Category Archives: Downtown

Lyndon Johnson’s 1955 Shopping Spree at Oviatt’s

Posted on November 28, 2013 by lmharnisch

I’m always looking for Oviatt items and here’s a jacket that has been listed on EBay, with bids starting at $149.99. And not just any jacket. This one was tailored for future President Lyndon Johnson. For the record: As Wayne … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Fashion, Found on EBay | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles – The U.S. Hotel

Posted on November 26, 2013 by lmharnisch

Jan. 13, 1936: One look and I knew this gem was gone. In fact, even the cross street has been obliterated. The U.S. Hotel was at Main and Market, across from City Hall. Times columnist Timothy Turner writes: “Rapid change … Continue reading →

Posted in 1936, Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Main Street, Nuestro Pueblo | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles – The Photo Studio

Posted on November 19, 2013 by lmharnisch

Jan. 6, 1936: In this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit Borgia Studio, on Sunset Boulevard near the Plaza. This is a particularly nice post by Turner about the way photo studio … Continue reading →

Posted in 1936, Downtown, Film, Nuestro Pueblo, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Rediscovering Los Angeles – The Photo Studio

Rediscovering Los Angeles – Masonic Hall

Posted on November 12, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 30, 1935: For this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit Los Angeles’ former Masonic Hall, a building from the 1870s on Main street “on the east side just south of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Main Street, Nuestro Pueblo | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Love Child’ Abandoned in Movie Theater as Parents Die in Suicide Pact

Posted on November 8, 2013 by lmharnisch

Nov. 8, 1933: Los Angeles history is so rich that all you need to strike gold is to poke a stick in the ground, and today is a perfect example. We have the story of Jack Bodin Sr., 41, who … Continue reading →

Posted in 1933, 1936, Art & Artists, Broadway, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Suicide, Theaters | 4 Comments

L.A. Becomes N.Y.

Posted on November 6, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dear New Yorkers: You love to make fun of us, but here we are at Spring and 5th last night, watering down the street for yet another production set in your fair city but filmed in downtown Los Angeles. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Location Sleuth, New York, Spring Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles — Pershing Square

Posted on November 5, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 23, 1935: For this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit Pershing Square. Not the concrete moonscape we know today, designed to repel the homeless, but a lushly landscaped park with a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, Art & Artists, Columnists, Downtown, Hill Street, Nuestro Pueblo, Olive, Parks | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘The Clansman’ Comes to Los Angeles – Part 2

Posted on October 30, 2013 by lmharnisch

A photo from an ad for “The Clansman” in the Los Angeles Herald, 1908. Several weeks ago, I stumbled across a program from the Mason Opera House, announcing the upcoming production of “The Clansman,” the play by Thomas Dixon Jr. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1908, African Americans, Animals, Broadway, Downtown, Film, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles Star, Stage | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles – the St. Angelo

Posted on October 29, 2013 by lmharnisch

Grand and Temple via Google Street View. In the Dec. 16, 1935, installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit the St. Angelo, on “Grand Avenue just off Temple Street on the northern slope … Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Nuestro Pueblo | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

State Normal School at Los Angeles

Posted on October 26, 2013 by lmharnisch

What grandma used to call a “penny postal” showing the State Normal School in Los Angeles has been listed on EBay. And who would like to tell us what’s there now? This postcard is listed as Buy It Now for … Continue reading →

Posted in 1911, Architecture, Downtown, Found on EBay | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Restaurant Manager Turns Tables on Robbers

Posted on October 25, 2013 by lmharnisch

Oct. 25, 1943: Three bandits who hit a handful of businesses met their match at a cafe at 1306 S. Main St. when they tried to hold up assistant manager Joe D. Poindexter. Two of them came into the cafe … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Main Street, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Turn Off the Sunshine’ by Timothy Turner

Posted on October 24, 2013 by lmharnisch

A copy of Timothy G. Turner’s “Turn Off the Sunshine” has been listed on EBay. Turner, you may recall, was the Times columnist who worked with artist Charles Owens on Rediscovering Los Angeles. Bidding on this copy of the book … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Books and Authors, Broadway, Downtown, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Chinese Massacre – Oct 24, 1871

Posted on October 23, 2013 by lmharnisch

At top, an account of the massacre in the Daily Southern Cross of Auckland, New Zealand, Dec. 9, 1871, Above, a detail of a Los Angeles map displayed in the Globe Lobby of the Los Angeles Times Building showing the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1871, Crime and Courts, Downtown | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Chinese Massacre – Oct 24, 1871

Rediscovering Los Angeles – The Plaza

Posted on October 22, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 9, 1935: For the sixth installment, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy G. Turner visit the old Plaza. Turner says: “Historically, it was never much, never a really Mexican plaza with parking and a kiosk for a municipal … Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, Art & Artists, Downtown, Nuestro Pueblo, Preservation | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

L.A. Traffic, 1915 Edition

Posted on October 21, 2013 by lmharnisch

My Los Angeles Times colleague Scott Harrison does wonderful work going through The Times photo archives. Here’s his latest post on a “new”method of directing traffic in which police stopped using whistles. This is Officer F.M. Wilson at Broadway and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1915, Downtown, LAPD, Photography, Transportation | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on L.A. Traffic, 1915 Edition

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Richfield Building Jazzes Up Los Angeles’ Skyline

Posted on October 21, 2013 by lmharnisch

  The Richfield Building in an undated postcard. After years of deprivation, darkness and worry during World War I and its aftermath, America was ready to look toward a shining future of prosperity and sunshine in the 1920s. Overnight, fashion, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1928, Architecture, Downtown, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Downtown Los Angeles: Broadway

Posted on October 18, 2013 by lmharnisch

This postcard, marked 1909, showing Broadway, looking north just below 4th Street, has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $8.95. And for comparison, here’s what it looks like on Google Street View. Let’s take a closer look.

Posted in Broadway, City Hall, Downtown, Found on EBay, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles — El Capricho de los Dorados

Posted on October 15, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 2, 1935: In this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit El Capricho de los Dorados, a tiny Mexican restaurant on Aliso “below Alameda Street.” Turner says: “These little places are generally … Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, Architecture, Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Downtown, Food and Drink, Nuestro Pueblo | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Rediscovering Los Angeles — El Capricho de los Dorados

Times Building Bombed by Labor Radicals – 1910

Posted on October 13, 2013 by lmharnisch

A photograph showing the bombed-out ruins of the Los Angeles Times Building has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $5. By the way, I am tardy in writing about Lew Irwin’s book on The Times bombing. Lew is a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1910, Broadway, Downtown, Found on EBay, Photography | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

‘The Clansman’ Comes to Los Angeles – 1908

Posted on October 11, 2013 by lmharnisch

A 1908 program from the Mason Opera House has been listed on EBay with an ad for an upcoming production of “The Clansman,” a play adapted from  Thomas  Dixon’s novels “The Leopard’s Spots” and “The Clansman” and turned into D.W. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1908, African Americans, Books and Authors, Broadway, Downtown, Film, Found on EBay, Stage | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments