tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36338162784150142072024-03-04T17:35:11.974-08:00Big Orange LandmarksExploring the Landmarks of Los Angeles, One Monument at a TimeFloyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.comBlogger241125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-5204061426839404162011-06-23T19:14:00.000-07:002011-06-23T20:19:50.375-07:00Tours, Talks, and Sunset Boulevard<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/5864962383/" title="L.A.'s Third Orpheum Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5040/5864962383_32e014ab0b.jpg" alt="L.A.'s Third Orpheum Theatre" height="399" width="500" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">The Orpheum/Palace Theatre</span><br /></div><br />A quick note about a couple of historically-minded events in downtown Los Angeles this weekend: Ed Kelsey's presentation at the Palace Theatre on the very eve of its centennial; and the Last Bookstore's inaugural tour of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Secret Lives of Downtown</span> led by Brady Westwater.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />If you're not among the lucky ticketholders to be a part of one of the three Sunday screenings of <span style="font-style: italic;">Sunset Boulevard</span> at <a href="http://www.losangelestheatre.com/downtownpalace.html">the Palace Theatre</a> in conjunction with the <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">L.A. Conservancy's</a> Last Remaining Seats program, you're missing a special event indeed. Sunday will mark 100 years to the day that architect G. Albert Landsburg's vaudeville theater opened for business on Broadway as the Orpheum. You're not entirely out of luck, though. As a special treat, <a href="http://www.lhat.org/index.aspx">the League of Historic American Theatres'</a> <a href="http://www.lhat.org/about/board_directors/Kelseybio.aspx">Ed Kelsey</a> will provide a special presentation on the Palace this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at the theater. Hosted by <a href="http://www.lahtf.org/">the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation</a>, Ed's talk will be followed by your opportunity to tour the building and check out the results of the first phase of the building's restoration. Believe me, the chance to walk on the same stage on which the Marx Brothers trod is more than worth the price of admission, which for Saturday's event is free.<br /><br />Also this weekend, for the low price of $15 (cheap!) you can be a part of <a href="http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/">Brady Westwater's</a> first walking tours of "secret" downtown. You may've taken any number of tours of downtown, but what I know of Mr Westwater guarantees a point of view you will not have gotten from anyone in the past. The tours are scheduled to last about 2 1/2 hours each and begin at 11:00 a.m. Saturday and noon on Sunday. As if you needed any more incentive, the tours are presented by and begin at <a href="http://www.lastbookstorela.com/">the Last Bookstore</a> at 5th and Spring. Maybe it's your first chance to see the shop in its new location; the Last Bookstore held its grand re-opening on June 3. For more information on <span style="font-style: italic;">The Secret Lives of Downtown</span>, visit <a href="http://lastbookstorela.com/blog/">the shop's blog</a>. Thanks, Brady, for the alert.<br /><br />And a nod to the Los Angeles Public Library for the photo.<br /><br />Have a great history-filled weekend, everyone.<br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-85185963918338392212011-03-22T21:22:00.000-07:002011-03-22T22:07:11.631-07:00It's the Silver Anniversary for the Last Remaining Seats<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/5552301526/" title="The Palace Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5254/5552301526_0ed1ff26e0.jpg" alt="The Palace Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /><br />You know what's the best part of this year's <span style="font-weight: bold;">Last Remaining Seats</span>? We're getting the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in the 100-year-old <a href="http://www.losangelestheatre.com/downtownpalace.html">Palace Theatre</a>, and on its 100th birthday no less.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />It's the <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">L.A. Conservancy's</a> 25th year of holding this event, and my guess is anyone within distance reading this has taken advantage of this awesome program. (Yeah, I know how stunning the <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/03/no-225-los-angeles-theatre.html">Los Angeles</a> and Orpheum theatres are, but my favorite Last Remaining Seats moment was seeing Bud and Lou in <span style="font-style: italic;">Buck Privates</span> at the Million Dollar a couple of years back. What do you remember most of the last 25 years?) This year we get two chances to visit the <a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theater/14">Palace Theatre</a> one century after it opened - <span style="font-style: italic;">to the day</span>; there'll be both a matinee and evening screening of <span style="font-style: italic;">Sunset Boulevard</span> on June 26. <a href="http://you-are-here.com/broadway/palace_theatre.html">The Palace</a> isn't a Historic-Cultural Monument, but don't let that stop you from visiting. I was lucky enough to visit the house back in February 2009 as part of a <a href="http://www.lahtf.org/index.html">Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation</a> tour. That picture up top - the ceiling mural close-up - is from then. Stopping back at the start of summer will be a treat (and don't even get me started about seeing <span style="font-style: italic;">King Kong</span> at the Los Angeles; how great will that be?). I'm sure you know the drill, but here's the lowdown from the Conservancy:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LOS ANGELES CONSERVANCY PRESENTS 25TH ANNUAL LAST REMAINING SEATS</span><br /><br />Classic Films and Live Entertainment in the Historic Theatres of Los Angeles<br /><br />Special Season Includes Bonus Screenings on Palace Theatre’s 100th Birthday<br /><br />May 25 – June 29, 2011; Tickets on sale March 30 to members, April 13 to general public<br /><br />LOS ANGELES (March 2, 2011) – The Los Angeles Conservancy has announced the lineup for the twenty-fifth season of Last Remaining Seats, its signature series of classic films and live entertainment in historic theatres. All screenings will take place in the movie palaces of downtown Los Angeles’ Broadway Historic Theatre District.<br /><br />The 2011 season runs primarily on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. from May 25 through June 29. To celebrate the twenty-fifth year, this season includes a bonus seventh show (two screenings, matinee and evening) at the Palace Theatre on Sunday, June 26, a century to the day after the theatre opened. Los Angeles Conservancy members chose the special screening through a Fan Favorite poll, selecting the 1950 classic <span style="font-style: italic;">Sunset Boulevard</span>. This special bonus event is in conjunction with Bringing Back Broadway’s "Broadway 100," a series of events marking important milestones on Broadway.<br /><br />Tickets go on sale to Los Angeles Conservancy members at 10 a.m. on March 30 and to the general public at 10 a.m. on April 13, all at <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">www.laconservancy.org</a>. Advance tickets cost $20 ($16 for Conservancy members).<br /><br />The 2011 schedule appears below. All programs are subject to change; any updates will be posted in the Last Remaining Seats section of our website at <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">www.laconservancy.org</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, May 25 – </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Rear Window </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(1954) at the Orpheum Theatre (1926)</span><br /><br />Thriller starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Thelma Ritter, directed by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Evening host: film critic and historian Leonard Maltin. Pre-show performance by Robert York on the Orpheum's original Mighty Wurlitzer organ. At the beautifully restored Orpheum Theatre, celebrating its 85th birthday this year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, June 1 – </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Music Man</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1962) at the Los Angeles Theatre (1931)</span><br /><br />The Technicolor version of the hit musical, with Robert Preston as con man Harold Hill. Special guest: Co-star Susan Luckey. At the magnificent Los Angeles Theatre, the last and grandest movie palace built on Broadway, celebrating its 80th birthday this year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, June 8 – </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Captain Blood</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1935) at the Million Dollar Theatre (1918)</span><br /><br />Swashbuckler that catapulted Errol Flynn to stardom and garnered Academy Award® nominations for Best Picture and Best Director (Michael Curtiz). At the beautiful Million Dollar Theatre, one of the first movie palaces in the U.S.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, June 15 – </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">King Kong</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1933) at the Los Angeles Theatre</span><br /><br />The original, timeless classic tale of beauty and the beast, starring Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray. Special guest: Pauline Wagner, Fay Wray's stunt double in the film.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, June 22 – </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Zoot Suit</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1981) at the Million Dollar Theatre</span><br /><br />Co-presented with the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles<br /><br />Filmed version of the play that made Edward James Olmos a star; based on the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial and Zoot Suit Riots of 1940s Los Angeles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunday, June 26 – </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Sunset Boulevard</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1950) at the Palace Theatre (1911)</span><br /><br />Sardonic look at Hollywood starring Gloria Swanson, William Holden, and Nancy Olson; Olson is slated to appear for an interview before either the matinee or evening screening. Voted Fan Favorite film by Los Angeles Conservancy members for this special bonus show celebrating the 25th season of Last Remaining Seats and the 100th birthday of the Palace Theatre, which opened June 26, 1911. Hosted by Fox-11 reporter Tony Valdez.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, June 29 – <span style="font-style: italic;">Safety Last!</span> (1923) at the Orpheum Theatre</span><br /><br />Masterpiece of silent comedy starring Harold Lloyd, who ends up climbs up the side of a “skyscraper” on Broadway (filmed half a block from where it will be screened). Hosted by Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd; film accompanied live by Robert Israel on the Orpheum’s original Mighty Wurlitzer organ.<br /><br />For full schedule information, visit <a href="http://laconservancy.org/remaining/2011.php4">http://laconservancy.org/remaining/2011.php4</a>.<br /><br />About Last Remaining Seats<br /><br />What began in 1987 as a way to draw attention to Los Angeles’ historic theatres is now a summer tradition. Thousands of people come from all over Southern California, the United States, even other countries, to experience classic films as they were meant to be seen: in beautiful, single-screen theatres filled with fellow fans, and accompanied by vintage short films, onstage interviews, and live performances. For more information, see 25 Years of Last Remaining Seats.<br /><br />2011 Last Remaining Seats Sponsors (As of March 1, 2011)<br /><br />Series Star Sponsor: Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Series Supporting Sponsor: Steve Bing. Series Sponsors: NBC Universal; Trina Turk; Valley Economic Development Corporation. Evening Sponsors: Cathy and Steve Needleman; Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer; Warner Bros.; Clifton’s and The Edison; Paramount Pictures and 213 Downtown LA Nightlife; Hugh Hefner. Media Sponsor: Los Angeles Downtown News. VIP Reception Sponsor: Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Funded in part by: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; Los Angeles City Department of Cultural Affairs; The Walt Disney Company.<br /><br />The Los Angeles Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization that works through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic architectural and cultural resources of Los Angeles County. What began as a volunteer group in 1978 now has more than 6,000 members, making the Conservancy the largest local organization of its kind in the U.S. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">www.laconservancy.org</a>. </span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-5341934514257946092010-12-02T21:16:00.000-08:002010-12-02T21:44:50.640-08:00See Scrooge this Sunday at the Million Dollar Theatre<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/5227759261/" title="Scrooge by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5043/5227759261_ee788189fd_b.jpg" alt="Scrooge" height="661" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Scrooge</span> poster courtesy of <a href="http://www.movieposter.com/">movieposter.com</a><br /></div><br />Jessica at the <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">Los Angeles Conservancy</a> asked me to remind you about this Sunday's matinee of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066344/combined"><span style="font-style: italic;">Scrooge</span></a> (1970) at the very historic <span style="font-weight: bold;">Million Dollar Theatre</span> downtown. I know everyone's weekends get a little crunched this time of year, but if you can spare the two hours and ten bucks, I bet you won't regret spending the afternoon in this 82-year-old theatre. Here's the Conservancy's press release:<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">L.A. Conservancy Holiday Matinee</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Scrooge</span> (1970)<br /><br />Sunday, December 5; 2 p.m.<br /><br />Million Dollar Theatre (1918)<br /><br />307 S. Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles<br /><br />$10 adults; $5 kids 12 and under (free candy canes!)<br /><br /><a href="https://secure2.convio.net/lac/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=8621&store_id=2341&JServSessionIdr004=lb6oh63i92.app209a">Tickets available here.</a><br /><br />Kick off the holiday season with the Los Angeles Conservancy’s fifth annual holiday film matinee, featuring the joyous musical <span style="font-style: italic;">Scrooge</span> (1970). Albert Finney and Alec Guinness star in this delightful version of <span style="font-style: italic;">A Christmas Carol</span> filled with song, dance, and holiday cheer (not to mention ghosts, Tiny Tim, and Victorian London).<br /><br />See the film in its colorful, big-screen splendor at the historic Million Dollar Theatre (1918), one of L.A.’s most historic movie palaces. Constructed as Sid Grauman’s first venue in Los Angeles, the Million Dollar was one of the largest and most ornate theatres built at the time specifically to show movies.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/5227767493/" title="Million Dollar Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/5227767493_34f7272cdd.jpg" alt="Million Dollar Theatre" height="400" width="318" /></a></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:85%;">Million Dollar Theatre photo courtesy of the <a href="http://www.lapl.org/">Los Angeles Public Library</a></span></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Make an afternoon of it! Bring your friends and family downtown for an afternoon of holiday shopping and dining. Show your <span style="font-style: italic;">Scrooge</span> ticket for 10 percent off at the iconic Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria on Broadway, a downtown classic since 1935!<br /><br />For details and tickets, please visit <a href="https://secure2.convio.net/lac/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=8621&store_id=2341&JServSessionIdr004=lb6oh63i92.app209a">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Happy Holidays from the Los Angeles Conservancy!</span><br /></span></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-30130438633441612822010-10-29T20:54:00.000-07:002010-10-29T21:10:29.505-07:00Your Chance to Tour "El Mio"<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/2484918715/" title="Smith Estate by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2484918715_9fa7d8e5c1.jpg" alt="Smith Estate" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />If I weren’t going to be out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, you can bet your bippy I’d be taking advantage of this special tour of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 142</span>, <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/05/no-142-smith-estate.html">the Smith Estate</a> AKA <span style="font-style: italic;">El Mio</span>. If you cough up the five bucks (cheap!) and take the tour, why don’t you let those of us who can’t make it know what you thought? The event benefits <a href="http://milfordarchaeology.org/milfordarchaeology.org/Welcome.html">the Milford Archaeological Research Institute</a>. Here's the information and press release:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/5127189165/" title=""El Mio" Tour Poster by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/5127189165_a2d1ed6bcc.jpg" alt=""El Mio" Tour Poster" height="500" width="324" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><blockquote>"The LA city Cultural Monument Victorian residence of El Mio will be open for a Home tour and craft fair November 28, 2010. El Mio is perched on a hilltop overlooking historic Highland Park. Completed in 1887, the home was built in the Eastlake Queen Anne-style by the occults writer Judge David Patterson Hatch. In 1890 the residence was acquired by Charles William Smith and remained in the Smith family until the 1960s. In 1900 Smith was appointed by Henry E. Huntington to run the Los Angeles Railway’s Yellow Car trolley system. From his hilltop home he could see the Arroyo Seco Valley being developed with rail lines running from downtown to Pasadena. It is due to the Smith's long residence that the house is listed as "The Smith Estate" on the National Register of Historic Places.<br /><br />In the late 1980s ardent preservationists Michael and Lacy Gage purchased the house<br />and were responsible for various restorations. The current owners Tim and Mari Parker<br />acquired the home in 1997, and after a devastating fire in 2001, have been working to<br />restore the home to its original luster. It has a rebuilt attic, the exterior color scheme is based on the original, and the interior has been largely decorated to reflect the original period. The home has Victorian furnishings and hand painted stenciling in the entrance hall, dining room, and many of the other rooms. The Parkers have graciously offered to open their home for a tour and craft fair. Tickets are available for the home tour by calling 213 309 8854 or via email at mariarchaeology@hotmail.com. Proceeds from ticket and craft sales are tax deductible and support the Milford Archaeological Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public awareness and the understanding of archaeology in the Desert Southwest."</blockquote></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-27499540082567876742010-10-20T21:23:00.000-07:002010-10-20T21:24:49.708-07:00Strolling on Seventh Street<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/2351518360/" title="Fine Arts Building by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/2351518360_225a828c97.jpg" alt="Fine Arts Building" height="332" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />What are you doing on November 7? No, no, no. I mean <i>besides</i> celebrating <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thekingkongbundy">King Kong Bundy's</a> birthday. Well, you better be taking the <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">L.A. Conservancy's</a> walking tour of downtown's 7th Street. The deal is for thirty bucks ($25 for Conservancy members - cheap!) you walk the stretch from Figueroa to Los Angeles, stopping at a bunch of sites for guided tours. These sites include Historic-Cultural Monument No. 125, <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-125-fine-arts-building.html">the Fine Arts Building</a> (that's one of the building's <span style="font-weight: bold;">Burt W. Johnson</span> sculptures above), and that lobby alone is worth the price of admission. Other sites include:<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Broadway Plaza (Macy’s Plaza)</span> (Charles Luckman Associates, 1973) - This plaza is one of the few modern buildings on Seventh and was the first "megastructure" in the U.S., combining a hotel with office and retail space. Guests will visit the circular glass Polaris Room atop the Sheraton Hotel, once a rotating restaurant known as Angel's Flight and now used only for private events.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Roosevelt Building (The Roosevelt)</span> (Curlett and Beelman, 1927) - Touted as Southern California's largest office building when it opened, this massive structure now features over 200 residential units and a restored lobby with spectacular marble mosaic floors.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Brock & Co. (Seven Grand)</span> (Dodd and Richards, 1922) - Once dubbed the “Tiffany’s of California,” Brock’s provided jewelry and china to an elite clientele. The building later housed Clifton’s Silver Spoon cafeteria and now serves as home to the super-hip whiskey bar Seven Grand. Guests will have the chance to pore over original ledgers from Brock & Co., including a 1920s diamond register with intricate sketches of jewelry pieces.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Coulter Dry Good Company & Henning Building (The Mandel)</span> (Dodd and Richards, 1917) - Coulter Dry Goods Company was Los Angeles’ oldest mercantile establishment when it moved to its sixth location in 1917. Now combined with its small neighbor to the west, the building offers loft-style housing and an enormous rooftop garden with stunning views.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">St. Vincent’s Court</span> - A unique urban space, St. Vincent’s Court is at the heart of the former Bullock’s Department Store complex. Still a working alley, this dead-end street has eclectic charm and a surprising history.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hellman Commercial Trust & Savings Bank (SB Spring) </span>(Schultze and Weaver, 1925) - This building's two-story bank lobby, with ornamental ceilings by Giovanni Smeraldi, is a study in marble and bronze opulence -- and a popular filming location.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overell’s (Dearden’s Home Furnishings)</span> (Architect unknown, c. 1906) - Celebrating a century of business downtown, Dearden’s Home Furnishings has for decades occupied the building originally constructed for another furniture store, Overell’s. Dearden’s is a beloved community icon, an old-school classic, and the last remaining example of the many furniture stores that once filled the district.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Santee Court (Arthur W. Angel, 1911)</span> - Located in the birthplace of L.A.’s fashion district, Santee Court’s vintage industrial buildings now form a thriving loft-style housing complex around a central courtyard. The featured loft on the tour occupies a space formed by connecting two buildings, resulting in an amazing "ghost sign" in the living room.<br /><br />The event begins at 10:00 a.m., November 7. For more information, <a href="https://secure2.convio.net/lac/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=8461&store_id=1601&JServSessionIdr004=vtahfk8k51.app213b">make with the clicks here</a>. See you there - I'll be the guy with the camera.</span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-18273044111156262212009-04-23T22:27:00.000-07:002009-04-24T23:10:48.888-07:00No. 230 - Villa Maria<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458736084/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3458736084_dfc8e937e3.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="332" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Villa Maria</span><br />1908 – F.L. Roehrig<br />2425 South Western Avenue – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=2425+South+Western+Avenue+los+angeles+ca&ll=34.034079,-118.310051&spn=0.009727,0.015278&z=16&iwloc=A">map</a><br />Declared: 6/12/80<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ttarchive.com/library/Biographies/Ramsay-WE_AL.html">William Edmund Ramsay</a>, born the son of Scottish immigrants in Quebec in 1855, made his fortune in the lumber business in Saginaw, Michigan, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 1906, Ramsay moved to Los Angeles with his family and bought up three parcels of land between Western Avenue and Adams Place (the latter renamed St Andrews Place in 1914) in West Adams Heights. Included in the mix were more than two and a half acres Ramsay purchased from <a href="http://www.onbunkerhill.org/Hershey_CastleTowers">Mira Hershey</a>. Ramsay then hired architect <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/2910/">Frederick L. Roehrig</a> (1857 – 1948) to design this 9,000 square foot, forty-room mansion. Completed in the summer of 1908, the estate wouldn’t remain Ramsay’s home for long, as he died of “heart trouble” in early February the next year.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458729630/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3458729630_02be916c22.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="306" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />In that summer of ‘08, the <span style="font-style: italic;">L.A. Times</span> wrote of Ramsay’s 225 x 500 foot property, “Probably no more entertaining spot could be found in all Los Angeles on which to build a handsome home.” <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-95-rindge-house.html">Roehrig</a> and the building contractors, the Barber-Bradley Construction Co., created for the Ramsays a three-story, Tudor Revival masterpiece made of stone and half timber, plaster finish, and topped with a slate roof.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457916651/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3457916651_c066be112c.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="337" /></a><br /></div><br />See! The grand entrance hall, ceiling-beamed and wainscoted in mahogany.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458614628/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3600/3458614628_ba5d268da1.