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

Historical Notes

It was conceived by business partners John G. Bullock and P.G. Winnett to house the upscale Bullock's Wilshire Department Store. But while the building’s function was an ordinary one, its creators had grand ambitions for its design.

After visiting the 1925 Exposition of Decorative and Modern Arts in Paris, where the art deco, or moderne, style was introduced, Winnett and architect Donald Parkinson agreed to use this new aesthetic as the inspiration for the department store. When it opened in 1929, the building was one of the first Art Deco structures built in the United States.^

Historical Notes

The first Bullocks department store opened at 7th and Broadway downtown in 1907, and was a cornerstone of the elegant entertainment district that thrived there for decades. In 1929, the company expanded to the far-flung suburbs of Wilshire and Vermont, with a magnificent new tower designed by architects John and Donald Parkinson, who also brought you Union Station and Los Angeles City Hall.

Historical Notes

The Bullock's Wilshire Building was designed by Architects Parkinson & Parkinson in 1928. The building was completed in 1929 as a luxury department store for owner John G. Bullock (owner of the more mainstream Bullock's in Downtown Los Angeles). The exterior is notable for its 241-foot tower whose top is sheathed in copper, tarnished green. At one time, the tower peak had a light that could be seen for miles around.^

Historical Notes

The Bullock’s Wilshire building, and its beautifully appointed penthouse Tea Room, regularly drew Hollywood elites such as John Wayne, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Marlene Dietrich, Clark Gable and Mae West, as well as residents of the wealthy surrounding communities of Hancock Park, Windsor Square and Fremont Place. This gilded clientele helped the store survive the Great Depression, which began a month after its opening—a grand affair that drew 30,000 people.^

Historical Notes

Bullock's Wilshire's innovation was that it was one of the first department stores in Los Angeles to cater to the burgeoning automobile culture. It was located in a then-mostly residential district, its objective to attract shoppers who wanted a closer place to shop than Downtown Los Angeles.^

Historical Notes

Traditional display windows faced the sidewalk, but they were decorated to catch the eyes of motorists. Since most customers would arrive by vehicle, the most appealing entrance was placed in the rear. Under the city's first department store porte cochere, valets in livery welcomed patrons and parked their cars.^

Historical Notes

In 1968, the Bullock's Wilshire Building at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 56 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

In 1978, the building was also listed in the National Register of Historic Places as No.78000685.^

Historical Notes

After facing an uncertain future in the 1990s, the building was purchased by neighboring Southwestern Law School, which spent ten years and $29 million to restore historic elements while adapting the building for state-of-the-art academic use. This world-renowned landmark now enjoys new life as an inspirational learning environment and a prime example of adaptive reuse.^^

Because it is part of the Southwestern campus, the Bullock's Wilshire Building is not open to the public on a day-to-day basis. However, special tours are offered to Friends of Bullocks Wilshire in the summer.

Historical Notes

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

Historical Notes

The Spanish Colonial Revival building with a sidewalk arcade was designed by Morgan, Walls and Clements and constructed in 1928.

Historical Notes

Founded in downtown Los Angeles by George S. Ralphs in 1873, Ralphs Grocery was a national pioneer in the grocery industry. Click HERE to see the 1st Ralphs Grocery Store.

By the twentieth century, Ralphs stores featured innovative self-service aisles and included a wide variety of foods and services under one roof. As Ralphs' business grew along with the city, he hired the noted architectural firm of Morgan, Walls, and Clements to design a series of grocery stores promoting a clean and substantial image.^

Historical Notes

When the Miracle Mile store was constructed, the neighborhood was full of fallow fields and oil derricks. Clements' design integrated separate commercial spaces into the grocery building for rental tenants, heralding a promising future for the area while giving Ralphs another source of income.^

Historical Notes

At the time, all the new Ralphs stores were built in the Churrigueresque style popular in Southern California, an ornate Spanish Revival style that architect Stiles O. Clements defined and perfected. Each of the new Ralphs was unique yet similar, exuding strength through large blocks of faux masonry, intricate wrought ironwork, prominent display windows, and Spanish tile roofs.^

Historical Notes

The Pig’n Whistle was there from 1929 to 1938, when the Pig’n Whistle company opened its new upscale restaurant, Melody Lane, at Detroit and Wilshire.

Historical Notes

The Miracle Mile quickly filled with residences and shops, increasingly in the Art Deco style that would eventually overshadow Spanish Revival as the district's distinctive architectural style.

Historical Notes

In the 1980s, Ralphs fell to the wrecking ball along with its midcentury neighbor, Du-Pars Coffee Shop. Unlike the area's Art Deco structures, neither building was protected from demolition.

They were replaced by a block-long Alpha Beta grocery store, which was eventually bought out by Ralphs, unintentionally bringing the property full circle.^

Historical Notes

After its construction in 1928, the Chapman Park Plaza (aka Chapman Plaza) opened in 1929 and was one of the first markets designed for easy access of automobiles. The plaza was constructed with big parking spots in the middle with numerous stores surrounding the lot. It served higher class neighborhoods such as Fremont Place, Windsor Square and Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Also, the plaza was built in set with Chapman Park Studio Building on the other side of Alexandria Avenue. ^

Charles Chapman was the first mayor of Fullerton, California and a relative of John Chapman, the legendary "Johnny Appleseed." He was a native of Illinois who had been a Chicago publisher before settling in Southern California.

In 1894, Chapman moved from Chicago to Southern California, where he and his brother, Frank, soon acquired citrus and fruit ranches in Covina and the Fullerton-Placentia area. With Valencia orange trees already planted from the buds of Alfred Chapman's grove, a new family of Chapmans established themselves as pioneers in the citrus industry.

Chapman was a supporter of the Disciples of Christ, who was a primary donor and fundraiser for California Christian College, which in 1934 changed its name to Chapman College, and is now Chapman University, in his honor.

Chapman Avenue, a major Orange County thoroughfare, is also named in his honor.^^

Also, the Chapman Brothers donated the land on which the first church on Wilshire Boulevard was built in 1911, Wilshire Christian Church.

Historical Notes

The plaza was built during the Spanish Revival movement period in 1920s to 1930s in Los Angeles by renowned architecture firm Morgan, Walls & Clements. The architects practiced Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture creating buildings in Los Angeles such as the El Capitan and Mayan theaters.  As one of Spanish Revival style building, Chapman Plaza has “fortress-like façade, with thick concrete walls and ornate Churrigueresque towers.  The interior of the building has high ceilings, arched windows, double-wide hallways and an artisan showroom with the exterior consisting courtyard, fountains/statues, gardens patios and rooftop views.^

The market and its companion Chapman Park Studio Building across Alexandria Avenue were envisioned, along with the since-demolished Chapman Park Hotel, as fashionable anchors of the neighborhood.

Historical Notes

A large rooftop sign invited motorists off Wilshire. Patrons drove in through a Spanish Revival archway to find an inner courtyard surrounded by various grocers.

Historical Notes

Southern California was the principal center for the development of drive-in markets between the mid-1910s to the early 1940s. Other notable early drive-in markets included: Mandarin Market (Hollywood), Plaza Market (LA), and the Sunset Clock Market (Beverly Hills).

Historical Notes

The market presented a fortress-like facade, with thick concrete walls worked to resemble sandstone and ornate, Churrigueresque towers on the corners.

