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

Historical Notes

Western Avenue, apart from Sepulveda Boulevard, is one of the longest north–south streets in Los Angeles. The name of the street is derived from its history as the westernmost border of Los Angeles before annexations in the early 20th century expanded the city.

Western Avenue eventually ends north of Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. It swerves to become an east/west street, Los Feliz Boulevard.*^

Historical Notes

Horses continued to march down (and foul up) Los Angeles streets well into the 1920s. Not until 1924 had the balance of power tilted to motorists such that city leaders felt comfortable banning horse-drawn vehicles from downtown during rush-hour -- a traffic-relief measure that remains on the books to this day.*

Historical Notes

Los Angeles experimented by placing signals in the middle of a few of its busiest intersections. Nicknamed the “American Bobby” since it stood in the same place as a London traffic control officer, the new signal stood high atop a tall stanchion. Its location in the center of the intersection may have presented a traffic hazard, but the red and green lights, which replaced the unreliable semaphore arms, were easily visible to motorists in all four directions..*+*

Historical Notes

The Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre would be built in 1931 on the southeast corner of Wilshire and Western (upper-right), where the real estate office is locted.

Historical Notes

By the 1930s and 1940s, Wilshire and Western would become the nation's busiest intersection, and the Miracle Mile would emerge as an important retail center.**#

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Wilshire and Western intersection (1929 - 1931).

Historical Notes

The Burrows & Johnson Store on the corner of 37th St. and Vermont Ave. was one of many businesses lining Vermont near the University of Southern California (USC).  A tailor’s shop is seen next door.  This building and the house behind it are now a gravel empty lot.^*#*

Historical Notes

Behind the line of graduates can be seen some of University Avenue before USC took over.  There is a row of stores along the street, and the roof of the Shrine Auditorium is visible in the background.  The two story commercial building on the corner is now where Von Kleinsmid Center is located.^*#*

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of USC

Historical Notes

Rancho La Cienega O' Paso de la Tijera was a series of adjoining adobe structures located on the eastern side of the Baldwin Hills in an area determined to be approximately 4,481 acres.

The unusual title of the Rancho is actually two names combined: "La Cienega" ("The Swamp"), refers to the marshes in the area between Baldwin Hills and Beverly Hills; the latter half of the name "Paso de la Tijera" ("Pass of the Scissors"), was a name used by the early Spanish to describe the pass through the nearby hills that resembled an open pair of scissors.^

Historical Notes

The Rancho La Cienega O' Paso de la Tijera area remained unclaimed for many years following the first Spanish settlements in California. Squatters from the pueblo considering these lands public and built the La Tijera adobe as early as 1790 or 1795 for the purpose of raising cattle on surrounding land. In 1843, Manuel Michaeltorrena (then Mexican Governor of Alta California) formally granted Rancho La Cienega O' Paso de la Tijera to Vicente Sánchez.

In more recent years, a portion of Rancho La Cienega O' Paso de la Tijera became the center of Sunset Fields public golf links located at 3725 Don Felipe Drive, off Crenshaw Boulevard. In 1959, Bernadette Fathers sold the property to Park View Women's Club.^

Rancho La Cienega O' Paso de la Tijera was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 487 on May 1, 1990 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Two years before Beverly Hills became an incorporated city, the Beverly Hills Hotel opened on May 12, 1912; the hotel initially included the main building and twenty-three separate bungalows in the Mediterranean Revival style, designed by Elmer Grey. In the 1940s, a new wing was added to the east side of the main building. Eighty years after it opened, the hotel closed for two and a half years for a complete restoration. The hotel was named the first historic landmark in Beverly Hills on September 12, 2012.^

Historical Notes

After the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Port of Los Angeles became the natural port-of-call for most transpacific and coastal users.

