Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

In 1926, a measure was placed on the ballot giving Los Angeles voters the choice between the construction of a vast network of elevated railways or the construction of a much smaller Union Station to consolidate different railroad terminals. The election would take on racial connotations and become a defining moment in the development of Los Angeles. The proposed Union Station was located in the heart of what was Los Angeles' original Chinatown. Reflecting the prejudice of the era, the conservative Los Angeles Times, a lead opponent of elevated railways, argued in editorials that Union Station would not be built in the “midst of Chinatown” but rather would “forever do away with Chinatown and its environs.” Voters approved demolishing much of Chinatown to build Union Station by a narrow 51 to 48 percent.

When Union Station was opened in May 1939, it consolidated remaining service from its predecessors La Grande Station and Central Station. It was built on a grand scale and became known as "Last of the Great Railway Stations" built in the United States.^*

Historical Notes

Union Station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It also is listed as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 101. Click HERE to see the LA Historic-Cultural Monuments list.

Historical Notes

Union Station opened in May, 1939. The Hollywood Freeway would not be constructed until 1950.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Railway (Yellow Cars, LARy) system was sold in 1945 by Huntington's estate to National City Lines, a company that was purchasing transit systems across the country.  The company was renamed as Los Angeles Transit Lines and many of the lines were converted to buses in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

National City Lines, along with its investors that included Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Corporation) and General Motors, were later convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products to local transit companies controlled by National City Lines and other companies in what became known as the General Motors streetcar conspiracy.^*

Historical Notes

In the shot taken on May 23, 1950, Los Angeles Transit Lines car no. 1293 heads south on Main Street working the 8 line. Waiting to make to right turn from Spring St, onto 9th is LATL car no. 1307 working the N line. In the distance, a PE car on the Watts-Sierra Vista line can be seen heading north on Main St. Soon, the N and Sierra Vista lines would be no more.  Andy Payne Photo, Ralph Cantos Collection^#^^

Historical Notes

After World War II, the Pacific Electric Railway system was slowly dismantled — replaced by buses and freeways.^^

Historical Notes

Los Angeles' first municipal power pole is seen here on the corner of Piedmont and N. Figueroa streets (center-left). The pole remains standing today in its original location. Click HERE to see more in L.A.'s First Municipal Power Pole.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles’ Pacific Electric Red Cars were taken out of service in 1961. At their peak, they crisscrossed four counties on more than 1,000 miles of track.^^

Historical Notes

The few remaining trolley-coach routes and narrow gauge streetcar routes of the former Los Angeles Railway "Yellow Cars" were removed in early 1963.^*

Historical Notes

After World War II, the American manufacturing economy switched from producing war-related items to consumer goods. The United States became the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles, and Henry Ford's goal of 40 years earlier—that any man with a good job should be able to afford an automobile—was achieved.^*

Historical Notes

More people joined the middle-class in the 1950s, with more money to spend, and the availability of consumer goods expanded along with the economy, including the automobile. Americans were spending more time in their automobiles and viewing them as an extension of their identity, which helped to fuel a boom in automobile sales. Most businesses directly or indirectly related to the auto industry saw tremendous growth during the decade. New designs and innovations appealed to a generation tuned into fashion and glamour, and the new-found freedom and way of life in the suburbs had several unforeseen consequences for the inner cities. The 1950s saw the beginning of white flight and urban sprawl, driven by increasing automobile ownership.^*

Historical Notes

In just a decade after the end of WWII, one in six working Americans were employed either directly or indirectly in the automotive industry.^*

Historical Notes

E. B. Gilmore appears to have invented the self-serve gas station. He created a “gas-a-teria” not far from Farmers Market where customers saved 5 cents per gallon by filling their own tanks. Those who preferred to have their gas pumped by “professionals” at the gas-a-teria got unusual service for a period of time when young ladies on roller skates would glide to the pumps to gas the cars up.^**^

Historical Notes

A.F. Gilmore and his son, Earl Bell (E.B.) turned their Gilmore Oil Company into the largest distributor of petroleum products in the Western U.S. Through the 1940s and early 50s Gilmore Oil Company evolved into Mobil Oil Corporation.^*

Historical Notes

In 1870, when they moved west from Illinois, Arthur Fremont (A.F.) Gilmore and his partner bought two sizable farms, one of which was the 256-acre dairy farm at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax Ave. Gilmore gained control when the partnership dissolved later.

Gilmore Oil Company replaced the dairy farm when oil was discovered under the land during drilling for water in 1905. Earl Bell (E.B.) Gilmore, son of A.F. Gilmore, took over the family business. The younger Gilmore started midget car racing and brought professional football to Los Angeles. He built Gilmore Field for the Hollywood Stars baseball team, which was owned by Bing Crosby, Barbara Stanwyck, and Cecil B. DeMille.

Farmers Market started when a dozen nearby farmers would park their trucks on a field to sell their fresh produce to local residents. The cost to rent the space was fifty cents per day.^*

Historical Notes

In 1951, CBS Television City was built facing Beverly Boulevard on the site of Gilmore Stadium. In 1958 Gilmore Field was also demolished and the studio expanded on the grounds where baseball was once played.**^#

Historical Notes

Kiddieland was a whimsical amusement park located on less than an acre on the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard, at the present home of the Beverly Center Mall.  Originally, the land parcel was part of an oil field, which was leased for development.

From 1945-1974, children growing up in Los Angeles had their own mini-fair year round. There were usually about twelve kid-sized rides, as well as animals, hot dogs and cotton candy. Parents and Grandparents sat on benches watching their children ride the merry-go-round, and birthday parties were celebrated at picnic tables.^^^*

Beverly Park was a perfect place to have a Birthday Party. It had a picinic area set aside for such occasions. But most important, it had enough fun rides to keep the kids busy for hours. They could even top off the day with pony rides at Ponyland, which was located just west of Kiddieland on Beverly Blvd.

Historical Notes

Next door to Kiddieland, there was another mom and pop operation which offered a different kind of fantasy to youngsters. This was Ponyland, which opened at 8536 Beverly Blvd, around where the Hard Rock Café is today.^^^*

Historical Notes

Television usage in the United States skyrocketed after World War II with the lifting of the manufacturing freeze, war-related technological advances, the gradual expansion of the television networks westward, the drop in television prices caused by mass production, increased leisure time, and additional disposable income. While only 0.5% of U.S. households had a television in 1946, 55.7% had one in 1954, and 90% by 1962.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, color television had come into wide use.*^

Historical Notes

In 1955, only 10 percent of U.S. households had a clothes dryer, probably because they were expensive. Back then, the average price for a dryer was $230. Adjusted to today’s dollars, that lowly laundry appliance would have cost between $2,000 to $3,000.^

Historical Notes

In 1940, restaurateur Sidney Hoedemaker of the Pig 'n' Whistle - Melody Lane chain, leased the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine and transformed it into a Melody Lane restaurant. He hired coffee shop modern architect Wayne McAllister and S. Charles Lee to do the design. #^**

Click HERE for more history of the N/W Corner of Hollywood and Vine

Historical Notes

The Miracle Mile is an area in the Mid-Wilshire and Mid-City West regions consisting of a 1.5-mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard between Fairfax and Highland Avenues.  The May Company Building, now LACMA West, marks the western border of Miracle Mile's "Museum Row".^*

Historical Notes

The May Company Building has a Streamline Modern style with gold corner towers. Built in 1940. Architects: A.C. Martin, S.A. Marx.^

In 1992, the building was designated LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 566 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

May Company California was established in 1923 when May acquired A. Hamburger & Sons Co.(founded in 1881 by Asher Hamburger). The company operated exclusively in Southern California until 1989 when May Department Stores had dissolved Goldwater's, based in Scottsdale, Arizona and transferred its Las Vegas, Nevada store to May Company California.^*

Historical Notes

Developer A. W. Ross saw potential for the area and developed Wilshire as a commercial district to rival downtown Los Angeles. Ross's insight was that the form and scale of his Wilshire strip should attract and serve automobile traffic rather than pedestrian shoppers. He applied this design both to the street itself and to the buildings lining it.^*

Historical Notes

Arthur Murray launched his third business in 1925 by selling branded dance lessons through franchising. He trained dance instructors for the Statler Hotel chain, who then went to various hotels and gave lessons; Murray kept some of the profits from each franchise.

