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

Historical Notes

In 1858, Irish-born Andrew A. Boyle (1818–1871) came to Los Angeles from San Francisco (having also previously lived in New Orleans and Texas after his 1832 migration to America.) Boyle built the first brick house east of the Los Angeles River and cultivated the Lopez vineyards, manufacturing and selling wine under the Paredon Blanco name. He also operated a shoe store in Los Angeles and was a member of the city council.

After Andrew Boyle's death in early 1871, his property passed to his only daughter and her husband, William Henry Workman (1839–1918), a saddler and rising politician in town. As the first growth boom was underway in the Los Angeles area, Workman decided to subdivide part of Paredon Blanco. In Spring 1875, he partnered with banker and real estate speculator Isaias W. Hellman and John Lazzarovich, who was married to a member of the Lopez family, and announced the creation of the new neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

Before long, the growth boom ended, largely because of the failure of the bank co-owned by Workman's uncle, William Workman (1799–1876), owner of the Rancho La Puente in the eastern San Gabriel Valley. It was not until the next development boom, which took place during Workman's tenure as mayor in the 1887-88 period, that Boyle Heights grew rapidly and became a desirable residential area for middle and upper middle class Angelenos. Some large Victorian-era homes still survive in Boyle Heights as testament to the late nineteenth-century status the neighborhood possessed.

Historical Notes

Located at the corner of Boyle Avenue and E. First Street in Boyle Heights, the Boyle Hotel, also known as the Cummings Block, is one of the oldest remaining commercial structures in Los Angeles and is significant for its many layers of history. Designed by architect W. R. Norton and built in 1889 for community leaders George Cummings and his wife Maria del Sacramento Lopez, this Victorian-era hotel became a social and political center for the community and encouraged the residential and commercial development of Boyle Heights.

The building features decorative patterned brickwork, cast iron storefront columns, and a corner turret with an open belvedere.

Historical Notes

In 2012, renovation of the relic of Victorian-era Boyle Hotel was completed with a turret, arches and a domed cupola crowning the four-story brick building. 

The East Los Angeles Community Corp., a nonprofit developer, restored the Victorian Italianate-style building, as part of an approximately $25 million project to transform the former hotel into affordable housing. #^^

Historical Notes

In the twentieth century, the building became associated with the many mariachi musicians who rented rooms in the hotel and gathered in the adjacent plaza to await customers. Although the condition of the building deteriorated through the years and some of the decorative elements were removed, the Boyle Hotel underwent a full-scale rehabilitation that renovated the interior for use as apartments and restored missing architectural elements, such as the upper portion of the corner turret.

Historical Notes

The Boyle Hotel was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #891 in 2007.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles' first streetcars were horse-drawn, as steam locomotives were deemed too dirty and dangerous for city streets, and cable car technology was still new and costly. Electric-powered traction railways were not yet available. On July 1, 1874, the horse-drawn cars of the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad, founded by lawyer Robert M. Widney, became the first streetcars to operate in Los Angeles, running hourly on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Passengers paid a ten-cent fare to ride the one-and-a-half-mile route from Temple and Spring south to Sixth, then west to Figueroa. The city's streetcar network quickly expanded, with new railways and extended lines radiating from The Plaza, the central hub.

Historical Notes

In the 1880s, horse-drawn streetcars were a crucial part of Los Angeles' urban transportation, especially around the historic LA Plaza. Operating from 1874 to about 1888, these streetcars, or horsecars, served as the main public transit before electric streetcars emerged. The LA Plaza was the central hub for these streetcars, enabling efficient movement across the city. Typical horsecars featured open compartments, transverse seats, a center aisle, and platforms for the driver and conductor, accommodating around 30 passengers.

Historical Notes

In 1888, the 300 block of North Main Street was a bustling hub at the heart of Los Angeles' commercial district, reflecting the city’s rapid transformation. Once considered the uptown commercial center, it featured a mix of hotels, banks, and other businesses, including the Farmers & Merchants Bank in the Pico Building, Los Angeles' first incorporated bank. Horse-drawn streetcars dominated the busy streets, while the introduction of telephones and telegraphs showcased the city’s embrace of new communication technologies. As the population surged from 11,183 in 1880 to 50,395 by 1890, the area became a focal point for expanding transportation networks and new neighborhoods, symbolizing Los Angeles’ shift from a small town to a thriving metropolis

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

Historical Notes

In 1887, there were several streetcar lines operating in the Los Angeles area almost all utilizing horses and mules as motive power. That year the Los Angeles Cable Railway Company purchased most of these lines and began to expand the streetcar system with electric-powered streetcars.

