The new Los Angeles City Hall opened on April 26, 1928, and so from the last of the scaffolding we can see here, I’m guess this shot was taken in early 1928. The photographer was standing on Weller Court in what is now Little Tokyo. After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, it was renamed to honor Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to go into space.
This is roughly the same view in 2022:
“New Palace” on the right might be a hotel. Wall painted signage seems to show a four digit number (1400’s block?) before “MAIN”, so that might be pointing to a potential address. Looks like an even number (1462?) which would leave Salvation Army an odd number very close to it.
I mistook the “S.” before Main for a forth digit…so this is the 100 block of South Main. Didn’t get this as a hotel name yet, but this was once a core of business for the early city and several hotels had been in there. (I did see a Palace Bowling & Billiards hall in another image on Main. No idea if it could be related to this.)
According to this blog it is Weller Street.
https://silentlocations.com/2016/04/30/how-harold-lloyd-filmed-bumping-into-broadway/
There was a Salvation Army location on Weller in the 1926 City Directory.
https://i.imgur.com/DHuistm.png
Assuming that the sign is only an advertisement, as there are no rail tracks on this street, then the 1911 transit map may have the answer. An un-named road is found cutting a block, bounded by Los Angeles & San Pedro, which connects First and Second at an angle that points toward the future city hall site. It’s a bit of a ways over, but common photographic compression may be understating the distance from city hall in this image. That would mean 1st Street is the one cutting across, and we can barely see what may be overhead electric wires down there. Goodwill was on Main (all gone now) pretty close to here so it might make sense that Salvation Army was in this same sector. I doubt they put alleyways on that map, so the street must have a name.
Hi Martin! I believe the photo was taken from what is now Astronaut Edwin S. Onizuka St., just southeast of City Hall. The distinctive building w awnings would have been on the northeast corner of 1st Street and Los Angeles St. From the Onizuka St. location I can see on current Google Maps the rear of a vintage brick building with masonry edge-work that matches the Salvation Army building in your vintage photo.
Yep, Steve, you were right. I’ve now changed the post to reflect that. Thanks for the info!
Spot on Steve. Well done.
We’ve got it. Use blue link to Area Map on Victorian downtown Los Angeles site and we see it’s San Pedro Street (cutting diagonally) with Salvation Army building noted there.
Thanks, Johnny. As I was posting this, I was thinking “Hmm…maybe I should ask Mr Yuma…”
The New Palace Hotel is listed on Weller St across from the Salvation Army in the 1927 City directory.
https://i.imgur.com/1WCWOJU.png
Follows-a link to the map with the Salvation Army structure…not sure if they renamed streets before the directory listings were made, but not finding any Weller there. The problem with the Harold Lloyd shot is that it does not match the view to the right of it…look at the tower and roof details and it seems they have rotated off position….Lloyd would be diagonally left from that other view. Here’s the highly detailed map with modern locations superimposed in blue titles: https://victoriandtla.com/area-map/
Al,
It seems like some of the streets were renamed, realigned, and removed between the 1910 map and the late 1920’s view of City Hall.
That Silent Locations site has a map section in close-up under the subject of railroad stations and it does show the name Weller overlayed upon this angular connector. On that map San Pedro still runs through its straighter course North over East Second and First. (This cut across street seems to date to a time when Los Angeles Street had ended at E. 1st with farmlands ahead.)
Besides being the location of the Harold Lloyd shot (which shows the masonry edge work of the Salvation Army building), The Crimson Kimono (1959) also has a chase scene down Weller (now Onizuka). Two detectives walk down Weller (Salvation Army building and New Palace Hotel visible at 9:05 below), find and chase a suspect to the corner of 2nd, and the suspect flees up San Pedro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kytt0_cfYIA