This business was expanded more widely in 1938, when an Arthur Murray dance studio franchise was opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Others followed. His slogan was: "If you can walk, we teach you how to dance", and the company guaranteed that the pupils learn to dance in ten lessons.

After WWII, Murray's business grew with the rise of interest in Latin dance, and he regularly taught and broadcast in Cuba in the 1950s. Murray went on television with a dance program hosted by his wife, Kathryn Murray, The Arthur Murray Party, which ran from 1950 to 1960, on CBS, NBC, DuMont, ABC, and then on CBS.

The Murrays retired in 1964; but they continued to be active for some time, appearing as guests on the Dance Fever disco show in the late 1970s. By then, there were more than 3,560 dance studios bearing his name. In 2007, about 220 Arthur Murray Studios remained in operation. Arthur Murray Dance Studios claims to be the second-oldest franchised company (the first, A&W Restaurants, began in 1919). *^

Click HERE to see more on the Moderne-style Arthur Murray Dance Studio Building (seen above) designed by Stiles O. Clements (1941).

Historical Notes

The Prudential Building (aka Prudential Square) opened in 1948, housing more than 1,200 employees of the western office of Prudential Insurance Company. It was designed by famed architects Walter Wurdeman and Welton Becket in the International Style and was the tallest and largest privately owned building in the city when it opened. The duo also designed the Pan-Pacific Auditorium.

In 1993, Screen Actors Guild moved its national headquarters into the building and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artist’s followed in 1997.

In 2015, the historic Miracle Mile building at 5757 Wilshire Blvd. was renamed SAG-AFTRA Plaza.

Historical Notes

As a lawyer, Henry Hancock worked for the Rocha family to aid them with their efforts to prove their claim to Rancho La Brea. The Rochas finally won their claim, but like so many other rancheros, their legal expenses left them broke. In 1860 Jose Jorge Rocha, the son of Don Antonio Jose Rocha, deeded Rancho La Brea to Henry Hancock. Click HERE to see more in early views of La Brea Tar Pits.

Historical Notes

Park La Brea was originally conceived as an entirely low-rise development. Construction began in 1941, but building restrictions during WWII halted work in 1945 with only the western half of the site completed. By the time construction resumed in 1948, the continued demand for postwar housing had prompted builder, MetLife, to dramatically revise the project to provide greater density and site amenities. The second phase of development included 18 towers rising to the city’s 13-story height limit in addition to three groups of two-story buildings matching those already built.

Historical Notes

The building on the NW corner of Wilshire and Hauser was originally called the Western Auto Supply Co. Building  It was built in 1931 and designed by Carl Lindbom.

Historical Notes

Designed by Wurdeman and Becket and built in 1948, the Prudential Building was later renamed Museum Square.

Historical Notes

Ohrbach's department store was housed in the Prudential Square complex until 1965, when the store relocated to another Becket design down the street, the former Seibu Department Store (now the Petersen Automotive Museum).

Historical Notes

A. W. Ross gave Wilshire various "firsts," including dedicated left-turn lanes and the first timed traffic lights in the United States; he also required merchants to provide automobile parking lots, all to aid traffic flow. Major retailers such as Desmonds, Silverwood's, May Co., Coulter's, Mullen & Bluett, Myer Siegel, and Seibu eventually spread across Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax to La Brea. Ross ordered that all building facades along Wilshire be engineered so as to be best seen through a windshield. This meant larger, bolder, simpler signage; longer buildings in a larger scale, oriented toward the boulevard; and architectural ornament and massing perceptible at 30 MPH instead of at walking speed. These simplified building forms were driven by practical requirements but contributed to the stylistic language of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne.

A sculptural bust of Ross stands at 5800 Wilshire, with the inscription, "A. W. Ross, founder and developer of the Miracle Mile. Vision to see, wisdom to know, courage to do." ^*

Historical Notes

The El Rey began its life in 1936 as an independent neighborhood theatre. With a succession of owners and tenants over the decades, the theatre has run the gamut from hosting spiritual services to showing adult films. It stopped showing movies in the 1980s.

From the 1980s to the early 1990s El Rey Theatre was a dance-music club called Wall Street, but since 1994 this theatre has been a live music venue which is now exclusively booked through Golden Voice. The capacity is 771 and it also has a VIP balcony in the back.*^

Click HERE to see more of the El Rey Theatre.

Historical Notes

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was a chain of grocery stores that ceased supermarket operations in November 2015, after 156 years in business.

From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and until 1965, the largest U.S. retailer of any kind).  A&P was considered an American icon that according to The Wall Street Journal "was as well-known as McDonald's or Google is today" and that A&P was "Walmart before Walmart."  Known for innovation, A&P and the supermarkets that followed its lead significantly improved nutritional habits by making available a vast assortment of food products at much lower costs. Until 1982, A&P also was a large food manufacturer.*^

Historical Notes

The once-popular Mullen and Bluett clothing store chain had several stores in Los Angeles, all designed by Stiles O. Clements in a distinct style to complement its neighborhood.

The last of these stores rose on the Miracle Mile after World War II in the California style, bringing the outdoors in with welcoming patios, open display windows, and dozens of flagstone planter boxes scattered throughout the store.

Clements designed every detail of the building, inside and out. A façade of Roman brick was balanced with a geometric grid of plasterwork and flagstone, softened by greenery, punctuated by copper-framed windows, and topped with an integrated sign pylon.

Inside, women's and children's clothing were located on the second floor. Assuming that men would not travel as far as the second floor to shop, menswear and a convenient carousel of women's gift items were located on the first floor.^

Historical Notes

Next door to Mullen and Bluett stood the 1936 Phelps-Terkel department store, designed by Morgan, Walls, and Clements. Together, they helped secure the Miracle Mile's reputation as a shopper's paradise.

Both buildings succumbed over time to insensitive treatment and lack of protection, due largely to the priority placed on preserving the Miracle Mile's Art Deco buildings.

A succession of owners and tenants over the years eventually gutted and subdivided the Mullen and Bluett building, though its façade remained intact. The Los Angeles Conservancy's Modern Committee fought to save both the Mullen and Bluett and Phelps-Terkel building, neither of which was designed in the Art Deco style.