Historical Notes

The first streetcar line on Spring Street began operation on July 1, 1874, with the introduction of the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad. These were horse-drawn cars that ran on rails embedded in the street.

By 1887, electric streetcars started replacing horse-drawn vehicles on Spring Street. The Los Angeles Electric Railway began electrifying lines around this time.

Historical Notes

Horse-drawn streetcars remained the primary mode of public transportation through the 1880s, at their peak rolling through much of the booming city of Los Angeles. But soon technological innovation would doom the horse-powered street railway with the introduction of electric cable streetcars.

Historical Notes

The era of horse-drawn streetcars in Los Angeles was relatively short-lived. By 1885, cable cars began to replace horse-drawn vehicles, especially on hilly routes. The transition to electric streetcars started in 1887 with the Los Angeles Electric Railway. By 1897, the last horse railway in Los Angeles, the Main Street and Agricultural Park Street Railroad, converted to electric power.

Historical Notes

Horse-drawn and mule-drawn streetcars remained the primary mode of public transportation through the 1880s, at their peak rolling through much of the booming city of Los Angeles. But technological innovation would doom the horse-powered street railway.

Cable -- and later electric -- railways offered a clear advantage over horse-drawn streetcars. Horses fouled up the streets and struggled on even slight grades, meaning that the hilly terrain to the west of L.A.'s early business district was inaccessible to horse-powered public transit. Cable cars, on the other hand, were cleanly whisked through town by underground cables pulled by a remotely located, stationary steam engine. And as Andrew Hallidie's Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco had proved, cable cars had no trouble climbing steep grades.

In 1885, the cable cars of the Second Street Cable Railway began scaling the slopes of Bunker Hill, opening up the city's western reaches to development. Newer technology promptly replaced many of the city's horse-drawn streetcars. Los Angeles' last horse railway, the Main Street and Agricultural Park Street Railroad, traded in its horses for electric wires in 1897.^

Historical Notes

In September 1888, the Los Angeles Cable Railway Company sold their controlling interest to C. B. Holmes, and associates, of Chicago, Ill. They organized a new company, known as the Pacific Railway Company, capitalized at $5,000,000.00 and finished the construction of the cable lines, which when completed covered many of the LA streets with double tracks.*

Historical Notes

The principal power station for the Pacific Railway Company was at Seventh Street and Grand Avenue. Between 1904-1910, this building was used as a Post Office. Later, J. W. Robinson’s Dry Goods would build their first store at this corner.*

Historical Notes

The Pacific Railway Company was formed in 1888, and soon thereafter purchased the holdings of a financially strapped Los Angeles Cable Railway Company.  With a new influx of capital ($5,000,000) they began expanding the Los Angeles area cable car system with double tracks.

The first section of the cable road was put in operation on June 8th, 1889, and routed from Seventh and Grand Avenue, via Seventh; Broadway; First; Spring; Main to Requena and Main Streets.*##*

Historical Notes

Los Angeles’3rd City Hall was built in 1888 at 226-238 South Broadway.

California Bank Building was built in 1887, southwest corner of 2nd and Broadway.

Historical Notes

Agustín Olvera arrived from Mexico in 1834 where he had been a Justice of the Peace, and held various offices in the Mexican administration. In 1842 he was granted Rancho Mission Viejo, and three years later, was also granted the 35,501-acre Rancho Cuyamaca.

Olvera is noted for helping to bridge the gap between the governance of California by Mexico and the U.S.; helping sign the Treaty of Cahuenga, thus ending the war in California; was appointed to be Judge of the First Instance in 1849; was elected as the first county judge of the newly formed County of Los Angeles in 1850; and eventually entered private practice law.

In 1877, the Los Angeles City Council changed the name of Wine Street to Olvera Street in his honor. Marchessault Street is named for French Canadian, Damien Marchessault, who served as mayor of Los Angeles from 1859-1860, and again from 1861-1865. During his term in office, the Plaza Church was rebuilt and the City Gas Company was organized. Marchessault committed suicide in the city council chamber in 1868, after becoming despondent over public criticism of the water system and over gambling debts.^

Historical Notes

In 1868, the City of Los Angeles approved a franchise water agreement on a 30 year lease basis with the private Los Angeles City Water Company.

In 1899, after the end of the lease, a $2.09 million bond measure for the purchase of LA City Water Co.’s system was approved by city voters by a margin of nearly eight to one.  After over two years of litigation the City of Los Angeles finally regained control of its water system on February 3, 1902. A new department was created called the Los Angeles Water Department.

Once the purchase was completed, the Los Angeles City Water Department acquired all assets of the privately owned water system including its main office building at Marchessault and North Alameda.

Click HERE to see more in Water Department's Original Office Building.

Historical Notes

In 1781, the Pueblo was established just downstream from the above site, on the river's west bank. The alignment now known as San Fernando Road provided the major access route between the Pueblo of Los Angeles and the Mission San Fernando.

Starting in the late 1890’s, the site was owned by J. Hartley Taylor. Mr. Taylor was a prolific entrepreneur who owned the Taylor Grocery and the Taylor Milling Company, a commercial feed manufacturer on San Fernando Road. Taylor raised oats, barley, hogs and pigeons on the riverfront land. #*^*

Historical Notes

The Taylor property became a railyard yard in the 1920’s, when Southern Pacific Railroad outgrew its Midway Yard facility. It was commonly referred to as the Taylor Yard. #*^*

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Taylor Yard.

Historical Notes

Constructed in 1891, the Los Angeles County Courthouse stood where the city’s first high school, Los Angeles High School, had been located. The high school was there from 1873 until 1886 when it was moved to North Hill Street to allow for construction of the courthouse.

Historical Notes

This building served as the courthouse until 1932, when it sustained damage in the Long Beach earthquake, and was demolished in 1933.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the LA County Courthouse (1891 - 1933).

Historical Notes

In 1899, the old Clocktower County Courthouse seen above (NE corner of Court and Spring streets) would be replaced by the Bullard Building which would later be torn down to make way for the current LA City Hall (1928).

Click HERE to see 'From Temple Block to City Hall'.

Historical Notes

Before it became the Vienna Buffet, the building at 114 Court Street housed the Tivoli Theater with a seating capacity of 1200.

An L.A. Times ad on October 18 had this copy: "TIVOLI THEATER, 12, 14 and 16 Court Street. A Strictly Family Resort - Opening Company: Willard and Hall, Blanch and Byron, Zeno and Roberts, Hastings and Heywood, Ashby and Morris, Constantine, Newton. Admission 15, 25 and 35 cents.

The Tivoli was operated by the Perry brothers (E.H. and J. H), earlier involved in a venture called the Our Club Theatre on what is now the 400 block of N. Main. It was a venue that before they got it had been called Wood's Opera House. The Tivoli didn't last long -- by December 1890 it was closed and furniture sold to pay its debts.

In 1891 the building reopened as the New Vienna Buffet and gained a reputation as den of vice. In the 1894 city directory its listing says "restaurant, wines, liquors, amusement hall, F. Kerkow, prop. 10-16 Court." The Vienna was listed with the new 114-116 Court St. address in an 1895 Chamber of Commerce members list.^

Historical Notes

Apparently the New Vienna attracted a crowd with widely divergent interests. It even gets a mention on page 24 of the Arcadia Publishing book "Lavender Los Angeles."

The May 21, 1902 Los Angeles Herald reported that scandalous things were still continuing behind the closed curtains in the private boxes at the Vienna Buffet and that the police refused to take action. They were calling for the revocation of the theatre's amusement license. The July 14, 1902 Los Angeles Herald announced the closing:

"The Vienna Buffet closed last night. It will remain closed for six weeks 'for repairs and renovation.' The present proprietors, under whose management the buffet has attained such an unenviable notoriety, will retire. The place is to be conducted, when reopened, so its real owners announce, as a reputable amusement hall at popular prices. Even sinks of iniquity whitewashed and sustained by complaisant police commissions, cannot stand the white light of publicity. They flourish best in the dark —when they are left alone."

The building reopened as the Cineograph Theater in September 1902 with a combination of movies and vaudeville with the movie bill changing daily.^

Historical Notes

Broadway was known as 'Fort Street' until 1890.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Broadway and 1st Street (1886-1888).

Historical Notes

The Second Street Cable was the earliest access line over Bunker Hill. In operation from 1885 to 1889, it ran from Spring Street to its western terminus at Belmont Avenue on Crown Hill. Andrew Hallidie constructed the line. He was the builder of San Francisco’s famed cable line.^^

In 1893, Andrew Hallidie would also engineer the Mt. Lowe Great Incline in the neighboring city of Altadena. It was a cable mechanism that raised and lowered funiculars approximately 6,000 feet up the San Gabriel Mountains.*^

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Second Street Cable Railway.

Historical Notes

Cable cars soon became obsolete after engineers perfected an newer streetcar technology: the electric railway. Whereas cable railways constantly ran their engines at full power—regardless of how many cars were active on the line—to pull the heavy steel cables, the newer railways delivered electricity directly to motors located on the streetcars themselves. Cables lasted only a few years before needing replacement and were costly to bury; overhead catenary wires were inexpensive by comparison.

By 1896, much of the city's cable car trackage had been converted to electricity and incorporated into a growing electric railway network. In 1902, a mere 16 years after the city hailed its first cable railway as a technological wonder, the last of L.A.'s cable cars rolled down Temple Street and into obscurity.*

Historical Notes

At the time the American Civil War broke out Dr. David Burbank established his profession as a dentist in Pueblo de Los Angeles. In 1867, he purchased Rancho La Providencia from David W. Alexander and Francis Mellus, and he purchased the western portion of the Rancho San Rafael (4,603 acres) from Jonathan R. Scott. Dr. Burbank's property reached nearly 9,200 acres at a cost of $9,000. He eventually became known as one of the largest and most successful sheep raisers in southern California, resulting in him stopping his practice of dentistry and investing heavily in real estate in Los Angeles.*^

Historical Notes

The Burbank Villa Hotel was replaced by the Downtown Burbank Station (Bob Hope) Post Office in the 1920's.

Historical Notes

The Burbank Villa Hotel (with turret, gables, and verandas with arches) was built by Dr. Burbank and his son-in-law John W. Griffin in 1887 at a cost of $30,000.00. Later the hotel was renamed the Santa Rosa Hotel and was a popular place for weddings and parties. During the 1920s the hotel was remodeled into apartments and by 1927 it had been torn down and replaced by the post office. Today, this post office is known as the Burbank Downtown Station and is located at 135 E. Olive Ave, Burbank.

Historical Notes

When the area that became Burbank was settled in the 1870s and 1880s, the streets were aligned along what is now Olive Avenue, the road to the Cahuenga Pass and downtown Los Angeles. These were largely the roads the Indians traveled and the early settlers took their produce down to Los Angeles to sell and to buy supplies along these routes.*^

Historical Notes

A shrewd businessman, foreseeing the value of rail transport, Burbank sold Southern Pacific Railroad a right-of-way through the property for one dollar. The first train passed through Burbank on April 5, 1874. A boom created by a rate war between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific brought people streaming into California shortly thereafter, and a group of speculators purchased much of Dr. Burbank's land holdings in 1886 for $250,000.*^

Historical Notes

The group of speculators who bought the acreage from Dr. Burbank formed the Providencia Land, Water, and Development Company and began developing the land, calling the new town "Burbank" after its founder, and began offering farm lots on May 1, 1887.*^

Historical Notes

The establishment of a water system in 1887 allowed farmers to irrigate their orchards and provided a stronger base for agricultural development.   The original plot of the new townsite of Burbank extended from what is now Burbank Boulevard on the north, to Grandview Avenue in Glendale on the south, and from the top of the Verdugo Hills on the east to what is now known as Clybourn Avenue on the west.*^

Historical Notes

By 1904, Burbank received international attention for having world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries become a major landowner in the town. Jeffries bought 107 acres to build a ranch on Victory Boulevard. He eventually raised cattle and sold them in Mexico and South America, becoming one of the first citizens to engage in foreign trade. He eventually built a large ranch home and barn near where Victory and Buena Vista Street now intersect. The barn was later removed and reassembled at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park.

The citizens of Burbank had to put up a $48,000 subsidy to get the reluctant Pacific Electric Streetcar officials to agree to extend the line from Glendale to Burbank. The first Red Car rolled into Burbank on September 6, 1911, with a tremendous celebration. That was about two months after the town became a city.*^

Historical Notes

Dr. David Burbank was a dentist and purchased over 4,600 acres of the former Verdugo holding and another 4,600 acres of the Rancho Providencia in 1867 and built a ranch house and began to raise sheep and grow wheat on the ranch.

Realizing that bringing in the railroad would increase the value of his ranch, Dr. Burbank sold the Southern Pacific Railroad a stretch of right-of-way for one dollar. The first train passed through Burbank on April 5, 1874. During the rate war between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads, low fares brought people streaming into California and Dr. Burbank once more seized the opportunity. In 1886, he sold his property to a group of land speculators for $250,000 and the Providencia Land, Water and Development Company was formed. The City of Burbank is named after him.

Historical Notes

Dr. Burbank lived on the ranch with his wife Clara Kauffer Burbank, where they raised sheep and planted wheat. It was once located on what is now Warner Bros. Studios back lot. The house was destroyed by a fire in the 1950s.

Click HERE to see more on the Warner Bros. Studios.

Historical Notes

The San Fernando Mission was founded on September 8, 1797, and named for Saint Ferdinand III, King of Spain in the 1200s.

Historical Notes

The Convento Building was, and still is, the largest adobe structure in California and is also the largest original building in California's missions.^

California's eighteenth century Franciscan missionaries were the first to plant palms ornamentally, perhaps in reference to the tree's biblical associations. But it was not until Southern California's turn-of-the-twentieth-century gardening craze that the region's leisure class introduced the palm as the region's preeminent decorative plant. Providing neither shade nor marketable fruit, the palm was entirely ornamental.*#*

Historical Notes

Despite the diversity of palms in the Los Angeles area today, only one species—Washingtonia filifera, the California fan palm—is native to California. All of L.A.'s other palm species, from the slender Mexican fan palms that line so many of today's L.A. boulevards to the feather-topped Canary Island date palm, have been imported.*#*

Historical Notes

In 1896, the Pacific Land Company purchased a 225-acre tract and hired S.H. Taft to develop a new town named Barrett, after Gen. A.W. Barrett, local manager of the veterans home situated in the area. When the Pacific Land Company attempted to secure a post office for the new town, the postal authorities objected to the name "Barrett" on account of its similarity to Bassett, California. In 1899, the name of the town was formally changed to Sawtelle (for W.E. Sawtelle who superseded Taft as manager of the Pacific Land Company).

Sawtelle is where the U.S. Government established the National Soldier's Home (now Veterans Administration Hospital).  Click HERE to see more.

Sawtelle existed as a separate city until 1922 when Sawtelle voters decided to join Los Angeles*^

Historical Notes

The Arcadia Hotel opened for business in 1887 and was located on Ocean Avenue between Railroad Avenue (later known as Colorado Avenue) and Front (later known as Pico Boulevard). The Arcadia was the largest structure in Santa Monica at the time of its construction. The 125-room hotel was owned by J.W. Scott, the proprietor of the city's first hotel, the Santa Monica Hotel. The hotel was named for Arcadia Bandini de Baker, the wife of Santa Monica cofounder Colonel R. S. Baker.^^**

Historical Notes

Being located on a bluff, all 125 rooms in the 5-story building boasted unobstructed views. It featured a grand ballroom, upscale dining room and its own roller coaster. A bathhouse was located on the beach directly below the hotel, offering guests hot saltwater baths.*#*#

Historical Notes

The pinnacle of the hotel was an observation tower, offering breathtaking views in every direction a dizzying 136 feet above the beach level.*^*#

Historical Notes

Originally known as “Linda Vista Park,” Palisades Park was the first officially-designated public open space in Santa Monica. The land was donated to the City by Santa Monica's founder, Senator John P. Jones, in 1892.*#*#

Historical Notes

In the 1890s, the Southern Pacific Railroad built a tunnel under Ocean Avenue. The tunnel was eventually enlarged to accommodate the Pacific Coast Highway.*#*#

Historical Notes

Bath houses, featuring hot saltwater baths, were a big tourist draw to Santa Monica in the late 1800s and early 1900s.^

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Santa Monica

Historical Notes

The part of the city called Sonora Town was an old adobe village north of the Plaza and Church of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels. It was Los Angeles' first Mexican quarters, or barrio. The area was named for the numerous miners and families who came from Sonora, Mexico, and may have still been around in the 1930s. Now part of it is Los Angeles' Chinatown District.

