In this aerial photograph from circa 1928, we’re looking north across West Hollywood from Third Street. (Robertson Blvd is the main road on the left that takes a sharp angle northwest.) As we can see, there was still a lot of empty land in this part of Los Angeles. That main compound in the foreground was the Los Angeles Riding Academy, where Angelenos learned how to ride horses, and—I assume—where they stabled them. It looks like it covered quite a few acres, but it’s hard for me to imagine riding horses around L.A., especially as that same plot of land is now home to the sprawling Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Directly above the riding academy, in the center of the photo, the group of large buildings is the Sherman Rail Yards at Santa Monica and San Vicente.
Aerial view of the Los Angeles Riding Academy, Third St, West Hollywood, circa 1928
In the center of the photo, is that a railroad yard/station?
Yes, it’s the Sherman Rail Yards at Santa Monica and San Vicente.
This was once the main shops if the Los Angeles-Pacific system. When absorbed into the P.E. Ry., it reverted to a lesser repairs and car storage facility for the Western District. Heavy repairs were done in the P.E. shops at the huge Torrance location. This shop area (on the left portion) became a bus facility for LAMTA/RTD and was rebuilt. An episode of Highway Patrol (Season 5 in 1959) was filmed in this site (right side) when it was defunct leaving a final photographic record. Now wasn’t the L.A. Riding Club (or Academy) behind the horsetrails in the Hollywood Hills back then? Burbank is where you went later to rent horses for day rides.