Both buildings were demolished in 2006 and replaced with an enormous apartment complex in a faux Art Deco design. ^

Historical Notes

Because of its height and prime location on the northeast corner of Wilshire and La Brea, the Art Deco E. Clem Wilson Building has attracted prominent signage over the years.  Corporate names that adorned The Wilson Building included (in chronological order): General Insurance, Mutual of Omaha (until 1990), Asashi, and Samsung.

Historical Notes

This stretch of the eastern end of the Miracle Mile has seen dramatic change with building construction. Click HERE to see this same view in 2009. HERE's the same view in 2017.

Historical Notes

In 1948, the Carnation Company hired Beaux-Arts educated architect Stiles O. Clements (1883-1966) to design its new corporate headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The company decided to maximize on the high percentage (30%) of its employees living in California. Staff in Seattle, Milwaukee and New York were relocated and former branch operations such as accounting, advertising and purchasing were centralized. ^

Click HERE to see more early views of the Carnation Building and Coffee Shop.

Historical Notes

In 1952, on the driving range on the south side of Wilshire between Mariposa and Normandie, the first three 12-story Tishman Plaza buildings were built (they're now known as Central Plaza), designed by Claude Beelman.

Insurance companies began locating their West Coast headquarters in Wilshire Center because of tax incentives provided by the State. Some 22 high-rise office buildings were erected on Wilshire Boulevard from 1966 to 1976 to provide office space for such companies as Getty Oil Co., Ahmanson Financial Co., Beneficial Standard Life Insurance, Wausau, and Equitable Life Insurance. The Chapman Park Hotel, built in 1936, was torn down to make way for the 34-story Equitable Plaza office building erected in 1969. By 1970, firms such as CNA, Pacific Indemnity, and Pierce National Life were starting construction of their own high-rise buildings. Southwestern University School of Law moved from its downtown location of 50 years to a four-story campus just south of Wilshire Boulevard on Westmoreland in 1973.

In the 1970s and 1980s, commerce moved to the city's less congested Westside as well as the San Fernando Valley, and businesses and affluent residents eventually followed. I. Magnin closed, while Bullocks Wilshire held out until 1993. Rental rates in office buildings plummeted from an average of $1.65/sq ft to a dollar between 1991 and 1996; property values dropped from a high of $120/sq ft to $30 or $40 per foot in 1998
Wilshire Center lost most of its remaining original glitter following the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Subsequently, the Wilshire Center Streetscape Project used federal funds to rejuvenate Wilshire Boulevard. It was one of the most ambitious and significant urban rehabilitation projects found anywhere in America and in 1999 was awarded the Lady Bird Johnson Award from The National Arbor Day Foundation. New buildings include the Aroma Center on Wilshire, which is topped by a large digital billboard, and a modern retail building facing 6th Street on the former parking lot of the Equitable Building.*^

Historical Notes

The Brown Derby chain was started by Robert H. Cobb and Herbert Somborn (a former husband of film star Gloria Swanson). Bob Cobb is known as the inventor of the California Cobb Salad. He was also part owner of the Hollywood Stars baseball team.

The Brown Derby was moved in 1937 to 3377 Wilshire Boulevard at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Alexandria Avenue, about a block from its previous location (and about a block north of the Ambassador Hotel).^*

Historical Notes

The Brown Derby chain also included restaurants in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Los Feliz area. The Los Feliz Brown Derby at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd is the last remaining branch of the chain still extant and in operation.

Historical Notes

Architect A. C. Martin designed the1931 Cord Building located at 3443 Wilshire Boulevard, which featured a sandstone and marble exterior and a 30 foot tower. E.L. Cord, owner of a Fuller Motors dealership and producer of Auburn and Cord automobiles, chose his business initials KFAC for a new radio station, and in 1932 the Federal Radio Commission approved a new location for the station and towers in the penthouse of the dealership. In 1945 Packard-Bell moved in and the building was renamed. The building underwent a major remodel in 1949.^

Historical Notes

Between 1905 and 1928, the Burkhard Residence would stand on the northwest corner of Wilshire and Vermont.  The lot would sit empty for a while and then be occupied by a florist shop and billboard for a short 5 years (1928 – 1933).   The building that went up on the site in 1933 was first occupied by restaurateur Harry Bogen; two years later, it became a branch of the popular Carpenter's Drive-in chain.

Westwood and UCLA were developed on the lands of the historic 'Wolfskill Ranch', a 3,000-acre parcel that was purchased by Arthur Letts, the successful founder of the Broadway, and Bullock's department stores, in 1919. Upon Arthur Lett's death, his son-in-law, Harold Janss, vice president of Janss Investment Company, inherited the land and started to develop the area in 1922.

In 1925, in a deal to get the University of California, Los Angeles built, the Janss Investment Company sold 375 acres to the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills at the bargain price of $1.2 million — about a quarter of its value. The cities, whose voters had passed bond issues to pay for the site, turned around and donated it to the state. While the UCLA campus was being built, Janss Investment Company went to work developing the Westwood Village commercial area and surrounding residential neighborhoods. ^

Historical Notes

Opening in 1929, the original design of Westwood Village was considered one of the most well planned and beautifully laid out of commercial areas in the nation. Harold Janss had hired major architects and instructed them to follow a Mediterranean theme, with clay tile roofs, decorative Spanish tile, paseos, patios and courtyards. Buildings located at strategic points, including theaters, used towers to serve as beacons for drivers on Wilshire Boulevard. Janss picked the first slate of businesses and determined their location in the neighborhood; the area opened with 34 businesses, despite the Great Depression, had 452 in 1939. ^

In 1929, the UCLA campus had four buildings: Royce Hall and Haines Hall on the north, and Powell Library and Kinsey Hall (now the Humanities Building) on the south. The Janss Steps were the original 87-step entrance to the university that led to the quad of these four buildings. Today, the campus includes 163 buildings across 419 acres in the western part of Los Angeles, north of the Westwood shopping district and just south of Sunset Boulevard.^

Historical Notes

When it was dedicated in 1956, it was the largest of the church's temples, though it has since been surpassed by the Salt Lake Temple due to later expansions. The temple serves 41 stakes in Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. Click HERE to see more Early Views of the LDS Church Temple.

Historical Notes

Today’s Expo Line has its origins in a railroad between Los Angeles and Santa Monica that went into service in 1875. The Los Angeles & Independence Railroad later became the PE Air Line (seen above), the direct ancestor of the Expo Line.

Beginning at the Pacific Electric Building at 6th and Main streets in downtown Los Angeles, the line traveled south with other lines alongside what is now Long Beach Boulevard and the Blue Line. At 25th Street, the Air Line turned west onto an exclusive right-of-way alongside Exposition Boulevard toward Santa Monica Beach. The currently abandoned section between the Blue Line tracks and USC is the primary difference between today's Expo Line and Air Line routes.^*

Historical Notes

Built in 1875 as the steam-powered Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, it was intended to bring mining ore to ships in Santa Monica harbor's Long Wharf and as a passenger excursion train to the beach. Eventually purchased by Southern Pacific Railroad, it was leased to the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad for electric passenger and light freight use in 1909. Pacific Electric purchased the line in 1911, along with all the other lines owned by Los Angeles Pacific.^*

Historical Notes

With the (then) sparse population along much of the route, service on the Air Line was reduced as early as 1924 with passenger cars running only during rush hours. At that point most passengers traveled to Santa Monica on a different rail line which ran primarily down Santa Monica Boulevard.