Historical Notes

Residential buildings dominate at left, lining west side of Buena Vista (Justicia), while commercial buildings are at right. A horse-drawn carriage can be seen driving down the street at left, while A field can be seen in the right background, while mountains rise in the background beyond the field. Legible signs include: "Sunset Wine Co., wines, brandies, whiskies, Goldschmidt Bros.", "Agency for Tom Howe Bourbon, O.P.S.", "Ghirardelli's breakfast cocoa"..., "Frey's Mantel", "Lumber, building material, sash doors and blinds; Kerckhoff-Cuzner Mill & Lumber Co.", ..."Wood m[...], 610", "National Hotel", "Drugs", "Los Angeles Furniture Co.", "Hoffman Hotel", "Furniture, carpets, wallpaper, bedding, shades, etc.", and "Stearns Machine Works". Brunswig Drug Company, the Pico House, Merced Theater and the Masonic Hall can all be seen at center and center right. The squarish, three story brick building at left in the middle distance (seeming to balance on the tip of the turret of the little white house on Buena Vista) is the San Fernando Hotel at the NE corner of San Fernando (N. Spring) Street and Ord. The tower/turret to its immediate left is the corner of the Sunset Hotel on the NW of the same corner.

Historical Notes

The part of the city called Sonora Town was an old adobe village north of the Plaza and Church of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels. It was Los Angeles' first Mexican quarters, or barrio. The area was named for the numerous miners and families who came from Sonora, Mexico, and may have still been around in the 1930s. Now it is Los Angeles' Chinatown District.

Note the tall pole on the right side of the photo. It is a 150 -foot mast that holds up one of the City's first electric street lights. These tall electric street lights first appeared in 1883 when the City's first electric utility company, LA Electric Company, was formed. Click HERE to see more in Early Los Angeles Street Lights.

Historical Notes

Prior to the construction of the Plaza Catholic Church, pueblo residents were buried at Mission San Gabriel. Some burials, however, took place at Campo Santo even before 1826 when the first resident priest arrived and it began its own official burial registry. The Campo Santo (consecrated ground) was the first cemetery in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Sonora Town

Historical Notes

The steep slope which is spilling onto unpaved Fort St is the future site of the Court Flight Incline Railway. The small house on top of the hill at right is on Court St, one lot east of Hill St. (southeast corner of Court & Hill). The Bradbury Mansion will later be built at the southwest corner of Court and Hill.

The name "Fort Street" was changed to "Broadway" in 1890 by order of Mayor Hazard, at the request of property owners at Fort and Fourth. The renaming of Fort Street to Broadway was influenced by two primary factors. First, pronunciation issues arose, particularly among German immigrants who found it difficult to distinguish between "Fort Street" and "Fourth Street" due to the "th" sound. Second, city officials wanted to elevate the street’s prestige by associating it with New York City's renowned Broadway, reflecting aspirations to enhance the stature of Los Angeles as it developed.

Historical Notes

The steep slope spilling onto the unpaved Fort Street was once part of Bunker Hill. Today, this area is where Grand Park is located (aka Gloria Molina Grand Park).

Historical Notes

Downtown Los Angeles debuted a panoramic exhibit in late 1887 in a newly built Panorama Rotunda (seen above). The large circular building, located at Main Street between Third and Fourth Streets, displayed the last battle between the French resistance and Prussian 'besiegers' after which Paris fell in January of 1871.

Historical Notes

Within a year of its construction, the brick storefront on Main Street through which panorama visitors entered, called ''Panorama Building,' was home to many business ventures, its owners quickly capitalizing on the prestige of the art work and its instantly recognizable address. Not only was it home to the painted battle scene, but also served as a warehouse for the Bancroft Piano Company; a rehearsal hall for the vocal section of the Philharmonic Society; the meeting space for the Young Man's Prohibition Club as well as the Harrison and Morton Club, a Republican party group; and Miss B.M. Tobin's millinery, directly adjacent to the offices of W.O. Merithew, architect. The Evening Express newspaper had its offices in the building, and the Olmstead and Wales Panorama Bookstore was also an early tenant.

Historical Notes

Today, City Hall would be standing at the end of Requena/Market St. on Main St. Needless to say, Requena/Market Street does not exist today.

Historical Notes

Built in 1893, the Bradbury Building was commissioned by LA mining millionaire Lewis L. Bradbury and designed by local draftsman George Wyman. It still stands today and is the oldest building in Downtown LA.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Bradbury Building.

Historical Notes

City Hall (1888-1928) dominates the right of the picture. Several other landmarks of the day can also be seen here. The tower of Los Angeles High School is partially visible to the left of the power poles. The clock tower in the distance is that of the LA County Courthouse. The tall spire next to that belongs to the First Presbyterian Church at the SE corner of Broadway and Second Street. And, the gothic structure just barely visible between City Hall and the Crocker Building (with the two bay windows) is Los Angeles' first Jewish synagogue, the B'nai B'rith Temple.

