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

Historical Notes

In 1923 E. M. Frasier built this 11-story hotel in Spanish Colonial style, which catered to Hollywood's film industry and was home to many stars throughout the years. This historic building began life as a luxury apartment building that was at the heart of Hollywood back in the 1920s, before becoming a hotel later in its history; its slogan was "Your home for a year or a day".*

Historical Notes

During the 1930s, the hotel was bustling with activity straight out of a screwball comedy. Stars like Maureen O'Sullivan lived in long term apartments at the hotel. On any given day, there might be an interview taking place in one of the rooms with Mrs. Elinor Mordaunt, a British authoress pleasantly surprised by the charm of Hollywood, while members of the Vine Street Development Association, including Louis B. Mayer and Howard Hughes, were toasting their success in the banquet room. Scotch Balladeers, Russian dancers, and string quartets performed in the Lido Room and on the large patio. There were wedding breakfasts for minor film stars, and evening banquets for the Athletic Conference of American College Women. Betty Grable hosted a "high jinx" filled costume party to celebrate child star Jackie Coogan's 21st birthday, which included Lucille Ball dressed as one of the Dionne quintuplets and Johnny Mercer providing impromptu entertainment on the piano.^

Historical Notes

The building has been linked with tragic deaths and because of this, it is considered haunted by some. Some unfortunate occurrences: D.W. Griffith died of a stroke on July 21, 1948 under the crystal chandelier of the lobby; a costume designer named Irene Gibbons jumped to her death from a hotel window; William Frawley, who lived at the hotel for decades, died of a heart attack on the sidewalk in front of the Knickerbocker. Other stars that frequented the hotel with better luck were: Rudolph Valentino, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Lana Turner, Mae West, and Cecil B. DeMille among many, many others.*

(1956)* - An Elvis sighting at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. Photo by Ed Braslaff

Historical Notes

Before it became the allegedly haunted apartment complex it is today, this Hollywood hotel was a revolving door of A-list movie stars. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio used to rendezvous at the hotel bar, and Elvis shacked up here while shooting his first film, “Love me Tender.”

Historical Notes

In 1970 a renovation project converted the hotel into housing for senior citizens.

Historical Notes

In 1998, after being dark for decades, the neon Knickerbocker Hotel sign was illuminated once again as part of the city’s effort to spruce up the streets and restore some of its old brilliance and verve to Hollywood.

Historical Notes

Designed by architect Percy Parke Lewis the Fox opened on August 14, 1931 part of a widespread cinema construction program undertaken by Fox West Coast Theatres. The Fox Theater quickly became the most recognizable symbol of the new Westwood Village, a Mediterranean-style village development adjoining the University of California Los Angeles planned by Harold and Edwin Janss of the Janss Investment Company.*^

Historical Notes

The Pico Drive-In Theatre was the first theatre of its kind built in the Western United States.  It was constructed in 1934 just one year after the first drive-in was opened in Camden, New Jersey (Hollingshead Drive-In).

In 1934, when it first opened, the name was simply Drive-In Theatre. The name was changed to Pacific and later Pico Drive-In Theatre since more drive-ins were sprouting up.

Historical Notes

Early drive-in theaters had to deal with noise pollution issues. The original Hollingshead drive-in (Camden, New Jersey) had speakers installed on the tower itself which caused a sound delay affecting patrons at the rear of the drive-in's field. In 1935, the Pico Drive-in Theater attempted to solve this problem by having a row of speakers in front of the cars. In 1941, RCA introduced in-car speakers with individual volume controls which solved the noise pollution issue and provided satisfactory sound to drive-in patrons.*^

Historical Notes

Later known as the Pacific Drive-In, as it was operated by Pacific Theatres. By 1943, it was known as the Pico Drive-in, and was closed and demolished in 1947. The Picwood Theatre was built on part of the site.^^*

Historical Notes

Movies have always held a place at this intersection of West Los Angeles—from the 1948 built Picwood Theatre (which was demolished in 1990) to the 4-screen Landmark Theatre inside the Westside Pavilion, which opened in the 1980’s.^^*

(n.d.)***# - Window-mounted drive-in speakers...one for your car...one for the car on the other side of you. Later systems would transmit the signal through your AM radio.

Historical Notes

The outdoor theaters reached the zenith of their popularity during the 1950s.  Piling the kids in the car made for a cheap family night out, and drive-ins were a favorite hangout for teens who'd recently gotten driver's licenses.