Historical Notes

On August 30, 1988, the building was named as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 386. Chapman Plaza was planned for renovation with $4.5 million budget in order to transform the space into a “place of beauty and an urban meeting ground” and bring back the “charm of early Los Angeles”.  It went through big renovation project in 1990 with The Ratkovich Company (owned by Wayne Ratkovich) and architect Brenda Levin^

Historical Notes

In 2016, Chapman Plaza was sold to new owner ArcWest Partners who proposed to “restore the structure to ‘its historic grandeur’” including some of the historic elements like the façade.

Chapman Plaza continues to be one of the remaining Spanish Revival style architecture in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The Chapman Park Studio building was designed by famed architects Morgan, Walls, and Clements and is an example of Spanish Revival architecture.  The Churrigueresque style buildings of both Chapman Park Studio and the neighboring Chapman Park Market were owned by the Charles C. and S.J. Chapman Company. 

Charles C. Chapman and the Charles C. and S.J. Chapman company owned many significant buildings in Los Angeles in the early 1900s including Chapman’s residence at Figueroa and West Adams which later became the headquarters for AAA, the Charles C. Chapman building in Downtown Los Angeles (original headquarters for Bank of America), Chapman Market and the Chapman Park Studio building. #

Historical Notes

On July 24, 1984 the Chapman Park Studio Building was granted historical status and designated as Los Angeles Cultural Historic Monument No. 280.

Historical Notes

Prior to the official opening of the Burbank lot in 1940, the Walt Disney Studios was situated at several different locations in Los Angeles. During summer 1923, Walt Disney created "The Disney Bros. Cartoon Studio" in his uncle Robert Disney's garage, which was located at 4406 Kingswell Avenue, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles (just east of Hollywood).

During October 1923, Walt Disney and his brother (Roy) leased office space on the rear side of a real estate agency's office at 4651 Kingswell Avenue.  In February 1924, the studio moved next door to an office of its own at 4649 Kingswell Avenue. The late Robert Disney's residence and the small office building that is home to 4649 and 4651 Kingswell Avenue have survived to the present and are still in use.

In 1925, Walt Disney placed a deposit on a new, considerably larger lot at 2719 Hyperion Avenue, and the studio moved there in January 1926. It was here where, after a train journey with his wife Lillian, Walt fully created the character of Mickey Mouse in 1928. The first color animated film, the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees and the first animated cartoon using the multiplane camera, The Old Mill was created.*^

Historical Notes

In 1937, the Hyperion studio produced the world's first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney's staff began to grow to a substantial size at the Hyperion studio, and Disney Legends such as Disney's Nine Old Men began their careers there.

Historical Notes

By 1939 there was no more room to grow on the Hyperion Studio lot. By this time, the Disney Studio had 1,500 employees and the layout of the Hyperion Studio was so haphazard there was a feeling among some that the Hyperion Studio could no longer meet the goals of the Disney Studios.

Historical Notes

In June of 1938, Walt and Roy paid a $10,000 deposit for a 51 acre plot of land in Burbank and construction on a new studio began shortly afterwards. In the fall of 1939, the first staff moved into the new Burbank studios.

The Hyperion studio site was sold in 1940 and divided between two different industrial manufacturers, and in 1966 a subsequent owner demolished what was left of the studio complex and replaced it with the supermarket and shopping center that stand there today. To honor the company's former headquarters from 1926 to 1940, the name 'Hyperion' has been reused over the years by the Walt Disney Company for multiple divisions and attractions, including Hyperion Books and the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park.*^

During the Hyperion Studios short 14 years, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Pinocchio and many more beloved characters were given life. In many ways, the Hyperion Studios represents “the golden age” of Walt Disney’s imagination. ^

Historical Notes

Hattem's 24-Hour Drive-In Market was Los Angeles' first supermarket and possible the first grocery store to use trading stamps. Owned and operated by European immigrant, Isadore M. Hattem, it was located at the corner of 43rd Street and Western Avenue and was designed by Walter R. Hagedohm with construction costs around $30,000. It opened on December 27, 1927, and resulted in the coining of the word "supermarket" when the Southwest Wave, a community newspaper described its grand opening.*

Historical Notes

Walter Roland Hagedohm was the architect who also designed Hattem's Shopping Center located on Vermont and 80th Street about four years later. In between, he designed the Balboa Inn of Newport Beach, which became a trendy getaway of Hollywood movie stars in the 1930s.*

Historical Notes

Hattem's 24-Hour Drive-In Market was one of Los Angeles' first supermarkets. It was owned and operated by European immigrant, Isadore M. Hattem. The shopping complex, including the beautiful cake-like tower building, was designed by Architect Walter Roland Hagedohm who also designed Hattem's 1st 'Supermarket' four years earlier. It was located on Western and 45th Street.

Isadore M. Hattem (originally spelled Hatem, but he changed it during the WWI years) was a Sephardic Jew and founding member of what is now the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel. Before opening his supermarket, Hattem was one of the early merchants in the Grand Central Market, which opened in 1917.

Historical Notes

Hattem’s was one of the first self-service markets in Los Angeles.   Piggly-Wiggly in Tennessee was the first self-service market, but the trend spread west.  I.M.Hattem had the first "Supermarket", the key difference being, the groceries, meat, produce, and bakery departments were all self-service and wrung up at a central check out. He also had trading stamps, and the market had a parking lot for cars, shopping carts and it was open 24 hours a day.

Historical Notes

This building, formerly owned by a business enterprise, was sold to Pepperdine College along with a second building and four lots in 1961. Located down the road from the main campus on the corner of 81st Street and Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, this complex housed new administrative offices, more classrooms, and a coffee shop. This image captures the state of the building before it was remodeled for Pepperdine use.

Historical Notes

The second site for Pepperdine College's Administration Building was originally this shopping center complex at Vermont Avenue and 81 Street, just around the corner from the original southwest Los Angeles campus. Built originally in 1930 by I. M. Hattem as a "drive-in market"--a precursor to today's shopping malls--Hattem's Shopping Center was purchased by Pepperdine College in 1961.

Historical Notes

Pepperdine was founded by entrepreneur George Pepperdine in South Los Angeles in 1937, the school expanded to Malibu in 1972.

George Pepperdine built his fortune largely through the Western Auto Supply Company, which he founded in 1909 with a $5 investment.*

The main tower-building still exists today and is occupied by a Scientology Community Center. Click HERE for contemporary view.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles was the principal center for the development of drive-in markets between the mid-1910s to the early 1940s.^^^

Historical Notes

The Mandarin Market with its unique Chinese profile, was designed by M. L. Gogerty and built in 1928-1929. It would later become the Hollywood Ranch Market.*

Historical Notes

+ In the late 1920s and 1930s these type of streetlights (electroliers) were installed in many parts of Los Angeles, however, nowhere more than in the Hollywood District. Click HERE to see more in Early Los Angeles Streetlights.

Historical Notes

Built in 1929, the Mandarin Market was touted as being one of the first drive-in markets of its kind in Los Angeles. The architect was Henry L. Gogerty, who later designed "gliding acoustical walls" for classrooms, and assembly line buildings for Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose project.

Southern California was the principal center for the development of drive-in markets between the mid-1910s to the early 1940s. Other notable early drive-in markets included: Aurora Market (Glendale), Plaza Market (LA), and the Sunset Clock Market (Beverly Hills).

Historical Notes

Rather than have delivery trucks crowding the front of the marketplace, each store had a back entrance for deliveries.

Historical Notes

The complex included a Texaco service kiosk (right), a bakery (not visible), a full meat and produce market, and a restaurant (left) known at this time as "John Tait's."

Historical Notes

The property sold in 1932 for $175,000 and, after some modifications, became Hollywood Ranch Market.

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Ranch Market (previously Mandarin Market) took on a new look when the original outdoor area was enclosed. The Pagoda-style roofline remained intact around the periphery.

(1954)* - Herald Examiner photo showing several men toasting with a cup of coffee in front of Hollywood Ranch Market.

Historical Notes

Examiner article reads: "The all-night Hollywood Ranch Market sidewalk lunch counter on Vine Street is one of many places revolting against the hike in coffee prices. This place reduced its price from 10 cents to 5 cents per cup. Celebrating with steaming mugs beneath the sign are, left to right: Richard Wilson, jazz musician-composer; night manager Roy McCully; co-owner Larry Frederick; writer Roger Fair; and newsboy Eddie Levin, on February 2, 1954." *

Historical Notes

It wasn’t unusual to see such personalities as Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner or Red Skelton or at the Hollywood Ranch Market’s snack bar. Steve Allen used to broadcast his shows from his studio close by. ^#^^

Historical Notes

The Ranch market burned down in the early 80s and is now a strip mall that includes an Office Depot and an El Pollo Loco.#^* Click HERE to see contemporary view.

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1921 to replace the old Board of Trade. A five-day membership drive resulted in 2,517 members. The first order of business for the new organization was to raise funds for the grading and installation of 20,000 seats to create the Hollywood Bowl.

In 1932, the Santa Claus Lane Parade was first sponsored by the Chamber. In 1978, the parade was given a new look, renamed the Hollywood Christmas Parade and grew to national prominence as the nation’s largest celebrity parade with national television distribution for the first time.

In 1949, the Chamber entered into an agreement with the Department of Recreation and Parks to repair and rebuild the Hollywood Sign and to remove the “land” so that it would spell “Hollywood”. The cost was $4,000. A second restoration was done by the Chamber in 1973. #*^^

Historical Notes

Leonis Adobe is one of only four surviving adobe residences remaining in the San Fernando Valley. When the Los Angeles Cultural Historical Board was formed in 1962, Leonis Adobe was the first designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument. By 2007, there were nearly 900 separately numbered sites that had received the designation, but Leonis Adobe has the prestige of having been designated as LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1 (Click HERE to see the complete list). In 1975, the adobe was also listed on the National Register of Historical Places.*^

For a number of years it was part of Warner Bros. ranch properties and resided in by actor John Carradine and family. In 1965 it was one of the few remnants of the San Fernando Valley's heritage standing in original form.*

Historical Notes

During the 1930s, the St. Charles turned into a low-budget-lodging house and served a poor and ethnically diverse population. It was demolished in 1940 to make space for a parking lot. In the 1970s, architect Robert Stockwell designed the subterranean Los Angeles Mall, where the oldest hotel once stood.^#*

The Bella Union Hotel site was designated as California Historical Landmark No. 656. Click HERE to see more California Historical Landmarks in LA.

Historical Notes

The 12-story Chester Williams Building was constructed in 1926 and located at 215 West Fifth Street.  The building also has the address 452 South Broadway.  It was designed by Architects Curlett & Beelman.

In 2012, the Chester Williams Building was converted to a 88-unit apartment complex. The opening of the renovated Chester Williams makes the intersection of Fifth Street and Broadway only the second Historic Core crossing where all four corners are occupied by residential buildings. The first such intersection, at Sixth and Spring streets, was marked in 2010 with the opening of SB Tower.

Historical Notes

The 12-Story Architects’ Building was the third whole structure in the U.S. to be exclusively devoted to the various branches of the construction industries (NY & Chicago being the other two).

The building opened on January, 1928 and cost $662,000 to construct.

Historical Notes

The seven upper floors of the building were leased to prominent architects, its first floor and mezzanine was occupied by the Metropolitan Exhibit of Building Materials—a massive exhibit of every branch of the building industry, renamed the Architects’ Building Materials Exhibit.

Historical Notes

In 1959 the Architects’ Building was purchased by Douglas Oil, a southern California independent who ran three refineries and 300-some gas stations in the Southland. The building's name was changed to Douglas Oil Building.

Historical Notes

In 1961, Continental Oil (aka Conoco) purchased Douglas Oil.  The building, however, remained the Douglas Oil Building until it was demolished in 1969.

Historical Notes

The Douglas Oil Building (Architects' Building) would be demolished in 1969 to make room for the ARCO Towers.

Historical Notes

After land was donated by Charles Chapman in 1911, a small bungalow style church was built at this corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Normandie Avenue. In 1927 the original church was replaced by this Northern Italian Romanesque style structure with a 200-foot tower, designed by Robert H. Orr.

Historical Notes

The massive Romanesque structure with Byzantine elements was designed by Robert Orr, a prominent architect of Protestant churches in Southern California and a member of the congregation.^

Historical Notes

The church was designed for maximum visibility for passing cars on the developing thoroughfare, with a 200-foot-tall tower and corner orientation.

Historical Notes

On May 19, 1940, First Christian Church of Los Angeles merged with Wilshire Boulevard Christian Church to become Wilshire Christian Church, which is of the Disciples of Christ denomination.

Historical Notes

The 1927-built Romanesque Revival-style building designed by Robert Orr was bought by Oasis Church in 2012. The Wilshire Christian Church congregation moved to a new location at 550 South Berendo Street.

Historical Notes

The Wilshire Christian Church building (today Oasis Church) was dedicated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 209 in 1979. (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Oasis Church began as a Bible-study group of ten people in Beverly Hills. From that community, Philip and Holly Wagner decided to found a church, which had about thirty initial parishioners. One of the original members of the Bible-study group was singer Donna Summer, and more recent members include Viola Davis.  The congregation moved to the Oasis Theatre in the 1990s, and to the Wilshire Christian Church during the 2010s. By the 2010s, the church had more than three thousand members. It is known for the diversity of its fellowship.*^

Historical Notes

The Gaylord Apartment Hotel was named after Henry Gaylord Wilshire, who founded the famous boulevard; the 14-story building officially opened its doors in 1924. The entire area near the Gaylord became the site of New York style apartment buildings, and many film stars lived in these elegant high rises. Among them were the Ambassador, Asbury, Langham, Fox Normandie, Picadilly, and Windsor. In the mid-sixties, the Gaylord Apartment Hotel was converted into a charming apartment community.*

Historical Notes

In 1895, Henry Gaylord Wilshire began developing 35 acres stretching westward from Westlake Park for an elite residential subdivision. He donated a strip of land to the city of Los Angeles for a boulevard through what was then a barley field, on the conditions that it would be named for him and that railroad lines and commercial or industrial trucking would be banned.

In 1900, Wilshire was arrested for speaking in a public park in Los Angeles. A judge dismissed the charges, but the incident caused Wilshire to leave Los Angeles for New York.