Historical Notes

Two religious buildings no longer appear on Broadway (see previous photo). They are the B'nai B'rith Temple (demolished in 1896) and the First Presbyterian Church (demolished in 1897).

Historical Notes

The Mount Lowe Railway was the third in a series of scenic mountain railroads in America created as a tourist attraction on Echo Mountain and Mount Lowe in the San Gabriel Mountains, north of Pasadena. The railway, originally incorporated by Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe as the Pasadena & Mt. Wilson Railroad Co. existed from 1893 until its official abandonment in 1938, and had the distinction of being the only scenic mountain, electric traction (overhead electric trolley) railroad ever built in the United States. Lowe’s partner and engineer was David J. Macpherson, a civil engineer graduate of Cornell University. The Mount Lowe Railway was a fulfillment of 19th century Pasadenans' desire to have a scenic mountain railroad to the crest of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Click HERE to see Early Views of Mt. Lowe Railway.

Historical Notes

Pearl Street became Figueroa Street, and Bellevue Terrace 6th Street.

Historical Notes

Photo caption reads: "View on Pearl Street, south from Bellevue Terrace, showing banana and palm plants, and cypress hedges." Pearl Street became Figueroa Street, and Bellevue Terrace 6th Street.

Historical Notes

In 1892, Edward Doheny and his family stayed at this Victorian building. Doheny later said that he got the idea of digging for oil while watching wagons laden with fuel and tar pass by.

Click HERE to see more in 1890s Oil Boom.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Bellevue Terrace Hotel.

Historical Notes

The Temple Street Cable Railway, inaugurated on July 14, 1886, was Los Angeles' second cable car line. It extended from Spring Street downtown, climbing westward to Temple Street before continuing to Beaudry Avenue, serving the growing neighborhoods on the hills overlooking the city. Powered by a steam engine-driven cable system, the line helped shape the development of the western part of Los Angeles, providing a vital link between the downtown area and what was then considered the outskirts.

Historical Notes

Temple Street Cable Railway, opened on July 14, 1886. Backed by land speculator Prudent Beaudry, who first developed Bunker Hill in the late 1860s, the Temple Street line extended 8,725 feet between Spring Street and Belmont Avenue. There, the streetcar line fueled the growth of Angeleno Heights (today spelled "Angelino Heights"), an early suburb promoted by Beaudry and his brother Victor. "Have a house in the hills!" encouraged the Beaudrys' marketing materials, which advertised the subdivision's street railway link. "Stop paying rent in the Valley!"

The company was sold under foreclosure in 1898. Henry E. Huntington acquired it in 1902 and included it in the Pacific Electric Railway after he converted it to electricity. In 1910, the line was transferred to the Los Angeles Railway. The A line, which ran on Temple Street in he 1930's, was one of the first in Los Angeles to be converted to buses.

Historical Notes

Running from Spring Street to Edgeware Road, and later extended to Hoover Street, the 1.7-mile route used cable car technology.

In early Los Angeles, there were a total of three cable railways:

1.      Second Street Cable Railway (1885) – The first cable railway in Los Angeles, running from downtown westward along Second Street.

2.      Temple Street Cable Railway (1886) – The second cable railway, serving the area along Temple Street and promoting development in Angelino Heights.

3.     Los Angeles Cable Railway (1889) – The third and final cable line, which operated in the Boyle Heights neighborhood on the east side of the Los Angeles River.

These three systems were relatively short-lived, as electric streetcars eventually replaced them due to the high cost and maintenance challenges of cable car operations.

Historical Notes

Originally spelled Angeleno Heights, Angelino Heights is second only to Bunker Hill as the oldest district in Los Angeles. Founded in 1886, it was originally connected to the downtown mainline (which ran east to west on Temple Street) by the Temple Street Cable Railway and later by streetcars.

Historical Notes

In the late 1940s, a large swath of Angelino Heights was destroyed to build the Hollywood Freeway. The new freeway cut off Temple Street save an overpass at Edgeware Road.

Historical Notes

In the last 20 years or so, most of the Victorian and Craftsman buildings in the Angelino Heights neighborhood have been restored.

Angeleno Heights or Angelino Heights?

