Civic Center in construction

Los Angeles City Hall in construction, as viewed from Temple Street in 1928.

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Construcción del Ayuntamiento, visto desde la calle Temple, en 1928.

The building was designed by John Parkinson, John C. Austin, and Albert C. Martin, Sr., and was completed in 1928. It has 32 floors and, at 454 feet (138 m) high, is the tallest base-isolated structure in the world, having undergone a seismic retrofit that will allow the building to sustain minimal damage and remain functional after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake

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El edifcio fue diseñado por los arquitectos John Parkinson, John C. Austin, y Albert C. Martin, y se completó en 1928. Cuenta con 32 pisos y tiene una altura de 138 metros de altura, lo que lo convierte en la estructura más alta del mundo, con unos cimientos aislados, que contienen un dispositivo antisísmico subterráneo, que permitirían al edificio resitir un seismo de hasta 8.2 en la escala de Richler.

The concrete in its tower was made with sand from each of California's 58 counties and water from its 21 historical missions

(Source: L.A. Public Library and www.skyscrapercity.com).

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El hormigón usado en su construcción contiene, simbológicamente, arena de los 21 condados de California, y se usó también agua proviniente de las 21 misiones históricas de todo el estado.

Fuente: BPLA y www.skyscrappercity.com

Due in part to seismic concerns, prior to the late 1950s the City of Los Angeles did not permit any portion of any building other than a purely decorative tower to be more than 150 feet (46 m) high. Therefore, from its completion in 1928 until 1964, the City Hall was the tallest building in Los Angeles.

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Debido en parte a preocupaciones sísmicas, antes de finales del decenio de 1950 la ciudad de Los Ángeles, no permitía cualquier parte de cualquier edificio que no fuera una torre puramente decorativa alcanzar la altura demás de 150 pies de alto. Por lo tanto, desde su terminación en 1928 hasta 1964, el Ayuntamiento fue el edificio más alto de Los Angeles.

The City Hall Tower taking shape in 1928.

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La Torre del Ayuntamiento tomando forma en 1928

Civic center foundation in construction

Building the Civic Center, in the image the City Hall foundation in construction in 1928. The City Hall is located in the city block bordered by Main, Temple, 1st, and Spring streets. A view of the old Court House Building and a part of the Hall of Records bulding can be seen at the left of the picture.
from: www.skyscrappercity.con and LAPL

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Construyendo el Centro Administrativo de Los Ángeles. En la imagen, los cimientos del nuevo edificio del Ayuntamiento en construcción, en 1928. El Ayuntamiento se halla en la manzana que comprende las calles Primera, Main, Temple y Spring. En la fotografía, en la parte de la izquierda, se ve el viejo edificio del Palacio de Justicia, demolido con motivo de la reurbanización del centro que, entre otras cosas, comprendía el ensanche y ampliación de calzada de la calle Temple, que actualmente discurre en parte por donde se ubicaba el inmueble, o la nivelación y posterior desparición de la colina Court (Court Hill) y finalmente, por la ubicación en las proximidades más inmediatas de la futura autopista de Hollywood, paralela a la calle Aliso. Detrás vemos el viejo edificio art-decó del Registro Civil, demolido esta vez tras las consecuencias de un seismo en 1971, que provocó graves daños estructurales en el edifició, que porsteriormente fue calificado de inhabitalbe. Irónicamente, el solar donde se hallaba el Registro Civil jamás fue urbanizado, y tras varios usos, hoy es un parking lot: un espacio más, usado para estacionar coches, como los cientos o miles que surgieron entonces, en solares antes ocupados por inmuebles.

Victorian Residences on Bunker Hill

In 1867, a wealthy developer, Prudent Beaudry, purchased a majority of the hill's land. Because of the hill's excellent views of the Los Angeles Basin and the then-attractive Los Angeles River, he knew that it would make for an opulent subdivision. He developed the peak of Bunker Hill with lavish two-story Victorian houses that became famous as homes for the upper-class, educated residents of Los Angeles.Angels Flight, dubbed "The World's Shortest Railway", took residents from the top of the hill to the bottom of the 33% grade and thus to the main business district. Much like today's Bunker Hill, the land of the hill was zoned for dense uses, and was therefore always a very busy area. Let's take a view to some of those glamorous victorian homes, all of them gone and vanished.

The Miller home on Bunker Hill on the southwest corner of 2nd Street and Bunker Hill Avenue. It was located across from the Berke mansion and was built in 1890.

The Llewelyn Bixby home at 138 North Hill Street, which later became the Harmonia Apartments.

The Llewelyn Bixby home at 138 North Hill Street, which later became the Harmonia Apartments.

Rev. Edward T. Hildreth's home on Bunker Hill at 357 South Hope Street. Built in 1891, it occupied the northwest corner of the intersection, later the southeast corner of Security Pacific Plaza.

Exterior corner front view of the two-story Victorian Gothic style home of Miss Almira Parker Hershey on the northwest corner of 4th Street and South Grand Avenue on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles.

The home of Fred Baker located on the southeast corner of Fort Moore Place and Broadway.

The Bunker Hill residence of Frank A. Gibson at 520 Court Street. His son, Hugh Gibson, also lived here and later became the U. S. Ambassador to Switzerland.

Houses located on Fort Moore Hill at 426 North Broadway. The Milo Baker residence is on the left. The Hilliker house was the last residence to be built on the hill, according to the Los Angeles Times of April 1, 1934, Roto. section, page 2. Milo Baker was president of Baker Iron Works and he built his house prior to 1889. The Newsom brothers contributed as architects but their extent is not known.