Historical Notes

The South Bay area of Los Angeles County includes the following cities and neighborhoods:

Beach Cities: Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach

Palos Verdes Peninsula: Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates

Neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles: San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City

Inland Cities: Carson, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Torrance

Historical Notes

UCLA as well as Cal State Dominquez were both almost located in Rancho Palos Verdes: A section of 1,000 acres was originally set aside by the planners of the Palos Verdes Project for a University campus, In November 1921, a proposal was made for the relocation of the southern branch of the University of California , which later became UCLA. This land was in the center of the Palos Verdes Peninsula where Peninsula High School, the Peninsula Shopping Center, and the Avenue of the Peninsula Shopping Center is located.

Historical Notes

Palos Verdes means green sticks, and was the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrielino Native American people for thousands of years.  There are archeological sites that date back 8,000 years in the Los Angeles Basin.  Legend says that these Indians blessed the land of “green sticks” making it the most beautiful place on Earth.* 

Historical Notes

In 1882 ownership of the 16,000 acre hill was passed to Jotham Bixby who used the land as a cattle ranch and also leased Rancho De Los Palos Verdes to Japanese farmers who built the first roads on “the hill”. Bixby’s Forman Harry Phillips built the first permanent residence in 1894 and planted Eucalyptus trees.  

Historical Notes

The plaza, library, and original homes were built starting in the late 1920s. At the center of the historic plaza is the King Neptune Fountain which is a copy of a famous statue in Bologna, Italy that was presented as a gift to the City of Palos Verdes Estates.

At the time of the city's incorporation in 1939, the business and shop area around Malaga Cove had most of the Peninsula's earlier buildings. The Malaga Cove Plaza building of the Palos Verdes Public Library, designed by Pasadena architect Myron Hunt, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Historical Notes

This 19th century white marble fountain in the center of the Malaga Cove Plaza in Palos Verdes Estates, is a replica of the famous bronze Neptune fountain in Bologna, Italy, and was part of an old villa in Venice for more than a century before it was donated to the city in 1930. It was restored in 1997.

Historical Notes

By April of 1926 there were 35 students and 3 teachers at Malaga Cove School with 3 classrooms, a large 294 seated auditorium, dressing rooms, plus offices, toilet rooms, and a community kitchen.  Malaga Cove School is now the hub of the hill and multiple events are at the school.

Historical Notes

In the earlier image, the Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. residence is seen on Rosita Place at far left overlooking the cliffs. The house was demolished in 1971 due to bluff erosion. Malaga Cove School is beyond the Olmsted house, with La Venta Inn visible along the hilltop in background

Historical Notes

Opened in 1924, La Venta was the first structure to be completed on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Originally, it served as a clubhouse for the entertainment of realtors and prospective land owners. Architects Walter and Pierpont Davis designed the building and the famous landscape architects, the Olmstead brothers, designed the gardens.*

Historical Notes

In the 1920's, it became a famous black-tie restaurant and in the 1930's, a weekend tourist retreat for such notable people as Charles Lindberg, Tyrone Power, Cary Grant and Gloria Swanson. During World War II, La Venta's tower was utilized as a 24 hour lookout point for the US Coast Guard.*

Historical Notes

In 1944, La Venta was purchased as a private residence, however due to popular demand; the family immediately reopened the property as a peninsula social center hosting a myriad of events including weddings and receptions. In 1992, the New York Food Company was invited to become the in-house management team.*

Historical Notes

A small airfield opened to the east of Surfridge in 1928. It became a popular location for residents to see air shows.

The growing number of commercial flights into Los Angeles following World War II meant a higher number of planes flying low over Surfridge. Many residents learned to co-exist with the noise from propeller planes, but jet engines were impossible to ignore.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Sufridge area was condemned and acquired by the City of Los Angeles in a series of eminent domain purchases to facilitate airport expansion (LAX) and to address concerns about noise from jet airplanes. Home owners were forced to sell their property to the City. Several homeowners sued the City and remained in their houses for several years after the majority of houses were vacated. Eventually all the houses were either moved or demolished.