The activities of the teenagers prompted another nickname for drive-in theaters — "passion pits". **^^

Historical Notes

Architect Carleton Monroe Wilson, Sr. designed the 1925 Chapman Park Hotel, located at 3401 Wilshire Boulevard, owned by Samuel James Chapman. In 1936 Wilson designed bungalows and a chapel called the Pueblo extending the grounds to encompass a full city block. The hotel and pueblo were demolished and replaced by the 1969 Equitable Plaza Office Building.*

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

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.” ^

Historical Notes

Voters approved demolishing much of Chinatown to build Union Station by a narrow 51 to 48 percent.^

Historical Notes

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

Examiner clipping attached to verso, dated May 4, 1939: "Stirring awake memories that had slumbered for more than a century, railroad officials yesterday staged a colorful pageant of transportation that thrilled thousands of Angelenos for two hours. Gayly costumed ladies of the Gay Nineties -- and the years before -- rode stage coaches and horse cars and stuttering, slow-moving trains of another era. Derby-hatted, mustachioed gentlemen in tight coats pumped high-wheeled bicycles -- 'bone-crushers' they were known as in those days -- all to celebrate formal opening of the new Union Station, pictured in background as oldest Union Pacific train approaches the city's newest in beautiful architecture." ^^

Historical Notes

Union Station was designed by the father and son team of John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson, and opened in May 1939. The structure combines Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, and Streamline Modern style, with Moorish architectural details. It was named the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT), until it's owner, Catellus Development, officially changed the name to Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS).*

Historical Notes

The ticket concourse has 62-foot high ceilings and a 110-foot counter.

Historical Notes

Attached to the main building to the south is the station restaurant designed by the famed Southwestern architect Mary Colter. It was the last of the "Harvey House" restaurants to be constructed as a part of a passenger terminal. Although today it is padlocked and stripped of many interior furnishings, the topology of its vast rectangular space, rounded central counter, and streamlined booths remains. The spectacular inlaid cement tile floor reproduces the pattern of a Navajo blanket. Colter also designed a sleek, Streamline Moderne cocktail lounge, which is closed now as well. In October 2014, the Harvey House space was leased to leading local restaurateurs for a gastropub.^

Historical Notes

Enclosed garden patios are on either side of the waiting room, and passengers exiting the trains were originally directed through the southern garden. The lower parts of the interior walls are covered in travertine marble; the upper parts have an early form of acoustical tile. The floor in the large rooms is terra cotta with a central strip of inlaid marble (including travertine, somewhat unusual in floors since it is soft). The ceiling in the waiting room has the appearance of wood, but is actually made of steel.^

Historical Notes

The intersection of Aliso and Los Angeles Streets is seen in the foreground. The 101 Freeway would be built along Aliso Street in the early 1950s. Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

Light Rail service arrived at Union Station in 2003, when Metro's Gold Line began operating to Pasadena from tracks 1 and 2. The line was expanded south over US 101 in 2009 with the opening of the Gold Line Eastside Extension.

In 2011, the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) approved the purchase of Union Station from Prologis and Catellus Development (a descendant of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads) for $75 million. The deal was closed in 2011. Since taking over ownership of the station, Metro has focused on increasing services for passengers at the station. One of the most noticeable changes is the addition of several retail and dining businesses to the concourse.*

Historical Notes

Built in 1939, Los Angeles Union Station is the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States and is widely regarded as “the last of the great train stations.”

Click HERE to see more of the early history of Union Station.

Historical Notes

The area in the extreme foreground is now Union Station. The street in front is Alameda Street, and those buildings ahead of Alameda were knocked down and are now landscaping and on ramps to the 101 Hollywood/Santa Ana Freeway. Old Chinatown started being demolished around 1933, and Union Station opened in 1939.**^

To the right-center of the photo is the Pico House in front of the LA Plaza which is out of view to the right. The old 1877-built Baker Block can be seen in the center of the photo just below the Federal Courthouse Building. The Baker Block would be demoished in 1942 to make room for the 101 Freeway.

Historical Notes

The ornate three-story Baker Block located on the 300 block of N. Main Strreet was completed around 1877 by Colonel Robert S. Baker. For a number of years, the building housed offices, shops, and apartments. Goodwill Industries of Southern California purchased it in 1919. Despite plans to relocate the structure for another purpose, the city purchased the Baker Block from Goodwill in 1941 and demolished the building a year later. U.S. Route 101 now runs beneath where these buildings once stood.*

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of the Historic 300 Block of N. Main Street.