This victorian house was located at 321 S Bunker Hill Avenue. It was owned by Lady Macdonald. The building had some excentrities, such an elevator in it.

Early years

Above, a view from across the street on Bunker Hill of two Victorian style hotels on the 100 block of S. Grand Ave., the Richlieu on the right and the Hotel Melrose on the left.

Bellow, an unpaved Olive Street, looking north from approximately 7th or 8th Street in a time when it was a residential area. Bunker Hill can be seen in the distance. Horse-drawn vehicles are also visible.

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Arriba, vistos a pie de calle en Bunker Hill, dos hoteles de estilo victoriano, localizados en el número 100 al sur de Grand Avenue: el hotel Richlieu a la derecha, y el hotel Melrose a la izquierda. La fotografía es de fecha incierta, pero debe situarse a finales del siglo XIX.

Abajo, vista al norte de Olive Street aún sin pavimentar, a la altura de los números 7 o 8. En aquel tiempo Olive Street era una zona residencial. Podemos ver parte del Bunker Hill al fondo, así como diversos vehículos tirados a caballo.

Court Flight Funicular

Court Flying Railway, also known as the Court Flight, in 1908. This railway was the other funicular in Downtown Los Angeles. Since 1905 Bunker Hill residents enjoyed another incline railway in their neightborhood. Originally envisioned as a tourist spot more than a practical mode of transportation, Court Flight was built on a portion of Court Street, so steep it was passible only to pedestrians by stairs. Court Flight's base was located on Broadway and it ran approximately 180 feet up towards Hill Street, in between Temple & First Street. Unlike Angels Flights, the Court Street cars ran on two separate tracks instead of one.

Source: www.skyscrapperscity.com and http://onbunkerhill.org/node/130 .

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El Court Flying Railway, o también conocido como el Court Flight en 1908, que junto al Angels Flight, fue el otro funicular inclinado del centro de Los Ángeles desde 1905. Inicialmente ideado como una atracción turística más que como un medio de transporte, el Court Flight se construyó sobre una porción de la Calle Court, donde el acceso unicamente era posible, a causa de la inclinación de la calle, para los peatones por medio de una escalera -originalmente de madera, y luego substituída por una echa de bloques de piedra- La base del Court Flight se hallaba en la calle Broadway, y ascendía aproximadamente unos 54.8 metros en dirección a la calle Hill, por la calle Court, en medio de las calles Primera y Temple. A diferencia del Angels Flight, los vagones del Court Hill se movían sobre dos raíles por dirección en lugar de uno solo.

Fuente: www.skyscrapperscity.com y http://onbunkerhill.org/node/130

3rd & Hill Street, Los Angeles: Then and Now

Within a span of only two lifetimes, an almost unimaginable transformation...

1895: Third Street looking west, past Hill Street. A church on the northeast corner is within walking distance of the residences. That’s the Crocker Mansion at the top of Bunker Hill, a landform that effectively cut off this part of the city from growth to the west.

1900: The tunnel at 3rd st and Hill st. is under construction, for an up coming train screet sytem. Now this part of the city can grow up to the west.

1903: (The two-year-old funicular railway "Angels Flight" (left), and the just completed 3rd and Hill str eet tunnel.)

1905: The photo shows how apartment buildings replaced the frame structures of earlier years. The Crocker Mansion is the fancy building at the top of Bunker Hill, and the viewing tower stands behind it to the right. There appear to be electric lights in the tunnel: In June 1903 a journalist had suggested coating the walls of the tunnel with radium to provide illumination

1908: The Crocker Mansion is almost completely hidden in this artificially colored shot from the early 1900s by a new apartment building that faces Clay Street. The Saint Helena Sanitarium, with a vegetarian restaurant, is on the northwest corner of Third and Hill. The gabled buildings at the left were later replaced by the Ferguson Building, shown below.

Ornamental street lights have been added.

1912: Angel's Flight funicular is still in service as well as the tunnel.

1918: The Crocker Mansion is gone in these shots from what appears to be the late teens, replaced by the Elks Lodge (the building bearing the sign BPOE, for Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the same initials appear on the new archway entrance to Angels Flight). Saint Helena’s has been replaced by a rooming house, but the vegetarian restaurant remains.

The striped awnings mark the ground floor of the Conservative Life building, and the white-columned archway at the right appears to be the entrance to the YWCA.

The wooden houses on the southwest corner have been replaced by an office building.

1960: The ornamental street lamps and the viewing tower have vanished in this view, probably from the 1960s. Grime covers the retaining wall.

1965: Bunker Hill redevelopment years, many of the remaining buldings are now torndown away. Many of the new empty loads will be use for the new modern skyscrapers, but some other will be nothing but parking lots. Olivet and Sinai bravely continue their up-and-down transit during their waning days at Third Street as Bunker Hill is transformed behind them. Angels Flight was moved a block farther south but is now out of action again as the result of its first fatal accident

1970: After the Bunker Hill devastation...

1995: An attempt to revitalise downtown... new apartments buildings were built... There is any sign visilible of what once was Bunker Hill.

2009: The Third Street tunnel (marked by the line of lights just above the automobile) now runs beneath a residential and commercial development.The photo was taken in February 2009. Ornamental street lights have returned.

All pics are taken from: LAPL. www.skyscrapercity.com, http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/index04.html and http://losangelespast.blogspot.com