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Behold! The former living room/library. Originally, the room sported electric fixtures made of brass with Tiffany shades. Like with the rest of the first floor, this section of the home featured leaded windows.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458619248/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/3458619248_02fceba551.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457748561/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3457748561_b10903868f.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Witness! The very splendid dining room, also in mahogany.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457783623/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3457783623_162a4b1b4d.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="364" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458604502/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3458604502_58f5013223.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="353" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Observe! The kitchen.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457758109/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3609/3457758109_c7db524881.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />View! Other pictures.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457765335/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3484/3457765335_f48d204a50.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458608048/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3458608048_f49128806c.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457755391/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/3457755391_5c4096944d.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Art glass, from the inside and out.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458611372/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3616/3458611372_202d1fcbde.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458655644/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3626/3458655644_aea5f12e21.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />The second floor contained five bedrooms, each finished in white enamel and given its own bathroom. The showcase of the Ramsay’s third floor was a 25 x 90 foot assembly hall/ballroom. That floor also had four bedrooms as part of its servants’ quarters.<br /><br />Going back outside, F.L. Roehrig was also in charge of the estate’s landscaping. Here’s the old pergola, sans the original lily pond.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457828031/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3513/3457828031_40c6481aab.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458638644/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3458638644_34f8a3cdb9.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />On the lot’s northwest corner stands the two-and-half-story carriage house with chauffeur’s quarters.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457858183/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/3457858183_0fd6e0ce26.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="301" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The home originally did have a tennis court, but probably not a basketball court.<br /></span></div><br />Back in 2001, historian Cecilia Rasmussen wrote the Ramsay estate – after William’s death – became the site of “lavish parties, quarrels, a shooting and a suicide – of which no details survive.” (Rasmussen claims scenes from a Charlie Chaplin film were shot on the lawn – anyone have any idea which movie?) Ramsay’s widow, Katherine, by the way, passed away in July 1916.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457847765/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3457847765_68f36085f9.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457844865/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/3457844865_6029ae85ac.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Owners #2. <span style="font-weight: bold;">William Durfee</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nellie McGaughey</span> were each thirty-two-years old when they met; she was a filthy rich society dame, Durfee was “her mother’s horse trainer, a harness racing driver, a gambler, married and the father of two.” Soon after Nellie’s mom died in 1911, the couple wed, living in the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3470352132/">South Figueroa Street mansion</a> that had been the home of Nellie’s mother and her husband, banker Nicola Bonfilio. In 1924, a year after Bonfilio’s death, the Durfees bought the Ramsay estate for $105,000.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457869901/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3457869901_80cd97d75f.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="322" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457865939/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3581/3457865939_1119b5720f.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="304" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The north (top) and west facades.<br /></span></div><br />Unfortunately, William Durfee died three years later after eating some poisoned fish on a trip to the <a href="http://web.bryant.edu/%7Elanglois/ecology/columbiahomepage.html">Columbia River</a>. Nellie didn’t take Durfee’s demise all that well, giving a go at suicide on a few occasions. While none of those attempts was successful, the poor woman grew to be an eccentric kook who, among other things, preserved her home in a museum-like fashion as kind of a shrine to her late husband – you know, keeping his clothes in his closet, his booze in the wine cellar, and the key to his bedroom around her neck. This lasted until she finally passed away in February 1976, a few months short of turning 100.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458632106/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3489/3458632106_9e8f17c129.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458628830/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3458628830_663615ba22.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="315" /></a><br /></div><br />Owners #3. In the spring of 1978, the <a href="http://www.hospitallers.org/">Brothers of St John of God</a>, who, in the 1960s, demolished a turn-of-the-century mansion next door to the Ramsay-Durfee estate to make room for their nursing hospital, bought the seventy-year-old mansion for $470,000. The Brothers auctioned off much of the original furniture, fixtures, and Nellie’s seventy oriental rugs.<br /><br />I should point out the <a href="http://www.hospitallerfoundation.org/index.asp">Brothers</a> have apparently been excellent stewards of the property. It was during their ownership the mansion was declared a Historic-Cultural Landmark as <span style="font-weight: bold;">Villa Maria</span>, and they were gracious to open up the house as part of a neighborhood tour put on by the <a href="http://www.westadamsheritage.org/">West Adams Heritage Association</a> last June. That’s when these pictures were taken.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457890545/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3457890545_799aea565d.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458710492/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3458710492_17de18587e.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458657806/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3575/3458657806_994050b62f.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="317" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The way in and out toward Western Avenue.<br /></span></div><br />In addition to the aforementioned, unidentified Chaplin film, the Villa Maria has been the location for a few movies, including <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083232/"><span style="font-style: italic;">True Confessions</span></a> and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108147">Sister Act II: Back in the Habit</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3457886593/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3500/3457886593_d3106d10b4.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3458687742/" title="Villa Maria by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3458687742_f1a0d409b0.jpg" alt="Villa Maria" height="326" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“English Domestic Architecture Employed in Designing Handsome West Adams Heights Home.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Sep 27 1908, p. V1<br /><br />“Catholic Order Purchases Historic Durfee Mansion for Headquarters” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Mar 12, 1978, p. I25<br /><br />Rasmussen, Cecilia “West Adams Mansion: If Only These Walls Could Talk” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jul 8, 2001, p. B3</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">El Greco Apartments</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-3786585198451024262009-04-18T22:53:00.000-07:002009-04-18T23:26:04.714-07:00No. 229 - Westminster Presbyterian Church Building<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3451394005/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3386/3451394005_0c9ab8792a.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="500" height="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Westminster Presbyterian Church Building</span><br />1931 – Quentin Scott<br />2230 West Jefferson Boulevard – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ei=Tb3qSYv2LomEtgO9jMjmAQ&q=2230+west+jefferson+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.025739,-118.319814&spn=0.009728,0.015278&z=16&iwloc=A">map</a><br />Declared: 6/11/80<br /><br />Historic-Cultural Monument No. 229 is a Romanesque church building that has served as headquarters for two Presbyterian congregations during its seventy-eight year history – <span style="font-weight: bold;">St Paul’s</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Westminster</span>.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3452196640/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3452196640_47c70aeae2.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="500" height="461" /></a><br /></div><br />At the end of 1930, <span style="font-style: italic;">Southwest Builder and Contractor</span> announced Alhambra architect <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/partners/705">Scott Quentin</a> – well, the magazine spelled his name <span style="font-style: italic;">Quintin</span> – had completed preliminary plans for a new building for <span style="font-weight: bold;">St Paul’s Presbyterian Church</span> at Jefferson and 3rd. The new church would run $60,000, the magazine went on, and would contain a “basement, banquet room, social hall, auditorium to seat 600 people and Sunday School rooms to accommodate 800 pupils. Dimensions 86 x 124 feet, frame and stucco construction, tile and composition roofing, cement and ample floors, art glass, gas steam heating, etc.” The church’s pastor in 1930 was the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reverend Gustav A. Briegleb</span>, who had been leading St Paul’s since leaving Westlake Presbyterian Church in October 1926. He succeeded Dr William G. Mills at St Paul’s.<br /><br />Constructed by the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Myers Brothers Company</span>, the four-story building would replace a two-story, $35,000 church building put up just seven-and-a-half years earlier. That structure, designed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">H.H. Whitely</span>, was an addition to an older building, circa 1915 (the congregation was founded in May 1910). Whitely’s building seated about 600 worshippers, a little more than 100 larger than the congregation’s size during its March 18, 1923, dedication.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3452207430/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/3452207430_2f6ff9c69c.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="385" height="500" /></a><br /></div><br />In January 1931, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span> reported demolition of the old church buildings would begin on the 12th and that the congregation would hold services at the Home Theater on Jefferson west of Arlington till the new structure was complete. The article also quoted Rev. Briegleb’s saying St Paul’s had just received a $40,000 loan from the Bank of America along with a gift of a diamond ring – valued at $3,554 – from “well-known politician Charles Crawford”. It turns out Crawford would give more than jewelry to finance the new church building.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Charles H. Crawford</span> was a Los Angeles saloon-keeper-turned-crime-boss who surprised many folks with his conversion to the faith as a new member of St Paul’s Presbyterian Church in 1930. It was during his baptism that June when he donated the pricey ring, telling Rev. Briegleb to sell it and put the proceeds to the construction of a new Sunday School for the parish. At the time, Crawford was under indictments of bribery charges (those charges were later dismissed, as were charges of extortion and conspiracy in other cases). Briegleb’s acceptance of Crawford into the fold along with the racketeer’s gift was controversial, of course. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reverend R.P. Shuler</span>, a former pal of Briegleb, broadcasted he would “just as soon baptize a skunk as to receive Crawford.” Shuler also maintained it was Crawford’s money that was financing Briegleb’s radio sermons in which he endorsed some of Charles H.’s pals for political office, a charge which the reverend later copped to. (In fact, Crawford’s unrealized plans to finance a permanent radio station in St Paul’s were revealed after his death.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3452196196/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3452196196_88e2e76d69.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="470" height="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Five months later after his baptism, Crawford donated a full $25,000 to St Paul’s for a new church building. When detractors criticized Briegleb’s receiving a donation from the “sinister influence”, the pastor replied, “If you know of any more sinners who have $25,000, send ‘em along: I can use it.”<br /><br />Rev. Briegleb and his 700-member congregation dedicated the new St Paul’s Presbyterian Church building on May 17, 1931, with a sermon entitled, “Should We Build New Churches When Multitudes Are Hungry?” Of special note was the structure’s twelve-foot revolving lighted cross perched atop its tower. The church’s new parish house was named the Amelia Crawford Memorial, in honor of benefactor Charles H.’s mom.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3452209106/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3329/3452209106_f6b291cbf4.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="334" height="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Crawford didn’t attend the new church building for long, though. Four days after St Paul’s dedication, former deputy district attorney <span style="font-weight: bold;">David H. Clark</span> entered Crawford’s office at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=6665+sunset+boulevard+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=sL7qScH2AqHytAONhI3wAQ&z=16">6665 Sunset Boulevard</a> and shot to death the politico (good thing he got in his baptism) and newspaper man <span style="font-weight: bold;">Herbert Spencer</span>. While Clark was acquitted of Spencer’s murder after pleading self-defense (prosecutors dropped the case of <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752870,00.html">Crawford’s death</a>), he eventually went to prison for the November 1953 shotgun slaying of the wife of his best friend and former law partner in Costa Mesa (seems she was bugging him to get a job). By the way, Clark, during the Spencer murder trial, was still running for municipal judge. He received 60,000 votes while in prison, proving some folks weren’t too broken up to see Crawford bite it.<br /><br />In 1949, following its merger with Baldwin Hills Community Church, <a href="http://www.presbyteryofthepacific.org/stpauls/index.html">St Paul’s Presbyterian</a> left its home on Jefferson and 3rd for a new building designed by <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/08/no-174-village-green.html">Robert E. Alexander</a> at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=5100+Coliseum+Street,+Los+Angeles+CA+90016-5308&sll=34.098461,-118.335199&sspn=0.009719,0.015278&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=34.019176,-118.355842&spn=0.009729,0.015278&z=16&iwloc=A">Coliseum Street and La Brea Avenue</a>. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Westminster Presbyterian Church</span> took over the future landmark, moving a few blocks from their headquarters at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=35th+place+and+denker+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.025739,-118.319814&sspn=0.009728,0.015278&ie=UTF8&ll=34.025508,-118.308334&spn=0.009728,0.015278&z=16&iwloc=A">35th Place and Denker Avenue</a> on land they had bought back in 1906.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3451378561/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3592/3451378561_62972b8b65.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /></div><br />The <a href="http://www.presbyteryofthepacific.org/westminster/index.html">Westminster Presbyterian Church</a> got its official start in Los Angeles on October 9, 1904, when seventeen worshippers who had been holding services in the Central Presbyterian Church were “received by confession of faith and examination.” Twelve days later, the church was officially reported to and enrolled in the L.A. Presbytery.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3451377065/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3626/3451377065_891ded7720.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="500" height="334" /></a><br /></div><br />When it dedicated its church building – built the previous summer – in March 1908, Westminster Presbyterian was the sole all-black Presbyterian congregation in the west. It’s minister in charge, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reverend E.P. Baker</span>, was also the west’s only African-American minister. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reverend Robert W. Holman</span> became the congregation’s first official pastor later that year. In 1912, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rev. Hampton B. Hawes</span> succeeded him, retiring after nearly half a century of service in 1958. Subsequent Westminster pastors included Reverends James E. Jones, Oliver L. Brown, and Glenn Jones. The current pastor is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reverend Virginia Brown</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3451391347/" title="Westminster Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3329/3451391347_d97fbeccca.jpg" alt="Westminster Presbyterian Church" width="500" height="411" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Colored People Finance Well.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Mar 9, 1908, p. I5<br /><br />“To Build Church.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Oct 2, 1921, p. V2<br /><br />“To Worship in New Homes” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Mar 17, 1923, p. II2<br /><br />“Dr. Briegleb at New Post”; <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Oct 2, 1926, p. A2<br /><br />“Charles Crawford Joins Church of Dr. Briegleb” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jul 1, 1930, p. A1<br /><br />“Crawford’s Latest Gift Announced” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Nov 3, 1930, p. A1<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Southwest Builder and Contractor</span>; Dec 5, 1930, p. 49<br /><br />“Briegleb Congregation to Build” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 5, 1931, p. A9<br /><br />“Schuler Scored by Dr. Briegleb” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 20, 1931, p. A1<br /><br />“Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 16, 1931, p. A8<br /><br />“Briegleb’s New Church Dedicated” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 18, 1931, p. A1<br /><br />“Crawford and Writer Victims of Assassin” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles</span>; May 21, 1931, p. 1<br /><br />“Victims of Assassins’ Bullets” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 21, 1931, p. 2<br /><br />“Crawford Likened to Matthew” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 25, 1931, p. 2<br /><br />“Books of Murder Victims Examined” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 27, 1931, p. 2<br /><br />“Presbytery Officials to Dedicate Building” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Oct 1, 1949, p. A3<br /><br />“Ex-L.A. Attorney Held in Slaying” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Nov 12, 1953, p. 1</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Villa Maria</span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-33014539640565840962009-04-13T22:05:00.000-07:002009-04-14T22:30:43.718-07:00No. 228 - Laurelwood Apartments<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428320774/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3369/3428320774_c4f73e8c07.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Laurelwood Apartments</span><br />1948 – R.M. Schindler<br />11833 and 11837 Laurelwood Drive, Studio City – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=11837+Laurelwood+Drive+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=fGvlSfXxN5ywtAP2-fyWBA&ll=34.141433,-118.390625&spn=0.009714,0.015278&z=16&iwloc=A">map</a><br />Declared: 4/22/80<br /><br />Celebrating this year the 60th anniversary of its completion, R.M. Schindler’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">Laurelwood Apartments</span> has had healthier days. The landmark’s condition has been such the city just last year did what it had never done before – took away the owner’s privileges provided by <a href="http://www.preservation.lacity.org/mills-act">the Mills Act</a>, a 1972 tax incentive program helping owners rehabilitate and preserve their historic properties.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427500175/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3427500175_0846ef20ae.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="500" width="412" /></a><br /></div><br />In his career, architect <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_9_39/ai_75914279/">Rudolph Schindler</a> designed about fifty residences (<a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-122-buck-house.html">HCM No. 122</a>, for instance) but just four apartment complexes. For the Laurelwood, he was given to work with a plot about an acre in size on two banks of a hill overlooking Ventura Boulevard. He created a two-level complex split into a pair of separate buildings each containing five, two-unit blocks on either side of a central walkway. Schindler gave the ground apartments garden patios, while the upper ones got roof decks.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428295626/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3593/3428295626_5d8a53c1a9.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427478213/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3427478213_a1b600b09c.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Some of the things which set the Laurelwood apart when it was completed in 1949: wide eaves extending from a flat roof; clerestory windows; L-shaped living/dining areas; patios accessible through sliding glass windows; and garages separating the street from the living space.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427476021/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3366/3427476021_7b563fcaef.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428305376/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3428305376_8aed486c2d.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="399" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The Laurelwood Apartments came this close to being bulldozed, not once but twice. The first time was after the owner, Laurelwood Properties Ltd, notified renters on New Year’s Eve 1979 of its plans to raze the complex along with the smaller one next to it to make way for fifty-eight new condos. Tenants and preservationists scrambled to have the city designate the Laurelwood a Historic-Cultural Monument which it did in April 1980. The owner surrendered in the demolition fight and instead put the monument up for sale.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427461335/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3616/3427461335_3f5bcae862.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Six years later, in the summer of 1986, owner Steve Hartunian of Empire Properties, who had bought the landmark in 1984 for about $900,000, filed for a demo permit. This time, the Cultural Heritage Commission and the Department Parks and Recreation put a freeze on the process, pressuring Hartunian to opt for selling the property rather than wage the war required to tear down the Laurelwood.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427503121/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3556/3427503121_8b644661e2.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="500" width="370" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428311546/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3324/3428311546_f34143a264.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="308" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Helen Jameson purchased the property in January 1987 for $1.6 million. However, she turned around and put the complex up for sale the following year when City Council extended by six months a one-year hold on any large renovations at the Laurelwood. The city explained “the moratorium was imposed to prevent landlords from using renovation projects as an excuse for removing tenants so they can raise rents beyond levels spelled out in city rent-control rules.” In any event, Jameson changed her mind and kept the Laurelwood.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427459279/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3427459279_5c51f963d4.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428311546/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3327/3427480509_a7dc0445b2.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Jump ahead a decade. The <a href="http://www.preservation.lacity.org/commission">Cultural Heritage Commission</a> toured Laurelwood Apartments in February 2007 and found the monument lacked even the basic maintenance and rehabilitation work required as part of the Mills Act contract. Here are some notes of the Commission’s findings:<br /><ul><li>Exterior plaster wall finished that are cracked or missing and peeling paint.</li><li>Deteriorated exterior wood finishes including dry rot and peeling paint.</li><li>Spauled and cracked concrete surfaces.</li><li>Inappropriately placed electrical conduits on the exterior surfaces of the building.</li><li>Missing light fixtures.</li><li>Unrepaired planter boxes.</li><li>Deteriorated and missing privacy fences at ground floor gardens and the use of inappropriate fence and screening materials including wooden lattice panels, wood and chicken wire.</li><li>Deteriorated stairways. This is also noted as a life-safety hazard to the occupants of the building.</li><li>Rook leaks and interior water damage.</li><li>Inappropriate roof repairs.</li><li>Trash and other debris lay throughout the property.</li><li>Inappropriately placed plumbing along the front façade.</li><li>Missing façade signage.</li></ul>Yeesh. All told, the city figured Ms Jameson received more than $80,000 in tax savings since it adopted <a href="http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21412">the Mills Act</a> in 1997. Consequently, Laurelwood Apartments lost the financial break, funds which could have and should have gone to the landmark’s upkeep.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428308864/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3575/3428308864_7620f5baa0.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427457175/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3427457175_d11d5e3ebc.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="313" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Though there’s been some talk recently of converting the Laurelwood apartment buildings into condominiums (condominia?), the lack of required parking sort of dashes those development dreams (the Laurelwood is sandwiched between a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427411405/">1990s complex</a> and the older <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3427409051/">Twin Palms</a>). I don’t have a good feeling about the future for this Schindler work, called one of “the best examples of hillside development because of its unobtrusive design.” The city’s landmark designation seems to be the sole reason we’ve still got it, and history has shown us even that isn’t a guarantee against a monument’s removal.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3428321638/" title="Laurelwood Apartments by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3428321638_c3a6026b23.jpg" alt="Laurelwood Apartments" height="260" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />Ryon, Ruth “Schindler Units Face Possible Razing” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 20, 1980, p. I2<br /><br />Igler, Marc “Preservationists, Tenants Fight to Save Laurelwood” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jul 5, 1986, p. V_A6<br /><br />Ryon, Ruth “Schindler ‘Masterpiece’ on the Market” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jul 20, 1986, p. H12<br /><br />Pool, Bob “Rent-Control Ruling Ban on Renovations Threatens Landmark” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; July 19, 1988, p. 8</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Westminster Presbyterian Church</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-11572315680509492172009-03-31T22:33:00.000-07:002009-04-09T14:49:07.204-07:00No. 227 - Janes House<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3412840289/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3412840289_14d88e5d81.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Janes House</span><br />1902 – Oliver Dennis and Lyman Farwell<br />6541 Hollywood Boulevard – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=6541+Hollywood+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90028&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=PondSfX8IYqeMvzU2dkN&ll=34.102228,-118.33241&spn=0.010039,0.015042&z=16&iwloc=A">map</a><br />Declared: 4/3/80<br /><br />Welcome to the oldest building in Hollywood, a Queen Anne/Dutch Colonial Revival single-family house designed by <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/1510">Oliver Dennis</a> and <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/1509">Lyman Farwell</a> for <a href="http://www.thefatherofhollywood.com/">H.J. Whitley</a>, the Father of Hollywood. While it was Whitley who built the home in 1902, it’s associated with the family who bought the house the following year, the Janes of <a href="http://www.aurora-il.org/">Aurora, Illinois</a>.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413653504/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3413653504_b9aa06318a.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Herman Nelson</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mary Ruth Janes</span> had been running a furniture business in Aurora when they purchased this home at what was then 241 West Prospect Avenue for $10,000. This was in June 1903. Here’s a Sanborn fire insurance map of the area from the company’s May 1907 volume. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Janes House</span> is the second building from the left along the bottom (Rose is now Yucca; Chester Court is Hudson Ave).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3417275992/" title="Janes House, Original Location by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3417275992_b60be97a3b.jpg" alt="Janes House, Original Location" height="438" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Even though they bought it in 1903, it looks like the Janes – along with kids Mabel Howley, Carrie Belle, Mary Grace, and Robert Donald – didn’t move in until 1905. Six years later, mother Mary, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mabel, Carrie, and Grace</span> opened the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Misses Janes Kindergarten</span> here with fifteen students each paying a tuition of five dollars a month. The ladies, who were also responsible for rounding up the children in the morning, usually via the <a href="http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/redcars">Red Cars</a> that ran up Hollywood Boulevard (Prospect’s name as of 1910), later expanded the school to include the primary grades. By the end of World War I, the Misses Janes private school featured courses were French and esthetic<span style="font-style: italic;"></span> dancing.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413626714/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3537/3413626714_2947231b38.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="412" /></a><br /></div><br />It was a successful school, too, with more than 1,000 students attending here between 1911 and the time it closed in 1926. With Hollywood bigshot names of DeMille, Lasky, Ince, Beery, Chaplin, and Laemmle, the kids would attend classes outdoors, weather permitting (and in Los Angeles, it almost always permits). The Misses Janes School shut down after its final graduation exercises held at <a href="http://www.hollywoodhighschool.net/">Hollywood High</a> on June 19, 1926. An “at-home” for all former pupils of the school was held the following Saturday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3412837367/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3412837367_1ee988c324.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />The Janes House also served as a local meeting place. Legend has it the first gathering to establish the <a href="http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/">Hollywood Bowl</a> was held here.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413618750/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3653/3413618750_db00443e29.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="417" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3412814535/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/3412814535_5ff91517ff.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="434" /></a><br /></div><br />After the school shut down, brother <span style="font-weight: bold;">Donald</span> set up a gas pump in the front yard and catered to motorists by opening <span style="font-weight: bold;">Janes Auto Service</span>. The gals continued to live in the home, though. Carrie Belle, in her forties, was the first (and only?) sister to get hitched, marrying <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ernest Collier</span> in the 1930s. After his death in 1964, she rented the space out front along the boulevard to street vendors.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3412817411/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3572/3412817411_9550e029fa.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Saying the home lacked architectural significance, the Cultural Heritage Board declined to designate the Janes House a monument in 1972. Eight years later, however, the group claimed the building had enough historical significance to warrant landmark status.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3412702671/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3662/3412702671_dd0925dd7e.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="384" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413503416/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3342/3413503416_52f6799649.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="367" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Now, from most accounts, it sounds like the living conditions at the Janes House in the 70s was a little grim. A man named <span style="font-weight: bold;">Guy Miller</span>, inventor of the Vocabumat, moved in as an ostensible caretaker around 1975, about two years after Grace died. After living a few months in a nursing home, Mabel passed away in 1978 right around the same time brother Donald died. After spending the last few years of her life in the kitchen sleeping on a window box converted to a bed, Carrie Belle was moved to a Studio City convalescent home in March 1982. She died the following January at the age of 94. That sure was a ton of change Carrie Belle witnessed outside her front door over the course of her sixty-seven year stint living on Hollywood Boulevard.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413506230/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/3413506230_81847f13c7.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="421" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413498310/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/3413498310_3c05dea3b4.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="289" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Even before Carrie Belle passed on, her court-appointed conservator was working on selling the home for development. Despite the efforts of Mr Miller and <a href="http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/">Hollywood Heritage</a>, the house was put up for sale in January 1984 for $695,000. The city, citing the building’s landmark status, delayed a demo permit issued a few months later. In the summer of 1984, developers <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sayam Bamshad and Parviz Ebrahimian</span> outbid Hollywood Heritage and bought the Janes House for $600,000.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413500788/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3597/3413500788_011f033824.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="376" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413495306/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/3413495306_df9c916f8f.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="259" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Rather than demolish the historic building, in September 1985 the new owners moved the home toward the back of the lot, building the Janes Square Landmark Shopping Center out by the boulevard. The shopping center features two rows of buildings mirroring the style of the landmark separated by a courtyard leading back to the Janes House. The <a href="http://discoverlosangeles.com/">Greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau</a> set up shop in the former schoolhouse in August 1986. Here’s a picture of the shopping center where the Janes House originally stood:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3413617866/" title="Original Site of the Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/3413617866_9ecf53f73f.jpg" alt="Original Site of the Janes House" height="343" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />In 2006, the Jane House was converted into the southern food restaurant called Memphis. It failed quickly, but that isn’t stopping <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kimoon Kim and Katie Matthews</span> taking a crack at opening a new restaurant here, appropriately named <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2009/03/janes-house-replaces-memphis.html">Janes House</a>. The place opens in a few weeks (these interior shots here were snapped as the owners prepped the place for a test run).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3412843097/" title="Janes House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3341/3412843097_b3c4fcd697.jpg" alt="Janes House" height="500" width="432" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Southern California’s Institutions of Learning Stand Unequaled in America Today.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 17, 1919, p. III17<br /><br />“Hollywood High School to Graduate Its Largest Class Next Week.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jun 19, 1926, p. 8<br /><br />Smith, Jack “Janes Sister Carries On” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jun 2, 1980, p. G1<br /><br />Morain, Dan “Pioneer’s Home” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Oct 3, 1982, p. WS1<br /><br />Morain, Dan “Owener Dies; Home’s Future Uncertain” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 20, 1983, p. WS1<br /><br />“Supervisors Agree to Save Old House” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Sep 1, 1983, p. WS7<br /><br />Curtius, Mary “Sale of Victorian House Collapses” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 19, 1984, p. WS1<br /><br />Braun, Stephen “$540,000 Cash Offered for Victorian House” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 12, 1984, p. WS1<br /><br />Braun, Stephen “Develop Buys Victorian for $600,000” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 16, 1984, p. WS_A8<br /><br />Stambler, Lyndon “Hollywood Blvd. House Moves Aside – a Bit – for Progress” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>, Sep 15, 1985, p. WS1<br /><br />Fanucchi, Kenneth J. “Hollywood Visitors Bureau finds New Home in Historic Janes House” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 28, 1986. P. WS_A3</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Laurelwood Apartments</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-4406820544853778462009-03-26T22:57:00.000-07:002009-04-03T23:35:26.491-07:00No. 226 - (Site of) Masquers Club Building<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3406278506/" title="Masquers Club Building by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3406278506_fde68f457d.jpg" alt="Masquers Club Building" height="378" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Site of) Masquers Club Building</span><br />c. 1918<br />1765 North Sycamore Avenue – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=1765+North+Sycamore+Avenue+los+angeles+ca&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&cid=0,0,6991594619830884621&ei=JvjWSezHHZX0tAPiyKSzCg&ll=34.103792,-118.343825&spn=0.00995,0.015149&z=16&iwloc=A">map </a><br />Declared: 8/29/79<br /><br />I’ll admit I never heard of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Masquers Club</span> until this landmark popped up on the list. However, I sure recognize many of its former members, including just about every name actor of the 1930s and 40s I can think of. And the genesis of the old clubhouse itself – gone for nearly twenty-four years now – lies with another actor, one I thought I didn’t know but I guess I really did.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">Eight men in May 1925 got together to form Hollywood’s first actors club, one, like <a href="http://www.the-lambs.org/">the Lambs in New York</a>, which would be a “social sanctuary for actors and the theatrically inclined.” For a fleeting moment the men were calling themselves the Jesters, but when they found out the Shriners laid claim to that name, it was <a href="http://www.silentsaregolden.com/photos2/earlefoxephoto.html">Earle Foxe</a> who came up with the name Masquers (you may remember Foxe from such films as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Cub Reporter’s Temptation</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ladies Must Dress</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Rah! Rah! Heidelberg!</span>). And it was the club’s first president, <a href="http://www.silentsaregolden.com/photos2/robertedeson.html">Robert Edeson</a> (<span style="font-style: italic;">A Man’s Prerogative</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Colonel’s Peril</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Has the World Gone Mad!</span>), who coined its motto, “We laugh to win.”<br /><br />The club set up headquarters in the home below at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=6735+yucca+street+hollywood+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=wPrWSanbNKiUtgO0g4GuCg&ll=34.10381,-118.337431&spn=0.00995,0.015149&z=16&iwloc=addr">6735 Yucca Street</a> (it, too, is gone). The Masquers remained here until the end of April 1928 when they relocated a couple of blocks west to North Sycamore (6735 later served as club for the Shriners).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3405466487/" title="First Masquers Club Building by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3405466487_951caf1c6e.jpg" alt="First Masquers Club Building" height="325" width="446" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Masquers’ first home, on Yucca.<br /></span></div><br />Now we leave that narrative thread to pick up this one: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0603875">Antonio Moreno</a>, born Antonio Garride Monteagudo in Madrid in 1887, was a popular Latin lover-type in silent films, appearing with <a href="http://home.hiwaay.net/%7Eoliver/swanson.htm">Gloria Swanson</a>, <a href="http://www.polanegri.com/">Pola Negri</a>, <a href="http://silentladies.com/PGishD.html">Dorothy Gish</a>, <a href="http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/garbo.html">Greta Garbo</a>, and <a href="http://www.clarabow.net/">Clara Bow</a>. His career lasted until 1959, a few years after he acted in <a href="http://www.the-reelgillman.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Creature from the Black Lagoon</span></a> and John Ford’s <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/sear.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Searchers</span></a>. Sometime in the mid-teens, Moreno built himself a two-story Tudor home with fifteen rooms just above Hollywood Boulevard. In 1928, he sold his home to the Masquers whose alterations to the building were to accommodate an English tavern, theater, stage, dining area, kitchen, switchboard, reception office, and entrance lobby. Moreno was a Masquer himself, and was one of the club’s few life-members. (Antonio gets the nod for having lived in two Historic-Cultural Monuments, building with his wife, Daisy Canfield, Silverlake’s Canfield-Moreno Residence, HCM No. 391.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3410424331/" title="Antonio Moreno and Gloria Swanson by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/3410424331_bb64ba6e9b.jpg" alt="Antonio Moreno and Gloria Swanson" height="380" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Moreno and Gloria Swanson in <span style="font-style: italic;">My American Wife</span><br /></span></div><br />In 1930, when club membership was limited to 700 men, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span> called the Masquers Club Building “one of the most charming, old-fashioned, two-story houses on Sycamore street. It is surrounded by spacious ground filled with trees and shrubs and a large parking space for cars as naturally everybody owns a car. On the first floor is a large dining-room with a small stage at one end on which the club revels are presented every six weeks.” I can’t figure if the “naturally everybody owns a car” line is sardonic or not.<br /><br />The Masquers club was the type of fraternal organization you’d expect it to be, I guess. Charitable functions, all-male public performances which the club called “revels” (the first being held in downtown’s <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-61-philharmonic-auditorium.html">Philharmonic Auditorium</a>), the annual picnic, or “mess”, often held at John Ford’s Encino ranch, and lots of dinners and tributes and such (the picture below is of a 1932 wing-ding honoring <a href="http://douglasfairbanks.org/">Doug Fairbanks</a>). Oh, and the partying, too. A police raid in April 1930 netted a case each of gin and whiskey when a copper pressed a button under the café’s manager’s desk revealing a secret compartment behind a wall (“I’m shocked. Shocked!”). Go figure – <span style="font-style: italic;">booze</span> on the premises, what with members at one time or another John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, John Gilbert, Buster Keaton, Frank Sinatra, Stan Laurel, Humphrey Bogart, Joe E. Brown, and W.C. Fields.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3405466653/" title="Masquers Club 1932 by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3405466653_6608149173.jpg" alt="Masquers Club 1932" height="237" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Honoring Douglas Fairbanks<br /></span></div><br />The Masquers Club was also in the movie business, co-producing as an entity <a href="http://www.imdb.com/company/co0044420/#productionX20company">a series of two-reelers</a> for RKO from 1931 to 1933. And it members, along with those of the Dominos (a Masquers Club for dames) and the <a href="http://www.hollywoodcc.net/">Hollywood Cricket Club</a>, were instrumental in the 1933 founding of the <a href="http://www.sag.org/">Screen Actors Guild</a>. Plus, the clubhouse served as a military canteen and entertainment center during WWII.<br /><br />In late 1965, the Masquers began to admit skirts into the mix but as “auxiliary members”. Some<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Masquerettes</span> whose names I recognize: Maureen O’Hara, Mia Farrow, Jane Wyman, Gena Rowlands, Jane Wyman, Edith Head, and Lee Meriwether.<br /><br />Masquers presidents – called “harlequins” – included Joe E. Brown, Frank Morgan, Pat O’Brien, Charlie Chase, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3006557267/">Lou Costello</a>, and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3008977707/">Gene Autry</a>. Producer <a href="http://www.joepasternakmovies.com/">Joe Pasternak</a> was a harlequin from 1970-1978, and the club’s last harlequin on North Sycamore was actor <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030408/ai_n12692322/">Tony Caruso</a>.<br /><br />By 1985, the Masquers Club was in big trouble. The organization was struggling with a mortgage of $2,200 on top of being in debt to the tune of about $335,000 (I can’t answer why, after nearly sixty years, the Masquers didn’t own their clubhouse). Membership was low, and with dues at $10 per month, the club would’ve needed a whole hell of a lot of Masquers to make even a dent toward recovery.<br /><br />In stepped Century City’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">Urban Pacific Development Corp</span>, buying the city landmark for $475,000. The good news was the money allowed the club to continue, the bad news its clubhouse would be razed to make way for a fifty-unit apartment building. The Cultural Heritage Board didn’t raise a fuss since the Masquers were leaving and the building had been so altered since Moreno built it seventy years earlier. Last minute attempts at preserving – and maybe even moving – the building failed. Members held a final wake for the clubhouse on Saturday night, April 28, very, very close to the 57th anniversary of their moving in.<br /><br />Here’s the site of the Masquers Club landmark today, home of Westbury Apartments:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3405498727/" title="(Site of) Masquers Club Building by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3546/3405498727_db6ac91aea.jpg" alt="(Site of) Masquers Club Building" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The Masquers moved downtown to the <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-196-variety-arts-center-building.html">Variety Arts Center</a> on Figueroa where owner Milt Larsen donated that landmark’s third floor to the club for use as its new headquarters. Although some of it disappeared in the club’s final days on Sycamore, the Masquers’ extensive memorabilia collection went with them. I have no idea where all that stuff, including the club’s famous nude murals by <a href="http://www.americanartarchives.com/clive.htm">Henry Clive</a>, eventually wound up.<br /><br />Although it has no clubhouse, the <a href="http://www.masquersclub.org/index.html">Masquers Club</a> still exists today with <span style="font-weight: bold;">William Malin</span> as its current harlequin. Membership is by invite only, although at $55 a year (cheap!) it’s less expensive today than it was twenty-five years ago.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3406277828/" title="Masquers Club Building by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/3406277828_af0ae3ff0b.jpg" alt="Masquers Club Building" height="273" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Button Pressing Reveals Liquor” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 13, 1930, p. A5<br /><br />Thompson, Paul “Show Without Women Will be Given” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 4, 1930, p. B11<br /><br />Dean, Paul “Unmasking Masquers: End of a Landmark?” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 25, 1985, p. H1<br /></span><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Janes House</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-44904335912750495202009-03-22T21:27:00.000-07:002009-03-31T22:46:10.051-07:00No. 225 - Los Angeles Theatre<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393849747/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3565/3393849747_d8c8713bcd.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="322" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Los Angeles Theatre</span><br />1931 – S. Charles Lee<br />615 South Broadway – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=615+south+broadway+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=KZzRSZWnFoeusQPTo_HVAw&ll=34.046544,-118.252459&spn=0.009956,0.015149&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 8/15/79<br /><br />What perfect timing. Just as I was wondering if I’d have the chance to get inside the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Los Angeles Theatre</span> in time for this entry, <a href="http://www.lahtf.org/">the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation</a> announced they’d be having their March meeting/tour at the landmark just in time to coincide with my post about it. Thanks, LAHTF.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390767477/" title="The Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3390767477_b3d76c5a9b.jpg" alt="The Los Angeles Theatre" height="399" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3403869850/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/3403869850_b7f4bab1fc.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="500" width="485" /></a><br /></div><br />In 1930, movie mogul <a href="http://whitenberg.de/FoxTheatreAtlanta/WilliamFoxBio.html">William Fox</a> – banged up from a fatal car crash and nearly $100 million in debt – agreed to allow independent exhibitor <span style="font-weight: bold;">H.L. Gumbiner</span> to own and operate a movie theater on a section of his property in downtown L.A. Fox’s lot (not to be confused with <a href="http://digarc.usc.edu/assetserver/controller/view/search/CHS-9915">Fox’s lot</a>) was a big one, located on Broadway between Sixth and Seventh Streets and stretching right through St Vincent Court back to South Hill Street. Gumbiner, who owned the <a href="http://www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/cameo">Cameo</a> (HCM No. 524) and <a href="http://www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/tower">Tower</a> (HCM No. 450) theaters, would develop part of the section fronting Broadway. Having already worked with him on the Tower Theatre, Gumbiner hired architect <a href="http://digital.library.ucla.edu/sclee">S. Charles Lee</a> to create what was to be the final and most spectacular of downtown’s movie palaces. (Lee was born Simeon Charles Levi in 1899 in Chicago. If you don’t believe he was the king of theater design, look at <a href="http://cinematreasures.org/architect/71/show=all">this Cinema Treasures list</a> of his movie houses. He died in 1990.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3396999292/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3396999292_a3c854d2ae.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="365" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3396120801/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3421/3396120801_3a2ab6536d.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="332" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Now, before Fox bought it, the land was owned by the family of architect <a href="http://s93883215.onlinehome.us/adamjaneiro/2007/12/s-tilden-norton.html">S. Tilden Norton</a>. Initially, newspapers announced that Norton would be the one designing the theater, with Lee and Frederick H. Wallis as consulting architects. Ultimately, though, it was Lee who designed the <a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theater/5">Los Angeles Theatre</a> while Norton was responsible for the adjoining retail/office buildings including the very nice thirteen-story <a href="http://you-are-here.com/downtown/william_fox.html">Fox Building</a> on South Hill. Maybe the confusion stemmed from both men sharing the first name of S.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3397032214/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3397032214_92101a14e5.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="500" width="428" /></a><br /></div><br />Employing thirty-two draftsmen working in two shifts, <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/464/">Lee</a> had the plans for the height-limit theater wrapped up in a mere ten weeks. The building is in the Baroque/French Renaissance style and takes much of its look from <a href="http://www.historigraphics.com/fox/default.shtml">San Francisco’s Fox Theatre</a>. With 600 people rushing to complete the theater for its scheduled opening, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sumner-Sollitt Company</span>, the project’s general contractors, finished the building in <span style="font-style: italic;">five months</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3396956186/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Terrazzo by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3454/3396956186_67a7b3bc04.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Terrazzo" height="335" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3396973182/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3396973182_19feca238d.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Where to start? Out on the sidewalk of Broadway, I guess. It’s where you’ll find the terrazzo pavement that leads you into the opulent fifty-foot-tall lobby, complete with crystal chandeliers and a grand staircase leading up to the mezzanine level. Here, on the mezzanine, stands a three-tiered marble and crystal fountain.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394581644/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Lobby by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3642/3394581644_4f9a8cb270.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Lobby" height="500" width="383" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393767135/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Lobby by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3176/3393767135_d5dfa9300c.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Lobby" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393734061/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Mezzanine Ceiling by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3393734061_13b55a2067.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Mezzanine Ceiling" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393716349/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3393716349_c251dcb5ff.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394532650/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Mezzanine by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3457/3394532650_6a23c434d2.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Mezzanine" height="500" width="367" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393726725/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Fountain by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3393726725_df7d49ec28.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Fountain" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Heading downstairs, there’s the intermediate lounge. You can still see the window to the theater’s old radio station.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393366089/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Light by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3393366089_f0f7c0e56a.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Light" height="335" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393708201/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Intermediate Lounge by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/3393708201_569445a9e9.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Intermediate Lounge" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394199018/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Radio Station by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/3394199018_037dcf3a66.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Radio Station" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Another level down is the basement containing the main lounge with its glass ceiling. Back in the day, after the night’s films had ended, the theater would move its orchestra to the lounge, roll up the carpets, and hold dances on the parquet floor.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393704031/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Main Lounge Stairs by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3586/3393704031_9290587408.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Main Lounge Stairs" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390800905/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Architects' Drawing by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/3390800905_76fda593dd.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Architects' Drawing" height="310" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3391578506/" title="Main Lounge of the Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3549/3391578506_e8432c977c.jpg" alt="Main Lounge of the Los Angeles Theatre" height="387" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394387056/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Main Lounge by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3610/3394387056_24a067b03a.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Main Lounge" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Off the main lounge are the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/2082755439/">ladies’ restroom</a> (featuring different-colored marble in each stall), the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/2083539810/">cosmetic room</a>, and my favorite area of the theater, the children’s playroom. Designed as a circus tent, the nursery’s murals by <a href="http://www.lamurals.org/MuralistPages/Heinsbergen.html">Anthony Heinsbergen</a> are remarkably in pretty good shape.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390767301/" title="Children's Playroom in the Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/3390767301_e62e0aebc0.jpg" alt="Children's Playroom in the Los Angeles Theatre" height="392" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3392026343/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Children's Playroom by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3392026343_cbfbf3f30c.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Children's Playroom" height="318" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3392833634/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Children's Playroom by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3392833634_f985b0e62e.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Children's Playroom" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3392824052/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Children's Playroom by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/3392824052_e63a5b4e10.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Children's Playroom" height="326" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The main lounge also featured what’s my second favorite feature of the theater, a screen that allowed those in the lounge to watch the movie as it was being shown in the auditorium. This all happened through a prism and a series of mirrors, a system invented for the Los Angeles by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Francis Pease</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390767869/" title="The Los Angeles Theatre Periscoped Screen by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3390767869_971373c1fd.jpg" alt="The Los Angeles Theatre Periscoped Screen" height="500" width="374" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393569429/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Periscoped Screen by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3463/3393569429_a9d78bdeae.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Periscoped Screen" height="500" width="399" /></a><br /></div><br />Finally, from the main lounge you’d enter directly into the theater’s walnut-paneled café and soda fountain.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394163954/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Restaurant by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3394163954_abfbd628e0.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Restaurant" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3391577872/" title="Cafe in the Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3391577872_f8872c6803.jpg" alt="Cafe in the Los Angeles Theatre" height="403" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393343803/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Restaurant by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/3393343803_d76e0fa754.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Restaurant" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Also in the basement is the men’s room complete with shoe-shining parlor. There used to be a barbershop, too. As for the urinals, they’re far too nice to pee in.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393616984/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Men's Room by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/3393616984_b3787bac4c.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Men's Room" height="274" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3392808707/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Men's Room by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/3392808707_f262027a4c.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Men's Room" height="336" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />And while I don’t have a shot of them here, the theater also had a pair of “crying rooms”, which gave moms of howling babies the opportunity to slip away into a glass-enclosed booth, continue to watch the movie with earphones, and do whatever it is mothers do to mollify kids crying at the movies. But here’s a shot of the phone booths in the main lounge:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394120370/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Phone Booths by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3653/3394120370_64ab01e985.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Phone Booths" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />The auditorium itself seats more than 2,000 people. Originally, the main floor had eight aisles so that there were no more than six seats in a row, “… doing away with the annoyance caused by late arrivals.” Aisles were lit with blue neon tubes planted in the floor. And there are more striking Heinsbergen murals decorating the ceiling.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393836729/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3393836729_522bd8c8c5.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394653322/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/3394653322_3c1063e3fc.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="500" width="379" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394648314/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3445/3394648314_af1138d722.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394639998/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/3394639998_56237e2cd6.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="500" width="376" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394638758/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Organ Loft by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/3394638758_136c73a61a.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Organ Loft" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />And even though the <a href="http://www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/los_angeles_theatre">Los Angeles Theatre</a> was built primarily as a movie house, there is full stage (60’ x 27’), orchestra pit, and several dressing rooms for theater more legitimate.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390767229/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Auditorium Mural by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3390767229_64809c88c8.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Auditorium Mural" height="396" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394619816/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3394619816_6cdbf07828.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394617798/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/3394617798_e06f217c63.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394615754/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3621/3394615754_0de168cb34.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394613374/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3570/3394613374_691ce5fae6.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">B.F. Shearer Corporation</span> was responsible for the theater’s curtains, drapes, and carpets. The stage’s embroidered curtain is yet another highlight of the landmark. It was “… designed to give, at a moment’s glance, the feeling, spirit, and the accomplishments in architecture during the reign of Louis XIV.” There are several scenes in the life of the Sun King stitched into the curtain, including one with his mistress, <a href="http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Louise_Francoise_De_La_Valliere">Louise de la Valliere</a>. For some reason, the curtain was never fully embroidered. What was finished, however, is worth the price of admission.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390767369/" title="Curtain in the Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3475/3390767369_65af24ce6c.jpg" alt="Curtain in the Los Angeles Theatre" height="393" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393782507/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Hand-Sewn Curtain by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3596/3393782507_1697d5c80f.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Hand-Sewn Curtain" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393786161/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Hand-Sewn Curtain by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3393786161_77ea97e1db.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Hand-Sewn Curtain" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The cutting-edge theater opened with an $80,000 air-conditioning set-up and a $34,000 Westinghouse switchboard allowing ushers to keep track of seat counts.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3390767531/" title="The Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3390767531_6b41bb1a14.jpg" alt="The Los Angeles Theatre" height="500" width="384" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3397032179/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Best Wishes by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3397032179_65b9aeb657.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Best Wishes" height="330" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3397844652/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Ad by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/3397844652_e9fc9e5551.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Ad" height="424" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The <a href="http://www.losangelestheatre.com/">Los Angeles Theatre</a>, “the Theatre Unusual” and “the ultra of ultras in its modernistic appointments and its conveniences”, opened on January 30, 1931, with the premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/city.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">City Lights</span></a>. (Two notes: first, the film, not silent but sans dialog, failed to take advantage of the theater’s state-of-the-art sound system. Second, it took nearly three years to produce <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8165342613993860614"><span style="font-style: italic;">City Lights</span></a> – about six times the amount of time to build the landmark theater itself.) <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-58-m-records-original-charlie.html">Charlie Chaplin</a> attended opening night, of course (and got royally cheesed when Gumbiner stopped the movie midway to rave about the theater), as was <a href="http://catalog1.lapl.org/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+6001+968+41666+2+0">Pasadena resident</a> Albert Einstein.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394123424/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Restaurant Kitchen by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3394123424_c1493f8199.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Restaurant Kitchen" height="500" width="402" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The restaurant kitchen.<br /></span></div><br />More than 25,000 people thronged Broadway that night, effectively shutting down center city. The<span style="font-style: italic;"> L.A. Times</span> reported “the whole traffic on the chief downtown thoroughfares for a mile on either side of the theater was at a complete standstill for more than two hours, store windows were broken, clothes were torn, windshields in cars were smashed and many women fainted in the milling multitudes gathered to make a movie holiday.”<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394190402/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Ladies' Room Entrance by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3394190402_057be7def8.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Ladies' Room Entrance" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394196292/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Ladies' Washroom by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/3394196292_6d73bb7622.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Ladies' Washroom" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Entrance to the ladies’ room and the washroom.<br /></span></div><br />Like I said, while mainly for movies, the Los Angeles also featured live stage shows and prologues. Albert E. Short, who also conducted the theater’s orchestra, put these on originally. The performances included casts of between thirty and fifty people, “including at least ten principals.” Premier night, the stage presentation was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_Kxe8mt2s">“The Little Things in Life”</a> inspired by the Irving Berlin <a href="http://www.kovideo.net/lyrics/i/Irving-Berlin/The-Little-Things-In-Life.html">ballad</a>.<br /><br />H.L. Gumbiner’s brother, Robert, was the Los Angeles’s resident manager and Harry M. Rosenbaum was its secretary-treasurer. Sam B. Cohn was in charge of advertising and publicity.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394516986/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Intermediate Lounge Stairs by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/3394516986_c2fe5efa68.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Intermediate Lounge Stairs" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394511862/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Main Lounge Stairs by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3439/3394511862_5704c466b4.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Main Lounge Stairs" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The Depression wasn’t kind to <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=46583533&GRid=23567141&">Gumbiner</a>, his company going bankrupt just three months after the theater opened. By the end of the year, the Los Angeles Theatre had shut its doors. William Fox soon re-opened it as a second-run house, running it until 1939 when <a href="http://metrotheatres.com/aboutus.asp">Metropolitan Theatres</a> took over the lease. Metropolitan continued the theater as a second-run house until 1944 when they switched it back to first-run pictures. Fox West Coast operated the theater beginning in 1949 as the major studios were forced to divest their theater holdings. They ran the Los Angeles until 1962. It was then the theater’s future looked sketchiest, but Metropolitan Theatres came back into the picture, again running first-run films, including features from Mexico and English-dubbed Spanish films. The Los Angeles Theatre closed in 1994.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3391578300/" title="The Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/3391578300_d74b2b3783.jpg" alt="The Los Angeles Theatre" height="386" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394376804/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Concession Stand by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3609/3394376804_5485964879.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Concession Stand" height="354" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Concession stand.<br /></span></div><br />The <a href="http://www.lahtf.org/all-about-los-angeles.html">Los Angeles Theatre</a> today is one of four movie palaces in downtown owned by the Delijani family and Delson Investment Co. Events are still held there, and it’s used frequently for film shoots. According to the ultimate authority on the movie palaces of downtown L.A., <a href="http://www.jackiechan.com/scrapbook/206205--Note-from-Jackie--The-Los-Angeles-Theater">Jackie Chan</a>, the Los Angeles Theatre can be seen in the movies <span style="font-style: italic;">Batman Forever</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Alien Nation</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Man on the Moon</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Houdini</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Escape from LA</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Chaplin</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Charlie's Angels II</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Prestige</span>. It also makes appearances in <span style="font-style: italic;">New York, New York</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">1941</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3394590436/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Backstage by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3615/3394590436_bd32eeaea5.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Backstage" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393777639/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Backstage by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3393777639_0f8e2d95c8.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Backstage" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Backstage stuff.<br /></span></div><br />The Los Angeles Theatre, listed on the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/nr">National Register of Historic Places</a>, has a very cool homepage. Especially take note of the <a href="http://www.losangelestheatre.com/la3dga01.html">nifty 3D gallery</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3396093501/" title="Los Angeles Theatre from Sixth Street by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3396093501_f6e2c0722f.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre from Sixth Street" height="325" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3392009745/" title="Los Angeles Theatre Marquee Letters by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3443/3392009745_8274474df4.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre Marquee Letters" height="329" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The top shot is from St Vincent Court and Sixth Street. The marquee shows <span style="font-style: italic;">A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum</span>. Marquee letters below.</span><br /></div><br />The <a href="http://www.lahtf.org/">Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation</a> is hitting the <a href="http://www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/tower">Tower</a>, the <a href="http://www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/rialto">Rialto</a>, and the <a href="http://www.losangelestheatres.googlepages.com/olympic">Olympic</a> theaters on April 18. If you missed the Los Angeles Theatre event and are eager to visit the landmark, make sure you buy tickets for the <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">L.A. Conservancy’s</a> <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/remaining/index.php4">Last Remaining Seats</a>. The Los Angeles Theatre will screen <span style="font-style: italic;">Cabaret</span> on June 10 and <span style="font-style: italic;">A Streetcar Named Desire</span> two weeks later.