Historical Notes

In 1939, the first home of the Department of Water and Power was sold to the City to make way for the Civic Center development planned in connection with the new Union Passenger Depot. Located at the corner of Marchessault and Alameda Streets, directly across from the almost completed railroad station, the property was the main office of the municipal water works when the City bought out the private water companies operating here until 1902.^

Historical Notes

Built in 1929, the eleven-story exchange building was designed by Samuel Lunden in the Moderne style. Ground was broken in October 1929, just as the Great Depression hit, and when the Los Angeles Stock Exchange opened its doors there in 1931, the country was deep into the Depression.*^

Historical Notes

As Los Angeles expanded southward in the early twentieth century, the city’s banks and financial institutions began to concentrate along Spring Street.*^

Historical Notes

The street façade is clad entirely in granite, a rarity in Los Angeles, where terra cotta was more economical. It features massive, fluted pilasters that frame three bas reliefs by sculptor Salvatore Cartaino Scarpitta titled Finance, Research and Discovery, and Production. Above the central entrance is an inscription incised into the granite that proclaims the mission and founding date of the Stock Exchange.^#^

Historical Notes

The massive bronze entrance doors, twelve feet high and featuring intricate patterns in low relief, were claimed by the manufacturer to be the largest bronze doors of their type ever fabricated in this part of the country.^#^

Historical Notes

Included in the $1.75 million structure was a fifth floor clearing-house, a statistical department, and a large auditorium in addition to a smaller lecture room with space for fifty. Offices were on the sixth through ninth floors, and a club with a library, card room, billiard room, and reading rooms were planned for the top two floors. A 2,660-square-foot printing room was located in the basement. The building’s highlight was its 90’ x 74’ balconied trading room with a forty-foot ceiling and sixty-four booths.**^^

Historical Notes

Designed in the Classical Moderne style to impart a sense of financial stability, the building’s imposing, fortress-like street facade rises the equivalent of five stories. A slender twelve-story office tower clad in terra cotta is set back at the rear.^#^

Historical Notes

The Stock Exchange became part of the Pacific Stock Exchange in 1956, and it moved out of the building in 1986. In the 1980s, the building was converted into a nightclub called the Stock Exchange. After undergoing an extensive interior renovation, the building reopened in 2010 as Exchange LA, a nightclub and event venue.^#^

On January 3, 1979, the Los Angeles Stock Exchange Building was designated LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 205 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Constructed in 1925, this Beaux Arts facility was built as an imposing structure meant to convey a sense of justice and public importance. The 14 story, 550,000 square-foot high-rise building was the nation’s first consolidated judicial facility. The Hall was designed in the classic Italianate style.*#*^

Historical Notes

The Hall of Justice accommodated a wide range of functions for the County of Los Angeles, including the Sheriff’s Department, Coroner, District Attorney, Public Defender, and Tax Collector. Additionally, the building housed 17 courtrooms and a county jail with over 750 cells.*#*^

Historical Notes

The Hall imprisoned many notorious criminals, such as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Charles Manson, and Sirhan Sirhan, and served as the backdrop for many movies and scores of Hollywood shows including Dragnet and Get Smart. Other historical events included the autopsies of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.*#*^

Historical Notes

The Hall of Justice was closed shortly after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and is currently being restored.  It is scheduled to re-open as the Sheriff's and District Attorney's Headquarters in 2014.

Historical Notes

On June 2, 1949, the Broadway Tunnel was demolished for the construction of the 101 Freeway. The route cut through Fort Moore Hill and made it necessary for a Broadway overpass to be built across the freeway and the old tunnel site.

Historical Notes

Built between 1937 and 1940, the United States Court House was the third federal building constructed in Los Angeles. The first, constructed between 1889 and 1892, housed the post office, U.S. District Court, and various federal agencies, but it soon proved inadequate. A larger structure was built between 1906 and 1910 at the corner of Main and Temple Streets. The population of Los Angeles grew rapidly in the early part of the twentieth century, and a larger building was needed to serve the courts and federal agencies. The Second Federal Building was razed in 1937 to clear the site for the existing courthouse.

Historical Notes

The original plan called for a 15-story building, but two more floors were added before construction was completed in 1940. At the time, it was the largest federal building in the western United States.

Historical Notes

The United States Court House is a Moderne style building that originally served as both a post office and a courthouse. The building was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and Louis A. Simon, and construction was completed in 1940.

Historical Notes

The courthouse has served as the venue for several high-profile trials over the decades, including paternity suits against celebrities like Charles Chaplin and Clark Gable in the 1940s. In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee convened in the building during the anti-Communist fervor in Hollywood.

Historical Notes

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service designated the Spring Street Courthouse as a National Historic Landmark for its significance in the civil rights history of Mexican Americans due to the 1946 Mendez v. Westminster school desegregation case.

Historical Notes

The building originally housed federal courts and a post office, but the post office relocated in 1965. The U.S. District Court then expanded into the vacated space. Today, the Spring Street Courthouse is used by the Los Angeles Superior Court and houses various government offices.

Historical Notes

Stephen M. White was elected Los Angeles County District Attorney in 1882, State Senator in 1886 and United States Senator in 1893. During his term in the United States Senate, Senator White’s most notable accomplishment was his successful leadership of the fight to create the Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro as opposed to Santa Monica Bay, the site that was being advocated by powerful railroad interests.

In 1989, the statue was moved again to its present location, at the entrance to Cabrillo Beach off Stephen M. White Drive, overlooking the breakwater at the L.A. Harbor.

Historical Notes

Working as Consulting Architect for the US Treasury Department just before World War II, Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed this large mail-sorting building for the US Post Office. The facility received loads of mail via trains arriving at the nearby Union Station and served as the primary organizational nexus for the US Post Office in Los Angeles from 1938 until 1989. Underwood designed the building as a synthesis of the WPA Moderne and Spanish Colonial Revival Styles.

Historical Notes

Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the Post Office Terminal Annex, built between 1938 and 1940, in the California Mission style; the supervising engineer was Neal A. Melick. The cupolas of the Terminal Annex are replicas of those of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

Historical Notes

The U.S. Post Office - Los Angeles Terminal Annex was the central mail processing facility located on Alameda Street near Union Station in Los Angeles from 1940 to 1989. The Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival building designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.*

Historical Notes

Employees of the United States Postal Service are divided into three major categories: Letter Carriers (also referred to as mailpersons or mail-carriers); Mail Handlers and Processors; and Clerks. In the olden days there were more mail handlers and processors that often worked in the evening and at night preparing mail and bulk goods for the carriers to deliver.*

Historical Notes

The 400,000 square feet building served as the main mail distribution center for the Metropolitan Los Angeles area from 1940 until 1994. Approximately 1,700 Post Office employees handled over four million pieces of incoming and outgoing mail on a daily basis.*

Historical Notes

The Post Office Terminal Annex, a three-story building with two towers, was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and built by Sarver & Zoss between 1939 and 1940. The building was known to open 24 hours a day and responsible for processing 2,000,000 mails per day including all incoming and outgoing mails in Los Angeles. It is located between Alameda Street and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, across from the Los Angeles Union Station.^

Historical Notes

Only ten years after its opening, the demands of the city's mail had already outgrown the facility. Accordingly, the Post Office announced plans in 1950 for a $12 million expansion, including an adjoining five-story parcel post building and other structures as well.*

Historical Notes

The fresco in the Post Office Terminal Annex lobby consists of eleven semi-circular, tempera on plaster “lunettes” by Boris Deutsch depicting “Cultural Contributions of North, South and Central America.” The murals were funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1944.

“The mural series entitled “The Cultural Contributions of North, South and Central America” in the Los Angeles Terminal Annex Post Office was painted in the early 1940s by Boris Deutsch. While the murals depict a number of indigenous North and South Americans, Mr. Deutsch himself was originally from Lithuania…

In 1939, he received a commission from the United States Treasury Department to paint murals in the Los Angeles Terminal Annex Post Office. The space included 11 panels, or “lunettes”, and Mr. Deutsch was required to choose his subject matter and sketch all 11 designs, as well as close-ups. He chose the subject of “Culture of the Americas”, and represented indigenous peoples from South America, Mexico and California, as well as scenes from science and industry. Mr. Deutsch also completed other post office murals through the same program, including the “Indian Bear Dance” mural in the post office in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Portraits are described as a quintessential subject of Mr. Deutsch’s work. He employed modernist concepts such as loose, expressionist strokes and flattened, almost cubist, qualities…

Despite the continued presence in the Los Angeles area of the Gabrieliño-Tongva people, the mural lunettes may not include them at all. In the lunette depicting Indians in “Alta California”, which is now the state of California, the artist chose to paint Father Junipero Serra, who spent very little time in the Los Angeles area, and was more influential in the San Diego and Monterey Bay areas after arriving from Baja California. San Diego was the home of the Kumeyaay people, and Monterey was the territory of the Rumsen Ohlone.*

Historical Notes

The cupolas of the Terminal Annex are replicas of those of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Times published the above photograh on October 2, 1947 with the following caption: “NEW MAIL SERVICE — Los Angeles Airways helicopter shown landing on the roof of Terminal Annex Post office yesterday to inaugurate helicopter air-mail service, the first of its kind in the United States. Two flights daily are planned on this run with another to start Oct. 16.”

Los Angeles Airways began regularly scheduled air mail service in Los Angeles, using the Sikorsky S-51 helicopter. Before long, LAA was operating a twice-a-day mail service between the main downtown post office and Los Angeles International Airport along with a small package air express service.

With a fleet of five S-51s, LAA’s first year of operations resulted in 700 tons of mail being carried with approximately 40,000 landings throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The small operation maintained a 95% reliability rate and by the time it began its small package air express service in 1953, it was annually moving nearly 4,000 tons of mail a year.

