a href="https://otters.net/img/lapast/losangelespanorama1899_lap_lg.jpg"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/losangelespanorama1899_lap.jpg"></a><br /><span style="font-size: smaller">Click image for full-size enlargement. Images courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m7.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></center></p><p>A panoramic view of Los Angeles in 1899, looking west from atop the Maier & Zobelein Brewery, known to later generations of Angelenos as the "Brew 102 building." The four tall structures visible here were, from left to right, the Cathedral of St. Vibiana, City Hall, the County Court House, and Los Angeles High School.</p><p>In the entire panorama above, I can make out only six buildings that are still standing today.</p><p>The broad boulevard was Aliso Street. Today, it is U.S. Highway 101. The old Brew 102 building and the modern freeway can be seen in the photo below, <i>circa</i> 1976.</p><p><center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/00086800.jpg"><br /><span style="font-size: smaller">Photo by William Reagh, courtesy <a href="http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/DoSearch?&index=tw/&databaseID=968&count=10&tag=245&terms=Central%20City%20skyline">Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection</a>.</span></center></p><p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-3430996408417185322012-08-30T17:52:00.006-07:002017-11-10T22:28:15.672-08:00Spring and First Streets, c.1903<p>One of my favorite places in vanished Los Angeles was the bustling intersection of Spring and First Streets. Here are three contemporaneous views from just after the turn of the last century.</p><p>Looking north on Spring Street from First.<center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-154-1.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/2279">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p></center><br>
<p>Now, in the photo above, see the man at upper left leaning on the flagpole? He's standing on the roof of the Larronde Block, which is the likely vantage point of this shot dated 1903.<center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-37095_lapast.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/22649">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p></center><br>
<p>And the view south, probably taken from an upper storey window in the Phillips Block.<center><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-2856.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/7105">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></p></center><br>
<p>South on Spring from First today. <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/AhzVD">Click</a> on the Google Street View image below to have a look around the intersection now. (Peek over your left shoulder to really get your bearings.) <tt>;-)</tt><center><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/tjEgyPYhRoS2"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/googlestreetview-springatfirstst.jpg"></a><br><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/tjEgyPYhRoS2">Google Maps Street View</a>.</span></center></p>
<p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8392098995578110896.post-5275923953255648882012-08-23T04:00:00.003-07:002017-11-10T22:28:54.357-08:00Hill Street at First, Then & Now<span style="font-size: larger"><b>1908:</b></span><br><br /><center><a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m17837.html"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/CHS-6347.jpg"></a><br /><span style="font-size: smaller">Courtesy <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m17837.html">U.S.C. Digital Library</a>.</span></center><br /><br /><span style="font-size: larger"><b>2011:</b></span><br><br /><center><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/FKe5rjfqwz12"><img src="https://otters.net/img/lapast/googlestreetview_hillandfirstlosangeles.jpg"></a><br /><span style="font-size: smaller"><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/FKe5rjfqwz12">Google Maps Street View</a>.</span></center><br /><br />Today, clearly, it's "Hill Street" in name only. <p> J Scott Shannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07526017264458431798noreply@blogger.com0