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

Historical Notes

The International Savings & Exchange Bank Building (also known as the International Savings Building), was built in the Spring Street Financial District of Los Angeles in 1907. Standing ten floors, it was designed in the Renaissance Revival and Italianate styles by architect H. Alban Reaves, who had previously designed several structures in New York, including what is now the south building of the historic Schuyler Arms.*^

Historical Notes

The International Building stood at 226 North Spring Street, the intersection of Temple and Spring, (sometimes referred to as Temple Square) across from the Main Post Office and was featured in several postcards from the 1920s.*^

Historical Notes

Not a single building in the above photograph survived. The building on the left is the Temple Block, the old Hall of Records is background left, then the International Bank Building, the Sandstone Courthouse on the back right, and finally the Federal Post Office on the far right.

Historical Notes

In 1928, the building was dwarfed by the new 30-story Los Angeles City Hall, and soon after calls for its demolition increased, resulting in its razing. But that didn't happen until sometime after 1954. The portion of Spring Street that its front entrance faced no longer exists.*^

Historical Notes

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

Historical Notes

The 1893-built Stimson Building, a six story Richardsonian Romanesque office building with an observation tower, stood on the NE corner of Spring and 3rd streets until 1963…today a parking lot.

Historical Notes

The Stimson Building was designed by Carroll H. Brown in 1893 for Thomas D. Stimson, a lumber magnate from Michigan. The building is six stories tall and was one of the first high-rise buildings in Los Angeles at the time it was built. The building was one of the most expensive residences when built, costing about $150,000. The Stimson Building is a grand Romanesque Revival office block.

Historical Notes

The 1893-built Stimson Building, a six story Richardsonian Romanesque office building with an observation tower, stood on the NE corner of Spring and 3rd streets until 1963…today a parking lot.

Historical Notes

Built between 1909 and 1912 to relieve overcrowding next door in the county’s red-sandstone courthouse, the Hall of Records consolidated most county offices under one lavishly ornamented roof—a showy headpiece that featured finials, pyramidal gables, and copper ribbing. Architects Frank Hudson and William Munsell divided its upper floors into two pairs of wings, which joined at a central elevator shaft, and clad the walls in brick and terra cotta above a granite base.*

Historical Notes

Los Angeles County's 12-story Hall of Records Building was utilitzed by the County of Los Angeles from 1911 until 1976. Designed by the Los Angeles tandem of Hudson and Munsell, Architects, the skyscraper government building cost approximately $1.5 million to erect.

Historical Notes

Opened on September 24, 1905, the Court Flight was built by Attorney R. E. Blackburn of the McCarthy real estate firm and Samuel G Vandegrift, to serve the wealthy residents of Bunker Hill. The line was entirely double tracked, using a pair of thirty-inch gauge counterbalanced cars, and ran for a distance of 180 feet up a 42 per cent grade between Broadway and Court Streets, in the middle of the block between Temple and First Streets. A fire on October 20, 1943 damaged the line and put it out of commission.*

Historical Notes

It appears that somewhere along the line there was an addition to the Westmoore Hotel with included a new structure between the Greek-style columns of the original building and the front property line at 7th Street.

Historical Notes

The original Shrine Auditorium was built in 1906 and served as the Shriner's Al Malaikah Temple until it burned in 1920 and was replaced by the current incarnation.*

The Shriners, or Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (A.A.O.N.M.S.), were established in the U.S. in 1870 as an appendant body to Freemasonry.^*

Historical Notes

The Al Malaikah Shriners built the original Shrine Auditorium to serve as a civic center as well as their home base and clubhouse. The building was designed by Frank D. Hudson and William Munsel who also designed the Museum of Science and Industry, the first museum built in the city's Exposition Park.^*

Historical Notes

In 1920 a fire burnt the building down in just 45 minutes. With plans to add an attached expo hall, The Shriners began rebuilding almost immediately. In January 1926 the new Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall opened and quickly became the center of entertainment in Los Angeles.^*

Historical Notes

Engine Company No. 9, formed on November 27, 1899 and was located at 916 S. Santee Street until 1960 when It was relocated to 430 E. Seventh Street. It has operated from that location since then. Engine Company No. 23 and Squad #23 moved into the building formerly occupied by No. 9.*

Historical Notes

Late in September, 1910, the new engine house for Co. 23 was finished and dedicated.  It contained three stories, and on the ground floor, in addition to space for the new auto truck with 65-foot ladders (which had not arrived) it had ten stalls for horses--the reason for having quarters for horses when the equipment was to be motorized not being clear either at that time or now.^##*

Historical Notes

Fire Station No. 23 remained an active firehouse from 1910-1960. When it opened, it was manned by fifteen firefighters and ten horses. The original equipment included a horse wagon, chief's buggy, and a pumper that used a vertical tube boiler. The company's first major call was a fire in the old Byrne Building that took ten hours to extinguish.^*

Historical Notes

Fire Station No. 23 was built in 1910 as an operating fire station. It was also the Los Angeles Fire Department's headquarters until 1920 and the residence of every fire chief from 1910-1928. When it opened, it spawned a political firestorm due to the ornate interior and expensive imported materials, leading to its being called the "Taj Mahal" of firehouses.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, the station deteriorated. The surrounding neighborhood became part of the city's Skid Row and the station became "a hangout for the street people." Looters stole most of the copper tubing and brasswork, banisters, doorknobs, firebells, and even the five brass firepoles.

By the mid-1970s, concerns were raised that the building had become a hazard, and some proposed tearing it down. However, in 1979, the Fire Commission announced plans to restore the rooms back to their 1910 condition and turn the station into a museum. The City Council placed the station under control of the fire department, but provided that no city funds were to be used in creating the museum.

In 1981, officials of the fire department set up a nonprofit organization called Olde 23 to raise funds to build the museum, but sufficient funds were never raised. The projected cost of the museum, even in 1982, was $1 million, and critics questioned the wisdom of building a museum in Skid Row. In 1988, the city settled on a different location for the Los Angeles Fire Department Museum—Engine Co. No. 27 in Hollywood.^*

Historical Notes

In 1966, the station was declared a Historic Cultural Monument by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission; at the time of the declaration the Los Angeles Times called it the "Taj Mahal of fire stations." A Library of Congress survey of 250 firehouses concluded that Station 23's interior was "unmatched in its beauty." It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.^*

Fire Station No. 23 is currently being repurposed as a community arts center by City of LA Cultural Affairs Department.

Historical Notes

Engine Company No. 24 and Water Tower 1 opened August 16, 1910. The 13,800 square foot site had an 11,140 square foot floor area. Cost of the land was $16,000 and the building cost was $30,464. This station moved to its new home at 9411 Wentworth Street in Sunland on July 10, 1969, and has operated from that location since.

Historical Notes

The Snow was opened by Frank C. Finkle in December 1910.  It was designed by architect H. M. Patterson, best known for his churches, especially Immanuel Presbyterian (that imposing Gothic structure at Wilshire and Berendo.

Rooms rented rooms for $1.00-$2.00 without bath (for 1-2 people) and $1.50-$2.50 with bath (1-2 people).

Historical Notes

The seven-story stucco building had Spanish style Gothic Revival trim along roofline and penthouse. The mixed-use building had a barber shop, beauty parlor, and grocery store on ground floor.

Originally the Hotel Snow, it was renamed Southland in 1916.

Historical Notes

The Southland Hotel met its end in 1971 and was replaced by the William L. Pereira-designed Pacific Financial Center.

Historical Notes

The current Pacific Financial Center was built in 1973, replacing the Southland Hotel.

Historical Notes

The building went by the name of Blanchard Music Hall but was also known as the H. Newmark Building as it was built by and on the site of Harris Newmark's former residence.

Harris Newmark  emigrated to the United States in 1853 from Germany.  He sailed from Europe to New York City to San Francisco, and finally settled in Los Angeles. The Newmark clan was one of the founding families of the Los Angeles area.

Newmark developed several successful businesses, which employed most if not all of a near-inexhaustible list of Newmark family members. Newmark was chiefly a grocer and dry goods merchant, but he also dabbled in other fields. He even tried sheep farming, but he was preoccupied with the burgeoning real estate opportunities to be had in the Los Angeles area. Newmark bought and sold properties throughout southern California, and made a fortune in the process.

Historical Notes

The building had a large hall (Blanchard Music Hall) with a seating capacity of 800. It was used for chamber music concerts and other programs. There was another smaller hall seating 150 and a banquet hall for 300. There was also an "Assembly Hall" of unknown capacity. There was also space in the Music and Art Building for studios for 150 musicians and artists as well as a fourth floor art gallery.

Blanchard Music Hall was named for Frederick W. Blanchard, who had been influential in the music business in Los Angeles and went on to become the first president of the Hollywood Bowl.

The building went all the way through to Hill St. On the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey map the Hill St. end of the skinny building is marked "Blanchard Hall Bldg." while the Broadway end is labeled "Newmark Bldg."

Historical Notes

Blanchard Hall contained the first art gallery west of Chicago.

The building went all the way through to Broadway (previous photo). On the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey map the Hill St. end of the skinny building is marked "Blanchard Hall Bldg." while the Broadway end is labeled "Newmark Bldg."

Historical Notes

The three-story Grand Central Hotel at 326 North Main Street was completed around 1877. Major construction came to its climax on the 300 blk of Main Street in the following year with the opening of the Baker Block, on the left. The slim, three-story building nestled between the Baker Block and Gand Central Hotel was developed by the ever active Governor Downey, and finished around 1878. +#

Historical Notes

Well into the 20th century, the old buildings on the 300 block of North Main Street were a vivid testament to Los Angeles’ early history, from its humble beginnings to its astonishing growth during the Reconstruction years. Behind the “Azteca” sign on the right side of the top photograph is the Bella Union Hotel, considered to be the city’s first hotel. Completed sometime during the 1840s, it was one of downtown’s greatest landmarks for several decades, and was later expanded to two, then three stories. The two-story building to its left is the Pico Building, built by Pio Pico in 1868 (two years before the Pico House). In 1871, the building became home to the Farmers & Merchants Bank, the first incorporated bank in the Los Angeles, directed by former California Governor John G. Downey. +#

Historical Notes

Don Francisco Avila, a wealthy cattle rancher and one-time Mayor of the pueblo of Los Angeles, built the Avila Adobe in 1818. The Avila Adobe, presently the oldest existing residence within the city limits, was one of the first town houses to share street frontage in the new Pueblo de Los Angeles.*

Historical Notes

The above photo of the Avila Adobe house was taken just after Olvera Street was converted to a colorful Mexican marketplace - as made evident by the small vendor stands. The original porch was given a much-needed face-lift with the addition of a long veranda and steps and a short brick planter the length of the house.*

Historical Notes

In 1847, this adobe became the temporary headquarters for Commodore Robert Field Stockton and General Stephen Watts Kearny during the American occupation of Los Angeles.*

Click HERE to see more in Early LA Plaza.