In July 1951 the CAB awarded LAA’s reliable helicopter operation the rights for passenger services which started in November 1954 with larger Sikorsky S-55 helicopters while the smaller S-51s continued the mail and small package services.*

Historical Notes

By the 1980s, the operations had outgrown even the expanded facilities at the Terminal Annex. The facility's volume had grown by the mid-1980s to 14 million pieces of mail per day, and the annex was plagued by inadequate space, overcrowding and inadequate work areas. Accordingly, the Postal Service Board of Governors in 1984 approved the construction of a new $151 million general post office in South-Central Los Angeles. Almost 50 years after Terminal Annex became the city's main mail-processing facility, the new processing facility in South Central opened in 1989. Despite the move of the processing facility, the customer service windows in the Terminal Annex's ornate lobby remain open.*

Historical Notes

The Terminal Annex building was built for the purpose of processing all incoming and outgoing mail in Los Angeles. Though its purpose was principally utilitarian, Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood sought to keep the building's design in keeping with the city's Union Station, which opened across the street in May 1939.

Historical Notes

The Post Office Terminal Annex was added to the National Register of Historic Places - Building #85000131, on January 11, 1985.

Historical Notes

Built in 1929, the Italian Romanesque Revival style buildng was designed by architect Ralph C. Flewelling.

Historical Notes

Seeley Mudd Memorial Hall of Philosophy is one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings on the USC campus. The Romanesque structure features a cloistered courtyard, a 146-foot campanile, and the double-height library, as well as dramatic spaces filled with elaborate carvings and decorative surfaces.

Historical Notes

The famous clock tower stands 146 feet above the junction of the North and West wings, equipped with chimes manufactured by Deagan. Ornate sculptures, reliefs, and mosaics adorn the building. The Argonaut's Hall, in which many philosophy seminars and lectures take place, is also ornately decorated and depicts Jason's search for the golden fleece.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of U.S.C.

Historical Notes

CBS Columbia Square, opened on April 30, 1938, was built for KNX and as the Columbia Broadcasting System's West Coast operations headquarters on the site of the Nestor Film Company, Hollywood's first movie studio. The Christie Film Company eventually took over operation of Nestor Studios and filmed comedies on the site, originally the location of an early Hollywood roadhouse. Prior to moving to Columbia Square, KNX had been situated at several Hollywood locations.

Historical Notes

CBS Columbia Square was designed by Swiss-born architect William Lescaze in the style of International Modernism and built over a year at a cost of two million dollars — more money than had ever been spent on a broadcasting facility.*^

Historical Notes

In early 2009, CBS Columbia Square Studios were designated as a historic-cultural monument by Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.*^

Historical Notes

The five-story CBS Columbia Square complex was home to radio stations KNX 1070 and KCBS 83FM, as well as CBS Channel 2 television station.*^

(n.d.)+^^ - KNX Radio Control Room at CBS Columbia Square

.

Historical Notes

Radio broadcasts had studio audiences. They presented engineers and performers in a theatrical environment including lighting.  The CBS studio was lit for atmosphere.+^^

Historical Notes

In 2005, KNX moved into new studios in the Miracle Mile neighborhood on L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard which it shares with CBS Radio stations KFWB, KTWV, and KRTH. KNX was the last radio station to operate in Hollywood.

In 2007, KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV also left the building and moved their operations to the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, thus ending Columbia Square's status as a broadcast facility.*^

Historical Notes

From 1938 to 2007, Columbia Square was home of CBS's L.A./west coast radio/tv operations. The historic site is currently under redevelopment.

Historical Notes

The West Coast Radio City opened in 1938, the same year as the CBS Columbia Square. It served as headquarters to the NBC Radio Networks' (Red and Blue) West Coast operations and replaced NBC's radio broadcast center in San Francisco, which had been around since the network's formation in 1927.*^

Historical Notes

The National Broadcasting Company originally used the phrase Radio City to describe their studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City.  When NBC opened their new Hollywood studios at Sunset and Vine in 1938, they placed the words Radio City prominently on the front of their new building.  However, the area between Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard on Vine Street became known as Radio City for tourists and locals alike who visited the many radio studios and radio themed cocktail lounges and businesses in the area.**^^

Historical Notes

In the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s the NBC studio complex, coupled with CBS Columbia Square (located just down the street), was home to all the major radio studios that broadcast coast to coast.  It’s where the great personalities of the day, including Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Al Jolson and many more assembled to entertain America. #^^^

Historical Notes

NBC’s West Coast Radio City building had 8 large individual studios, four of which had capacity for several hundred people.  The technical facilities included the most modern RCA equipment.*^

Historical Notes

Architect: John C. Austin (City Hall, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Masonic Temple, Shrine Auditorium).*^

Historical Notes

The NBC studio complex stood until 1964 when it was demolished to make room for a Home Savings and Loan bank (now Chase Bank). #*

Historical Notes

The Westlake Theatre opened in 1926 at 638 S. Alvarado Street, across from Westlake Park (now MacArthur).  It had a seating for 1,949 patrons and was used for both motion pictures and vaudeville shows.*^

Historical Notes

The theatre was designed by Richard D. Bates Jr. in a Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival style. The façade features cast stone Churrigueresque detailing of floral patterns and cartouche relief. The interior contains Adamesque references and murals by Anthony Heinsbergen. Exterior renovations in 1935 were designed by the noted theater architect S. Charles Lee and included an Art Deco ticket kiosk made of red-painted metal, unvarnished aluminum and glass, new lobby doors, and terrazzo sunburst paving in the foyer and front sidewalk.