Passenger service on the Air Line was completely discontinued on September 30, 1953, however freight service remained. Because the Air Line route was also connected to the Santa Monica Boulevard line via tracks on Sepulveda Boulevard, it was the only way for freight trains to reach West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Hollywood warehouses (usually at night due to city regulations).

Track replacement and various construction tasks began in 2006, and the first phase of the "Expo Line" from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City opened in April, 2012. Service for the second phase to Santa Monica began on May 20, 2016.^*

Historical Notes

“Out of water, I am nothing.” — Duke Kahanamoku

“Surfing’s one of the few sports where you look ahead to see what’s behind.” — Laird Hamilton

“One of the greatest things about the sport of surfing is that you need only three things: your body, a surfboard, and a wave.” — Naima Green

Historical Notes

The California Incline was originally a walkway known as Sunset Trail, which was cut through the bluffs to provide beach access to pedestrians in 1896. It has become a vital street in Santa Monica, linking the PCH with Ocean Avenue, and California Avenue, bisecting Palisades Park. It begins at an intersection with Ocean Avenue and California Avenue, at the top of the palisades, extending to the PCH at the base of the bluffs.^*

Historical Notes

From its completion in 1928 until 1964, City Hall was the tallest building in Los Angeles. It's distinctive tower was based on the purported shape of the Mausoleum of Mausolus and shows the influence of the Los Angeles Central Library, completed soon before the structure was started.^*

Historical Notes

The Central Library Building was constructed between 1922 and 1926. Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the building with influences of ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Revival architecture. The central tower is topped with a tiled mosaic pyramid with suns on the sides with a hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning" at the apex. Other elements include sphinxes, snakes, and celestial mosaics. It has sculptural elements by the preeminent American architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie, similar to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, also designed by Goodhue.^*

Historical Notes

Originally named the Central Library, the building was first renamed in honor of the longtime president of the Board of Library Commissioners and President of the University of Southern California, Rufus B. von KleinSmid. The new wing of Central Library, completed in 1993, was named in honor of former mayor Tom Bradley. The complex (i.e., the original Goodhue building and the Bradley wing) was subsequently renamed in 2001 for former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, as the Richard Riordan Central Library.^*

Historical Notes

The Arroyo Seco Parkway was the first freeway in California and the western United States. It connects Los Angeles with Pasadena alongside the Arroyo Seco seasonal river. It is notable not only for being the first, mostly opened in 1940, but for representing the transitional phase between early parkways and modern freeways. It conformed to modern standards when it was built, but is now regarded as a narrow, outdated roadway. ^

Historical Notes

The Parkway was designed with two 11–12 foot lanes and one ten-foot shoulder in each direction, with the wider inside (passing) lanes paved in black asphalt concrete and the outside lanes paved in gray Portland cement concrete. ^

Historical Notes

Before the Parkway was built, cottonwoods filled the Arroyo Seco at Avenue 26. The first known survey for a permanent roadway through the Arroyo was made by T.D. Allen of Pasadena in 1895, and in 1897 two more proposals were made, one for a scenic parkway and the other for a commuter cycleway. ^

Historical Notes

The Arroyo Seco Parkway design, state-of-the-art when built, included tight "right-in/right-out" access with a recommended exit speed of 5 miles per hour and stop signs on the entrance ramps; there are no acceleration or deceleration lanes. ^

Historical Notes

The state legislature designated the original section, north of the Figueroa Street Viaduct, as a "California Historic Parkway" (part of the State Scenic Highway System reserved for freeways built before 1945) in 1993. The American Society of Civil Engineers named it a National Civil Engineering Landmark in 1999, and it became a National Scenic Byway in 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. ^

Historical Notes

Today, the Arroyo Seco Parkway remains the most direct route between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena despite its flaws; the only reasonable freeway alternate (which trucks must use) is the Glendale Freeway to the west, which is itself not easily reached by trucks from downtown Los Angeles. ^*

Historical Notes

Between 1954 and 2010, Arroyo Seco Parkway was officially designated the Pasadena Freeway. In 2010, as part of plans to revitalize its scenic value and improve safety, Caltrans renamed the roadway back to its original name. All the bridges built during parkway construction remain, as do four older bridges that crossed the Arroyo Seco before the 1930s.*^

Historical Notes

The Red Car trolley line to Pasadena made its last run in 1950. The caption for the Oct. 3, 1950 photo read: "Its days are numbered. After Sunday, no more P.E. Oak Knoll Red Cars will rumble from Sixth and Main (above) to Pasadena".^

Historical Notes

Built in 1914, the Southwest Museum was Los Angeles’ first world-class museums that had an immense collection of Native-American and Pre-Columbian artifacts (collected by Charles Lummis during his travels throughout the Southwest and South America).  Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

On April 21, 1962, Distribution Station No. 2 was designated Los Angeles Historical-Cultural Monument No. 558 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more Early Power Distribution Stations.

Historical Notes

The York Theatre, located in the Highland Park district, opened in 1923. It became a Korean Church in about 1985.

Historical Notes

The Glendale Southern Pacific Railroad Depot (now known as Glendale Amtrak/Metrolink Station) was designed in the Mission Revival Style by architects Maurice Couchot and Kenneth MacDonald, Jr. and built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1923; replacing an older one that dated as far back as 1883. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1997 - #97000376, and has undergone an extensive renovation since then. The Glendale train station is located at 400 Cerritos Avenue.^

Historical Notes

The Pharmacy building is still there, now George’s Liquor market. The houses up the street just beyond the old pharmacy building are gone; the land was taken over by the Betty Plasencia School for new class rooms. The land Where the streetcar, lady and the gas station are was excavated away to create the trench for the 101 freeway. Where the photographer was standing is now over the south bound fast lane of the 101. The building to the right of the old pharmacy is also still there but has been stuccoed over and painted off white.

Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

At 4,255 units, the complex with its octagonal street layout is the largest housing development west of the Mississippi. Thirty-one 2-story garden apt. buildings opened in 1941 and eighteen 13-story towers opened in 1948.

Historical Notes

Park La Brea represents something of a historical anomaly, having been built at a time when most visions of Los Angeles' development were dominated by low-rise tracts of single-family houses along freeway corridors. The street layout was created in a masonic pattern as a reference to the masonic heritage of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which built the complex toward the end of World War II and immediately thereafter (1944 - 1948).*

Historical Notes

Park La Brea was originally conceived as an entirely low-rise development. Construction began in 1941, but building restrictions during WWII halted work in 1945 with only the western half of the site completed. By the time construction resumed in 1948, the continued demand for postwar housing had prompted MetLife to dramatically revise the project to provide greater density and site amenities. The second phase of development included 18 towers rising to the city’s 13-story height limit in addition to three groups of two-story buildings matching those already built.

Historical Notes

Park La Brea is the largest housing development in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River. It sits on 160 acres of land and has  4,255 units located in 18 13-story towers and 31 2-story "garden apartment buildings"

Historical Notes

In the 2000s, Park La Brea had become a desirable rental community with its own community center, health club and pool, beauty parlor, and drycleaner in addition to its convenient proximity to local museums, Farmers Market (Los Angeles), and The Grove at Farmers Market shopping complex. In recent years, additional improvements have been made, such as adding new pools.

