No. 56 - Bullock's Wilshire Building

Bullock’s Wilshire Building
1929 – John and Donald Parkinson
3050 Wilshire Boulevard – map
Declared: 6/5/68

By the time Bullock’s Wilshire opened in September of 1929, John Bullock had been running (if not owning) Bullock’s at Seventh and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles for more than twenty years. After a boatload of expansions to that store and the death of owner Arthur Letts, Bullock made the decision to build an even bigger, more luxurious flagship store – out in the suburbs.

Bullock and the vice president of Bullock's Inc., Percy Winnett, anticipated the westward expansion of the city’s population and chose for their new store a location on the other side of Westlake (now MacArthur) Park.

The new, two-million dollar Art Deco department store on the elite Wilshire Boulevard was designed by the father and son architect team of John and Donald Parkinson. The men had already partly or completely designed the downtown Bullock’s and more than a few L.A. landmarks, including the Los Angeles Athletic Club (No. 69), City Hall (No. 150), and the Security Trust and Saving Buildings in Hollywood (No. 334) and Highland Park (No. 575). They’d go on to design Union Station (No. 101).

The building was originally to reach ten stories, but made it to just five.

The interior design was handled by Jock Peters.

This design on the Wilshire Boulevard side was created by George Stanley, who originally sculpted the Oscar statuette.

The Wilshire Boulevard facade.

So while the Wilshire side is often considered the front of the store, the true entrance is on the south side.

A shot of the motor court/porte cochere through which shoppers in their cars would arrive (from the right).

The ceiling of the motor court is this mural by Herman Sachs called Spirit of Transportation.

Bullock's Wilshire hasn't been a department store for about fifteen years (more on that later). It's now part of Southwestern Law School, so if you're looking at these pictures wondering where the shoppers are, now you know. (They've gone to Betson's!)

The banks of elevators you see when entering the building.

Perfume Hall

Now the Julian C. Dixon Courtroom and Advocacy Center, this space held the Accessories Department back in the day.

The old Sportswear Department bears this mural, The Spirit of the Sports, by Gjura Stojano.

A remnant of the Saddle Shop.

The room below once held the Menswear Department. The design was a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright.

There were thirty clocks designed for Bullock's Wilshire. Here's one of them.

Moving onto the second floor, there's Irene's Salon, named for Irene (Gibbons). Models would sashay out and show off dresses created by the MGM costume designer.

Second floor, Ladies' Lingerie.

Here's the Louis XVI Period Room, used for viewing more designer dresses.

This was the Coco Chanel Room, where Chanel displayed her dresses. It's now the Chanel Conference Room.

The third and fourth floors (not pictured) were originally dedicated to college and high school girls (floor 3) and children (floor 4).

When you step off the fifth floor elevators, you walk into this lobby, evoking the old Cactus Room.

Above is the oak-paneled office of the Dean of Southwestern Law School, formerly the office of John Bullock. The Dean's Office opens onto a terrace from which you get great views of not only downtown L.A., but also of that 241-foot tower and a close-up of the building's copper.

In February of 1944, Bullock's Inc. merged with the I. Magnin & Co. retail chain. Twenty years later, the company sold out to Federated Department Stores Inc. Then, in 1988, Federated got chopped up, with the Bullock's and Magnin parts going to Macy's, who shut down the 64-year-old landmark in 1993.

The store's first floor received its fair share of damage in the 1992 riots.

The Salle Moderne, once a dining room.

You can see Bullock's Wilshire in Topper, Bugsy, and Family Plot, among other movies. A couple of episodes of Murder, She Wrote were filmed here - the show's star, Angela Lansbury, worked as a sales clerk at the store in the early 1940s.

Check out the original flooring.

In 1994, Southwestern Law School stepped in and bought not only the building, but also the land it stood on (the plot had been owned by CalTech - go figure). Southwestern began what was figured to be an eventual $20 million restoration process. Ronald Altoon served as restoration architect.

This is the famous Tea Room, where you dined while, again, viewing models in designer dresses.

More Tea Room.

The Team Room Alcove.

A little conference room on the other side of the Tea Room Alcove.

A big hats off to Southwestern Law School. They've been opening up the school once a year for special "Tea and Tours". During this past tour, in July, the school couldn't have been more welcoming, especially to those who wanted to take tons of pictures (and there were many of us). It was a great afternoon. Thanks.

Maybe my favorite room in the building: a space used for more private viewing of - sigh - models in designer dresses.

Of course, I got a lot of this information from the tour itself, but the real comprehensive source for all things Bullock's Wilshire is the insanely comprehensive Bullocks Wilshire by Margaret Leslie Davis, published in 1996 and now out of print.

The Bullock's Wilshire Building is also on the list of National Register of Historic Places.

Up next: Second Church of Christ Scientist of Los Angeles

continue reading...

