Totally different from anything on SRK but this will be a ongoing thread.
Anyway, Los Angeles is my hometown. Some people love it. Some people hate it. I happen to love it. I think it’s one of the greatest cities on earth. I fancy myself to believe that I know quite a bit of history on the city and a lot of people think that LA lacks any sort of depth or soul but that’s far from the case. LA has one of the more interesting and unique histories of any city anywhere. A lot of it is intertwined with it’s buildings and transportation (freeways, the old Red Cars). LA is a highly photogenic city and much thanks goes to the USC Archives. They own. So here I present to you Los Angeles: A Story.
Oh…you might want to listen to some old timey jazz music as a lot of the pictures I’m going to post here have a very ‘norish’ quality to them (Sin City like).
Please to enjoy.
Downtown Los Angeles circa 1929. City Hall would remain LA’s tallest building for about 40 years. Note the ‘15 cent movie’ sign.
^ The beacon on the second picture was installed to honor Charles Lindbergh. It was uninstalled during WW2 and hidden away until City Hall was retrofitted in 2001. They found it and reinstalled it. They light it up for special events
Los Angeles Hall of Records circa 1957. This jem of a building would be destroyed in 1973 I believe for a few reasons. 1) It was deemed unsafe after the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake and 2) It didn’t follow the new downtown street grid.
If anyone has seen the Angelina Jolie movie “Changeling,” here’s a picture of the boy the story was based on, Walter Collins.
Here is a picture of the real Christine Collins.
The Walter Collins imposter: The boy who returned as Walter Collins pencils specimens of his writing, which proves he is not the real Walter Collins, according to Milton Carlson, handwriting expert. Later it was learned his real name is Arthur Hutchens, alias Billy Fields.
Child murderer, Gordon Northcott
The murder farm in Wineville (name changed to Mira Loma largely because of the negative publicity from the notorious murders) in Riverside County, California
I’ve always had a interest in this stuff. Big fan of the 50’s.
Beverly Hills City Hall 1930’s. Not many people know that Beverly Hills is it’s own city in Los Angeles. Along with Hollywood and Santa Monica to name a few.
Then, as now, on most onramps, you have to make a complete stop before entering the freeway. And on many offramps, the driver is forced to slow down abruptly to 5 miles per hour. On/offramps are extremely short by modern freeway standards, and there are virtually no acceleration/deceleration lanes. Freeways built after this one benefited from these design flaws; obviously, highway engineers realized you need longer ramps and space to accelerate/decelerate.
Downtown circa mid 1960’s. Convention Center is under construction. That vast empty plot to the north is Bunker Hill which I will get to later. For a reference of where things are today, do you see Hotel Figueroa (small little hotel with the 3 blank walls)? Staples Center is right across the street from it today.
Downtown circa 1973. AON Center (tall black building) and Bank of America Plaza (the other tall building) are under construction. And if you look near City Hall, you can just barely see the Hall of Records.
The 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, were the first modern Olympics to turn a profit, of well over a million dollars, and this was during the Great Depression. Interestingly, the next Olympics to turn a profit would be the 1984 Summer Olympics, again held in Los Angeles. The '84 Games were the first privately financed Olympics; but for the '32 Games, the voters of California actually approved an Olympic bond of 1 million dollars, unfathomable today. The 1932 Summer Games raised the bar for Olympics organization; prior to it, the Stockholm 1912 Games were considered the first successful modern games. Amsterdam 1928 was considered a very successful Olympics, and Los Angeles wanted to one-up Amsterdam. 10th Street, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, was renamed Olympic Boulevard in honor of the 1932 Olympics, it being the Tenth Olympiad of the modern era. LA was awarded the 1932 Games as a consolation for not having won the 1924 Games; Amsterdam had also bid for 1924, but Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, wanted Paris to host 1924 because of the embarrassment that was the 1900 Paris Olympics. So, it was agreed that Amsterdam would host 1928 and LA, 1932.
It was at the LA 1932 Games that the 3-step platform was introduced for the medal ceremonies, with the playing of the gold medalist’s national anthem and the raising of the national flags of the winners. Also, it was at these Games that the medals ceremonies were done following the conclusion of the event. Prior to 1932, all of the medals were handed to the athletes during the closing ceremony; and since the previous summer Games lasted for several months, some athletes went home after the conclusion of their events, so they wouldn’t even be present to receive their medals during the closing ceremony.
