I’m impressed that the Young Women’s Christian Association had a seven-story building on Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. On second thoughts, single women trying to make their way in the world in the early 1900s when this photo was taken would have faced all sorts of obstacles; a place like this would have filled a need for shelter, food, and companionship. And if the YWCA took the trouble to build a seven-story facility, I’m guessing there was a great need. I tried to find out how much they charged back then, but couldn’t find any information. I do, however, like that mixture of horse-drawn and horseless carriages parked out front.
The building later became the Belmont Hotel:
I wish I could read the lettering on the front of the two-story wooden building to the right of the YWCA. I’d also like to know the history of the single-family wooden building to the left of the YWCA. Remarkable that a home like that was still hanging on in the downtown of the early 20th century.
Depending on how early in the 1900s this photo was taken, there were still private home in (what we now refer to as) downtown, but most of them would have been down the southern end of the city, not the northern end, which is where this building was.