Today, one of the theater's intact features is an original steel-frame, three-story neon sign that reads "WESTLAKE THEATRE". *^

Historical Notes

The Westlake was operated as a first-run movie theater from 1926 until the 1960s. As the neighborhood's demographics changed, the theater was sold to Metropolitan Theatres Corp., which showed Spanish-language or Spanish-subtitled movies. In 1991, the building was sold to Mayer Separzadeh, who converted the theater into a swap meet. To protect the building from drastic changes, the building was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 546 in September 1991 (Click HERE to see complete listing). The theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

In February, 2008, the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles purchased the theatre for $5.7 million and adjoining properties for an additional $5 million dollars. The agency wants to resell the space to a buyer who will restore the theatre into a movie and performing arts space, and redevelop adjacent property with affordable housing, retail and parking. The swap-meet moved out the building in 2011. In the summer of 2017, the Westlake Theatre was put up ‘For Sale’, with any future use/redevelopment to be considered. It was sold in March 2018 with plans to restore.*

Historical Notes

The theatre’s large roof-top sign has not only survived, it is still in use, as it was renovated in 1987.

Historical Notes

In 1939, I. Magnin left its Hollywood location and moved into this landmark store at 3240 Wilshire Boulevard near Bullocks Wilshire, designed by Myron Hunt, architect of the Ambassador Hotel.

I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington.

In the early 1870s, Dutch born Mary Ann Magnin and her English husband Isaac Magnin settled in San Francisco. Mary Ann opened a shop in 1876 selling lotions and high-end clothing for infants. Later, she expanded into bridal wear. As her business grew, her exclusive clientele relied on her for the newest fashions from Paris.
At the turn of the century, Mary Ann’s four sons entered the business. While John Magnin, Grover Magnin, and Sam Magnin became associated with the I. Magnin store, the fourth son, Joseph Magnin, became known for his own store (Joseph Magnin Co.).*^

Historical Notes

I. Magnin opened its Wilshire store in 1939.  The new high end department store was located just three blocks west of Bullock's Wilshire and became a formidable competitor.  

The stunning, all-marble I. Magnin was designed by Myron Hunt, architect of the Ambassador Hotel. Hunt experimented with gleaming white marble over steel, putting black granite trim at sidewalk level. The result, said one reviewer, was "a symphony of beauty." ^#^

Historical Notes

Built at a cost of $3,000,000, the building was operated entirely by electricity and completely air-conditioned. The bottom floor is faced with black marble.*

Historical Notes

Magnin specialized in couture fashions and developed a following as loyal as the Bullock's Wilshire partisans down the street. Ownership of the two stores ultimately merged, and in 1990 this Magnin location closed. It reopened after the 1992 civil unrest as the Korean-oriented Wilshire Galleria.^#^

Historical Notes

In 1991, the I. Magnin & Co. Building was declared Los Angeles Historic Cultural-Monument No. 534 (Click HERE for listing).

Historical Notes

The Western Auto Parts store was designed by Carl Lindbom and completed in 1931.  It is the current location of a IHOP restaurant. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

In 1909, at the age of twenty-three, George Pepperdine started Western Auto Supply Company in Kansas City, Missouri, with an initial investment of five dollars. With the rise in popularity of the automobile, Pepperdine's business thrived, providing high-quality automotive products and services through many retail stores. He moved to California in 1916 where he became extremely successful as his business continued to grow.  In 1937, during the Great Depression, he founded Pepperdine University as a Christian liberal arts college in South Los Angeles.  The school expanded to Malibu in 1972.^

Historical Notes

Designed by Stiles O. Clements, this classic Streamline Moderne building was built in 1938 and was first occupied by Coulter's Dry Goods.*

Historical Notes

B. F. Coulter was one of the earliest merchants in Los Angeles. The Coulter's Dry Goods business dates from 1878 and later was called Coulter's. Coulter was an ordained minister and founded the Broadway Christian Church. The business was continued by B.F. Coulter's son-in-law, R. P. McReynolds, and his son, James McReynolds.^^

Historical Notes

In the 1970s, the store changed hands and became a Broadway.