Old tract maps, show the name spelled “Angeleno” with an “e” but the city’s Office of Historic Resources uses “Angelino” with an “i.” The neighborhood’s Wikipedia entry for Angelino Heights said the neighborhood’s name was originally spelled Angeleno.  A history piece in L.A. Magazine title “CityDig: The Living History of Angelino Heights” goes on to spell the name both ways.^

Historical Notes

In the late 1940s, a large swath of Angelino Heights was destroyed to build the Hollywood Freeway. The new freeway cut off Temple Street save an overpass at Edgeware Road.

Historical Notes

Angelino Heights was the City of Los Angeles' first recognized historic district, or Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). Enacted in 1983 and spelled out in Angelino Heights' Preservation Plan, this zoning prohibits unsympathetic remodelling of historic houses and requires new construction to resemble original architecture in scale, massing and materials.

Today, the district contains many notable examples of Victorian architecture, particularly of the Eastlake and Queen Anne styles, and though found throughout the neighborhood, they are especially concentrated on Carroll Avenue. Two of these residences served as the houses used for the TV shows Charmed and Journeyman, used in the shows as San Francisco Victorian residences, and because of the picturesque nature of the neighborhood, they have served as the backdrop for countless motion pictures from the earliest days of cinema to the present.

Traveling around the neighborhood, one also discovers that many other styles of architecturally significant homes are to be found here, such as Craftsman, Bungalow, Mission Revival, Art Deco, and Colonial Revival, to name a few.

Click HERE to see more in Early L.A. Buildings (1800s).

Historical Notes

In 1892, Edward Doheny struck oil south of Angelino Heights and Echo Park, triggering the city’s first oil boom. Soon, hundreds of wells were pumping away in a wide belt stretching roughly south of Temple Street. The wells created enormous wealth but also a stinky, sticky mess for those who lived nearby, including the residents of the newly built Victorian mansions of Angelino Heights.*

Historical Notes

Discovered in 1890, and made famous by Edward Doheny's successful well in 1892, the Los Angeles Oil Field was once the top producing oil field in California, accounting for more than half of the state's oil in 1895. In its peak year of 1901, approximately 200 separate oil companies were active on the field, which is now entirely built over by dense residential and commercial development.

Some significant public facilities built directly on the area of former oilfield operations include Shriners Hospital for Children, St. Vincent Medical Center, Belmont High School, and the Edward R. Royball Learning Center.

Historical Notes

By 1897, the once-quiet Crown Hill neighborhood--by then bounded by Temple, Figueroa and 1st streets and Union Avenue--was overrun with promoters, drillers and more than 500 chugging and wheezing derricks. Gingerbread houses and neatly trimmed gardens were quickly transformed by homeowners and leasing companies attempting to turn backyards into pay dirt.

Tent cities sprang up all over town, attracting prostitutes and bootleggers. Gambling houses and saloons were busy 24 hours a day.

Historical Notes

The price of oil peaked at $1.80 a barrel before hitting bottom at 15 cents in 1903. There was so much cheap oil that to reduce the tremendous surplus, the city began spraying it on unpaved roads to hold down the dust.

Historical Notes

About twenty-five oil wells along Court Street, interspersed with dwellings, make up the City Field.  Almost overnight, a residential district was transformed into an oil field. 1274 W. Court Street is still there looking essentially unchanged after nearly a hundred and twenty years.

Historical Notes

Edward Laurence Doheny (1856 - 1935) was a Californian oil tycoon who, in 1892, drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field. His success set off a petroleum boom in Southern California, and made him a fortune when, in 1902, he sold his properties.

He began highly profitable oil operations in Tampico, Mexico, drilling the first well in the nation in 1901. He expanded operations during the Mexican Revolution, and opened large new oil fields in Mexico's "golden belt" inland from Tampico. His holdings developed as the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company, one of the largest oil companies in the world in the 1920s.

In the 1920s, Doheny was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal and accused of offering a $100,000 bribe to United States Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. Doheny was twice acquitted of offering the bribe, but Fall was convicted of accepting it. Doheny and his second wife and widow, Carrie Estelle, were noted philanthropists in Los Angeles, especially regarding Catholic schools and charities. The character J. Arnold Ross in Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! (the inspiration for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood) is loosely based on Doheny.

Please Support Our Cause

Water and Power Associates, Inc. is a non-profit, public service organization dedicated to preserving historical records and photos. 

Your generosity allows us to continue to disseminate knowledge of the rich and diverse multicultural history of the greater Los Angeles area; to serve as a resource of historical information; and to assist in the preservation of the city's historic records.