<br /><br />Thanks to the <a href="http://www.lib.state.ca.us/">California State Library</a> for all the black and white shots. They’re part of the Mott-Merge Collection from early 1931.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3393846281/" title="Los Angeles Theatre by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3475/3393846281_b38fede6d6.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Theatre" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Broadway Theater to be Erected” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 27, 1930, p. A1<br /><br />“Construction Under Way on Theater Building” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 10, 1930, p. D3<br /><br />“Innovations Mark Newest Theater” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Dec 4, 1930, p. A3<br /><br />Scheuer, Philip K. “Theater Ideal Soon to Open” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 18, 1931, p. B11<br /><br />“Los Angeles Theater Opens Tomorrow Night” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 29, 1931, p. A8<br /><br />“Stage Shows also Planned” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 29, 1931, p. A8<br /><br />Schallert, Edwin “Premier Jams Broadway” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Feb 2, 1931, p. A7<br /><br />“Preview Pandemonium” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Feb 2, 1931, p. A4<br /><br />Thomas, Kevin “Los Angeles Theater Has Cloudy Future” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Feb 18, 1963, p. A1</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">(Site of) Masquers Club Building</span><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-86933545411208337042009-03-18T20:05:00.000-07:002009-03-26T20:57:35.515-07:00No. 224 - Cesar E. Chavez Avenue Viaduct<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377265783/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3600/3377265783_5dc6961686.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="500" width="362" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cesar E. Chavez Avenue Viaduct</span><br />1926 – Merrill Butler<br />Cesar E. Chavez Avenue between Mission Road and Vignes Street – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cesar+chavez+avenue+and+mission+road+los+angeles&sll=34.054579,-118.221731&sspn=0.040107,0.054588&ie=UTF8&ll=34.054846,-118.225765&spn=0.010027,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 8/1/79<br /><br />What’s today called the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cesar E. Chavez Avenue Viaduct</span> was the second span realized as part of a major bridge-building program in Los Angeles begun in the mid-1920s (the one at Ninth Street, or the <a href="http://www.dokkenengineering.com/projects/olympic.html">Olympic Boulevard Bridge</a>, built by the North Pacific Construction Company, was the first completed). Lead by the Chamber of Commerce, a collection of groups started lobbying hard in the spring of 1923 for the replacement of six of the city’s outdated bridges and viaducts, but mainly at First, Seventh, Ninth, and Macy Streets.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377481803/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3377481803_36e65a9fef.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="339" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Now, there had been a couple of bridges over the years connecting Macy Street with Brooklyn Avenue in Boyle Heights (or with Pleasant Avenue in East Los Angeles, depending on when you lived). In fact, the first span over the Los Angeles River was a covered bridge, lit with kerosene lamps, built on this spot in 1870 (has anyone seen a photo of that bridge?). By 1923, however, you would cross the L.A. River at Macy on the metal truss bridge pictured below. What was a particular drag was, while crossing, you were required to contend with the trains of both the Santa Fe (on the eastern side) and the Union Pacific (on the western), as the tracks for each were at the same grade as the bridge’s. Hoping the tracks would be lowered, this brought the Chamber of Commerce to recommend the railroads pay for at least the cost of the new span’s approaches.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377245217/" title="Macy Street Bridge by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3377245217_94b5ca6294.jpg" alt="Macy Street Bridge" height="271" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The penultimate Macy Street Bridge, from the L.A. Public Library Photo Collection</span><br /></div><br />On June 5, 1923, the electorate voted for a $2 million bond issue to be put toward the big bridge initiative. A few months later, in September, City Council asked the State Railroad Commission to figure an equitable way for the city, the county, the Santa Fe Railroad, the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company, the Pacific Electric Railway Company, and the Los Angeles Railway Corporation to all chip in for the project.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377260981/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3565/3377260981_377f708fe3.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="500" width="327" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377264801/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3565/3377264801_fe4b2a9df4.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="315" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />When the city presented plans to the State Railroad Commission in mid-July 1924, the projected cost for the new Macy Street Viaduct was estimated at $507,261.70. In addition to that half a million, there was another $94,000 to pay for damages to “abutting property” and $378,578 for the Santa Fe and Union Pacific’s estimates at lowering their tracks. (I should point out here I’ve seen several figures as to how much the viaduct ultimately cost – nearly all from contemporary accounts in the L.A. Times. These tallies include $400,000, $450,000 (including rights of way), $516,000, $655,000, and even a million dollars.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3378419802/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3586/3378419802_2e1369779a.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="317" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The city’s bridge engineer, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Merrill Butler</span>, oversaw the design of the viaduct while <span style="font-weight: bold;">H.P. Cortelyou</span>, construction engineer, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ross H. Rook</span>, inspector of public works, supervised the construction. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Atkinson-Spicer Company</span>, who had the lowest bid in May 1925 of $324,824.50, were the contractors. While a small legal to-do had construction delayed until August 1925, the builders finished the viaduct a few months early. The Macy Street Viaduct opened formally on April 17, 1926.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377597857/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/3377597857_be924e1aae.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />Do you know why the bridges features elements of the Spanish Colonial persuasion? It turns out Macy Street/Cesar Chavez Avenue was once part of the <a href="http://www.cahighways.org/elcamino.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">El Camino Real</span></a>, the road linking the twenty-one missions up and down Alta California from San Diego to Sonoma. To further drive home the connection, the city dedicated the span to the founder of the missions, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/serra.htm">Father Junipero Serra</a>. A pair of plaques on the bridge says so. Here’s the one less tagged:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3378400560/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3636/3378400560_150f56d9c3.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="339" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The viaduct is seventy-one-feet wide, large enough to have originally accommodated a pair of tracks for the Los Angeles Railway. It stretches 1270 feet, and boasts a central span of about 215 feet in length. If you look at the porticos’ cornices, you’ll even see the city seal of Los Angeles.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3378416918/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3378416918_65fef21538.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="431" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />On opening day that spring of 1926, there was all the usual speechmaking and ceremonies – including the ribbon-cutting and main address by Mayor George Cryer – along with a contractor-sponsored luncheon under the bridge for about 300 guests. The picture below shows how, apparently, the opening day picnickers lacked the good sense to clean up after themselves.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377574179/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3377574179_b68e2439b7.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="325" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Oh, and there’s a story behind the pair of $600 memorial bronze plates you can find on the bridge, too. In April 1926, City Council voted to add its members’ names to the viaduct’s tablets, pointing to the fact the recently completed Ninth Street Bridge had plaques bearing the names of the Mayor, the Board of Public Works, and engineers, “but no mention of the men who did the heavy work and who raised the money” (i.e. City Council). The board of Public Works, though, shot down the idea pronto, pissing off council to no end.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377580365/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3377580365_2af1906eed.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Views north of the viaduct (a bonus):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3389261202/" title="View from the Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3444/3389261202_ce626b0a44.jpg" alt="View from the Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3389245192/" title="View from the Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/3389245192_003c95d94e.jpg" alt="View from the Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" height="314" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />A seismic retrofit was completed on the bridge in 1995, right around the same time the city decided Los Angeles pioneer <a href="http://www.cagenweb.com/losangeles/ElMonteBios/MACY_DrObed.htm">Dr Obed Macy</a> really wasn’t worthy of the honor of having a street named after him those century-plus years. (Actually, while Macy Street and Brooklyn Avenue were renamed to honor labor leader <a href="http://www.chavezfoundation.org/">Cesar Chavez</a>, there’s a chance the Macy Street Viaduct may have kept its name. I shouldn’t assume just because the street was renamed, so too was the bridge. A quick call to <a href="http://www.lacity.org/BPW">the Board of Public Works</a> can answer the question, so someone let me know how that turns out.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3377657721/" title="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 555px; height: 249px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3377657721_5575b11dd6_b.jpg" alt="Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Start Move to Obtain Bridges” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Mar 27, 1923, p. II5<br /><br />“Bridge Cost Division Urged” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Sep 26, 1923, p. II1<br /><br />“Macy Viaduct Plan Offered” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jul 16, 1924, p. A8<br /><br />“Macy Viaduct Contract Let” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 18, 1925, p. A3<br /><br />“Councilmen Vote Honor for Selves” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 8, 1926, p. A2<br /><br />“Council not to Live in Bronze” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 10, 1926, p. A1<br /><br />“Macy Viaduct is Completed” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 18, 1926, p. E13<br /><br />“Macy Street Span Opened” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 18, 1926, p. 17<br /><br />“Municipal Art Commission, Los Angeles, Annual Reports 1921-1929” 1929 Los Angeles, CA<br /></span><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Los Angeles Theatre</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-9151488084633881132009-03-14T23:15:00.000-07:002009-03-23T11:49:57.749-07:00No. 223 - Weller Residence<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3368926051/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3368926051_533677be42.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="500" width="494" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Weller Residence</span><br />1894<br />824 East Kensington Road – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=824+east+kensington+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.072942,-118.253381&sspn=0.010024,0.013647&ie=UTF8&ll=34.072586,-118.252223&spn=0.009598,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/20/79<br /><br />Businessman Zachariah Weller’s house was just six years old in 1900 when he sent his family off for a short vacation on Catalina Island, split the house in two, and moved it about 3,000 feet north (as the crow flies), deep into Angeleño Heights. When the Weller clan’s Avalon holiday was up, they returned to a home not only no longer encroached upon by filthy oil wells, but one which was newly wired for electricity, the first home in the Heights to be powered as such.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3369772286/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3369772286_de0b68b70d.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="479" width="500" /></a></div><br />Born in <a href="http://www.co.somerset.pa.us/">Somerset County</a>, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1847, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Zachariah Weller</span> moved to <a href="http://www.wplwloo.lib.ia.us/waterloo">Waterloo, Iowa</a>, in 1864, where he worked as a building contractor and, later, a hardware merchant. In 1887, along with the rest of the state of Iowa, Weller moved to sunny Los Angeles. Here he continued in the hardware trade, forming a partnership with <span style="font-weight: bold;">E.A. Hoffman</span> under the moniker <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hoffman & Weller</span>. The duo also entered the oil business together.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3368932145/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3368932145_98a938c14f.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />In early 1893, Zach Weller bought from Charles Stimson a pair of lots in the Beauvoir Tract for $2,000. A Queen Anne home, with bits of Eastlake elements and hints of Moorishness, would be completed the following year and claim the address of 401 North Figueroa Street.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3368949631/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3368949631_9c166d64e9.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="500" width="331" /></a><br /></div><br />Below are two <a href="http://sanborn.umi.com/">Sanborn maps</a>. The top, from 1888, shows the land before Weller got hold of it. The bottom, grabbed from the 1894-1900 Sanborn volume, has his house more or less at the end of Angelina.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3364946924/" title="Figueroa & Angelina, Los Angeles, 1888 by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3364946924_293cbfd226.jpg" alt="Figueroa & Angelina, Los Angeles, 1888" height="474" width="477" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3364946882/" title="Figueroa & Angelina, Los Angeles, 1894-1900 by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3364946882_23028f5334.jpg" alt="Figueroa & Angelina, Los Angeles, 1894-1900" height="469" width="455" /></a><br /></div><br />When Hoffman & Weller decided to end their partnership, Weller traded his interest in the hardware shop to Hoffman for the latter’s share in the oil wells. Set your eyes on this <span style="font-style: italic;">L.A. Times</span> ad from April 17, 1898, announcing the close-out sale at their store at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=109+north+main+street+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=sdjFSfLqNIKOsQOfnp3gBg&ll=34.052393,-118.24321&spn=0.010027,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">109 North Main Street</a>. What bargains we missed!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3372098538/" title="Hoffman & Weller Advertisement by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3610/3372098538_0dd7ff4f11.jpg" alt="Hoffman & Weller Advertisement" height="500" width="404" /></a><br /></div><br />Now the word is Weller moved his house because he was fed up with the oil derricks in his neighborhood and, literally, backyard. I don’t doubt this, but, considering he owned or co-owned up to thirty wells at one point, I can’t help thinking some of these were Weller’s wells. Either way, I know I wouldn’t be too crazy if my yard looked like this:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3364367864/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3456/3364367864_d87f519d94.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="329" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Weller Residence at 401 North Figueroa (original location)<br /></span></div><br />(This may be a crazy question, but does anyone know of any remnants of oil drilling in the area? David L. Clark, in <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles: A City Apart</span>, says the area of <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/06/no-30-doheny-mansion.html">Edward Doheny’s</a> original strike, bounded by Figueroa, First, Union, and Temple, had more than 500 producing oil wells by 1897. You’d think there be some evidence somewhere.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3368945209/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3368945209_d15d800314.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="341" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />On Sunday, June 21, 1903, Weller, a member of the <a href="http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/fraternalism/aouw.htm">Ancient Order of United Workmen</a> and of the <a href="http://www.royalarcanum.com/">Royal Arcanum</a>, died of a series of strokes at his home after a long illness (blamed in part on overdoing it on his ten-acre orange orchard in Ontario). He left behind his widow, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eliza</span>, three daughters, and a son.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3368929733/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3636/3368929733_b02559a1e7.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />The house stayed in the Weller family into the early 1950s. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Albert and Helen McNellis</span>, who had purchased the home in 1953, owned the residence at the time of its 1979 designation. My (somewhat irresponsible) guess is the picture below was taken around that time. Besides the differences in the landscaping and paint, note how at some point a portion of the porch was enclosed, only to be re-opened during a later renovation.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3372215566/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/3372215566_d9e21880f1.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="404" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Courtesy of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning<br /></span></div><br />Oh. And 401 North Figueroa? Well, Angelina Street is no longer there to meet it, and, since 1897, North Figueroa is <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&q=401+north+boylston+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=KdjFSdm8IIH0sAPdxZTYBg&ll=34.064286,-118.253596&spn=0.010026,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">North Boylston</a>. Finally, on the old Weller lot stands this vaguely Spanish multi-family residence from the mid-20s. There are handful of vintage homes on the block, though. And they must all have a grand view of downtown Los Angeles.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3374297952/" title="401 North Boylston, Los Angeles by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/3374297952_3a0e26bd59.jpg" alt="401 North Boylston, Los Angeles" height="401" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">401 North Figueroa, now 401 North Boylston<br /></span></div><br />The Weller Residence ends this month-long stay in Angelino Heights. We’ll be back in the neighborhood in four months, though, so don’t throw away your map just yet.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3369769312/" title="Weller Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3369769312_d95cbb4358.jpg" alt="Weller Residence" height="493" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Real Estate Transfers.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 15, 1893, p. 15<br /><br />“A Good Investment.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; April 3, 1898, p. A10<br /><br />“Well-Known Citizen Passes Away.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jun 22, 1903, p. 13<br /><br />Morales, T.M. “Closer Look at Angelino Heights” <span style="font-style: italic;">Parkside Journal</span>; Jul 4, 1979, p. 1<br /><br />Clark, David L. <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles: A City Apart</span> Windsor Publications, Inc. 1981 Woodland Hills, CA<br /></span><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cesar Chavez Avenue (Macy Street) Bridge</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-75681936027420539432009-03-11T22:08:00.000-07:002009-03-18T20:22:52.880-07:00No. 222 - Daggett Residence<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3358116313/" title="Daggett Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3604/3358116313_c1cc901f0c.jpg" alt="Daggett Residence" height="462" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Daggett Residence</span><br />c. 1909 – R.L. Gifford<br />1405 Kellam Avenue – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1405+kellam+avenue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=M4LASdzBL5K2sAPJt6SbBA&ll=34.071218,-118.254561&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Charles H. Daggett</span> was born in 1847 to Hiram and Sarah Daggett of Canton, Massachusetts. The family moved to Minneapolis, with Charles marrying <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sarah Marilla Bidwell</span>. Charles and Sarah (his wife, that is, not his mom) had a son, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hubert Lindsley Daggett</span>, in September 1877. The Charles Daggetts headed west to Los Angeles in 1901 to find fortune in the oil industry.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3358861092/" title="Daggett Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3539/3358861092_99fddd2b0e.jpg" alt="Daggett Residence" height="480" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The Daggetts settled into a home at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1227+bellevue+avenue+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.071218,-118.254561&sspn=0.010025,0.013647&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=34.06777,-118.251665&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">1277 Bellevue Avenue</a>, with eyes on both the relatively exclusive neighborhood of Angeleño Heights and the oil wells lining Temple Street. Soon after, Charles, son Hubert, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">William H. Fletcher</span> of nearby Calumet Avenue, formed an oil production company, one which would grow to include thirty producing wells in L.A.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3358859264/" title="Daggett Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3620/3358859264_62fc24e7bb.jpg" alt="Daggett Residence" height="469" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />In 1902, the Daggett family moved into <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1321+carroll+avenue+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.06777,-118.251665&sspn=0.010025,0.013647&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=34.070134,-118.253596&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">1321 Carroll Avenue</a> (there is a <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/08/no-176-1321-carroll-avenue-residence.html">landmarked home</a> today at 1321, but the site’s <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/2232441422/">original house</a> in which the Daggetts lived was demolished in 1970). The following year, Charles purchased part of the old <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-216-hall-residence.html">Everett E. Hall</a> property at the northwest corner of Kellam Avenue and Douglas Street. It took a few years, but finally in the late oughts, local builder <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sylvester J. Cook</span> (he was living on Beaudry Avenue nearby), working off an <span style="font-weight: bold;">R.L. Gifford</span> design, built for the Daggetts one of the few <a href="http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/%7Etwp/architecture/mission/">Mission Revival</a> houses in Angelino Heights today.<br /><br />Much of the home is obscured today by trees, but you still can enjoy the style’s eaves and rafters, red-tiled roof, glimpses of leaded windows, and the tell-tale parapets.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3358110779/" title="Daggett Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3475/3358110779_a04bae7fba.jpg" alt="Daggett Residence" height="366" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Hubert died in 1933. Charles had passed on years before (a 1929 city directory has listed living at 1405 Kellam both Hubert and his widowed mom).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grace W. Trentani</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Betty Fox</span> were the home’s owners during its designation as a city landmark in 1979.<br /><br />Note: A big thanks to Pete Daggett for his comment below. I</span><span class="fullpost">’</span><span class="fullpost">ve gone and edited the post based on the information he provided. Thanks, Pete.