Wilshire eventually returned to Los Angeles and made much of his connection with the now famous Boulevard that bore his name, although he had no involvement with its gradual expansion in the years while he was absent from the region. He made and lost several fortunes during his lifetime and died destitute on September 7, 1927 in New York.^

Historical Notes

Architects Walker & Eisen designed the Renaissance revival style 1924 Gaylord Apartments, located at 3355 Wilshire Boulevard. The Gaylord was originally one of L.A.'s first co-ops, which offered all of the hotel amenities (but not a hotel).

The six-story Evanston Apartments (east of the Gaylord) was built in the late 1920s and located at 630 South Kenmore. This building has been demolished and the site is now occupied by the 1967 Wilshire Square building designed by the architectural firm of Langdon & Wilson.*

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Times called the Gaylord one of the largest and most pretentious apartment houses in the country. Since then, the building has been thoroughly renovated inside.

The nautical-themed HMS Bounty restaurant on the ground floor opened in 1962 in a space formerly occupied by The Gay Room and later The Secret Harbor.

The Secret Harbor opened in 1951 as an outpost of Wilshire's leading restaurant family of the 1940s and '50s, brothers Seymour and Harold Dimsdale.

After The Secret Harbor, the space served a brief stint as the Golden Anchor before becoming the HMS Bounty.*

Historical Notes

Richfield Tower, also known as the Richfield Oil Company Building, was constructed between 1928 and 1929 and served as the headquarters of Richfield Oil. It was designed by Stiles O. Clements and featured a black and gold Art Deco facade. The unusual color scheme was meant to symbolize the "black gold" that was Richfield's business. Haig Patigian did the exterior sculptures.*^

Historical Notes

The 12-floor Atlantic Richfield Building was 372 feet tall, including a 130-foot tower atop the building, emblazoned vertically with the name "Richfield". Lighting on the tower was made to simulate an oil well gusher and the motif was reused at some Richfield service stations.*^

Historical Notes

The grandest of all the beacons in early Los Angeles was placed atop the Richfield Oil Company’s own magnificent headquarters building at Sixth and Flower surpassing in height even that of the beacon atop Los Angeles’ City Hall.  It was the highest aviation beacon in all of Southern California and a pretty impressive advertising coup for Richfield Oil.*^#^

Historical Notes

The above photo was taken from the roof of the Central Library, the still under-construction Edison Building is taking shape. Next door to the left is the handsome, symmetrical Engstrum Hotel Apartments and on the corner of Hope Street is a single family residence and behind it the Pierce Apartments which will soon give way to the Engsrtrum's need for on site parking. Up Hope Street is the white Barbara Worth Apartments shown on the left.

Historical Notes

Located on the corner of Fifth Street and Grand Avenue the building opened on March 20, 1931 as the Southern California Edison Company corporate headquarters.

Historical Notes

The Edison Company Building was one of the first all-electrically heated and cooled buildings constructed in the western United States. Now known as One Bunker Hill, the Art Deco building located at 601 W. 5th Street was designed by James and David Allison.

Historical Notes

The fourteen-story, steel-framed building follows a classically inspired Art Deco design. The lower three stories are of solid limestone, while the upper stories and central tower are faced with buff-colored terra cotta. On the façade, the spandrels contain a cubic Art Deco pattern, repeated in the central tower, lobby floor and elevator ceilings. On the entry façade allegorical figures by sculptor Merrell Gage represent, light, power and hydroelectric energy. In the two-story lobby, classical elements are treated with an Art Deco flavor.*

Historical Notes

In 1939, Southern California Edison (SCE) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) completed negotiations on the division of territory between the two utilities. SCE would supply the unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County and all other municipalities except for Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank, while the DWP became the sole electrical service provider for the City of Los Angeles.

Click HERE to see more in First Electricity in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The building was renamed, The CalEdison. Before that, it was One Bunker Hill. Originally, the 14-story building, which opened in 1931, was the Southern California Edison Building and the headquarters for the Southern California Edison Company.

One of the first buildings in the western U.S. with a heating and cooling system powered by electricity, it was, as the New York Times put it, a “monument to energy.” It’s not just the infrastructure; the entry facade features allegorical figures representing light and energy.^

In 1988, the One Bunker Hill Building was designated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 347 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Below the thirty-foot high coffered ceiling, the floor and walls are composed of at least seventeen different types of marble. At the end of the lobby is a mural by Hugo Ballin titled "Power." The exterior greenhouse-like structures were added in the 1980s and the street-level shopping corridor in 1993.*

Historical Notes

The Bendix Building was constructed by developer Florence Casler in 1929. In the 1920s Casler stood out in the male-dominated commercial real estate business, putting together an empire that came to include at least ten downtown buildings worth an estimated $7 million in 1926. And she didn’t skimp. For the Bendix, she hired architect William Douglas Lee, who designed the Chateau Marmont Hotel and the El Royale apartments the same year. Lee ornamented the building’s Gothic façade with bas-relief male figures next to words such as Progress, Education, and Invention, and installed large windows that offer sweeping views of downtown.

Historical Notes

In 1925, Florence Casler was elected director of the People’s Bank, making her the first female officer of a national bank in Los Angeles. She was also vice president of the Pico Street Association and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

In 1928, Florence officially struck out on her own when she formed the Casler Construction Company. That year, she scored her biggest client yet when she began constructing the Bendix Building at 1206 South Maple Avenue for the Bendix Aviation Corporation.*

Historical Notes

The Bendix Aviation Corporation was a manufacturer of aircraft parts based from 1929 to 1960 in Los Angeles.

It was started by inventor Vincent Bendix in 1929 as a continuation of his auto parts company. Bendix ranked 17th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.

The company was renamed to Bendix Corporation in 1960, and in 1983 was acquired by the Allied Corporation (later AlliedSignal, now Honeywell International Inc.) and combined with King Radio (company) company to form Bendix/King. Now owned by Honeywell, Bendix/King remains a brand of avionics.*

Historical Notes

Originally, the Bendix Building roof-top had one air beacon with a 50,000,000-candlepower light, 36 inches in circumference. Another of 8,000,000 candlepower, pointed to Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, nine miles away. The light tower's base was illuminated with a roof marker outlined in red neon, with a gigantic arrow pointing to the airport.^

In 2008, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission recognized Florence Casler as "one of the first women in the early 20th century to head a company in the field of development and construction of high-rise buildings." She was also appointed as the head of Peoples Bank of Los Angeles, making her the only female director of a bank in Los Angeles.^

Historical Notes

This 13-story building began life in 1928 as the American Storage Building. In addition to storage units, the Bud Murray School for Stage and Lewis S. Hart Auctioneer were also early tenants of the building.

Longtime cafe man E.W. 'Curley' Bordwell opened the Roof Garden in September 1928, a 'nite club de luxe' which featured dancing to the sounds of George Redman's Famous "Roof Garden Orchestra". They were apparently so famous that by early October a remote controlled broadcasting station operated by KMTR had been installed and George Redman's jazz orchestra could be heard nightly on KMTR from 10pm to 11pm. Curley's place must have been swinging during daylight hours as well - Chris Mann & His Roof Garden Melody Boys were broadcast live daily from 3:30pm to 4:30pm.