Historical Notes

The Santa Monica Municipal Pier opened in 1909 and was the first pier on the west coast to use reinforced concrete pilings. It was thirty-six feet wide and stretched 1200 feet into the Pacific Ocean. In 1916, Charles I.D. Looff constructed a Moorish-Byzantine hippodrome, which housed a merry-go-round with 44 hand-crafted horses, a billiards and bowling hall, a two-track Blue Streak Racer wooden roller coaster along with The Whip and the Aeroscope thrill rides, a "What Is It?" maze, and several smaller rides. Looff's opening day, July 4, 1917, drew over 100,000 people; the biggest crowd in the city's history.^

In 1987, the Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Southern California Amusement Parks

Historical Notes

Victor Girard Kleinberger was a land huckster with big dreams. Born in Kentucky, he began his sales career peddling Persian rugs -- fakes, of course -- door to door. Girard's modus operandi was to shove the rolled-up rug into the door frame (thus preventing the door from being slammed shut on him) and begin coughing profusely -- all the while mumbling about tuberculosis and priceless rugs.

It was a ruse that apparently worked, and by 1899, with his fortune already made, the 18-year-old Girard (he had dropped his last name) headed west to Los Angeles, where he branched out into other enterprises, including real estate.*##

In 1922, Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the west San Fernando Valley and founded the town of Girard. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees.  His 300 pepper trees forming an arch over Canoga Ave. between Ventura Boulevard and Saltillo St. are Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #93 in 1972 (Click HERE to see the LA Historic-Cultural Monuments List***).

Historical Notes

Although Girard Kleinberger's early efforts were criticized as providing only a dubious facade of economic activity (local lore has it that in order to attract development he erected false store fronts on Ventura Boulevard, for which he spent time in jail), the Girard Golf Course completed in 1925 continues to operate today as the Woodland Hills Country Club, and his scheme was ultimately successful in attracting interest in the community.

In 1941 the community was renamed Woodland Hills. Harry Warner, of the Warner Bros. Studio, bought 1,100 acres in the area in the 1940s for a horse ranch, named Warner Ranch. The modern Warner Center commercial zone is named for Harry and features high-rise buildings, hotels, and shopping centers.*^

Historical Notes

Mulholland Highway (later Mulholland Drive) has its origins in 1921 as a scenic drive, with the “working name” of Skyline Drive, engineered by DeWitt Reaburn.  The scenic drive was engineered in small sections, with work actually beginning at several points along the route simultaneously.  The road was originally planned to encompass a right of way of 200 feet and intended to be 20 miles long, taking a mere two years to complete. 

For reasons, some to honor Mulholland, but mostly to use his stature and accomplishments to silence opposition, the most traveled scenic highway conceived as Skyline Drive became Mulholland Highway. ##**

Historical Notes

This winding ridgeline road in the Santa Monica Mountains was dedicated in honor of William Mulholland, the water engineer who designed the Los Angeles Aqueduct, on Dec. 27, 1924. Originally dirt and called Mulholland Highway, the name was changed to Mulholland Drive in 1939. Portions of the original road remain unpaved.^*

Historical Notes

The eastern terminus of Mulholland Drive is at its intersection with Cahuenga Boulevard at the Cahuenga Pass over the Santa Monica Mountains (at this point Cahuenga Boulevard runs parallel to Highway 101/The Hollywood Freeway). The road continues to the west, offering vistas of the Hollywood Sign, downtown Los Angeles, and then Burbank, Universal City, and the rest of the San Fernando Valley with the San Gabriel, Verdugo, and Santa Susana Mountains.*^

Historical Notes

Mulholland Highway curves around the western edge of Beachwood Canyon like a massive snake.  A man-made thoroughfare buttressed by granite retaining walls, the Highway was built, like all the roads in Hollywoodland, in the mid-1920s. It contains both a split-level section (under construction in the photo above) and a cliff-side stretch locals call the blind curves.

Historical Notes

Curving ingeniously through the eastern Santa Monicas, the Mulholland Drive motorway once brought a heavy slew of Angelenos into the Valley. In the early 1970s, however, 5,000 local activists successfully prevented the cement paving of most of that stretch. To this day, that section is known as 'Dirt Mulholland', and is only open to cyclists and pedestrians. From the famous Mulholland Bridge east, Mulholland Drive completes its creator's vision, and winds through the affluent Hollywood Hills to Mulholland Drive's easternmost terminus at Cahuenga Boulevard, near Universal Studios, until again becoming an unpaved footpath to Griffith Park.

The paved road begins again east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard at Santa Maria Road. Shortly thereafter, the thoroughfare splits into Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway. Mulholland Drive terminates at U.S. Highway 101 (the Ventura Freeway), where it becomes Valley Circle Boulevard. Mulholland Highway continues to the southwest until it terminates at State Route 1 (PCH) in Leo Carrillo State Park at the Pacific Ocean coast and the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.*^

Historical Notes

The road offers spectacular views of the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and the Hollywood Sign.

Mulholland Drive is home to some of the most exclusive and most expensive homes in the world. Many of these homes are set back from the road and offer outstanding views of downtown Los Angeles. Celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Justin Timberlake, Eric Stoltz, Jessica Biel, Paris Hilton and Reese Witherspoon all live nearby.*^

Historical Notes

From humble beginnings, City Council created the Department of Parks in 1889. At that time the city owned several pieces of land that were believed suitable for park purposes. They turned over these properties to the newly-organized Department of Parks.

In a generous mood during Christmas of 1896, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith offered to donate five square miles of the Los Feliz Rancho to the City as a park. He said, "it must be made a place of recreation and rest for the masses, a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people..." What followed was the development of several more parks including the original pueblo lands of the old plaza, Elysian Park, Pershing Square, and later Lincoln Park, MacArthur Park, Echo Lake Park, and Hollenbeck Park.++*

Historical Notes

Children's camps and family camp as a municipal recreation service began in 1913. Although no longer open, the first camp was established in Redondo Beach. In 1914 Camp Seely in the San Bernardino Mountains in Crestline was the first family camp built, and in 1919 Camp Radford opened in Big Bear in the San Bernardino National Forest. Camp High Sierra in the Mammoth region opened to families in 1924 and has proved popular to this day with generations of the same family members attending the camp. Then came the local camps; Griffith Park Boys Camp opened in 1925 and a year later Hollywoodland Girls Camp opened. The last two camps to be added were Decker Canyon Camp in Malibu and Camp Valcrest in Angeles National Forest. The Department's camping program was so innovative that Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento, Stockton, Long Beach, and San Diego followed suit.++*

Historical Notes

In 1906, Horace Boos and three siblings opened one of Los Angeles' first cafeterias. Their idea of a fast food, self-service restaurant consisted of unheard-of impositions for that time: patrons would wait on themselves and return their trays and dishes to the kitchen. The brothers' downtown cafeteria was the first link, in a chain of seven that ultimately stretched from Los Angeles to San Francisco. They opened four more in the downtown area one in Santa Catalina Island, and two in San Francisco.

By the 1920s, the chain of cafeterias had become widely known. When Horace Boos died in 1926, the surviving brothers sold the seven cafeterias for a record $7 million to the Childs Corp. In turn, Childs sold two of the cafeterias to Clifford E. Clinton, who launched the Clifton's Cafeteria Chain. Eventually, Henry Boos bought back two, one on Hill Street and the other in Avalon on Catalina Island.

The Boos Brothers offered inexpensive fare of a "40-cent dinner", but would call it quits in the late 1940s, before cafeterias began losing popularity due to the arrival of luncheonettes, soda fountains, and fast-food restaurants.^

Historical Notes

The Pershing Square Building was built in 1924 and designed by architects Claud Beelman and Aleck Curlett in the Italian Renaissance Revival style that features classic design elements, symmetry, arches, and ornamental stone brackets.

