Every now and then I come across a vintage photo of Los Angeles and find it hard to get my mind around the fact that it’s the same city. In this one, we’re looking north on Spring St from First St, downtown Los Angeles, circa late 1890s. Everybody’s dressed so formally, with only streetcars, bicycles, and horse-drawn carriages in sight. I’d love a chance to peek inside Hamburger’s department store on the left so see what goods they had for sale. I’m picturing lots of parasols, corsets, stiff collars, and riding boots.
These days, if you stand on Spring St and look north from First, you see the iconic LA City Hall, but nothing from the vintage photo is left. This image is from January 2022.
Look closely at the far left corner (North West by LA offset standards) by the women and behind the gent with the stick….the man in vested clothes seems to have a reflective spot on his hat. Early police officer? They often kept their breast badge behind the outer jacket in that era, on the vest, but sometimes with another shield on the hat/helmet. I believe LA city police did have an official uniform by this date…not sure about county enforcers. This location is within walking distance of the central police quarters. He doesn’t look to be dying to cross that street, so maybe this is his posting spot rather than a walking beat.
On that same corner on the left side of the photo there is a man in a little “room” elevated on a pole. Looks like he might be some kind of traffic controller. He has a cap rather than a hat. The round thing on the window post looks like it could be a bell. Maybe he rang it to signal wagons to stop and people to cross. Don’t remember seeing anything like this, so just guessing
They were all over the city at key rail points and show in many photos. This was traffic control and many switches were probably activated by the man in the tower. He would have operated by timetables and watch, but he may have also have communication lines into the tower. Not sure how much central dispatchers played a role in talking to him this early, but they had to be pretty advanced with technology to be able to run these systems. Freight movements were especially heavy at night in the downtown areas so some towers were going all the time….lots of employment in those days. Steam whistles and bells were constant in the day, and much of it was captured by film makers even when not intended. Noir makers loved to incorporate it. George Lucas placed similar sounds into American Grafitti to make it as realistic as what he grew up with.
The car which has come back from a Grand Avenue run has probably just negotiated the turn off of 1st from the left. To the right is a corner pole with an odd horn shaped appliance aimed toward that car line. I suspect it was used by the towerman to signal cars when they arrived and sought clearance to move onward. Perhaps a button controlled flasher light or a buzzer sound? Pretty sure they didn’t need air raid sirens in the 1890’s. Fire or police? Doubtful they were that advanced.
I compared two photos looking in the opposite direction from beyond here. In the earlier image there is no tower yet, but in place of this Grand Avenue car is a Los Angeles & Pasadena 90-class outbound to Alhambra. So, that shot would be about 1902 meaning any view with the tower in place must be later. Alhambra line history (actual downtown routing not covered herein): http://www.erha.org/pelines/penasg.htm