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3358114775/" title="Daggett Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3455/3358114775_4062d1c67d.jpg" alt="Daggett Residence" height="390" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />Morales, Thomas M. “Incongruous Style of Barn, Home Raise Curiosity” <span style="font-style: italic;">Northwest Leader</span>; Sep 26, 1979, p. 2<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">An Album of Architecturally Significant Homes in Century-Old Angelino Heights</span> Carroll Avenue Restoration Foundation 1987 Los Angeles, CA<br /></span><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Weller Residence</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-59931321682217192402009-03-10T20:27:00.000-07:002009-03-15T20:39:04.103-07:00L.A. Heritage Day - Sunday, March 22<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3336060109/" title="Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3644/3336060109_391a091bf6.jpg" alt="Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />If you’ve got but a sliver of interest in the history and culture of Los Angeles, CA, you’ve probably already got Sunday, March 22, marked on your calendar. <span style="font-weight: bold;">L.A. Heritage Day</span>, being held at <a href="http://heritagesquare.blogspot.com/">Heritage Square Museum</a>, brings together more than seventy-five history and heritage-minded organizations whose goal it is “to reconnect the public with greater Los Angeles’ vast range of cultural institutions and resources.” The event kicks off at 11:00 a.m. and costs $5 (cheap!) or, if you present <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTleVOe2P3dLvUIG3sC3Vvr0iexPIXZbTNmIYSInxmxeeie6OFPUzmbrqUw6fdAN7cMe2kJNMtqg8_XkmzMkFe-20Qm8bewfmxCiLdrfOojmdL8oM1nJSXq_ZVHv7wXDrnFvVRGrhhNhfG/s1600-h/LAHD+09+Flyer.JPG">this flyer</a>, $0 (cheaper!).<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">The shot above is from the March 7 dedication of the rebuilt veranda on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House</span>, HCM No. 413, as part of Heritage Square’s 40th anniversary.<br /><br />Below, from top to bottom, the museum’s <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-40-hale-house.html">Hale House</a>, <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-98-mt-pleasant-house.html">Perry House</a>, <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-22-palms-southern-pacific-railroad.html">Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot</a>, <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-65-valley-knudsen-garden-residence.html">Valley Knudsen Garden-Residence</a>, and <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-108-beaudry-avenue-house.html">Ford House</a>. L.A. Historic-Cultural Monuments all.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3336007033/" title="Hale House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3309/3336007033_6f9d97603a.jpg" alt="Hale House" height="500" width="454" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3336861388/" title="Perry Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3584/3336861388_ff9b53eb3e.jpg" alt="Perry Residence" height="486" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3336853282/" title="Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3336853282_56f8daef1e.jpg" alt="Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot" height="446" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3336868528/" title="Valley Knudsen Garden-Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3646/3336868528_beeda49079.jpg" alt="Valley Knudsen Garden-Residence" height="500" width="446" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3336042075/" title="Ford Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3336042075_c0c3efa32e.jpg" alt="Ford Residence" height="500" width="481" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">L.A. Heritage Day</span> is presented by the <a href="http://laheritage.blogspot.com/2009/03/over-60-heritage-groups-join-together.html">Los Angeles Heritage Alliance</a>.<br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-78475261923195523492009-03-07T22:47:00.000-08:002009-03-14T07:48:54.361-07:00Nos 220 & 221 - The Hall Twins<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3353236658/" title="The Hall Twins by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/3353236658_ed25f86508.jpg" alt="The Hall Twins" height="321" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Hall Twins</span><br />1887<br />1343 and 1347 Kellam Avenue – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=1343+kellam+avenue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=MUW7SaeoG42-MpKN0KoI&z=16">map</a> & <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1347+kellam+avenue+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.070951,-118.254025&sspn=0.010025,0.013647&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=34.071449,-118.254175&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br />Well, after two years of blogging individual <a href="http://cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/HCM/dsp_hcm_result_Citywide2.cfm?Monument=0">Historic-Cultural Monuments</a>, I feel compelled to break with tradition and document <span style="font-style: italic;">two</span> landmarks in the <span style="font-style: italic;">very same post</span>. The reasoning behind such craziness lies with the fact when local contractor <span style="font-weight: bold;">John M. Skinner</span> (he was living on Carroll Avenue) built these two homes for $6,000 per, they sported identical floor plans and designs. That, coupled with the fact they were owned early on by Hall families, inspired historian <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-51-phillips-house.html">Thomas Morales</a> to designate them <span style="font-weight: bold;">the “Hall Twins”</span>.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3348686734/" title="Henry Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/3348686734_eb72561878.jpg" alt="Henry Hall Residence" height="500" width="445" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350856118/" title="Jesse Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3423/3350856118_0ab02942d1.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence" height="446" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Just <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-216-hall-residence.html">a few posts ago</a>, we visited the 1887 home of one of the two subdividers of Angelino (Angeleño) Heights, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Everett E. Hall</span>. It was that same year that Skinner (Skinn-<span style="font-style: italic;">ERR</span>!) built a literal stone’s throw from Everett’s home our two Victorian subjects using a single blueprint.<br /><br />Take a good look at this 1888 Sanborn map and you can see four city landmarks: the Everett Hall Residence in the center; Everett’s <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/07/no-166-kellam-avenue-carriage-house.html">carriage house</a> (now the property of <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1417+Kellam+Avenue+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.110898,-118.317862&sspn=0.01002,0.013647&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=34.071111,-118.255012&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">1417 Kellam Avenue</a> home); and the twin homes across Waters Street (now called Douglas Street). Note our twins at this point enjoy no carriage houses.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350958170/" title="Angeleno Heights, 1888 by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3457/3350958170_1d046329cb.jpg" alt="Angeleno Heights, 1888" height="398" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Now set your orbs on this vintage (retouched) photo of Carroll Avenue’s Monument No. 74, the <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/10/no-74-sanders-house.html">Sanders House</a>. In the background, the Hall Twins stand looking more twinly (twinnish?) than today.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3347682799/" title="Sanders House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3347682799_7646f30cd7.jpg" alt="Sanders House" height="401" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Boy, there sure were a lot of Halls in early Angelino Heights. A whole hell of a lot of Halls. (For instance, a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Giles S. Hall</span>, the secretary of the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Land and Water Co., was living on East Edgeware in 1890). And while both of this post’s landmarks are named for Halls, I’ve seen conflicting reports as to how they were related to Everett, if at all. But they probably were.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350855232/" title="Jesse Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3638/3350855232_e9dc2aedd2.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence" height="500" width="440" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3349832273/" title="Henry Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3571/3349832273_1f7a487030.jpg" alt="Henry Hall Residence" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">There’s the enclosed porch of 1347 (top) and original open porch of 1343 (bottom).<br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">No. 220 –the Henry G. Hall Residence</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3347645905/" title="Henry Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3347645905_5eaae3f387.jpg" alt="Henry Hall Residence" height="500" width="396" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">From the L.A. Department of City Planning website.<br /></span></div><br />As you look at both landmarks head-on, the home on the right is 1343 Kellam Avenue. It was where real estate agent <span style="font-weight: bold;">Henry G. Hall</span> lived with his wife, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna L.</span>, through most of the 1890s. <span style="font-style: italic;">Maxwell’s Directory of Los Angeles City & County for 1887-1888</span> said “capitalist” Hall was living on Bellevue Avenue between Edgeware and “the Crescent” (Kensington). In 1890, he was listed as living on East Edgeware between Bellevue and Carroll. Since 1343 Kellam Avenue was built in 1887, this means Henry Hall wasn’t its first resident. However, he was there by 1893, and he was still there in 1901. By 1903, however, the city directory had him residing at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=714+edgeware+road+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=n0a7Sbn7Eo-UMd755fEP&ll=34.068765,-118.25321&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">714 Edgeware Road</a>. Morales tells us 1343 was sold in 1904 to non-Halls. A jump to 1915 has that year’s city directory showing the home’s residents including Cora A. Rannells and the auditor for the <a href="http://digarc.usc.edu/assetserver/controller/view/search/CHS-2346">Hollenbeck Hotel</a>, John M. Wood. Sammy and Pat Lee were 1343’s owners during its declaration of landmark status in 1979.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3347850057/" title="Henry Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3450/3347850057_046237532b.jpg" alt="Henry Hall Residence" height="325" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350854060/" title="Jesse Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 532px; height: 356px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/3350854060_35a7ba2989.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350864768/" title="Jesse Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/3350864768_51c42e74b3.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence" height="324" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Compare these images of 1343 and 1347 and 1347.<br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">No. 221 –the Jesse Hall Residence</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350025477/" title="Jesse Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/3350025477_5fe987a737.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /></div><br />The corner house was the home of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jesse Q. Hall</span>, his wife, Mary, and children, Tracey (a guy) and Jessie (a gal). While Jessie became a telephone operator and moved out around 1900 (presumably after her father’s death), Tracey stayed at the home with his widowed mom. Both were there in 1915, but Tracey split around 1920. (He moved to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=7070+Franklin+Avenue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=JEe7SavcPIuSMoWk-ZwI&ll=34.104183,-118.34434&spn=0.010021,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">7070 Franklin Avenue</a>, then to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2209+Canyon+Drive+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.104183,-118.34434&sspn=0.010021,0.013647&gl=us&ie=UTF8&ll=34.110898,-118.317862&spn=0.01002,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">2209 Canyon Drive</a> in the Hollywood Hills with his wife, Sophie.) Tracey had worked his way up in the banking industry from clerk to Vice-President of the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles. It was he who converted the 1347 Kellam Avenue into a two-family home in 1915, at least according to this 1939 census, from USC's Digital Archive.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3352278555/" title="1347 Kellam Avenue Census by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3352278555_42e9e14e24.jpg" alt="1347 Kellam Avenue Census" height="317" width="500" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />In 1928 Adolph Marx bought 1347 Kellam to lure his son, Charles, a sailor, to settle in the west with his Philadelphia fiancé, Tillie. Tillie from Philly was still living there when the home was landmarked in 1979.<br /><br />As part of its designation, 1347 Kellam contains its carriage house with its entry off Douglas. Here is a pair of pictures of it:<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350021117/" title="Jesse Hall Residence Carriage House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3350021117_41fe583937.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence Carriage House" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3350023449/" title="Jesse Hall Residence and Carriage House by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3350023449_117a122390.jpg" alt="Jesse Hall Residence and Carriage House" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Are you as surprised as I was to learn the two homes were once identical, veritable peas in a pod? Clearly the upkeep of the one landmark compared to the other’s is the main difference, but there’s also that enclosed porch on 1347. In truth, the paint job in general was enough to throw me. In any event, I sure would like to attack the less fortunate twin (there’s <span style="font-style: italic;">always</span> a less fortunate twin), armed only with but a scraper and a couple of cans of paint. Who’s with me?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3352411895/" title="The Hall Twins by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1318/3352411895_cedbf9422b.jpg" alt="The Hall Twins" height="392" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Source:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Morales, T.M. “’Twins’ Result of Close Family Ties” <span style="font-style: italic;">Parkside Journal</span>; Jul 18, 1979, p. 1</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Daggett Residence</span><br /></div></div></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-26074387073309612482009-03-04T20:54:00.000-08:002009-03-11T09:31:36.377-07:00No. 219 - Galbreth Residence<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339865019/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3369/3339865019_213e865813.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" height="466" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Galbreth Residence</span><br />c. 1887<br />1239 Boston Street – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1239+boston+street+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=9VW3SfbmFoGStQO95ajyAQ&ll=34.066916,-118.253038&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br />If attorney <span style="font-weight: bold;">E. Edgar Galbreth</span> wasn’t the man who built this Queen Anne house, he was at least one of its very first residents. The library’s city directories prior to 1890 show no record of Galbreth, but that year’s index has him living at 5 Cummings Street, today known as Boston Street.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3340687686/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3340687686_c3267fce94.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" height="491" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />E. Edgar Galbreth was born in <a href="http://scican3.scican.net/oldtowns/lewisville/lewisville.html">Lewisville, Indiana</a>, two days after Christmas in 1845, just a handful of months after the death of <a href="http://www.applejuice.org/johnnyappleseed.html">Johnny Appleseed</a>. Starting in 1870, he practiced law in Pittsburgh, PA, where he married <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna Mary Taggart</span> and spawned four children. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1887. (Three years later, the same year he ran for L.A. township Justice of the Peace, Galbreth and Anna sold a block of Angeleno Heights land to a D. Clark Morrison for $4,000). It was here he went into practice with his son, R. Morgan, Commander of the United Spanish War Veterans of California and treasurer of Maternity Cottage and Homeopathic Hospital. Galbreth was a member of the <a href="http://www.ioof.org/">Odd Fellows</a>, <a href="http://www.foresters.com/">the Foresters</a>, and <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Maccabees.html">the Maccabees</a>. He was also for years an elder of the First Presbyterian Church.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3340686842/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3578/3340686842_01e2d88fd6.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" height="325" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3340690624/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 533px; height: 294px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/3340690624_63dc5eec35.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" /></a><br /></div><br />By 1893, the Galbreth Residence had its renamed address of 1243 Ionia Street. Now, let’s make an educated guess and say Ionia got its name from the Michigan <a href="http://www.ci.ionia.mi.us/">hometown</a> of <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-216-hall-residence.html">Everett E. Hall</a> who, with William W. Stilson, originally developed Angelino Heights. <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=46511922&GRid=7640747&">Spencer G. Millard</a>, another Ionia native (Millard was married to the sister of a further Hall, Giles S. Hall, yet another Heights resident), was living a few doors down from Galbreth at 1259 Ionia. Or at least he was, as Lieutenant Governor of California, until his death in October 1895 at the age of a mere 39.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339830225/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3339830225_37c2c4a04f.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" height="333" width="500" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339864047/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 532px; height: 504px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/3339864047_7463e85b4c.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" /></a><br /></div><br />Take a look at this bit of Sanborn fire insurance map from their 1894-1900 volume. Down in the lower right-hand corner, at the intersection of Ionia and Holliday, sits the Galbreth House (the Millards lived three doors to your left).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339510591/" title="Angelino Heights, Los Angeles by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/3339510591_7aee3d1fdd.jpg" alt="Angelino Heights, Los Angeles" height="469" width="490" /></a><br /></div><br />On a brief tangent, you can see on the map above, at the point formed by Bellevue and Holliday, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bethany Presbyterian Church</span> of which Mr Glabreth was most certainly a member, I conjecture. From the L.A. Public Library, this is that old church building (like the Millard Residence, it, too, is long gone):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3340465516/" title="Bethany Presbyterian Church by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3340465516_7dd5b484aa.jpg" alt="Bethany Presbyterian Church" height="392" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />But, by 1898, while Millard’s widow, Ida H., was still living at 1259 Ionia, E. Edgar Galbreth had moved on to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=223+East+Adams+Boulevard+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=E1e3Sce_Dom4sAPavtDvAQ&ll=34.024512,-118.266599&spn=0.01003,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">223 East Adams Boulevard</a>. He died in 1921 at the home of his son, W. Edgar, in Long Beach.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339849047/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3339849047_2310a1445b.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" height="274" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />L.A.’s 1915 directory lists the residents of 1243 Ionia as the president of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Viole-Lopizich Drug Co.</span>, Jules C. Viole, along with his sons, Andre (a pharmacist at said company), and student Pierre. No mention of a wife or mother (it was 1915 – who cared?). (The drug company at that time had locations at 427 and 242 North Main Street.) Like many old Victorians in the area, the Galbreth Residence was later separated into a multi-housing unit.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339843637/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3570/3339843637_fa2d4d9536.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" height="380" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Time for another Sanborn map. This one, from the 1906-1950 volume, shows not only a couple more structures on the old Galbreth property, but also the recently completed 101 Freeway at – almost literally – the attorney’s old front door. Oh, and you see how Holliday’s now an extension of East Kensington and Ionia (formerly Cummings) is now Boston. Whew! What a lot of knowledge.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3340339582/" title="Angelino Heights, Los Angeles by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 478px; height: 419px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3579/3340339582_1461f4b4af.jpg" alt="Angelino Heights, Los Angeles" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3346345285/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 492px; height: 514px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3626/3346345285_aca5337289.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">From the Los Angeles Department of City Planning website.</span><br /></div><br />In 1979, at the time of the property’s historic designation, it was owned by the Bethel Temple of Los Angeles. Twelve years ago, the owners got busted for removing the historic wood window frames and replacing them with a type of aluminum siding (ouch! – they were forced by the city to rip out the aluminum and re-replace it with more authentic material). Today, <a href="http://www.blogtopsites.com/localdir/california/los+angeles/13000189.html">this site</a> says it’s of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Iglesia Evangelica Latina Ministerio de Damas.</span> I don’t know anything about that, but I do know the home appears in pretty good shape, what with its vintage add-ons, tucked away in the corner of Angelino Heights and slammed pretty well up against the 101 Freeway (wave next time you speed by).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3339851279/" title="Galbreth Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img style="width: 512px; height: 288px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/3339851279_c65a9b6cb0.jpg" alt="Galbreth Residence" /></a><br /></div><br />Sources:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">“Real Estate Transaction 1” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 21, 1890, p. 3<br /><br />“City Briefs” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 21, 1890, p. 8<br /><br />“Millard Dead” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Oct 25, 1895, p. 1<br /><br />“Burial of Attorney Tomorrow” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Dec 23, 1921, p. III3<br /></span><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Hall Twins</span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-12159815233520944672009-03-01T23:27:00.000-08:002009-05-12T21:40:55.425-07:00No. 218 - Politi Residence<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3334794610/" title="Politi Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3334794610_f3d622f7db.jpg" alt="Politi Residence" height="500" width="416" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Politi Residence</span><br />c. 1908<br />845 East Edgeware Road – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=845+east+edgeware+road+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=UE-zSYLULoGStQONnfCHAQ&ll=34.070045,-118.252845&spn=0.010025,0.013647&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br />Well, there’s not much to be seen from the road of this century-old house. It’s a shame, too, as the city reports not only is this a good example of Craftsman architecture, but it’s also reminiscent of the work of <a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/greeneandgreene">Greene and Greene</a>.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3334793958/" title="Politi Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3334793958_787238fa0e.jpg" alt="Politi Residence" height="500" width="330" /></a><br /></div><br />The house – at least on this blog – doesn’t sport the name of its builder or original owner, but rather its – and Angelino Heights’ – most famous resident and one of the neighborhood’s biggest boosters, artist/author <a href="http://www.leopoliti.com/">Leo Politi</a>. Politi moved here in 1973 after living for a dozen years at 415 East Edgeware. Of course, the author’s well-known from his thirty years of living <a href="http://www.onbunkerhill.org/">on Bunker Hill</a> (he moved out of the neighborhood in the early sixties when his home was condemned with the rest of <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-27-castle.html">Bunker Hill’s buildings</a>).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3337350348/" title="Leo Politi on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3337350348_4f71d6e247.jpg" alt="Leo Politi on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles" height="500" width="383" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Politi in front of <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-27-castle.html">the Castle</a> working on his 1964 book, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/512728776/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Bunker Hill, Los Angeles</span></a>, with nine-year-old Susan Marshall and county librarian Mary Rogers Smith. <span style="font-style: italic;">L.A. Public Library</span><br /></span></div><br />Leo was born in Fresno on November 21, 1908, right around the same time his future home was built. Around six years later, he moved with his family to Italy (unfortunate timing, what with World War I breaking out and all). Leo won a six-year scholarship to study at an Italian art institute when he was just fifteen. In 1931, he returned to Fresno, moving down to Los Angeles soon after. He married Helen Fontes in 1934 after wooing her with a fifteen-cent ring he bought at Woolworth’s. He published his first book, <span style="font-style: italic;">Little Pancho</span>, about a little Olvera Street boy who wouldn’t smile, in 1938.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3333951941/" title="Politi Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/3333951941_35f3a420d6.jpg" alt="Politi Residence" height="500" width="395" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A less obstructed view from the city’s Department of City Planning website.</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.historicechopark.org/id131.html">Leo Politi</a> wrote and illustrated about <a href="http://www.leopoliti.net/politibib1.html#">two dozen books</a>. Most of them are for kids, and many of them, including <span style="font-style: italic;">Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Mission Bell</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Poinsettia</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Mieko</span>, <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2383467863156425097&hl=en"><span style="font-style: italic;">Moy Moy</span></a>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Nicest Gift</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Piccolo’s Prank</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Juanita</span>, take place in Los Angeles. <span style="font-style: italic;">Pedro</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Juanita</span> were awarded <a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/%7EdKbrown/cald_hon.html">Caldecott Honors</a> while <span style="font-style: italic;">Song of the Swallows</span> received the <a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.cfm">Caldecott Medal</a> in 1950. <span style="font-style: italic;">Bunker Hill, Los Angeles</span> is a Southern California classic. Criminally, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Song-Swallows-Leo-Politi/dp/0684188317/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236488487&sr=1-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Song of the Swallows</span></a> is the only one of Politi books still in print, I think. One I’d especially enjoy seeing available is his 1989 book about the neighborhood he loved so much, <span style="font-style: italic;">Angeleño Heights</span>. The book was his last.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3333924065/" title="Angeleno Heights by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3333924065_b9484f3b25.jpg" alt="Angeleno Heights" height="500" width="380" /></a><br /></div><br />In March 1996, “the Artist of Olvera Street” passed away in the very Angelino Heights home he submitted for landmarking seventeen years earlier, but his memory lives on throughout Los Angeles. We’ve got a <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1437590134676499709">Leo Politi Square</a>, <a href="http://www.laparks.org/dos/parks/facility/montecilloDeLeoPolitiPk.htm">Monticillo de Leo Politi Park</a>, and the <a href="http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Leo_Politi_EL/Home.html">Leo Politi Elementary School</a>. Fresno, getting in on the act, has its <a href="http://www.fresnolibrary.org/branch/pol.html">Politi Branch Library</a>, too. And, of course, his <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blessing of the Animals</span> mural adorns Olvera Street’s <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/1353362122/in/set-72157601975194987/">Biscaluz Building</a> (look for the artist’s own dogs, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Emmet</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Oscar</span>, in the painting). And when you take Spot and Fido to the next Blessing of the Animals on April 11, stroll on over the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Leo Politi Tree</span>, dedicated just after Leo Politi Appreciation Month in April 1984 (just keep away Spot and Fido).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/1352536281/" title="The Blessing of the Animals Mural by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/1352536281_894f8e20ee.jpg" alt="The Blessing of the Animals Mural" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/1352536233/" title="The Blessing of the Animals Mural by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1009/1352536233_e3d14e8a75.jpg" alt="The Blessing of the Animals Mural" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Emmet or Oscar</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/1353362108/" title="Leo Politi Tree by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/1353362108_821efe1d59.jpg" alt="Leo Politi Tree" height="500" width="375" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Plaza’s Leo Politi Tree<br /></span></div><br /><a href="http://www.leopoliti2008centennial.org/">Click here</a> for a list of the many, many, many events held for the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Leo Politi 2008 Centennial</span>. Yeah, most – but not all – of them have passed (like last May’s open house tour of Leo’s landmarked house – <a href="http://www.leopoliti2008centennial.org/Angeleno%20Trolley%20banner.htm">pictures here</a>), but there are lots of links, often leading to wonderful Politi art.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3334791466/" title="Politi Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3413/3334791466_dd29a9f7f1.jpg" alt="Politi Residence" height="309" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update, 5/12/09:</span> Leo’s son, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr Paul Politi</span>, has been kind enough to drop me an email with a brief note and a pair of photos. Paul writes:<br /><blockquote>I noticed on the comment from some of your readers that there is interest in my father’s books. I am pleased to inform you that the Getty is re-publishing four of my father’s books and hopefully more in the future. The first four that will be published for the fall by the Getty is <span style="font-style: italic;">Song of the Swallows</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Juanita</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Emmet</span>. We are also completing a coffee table book that will spotlight my father’s fine art. The title of the book is <span style="font-style: italic;">Leo Politi, Capturing the Heart of Los Angeles</span>. It will be published by Angel City Press.</blockquote>Of course, I’m already looking forward to buying copies of the books. Here, from Paul’s collection, is a shot of his father in his Olvera Street studio taken in the late 1930s.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3526835299/" title="Leo Politi by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/3526835299_85170734f0.jpg" alt="Leo Politi" height="500" width="402" /></a><br /></div><br />Also included in Paul’s email is Leo Politi’s only painting of his own landmarked home at 945 East Edgeware. Thanks for allowing me to share this with the readers of Big Orange Landmarks, Paul.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3526836499/" title="945 Edgeware Road by Leo Politi by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2375/3526836499_4d36b7b677.jpg" alt="945 Edgeware Road by Leo Politi" height="500" width="377" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />Oliver, Myrna “Leo Politi; Author of Children’s Books, Artist” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Mar 30, 1996, p. 18<br /><br />Rasmussen, Cecilia “Street Artist Tapped into L.A.’s Spirit” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 13, 2008, p. B2</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Galbreth Residence</span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-32576537614321473602009-02-28T21:47:00.000-08:002009-03-05T21:10:15.939-08:00Heritage Square Turns 40<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3332554530/" title="Heritage Square, Los Angeles by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3650/3332554530_9f541f3453.jpg" alt="Heritage Square, Los Angeles" width="500" height="285" /></a><br /></div><br />On Saturday, March 7, help <a href="http://www.heritagesquare.org/">Heritage Square Museum</a> celebrate its 40th anniversary.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">It was on March 6, 1969, Monuments Nos 5 and 27 – <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-5-salt-box.html">the Salt Box</a> and <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-27-castle.html">the Castle</a> – were moved from <a href="http://www.onbunkerhill.org/">on Bunker Hill</a> to the Square (of course, they weren’t there long). The anniversary event begins at 2:00 p.m., costs ten bucks, and will feature talks by freshly re-elected <a href="http://www.lacity.org/council/cd1">City Councilman Ed Reyes</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Style-Robert-Winter/dp/0810943360/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236315901&sr=1-5">Dr</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Bungalow-Style-Robert-Winter/dp/068480168X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236315901&sr=1-6">Robert</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Batchelder-Tilemaker-Robert-Winter/dp/1890449032/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236315901&sr=1-12">Winter</a>, a long-time member of the Cultural Heritage Commission, a Heritage Square co-founder, and Los Angeles’s premiere <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Entertainment-Twenties-Robert-Winter/dp/1586857975/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236315901&sr=1-11">architectural</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Guidebook-Los-Angeles/dp/1586853082/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236315901&sr=1-2">historian</a>. Plus, I’m looking forward to the unveiling of the rebuilt veranda on HCM No. 413, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House</span>, pictured above between the <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-108-beaudry-avenue-house.html">Ford House</a> and the <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-22-palms-southern-pacific-railroad.html">Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot</a>, both city landmarks. The original veranda was removed more than ninety years ago. You can find more information at the <a href="http://heritagesquare.blogspot.com/">Heritage Square blog</a>.<br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-56086318966295772382009-02-24T21:37:00.001-08:002009-03-04T10:16:21.206-08:00No. 217 - Wicks Residence<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3318217816/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3615/3318217816_d311de0564.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="500" width="458" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wicks Residence</span><br />c. 1895<br />1101 Douglas Street – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1101+douglas+street+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=dSOuSZC-HIKqsAPwwoSxDg&ll=34.07312,-118.253338&spn=0.010024,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br />Here’s an Angelino Heights house built around 1895 for “smooth speaking” “gentleman of vision” <span style="font-weight: bold;">M.L. Wicks</span>. Regarding Wicks and Los Angeles, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his <span style="font-style: italic;">History of California (1884-90)</span>, wrote there were “few prominent enterprises in this portion of the state in which he has not been one of the leading promoters.”<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3317385947/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/3317385947_1743642083.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Moses Langley Wicks</span> was born in <a href="http://www.aberdeenms.org/">Aberdeen, Mississippi</a>, in 1852. He moved with his family to Memphis, graduated from college as an accountant, and got a law degree from the <a href="http://www.virginia.edu/">University of Virginia</a>. In 1875, Wicks married Elizabeth Littlejohn. The couple followed his father to L.A., then moved down to Anaheim where Wicks set up law practice. Elizabeth died shortly after giving birth to Moses, Jr., but Wicks remarried in 1881 and had another son, Percy Langley. M.L. returned to Los Angeles in 1877, residing at 121 South Fort Street (now Broadway). (His investment in Fort property paid off in 1886 when, along with L.H. Titus and Howard W. Mills, Wicks sold to the city for $34,000 the land for a new <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/2552913334/">City Hall</a> (1889) between 2nd and 3rd.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3321347536/" title="M.L. Wicks by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3321347536_acd615d186.jpg" alt="M.L. Wicks" height="500" width="397" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">M.L. Wicks, from USC Libraries Digital Archive<br /></span></div><br />By the mid-1880s, after helping to found the Los Angeles Bar Association, M.L. Wicks had fairly well left lawyering to live in the world of real state and transportation. (Don’t confuse Moses with his brother, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Moye</span>, an L.A. attorney in the firm of Wicks, Lucas, and Bentley. And now for something completely different: Moye and his pistol once took a couple of shots at J.H. Levering in the County Clerk’s office, but was soon exonerated; turns out he didn’t mean to hurt the guy. Moye eventually moved to Washington state.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3318208906/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3359/3318208906_880918a5d7.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="275" width="500" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3317328219/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/3317328219_9819f3c2c7.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="500" width="485" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">From L.A.’s Department of City Planning<br /></span></div><br />Wicks played various parts in the development of Glendale, San Dimas, Garvanza, Highland Park, Edendale, sections of downtown L.A., and San Bernardino. His primary platting: Eagle Rock and Linda Vista as part of Benajmin Dreyfus’s old Rancho San Rafael; the Dalton portion of the San Jose Rancho which he’d bought from Jonathan S. Slauson et al for $255,000; Pomona; and the Playa del Rey section of Rancho La Ballona. In 1884, Wicks bought land from the Southern Pacific for $2.50 an acre (cheap!) and laid out the town of <a href="http://www.cityoflancasterca.org/Index.aspx?page=219">Lancaster</a>. Four years later, Wicks sold just about the whole town to James P. Ward for $46,620, or about $20 per acre.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3318215950/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3402/3318215950_719293ce1e.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="500" width="336" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3318177600/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3318177600_f05f727ca5.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="327" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Wicks became affiliated with the Temecula Land and Water Company, and, according to author Glenn S. Dumke, he was “interested in the Savings Fund and Building Association of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Railroad, the Abstract and Title Insurance Company, and the California Bank.” Wicks put the first $50,00 into the <a href="http://www.erha.org/lap_corphist.htm#lacrc">Los Angeles County Railroad Company</a> (of which he was first president), and sunk another $120,000 in to Ballona Harbor which he saw as a shipping point to compete with the Southern Pacific’s Santa Monica wharf. Wicks served as President of both the Citizens’ Water Company and the Sunset Boulevard Improvement Association. He was the “principal promoter of <a href="http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/redcars">the Red Car Line</a>” and tried several times to connect downtown L.A. to the coast by rail.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3318171986/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3318171986_b1e3293e3c.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="500" width="334" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3317381119/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3317381119_0d3edf23ce.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="350" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />It wasn’t all a bed of roses for Wicks. His 1887 subdivision of Hyde Park – a “midway town between the city and the harbor” – failed. A dozen years later he filed for bankruptcy (an <span style="font-style: italic;">L.A. Times</span> article reported “Wicks was insolvent and heavily involved in debt as afar back as December 25, 1887, when his liabilities aggregated $200,000.”)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3318182926/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3318182926_2cd409862e.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="500" width="440" /></a><br /></div><br />Historic-Cultural Monument No. 217, this 1895 house is primarily Queen Anne in design with a few hints of the Colonial Revival. Wicks lived here until about 1915.<br /><br />Moses Langley Wicks died in late 1919 as a result of injuries suffered after being struck by a car at Hollywood and Vine (construction engineer Louis C. Hill of <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=2144+Canyon+Drive+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=aiSuScLMGYGEsQPuy5S1Dg&ll=34.109833,-118.316939&spn=0.01002,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">2144 Canyon Drive</a> was behind the wheel). Poor M.L. then fell and konked his head on a steel streetcar rail, cracking his skull. At the time, Wicks had been living at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1918+miramar+avenue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=byGuSeiBHInYsAPHrfyyDg&ll=34.063486,-118.269925&spn=0.010026,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">1918 Miramar Avenue</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3317387743/" title="Wicks Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/3317387743_e4c02a2e79.jpg" alt="Wicks Residence" height="500" width="383" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />Bancroft, Hubert Howe <span style="font-style: italic;">History of California The History Company 1894-90</span> San Francisco, CA<br /><br />“The Shooting.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 22, 1886, p. O_2<br /><br />“The City Hall.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Sep 18, 1886, p. O_4<br /><br />“Council.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Oct. 1, 1886, p. O_4<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">An Illustrated History of Los Angeles, California</span> Lewis Publishing Co. 1889 Chicago, IL<br /><br />“Decided to Annex.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jun 30, 1895, p. 22<br /><br />“Pursuit of Property.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 7, 1900, p. I10<br /><br />“Second Ward Federation.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 21, 1908, p. II6<br /><br />“Explains Politics of the Henderson Appointment” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jul 28, 1912, p. II1<br /><br />Newmark, Harris <span style="font-style: italic;">Sixty Years in Southern California 1853-1913</span>; The Knickerbocker Press 1916 New York, NY<br /><br />“Aged Realty Dealer Hurt by Automobile.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Dec 4, 1919, p. I8<br /><br />Dumke, Glenn S. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California</span> Huntington Library 1944 San Marino, CA<br /><br />“City Hall Site Purchased in Early Days for Trifle” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Feb 17, 1929, p. E1<br /><br />Robinson, W.W. <span style="font-style: italic;">Lawyers of Los Angeles; a history of the Los Angeles Bar Association and of the Bar of Los Angeles County</span> Los Angeles Bar Association 1959 Los Angeles, CA<br /><br />Lombard, Sarah R. <span style="font-style: italic;">Rancho Tujunga: a History of Sunland-Tujunga, California</span> Sunland Woman's Club c. 1990 Sunland, CA<br /><br />Wayte, Beverly <span style="font-style: italic;">At the Arroyo’s Edge: a History of Linda Vista</span> Historical Society of Southern California and Linda Vista/Annandale Association 1993, Los Angeles, CA<br /></span><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Politi Residence</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-23975198540793275872009-02-21T21:07:00.000-08:002009-02-26T21:09:50.448-08:00No. 216 - Hall Residence<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3302888182/" title="Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3545/3302888182_f02d261f29.jpg" alt="Hall Residence" height="341" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hall Residence</span><br />1887<br />917 Douglas Street – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=917+douglas+street+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=-m2nSbGbDoH0sAOtxITVDw&ll=34.071911,-118.254433&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Angelino Heights</span> – originally spelled <span style="font-style: italic;">Angeleno</span> Heights, with an ‘e’ – was first developed by two men: <span style="font-weight: bold;">William W. Stilson</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Everett E. Hall</span>. Having bought the land from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Victor Beaudry</span> and his partners (Victor Heights was right next door), the duo filed for subdivision on March 19, 1886. Stilson would be the money man while promotion would be Hall’s territory. Stilson built his thirty-room mansion on the northwest <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=801+east+edgeware+road+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.071911,-118.254433&sspn=0.010025,0.015192&gl=us&g=917+douglas+street+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.070045,-118.253531&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">corner</a> of East Edgeware Road and Carroll Avenue. It’s still there, too, but a modernization from half a century ago has rendered the home unrecognizable. Hall and his wife, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nellie</span>, initially moved into a place close by on Edgeware, but very soon after settled into this house on Douglas Street (then called Waters Street). Unlike the Stilson mansion, it remains much more authentic (if in need of a paint job) and is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 216.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3302891900/" title="Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3302891900_f0526ae35b.jpg" alt="Hall Residence" height="500" width="396" /></a><br /></div><br />Hall, from <a href="http://www.ci.ionia.mi.us/">Ionia, Michigan</a>, was an attorney and president of the Los Angeles and Pacific Railway Company. When he moved to this future landmark his estate stretched from Kellam to Edgeware. Included on the property was Hall’s carriage house. Though still in the same spot, the carriage house now belongs to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=1417+Kellam+Avenue+los+angeles+ca&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&cid=0,0,4265393394077715915&ei=b26nSavpDoK2sQOTzPXgDw&ll=34.072142,-118.254862&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=A">1417 Kellam Avenue</a> around the corner. It’s <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/07/no-166-kellam-avenue-carriage-house.html">HCM No. 166</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3302851348/" title="Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/3302851348_69e4c7ec70.jpg" alt="Hall Residence" height="500" width="393" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">From L.A.’s Department of City Planning <a href="http://cityplanning.lacity.org">website</a>.<br /></span></div><br />The two-story house is Eastlake in design and features an Oriental fret pattern along with its L-shaped porch. And if posting the year of construction on the side of your home were a law in L.A., it’d make things a whole lot easier for bloggers who list the year of construction on the line after the address.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3302883764/" title="Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3584/3302883764_f607fdf704.jpg" alt="Hall Residence" height="335" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Hall fell on hard times shortly after moving into the house. He began selling off chunks of his property, then the home itself. Subsequent residents of 917 Douglas included members of the <a href="http://homepage.hispeed.ch/Heim-family/heim-brewery-a.htm">Heim Brewing Company’s</a> Heim family (another Heim, Ferdinand, owned <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/10/no-77-heim-house.html">HCM No. 77</a> nearby on Carroll Avenue), future Glendale bigshots <a href="http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt929028zh/?&brand=oac">Leslie C. Brand</a> and <a href="http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2003/03/15/export20107.txt">Daniel Campbell</a>, and Ida Millard, sister of Everett Hall and widow of <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7640747">Spencer Millard</a>, Lt Governor of California (also from <a href="http://www.ci.ionia.mi.us/">Ionia, Michigan</a>). And a contemporary city directory tells us widows Amelia M. Knox and Helen Marmion were living there in 1915.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3302040431/" title="Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3302040431_2099569e31.jpg" alt="Hall Residence" height="500" width="438" /></a><br /></div><br />Some more information with which to stymie your enemies: besides through the city landmark, Everett Hall and his family live on through a few street names in and around Angelino Heights. Allison Avenue is named for Hall’s younger brother, and Marion Avenue for a daughter who died in infancy. And there’s nearby Everett Place, Everett Street, and Everett Park. (Wallace and Carroll took the names of Stilson sons.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3302879802/" title="Hall Residence by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/3302879802_06181d540a.jpg" alt="Hall Residence" height="500" width="435" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Spencer C. Millard Dead: A Farmer’s Son Who Became California’s Lieutenant Governor.