Historical Notes

As street traffic increased in downtown Los Angeles, the Pacific Electric Railway undertook its most ambitious project, a dedicated right of way into downtown through a subway - the existing terminal in the Pacific Electric Building at Sixth and Main was reached by shared street running. Responding to the traffic congestion that clogged the streets, the California Railroad Commission in 1922 issued Order No. 9928, which called for the Pacific Electric to construct a subway to bypass downtown's busy streets.*^

Historical Notes

After 18 months of construction and $1.25 million in expenditures, the Subway officially opened to the public on December 1, 1925, between the intersection of Beverly and Glendale Blvds in Westlake, and the Subway Terminal Building.*^

Historical Notes

The Subway Terminal Building was built to conform to the 150 foot height limit imposed on all downtown construction. The other end of the subway line emerged at the surface at the Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard.*^

Historical Notes

After 18 months of construction and $1.25 million in expenditures, the Subway officially opened to the public on December 1, 1925. The trains, which traveled a distance of slightly over one mile, transported passengers between the tunnel's mouth near the intersection of Beverly and Glendale Boulevards in Westlake, and the Subway Terminal Building.*^

Historical Notes

Plans for the "Hollywood Subway," as the project came to be known, were drafted as early as February 1924, and ground was broken in May of the same year.*^

Click HERE to see construction of the Eastern Portal of the PE Subway Tunnel.

Historical Notes

The Subway emerged as one of Los Angeles's most popular modes of public transit throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Ridership hit an all-time high during the World War II-era; in 1944 – considered to have been the Subway's peak – trains carried an estimated 65,000 passengers through the tunnel each day.*^

Historical Notes

The view above is looking northwest at the confluence of 1st Street (lower right corner), 2nd Street (bottom/center), Beverly Boulevard (upper left corner/extension of 1st Street beyond intersection), and Glendale Boulevard (upper/center, extension of 2nd Street beyond intersection). P&E Toluca Yard at lower left.

Historical Notes

The above photo makes it easier to see how this complicated intersection worked. 1st Street and 2nd Street converged and met here at what was Lakeside Drive. As 1st Street crossed it became Beverly Boulevard, as 2nd Street crossed it turned north onto what had been Lakeside Drive and was now Glendale Boulevard. The PE tunnel originated at the PE 5th Street station on Hill Street just north of 5th.

Historical Notes

The First Street-Beverly Boulevard Viaduct over Glendale Boulevard is something of an infrastructural anomaly -- a 900-foot bridge better suited for a freeway interchange than an intersection of mere surface streets. And yet its massive scale answered several practical traffic problems at the site. Before the viaduct's construction in 1940-42, no fewer than six streets and four trolley tracks converged at a complicated crossroads. Two of the roads, First Street and Beverly Boulevard, dropped suddenly from higher ground into an ancient, paved-over arroyo. When it opened in September 1942, the viaduct directly linked First with Beverly, allowing east-west traffic to soar over the stream channel and twisted intersection altogether.^

Historical Notes

The construction of an extensive freeway system throughout Southern California ultimately led to the closure of the subway in the 1950s. As Angelenos became increasingly reliant on the personal automobile, ridership plummeted and forced the struggling Pacific Electric company to abandon their operation in 1955. The last subway car to carry passengers - carrying a banner reading "To Oblivion" - traversed the subway on the morning of June 19, 1955. Shortly thereafter, Pacific Electric removed the tracks from the subway, closed the Subway Terminal Building and Toluca Substation, and left the site abandoned.*^

Historical Notes

In the 1960s, the city briefly attempted to make use of the subway for the storage of impounded automobiles, and later as a makeshift disaster shelter.  The only physical alteration to the site came about in 1967, when a portion between Flower and Figueroa Streets in downtown was filled in to accommodate the foundation of the Bonaventure Hotel.*^

Historical Notes

For over 45 years the site was left largely neglected and its historical significance was overshadowed by its gritty, run-down appearance. The abandoned subway, substation and yard, left intact and open to public view, attracted many graffiti artists. The site also appealed to the homeless, who took refuge in the shelter provided by the subway and substation. There were also several underground "rave" parties in the 1990s, often with the power being supplied from one of the neighboring residential dwellings. To locals and passers-by, the site - simply referred to as "The Tunnel" - has long blended into the landscape and is regarded as little more than another vacant lot.