Historical Notes

Knapp Park in West Hills is named for these same Knapps.

The men of the Knapp family were stone builders and did much of the stone work at Orcutt Ranch, also located in West Hills on Roscoe Boulevard near Valley Circle Boulevard.

Historical Notes

In 1921 the 1893-built Vogel Block would be demolished to make room for Loew's State Theatre (currently United Building).

Historical Notes

The theater was built in 1910 by Los Angeles theatrical promoter Arthr S. Hyman. Within just one year, 1911, the theater became the Garrick, a motion picture theater. The original facade was by the Los Angeles architect firm, Train & Williams. In 1921 it was remodeled to a design by architect George Edwin Bergstrom. The building was replaced by the Tower Theatre in 1927.*                  

Historical Notes

In 1921, the Garrick Theater was remodeled to a design by architect George Edwin Bergstrom. The building was demolished in 1927 to make way for the Tower Theatre.*

Historical Notes

Opened on May 2, 1910 by Thomas L. Tally, the theatre was constructed in 30 days. Located on the west side of Broadway between 8th and 9th, it was just south of Hamburger's Department Store (later the May Co.) and two doors north of the Majestic Theater.

The 1910 city directory gives a listing at 833 S. Broadway for both Tally's Film Exchange and Tally's New Broadway. Tally had earlier used that latter name for his New Broadway Theatre at 554 S. Broadway, a house he took over in 1905.

In 1911 Tally's Broadway was known as the Kinemacolor Theatre while showing color films in the Kinemacolor process but then went back to the Tally's Broadway name.**^

Historical Notes

An article in Moving Picture World for July 15, 1916 says " The chief feature of this house is the music. It has a splendid orchestra and a simply wonderful organ."  In 1916 the admission prices were 10, 20 and 30 cents. The house manager at the time was Seymour Tally, son of Thomas.  The article noted that the 30 cent price got you a wicker chair back in the elevated loge section.**^

Historical Notes

Just two doors south of Tally's was the Majestic Theater. Across the street was the Mission and later the still surviving  Orpheum. The Mission was demolished for construction of the Orpheum in 1926.

Historical Notes

The building was demolished for a 1928 expansion of the May Co. department store (originally Hamburger's) just to the north.

Historical Notes

The 3rd Orpheum in Los Angeles opened on June 26, 1911 with two-a-day vaudeville.  Sophie Tucker was on the inaugural program. Many famous performers appeared on the stage here including Al Jolson, Sarah Bernhardt (1913), the Marx Brothers, W.C Fields and Will Rogers.

There were four Orpheum theatres in downtown Los Angeles:

◆ 110 S. Main St. -- Grand Opera House was the home of Orpheum vaudeville from 1894 to 1903.

◆ 227 S. Spring St. -- The Los Angeles Theatre, later called The Lyceum, was known as the Orpheum from 1903 to 1911.

◆ 630 S. Broadway -- Now the Palace Theatre -- this was the Orpheum between 1911 and 1926.

◆ 842 S. Broadway -- Orpheum Theatre from 1926 to Today

Historical Notes

Architects G. Albert Lansburgh and Robert Brown Young designed this French renaissance palazzo. Lansburgh would later design the 1926 Orpheum down the street. Sculpture on the striking brick and polychrome terra cotta facade is by Domingo Mora, whose son would later do the sculpture for the Million Dollar Theatre. The four figures on the facade represent the muses of vaudeville: music, song, dance and drama.

The building was designed with fire safety in mind. There are 22 exits and one of the city's first sprinkler systems.

Historical Notes

The cheap seats in the upper balcony were actually benches. While terrific for vaudeville, the section is less desirable for film viewing and hasn't been used since the 1930s. Originally the entrance to the second balcony was from separate stairwells with no access to the rest of the theatre, typical of two balcony theatre construction at the time.**^

Historical Notes

On February 20, 1926 this theatre reopened as the Broadway Palace.  The new Orpheum Theatre had opened down the street February 15, 1926.  The Palace, as a film only operation, was still run by the Orpheum circuit into the summer of 1928. The Variety issue of August 18, 1928 had a little story titled "Orpheum Loses Lemon" noting it had been a big liability for the circuit since their new house had opened.

The Palace was taken over by Harry Strere's Pacific Amusement Co., a firm that also operated the Rialto at the time.  Sol Lesser, long involved with West Coast Theatres (soon to become Fox West Coast) was a minor stockholder in Pacific Amusement. By 1929, Fox West Coast was running the house, calling it the Fox Palace.**^

Historical Notes

Today, the Palace is owned by the Delijani family.  They also own the Los Angeles, State and Tower theatres. The theatre interests are operated by an entity known as the Broadway Theatre Group with Shahram Delijani heading the firm and Ed Baney as general manager. The Palace is currently available for theatrical productions, concerts, film shoots, and special events.

Historical Notes

The theatre unveiled a $1 million restoration to celebrate its 100th birthday on June 26, 2011.  The restoration work was begun in 2007 with cleaning and facade repair of both the Palace and the Tower.**^

Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

Built in late 1910 and opened in 1911, the Liberty Theatre was designed by A. C. Martin (also designed the Million Dollar Theatre). The 540 seat theatre was constructed by the firm of P.J. Bolin and built for proprietors Kaiser, Sturm and Hughes.**^

Historical Notes

The building is described at length in the Moving Picture World article:

The front facade is of stucco and plaster-covered brick, the paneling and cornices outlined in small electric lights at night. The gold leaf statue crowning the cornice is ten feet in height, and, symbolizing liberty, holds aloft an electric torch. At the base of the statue in a laurel leaf gilded shield is the date of erection, 1910. Below this, on the crown of the shell-shaped lobby ceiling, is a second shield in gold leaf with the theater name 'Liberty.'

The theatre is showing four first-run licensed films, and one illustrated song, except on Saturdays and Sundays, when two songs are used. The theater employs ten people. Girl ushers look after the seating arrangements. Five cents admission is charged to all parts of the house.**^

Historical Notes

The Liberty Theatre at 266 S. Main Street closed by 1930.  It is not to be confused with the Liberty Theatre at 136 S. Main Street which had the earlier names of Novelty Theatre and Chinese Theatre and operated into the 1950’s.^^^*

Historical Notes

The triangular building remaining at 3rd and Main (seen above) is what's left of the Liberty Theatre. The angled deco facade is obviously grafted on to a much older building.

The building now houses a wholesale merchandise distributor. The current address of the building is 103 E. 3rd St. as it no longer has much frontage (or an entrance) on Main St. The City Planning Department lists the building as being constructed in 1910 with substantial remodeling in 1926.**^

Historical Notes

George E. Feagans was a jeweler from Illinois, and he established Brock & Feagans in the 1880s with a partner. After the partnership broke up, Feagans opened a new store in the Alexandria Hotel located at 5th and Spring streets.

Historical Notes

The Yamato, Inc., was a Japanese Bazaar that served tea and cake to customers, as early as 1908. One of its famous customers was female impersonator Julian Eltinge. In 1917, the three story building became Harry Fink & Co., an apparel store for women's clothing.^*^#

Historical Notes

In 1887, Dr. Walter Lindley paid $1,825 for the property at 315 West Sixth Street in Los Angeles to open the first California Hospital. Known as Dr. Lindley’s Private Hospital, it had only 6-8 beds and served a carriage trade clientele.

In 1898, Dr. Lindley conceived of a hospital owned and operated by physicians. He erected the first building especially designed for medical purposes in California at 1414 South Hope Street. California Hospital became known as the largest, best-equipped hospital west of Chicago entirely owned and operated by physicians and surgeons.^^^#

Historical Notes

In 1911, construction on a new club building began at Seventh and Olive Streets on the site of the former Hotel Baltimore. John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom were the architects. The Beaux Arts building stands twelve stories tall and features pressed brick with a trim of terra cotta. The Los Angeles Athletic Club opened its gym in 1912.***#

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Athletic Club building was notable at the time for being the first building in Southern California to have a swimming pool on an upper floor.

Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) was formed back in 1880, its first president being James B. Lankershim, its first headquarters in the Arcadia Building on Spring Street. For most of the decade it was the on the Downey Block, after which it relocated to South Spring Street, first at 226, then at 523 ½.  Some of its earlier day members included Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Eli Clark, Moses Sherman, Henry Huntington, Edward L. Doheny, Charles Canfield, Senator Stephen White, and Mayor Fred Eaton.***#

Historical Notes

In 1970, the LA Athletic Club Building was designated Los Angeles Historical-Cultural Monument No. 69 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

The Automobile Club of Southern California, one of the nation's first motor clubs dedicated to improving roads, proposing traffic laws, and improvement of overall driving conditions, was founded on December 13, 1900 in Los Angeles.

The Auto Club occupied the ground floor of a three-story building with the Olive Hotel on the upper two floors. The Auto Club moved from this location by about 1917-18, relocating to Fort Moore Hill into a cliff-hanger building at the bend on Hill Street where it goes around the NE corner of the high school. They stayed there until about 1922 when they finally took up permanent residence in their headquarters building at the SW corner of S Figueroa and W Adams Boulevard, which they still occupy. Click HERE to see current headquarters (Figueroa and Adams).

Interesting Auto Club Facts:

1900 - The Auto Club was founded. Within a few years, 13 southern counties in California became the Auto Club’s service territory.
1903 - Auto Club sponsored races at Agricultural Park, now Exposition Park.
1906 - Auto Club started posting directional signs on California roads.
1908 - Auto Club began issuing license plates as an agent of the State of California.
1909 - Auto Club issued its first maps in a guidebook of routes in and near Los Angeles. Touring Topics, the member magazine, began publishing in February.^

Historical Notes

When the Auto Club moved out of the ground floor of the Olive Hotel, it became a succession of restaurants and bars until, in the late 30s, when it became the Crown Grill Cocktail Lounge, reportedly a popular watering hole for the up-and-comers and down-and-outers of the south civic center. Some sources say it is into the Crown that Elizabeth Short appeared on the night of her murder. It is a persistent story which is not supported by the police investigation nor by Larry Harnisch who, is the preeminent authority on the Black Dahlia case. In any event, the Crown Grill Cocktail Lounge lasted into the 60s and is now a Dunkin Donuts. The Olive Hotel is still in business on the upper two floors. And Elizabeth Short's murder remains unsolved.^

Click HERE for contemporary view.

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 13, 1902. A new department was created called the Los Angeles Water Department.

Click HERE to see more in Water in Early L.A.

Historical Notes

The two-story brick building which in 1902 was large enough to house the entire executive and clerical forces of the water works soon was outgrown and the municipal Water Department would move into larger quarters (440 S. Hill Street). As both the City and the utility continued to grow, the Water Department (later DWP) would move several more times until settling into their current home (GOB) in 1965, located at 111 N. Hope Street.