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The New York Times</span>; Oct. 26, 1895, p. 9<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles City Directory</span> 1915 Los Angeles Directory Company, Los Angeles, CA<br /><br />Morales, T.M. “Neighborhood ‘Dandy’ now Disguised ‘Victorian’” <span style="font-style: italic;">Parkside Journal </span>Oct 3, 1979, p. 1<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">An Album of Significant Homes in Century-Old Angelino Heights</span> 1987 The Carroll Avenue Restoration Foundation<br /><br />Morales, Tom<span style="font-style: italic;"> Angelino Heights Preservation Plan</span> – Section 4.1 History of Angelino Heights; June 10, 2004 p .9</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wicks Residence</span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-53417962771820178802009-02-17T23:05:00.000-08:002009-02-23T22:08:30.128-08:00City of the Seekers: L.A.'s Unique Spiritual Legacy<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3305140417/" title="Mount Washington Hotel by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/3305140417_0b5fb8dce1.jpg" alt="Mount Washington Hotel" height="374" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument No. 845, Mount Washington Hotel/Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters<br /></span></div><br />Your reading this post makes me think you already know the <a href="http://www.laconservancy.org/">Los Angeles Conservancy</a> is sponsoring a self-driving tour of “five historic sites related to spiritual organizations that took root in Los Angeles in the early part of the twentieth century.” The sites are: <a href="http://www.angelustemple.org/">Angelus Temple</a>; the <a href="http://www.yogananda-srf.org/temples/mothercenter/mothercenter.html">Self-Realization Fellowship Mother Center</a>; <a href="http://www.niscience.org/index.html">Chapel of the Jesus Ethic</a>; the <a href="http://www.prs.org/">Philosophical Research Society</a>; and the <a href="http://laist.com/2008/05/24/laistory_bonnie.php">Bonnie Brae House</a>, home of the Pentecostal movement.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">Two of the stops – the Philosophical Research Society and the Self-Realization Fellowship Mother Center (the former Mount Washington Hotel, pictured above) – are Historic-Cultural Monuments, and I’m going to take full advantage of the Conservancy tour to visit them (even though I won’t be blogging about them until, like, 2012 and 2015). I’m also planning on getting the answer to why <a href="http://www.aimeesemplemcphersonmovie.com/">Aimee Semple McPherson’s</a> Angelus Temple is <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> a city landmark, despite being both listed on the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/nr">National Register of Historic Places</a> and one of just seven <a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl">National Historic Landmarks</a> located in L.A.<br /><br />The tour is March 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.<br /><br /><a href="https://secure2.convio.net/lac/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=4581&store_id=1601&JServSessionIdr008=r2jzdq1oa3.app8a">Go here</a> for more information and tickets, please.<br /><br />The shot of the Mount Washington Hotel is from the Los Angeles Public Library online photo archive.<br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-77558670679554900392009-02-13T23:37:00.001-08:002009-02-21T21:06:05.947-08:00No. 215 - Bob's Market<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3293807231/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/3293807231_3f90aaa53a.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="334" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bob’s Market</span><br />1913 – George F. Colterison<br />1230 Bellevue Avenue – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1230+bellevue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.068249,-118.252094&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br />Okay. Add the proprietors of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bob’s Market</span> to the list of those who do not appreciate my taking photos of their establishment, in this case a city landmark for nearly thirty years now.<br /><br />In 1913 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ella J. McMillen</span> hired architect <span style="font-weight: bold;">George F. Colterison</span> to design for her what would be this one-story, false front, frame structure with slight Mission Revival and Oriental elements. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Peter A. Holmberg’s</span> construction costs ran the Widow McMillen $3,500.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3294629918/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3385/3294629918_60524ab015.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="327" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3294617380/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3313/3294617380_838461f8c4.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="296" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />The sight was absolutely perfect for a grocery store, located at a six-point intersection in the paths of trolleys, carriages, and pedestrians. Now, at first, the building housed two businesses (and two families). One of the first tenants/shop-owners was Levon Melkonian. He fled the Turks and the <a href="http://www.armenian-genocide.org/chronology.html">Armenian Genocide</a> in 1914, setting up a tailor shop in the 1253 Bellevue half (his wife, Azniv M., joined him five years afterwards). Levon was on the other side of grocer Frank E. Sandberg. Abram and Miriam Kooper bought the grocery half in 1926, establishing a home there the following year. In 1934 the Koopers acquired the dry cleaning business next door from Fred and Nelly Baalberger. Since then, the building’s held a single business.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3293800025/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3432/3293800025_ff7e96e87e.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="500" width="421" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3294625594/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3466/3294625594_83564d9d5e.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="319" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />Kensington Properties bought the landmark on January 11, 1963. Two years later, Bob and Keiko Nimura bought it from Ben Nakone.<br /><br />Bob’s Market narrowly escaped a devastating six-house fire on the block in August 2003. The blaze left nearly thirty residents homeless.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3293787615/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3343/3293787615_6cd87f98e1.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="272" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />McGrew and Julian, in their <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Landmarks-Los-Angeles-Patrick-McGrew/dp/0810935724/ref=sr_1_4/102-2252195-9929720?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174968864&sr=8-4"><span style="font-style: italic;">Landmarks of Los Angeles</span></a>, say Bob’s Market is “unique primarily because it has survived”, but what they don’t say is that Angelino Heights at one time had four local grocery stores, one of which was around till not that long ago.<br /><br />Even those of us with only a passing knowledge of Angelino Heights remember the B & K Market at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1465+bellevue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.070062,-118.258038&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">the northwest corner</a> of Bellevue and West Edgeware. You can still see <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3298770876/">the shop’s sign</a> telling us Knudsen is The Very Best (and you can make out the B & K on the sign if you get up really close). Ninety-plus years ago, this grocery was run by a man named <span style="font-weight: bold;">Henry M. Reuter</span>. He lived right behind his shop at 1166 West Edgeware.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3298771434/" title="Former B & K Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3402/3298771434_886161e1cd.jpg" alt="Former B & K Market" height="428" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Henry Reuter’s grocery store / B & K Market<br /></span></div><br />For those of you who can remember back twenty-five years, you might recall the shop at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=826+East+Edgeware+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.070062,-118.258038&sspn=0.010025,0.015192&g=1465+bellevue+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.070294,-118.255463&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">826 East Edgeware</a>, between Carroll and Kellam. <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3297902063/">A plaque</a> on the building’s side tells us it was a community store from 1911 to 1984. In 1915, this was the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Driggs Bros</span> market. That year, brothers B. Ruggles and John W. were living at nearby <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=816+East+Kensington+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.070294,-118.255463&sspn=0.010025,0.015192&g=826+East+Edgeware+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.071431,-118.252072&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">816b East Kensington</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1100+West+Kensington+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.071431,-118.252072&sspn=0.010025,0.015192&g=816+East+Kensington+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.072089,-118.256257&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">1100 West Kensington</a>, respectively. Here’s the Driggs Bros store today:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3298730838/" title="Former Driggs Bros Grocery Store by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3298730838_7496145323.jpg" alt="Former Driggs Bros Grocery Store" height="263" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Driggs Bros market</span><br /></div><br />Thirdly – and most obscurely – there was <span style="font-weight: bold;">Harry Smookler’s</span> grocery at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=954+East+Edgeware+los+angeles+ca&sll=34.072089,-118.256257&sspn=0.010025,0.015192&g=1100+West+Kensington+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=34.071964,-118.253531&spn=0.010025,0.015192&z=16&iwloc=addr">954 East Edgeware</a>. Harry bought the land – lot 5, block 11 – from Charlie Stimson in 1906. Smookler also lived here with his family.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3298749430/" title="Former Harry Smookler Grocery Store by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3298749430_c0688f84fb.jpg" alt="Former Harry Smookler Grocery Store" height="292" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Former Harry Smookler store/residence<br /></span></div><br />Poor Harry. Just a few days before Christmas 1912, the neighborhood grocer gave his son, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Willie</span>, what the <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span> called a “slight chastisement”. A sensitive lad, distraught fifteen-year-old Willie subsequently borrowed a pistol from his pal, Waldo Hardeson, who then accompanied his buddy to buy cartridges. The teenage Smookler walked to a nearby vacant lot, stuck the gun in his mouth, and committed suicide. Harry the grocer found the body.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3293803231/" title="Bob's Market by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3293803231_72ee1ce0ef.jpg" alt="Bob's Market" height="332" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“Houses, Lots and Lands – Review of Building and Development” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jun 10, 1906, p. V24<br /><br />“Youthful Pride Causes Tragedy.” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Dec 20, 1912, p. II5<br /><br />Morales, T.M. “Family Operated Stores Still Stand” <span style="font-style: italic;">Parkside Journal</span>; Jul 25, 1979, p. 1<br /><br />McGrew, Patrick and Robert Julian <span style="font-style: italic;">Landmarks of Los Angeles</span> Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1994 New York, NY<br /><br />Rubin, Joel and Monte Morin “Fire Chars Angelino Heights Homes” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Aug 15, 2003</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hall Residence</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-89510462801451855042009-02-10T23:08:00.001-08:002009-02-19T08:57:14.391-08:00No. 214 - (Site of) Mt Carmel High School Building<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3287144110/" title="Mt Carmel High School Building by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3517/3287144110_d0e291b1bc.jpg" alt="Mt Carmel High School Building" width="500" height="369" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Site of) Mt Carmel High School Building</span><br />1934 – Barker & Ott<br />7011 South Hoover Street – <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=7011+South+Hoover+Street+los+angeles+ca&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=1AWdSd6eGInKtQP2rvW1Ag&ll=33.976552,-118.287735&spn=0.010018,0.014355&z=16&iwloc=addr">map</a><br />Declared: 6/6/79<br /><br />Construction began in the late spring of 1934 on this two-story, late Spanish Colonial Revival school building, designed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Merl Lee Barker and G. Lawrence Ott</span> for the Missionary Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of the Carmelite Order of New York. It’s been gone going on nearly thirty years now, so if there are any Mt Carmel graduates out there, it’d be great to hear from you.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">The thirty-four room structure, constructed of reinforced concrete, was the first school in Los Angeles built to new seismic standards following the <a href="http://nisee.berkeley.edu/long_beach/long_beach.html">1933 Long Beach earthquake</a>. Laurence J. Waller was the structural engineer, W.W. Petley got the general contracting gig, and the F.D. Reed Company handled the plumbing. The school’s size was 13,920 square feet, and it sported a stucco exterior.<br /><br />The $85,000 to $100,000 building was dedicated on January 6, 1935. Rt Rev. John J. Cantwell, bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles and San Diego, laid the cornerstone and gave the dedicatory address. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Father Flannagan</span> gets credited with the school’s founding.<br /><br />The Reverend Niles J. Gillen announced in April 1976 the all-boys school, operated by the Catholic Fathers of the Order of Mt Carmel, would close due to decreasing enrollment, down to 276 from more than 600 in the early 1960s. A group of parents organized a petition drive to convince the Chicago-based Carmelites to change their minds but to no avail. Plans even called for asking <a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/index.htm">Pope Paul VI</a> to intervene. And hopes the <a href="http://www.la-archdiocese.org/">L.A. Archdiocese</a> would take over the school never panned out. Mt Carmel shut down with the end of the school year on May 26.<br /><br />As part of its Historic-Cultural landmarking, South Central’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mt Carmel High School</span> was called by the city, “an excellent example of Mission architecture housing a school which has made a significant contribution to the community.” It looks like the 1979 monumental status was conferred primarily to ward off the school’s destruction by the <a href="http://www.laparks.org/">Parks and Recreation Department</a> which had owned the building by that time.<br /><br />I’ll admit I’m more than a bit sketchy about how the landmark eventually met its demise. The gym remained until a fire brought it down in 1983. By this time, though, the school building had already been demolished, maybe the previous year? Perhaps it had served as a senior center in its post-school years? In any event, the city’s <a href="http://www.preservation.lacity.org/">Office of Historic Resources</a> has no record of any demolition permit being issued. If you know anything, fill us in, please.<br /><br />The sole picture is from the <a href="http://cityplanning.lacity.org/">L.A. Department of City Panning’s website</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />“School Constructions Ready To Be Launched” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; May 20, 1934, p. 21<br /><br />“Catholics Today Will Dedicate New High School” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Jan 6, 1935, p. 15<br /><br />“Mt. Carmel High School to Close Doors in June” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 3, 1976, p. A27<br /><br />Fanucchi, Kenneth “’It’s Too Late’ To Save School” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 18, 1976, p. CS1<br /><br />Fanucchi, Kenneth “Parents Fight Mt. Carmel Closing” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>; Apr 22, 1976, p. CS1</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bob’s Market</span><br /><span class="fullpost"></span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633816278415014207.post-53968508229001755272009-02-07T21:56:00.001-08:002009-02-15T23:34:05.187-08:00No. 213 - S.S. Catalina<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3280414134/" title="S.S. Catalina by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/3280414134_1230b38fdf.jpg" alt="S.S. Catalina" height="316" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">S.S. Catalina</span><br />1924, cut for scrap in 2009<br />Declared: 5/16/79<br /><br />Talk about great timing. I missed visiting Monument No. 213, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">S.S. Catalina</span>, by <span style="font-style: italic;">this much</span>. The bags were packed, the tank was full, the passport – eh, let’s face it. There’s not a chance in hell I would’ve made the 180-mile trip down to Ensenada to see and be saddened over what was left of the eighty-five-year-old <span style="font-weight: bold;">“Great White Steamship”</span>. Unfortunately, I (and you) will never get the chance now.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3280413732/" title="S.S. Catalina by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/3280413732_5ddacdd0bb.jpg" alt="S.S. Catalina" height="386" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />In 1919, five years after <a href="http://badbanana.typepad.com/weblog/images/2008/09/11/3.png">Doublemint’s</a> debut, <a href="http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nl/chicubs/cubs.html">Cub</a>-and-<a href="http://www.wrigley.com/index.do">gum</a> man <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/798/000165303">William Wrigley Jr</a> purchased <a href="http://www.catalina.com/main.html">Santa Catalina Island</a> and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wilmington Transportation Company</span> from William, J.B., and Hancock Banning, sons of <a href="http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-25-general-phineas-banning-residence.html">Phineas</a>. To turn Catalina into the resort he envisioned, Wrigley needed a bunch of boats to ferry passengers between the mainland and the island’s city of <a href="http://digarc.usc.edu/assetserver/controller/view/search/CHS-36092">Avalon</a>. He had already gotten a pair of ships as part of the Wilmington Transportation Company – the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hermosa</span> (1902) and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cabrillo</span> (1904). And, after World War I, Wrigley purchased from the U.S. Navy the U.S.S. Blueridge, built by the Globe Ironworks of Cleveland in 1891 and originally christened the Virginia. After a major refurbishment, this last ship was renamed the <span style="font-weight: bold;">S.S. Avalon</span> in 1920. But Wrigley wanted a fourth.<br /><br />Here are pictures of the Cabrillo (courtesy of <a href="http://digarc.usc.edu/search/controller/index.htm">USC’s Digital Archive</a>) and the Avalon (from the <a href="http://www.lapl.org/">L.A. Public Library</a>). Like the Catalina, both ships served in World War II, the Avalon staying in SoCal, the Cabrillo eventually making its way to Sacramento. The latter was left to rot and be cut for scrap near Napa. The <a href="http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/Avalon.htm">Avalon</a> was retired in February 1951. Nine years later, this ship, too, was cut for scrap, then suffered a fire, ultimately sinking off <a href="http://www.palosverdes.com/rpv">Palos Verdes</a> in 1964.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3280413316/" title="S.S. Cabrillo by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3280413316_5928d19fe2.jpg" alt="S.S. Cabrillo" height="430" width="500" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3280399138/" title="S.S. Avalon by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3520/3280399138_0cd206c05b.jpg" alt="S.S. Avalon" height="378" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br />William Wrigley Jr laid the keel of the million dollar S.S. Catalina at the L.A. Shipbuilding and Drydock Harbor on the day after Christmas, 1923. Just four and a half months later, on May 3, 1924, Mayor Cryer and 3,000 onlookers watched Miss Marcia Patrick, the sister of the Wilmington Steamship Company’s president, christen the ship. With <span style="font-weight: bold;">A.A. Morris</span> its captain, the Catalina left her Berth 185 homeport in Wilmington on June 30.<br /><br />The S.S. Catalina stretched 301 feet long and fifty-two-feet wide. It weighed 1,766 tons. There were five decks, three of which were for passengers: the Promenade; the Saloon; and the Main. The top deck held the bridge with the pilot house and captain’s cabin.<br /><br />During the Catalina’s two-hour trip to Avalon’s Steamer pier, its passengers (the ship had a capacity of 2,200) could dance to a big-band orchestra while clowns and magicians would entertain their kids. In 1929, the Cabrillo, Avalon, and Catalina, making a total of ten daily roundtrips, carried a combined half a million passengers between L.A. Harbor and Santa Catalina Island. (Wrigley sold the Hermosa in 1928.)<br /><br />William Wrigley, Jr, died in 1932 and his son, Philip, inherited the company.<br /><br />During World War II, the government drafted the <a href="http://www.savethecatalina.org/history.html">S.S. Catalina</a> into service, designating the ship as FS-99 for use as an Army Troop Transport. Employed in San Francisco Bay, the steamship wound up ferrying soldiers to larger warships. In her forty-four months of military service, the Catalina transported some 820,000 men, more than any other U.S. Army Transport. The ship was back to its old L.A. to Santa Catalina run on July 3, 1946.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3280413352/" title="Troops on the S.S. Catalina by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3280413352_d0af1db5a9.jpg" alt="Troops on the S.S. Catalina" height="400" width="307" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">S.S. Catalina, troops (L.A. Public Library)<br /></span></div><br />At the beginning of 1948, the Wilmington Transportation Company changed its name to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Catalina Island Steamship Line</span>. During the 1950s, there were now just single daily roundtrips made from Wilmington to Santa Catalina. In 1956 it would cost you around $6.00 for a roundtrip ticket. The Wrigleys sold the steamship line to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Charles Stillwell</span> and his M.G.R.S. Company, Inc., in 1960. Stillwell sold the Catalina – now with its terminal under the <a href="http://www.portoflosangeles.org/BridgeLighting">Vincent Thomas Bridge</a> – in 1970 to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Carolyn Stanalan</span> and her family.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.maritimematters.com/catalina.html">S.S. Catalina</a> completed her 9,807th and final crossing on September 14, 1975. Real estate developer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hymie Singer</span> bought the ship for $70,000 at auction on February 16, 1977, as a belated Valentine’s Day gift for his wife, Ruth. The new owners struggled with docking fees, mooring the former ferry in San Pedro, Newport Beach, San Diego, and Santa Monica Bay, then settling the vessel off Long Beach for five years. An attempt at rehabilitation failed in 1983. Two years later, after the ship broke free of its moorings in a second instance – this time nearly causing a major accident, the Coast Guard had had enough and announced it was going to seize the Catalina. The owners opted to remove the ship from U.S. waters, and by the spring of 1985, the boat was three miles off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. The Catalina Bar and Grill Restaurant opened on board the L.A. landmark in the summer of 1988, but didn’t stay in business long.<br /><br />Over the next two decades, the S.S. Catalina, “the Great White Steamship”, slowly deteriorated, rotting, sinking, and listing, thanks to looters and thieves, the Mexican government (which had ordered the boat’s solid bronze propellers removed, allowing seawater to seep into the ship), neglect, and plain old ravages of time. Spare half a minute and watch this video of the Catalina in <a href="http://www.ensenada.com/">Ensenada</a>, by this time a home for sea lions.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W_9d_wy06Ew&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W_9d_wy06Ew&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div><br />The Singers gave up ownership of the Catalina and, in 2000, the Mexican government donated the boat to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">S.S. Catalina Preservation Association</span> for non-commercial preservation purposes. Despite salvation efforts from a variety of concerned groups including the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Raising the Catalina Association</span> and the <a href="http://www.sscatalina.com/">S.S. Catalina Steamship Fund</a>, the Mexican government began cutting apart the ship for scrap just a few weeks ago.<br /><br />It’s figured the S.S. Catalina alone carried 25 million people in its service of fifty-one years, maybe more than any other ocean-going ship in history. Besides being designated a city landmark in 1979, the ship was also listed on the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/nr">National Register of Historic Places</a> and declared a <a href="http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21381">California State Landmark</a>.<br /><br />A very big thanks to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Shawn J. Drake</span> for his online essay, <a href="http://home.pacbell.net/steamer/CAT1st75.html">“The S.S. Catalina: the First 75 Years of a “Great White Steamer””</a>. The shot at the top of the post is from the <a href="http://cityplanning.lacity.org/">L.A. Department of City Planning</a>, while the one below is from <a href="http://www2.library.ucla.edu/libraries/digital.cfm">UCLA Library’s Digital Collection</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/3280413486/" title="S.S. Catalina by Floyd B. Bariscale, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/3280413486_57aa802883.jpg" alt="S.S. Catalina" height="399" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br /><br />Pool, Bob “SS Catalina is Seaworthy No More” <span style="font-style: italic;">The Los Angeles Times</span>, Jan 6, 2009</span><br /><br />Up next: <span style="font-weight: bold;">(Site of) Mt Carmel High School Building</span><br /></span>Floyd B. Bariscalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08865316405393661242noreply@blogger.com8