Historical Notes

After the building was demolished in 1980, the site remained vacant until the late-2000s, when a 5-story mixed-use structure was built. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

Oil magnate Edward Doheny developed the Towne House Building, completed in 1929, and advertised it as “Southern California’s most distinguished address.”*

Clara R. Shatto donated 35 acres of land that now makes up Lafayette Park to the City of Los Angeles in 1899. The land consisted of tar seeps and oil wells and Shatto requested that it be developed into a park. Shatto was the wife of George Shatto, then-owner of Santa Catalina Island.

Canary Island palm trees and jacaranda were planted in the area of what became known as Sunset Park. Local groups requested that the name be changed to commemorate Marquis de Lafayette, a military officer of the American Revolutionary War. The name was officially changed in 1918. A statue of him was erected in 1937, close to the Wilshire Boulevard entrance.*^

Historical Notes

Designed by Norman W. Alpaugh, in Mediterranean Revival, Art Deco, and other revival styles, the Town House was once among the most luxurious hotels in Southern California.  It is located on Wilshire Boulevard, adjacent to Lafayette Park in the Westlake district.^

Historical Notes

In 1937, the Town House was re-launched as a luxury hotel featuring one of Los Angeles’ storied night clubs, the Zebra Room, with interiors designed by Wayne McAllister. Five years later, in 1942, hotelier Conrad Hilton took over the building.*

The Cape Cod Room was the hotel’s coffee shop and lasted until 1993. The hotel’s main restaurant was the Garden Room.

Historical Notes

Elizabeth Taylor’s first marriage, to hotel heir Nicky Hilton in 1950, was celebrated at the Town House. It was later sold to the Sheraton hotel chain, first operating as the Sheraton Town House and later as the Sheraton West.*

Historical Notes

The hotel closed in 1993 and was later threatened with demolition, spurring a highly visible advocacy effort that saved the building and resulted in its reuse as family housing with community amenities.*

In 1997, the Town House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1994 it was designated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 576 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

In 1976, the hotel added four tennis courts at the rear of the enormous property, which covered nearly an entire city block. In 1978 the hotel's name reverted to the Sheraton-Town House. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the area around Lafayette Park became less desirable and more dangerous and after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, the hotel finally closed in February 1993.

Just as it was about to be demolished, the property was purchased by developer Rob MacLeod.  He enlisted the Santa Monica-based firm of Killefer Flammang Architects (KFA), noted for their renovations of historic buildings, to convert the 255-room hotel into 142 units of low-income housing, under a 55-year covenant. The building reopened in December 2001. In 2017, the north half of the massive 1.8 acre property, containing the long-abandoned tennis courts and the hotel parking lot, was redeveloped by Century West Partners as a new 398-unit apartment complex, Next on Sixth, also designed by KFA. The Town House is currently owned by the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing.^

Historical Notes

Opened in 1923, the building was designed in Neo-Renaissance style by prominent architects Percy A. Eisen and Albert R. Walker, who are also known for designing the Fine Arts Building and the James Oviatt Building in downtown Los Angeles and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.^^*

Historical Notes

A.Z. Taft, Jr. purchased the Hollywood Memorial Church on the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine, tore it down, and built the 12-story Taft Building.  All the movie studios had offices in the building as well as actors Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also resided there. Even Clark Gable's dentist was located in the building.*^

Historical Notes

In 1999, the Taft Building and Neon Sign were designated Historic-Cultural Monument No. 666 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

In 2014-15 the Taft Building got a $15-million makeover with a renovation that shored up its seismic strength and uncovered historic architectural details that were under wraps for decades.

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Tower, originally known as La Belle Tour, was designed by architects Cramer & Wise in a faux French Normandy style, and built in 1929. At the time, it was a Class A building with more than 50 apartments, with three penthouse units, a subterranean garage, and private and public roof gardens.

Actor George Raft owned an interest in the building and lived there for a time.  Also, well-known motion picture character actor Eugene Pallette was one of the first residents and lived in the building for all the 1930s. *^

Historical Notes

The building directly abuts the Hollywood Freeway (built in the 1950s), and its neon "HOLLYWOOD TOWER" sign looking directly over the northbound freeway is a Hollywood landmark.

Historical Notes

Though the architectural styles differ, the Hollywood Tower is "often cited as the inspiration" for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attractions at Disney parks in Florida, California, Paris and Tokyo. Like the real-life Hollywood Tower, the "Hollywood Tower Hotel" structure at the Disney theme parks bears the same classic "Hollywood Tower" sign and spiraling towers. Disney also released a Tower of Terror movie in 1997, on which the ride is based.*^

Historical Notes

Hollywood Tower was a popular residence for entertainment industry employees for many years and has often been cited as the inspiration for Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attractions. The real-life Hollywood Tower was listed in the National Register of Historical Places in 1988.*^

Historical Notes

Architect Archibald Gibbs designed the 1926 Carthay Circle Theatre, located at 6316 San Vicente Boulevard, in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style with Streamline Moderne influences. Fox-West Coast Theatres took over operation of the theatre in 1929.