Click HERE to see more in Construction of the GOB

Historical Notes

Built in 1903-1904, the Plaza Substation was the first and largest of fourteen substations that supplied electric power to the Los Angeles Railway Company’s yellow streetcars – the first mass transportation for Los Angeles. It was built by Henry Huntington, owner of the Los Angeles Railway Company. The trolleys operated from 1896 to 1960.+^

Historical Notes

In May 1903, Henry Huntington, owner of the Los Angeles Railway, announced plans to build a new substation near the old plaza. The Los Angeles Times reported: "Another mammoth electricity substation is to be constructed by the Los Angeles Railway Company. Its location will be on the Plaza, and its completion will mean a long step forward toward the perfection of a system that already is surpassed by few in this country."   The substatin was operating by 1905.^

Historical Notes

The substation is one of the two buildings in the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District that is itself separately listed in the National Register of Historic Places, having been so listed in September 1978 (The Avila Adobe is the other).^

Historical Notes

After being threatened with demolition in the 1970s, the Plaza Substation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Plans now call for the building to become a museum on Los Angeles trolley cars.+^

Historical Notes

In September, 1911, work began on the Beverly Hills Hotel. It was opened on May 12, 1912 by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. The LA Times would call it a "monster hostelry" since it cost $300,000. At the time, lots in the area were selling for around $2,000 each.^*

From 1928 to 1932, the hotel was owned by the Van Noy Railway News and Hotel Company. Its strict resident owner from 1954 until his death in 1979 was former Detroit real estate magnate Ben L. Silberstein, who took it over from Hernando Courtright, later hotelier at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Some of the hotel's owners have been celebrities: Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, and currently Sultan of Brunei.^*

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.*

Historical Notes

A one-trolley car system known as the “Dinky” conveyed guests from a Pacific Electric station at the southwest corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Canon Drive up Rodeo Drive to the Hotel.

Historical Notes

Will Rogers Park opened in 1915 as the first municipal park in the Beverly Hills, at that time called Sunset Park. In 1926, entertainer Will Rogers was appointed first "Honorary Mayor" of Beverly Hills and, in 1952, the City renamed the Park, Will Rogers Memorial Park.**^^

Historical Notes

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.*

Historical Notes

The hotel was named the first historic landmark in Beverly Hills on September 12, 2012.*

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of Beverly Hills.

Historical Notes

The Chateau-style residence was built in 1909 by banker, real estate developer and philanthropist, Rollin B. Lane. The house was designed by architects Lyman Farwell and Oliver Dennis and constructed as a near duplicate of the 1897 Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands, California that the architects had designed over a decade earlier.^

Historical Notes

The Gothic Renaissance chateau (also referred to as “Holly Chateau”) sits in the middle of what is now historic Hollywood and was originally the personal residence of a wealthy banker, Rollin B. Lane.

Historical Notes

Rollin Lane was a very successful lawyer, banker and real estate investor who helped build Hollywood through property development and participation on the historic Hollywood Board of Trade. He also invested heavily in the early development of the nearby San Fernando Valley and in California’s San Joaquin Valley. ^

Historical Notes

Katherine Lane (Rollin's wife) was a college graduate, published author, teacher and lecturer who worked to improve the quality of life in Hollywood through various community service organizations, even serving a term as president of the Woman’s Club of Hollywood. Later, working with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and supported by a small army of volunteers, she promoted the planting of the landmark palm trees that line Wilshire Blvd., as well as hundreds of Japanese cherry trees in and around Griffith Park. ^

Historical Notes

Ownership of the building remained in the Lane family until 1955 when it was sold to Thomas O. Glover, whose family still owns the property.

Historical Notes

The Lanes named their home “Holly Chateau” and for thirty years, it was one of the most recognized addresses in Hollywood and a popular location for the area’s social elite. Hundreds of newspaper articles attest to the elegant and elaborate luncheons, teas and musicales held for artists, orphans, community leaders or world travelers, or to raise funds for one of Katherine’s many civic projects. ^

Historical Notes

The 1914 hilltop estate seen behind and above the Lane Residence was built to house the Bernheimers' priceless collection of Asian treasures. In order to have an authentic Japanese design, hundreds of skilled craftsmen were brought from Asia to recreate an exact replica of a palace located in the Yamashiro mountains near Kyoto, Japan. The original Bernheimer structure included a 10-room teak and cedar mansion, where carved rafters were lacquered in gold and tipped with bronze dragons.

Historical Notes

After the Lanes passed away in the 1940’s, the house was divided into a multi-family home. It then became a home for the elderly and was finally transformed into a maze of small apartments. By 1960, the fate of the building was uncertain. Then Milt Larsen met the owner, Thomas O. Glover.

Milt was a writer on the NBC-TV show Truth or Consequences. His office was on the ninth floor of a Hollywood office building that overlooked the Lane residence. Milt’s late father, William W. Larsen Sr., was a renowned magician and had long dreamed of building an elegant private clubhouse for magicians.

The Lane residence would become that club. In September 1961, Milt, his brother Bill (an accomplished magician, publisher of Genii Magazine and the Academy’s first President), Irene (Bill’s wife) and a crew of friends and volunteers began the task of returning this run-down apartment building to its glorious past. After months of scraping and sanding, the rich Victorian elegance began to resurface.  The Magic Castle opened its doors on January 2, 1963. ^

Historical Notes

The Magic Castle was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 406 in 1989.

Historical Notes

Since 1963, the Magic Castle has been a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. It bills itself as "the most unusual private club in the world."