No. 55 - Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
1927 – Meyer & Holler
6925 Hollywood Boulevard – map
Declared: 6/5/68
Everyone knows a little something about Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, right? I mean, its “Forecourt of the Stars” has got to be one of the most photographed places in the U.S. What American landmark gets its picture taken more each year? Times Square? The Golden Gate Bridge? More than four million folks visit Grauman’s each year. (That’s an average of nearly 11,000 per day. Can that be?)

In any event, I thought it would be a hoot to visit Grauman’s at three different times of the day – early morning, mid-afternoon, and evening. Which is funny, really, because I hate going to Hollywood Boulevard as most of you do.

Sid Grauman, “Hollywood’s Master Showman”, already had downtown Los Angeles’s Million Dollar Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre (HCM No. 584) in Hollywood when he opened the Chinese Theatre. His partners included Mary Pickford and husband Douglas Fairbanks (Fairbanks was Pickford’s husband, not Grauman’s – ed.). While the architectural firm of record is Meyer & Holler, Raymond M. Kennedy is credited with the brunt of the design work of the pagodaesque building. It was built on the site of the former home of Francis X. Bushman. The theatre opened May 18, 1927, with the premiere of King of Kings from Cecil B. DeMille, whose own footprint ceremony was on 8/7/41.

This entranceway stands 90-feet tall:

Chinese Heaven Dogs, Ming Dynasty 1403 – 1643.

Charity fountain for Marilyn Monroe’s orphanage, Hollygrove:

When it comes to the “Forecourt of Stars”, the story pitched by the theatre goes Norma Talmadge was visiting the construction site when she accidentally stepped in wet cement. Smelling a publicity bonanza, Grauman invited his partners, Doug and Mary, back a few days later on April 30, 1927, to officially sink their paws into the forecourt. (Norma returned for her imprinting on opening day.) The first part of this sounds like a lot of p.r. bunk, if you ask me. Whatever the genesis, over the years, stars have put their hands, feet, noses, guns, cigars, wands, and whatever else into the ground at this landmark. Here's a list and map of who's there and where.

“Jeepers! The Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor yesterday! President Roosevelt has declared war!! They say Southern California could be hit next!!! What do we do?”

“Let’s go see Bud and Lou put their hands in cement at Grauman’s!”

“Swell!"

James Stewart was immortalized on Friday the 13th, in February of 1948 (see top). Now, I’m not superstitious, but, less than fifty years later, Jimmy died of “cardiac arrest”. Coincidence?

The most popular square is Marilyn Monroe’s (6/26/53). Her i's dot is a rhinestone ring, but the ring part was chiseled out within a few days of her ceremony. Here’s her contribution with co-star Jane Russell’s.

Wait. Did I say Marilyn’s handprints were the most popular? What I meant to say was the most popular square is that of movies execs Terry Semel and Bob Daly (not pictured). You should’ve seen the tourists lined up to see if they could literally fill the shoes of Terry and Bob (9/30/99)! Not really.

While snapping away, I reckoned the winner of the Most Obscure Footprints Award was Diana Wynyard (1/26/33). That is until I got back to the BOL headquarters and read Lauritz Melchior’s (11/17/47) handprints are also there. As well as Edmund Purdom’s (8/30/54), Elmer C. Rhoden’s (9/16/58), and Bill Hertz’s (3/18/99). Oh, and contest-winner Charles Nelson’s (4/24/49). Now I don’t know what to think.

Grauman (1/24/46) sold his share to Fox in 1931, but stuck around as managing director. Sid died in 1950.

The Chinese was the fourth home of the Academy Awards ceremony (the first, the Roosevelt Hotel, stands cattycorner to Grauman’s). Bob Hope (2/5/43) hosted the Oscars (or, as they were known in his house, Passover) there in 1944, ’45, and ’46.

The westside:

And, now, for the mid-afternoon shots.

If you go inside, you’ll experience a vintage movie-going lobby, including seeing a wax figure (one of the original three) that actors will touch for good luck when entering the auditorium on premiere nights.

Interior murals are by Number One Son, Key Luke. No fooling, Pop.

A later addition to the theatre, this candy-stand became famous when Hedley Lamarr bought his Raisenetes here in 1974.

The Mann Theatre chain bought the Chinese in 1973, re-naming it Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

WF Cinema Holdings (WF Cinema Holdings = Warner Bros + Paramount Studios) now owns the theatre and has switched the name back to Grauman’s. (An adjacent multi-plex still bears the Mann moniker.) The Chinese received a major renovation to coincide with the opening of the nearby Hollywood Highland Center on, er, Hollywood and Highland.

On the surface, the whole deal reeks of touristy cheese. However, I confess, not only was Grauman’s at the top of my list of sites to see when I first visited L.A., I still think it's more than a little cool, standing on the footprints of Bud & Lou, the Marx Brothers, Cary Grant, Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, and on and on and on…

Up next: Bullock's Wilshire Building

continue reading...

