A Drive Around Late 1940's Bunker Hill
[www.latimes.com]
Looking south on Flower Street, north of 3rd. In the background on the right side of the street is the Richfield Building.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — It isn't often that the Downtowner of today gets a chance to wander the streets of their neighborhood as it stood sixty years ago, but a film uploaded to the Internet Archive this weekend offers exactly that.
The background process plate—film intended to be used behind actors in a car scene—offers an all-too-short, high-resolution view of Bunker Hill and today's Financial District in the late 1940's.
The sequence of shots starts on 2nd Street, above the mouth of the 2nd Street Tunnel. Twice it travels up 2nd, turning right on Grand Avenue and travelling down to 5th. There it takes a right, the turn offering a brief glimpse of Pershing Square and the Historic Core in the distance. From 5th, the picture takes a right on Flower Street, traveling again into old Bunker Hill before turning right onto 2nd Street and finishing.
Let's take a look at the stories of a few of the buildings seen along the way:
Frontenac Apartments (1:07)
This 140-unit apartment building was called one of the city's most modern in a 1909 story. It operated until 1962, when it was torn down as part of Bunker Hill redevelopment.
Zelda Apts (1:45)
Also built in 1909, the six-story Zelda only lasted until 1954, when it was torn down to make way for the 4th Street Viaduct and its connection to the 110 freeway.
Pacific Telephone (3:27)
Opened in 1947, Pacific Telephone and Telegraph's Grand Avenue switching facility was the terminus for the nation's first trans-U.S. coaxial cable. The $7.5-million cable was capable of carrying up to 2400 conversations.
In 1950, the 10-story building played another key role as engineers got a microwave link going between San Francisco and L.A., just in time to give local viewers access to Bay Area football games.
Along with a 1961 annex, the structure still serves as AT&T's central Los Angeles switching office.
Central Library (3:50)
The grounds of the 1926 Central Library look tranquil without the building's 1991 addition.
Richfield Building (4:30)
Dedicated in 1929, the black-and-gold Richfield Building was topped by a 125-foot tower that stretched it to 350 feet tall. While a beloved landmark, the building was torn down in 1968 to make way for the twin 52-story towers of Atlantic Richfield Plaza. The two buildings contained more than 20 times the usable space of the historic structure.
Noticed via this blog post on The Atlantic.
Michael Hudson-Medina on September 07, 2011, at 08:47AM – #1
The Biltmore Theater is shown at 3:37 just at the camera turns from Grand Ave. to 5th St. Interesting history on the Biltmore Theater that many people don't know about. Most of the big hit Broadway plays (non-musicals) were shown there with often the original casts from New York.
Jerell Ordonio on September 07, 2011, at 01:42PM – #2
That far stone guard rail atop the 2nd street tunnel in the beginning of the clip shows how intricate it's design was. if you look at it today it's a chain link fence =[ what was Los Angeles thinking. would be really nice to redesign the area to match the 1940's and bring back stairs/steps parallel to the entry of the 2nd st tunnel between olive and hill for pedestrians to walk up...
Back in DTLA's hey days downtown had beautifully designed public city stairs or steps built on hillsides for pedestrians to climb. Playing L.A. Noire made me realize how gorgeous downtown was back in the day, and how the city sadly destroyed it.
Tim Quinn on September 07, 2011, at 07:12PM – #3
Reminds me that the air could get really oppressive back before we started to control smog. Made everything look tired and brutal. Instead of tearing it all down it just needed a good scrub and a coat of paint. There are some pretty elegant modern buildings along the way as well as the Victorians. I love the gas station at Second and Grand, Early Modern Minimalism.
Stephen Langton on September 07, 2011, at 11:30PM – #4
My grandfather, John Colby, ran the Palace Garage and Machine Shop at 318 South Grand Avenue which appears twice in the video.
John Bengtson on September 09, 2011, at 12:05AM – #5
LAUREL AND HARDY FILMED HERE TOO The footage not only provides a wonderful glimpse of post-WWII Bunker Hill, now lost to civic redevelopment, but illuminates Los Angeles during the silent film era as well.
As I explain in my book Silent Visions, Harold Lloyd filmed scenes for seven different movies at the intersection of 3rd and Grand, on Bunker Hill, more scenes than at any other location in Los Angeles. It was a popular place for Laurel and Hardy, and other Hal Roach Studio stars to film as well. The Prelinger film drives twice by Lloyd’s intersection of 3rd and Grand, providing razor sharp images of where Lloyd and other silent stars filmed.
You can see where several Roach silent comedies were filmed along the Prelinger film route on my blog below.
http://silentlocations.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/stan-ollie-and-harold-a-drive-through-bunker-hill/
Nathan Marsak on September 12, 2011, at 09:18PM – #6
Tim -- you're absolutely right -- everybody decries our descent into barbarism, but though our landscape is less visually interesting, our air is a hundred times cleaner since Nixon created the EPA...and Stephen, you are among Bunker Hill royalty! That shot of the garage at 2:55 is really rare. I should add that if anyone who likes this video hasn't picked up John's "Silent Visions" book, they owe themselves to, it's amazing.
For an unusually noxious, needlessly involved breakdown of the video in question, go here:
http://onbunkerhill.org/adrivethroughbunkerhill#comment-356
Suzy Beal on November 29, 2011, at 08:53PM – #7
Nathan, I thought you were being terribly snobbish until I realized you'd written that "noxious" description yourself. Nice work, all. :)