Historical Notes

At the turn of the century, after striking it rich in the Nevada silver mines, Dr. Schlosser and his family moved to Hollywood, where the doctor built Glengarry, a copy of his wife's ancestral home in Inverness, Scotland. Soon this castle proved too small for his burgeoning social life and medical practice. So in 1912, he built Schloesser Terrace (Castle Sans Souci) on a three-acre plot across the street (NW corner of Argyle and Franklin avenues).*#

Historical Notes

He was originally called Dr. Alfred Guido Rudolph Schloesser, but during World War I, due to anti-German sentiment, he changed it to Dr. A. G. Castles.

Historical Notes

The Glengarry Castle was demolished in 1959.*

Historical Notes

Dr. Castles originally lived in Glengarry Castle (NE corner of Argyle and Frnaklin). But that 'home' soon proved too small for his burgeoning social life and medical practice. So in 1912, he built Castle Sans Souci on a three-acre plot across the street (NW corner of Argyle and Franklin).

As an investment, the eccentric Dr. Castles, who always wore a frock coat, heavy makeup and top hat, tore down Sans Souci and built Castle Argyle Arms apartments in 1928, attracting a new breed of royalty: movie makers. Guests there over the next two decades were to include Clark Gable, Howard Hughes, Ronald Reagan and Cecil B. DeMille.*#

Historical Notes

The Fremont Hotel, located in the Bunker Hill suburb, was built and designed by the architect John C. Austin and developed by Thomas Pascoe. The plans for building the hotel were developed in November 1901 and initially faced resistance from the next door Olive Street School establishment. It was designed by the architect in the Mission style, and had some 100 rooms. It opened on September 9, 1902 and was named after John C. Frémont. When newly built it was billed as "the newest and most elegantly appointed family hotel in Los Angeles.” The hotel also held dinners in tribute to Frémont. Frémont's widow, Jessie, was the first registered guest. She also designed and executed the hotel's crest. Frémont's motto, "Eternal vigilance is the price of safety" was adopted as the hotel's motto, paraphrased into "Eternal vigilance is the price of success in the hotel business". ^*

Historical Notes

The hotel was demolished in 1955 by the Community Redevelopment Agency, and what remained was only the retaining wall next to the Olive Public School.^*

Historical Notes

Constructed in 1910, the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank building stood on the northwest corner of Spring and 6th Streets.  The building was designed by John Parkinson and G. Edwin Bergstrom, prolific architects who were responsible for numerous Spring Street financial buildings, including the Security Building and the Los Angeles Stock Exchange Building.^^*

In 1922, Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank changed its name to Pacific Southwest Bank.^^*

Historical Notes

By 1910, when the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank was completed, Spring Street had become the city’s financial and banking center.^^*

Historical Notes

In 1922, Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank changed its name to Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank.^^*

Historical Notes

In December 1903, William Randolf Hearst commenced publication of the Los Angeles Examiner, the latest in his chain of newspapers.

The first home of the LA Examiner was in a building located at 509 S. Broadway (Click HERE to see more of LA Examiner's first building). But, in less than a decade, the first building proved to be too small for the growing newspaper. Hearst commissioned Julia Morgan, best known for her work on the San Simeon estate, and Los Angeles architects Henke and Dodd, to design a new, larger building to house the offices and production of the paper. Construction of the new Examiner Building at 1111 S. Broadway would begin in 1912 and not be completed until 1914.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Examiner Building was built between 1912 and 1914 and designed in Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles, largely by San Francisco architect Julia Morgan. The building has a tile dome on each corner and towers flanking the entry.

Historical Notes

Over the years, the Hearst Corporation would acquire the Herald and the Express, merging the two in the 1930s.

Historical Notes

In 1931, Hearst merged the Los Angeles Daily Herald with the Los Angeles Evening Express to form the Los Angeles Evening Express and Evening Herald, which was then the largest circulating evening newspaper west of the Mississippi.

Historical Notes

At its peak in 1960, the Examiner had a circulation of 381,037. It attracted the top newspapermen and women of the day. The Examiner flourished in the 1940s under the leadership of City Editor James H. Richardson, who led his reporters to emphasize crime and Hollywood scandal coverage.

In 1962 the morning Examiner (founded in 1903) merged with the evening Herald Express (founded approximately 1871) creating the Herald-Examiner newspaper.

The Herald-Examiner Building was designated historical landmark #178 on August 17, 1977 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

On December 15, 1967, Herald Examiner employees began a strike that lasted almost a decade and resulted in at least $15 million in losses. At the time of the labor strike, the paper's circulation was about 721,000 daily and it had 2,000 employees. The strike ended in March 1977, with circulation having dropped to about 350,000 and the number of employees to 700.

The paper never recovered from the strike. Many veteran reporters left and never returned. As circulation went into free-fall, advertisers were reluctant to buy space in it, causing revenue to fall even further. The unions campaigned effectively to its working-class readership, urging them to cancel subscriptions.

Despite belated efforts to restore some of the paper's luster, the Herald Examiner went out of business November 2, 1989, leaving the Los Angeles Times as the sole city-wide daily newspaper.

The San Fernando Valley-based Los Angeles Daily News and a sister San Gabriel Valley publication have tried to fill some of the gap.

Historical Notes

The ground floor arches of the Herald Examiner Building have a fascinating history of transformation. Originally, these arched street-level windows were sealed off in the 1960s during a labor dispute, remaining boarded up for approximately half a century. This alteration significantly changed the building's appearance and interaction with the street level. However, as part of an extensive $80-million restoration project that began in 2015, these ground floor arches were finally cleared and restored to their original open state.