The complex completed another $8 million renovation in 2010.

Historical Notes

The entire park was demolished and excavated in 1952 to build an underground parking garage. In its place was concrete topped by a thin layer of soil with a broad expanse of lawn.

Historical Notes

The Temple Baptist Church in the distance, built in 1906 and remodeled in 1964, was also known as the Auditorium Building and Philharmonic Auditorium for many years. Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

Photo note reads:  Historic Bunker Hill is 'going into history' as workmen push construction of the Hollywood Freeway. The sound of shovels and tractors is roaring heavily these days along North Figueroa Street, between Sunset and Temple. In this area workmen are busily cutting away sections of Fort Moore Hill or Bunker Hill to make way for the construction of the Hollywood Freeway and the four-level bridge. This view shows the area, with historic Bunker Hill almost "gone." Photo dated: May 11, 1948.^

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Freeway’s segment through Hollywood was the first to be built through a heavily populated area and requiring the moving or demolition of many buildings, including Rudolph Valentino's former home in Whitley Heights. The freeway was also designed to curve around KTTV Studios and Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Much of the rubble and debris from the buildings removed for the freeway's construction was dumped into Chávez Ravine, the current home to Dodger Stadium.^*

Historical Notes

Figueroa became Boylston, Pearl (previously Grasshopper) became Figueroa, the right-hand Beaudry became Fremont and most of Bellevue became Sunset Blvd. At the rightmost edge of the tract map, Philadelphia became Grand Ave.

Historical Notes

The Four Level Interchange was the first stack interchange in the world. Completed in 1949 and fully opened in 1953 at the northern edge of Downtown it connects U.S. Route 101 (Hollywood Freeway and Santa Ana Freeway) to State Route 110 (Harbor Freeway and Arroyo Seco Parkway).^*

Historical Notes

The last section that completed the Hollywood Freeway through Downtown Los Angeles opened on April 16, 1954.^*

Historical Notes

The large gas holders seen in the distance commonly known as ‘Gasometers’ were common before the 1960s.  Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

The last section of the 101 Freeway (aka Hollywood Frwy) through Downtown Los Angeles was completed in 1954.  It ran in line with what used to be Aliso Street (seen above).  

Historical Notes

The Lindbergh beacon was installed on top of City Hall in 1928. Originally white, the light was replaced with a red light in 1931 after the U.S. Department of Commerce deemed the bright beacon a hazard to air safety. During WWII the light was turned off, and relit just a few of times more before being removed in the early 1950s.

The Lindbergh beacon was rediscovered in the early 1990s. After restoration, it was put on display in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX and relit for the first time in 45 years on April 22, 1992. The beacon was reinstalled on top of City Hall in 2001 and is lit on special occasions.^*

Historical Notes

The 1907-built International Bank Building would be razed in 1954, same year as the photo above.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of City Hall.

Historical Notes

The land for Dodger Stadium was purchased from local owners/inhabitants in the early 1950s by the City of Los Angeles using eminent domain with funds from the Federal Housing Act of 1949. The city had planned to develop the Elysian Park Heights public housing project which included two dozen 13-story buildings and more than 160 two-story townhouses, in addition to newly rebuilt playgrounds and schools.

Before construction could begin, the local political climate changed greatly when Norris Poulson was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1953. Proposed public housing projects like Elysian Park Heights lost most of their support. Following protracted negotiations, the City of Los Angeles was able to purchase the Chavez Ravine property back from the Federal Housing Authority at a drastically reduced price, with the stipulation that the land be used for a public purpose. It wasn't until the baseball referendum Taxpayers Committee for Yes on Baseball, which was approved by Los Angeles voters on June 3, 1958 that the Dodgers were able to acquire 352 acres of Chavez Ravine from the City of Los Angeles. (The Dodgers, from 1958 to 1961, played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.)^*

Historical Notes

The first segment of the Hollywood Freeway built was a one and a half mile stretch through the Cahuenga Pass. That segment opened on June 15, 1940. It was then known as the "Cahuenga Pass Freeway." ^*

Historical Notes

Pacific Electric Railway trolleys ran down the center of the Hollywood Freeway through Cahuenga Pass until 1952.^*

Historical Notes

The second section of the Hollywood Freeway that stretched from the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles opened on April 16, 1954 at a cost of $55 million. The final section, north of the Ventura Freeway to the Golden State Freeway was completed in 1968.^*

Click HERE to see more in early Views of Cahuenga Pass.

Historical Notes

Near the Vermont Avenue exit, there's a seemingly over-wide center strip now filled with trees. This is where the never-built Beverly Hills Freeway was to merge with the Hollywood Freeway. Plans for the Beverly Hills Freeway were halted in the 1970s.^*

Historical Notes

The gore point to the left marked the beginning of the "Bus Only" exit for Vermont. The slow buses used to have to lumber over to the fast lane to use the exit. Then, further to the South, the buses would then have to merge back onto the Freeway into the fast lane and fight their way back to the right. The "Bus Only" exit was finally relocated to the right in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The abandoned left exit and entrance ramps are still there.

Historical Notes

The Four Level Interchange was the first stack interchange in the world. Completed in 1949 and fully opened in 1953 at the northern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, it connects U.S. Route 101 (Hollywood Freeway and Santa Ana Freeway) to State Route 110 (Harbor Freeway and Arroyo Seco Parkway).^*

Historical Notes

The Four Level, also known as the Stack, gets its name from its multi-tiered structure that separates traffic heading in each direction into dedicated lanes. On the bottom level are curved ramps for those changing from the 110 freeway to the 101. One level above is the main trunk of the 110 freeway, named the Arroyo Seco Parkway north of the interchange and the Harbor Freeway south of it. On the third level are the arcing flyover ramps carrying traffic from the 101 freeway to the 110. Finally, on the fourth and top level is the main trunk of the 101 freeway, named the Hollywood Freeway to the west and the Santa Ana Freeway to the east.^^^*

Historical Notes

The interchange was constructed as a stack interchange because surrounding buildings and terrain made construction of a cloverleaf interchange impractical. The mainline traffic of US 101 is at the top of the interchange, above the ramps, a rarity in stack interchanges. Its distinctive architecture has long made it a symbol of Los Angeles' post-World War II development, and it appears on numerous postcards of the 1950s and 1960s.^*

Historical Notes

In July 2006, the freeway interchange was officially named in honor of Bill Keene, former KNX and KNXT traffic and weather reporter, although the new name is rarely used. Keene referred to the interchange as "The Stacks" and the "4-H Interchange".^*

Historical Notes

Initially, the Harbor Parkway was to split at the merge with the Venice Parkway northeast of the University of Southern California, with the East By-Pass and West By-Pass straddling the Los Angeles Central Business District and rejoining at the split between the Arroyo Seco Parkway and Riverside Parkway south of Dodger Stadium. The West By-Pass was soon incorporated into the Harbor Parkway, and the first short piece, by then renamed the Harbor Freeway, opened on July 30, 1952 from the Four Level Interchange south to 3rd Street. (The Arroyo Seco Parkway was completed to the Four Level Interchange on September 22, 1953, and renamed the Pasadena Freeway on November 16, 1954.^*

Historical Notes

The Harbor Freeway gradually pushed south, opening to Olympic Boulevard on March 23, 1954 and Washington Boulevard on May 14, 1954. On March 27, 1956, the highway was extended to 42nd Street.^*

Historical Notes

The first of the two Hill Street Tunnels was bored through a part of Bunker Hill in 1909 by Los Angeles Pacific (a predecessor of Pacific Electric). It connects Hill Street from First to Temple. In 1913, the second tunnel (on the left) was bored for streetcar traffic.^

Historical Notes

The Hill Street tunnels ran through a hill called Court Hill. Both Hill Street and Broadway had tunnels through Court Hill. In the photo above we're looking southwest towards First and Hill. First Street comes in behind the streetcar. At this point First Street is in a valley between Bunker Hill and Court Hill. The apartment houses in the center are on Bunker Hill. The hill at right is Court Hill.

Historical Notes

Within months of the above photo, construction work to enlarge the Los Angeles Civic Center would begin. By June, 1955, the two Hill Street tunnels were gone.

Historical Notes

Air pollution reached its worst levels in Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s.  Millions of people driving millions of cars plus temperature inversion provided Los Angeles with a near perfect environment for the production and containment of photochemical smog.

Historical Notes

The real cause of L.A. smog wasn’t determiend until the 1950s.  The scientist who solved the smog mystery was Arie Haagen-Smit, a chemist at the California Institute of Technology. He was the first to recognize that ozone was the primary source of the haze. Ozone is created when partially unburned exhaust from automobiles and the hydrocarbons from oil refineries are hit by sunlight.

Historical Notes

On some days, the air was so polluted that parents kept their kids out of school; athletes trained indoors; citrus growers and sugar-beet producers watched in dismay as their crops withered; the elderly and young crowded into doctors' offices and hospital ERs with throbbing heads and shortness of breath. ^

Historical Notes

By the mid 1950s there was no doubt among scientists that cars were a primary factor in LA’s smog crisis.
However, Los Angeles had no influence over the auto manufacturers. Smog wasn’t yet a national problem and it was very easy to dismiss smog as a quirk of LA geography.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the U.S. required new cars to have catalytic converters, the key piece of technology that allowed everything to change.

Historical Notes

Air pollution reached its worst levels in Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s.  Millions of people driving millions of cars plus temperature inversion provided Los Angeles with a near perfect environment for the production and containment of photochemical smog.

Historical Notes

The real cause of L.A. smog wasn’t determiend until the 1950s.  The scientist who solved the smog mystery was Arie Haagen-Smit, a chemist at the California Institute of Technology. He was the first to recognize that ozone was the primary source of the haze. Ozone is created when partially unburned exhaust from automobiles and the hydrocarbons from oil refineries are hit by sunlight.

Historical Notes

On some days, the air was so polluted that parents kept their kids out of school; athletes trained indoors; citrus growers and sugar-beet producers watched in dismay as their crops withered; the elderly and young crowded into doctors' offices and hospital ERs with throbbing heads and shortness of breath. ^

Historical Notes

By the mid 1950s there was no doubt among scientists that cars were a primary factor in LA’s smog crisis.
However, Los Angeles had no influence over the auto manufacturers. Smog wasn’t yet a national problem and it was very easy to dismiss smog as a quirk of LA geography.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the U.S. required new cars to have catalytic converters, the key piece of technology that allowed everything to change.

Historical Notes

Within just a few years of the above photo, Bunker HIll would undergo a major transformation. The hill would be graded to make room for the new Civic Center expansion which would inlcude the construction of new City and County buildings, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, and the Department of Water and Power Building.

Historical Notes

*Junipero Serra State Office Building #1 (aka Ronald Reagan State Office Building), at 109 S. Broadway was built in 1960.  A Los Angeles Times article of 11/20/1960, described the tower's design: "It is so severely plain, functional in its accommodations as to be almost Spartan when compared with many other public buildings." It stated that the new building would be occupied by 26 state agencies, and "...was built at a cost of approximately $4,300 per occupant, as compared to average building costs of around $6,000 per occupant." This new building complemented an older state office building located diagonally across the street. "Heat for both old and new State Buildings will be furnished by boilers in the new building. Each building will operate its own air-conditioning equipment. Steam pipes and electric and telephone wires connect the buildings through a tunnel running diagonally across the 1st St. at Broadway intersection." The lifespan of this building was unfortunately short. The building's spartan aesthetic probably did not win it much popularity over time; low cost construction also may have played into the building's structural deficiencies. Frequent earthquakes had compromised the building's structure, and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake proved the final straw. Engineers condemned the Serra Building's parking garage soon after the 6.7 temblor (which created extreme ground acceleration), and gave five years for employees to clear out of the office tower. They left by 1998, moving into the former Broadway Department Store at 320 West 4th Street, renovated and seismically upgraded during an early-1990s. When employees moved there, the upgraded facility became known as the second Junipero Serra State Office Building in LA.^   

The Junipero Serra State Office Building was razed in 2006. The lot sat empty until 2014 when construction began for the First Street U.S. Courthouse Building.

Historical Notes

Completed in 2016, the New United States Courthouse at 1st and Broadway is a 10-story, 633,000-square-foot building that contains 24 courtrooms and 32 judicial chambers. It houses the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California, accommodates the U.S. Marshals Service, and provides trial preparation space for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Public Defender.

The $340-million Civic Center building was erected at the site of the old Junipero Serra State Office Building, which was bulldozed in 2006 due to extensive earthquake damage.

Historical Notes

Architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed the new 10-story courthouse to look like a floating cube (it's set atop a stone podium) with a pleated facade made of tempered glass. Its construction included 4,300 tons of steel.^

Historical Notes

The accompanying LA Times article reads:

The city’s first Independence Day celebration — July 4, 1847 — was recalled yesterday in the dedication of 400-foot-long, 45-foot-high Ft. Moore Pioneer Memorial Wall on Hill St. just north of the Hollywood Freeway.

The Memorial Wall, dedicated “to the brave men and women who faced privation and death in extending the frontiers of our country to include this land of promise,” commemorates Los Angeles’ first Independence Day.

It was in 1847 at the newly constructed Ft. Moore on the hill overlooking the little Mexican pueblo that all American troops in the immediate area — the First U.S. Dragoons, New York Volunteers and Mormon Battalion — gathered to participate in the historic Flag-raising ceremony.

The largest section of the huge bas-relief panel of the Memorial Wall depicts that Flag-raising. Three smaller sections illustrate other aspects of pioneer life.

In addition to the ceramic veneer bas-relief panel, the Memorial Wall features an 80-foot-wide, 47-foot-high waterfall, a 68-foot-high pylon in front of the wall supporting an immense ceramic eagle and a towering flagpole.

Participating in yesterday’s dedication ceremony of the $373,887 memorial were city and county officials, descendants of members of the Mormon Battalion, members of the Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers and the 72nd U.S. Army Band and a color guard from Ft. MacArthur. ^^

---

The waterfall was shut-down during the drought of 1977, never to be turned back on. Even though a pump recycled the water, it looked wasteful.

Click HERE to see a contemporary view of the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial.

Historical Notes

Groundbreaking for the memorial took place on July 13, 1953 and was completed in 1957. Note that the flag to the right of the monument is at half-staff. ^

Historical Notes

The mural was designed by Henry Kreis and depicts the raising of the American flag on July 4, 1847 at the first Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles. Three other panels depict scenes of agriculture, transportation, and water and power. The site for the Central Los Angeles Area New High School #9 sits just west of the memorial.^

Historical Notes

The Memorial is located at 451 N. Hill Street. Clcik HERE for map showing the exact lcoation.

Historical Notes

The Echo Park Playground opened in 1907 between Bellevue Avenue and Temple Street, and was only the second public playground to be built in the city of Los Angeles. It still remains today, although in a highly altered form with the Hollywood Freeway (101) bisecting its grounds.

A skate park is planned to be built (2019) where the now empty public swimming pool is located next to the 101 Freeway onramp at Echo Park and Bellevue avenues.

Historical Notes

In the lower right quadrant of the photo, the last remnants of Bunker Hill are holding on. The Rex Apartments can be seen just west of Figueroa. The 1st Street bridge over Figueroa is easy to pick out, Diamond Street is just to the north of 1st Street (to the left) and runs at a little bit of an angle. The Rex Apartments is the only elongated four story building on the street. #*

Historical Notes

The Music Center and DWP Building on Hope St. between 1st and Temple (Bunker Hill) have yet to be built (left-center of photo). Click HERE to see more in Construction of the LA DWP Building.

Historical Notes

In the mid-1800's, this area was a swampland. MacArthur Park, created in the 1880s under the name Westlake Park, was later renamed in honor of General Douglas MacArthur. By the 1890s, it was a vacation destination surrounded by luxury hotels; in the early part of the 20th Century, the area became known as the Champs Elysees of Los Angeles. MacArthur Park has been designated City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument No.100 (Click HERE to see complete listing).^

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more early views of MacArthur Park when it was call Westlake Park in the 1880s.

Historical Notes

Construction of the 405 Freeway began in 1957 with the first section, mostly north of LAX Airport being completed in 1961.  The section of the 405 that would connect western Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley was part of a 12-mile, $20 million project, then the most expensive California highway project to date.^

Historical Notes

This Mullholland Dr. Bridge was constructed like no other, from the top down. The bridge was completed over two years before the freeway that connected West L.A. to the San Fernando Valley would open.*

Historical Notes

On Monday, April 4, 1960, the same day the 1959 Academy Awards were held at RKO's Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, Peter Kiewit Sons Co. completed the Mulholland Drive Bridge across the Sepulveda Pass.

In June 1960, bids were opened for a $14-million contract to extend the San Diego Freeway 7.4 miles from Brentwood to Valley Vista Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley. Mulholland Dr. Bridge would finally span a freeway.*

Historical Notes

In 2012, 52 years after it was originally built, the Mulholland Dr. Bridge was demolished and reconstructed to accommodate the widening of the I-405 freeway. The new bridge was widened by approximately 10 feet and designed to the latest seismic standards.*

(ca. 2017)^.^ - The I-405 has earned its place as the busiest and most congested freeway in the United States.

Historical Notes

This former drive-in originally opened as the Pico Drive-In (the first drive-in in California) at Pico Boulevard and Westwood Boulevard in 1934, but moved from that location to Olympic Boulevard in the late-1940’s and was renamed the Olympic Drive-In. ##^^

Historical Notes

The Community Redevelopment Agency of the city of Los Angeles undertook the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project in 1955, a massive clearance project that leveled homes and cleared land for future commercial skyscraper development. This period saw the clearing and upzoning of the entire neighborhood.^*

Historical Notes

As Los Angeles entered the twentieth century, the area around Broadway and 7th Street became the city's commercial center. James B. Lankershim opened a new, nine-story hotel at the intersection in 1905. His original hotel, meanwhile, came down to make way for John Bullock's seven-story department store, which opened in 1906. Fifteen years later, the Loew's State Theatre -- one of several movie palaces to locate on Broadway -- opened across the street.^^^*

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more of the intersection of Broadway and 7th Street in the 1920s.

Historical Notes

In the mid-1950s, Brooklyn Dodger team president Walter O'Malley had tried to build a domed stadium in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, but was unable to reach an agreement with city officials on land acquisition, and eventually reached a deal with the city of Los Angeles. The rest is history.^*

Click HERE to see more in Baseball in Early Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Edsel - In 1958, Ford invested heavily in a yearlong teaser campaign leading consumers to believe that the Edsel was the car of the future – an expectation it failed to deliver. After it was unveiled to the public, it was considered to be unattractive, overpriced, and overhyped. The Edsel never gained popularity with contemporary American car buyers and sold poorly. The Ford Motor Company lost $250 million on the Edsel's development, manufacturing and marketing.

The very name "Edsel" became a popular symbol for a commercial failure. ^*

Historical Notes

The Impala was introduced in 1958 and positioned as top of the line Bel Air coupes and convertibles. From the windshield pillar rearward, the 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Impala differed structurally from typical Chevrolets. Hardtops had a slightly shorter greenhouse and longer rear deck, giving the impression of an extended body. Three taillights each side would become an Impala hallmark whereas lesser models had two and wagons just one. Special crossed-flag insignias sat above the side moldings plus bright rocker moldings and dummy rear-fender scoops. 1958 was the first year of dual headlamps.

With a six-cylinder engine, a Chevrolet Bel Air Impala started at $2,586, while $2,693 bought a V8. In all, 55,989 convertibles and 125,480 Sport Coupes were built..

The 1959 Chevrolet Impala was radically reworked having large tailfins that protruded outward rather than upward.^*

Historical Notes

The 1959 Chevrolet Impala, following the styling excess of the late Fifties, was radically reworked and veered away from the GM pack by shooting its tailfins outward rather than upward. Admakers always were fond of naming nearly every part, but this year's "bat wing" fins above "cat's eye" taillights earned no such designations in the sales catalog. Those nicknames came later, though brochures did brand the deck "saucy." ^^+

Historical Notes

The Impala was toned down for 1960 and lost some of their distinct styling. Chevrolet changed almost every body panel on its 1960 cars except the roof. GM designers later admitted that they knew they’d gone too far, hence the more conservative approach for 1960. The “cat’s eye” tail lamps were replaced by three round cone shaped tail lamps per side and the gullwing fins were toned down. Prices ranged from $2,590-$2,954. ^

Historical Notes

Construction of the Harbor Freeway began at the Four Level in 1949 and gradually pushed south, opening to Olympic Boulevard on March 23, 1954 and Washington Boulevard on May 14, 1954. On March 27, 1956, the highway was extended to 42nd Street, and on April 24, 1957 it reached temporary ramps at 88th Place. Further extensions were made to Century Boulevard on July 31, 1958, 124th Street on September 24, 1958, Alondra Boulevard (which the county widened to carry the load) on May 2, 1960, 190th Street on July 15, 1960, Torrance Boulevard on August 28, 1962, and finally Pacific Coast Highway (SR 1) on September 26, 1962. There it connected with a section that had been open since June 19, 1956, from Pacific Coast Highway south to Channel Street. Along with the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Terminal Island, the final piece in San Pedro opened on July 9, 1970, completing the Harbor Freeway to its present length.^*

Historical Notes

Note the similiarities between the design of City Hall and the Central Library (previous photo). City Hall's distinctive tower was based on the purported shape of the Mausoleum of Mausolus and shows the influence of the Los Angeles Central Library, completed soon before the structure was started.^*

Historical Notes

While Dodger Stadium was under construction, the Dodgers played in the league's largest capacity venue from 1958 through 1961 at their temporary home, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which could seat in excess of 90,000 people.