In 2002, West Los Angeles-based Meta Housing Corporation purchased the property and announced plans to construct a 276-unit apartment complex on the former Toluca yard. Belmont Station Apartments was completed in late 2008. The entrance to the subway has been sealed and painted with a mural of a Red Car, which glows in the dark, by artist Tait Roelofs.  The substation remains next to the subway entrance at the back of the property, behind the new construction, and has been cleaned of the graffiti that adorned it for many decades.

Today, the Belmont Tunnel (or Hollywood Subway Tunnel) / Toluca Substation and Yard is a designated historic monument (No. 790).  It includes remnants of the former Pacific Electric Railway's line that ran between the Subway Terminal Building in Downtown Los Angeles and the residential district of Westlake. The monument is adjacent to 299 South Toluca Street, in Westlake. It is bounded by 2nd Street and the Beverly Boulevard viaduct to the north, Lucas Avenue to the west, Emerald Street to the south, and Toluca Street to the east.*^

Click HERE for contemporary aerial view.

Historical Notes

In 1896 Herman Silver was elected to the Los Angeles City Council and was soon voted its President – acting often as the Mayor pro tem of the city.

In 1902, he City Council created a the 1st Water Commision and named Herman Silver as its Chairman. Silver was instrumental in planning a reservoir Northeast of Downtown that would combine stored water with a development of nice homes and parks.

The next Mayor came into office and failed to re-appoint Silver to the Water Board – for political reasons. The City Council reacted – praising Herman Silver by naming the new water project after him. The area has been known, ever since, by the name – Silverlake.^**#

Historical Notes

In 1989, the Silver Lake Reservoir was designated LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 422 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

The west-east thoroughfare runs through Los Angeles and Glendale. It starts off at its east most point at Glendale Avenue as Los Feliz Road. After passing the railroad tracks in Glendale west most section, it enters Los Angeles and changes to Los Feliz Boulevard.

Los Feliz passes through Atwater Village and Griffith Park. After Griffith Park, it swerves to a north-south street and ends. It then merges and becomes Western Avenue which in turns runs all the way down to the San Pedro area.

Los Feliz Boulevard was named for Rancho Los Feliz, one of the first land grants made in California.  Corporal Feliz, a veteran of the Anza Expedition of 1776, was a guard at the Pueblo of Los Angeles.  In 1787 Governor Fages appointed Feliz as Comisionado of the Los Angeles Pueblo, giving him the powers of Mayor and Judge. For his service, Feliz was granted Rancho Los Feliz.*^

Historical Notes

The Los Feliz neighborhood has been home to movie stars, musicians, and the Hollywood elite. It boasts some of the best-known residential architecture in the city, including two homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright—the Ennis House and the Hollyhock House—and Richard Neutra's Lovell House.

Mickey Mouse was "born" in Los Feliz: Walt Disney drew his first image of the now-legendary character in the garage of his uncle's house, on Kingswell Avenue between Vermont Avenue and Rodney Drive. Disney's first animation studio was also on Kingswell Avenue, just down the street from his uncle's house and east of Vermont Avenue. Disney's second, larger studio (now a Gelson's supermarket) was at the corner of Griffith Park Boulevard and Hyperion Avenue, on the Silver Lake side of the Los Feliz – Silver Lake boundary.*^

Historical Notes

Theodore Payne was an English horticulturist, gardener, landscape designer, and botanist.  He is known for urging the use of California native plants and lecturing across the state on preserving the wild flowers and landscapes native to California.

The 10-acre Payne Nursery opened in 1922 and was located at 1969-99 Los Feliz Boulevard in Atwater Village, across the street from the Tam O’Shanter Restaurant and adjacent to property owned by Gladding McBean, manufacturers of Franciscan Pottery. Payne obtained an architectural rendering from Myron Hunt for the nursery building and developed a full-service horticultural operation. He propagated and sold plants in the nursery, and had enough acreage to grow row crops of wild flower and collection of seed that he would then sell to the public.*^

Historical Notes

The 250-room Stillwell Hotel was built in 1906 and is located at 838 S. Grand, between 8th and 9th.

The RKO Hill Street Theater, occupied the northwest corner of 8th and Hill Street. It had a seating capacity of 2,219 and ran for 46 years, from 1922 to 1968, when it was demolished.*

Historical Notes

10th Street was renamed Olympic Boulevard for the 1932 Summer Olympics, as that was the occasion of the tenth modern event. *^

Historical Notes

In the mid to late 1770s, Native Americans inhabited the caves at the base of The Rock, formerly known as La Piedra Gorda (which translates to "Fat Rock"). 100 years later, in 1874, desperadoes used these same caves, including the infamous bandit Tiburcio Vasquez, who was said to have used The Rock as a hideout and to store his loot.

In 1906 Eagle Rock Valley, as it was known then, became an independent city and was incorporated in 1911 with a population of approximately 600; in 1914 it also became home to Occidental College, designed by famed architect Myron Hunt. In 1962 this Eagle Rock landmark was appraised at $250,000 and on November 16th of that same year, The Rock was declared Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #10 (Click HERE to see the LA Historic-Cultural Monuments List), but it did not actually belong to the community until 1995 when the city of Los Angeles officially purchased it for close to $700,000.^

Historical Notes

In 1921 a circular pavilion nicknamed "The Merry-Go-Round" was built in the center of the city at the intersection of Colorado and Eagle Rock Blvd (seen toward the right, where the street bends). This structure was to shelter and protect streetcar travelers; it was razed in the 1930s as automobile traffic became heavier.^

Historical Notes

The five-eighths mile Ascot Speedway began life as the New Ascot Speedway on January 20, 1924. The banked oval that was originally dirt but constant applications of road oil soon produced a surface that was similar to pavement. The cars that raced at Ascot throughout the years were the ancestors of what we today call "sprint cars".

The hill in the center of photo, with the dirt loop going around it, would become the future site El Sereno's Wilson High School. This same hill was the location for the never completed El Sereno Country Club, which began construction in 1926. Legendary golfer Harry Cooper was the clubs lead golfer and even opened a golf store near the premise.  However, by 1928 the Country Club was mired in lawsuits as business partners sued each other for various differences.  To this day many former residents remember the catacombs, swimming pool, and foundation of the El Sereno Country Club. *^#

Historical Notes

From 1924 there had been several people running the race track, but in 1928 the Glendale American Legion Post started promoting and bringing in cars and drivers from the American Automobile Association (AAA). In those days the AAA controlled all the major speedways including Indianapolis Speedway.  A major speedway was born and it was called Legion Ascot Speedway. Under the promotion of the Legionnaires the crowds soon grew to over 10,000 making large purses and hot  competition.  Races were held on Sundays and Wednesday nights under the lights.

Auto racing (also motorcycle racing) was increasingly popular in the 1920s and 30s. Two speedways would also be built on the West Side of Los Angeles: Beverly Hills Speedway and Culver City Speedway.

Historical Notes

IIn 1928 the Glendale American Legion Post took over the promotion and brought in the cars and drivers of the American Automobile Association (AAA). The AAA was the leading racing organization in the country and controlled all the major speedways including Indianapolis.*^#

Historical Notes

From 1924 to 1936, a multitude of crashes resulted in loss of life.  Some two dozen drivers lost their lives at Ascot.*^#

Historical Notes

The death toll was one reason the Glendale American Legion bowed out of race promotion in early 1935---the other reason was the diminishment of crowds due to the emergence of midget auto racing at the time.  Eleven years after it opened, the Ascot Legion Racetrack was shut down. Eight months later the grandstands of the abandoned speedway burned to the ground. The land was soon subdivided and sold off.

