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Visual Materials

Melrose Annex, 130 S. Grand Avenue, 1939


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  • Image not available

    Rear of Melrose and 130 S. Grand Avenue from Olive Street

    Visual Materials

    From left to right, the rear of the Richelieu, 142 South Grand; the Melrose Annex at 130 South Grand, and the Melrose at 120 South Grand, shot from Olive Street looking west.

    Book 1, pg. 15 / Neg. 10088

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    Some detail of same, 1957

    Visual Materials

    Note the removal of the top of the cupola, and the initials "MWC" for Marc W. Connor carved above the door.

    Book 1, pg. 11 / Neg. 10348

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    Rear detail of 130 S. Grand Avenue

    Visual Materials

    This collection contains approximately 9,000 negatives (2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches), 7 binders of contact prints of a large portion of the negatives, and 3 photobooks (11 x 14 inches). The photographs were taken by Theodore Hall, an avid amateur photographer and resident of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles from 1938 to 1963. Photographs depict the historic structures and streets of the neighborhood before and during the urban renewal of the 1950s, when buildings were razed and much of the hill was lopped off and graded. Hall photographed houses, storefronts, signs, architectural details, cars, and often the residents: shopkeepers, newsstand vendors, local children, and people on their front porches. A diverse population including African American, Asian American, Latin American, and white residents are pictured in everyday activities in the neighborhood. Grand Central Market, the downtown food and grocery emporium, is featured extensively in detailed images of vendors, customers, neon signs, and food stalls. Also seen on Bunker Hill are hotels and apartment buildings, the Angels Flight funicular railway, Victorian mansions turned into rooming houses, liquor stores, and construction crews grading land and pouring cement. Many historic buildings are seen in disrepair, and some are pictured in the midst of being torn down. Other Los Angeles sites depicted are: Union Station, City Hall, Olvera Street and the Plaza, churches, freeways, and automotive tunnels. The contact print binders also contain Hall's photographs of friends, social gatherings, camera club members, practice portrait sessions, annual visits to family in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a few day trips in Southern California. Some of the Los Angeles architects whose buildings are represented are: John C. W. Austin, Austin and Brown, Welton Becket, Dodd and Richards, Frederick R. Dorn, Edelman & Barnett, Theodore A. Eisen, Charles O. Ellis, Arthur L. Haley, Marsh and Russell, T. J. McCarthy, William H. Mohr, Joseph C. Newsom, John Parkinson, John Cotter Pelton Jr., James M. Shields, Lewis A. Smith, Train and Williams, George Herbert Wyman, and Robert Brown Young.

    Book 1, pg. 16 / Neg. 10088

  • Image not available

    142 S. Grand Avenue, 1957

    Visual Materials

    Robert Larkins built this house in 1888 at 142 South Grand as his residence and to house boarders. It was demolished in 1957. Its architects are unknown but may be Bradbeer and Ferris.

    Book 1, pg. 17 / Neg. 9992

  • Image not available

    Melrose Hotel, 120 S. Grand Avenue, 1957

    Visual Materials

    Architect: T. J. McCarthy, 1902. Demolished in 1957.

    Book 1, pg. 7 / Neg. 10157

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    Detail of building (the DOME), S/W corner of 2nd, and Grand Avenue, 1957

    Visual Materials

    The Moorish/Mission-style Minnewaska, renamed "the Dome," 201 South Grand, built by James Shields and daughter Maud, in 1902. Burned in 1964, it was demolished soon after.

    Book 1, pg. 33 / Neg. 10232