One of my favorite styles of architecture that you see in some of the older buildings around Los Angeles is the soaring tower whose purpose is purely ornamental. It’s probably got an official name but I think of it as the “Here-I-Am-Notice-Me” style. This one on the Ralph’s supermarket on the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd and Crescent Dr. in Beverly Hills in 1949 appears to have seven large glass blocks on each side of the tower, which makes it all the more wonderful, if you ask me.
My first thought when seeing this photo was “And I used to think my morning commute on the 405 Freeway was bad.” But then I noticed the joyful looks on the faces on these Angelenos as they packed the B Line streetcar. Turns out, they were celebrating the end of WWII in September 1945. No wonder they were so happy! And what a ride through the streets of LA (the B Line went to City Terrace 4 miles due east of downtown) they must have witnessed.
They sure don’t make high schools like this in anymore. To be honest, I wasn’t aware they ever made high schools like this—except for perhaps in those Mediterranean countries the Moors invaded a thousand years ago. This circa 1931 shot shows Fairfax High School in the Moorish style archway of the entrance to the school auditorium. The school is still there, on the corner of Fairfax and Melrose Avenues. It looks pretty modern from what I can see so I doubt if this beautiful archway has survived the march of progress. Does anybody reading this know if it’s still there?
UPDATE: Daniel says: “Most of the original high school (built in the 1920s) did not meet up to earthquake safety standards and was demolished in the mid-1960s. In it’s place they built a really lovely mid-20th century campus. However, the rotunda and auditorium (which were built in the 1930s) were spared and retro-fitted. The archway is still there, I don’t remember if it looks exactly like this but I do know all the beautiful tile work is still there. I suggest going to the flea market in the parking lot some Sunday if you want a better view than you can get from the street, the campus sits a bit back on the property.”
This clear and uninterrupted view of the Hollywood sign was taken at (what is now designated as) 3307 Deronda Drive way up in the Hollywoodland hills. The year was 1950, which means had the photo been taken a year before, the sign would have still read Hollywoodland. Well, sort of. The sign had fallen into such disrepair that the “H” had fallen over. L.A. Recreation and Parks Commission wanted to raze the whole thing but thank goodness the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce intervened. In 1949 it removed the last four letters and restored the rest, which is what we’re seeing in this photo.
Roughly the same view in September 2009. The locals can barely see the sign now!
The Pacific Electric Railway’s famous Red Cars always provided a splash of vivid color around the Angeleno cityscape but even more so when they were 50 feet in the air. Here we’re seeing one cross the bridge over Fletcher Drive in Los Feliz en route to Glendale. This shot is circa early 1950s — check out that billboard to the right for RCA Victor television sets. It must be the most wanted TV because it says so right there in big letters. That bridge has now been replaced by a much lower overpass for the 5 Freeway.
I’ve seen lots of photos of the famous Angels Flight funicular at Hill and Third streets, downtown Los Angeles, but I don’t recall seeing one before with an observation tower. This photo was taken in 1907, which means there wouldn’t have been any skyscrapers so the view would have been pretty great – even better than the view from the front rooms at the Hill Crest Inn. As there don’t seem to be many photos of it, I’m guessing it wasn’t around for very long.
UPDATE: The observation tower came down some time in the 1960s.
Here is the view from the top of the hill with the observation deck in front:
This photo lets us see what Los Angeles’s Broadway looked like in the first decade of the new century. As we can see, the two main ways of getting around town are horse-and-carriage and the streetcar. The one in the foreground was coming from Boyle Heights, which lays just east of downtown. This photo was taken in 1905 so the days of horse-drawn transport were numbered. Ten years later, most of them would be gone…and so would the smell and mess that accompanied them. Mind you, the motor cars would bring their own kind of smells and messes, wouldn’t they?
I don’t know much about cars but I even I could tell this one parked out front of the Pan Pacific Auditorium on Beverly Blvd was something special. I sent this photo to a friend of mine who works at the Petersen Automotive Museum and he told me that it was one of four experimental 1953 Cadillac Le Mans built for the auto show circuit. This particular one was modified by George Barris, who created the Batmobile. What a shame it isn’t in color because it looks pretty spectacular to me.
When I found this photo Oneonta Park Station, I had trouble locating where Oneonta Park was. Turns out that it was a development in South Pasadena centered where Fair Oaks Ave meets Huntington Drive. It must have been a fairly important stop on the streetcar line because you could get magazines, snack, and even sandwiches—not to mention shade from the unrelenting Pasadena summer sun.