Despite their inept play and seventh-place finish, the Dodgers drew a record 1,845,556 fans in their first year in Los Angeles when they played at the Coliseum.*

Historical Notes

The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first Super Bowl, played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. At halftime, the Chiefs were only behind 14-10, but the Packers took over in the third quarter.^^*

Super Bowl I was the only Super Bowl in history that was not a sellout in terms of attendance, despite a TV blackout in the Los Angeles area (at the time, NFL games were required to be blacked out in the market of origin, even if it was a neutral site game and if it sold out). Of the 94,000-seat capacity in the Coliseum, 33,000 went unsold.  Days before the game, local newspapers printed editorials about what they viewed as a then-exorbitant $12 price for tickets, and wrote stories about how to pirate the signal from TV stations outside the Los Angeles area.*^

Historical Notes

The prominent street running diagonally up from the lower right corner is Temple Street coming from the intersection with Broadway (barely seen, lower right corner). This baroque rooftop in the bottom of the image is the Hall of Records which reaches through from Spring Street all the way to Broadway. Court Street can be seen running directly away from the camera near the left edge. At lower-left, can be seen Court Flight running from the eastern terminus of Court Street down to Broadway (out of view). Mount Lee and the Hollywood Hills are seen in the distance where the elongated white smudge near the top of the ridge is the Hollywoodland Sign.^#^^

Historical Notes

In 1955, Los Angeles city planners decided that Bunker Hill required a massive slum clearance project. There were a couple of major political events which led to the "removal of the blight" and redevelopment of Bunker hill. The California Community Redevelopment Law of 1945, the Federal Housing Act of 1946 and 1949, the creation of the Community Redevelopment Agency in 1948, and also the Bunker Hill Urban Renewal Project in 1959.

The California Community Redevelopment law of 1945 allowed counties and cities to create and implement these agencies to help deal with the redevelopment of local cities. Until 2011, these Agencies held much power and were still around, until Governor Jerry Brown signed into law two bills to dissolve them.

Along with those political factors, other things which led to the conclusion of the blighted neighborhood came from some of the government offices. The LAPD called the area a "high frequency crime area", due to the fact that the area's apartments catered to known offenders. The Health department of Los Angeles also called the area a health hazard for its city. It wasn't until the CRA had won an ongoing court case against the residents of Bunker Hill. This loss for the residents of Bunker Hill led to the displacement of many families and removal of many of the low income residents of the area. This victory for the CRA led to them being able to buy land to redevelop as they saw fit. Within the plans for the redevelopment, there was a section for the rehabilitation of the buildings of Bunker Hill. The section was slated to preserve the historical buildings of Bunker Hill, but instead were demolished since there was no actual rehabilitation planned.*

Historical Notes

On the morning of July 25, 1964, the Dome burst into flames.  The building would be razed later that year to make room for a parking lot which existed until 2014 when construction began for the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (completed in 2015).

Historical Notes

The Bunker Hill Towers have yet to be constructed.

Historical Notes

The Department of Water and Power Building on Bunker Hill was built between 1963 and 1965.  Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

Today, Bunker Hill Towers stand at the approximate location of the old Stanley Hotel and Apartments. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

Since the previous photos, the Bunker Towers have been constructed. Built in 1968, the 32-story Bunker Hill Tower was one of the original buildings in the extensive Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project.

Historical Notes

The ARCO Towers were built on the site of the Richfield Building (1928, demolished 1968), an Art Deco masterpiece.

Upon completion in 1972, the ARCO Plaza towers were the tallest buildings in the city for one year before being overtaken by Aon Center, and were the tallest twin towers in the world until the completion of the World Trade Center in New York City. The towers are the tallest twin buildings in the United States outside of New York City, where the 55-floor Time Warner Center stands at 750 ft.*^

Historical Notes

For nearly seventy years the pair of Queen Anne Victorian buildings were two of the most stunning structures on the Hill, but the Richelieu always stood in the shadow of its counterpart. The Melrose once played host to President McKinley, was memorialized by artists like Leo Politi, and was covered by local press when the wrecking crews came. The Richelieu on the other hand, was far less celebrated but no less important, making its small mark on the history of a neighborhood that no longer exists.^

Historical Notes

The 'Castle', in foreground, and the 'Salt Box', both built before 1890, were the only two buildings saved from the bulldozer when the entirety of Bunker Hill was leveled to make way for the future. With their move in 1969 to the new Heritage Square Museum the last remnants of old Bunker Hill were gone.

Historical Notes

By 1968, all of the once proud Victorians of Bunker Hill Avenue had been demolished, except for the Castle and the Salt Box. The two structures that had been constructed at the same time had been spared.  Once the CRA began pushing forward with their grand redevelopment plan in the mid-1950s, the writing was on the wall for the mansions in the neighborhood, and in an attempt to save a couple of the structures, the Salt Box was declared Historic Cultural Monument #5 in October in August 1962. Designation was soon bestowed upon the Castle which became HCM #27 in May 1964. The rest of the decade was spent trying to figure out a way to spare the two structures from the wrecking ball.*

Historical Notes

Both "The Castle" and "The Saltbox" were successfully relocated to Heritage Square in March 1969. Unfortunately, the area was not well protected, and both the Castle and the Salt Box were burned to the ground by vandals in October 1969.

Click HERE to see more on "The Castle" and "The Saltbox".

Historical Notes

The Capitol Records Building is in the middle foreground of this photo (it is the cylindrical shaped building whose shape is devised from the vision of a stack of records. 13 stories rise 150 ft. high to provide 78,000 square ft. of space). Architect for the Capitol Records building was Welton David Becket, contractor, C.L. Peck Co. It was built in 1954.*

Historical Notes

In 1952, state officials had originally identified Baldwin Hills as the site of a satellite campus for Los Angeles State College (now Cal State Los Angeles).  In reaction to the decision, Valley leaders organized to successfully overturn the legislation and to later ensure that a four-year college would be sited in the San Fernando Valley.  On December 21, 1954, advocates for a Valley four-year college hosted 23 legislators for dinner at the Brown Derby on Wilshire Boulevard.  Armed with demographic projections, they pitched the Valley as the only logical place for the next state college.  The pitch worked.  In 1955, state Assemblyman Judge Julian Beck sent the legislation for approval to pruchase land in the north San Fernando Valley for a new satellite campus to Los Angeles State College. #**#

Historical Notes

In fall 1956, the San Fernando Valley campus of the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences (later Cal State Los Angeles) was established on the present Northridge site. Soon after, the state Legislature passed Assembly Bill 971, which provided for the campus to separate from its parent college. On July 1, 1958, the founding date of the present university, the institution became San Fernando Valley State College, with about 3,300 students and 104 faculty.^*

Historical Notes

On June 1, 1972, the college was renamed California State University, Northridge, by action of the state Legislature and the Board of Trustees of the California State University.*^

Historical Notes

Angels Flight operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969 when its location was redeveloped. The railway was relocated and reassembled at California Plaza in 1995.

Historical Notes

Angels Flight operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969 when its location was redeveloped. The railway was relocated and reassembled at California Plaza in March of 1995 until it was closed in February of 2001 due to a serious accident. After a 9 year period, which included several safety modifications, Angels Flight reopened (2010) and is still in operation today.^