No. 54 - Old 6th Street Wooden Bridge

Old Sixth Street Wooden Bridge
1898, demolished 1968
Hollenbeck Park – map
Declared: 5/22/68

Don’t go to Hollenbeck Park to see Historic-Cultural Monument No. 54, the Old Sixth Street Wooden Bridge, because it was torn down nearly forty years ago (right after designation, too). But do go because, despite being hacked up to make way for the I-5 Freeway back in the early 1960s, Hollenbeck Park remains a pleasant Los Angeles space on the edge of Boyle Heights.

I’m throwing in here a few shots of the park as it is today as an ointment for those who had their hearts set on a lengthy pictorial on the old footbridge.

The park is named for John Edward Hollenbeck, whose widow donated one-third of the land. William H. Workman and his wife, friends of Hollenbeck, contributed the balance. Hollenbeck died in 1885, the park was was given to the city in 1890-1891. According to Harris Newmark, Workman also laid out the walks.

The lake is re-stocked every other Friday (the Fishing Network says there’s “rainbow trout from Winter through early Spring and catfish during the Summer months. There are also bluegill, largemouth bass, crappie, and carp in here”), and if you’re a kid you may fish there license-free. It’s also the site of Feria De Los Niños.

Of course, going to Hollenbeck Park today, you’ll need to put up with the white-noise drone of the Golden State Freeway – its pillars plunge straight into the southern portion of the lake. It’s a spot to say so long to this chunk of the I-5, which changes into the Santa Ana Freeway at the interchange with the 10/101/60 not far south.

Go here and here for collections of old Hollenbeck Park postcards. For a more personal perspective on the park and the surrounding area, see El Chavo!’s entry on Metroblogging Los Angeles.

The black and white shot at the top is from the UCLA Library Digital Collections.

Up next: Grauman's Chinese Theatre

continue reading...

No. 53 - (Old) St Peter’s Episcopal Church and Harbor View Cemetery

(Old) St Peter’s Episcopal Church and Harbor View Cemetery
1884/1883
Harbor View Memorial Park, Grand Avenue and 24th Street, San Pedro – map
Declared: 12/6/67

The site’s declaration marker states Historic-Cultural Monument No. 53 is “San Pedro’s Oldest Church and First Cemetery”. That would be St Peter’s Episcopal Church (1884) and Harbor View Cemetery, previously known as San Pedro Cemetery (1883).

This is the third site for the St Peter’s building. The first was on Beacon Street, between 2nd and 3rd, and the second was at 10th and Mesa Streets, having been relocated in 1904. In 1956, the building was deconsecrated and moved to its current home. Most recently the Carpenter Gothic structure was used for concerts. I write “most recently”, but it must’ve been many, many moons ago. (However, McGrew and Julian said in 1994, in Landmarks of Los Angeles, that it was available at that time for public use.) The new St Peter’s Episcopal Church building is now on 9th Street.

The San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce reports the “church features hand-hewed pews and an alter [sic]. Its lectern is upheld by an intricately-carved wooden angel. All are of redwood.”

The building’s in somewhat sad shape, the victim of the elements and vandals. (The Sunday afternoon I was there, a pack of teenagers was stretched out, sucking on some beers, in front of the church. Now, I’m all for teens drinking in graveyards, but, in my day, we at least waited until nightfall. I mean they waited until nightfall. Heh.)

So looking at this big patch of destruction below, you can see where a couple dozen shingles have been ripped away, exposing those base slats of wood.

As for the cemetery itself, it was spread out on land deeded by A.W. Timms, whose obelisk monument takes center circle in the graveyard. To read whose remains remain here, see this site for the meticulous marker research done by the South Bay Cities Genealogical Society. While at the cemetery, I noted more than a few early 20th century children’s graves, along with the resting places of a couple of Freemasons and members of the OES, which my research shows stands for either Order of the Eastern Star or Old English Sheepdog.

This mausoleum at the cemetery’s entrance bears the name “Rudecinda”. That’s Rudecinda Sepulveda, whose corpse is inside keeping company with an unknown number of other Sepulvedas. The good folks at the San Pedro Bay Historical Society let me know they’re awaiting confirmation from the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks as to who else exactly lies in Sepulveda’s tomb. Rudecinda was the granddaughter of Delores Sepulveda, original owner of the Palos Verdes Rancho. (See a Myron Chester Nutting painting of Rudecinda half-way down this page.) She married James Dodson in the 1880s. HCM No. 147, The Dodson House, now on West 13th Street, was built for the newlyweds by her parents. Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle School bears her name today.

Below: Carrie May Barton, who died the day after Christmas, 1888.

Below: The resting place of Mr Recreation, “Big George”.

Poor Tina Clooten (OES) passed more than half a century ago, but good ol’ Pat is still going strong at 126.

I can’t even comment on the irony of vandals destroying the memorial to the family of Love.

In conclusion, an appropriate road sign for a cemetery entrance.

Up next: Old Sixth Street Wooden Bridge

continue reading...