William Crandell on October 19, 2011, at 08:02PM – #1

That church was a great source of income for the parish. Every Saturday, except during Lent, there would a a wedding held every hour, all day long. The interior was a glorious French Gothic cathedral, at about half scale. On lunch break one day, I sat in the back and watched the filming of a scene of a movie featuring Bobbie DeNiro, adapted from a novel by John Dunne.

It was sickening to open the Times the day before Labor Day '83 and read of the fire. Perhaps St. Joe's is still run by the Franciscan order. Two brothers were the architects. The Vatican sent a special emissary to attend the ground breaking. A huge reception for the emissary was staged at Hazard's Pavilion.

Along with the original church, there was a Victorian styled school house.

DenOfLosAngeles on October 20, 2011, at 12:30PM – #2

My Godson was baptised there in 1975.

on October 21, 2011, at 10:25PM – #3

I'm glad you returned to the "vanished churches of DTLA" series. This is a great peek into the city's past. What a pity these gorgeous structures are gone.

BTW, I recently discovered that a boring little white building on Flower waiting for somebody to lease it was also a church once: Our Lady Chapel, where JFK's Requiem Mass was broadcast from by Charles Kuralt.

One parishioner's memories of the chapel:

Part of the mass on YouTube:

() on October 24, 2011, at 09:02AM – #4

I seem to recall that some small ancillary building survived the fire, but I am not certain if it is still standing. Does anyone know the answer to that?