Within just a year the Roof Garden had given way to 'Thirteenth Heaven', a night club with a rip-snorting theme. The elevator to the club was manned by 'St. Peter', the waiters sported wings and the musicians and attendants wore clothes 'intended to produce a spiritual illusion'.^##*

Historical Notes

In 1931 the 'Los Angeles Press Club' moved into the building and began having problems of their own. Their biggest problem was getting caught brewing beer during Prohibition. The 'Los Angeles Press Club' was raided March 18, 1931. Dry agents discovered a complete beer plant, 21 twelve-gallon crocks of beer mash, 203 bottles of beer - ninety of which were on ice (for the members no doubt).

The 41 Club took up residence briefly in late 1931 before making the move to Spring Street. They too were raided, and approximately $10,000 worth of liquor was found in secret compartments.^##*

Historical Notes

By the mid-1940s the building held various military organizations such as the Air Technical Service Command Headquarters and the War Assets Administration. For many years after the war it was also the headquarters for Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company.^##*

Historical Notes

The S. Charles Lee designed Hollywood Western Building, 5500-5510 Hollywood Blvd, was built in 1928. The building was financed by Louis B Mayer and Irving Thalberg for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), including the Hays Office. The building also housed Central Casting.*#^*

Historical Notes

In 1988, the Hollywood Western Building was designated LA Cultural-Historic Monument No. 336 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

In 1919 the school obtained university status and became the Southern Branch of the University of California, located at 855 N. Vermont Avenue. In 1927 the name was changed to the University of California at Los Angeles. On May 31, 1929 the university opened its new campus in Westwood on land sold for $1 million dollars. In 1958, the name changed slightly again when the "at" was dropped, and became simply University of California, Los Angeles or UCLA.*

Historical Notes

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

Historical Notes

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

Historical Notes

The bridge seen above connected Hilgard Avenue to the campus. The gully over which the bridge passed was filled in after World War II.*

Historical Notes

This northwest corner of Westwood Boulevard and Broxton Avenue is called "The Dome," and it served as offices for the Janss Investment Company when built. It was designed by Allison and Allison. The octagonal building remains the dominant structure within Westwood Village. Building at right in rear is the Holmby Building, designed by architect Gordon B. Kaufmann and built in 1930.*

Historical Notes

The Janss Dome was designed by the architectural firm of Allison & Allison who also designed UCLA’s Royce Hall and Kerckhoff Hall. Architectural features of the building include a high portico and arched windows with the main part of the building having an octagonal shape and being surmounted by its signature dome with its Moorish style aqua and white zig-zag pattern and gold leafing. Atop the dome is a cupola.*^

Historical Notes

Around the beginning of the 1990s renowned architectural firm Morphosis adapted the Dome for use as a clothing store by Contempo Casuals, and later it was occupied by a Wherehouse Music store. In 1998 restaurateur Michael Chow remodelled the interior for a Eurochow restaurant but had the time-honored aqua and white zig-zag on the rotunda painted over in white. This caused the Westwood Design Review Board to order that the dome be restored to its traditional decoration. The Janss Dome currently houses a Japanese restaurant, the Yamato.*^

Historical Notes

Built in 1929, Holmby Hall is a streetscape of six Spanish Colonial Revival storefronts and features a prominent white clock tower, capped by a green pinnacle.  It  was the first shop building to be erected in the architecturally significant cinema/shopping precinct of Westwood Village.

Holmby Hall’s history is tied in with that of UCLA, as the building was used as the first dormitory for female students of that famous university.*^

Historical Notes

Westwood Village was created by the Janss Investment Company, run by Harold and Edwin Janss and their father, Peter, in the late 1920s as an autonomous shopping district and headquarters of the Janss Company. Its boom was complemented by the boom of UCLA (which selected the Westwood Hills as its new home in 1926), developed as a shopping district not just for the residents of Westwood but also for the university.*^

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 was responsible for producing state road maps, as well as posting thousands of porcelain-to-steel traffic signs throughout the state to create a uniform signing system - which it continued to do until the task was taken over by the State of California in the mid-1950s.*

Historical Notes

The arrow points to Mines Field (8 Miles) which became LAX. Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

The building pictured here originally served as the Auto Club's main office. It was built between 1922-1923 by architects, Sumner P. Hunt, Silas R. Burns, and Roland E. Coate in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Today, this building serves as the Los Angeles district office, but the administrative offices are now located in Costa Mesa.*

Historical Notes

The Automobile Club Building was designated LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 72 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

The Auto Club was founded in 1900. It's first headquarters was located on the first floor of a three-story building (still standing) at 8th and Olive streets. Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

The University of Southern California (USC) was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university. USC's development has closely paralleled the growth of Los Angeles, and the university historically has educated a large number of the city's business leaders and professionals.*^

Historical Notes

USC Law School had its beginnings in 1896 when Judge David C. Morrison opened his courtroom for 36 law apprentices, among whom were future California Supreme Court Justice Frederick W. Houser and his wife, Sara Isabella Wilde; the couple would soon form the Los Angeles Law Students Association to discuss the concept of a formal law school. Their efforts resulted in the incorporation of the Los Angeles Law School in 1898.

The first law degree was awarded in 1901 to Gavin W. Craig. Over the next several decades, USC Law rose to become one of the most prominent national law schools, priding itself on an interdisciplinary form of study. 2002 saw the beginning of the USC Law Graduate and International Programs. It is an American Bar Association (ABA) approved law school since 1924. It joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1907.*^

Historical Notes

In 1892, Edward Laurence Doheny Sr. struck oil in Los Angeles, setting off a major land boom. The Dohenys built a financial empire based upon their success in the oil-producing business. Their son, Edward L. 'Ned' Doheny Jr., studied at USC and remained involved in the university after his graduation in 1916. Tragically, he was murdered at his home in Beverly Hills in February 1929. As a memorial to their son, the Dohenys contributed the entire $1.1 million needed to build the Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library and actively participated in the design and construction of the facility.^

Historical Notes

The Times Mirror Reading Room is one of Doheny Library’s most popular study locations. The exquisite architecture includes bronze and pewter chandeliers as well as American walnut bookshelves. The room is 131 feet long, 46 feet wide, and 27 feet high. It has shelves for 6,000 books and accommodates 400 readers.^^

Historical Notes

Barkies Sandwich Shops was a 1920s Los Angeles restaurant chain, featuring a larger than life mascot named “Ponderous Pup.” These types of shops were an early precursor to the mini-mall idea.*

(ca. 1930)^*^# - View showing a woman in a fur coat posing next to an early model car with Barkies Sandwich Shops No. 4 in the background.

Historical Notes

Hollywood Post 43 began in an old church building on El Centro Street near Hollywood Boulevard and grew to the largest in the State, having 1,285 registered members. It was organized in 1920.^^*

The American Legion is an organization of U.S. war veterans formed in Paris on March 15–17, 1919, by delegates from all units of the American Expeditionary Forces. Their main mission is to sponsor programs that improve veterans communities, such as scholarships, veterans help programs (i.e. ending veterans homelessness), and youth sports. They also promote national security, patriotism, and devotion to veterans.*^

Historical Notes

The Egytian Revival-Morroccan Deco building was designed by architects Gene and Joe Weston and completed in 1929 at a cost of $270,000. The three-story 33,000 square foot facility has an ornamental entrance of colored terra cotta, set in a solid concrete, with broad steps and terraces in the foreground and graceful tower and pyramid surmounting it. 