Historical Notes

The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. It opened in 1926 and was considered developer J. Harvey McCarthy's most successful monument, a stroke of shrewd thinking that made a famous name of the newly developed Carthay residential district in the Mid-City West district of Los Angeles.*^

Historical Notes

The Carthay Circle Theatre hosted the official premieres of some of the more notable films of the 1930s including: The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Romeo and Juliet (1936), Walt Disney's first animated feature length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Gone with the Wind (1939), among many others.

For Disney's Fantasia (1940), the most elaborate audio system in use at the time, Fantasound, a pioneering stereophonic process, was installed at this theatre.*^

Historical Notes

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was laso known as “Disney’s Folly” because everyone thought Walt was mad for making a feature-length cartoon.

Historical Notes

Initially developed by Fox, it was called the Fox Carthay Circle Theater. The theater became better known than the development in which it was located, and this has led to confusion in the name of the area. The theater's name meant "the Circle Theater, by Fox, located in Carthay", but became incorrectly interpreted as "The Fox Theater, located in Carthay Circle." The misinterpretation has stuck, and now the region is more or less officially known as Carthay Circle, even as its theater namesake has been gone for half a century.*^

(1930s)^*^# - A postcard image of the Carthay Circle Theatre with Henry Lion's sculpture of a prospector in the foreground.

Historical Notes

Also known as the Daniel O. McCarthy Pioneer Fountain, or the Miner's Statue, this work, located in Carthay Circle across from the Carthay Theatre, honors the memory of the California Pioneers of '49.' The plaque reads, "This fountain is a memorial to the gallant pioneers of '49 of whom Daniel O. McCarthy, patriot, miner, leader, was an outstanding example. He was born Raleigh, N.C., August 24, 1830. Died Los Angeles, August 13, 1919. Through his newspaper The American Flag, San Francisco, he helped preserve California to the Union. This long useful life is a heritage of which the Golden State is justly proud.” Dedicated by Ramona Parlor 109 NSGW. Signature on miner: Henry Lion 1924,25.*

Historical Notes

The Carthay Circle Theater provided the "circle" for which Carthay Circle has come to be named.The auditorium itself was shaped in the form of a perfect circle, extended vertically into a cylinder, set inside a square that fleshed out the remainder of the building. McCarthy's development was called Carthay—an anglicized version of his last name. The theater was called the Circle Theater for its unique floor plan.*^

Historical Notes

All This, and Heaven Too is a 1940 drama film made by Warner Bros.-First National Pictures.  The film stars Bette Davis and Charles Boyer with Barbara O'Neil, Jeffrey Lynn, Virginia Weidler, Helen Westley, Walter Hampden, Henry Daniell, Harry Davenport, George Coulouris, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher and June Lockhart.*^

Historical Notes

By the 1960s the Carthay was considered obsolete, overshadowed by modern cinemas; its customer base had also been sapped by suburbanization. The theater was demolished in 1969; today, two low-rise office buildings and a city park occupy its former site. *^

Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

In July 1994, a smaller-scale pastiche of the facade of the theatre (primarily the octagonal tower) was opened as the "Once Upon a Time" gift shop on the Sunset Boulevard section in Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The store now sells clothing items for men and women.

In June 2012, a fanciful larger-scale replica of the theater building was opened in the Buena Vista Street section of Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. Although this replica is larger than the Orlando version, it is still slightly smaller than the 1926 original building.*^

Historical Notes

Opened on November 7, 1939 and designed by architect S. Charles Lee, the Academy Theater, a classic Art Moderne style structure, was originally designed to house the Academy Awards. Sadly, however, the Academy Theater never did host the ‘Oscars’, but it was often the location of film premieres and served as a major suburban theater for the Fox West Coast Theatres chain.^^#

Historical Notes

Architect S. Charles Lee was an early proponent of Art Deco and Moderne style theaters. The Bruin Theater (1937) and Academy Theatre (1939) are among his most characteristic. The latter, located in Inglewood, California, is a prime example of Lee's successful response to the automobile.

After World War II, Lee recognized that the grand theater building had become a thing of the past, and began to focus on new technologies in industrial architecture. His work in the field of tilt-up building systems was published in Architectural Record in 1952.*^

Historical Notes

The Academy Theatre is noted for a streamlined aesthetic, circular forms and glass block.  The exterior naming spire, is circled by a helical light illuminating the ‘Academy’ name. 

Historical Notes

Architect S. Charles Lee is credited with designing over 400 theaters throughout California and Mexico.

Historical Notes

The Academy served as a location for film premiers through the 1970s. It continued to show movies until 1976, when it became a church.*^

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