Historical Notes

Completed in 1914, the block-long, Mission Revival structure, with its ornate-to-the-point-of-baroque lobby, represents one of only a handful of L.A. buildings designed by the pioneering architect Julia Morgan  — the first woman to be licensed to practice architecture in California.

For more than two decades, it was employed primarily as a filming location. “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “The Usual Suspects” were among the projects filmed at the site.

In 2021, the Herald Examiner building came back from the brink. The building has reopened in a new guise: as a learning center for Arizona State University.

Historical Notes

Architects at Gensler did a thoughtful job of restoring and preserving the building’s iconic portions: the arched facade, the bright, tiled domes that cap the building, the ornate lobby, with the private elevator that once delivered Hearst to his suite. Other areas were revamped to suit contemporary needs.*

Historical Notes

Completed in 1914, the block-long Herald Examiner Building was commissioned by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to house his Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Designed by pioneering architect Julia Morgan, the first woman licensed to practice architecture in California, the building blends Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. This project marked the first collaboration between Hearst and Morgan, preceding their more famous work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Today, the Herald Examiner Building houses Arizona State University's California Center, along with retail, dining, and event spaces.

Historical Notes

The Trinity Auditorium Building opened in 1914. The 9-story Beaux Arts style mixed use hotel, office building and auditorium was designed by architects: Thornton Fitzhugh, Frank G. Krucker and Harry C. Deckbar. The auditorium with a seating capacity of 1,600 to 2,500 featured balconies on three sides and a stained glass ceiling.

When it was the Trinity Auditorium Building and being used as a church, three stories of the building were church offices and the hotel portion (325 rooms) was a hotel for men. The auditorium had a huge pipe organ. It was church on Sundays and the auditorium was rented to meetings, conventions, etc. during the week.

Historical Notes

The L.A. Philharmonic played their first season here before moving to the Temple Theatre, which they re-christened the Philharmonic Auditorium. When the hotel became the Embassy Hotel, the auditorium was known as the Embassy Auditorium.

Historical Notes

The building was acquired by the University of Southern California in the 1987, when it was used as a residential building and an annex. They sold it to the Chetrit Group, chaired by Joseph Chetrit, in 1998.

Historical Notes

By 2005, the Chetrit Group decided to remodel the building as the Gansevoort West hotel scheduled for 2006. The new hotel was supposed to be an LA version of the Hotel Gansevoort in New York City. However, by 2007, the project had been cancelled. By 2012, the owners decided to turn it into another hotel called the Empire Hotel, with "183 hotel rooms, a groundfloor restaurant, an outdoor garden, a bar, and an entertainment venue." The remodel was still underway in 2014.

Historical Notes

In 1914, the Southern Pacific Railroad replaced its Arcade Station (built in 1888) with the Central Station, a larger and more modern railroad passenger depot. The Union Pacific Railroad moved its Downtown Los Angeles passenger terminal to Central Station in 1924 after its original passenger depot just south of First Street on the east side of the Los Angeles River was destroyed by fire.

Historical Notes

Central Station was used by Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, and was located on Central Avenue at the end of 5th Street.

Historical Notes

The Southern Pacific depot was one of three railroad depots that served the Los Angeles area before the construction of Union Station in 1939. The Southern Pacific Arcade depot was originally constructed in 1888 at 5th and Central streets. 26 years later, in 1914, the station was rebuilt on an adjoining site, and renamed to Central Station. In 1924, the Union Pacific Railroad moved its Downtown Los Angeles passenger terminal to Central Station after its original passenger depot was destroyed by fire. The Central Station, along with the "La Grande" Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Depot, was replaced in 1939 by Union Station and later demolished.

Historical Notes

The Southern Pacific depot was one of three railroad depots that served the Los Angeles area before the construction of Union Station in 1939. The Southern Pacific Arcade depot was originally constructed in 1888 at 5th and Central streets. 26 years later, in 1914, the station was rebuilt on an adjoining site, and renamed to Central Station. In 1924, the Union Pacific Railroad moved its Downtown Los Angeles passenger terminal to Central Station after its original passenger depot was destroyed by fire. The Central Station, along with the "La Grande" Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Depot, was replaced in 1939 by Union Station and later demolished.

Historical Notes

The Central Station, along with the "La Grande" Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Depot (2nd St. and Santa Fe Ave.), was replaced in 1939 by Union Station and later demolished.^*

Historical Notes

Southern Pacific trains known as 'Daylights' ran during the daytime between San Francisco and Los Angeles beginning in 1937. The first 'Daylight' train left at 8:15 a.m. In January 1940 the 'Noon Daylight' train was added to accommodate additional passengers; it departed daily at noon.

Historical Notes

The Central Station, along with the "La Grande" Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Depot (2nd St. and Santa Fe Ave.), was replaced in 1939 by Union Station. The trains moved to Union Staton but the building, with exterior adornments removed, stood until the late 1960s.