In 1989, the Hollywood American Legion Building was dedicated LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 462 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

The ten-story B. H. Dyas Building's (later the Broadway-Hollywood Building) construction in 1928 helped to usher in a spatial shift that opened the doors for large-scale retail development outside of downtown Los Angeles. It also was the first department store to introduce women’s slacks.^*##

Historical Notes

Built by local businessman Frank R. Strong and designed in the Classical Revival Style by architect Frederick Rice Dorn, the building initially housed the B. H. Dyas Company Department Store. The move by B. H. Dyas to Hollywood was the first case of a department store developing a branch outside of the downtown core and helped to cement the idea of Hollywood as a retail destination. The store prospered for just a few short years until the Depression did the B. H. Dyas Company in and Broadway jumped in to take it over.^*##

Historical Notes

In 1932, the building became the keystone to the Broadway Department Store chain. In 1938, fueled by increased revenues, The Broadway Department Store constructed a seven-story addition to the building’s south side providing 52,000 square feet of additional retail space.

Historical Notes

In 1939, an eight-story modern annex designed by Parkinson and Parkinson was built immediately to the west. The Broadway Department Store served as a tenant until the 1970s. In the 1980s, the building was reconfigured for office use. By 1987 the building was abandoned.*^

Historical Notes

More recently, the building has been converted to condominiums on the top eight floors and is now called The Broadway-Hollywood. Atop the main building is the large, metal-formed, neon sign reading: “The Broadway Hollywood". ^*##

Historical Notes

In 1999, the Broadway Department Store and Neon Sign were designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 664 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Named the Wilkes Brothers Vine Street Theatre in honor of its builders, the Beaux Arts live-performance theater was built in 1926-1927. It was the first legitimate Broadway-style theatre in Hollywood. The theatre was designed by architect Myron Hunt, also known for other notable buildings including the Rose Bowl, Cal Tech, and the Ambassador Hotel. 

The premier performance was “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser. The theater also had a memorable run of the play “Philadelphia” during its early years. The theater features orchestra, mezzanine, loge and balcony seating.

Historical Notes

During the depression of the 1930’s, the theater was renamed Mirror and became a cinema. It later became the Lux Theatre when it was purchased by the Columbia Broadcasting (CBS) for local affiliate KNX radio and was used as a live performance radio auditorium and local radio station.^^#

Historical Notes

When the Vine Street Theater opened at 1615 Vine St, just south of the Hollywood and Vine corner, it was a legitimate live theater. In March, 1931 it became a cinema called the Mirror, under the direction of Howard Hughes' Hughes-Franklin circuit. ##**

In 1936 the theatre became the CBS Lux Radio Playhouse where the long-running “Lux Radio Theater” hosted by Cecil B. DeMille was made.*^

Historical Notes

Lux Radio Theatre was a long-run classic radio anthology series that was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934-35); CBS Radio (1935-54), and NBC Radio (1954-55). Initially the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons in New York before it began adapting films after moving to its Hollywood Vine Street location (1936). These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences. The series became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years and continued on television as the Lux Video Theatre through most of the 1950s.*^

Historical Notes

Lux Radio Theatre strove to feature as many of the original stars of the original stage and film productions as possible, usually paying them $5,000 an appearance. In 1936, when sponsor Lever Brothers (who made Lux soap and detergent) moved the show from New York City to Hollywood, the program began to emphasize adaptations of films rather than plays. The first Lux film adaptation was The Legionnaire and the Lady, with Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable, based on the film Morocco. That was followed by a Lux adaptation of The Thin Man, featuring the movie's stars, Myrna Loy and William Powell.*^

Historical Notes

In 1954, George Huntington Hartford bought the building for $200,000 from Columbia Broadcasting and extensively remodeled and “modernized” the theater at an additional cost of $750,000. He streamlined the building from the facade, to the lobby and through the auditorium. Hartford ran the theater successfully for ten years.^^#

Historical Notes

In 1964 Hartford sold the theater to James Doolittle (owner of the Greek Theater in the Hollywood Hills) for $850,000. Cary Grant had tried to buy the building, but lost over Doolittle. The theater was (not surprisingly) renamed the Doolittle Theater.

Eventually, the theater would run down into disrepair. Until bought in 2000 by the U.C.L.A. performing arts group “Nosotros”, an organization founded in 1970 by actor Ricardo Montalban “to help fulfill the goals of persons of Spanish-speaking origin in the motion picture and television industry”. The founding board included members Desi Arnaz, Vicki Carr and Anthony Quinn. In May 2004 the theatre reopened as The Montalbán. ^^#

Historical Notes

In 2005, Nike entered into a partnership with the Montalbán Theatre and the theatre has since been used for special venues such as promotional events.

Historical Notes

The temple was built in 1924 and was designed by S. Tilden Norton in a combination of styles – Romanesque, Moorish, and Renaissance.**^^

Historical Notes

Sinai Temple was the first conservative congregation in Southern California, established in 1906. For nearly 20 years, the temple was located at 12th and Valencia Streets. A second facility, the 1,400-seat structure shown here, was designed by S. Tilden Norton and the first services were held in 1925. The synagogue served the community until 1960, at which time a new temple opened in Westwood.*

Historical Notes

This building, which later became the Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church, was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 91 on November 17, 1971 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Over the years, the building appears to have lost parts of its roof towers.

Historical Notes

The Mission Revival style apartment building was designed by Gotfred Hanson for Doria Deighton Jones in 1905.

Very few people in Los Angeles today know the name Doria Deighton Jones. However, she was an important figure when the city was in its infancy.

Born in Scotland in 1824, she moved to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles. While in San Francisco, she married a Polish-born Jewish grocer, John J. Jones.

After moving to Los Angeles, the Jones family lived in an adobe home facing what today is the plaza at the top of Olvera Street, and what at the time was a central part of the young city.

The home’s prior occupant was Gov. John G. Downey. The old adobe home faced south onto the plaza and stood directly across from the home of Judge Agustin Olvera. It was diagonally opposite the Francisco Avila adobe, which still stands today and is the oldest building in the city.

In an effort to straighten out the jagged street pattern in the neighborhood, two streets running north from the plaza were combined into one; the result was that the old Downey/Jones adobe house was demolished.

A new building, which still stands, was constructed in 1894. It is known as the Simpson-Jones building, as the Jones’ youngest child, Constance Doria Deighton Jones Simpson, was born on the site. Today, La Luz del Dia restaurant occupies part of the structure.

There were two older Jones children. One was Mark G. Jones, the head of Merchants Bank and Trust Company and the first president of Inglewood Park Cemetery. The beautiful cemetery has an elegant, classical outdoor shrine to Mark Jones on top of the hill near the chapel. The other child was Caroline Adelaide Jones, who married and became Mrs. James B. Lankershim. She spent most of her adult life in Paris, returning to Los Angeles to live during World War I, but moving back to France at the conclusion of the war.

There was a commercial structure titled the Jones Block, in which the family had its offices. This building was at 175 N. Spring St., which today is where City Hall stands. In the past, Spring Street turned north of First Street and ran diagonally to meet Main Street, much as it does south of Eighth Street, where it runs at an angle to Main at Ninth Street. The office building is long gone, probably demolished when Spring was straightened to run parallel to Main north of First. This allowed the assembly of the property on which City Hall was constructed in the 1920s.

When her husband died in 1876, Doria Jones continued to live in the adobe house on the plaza, later moving to South Hill Street between Ninth and Tenth streets.

This home was in the upscale residential neighborhood south of Seventh Street, about a block from the home of her daughter and son-in-law, the aforementioned Lankershims. Then as now, South Park was an upscale neighborhood, though the single-family homes of Jones’ era have today been replaced by apartments and condominiums in luxurious high-rises.

The Joneses also acquired a 53-acre property in the Westlake area, just west of Figueroa Street. It was an irregularly shaped parcel bounded by Pico Boulevard, Alvarado Street, Rouland Street (today’s Venice Boulevard) and a diagonal line connecting Rouland to Pico.

Doria Jones developed the property in the early 1900s, turning it into a series of housing tracts. The jewel in the development was the Alvarado Terrace Tract at Pico Boulevard and Alvarado Street. The area contains many fine homes that are great treasures today; some have been designated as historical monuments.

There is a Mission Revival-style apartment building at Pico Boulevard and Union Avenue with the words “The Doria Apartments” appearing in a block format above the roofline in a parapet.

The building was named for and built by Doria Deighton Jones in 1903. It was declared a City Historical Cultural Monument on May 5, 1989.

Doria Deighton Jones lived a long life. She died in 1908 in Los Angeles and was buried in the Jones hilltop section at Inglewood Park Cemetery.  – Greg Fischer*

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Pico-Union Neighborhood.

Historical Notes

This three-story, stucco-faced apartment block had storefronts on its first floor, residential units on the upper two. A red tile roof extended out over the eaves, supported by thick brackets. A large tower, octagonal in shape, stood raised one floor about the street corner. In 1970, this corner storefront was occupied by the Pico Union Pharmacy. (In 2007, this space was occupied by the Pico Free Clinic. Next door, was the Liquor Market.) A Mission Style scalloped gable rose above the eaves line and had a sign in its center spelling "The Doria Apartments," the letters illuminated by early light bulbs.^

Historical Notes

The Doria Apartments building was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 432 in 1989.

Click HERE to see a more contemporary view.

Historical Notes

The Chateau Elysée was built as a luxury hotel/apartment house in 1929 by Eleanor Ince, the widow of Thomas H. Ince, the successful pioneer silent film producer.  Designed by eminent architect Arthur E. Harvey as a prominent seven story replica of a 17th Century French-Normandy castle, the Chateau Elysée remains as the most impressive of several Hollywood chateaux built during the area's booming 1920s.*^

Historical Notes

The Chateau Elysée Hotel provided a home for many of the artists that were then being drawn to Hollywood. Residents included some of the most famous names of the 1930s and 40s. Most notably Bette Davis, Errol Flynn (room 211), Edward G. Robinson (room 216), Carol Lombard (room 305), Edgar Rice Burroughs (room 408), Humphrey Bogart (room 603), Clark Gable (room 604), Ginger Rogers (room 705), Ed Sullivan (room 501), Gracie Allen and George Burns (room 609) along with Lillian Gish, Katharine Hepburn, George Gershwin, and Cary Grant.*^

Historical Notes

In 1969 the building began being used as the Church of Scientology's home for its Celebrity Centre; since 1973 the building has been owned by the Church. Several floors are now hotel rooms (for church members only), with the building's topmost stories serving as offices. Free guided tours of the historic building are available to the general public.

The Château's conservatory building houses the acclaimed French rococo-styled restaurant, Renaissance.*^

On September 23, 1987, the City of Los Angeles declared the building as Historic-Cultural Monument No. 329 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

The developer Luther T. Mayo built the 50-unit Spanish Colonial-style apartment house in 1926 from a design by architect Arthur E. Harvey, with rumored financing from William Randolph Hearst. Upon completion, it belonged to Eleanor Ince, widow of silent-film magnate Thomas Ince. According to legend, Hearst gave her the building as a gift after accidentally killing her husband on his yacht in 1924. The bullet, so the story goes, was intended for Charlie Chaplin, whom Hearst suspected was having an affair with his mistress, Marion Davies (Rosebud herself). Supposedly, Ince’s wife received the luxury residence hotel for her grief.**

Historical Notes

Edward G. Robinson, George Cukor, and Marion Davies were among its early celebrity tenants. Louella Parsons, the most famous gossip writer of the era, penned her column from a two-story apartment on the courtyard. A personal favorite of Hearst’s, Parsons was on the yacht the night of Thomas’s alleged shooting, and is said to have received The Carlotta’s finest apartment for her silence.**

Historical Notes

The four-story building was designed by Arthur E. Harvey, who also designed the nearby Chateau Elysée located across the street.

Historical Notes

The building is a Churrigueresque wonder of late Spanish baroque and filled with detailing they just don’t do anymore.

Historical Notes

The Lesser family trust owned the building from the 1950s to 2014, when it was bought by investment firm CGI Strategies. The new owner is restoring and renovating the historic building with a focus on preserving its architectural heritage, including keeping and refreshing the features and fixtures that made it a special place for so many residents and visitors.*^

Historical Notes

Built in 1927, the 6-story La Leyenda Apartment Building is located in the residential neighborhood of Whitley Heights in the Hollywood Hills.

Historical Notes

The La Leyenda Apartment Building exhibits character-defining features of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture including stucco surfaces which predominate over the openings; low-pitched tile roof; limited number of openings; formal garden; use of decorative ironwork; ceramic tile walls and floors; and Churrigueresque cast stone detailing.^

Historical Notes

In 2005, the La Leyenda Apartment Building at 1735-1737 N. Whitley Avenue was dedicated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 817.

Historical Notes

Originally known as the Warner Bros. Theatre or Warner Hollywood Theatre, the Italianate beaux arts building was designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh with approximately 2,700 seats. It opened on April 26, 1928, showcasing the studio's early Vitaphone talking film Glorious Betsy, starring Conrad Nagel and Dolores Costello.*^

Historical Notes

The  murals were designed by Albert Herter.*^

Historical Notes

The theatre was sometimes called The Warner Hollywood Theatre to avoid confusion with another Warner Theatre in Los Angeles, known as "Warner Downtown Theatre" at 401 W. 7th St.*^

In 1993, the building was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 572 (Click HERE to see complete listing).

Historical Notes

Warner Bros. owned radio station KFWB positioned its radio transmitter towers on top of the building, which remain to this day. Though covered by "PACIFIC" lettering, the original "WARNERS" lettering can still be seen inside each tower.*^

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Pacific Theater (previously Warner Bros.) finally closed its doors as a full-time cinema on August 15, 1994. This was mostly due to water damage to the basement caused by the construction of the Hollywood Subway Red Line and structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The theatre is now occupied by Ecclesia Hollywood Church. Given the recent revitalization of Hollywood Boulevard in the early 21st century, it is often speculated that the theatre will one day be restored as a film palace.*^

Historical Notes

Opened in the summer of 1930, The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood has become one of Los Angeles’ most enduring and recognizable cultural landmarks.

Historical Notes

The Pantages Theatre was constructed between 1929 and 1930 under the leadership of Alexander Pantages, and cost $1.25 million. 

Historical Notes

The Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theater opened on June 4, 1930, as part of the Pantages Theatre Circuit.

Historical Notes

The original plans for the Pantages were for a 12-story building: 2 floors dedicated to theater and 10 floors of office space. Completion of the 10 upper floors was halted due to the 1929 stock market crash during construction.

Historical Notes

The Pantages Theatre can hold claim to two “lasts”: the last movie palace to be built in Hollywood and the last venue erected by vaudeville circuit owner, Alexander Pantages.

Historical Notes

The Pantages opened on June 4th, 1930 with MGM's “The Floradora Girl” starring Marion Davies.

Historical Notes

Designed by B. Marcus Priteca at the epitome of the Art Deco era, from sidewalk to stage, the Pantages dazzles theater-goers with chevrons, zigzags, starbrusts, and exotic figures.^

Historical Notes

Alexander Pantages sold the Hollywood landmark in 1932 to Fox West Coast Theaters. In 1949, Howard Hughes acquired the Pantages for his RKO Theatre Circuit and moved his personal offices to the building's second floor.

From 1949 through 1959, the theatre hosted the American motion picture industry's annual Academy Award Ceremonies.

Historical Notes

The grand lobby is a magnificent poly-chromatic fan-vaulted space, that is 110 feet wide and 60 feet deep. It is decorated in a zigzag geometric design in gold and henna shades. The entire area was illuminated by three huge Moderne frosted glass chandeliers hanging from three star-shaped domes.

Historical Notes

At each end of the grand lobby is a 20 feet wide stairway, lined with vaguely Egyptian and Assyro-Babylonian styled statues, one of which depicts in an Art Deco style, a camera crew filming.

Historical Notes

The auditorium was designed to seat 3,212, but it opened with extra legroom and wider seats to give more comfort for its 2,812 patrons.

Historical Notes

The crowning beauty of the dazzling Art Deco style decorations which cover almost every inch of the theatre interior, by interior designer/muralist Anthony B. Heinsbergen, is the double ceiling made in a series of ‘busy’ fretwork sunray effects which converge from the center, from which is hung a tremendous frosted glass and bronze chandelier.

Historical Notes

The Pantages Theatre was one of the first movie houses to be built after the advent of talking pictures and once boasted the most elaborate sound system in the world. It opened with Marion Davies in “The Floradora Girl” on screen, and “The Rose Garden Idea” a Franchon & Marco stage revue.

Historical Notes

The Pantages Theater continued to be a major venue for road show movies into the 1970s. From 1965, it was operated by Pacific Theatres. It closed as a movie theater in January, 1977, and re-opened the following month with Bubbling Brown Sugar, the first of the many stage productions that have since become its regular fare.

Historical Notes

The 1930 Pantages Theatre can hold claim to two “lasts”: the last movie palace to be built in Hollywood and the last venue erected by vaudeville circuit owner, Alexander Pantages. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca at the epitome of the Art Deco era, from sidewalk to stage, the Pantages dazzles theater-goers with chevrons, zigzags, starbrusts, and exotic figures.

Historical Notes

From 1950 to 1960, the awards were presented at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre.

The 22nd Academy Awards Ceremony awarded Oscars for the best in films in 1949. This was the last year for which all five Best Picture nominees were in black and white.*^

Best Picture: All the King's Men

Best Actor: Broderick Crawford – All the King's Men

Best Actress: Olivia de Havilland – The Heiress

Historical Notes

The 23rd Academy Awards Ceremony awarded Oscars for the best in films in 1950. The nominations were notable this year, as All About Eve was nominated for fourteen Oscars, beating the previous record of thirteen set by Gone with the Wind.*^

23rd Annual Academy Awards (March 29, 1951):

Best Picture: All About Eve

Best Actor: José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac

Best Actress: Judy Holliday – Born Yesterday

Historical Notes

The 28th Academy Awards, saw, Marty, a simple and low-budget film usually uncharacteristic of Best Picture awardees, became the shortest film (as well as the second Palme d'Or winner) to win the top honor.*^

28rd Annual Academy Awards (March 21, 1956):

Best Picture: Marty

Best Actor: Ernest Borgnine – Marty

Best Actress: Anna Magnani – The Rose Tattoo

Historical Notes

1957's best films were honored at the 30th Academy Awards. 

The Oscar for Writing Based on Material From Another Medium was awarded to Pierre Boulle for The Bridge on the River Kwai, despite the fact that he did not know English. The actual writers, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were blacklisted at the time and did not receive screen credit for their work. Foreman and Wilson have since been acknowledged by the Academy for their contributions.

Joanne Woodward's win for Best Actress for her triple role as Eve White, Eve Black and Jane in The Three Faces of Eve marked the film as the last film to win Best Actress without being nominated for other awards. This was broken 31 years later when Jodie Foster won Best Actress for her role in The Accused, the film's only nomination.

Peyton Place tied the record for the most nominations without a single win (9) with The Little Foxes. It would not be broken until 1977 when The Turning Point received 11 nominations without a win, which has not been broken since, though The Color Purple subsequently tied the record. Peyton Place also set the record for most unsuccessful acting nominations with five; this record has been tied once, by Tom Jones at the 36th Academy Awards.

It was the first time the ceremonies were broadcast live.*^

30th Academy Awards (March 26, 1958):

Best Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai

Best Actor: Alec Guinness – The Bridge on the River Kwai

Best Actress: Joanne Woodward – The Three Faces of Eve

Historical Notes

The 31st Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1959, to honor the best films of 1958. The show's producer, Jerry Wald, started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time. Unfortunately, he cut too much material and the ceremony ended 20 minutes early, leaving Jerry Lewis to attempt to fill in the time. Eventually, NBC cut to a re-run of a sports show.

The film Gigi won nine Oscars, breaking the previous record of eight (set by Gone with the Wind and tied by From Here to Eternity and On the Waterfront). It would be shortlived, however, as Ben-Hur broke the record with eleven Oscars the following year.*^

31st Annual Academy Awards (April 6, 1959):

Best Picture:Gigi

Best Actor: David Niven – Separate Tables

Best Actress: Susan Hayward – I Want to Live!

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Pictures Backlot façade with its signs, “Flowers, Sweets, Pets,” is based on the famed Pantages Theatre in Hollywood—but only the part of the Pantages that’s to the left of the theater’s entrance and marquee, which is why the Disney version doesn’t look like a theater.

Historical Notes

The Frolic Room, located next door to the Pantages Theater is one of the most historic and quintessential dive bar in Hollywood. This watering-hole has gone through a variety of permutations over the years. It began serving as a private speakeasy lounge originally called Freddy’s, then opened to the public in 1934, as Bob’s Frolic Room.

The Frolic Room was reputedly the last place the real Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short, was seen alive. Both Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland also imbibed here. Howard Hughes owned both the Pantages and the bar from 1949 to 1954. He added the colorful, artistic neon bar sign above the door that still welcomes patrons today, as well as throwing lavishly wild parties.^

Historical Notes

In 2000, the theater underwent a massive rehabilitation project, uncovering its Art Deco grandeur, receiving a Conservancy Preservation Award in 2001. 

Historical Notes

Now operated by a subsidiary of The Nederlander Organization, the fully-restored Pantages is one of the city’s highest-grossing venues for live stage and Broadway-style productions, packing in audiences for such lavish hits as The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hamilton. With a location a few steps from “Hollywood and Vine,” a major hotel complex and a subway station directly across the street, and numerous development projects newly-announced or underway, the best years of the Pantages may well lie in the future.^

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.