Oneonta Park and Pasadena from the hill to the south Huntington Drive Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena ca, 1910:
Map of Oneonta Park being Huntington Land and Improvement Co’s. subdivision:
I always assumed that the top of Mt Lee, where the Hollywood sign sits, was naturally flat but that wasn’t the case. Mt. Lee had a peak until the early 1920s when the Hollywoodland real estate development gave comedy mogul Mack Sennett the idea to build a massive estate on the top of the mountain, where he bought an 18-acre parcel of land. So in this circa 1925 photo, we’re seeing a steam shovel shearing off the top of the mountain to prepare a level ground on which Sennett could build his dream home. Unfortunately for Sennett, he lost all his dough in the stock market crash, so that was the end of that.
Here is a concept drawing of Mack Sennett’s proposed mansion atop Mt Lee, Hollywood. What a view he would have had!
One of my favorite styles of architecture that you see in some of the older buildings around Los Angeles is the soaring tower whose purpose is purely ornamental. It’s probably got an official name but I think of it as the “Here-I-Am-Notice-Me” style. This one on the Ralph’s supermarket on the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd and Crescent Dr. in Beverly Hills in 1949 appears to have seven large glass blocks on each side of the tower, which makes it all the more wonderful, if you ask me.
My first thought when seeing this photo was “And I used to think my morning commute on the 405 Freeway was bad.” But then I noticed the joyful looks on the faces on these Angelenos as they packed the B Line streetcar. Turns out, they were celebrating the end of WWII in September 1945. No wonder they were so happy! And what a ride through the streets of LA (the B Line went to City Terrace 4 miles due east of downtown) they must have witnessed.
They sure don’t make high schools like this in anymore. To be honest, I wasn’t aware they ever made high schools like this—except for perhaps in those Mediterranean countries the Moors invaded a thousand years ago. This circa 1931 shot shows Fairfax High School in the Moorish style archway of the entrance to the school auditorium. The school is still there, on the corner of Fairfax and Melrose Avenues. It looks pretty modern from what I can see so I doubt if this beautiful archway has survived the march of progress. Does anybody reading this know if it’s still there?
This clear and uninterrupted view of the Hollywood sign was taken at (what is now designated as) 3307 Deronda Drive way up in the Hollywoodland hills. The year was 1950, which means had the photo been taken a year before, the sign would have still read Hollywoodland. Well, sort of. The sign had fallen into such disrepair that the “H” had fallen over. L.A. Recreation and Parks Commission wanted to raze the whole thing but thank goodness the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce intervened. In 1949 it removed the last four letters and restored the rest, which is what we’re seeing in this photo.
I’ve seen lots of photos of the famous Angels Flight funicular at Hill and Third streets, downtown Los Angeles, but I don’t recall seeing one before with an observation tower. This photo was taken in 1907, which means there wouldn’t have been any skyscrapers so the view would have been pretty great – even better than the view from the front rooms at the Hill Crest Inn. As there don’t seem to be many photos of it, I’m guessing it wasn’t around for very long.
This photo lets us see what Los Angeles’s Broadway looked like in the first decade of the new century. As we can see, the two main ways of getting around town are horse-and-carriage and the streetcar. The one in the foreground was coming from Boyle Heights, which lays just east of downtown. This photo was taken in 1905 so the days of horse-drawn transport were numbered. Ten years later, most of them would be gone…and so would the smell and mess that accompanied them. Mind you, the motor cars would bring their own kind of smells and messes, wouldn’t they?
I don’t know much about cars but I even I could tell this one parked out front of the Pan Pacific Auditorium on Beverly Blvd was something special. I sent this photo to a friend of mine who works at the Petersen Automotive Museum and he told me that it was one of four experimental 1953 Cadillac Le Mans built for the auto show circuit. This particular one was modified by George Barris, who created the Batmobile. What a shame it isn’t in color because it looks pretty spectacular to me.
When I found this photo Oneonta Park Station, I had trouble locating where Oneonta Park was. Turns out that it was a development in South Pasadena centered where Fair Oaks Ave meets Huntington Drive. It must have been a fairly important stop on the streetcar line because you could get magazines, snack, and even sandwiches—not to mention shade from the unrelenting Pasadena summer sun.
I always assumed that the top of Mt Lee, where the Hollywood sign sits, was naturally flat but that wasn’t the case. Mt. Lee had a peak until the early 1920s when the Hollywoodland real estate development gave comedy mogul Mack Sennett the idea to build a massive estate on the top of the mountain, where he bought an 18-acre parcel of land. So in this circa 1925 photo, we’re seeing a steam shovel shearing off the top of the mountain to prepare a level ground on which Sennett could build his dream home. Unfortunately for Sennett, he lost all his dough in the stock market crash, so that was the end of that.