Historical Notes

Robinson's Department Store started off life as the Boston Dry Goods Store in 1881 (Boston was a popular name for dry goods stores). It moved from 239 S. Broadway to this location on 7th Street and Grand in 1915 and designed by Noonan and Richards. It was modernized in 1934 by Edward L. Mayberry. Robinson's was acquired by May Department Stores in 1986 and it merged with the May Company in 1993. This store was closed in the early 1990s when Robinson's-MAY was created and moved into the May Company store at Citicorp Plaza. Robinsons-May was bought out by Macy's and this nameplate was retired.*

Historical Notes

When it opened in September of 1915, the seven-story building of beige pressed brick, trimmed in cream and polychrome terracotta, was described in the press as “a retail palace” with “all the conveniences and attractions of a great club and meeting place.” The distinctive building with its corner towers, deeply projecting cornices, and oculus windows featured 10 passenger elevators for vertical conveyance, and two roof gardens on either side of a seventh-floor dining room approached through a foyer “arranged as a palm room."*

Historical Notes

When the Robinson's Department Store first opened, some voices raised criticism over its out-of-the-way location, but by the time it became established along Seventh Street, it helped to establish a high-class shopping district. Robinson’s prosperity at Seventh and Grand was such that a seven-story addition to the south was constructed in 1923, bringing the store’s square footage up to 624,000 sq. ft.*

Historical Notes

The front was "Grecian" (Greek Revival) in style, of light cream brick and terra cotta. It featured an elaborate Corinthian-style cornice crowning the façade. Above it rose a high parapet broken by a high-relief entresol panel. All of this was surmounted by elaborate acroteria. 60-foot-long, 19.5-foot-high plate glass windows illuminated the ground floor.^

Historical Notes

In 1988, the Robinson's Department Store Building was designated LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 357 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Click HERE to see contemporry view.

Historical Notes

The Arroyo Seco branch was completed in 1914. It was the second branch built between 1913 and 1916 with a $210,000 Carnegie grant obtained by Los Angeles in 1911 and designated for six branches. All but one included a basement assembly room and an outdoor reading area.

Historical Notes

The architect, Frederick Ashley, designed the building in the Classical Revival style. The Arroyo Seco branch can be traced back through the old Garvanza and Highland Park branches to the Stimson Memorial Library at Occidental College. The building was demolished in 1959 and the new Arroyo Seco branch built on the same site.*

Historical Notes

The original Classical Revival style Arroyo Seco Branch Library building was replaced by another library building in 1960 and then again in 2003.

Historical Notes

Originally, this piece of land served as an agricultural fairground from 1871 to 1911. Farmers sold their harvests on the grounds, while horses, dogs, camels, and later automobiles, competed along the racetrack (seen). In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the city's most influential families moved into the neighborhood but did not appreciate the racing and gambling that came with it. As a result, this racetrack was transformed into the now-famous Exposition Park Rose Garden.*

November 6, 1913, marked the beginning of a two-week, city-wide celebration that opened Exposition Park and its facilities (also the LA Aqueduct).

Historical Notes

On November 6, 1913, Exposition Park was formally dedicated, and became the home to a state Exposition Building and the county Museum of History, Science and Art. Senator John Works dedicated the fountain as a commemoration of the Owens River/Los Angeles Aqueduct whose grand opening coincided with the opening of Exposition Park. As the Senator left the platform, a jet of water shot up 30 feet.*

Click HERE to see the Opening Ceremonies of the LA Aqueduct.

Historical Notes

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opened in Exposition Park in 1913 as the Museum of History, Science, and Art. The moving force behind it was a museum association founded in 1910. Its distinctive main building, with fitted marble walls and domed and colonnaded rotunda, is on the National Register of Historic Places.^*

Historical Notes

Exposition Park, originally named Agricultural Park, was developed in 1876 as a showground for agricultural and horticultural fairs. The property became state land in 1880, but during the 1890s it fell into private hands and became victim to deterioration. Late in the decade, USC law professor William M. Bowen and USC President George Finley Bovard garnered the commitments of city, state, and county to develop the land as a public educational, cultural and recreational center.*

Historical Notes

On November 6, 1913 the Museum of History, Science, and Art was formally dedicated and opened in Exposition Park. Additional wings of the museum opened in 1925, 1930, 1960, and 1976. In 1961, it was "divided" into the Los Angeles County Museum of History and Science, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (known as LACMA, since moved to new quarters on Wilshire Blvd).

Years later, the museum was again renamed, becoming the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. It is the largest museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 33 million specimens and artifacts covering 4.5 billion years of history. The Natural History Museum, located at 900 Exposition Boulevard between Vermont and Figueroa, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.*

Historical Notes

The Armory Building was designed in by State Architect J.W. Woollett for the California National Guard 160th Infantry. The seven and a half acre Rose Garden, also called Sunken Garden, evolved from the redevelopment of Agricultural Park, and was also completed in 1913.*

Historical Notes

Originally named Agricultural Park in 1876, the 160-acre site was developed and served as an agricultural and horticultural fairground until approximately 1910, at which point it was re-named Exposition Park. On November 6, 1913, Exposition Park was formally dedicated, and became the home to a state Exposition Building and the county Museum of History, Science and Art, and was slated to gain a National Guard Armory.*

On November 6, 1913, a celebration was held as a joint dedication of both the opening of Exposition Park and the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Click HERE to see more in the Opening of the LA Aqueduct.

Historical Notes

In 2003 the California Science Center's Board of Directors voted to rename the historic Armory Building as the Wallis Annenberg Building for Science Learning and Innovation due to contributions toward the renovation and re-invention of the building by architect Thomas Mayne, which reopened in 2004.^

Historical Notes

The State Exposition Building, designed by William D. Coates, Jr., state architect, and N. Ellery, state engineer, opened in 1912 and housed simple, agriculturally based displays of natural resources and industrial products from across the state.*

Please Support Our Cause

Water and Power Associates, Inc. is a non-profit, public service organization dedicated to preserving historical records and photos.  We are of the belief that this information should be made available to everyone—for free, without restriction, without limitation and without advertisements.

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.