Today, Multnomah Elementary School and a housing tract sit on the old Ascot Speedway site.*^#

Historical Notes

It got its start in 1915 when Harry Culver gave land to Thomas Ince to build this studio-the first in Culver City, Ince Triangle. Ince persuaded D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett, two other luminaries of the era (and hence the "Triangle" part of the moniker), to partner with him. Ince and Sennett actually were employees of New York Motion Picture Company (also known as Kessel and Bauman (KayBee for short) and the early studio sign reflected this association.

Historical Notes

In 1919 the studio was bought by Sam Goldwyn became Goldwyn Studios, who expanded the footprint into a larger studio. In 1924 mergers and buyouts turned it into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the venerable M-G-M studios. Goldwyn had been bought out, though the studio name reflected his former association. Under the guidance of Louis B. Mayer the studio was greatly expanded and eventually grew to encompass 6 lots around Culver City.* 

Behind the studios are empty fields which became home the the Culver City Speedway in 1924.

Historical Notes

The studio fell on hard times in the 1970s, and 5 of its lots were sold, along with its costume and prop departments. The lot became MGM/UA after a merger with United Artists, then was sold to Lorimar Telepictures, and in 1990 to Sony Corp,, becoming Columbia Pictures Studios (Sony having purchased Columbia and the smaller Tri Star Pictuers).

Historical Notes

With visionary Louis B. Mayer and production genius Irving Thalberg at the helm, MGM, with its legendary roaring lion logo, was a powerhouse of prolific artistry and filmmaking expertise. During a golden three decades from 1924 to 1954, the Culver City-based studio dominated the movie business, famously attracting "more stars than are in the heavens" and creating a Best Picture nominee at the Academy Awards every year for two straight decades. Historically, in 1939 two of MGM's most iconic films, Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, were both nominated for Best Picture. Gone With the Wind ultimately took home the Best Picture prize that year along with eight other Oscars, including one for Hattie McDaniel who won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Oscar. The Wizard of Oz would go on to secure two Oscars of its own.*

Historical Notes

The top two photos show how the Culver City landscape was transformed over the years. However, there was one intermediary development that occurred between the time that these to images were taken. It was called the Culver City Speedway.

Historical Notes

The Culver Studios was built by Thomas H. Ince in 1918 after he acquired it from landowner Harry Culver. Meyer & Holler were the architects and construction company. The silent movie actor, director and producer had grand ambitions to create his own studio unique from all the others. *

Historical Notes

The original studio was named the Thomas H. Ince studios and became the second major motion picture concern in Culver City that is now acquired by Amazon Studios.*

Historical Notes

The picturesque mansion house is the centerpiece of Culver Studios lot and has landmark status. It is a classic example of 1920s Colonial Revival architecture and was the first building to go up on the site shortly after Thomas H. Ince's acquisition of the land in 1918. Modeled after George Washington's home at Mount Vernon, it currently serves as the main administrative building on the lot. Famous producers including Ince, Cecil B. DeMille and David O. Selznick once had offices there.

One long corridor runs the length of the 15,000 square foot structure which has eight two-story high grand white columns. The facade looks out onto a manicured lawn,*

Historical Notes

There is a common misconception that the mansion house was Tara in Gone With the Wind. The building was used in the credits but Tara was a separate building constructed on the Forty Acres backlot by art director Lyle Wheeler, where the scene depicting the burning of Atlanta was filmed.*

Historical Notes

Historical Notes

The same developers moved the racetrack to Culver City, and it was located at the intersection of Culver Blvd and Overland Blvd, right across the street from MGM Studios. It was at this "new" location and "new" track where Red Cariens was involved in a fatal crash on November 29, 1925. It was also at this location where Mickey Rooney's classic racing movie "The Big Wheel" (1949) was shot.^

Historical Notes

Historical Notes

Historical Notes

Historical Notes

The city council approved the founding of the first park in Culver City on this land. The park was originally named Victory Park by the mayor's wife because "it was a victory to get a park", but later renamed Carlson Park. Dr. Paul Carlson, a Culver City native, was a medical missionary martyred in the former Belgian Congo.*^

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