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.

ESPAÑOL:

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.

No skyscrapers

It's winter 1905-'06, and we're looking northwest from atop the old Hotel Lankershim at Broadway and Seventh, with Seventh Street stretching out to the hills at left. The vista shows what was called the "Apartment District" at the time. Within 25 years, frontage on Seventh would become some of the most valuable urban real estate in the West. And a quarter century after that, the area to the right of center would become the skyscraper district.

It's really something to see this area as an ordinary residential neighborhood, isn't it? Remarkable that essentially everything we see here was wiped clean off the face of the earth without a trace. No earthquake or fire or other natural disaster could have accomplished such a thorough obliteration as was wrought here by the hand of man himself...

From: LAPL, www.skyscrapercity.com and http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/

(español)

Es el invierno de 1905-06, y la vista es de las calles Broadway y Séptima, hacia noreste, tomada desde el hotel Lamkershim (que ya no existe) La imagen muestra lo que en su tiempo se llamó el 'distrito de apartamentos'. En 25 años las fachadas de Broadway y la Séptima se convertirán en la zonas urbanas más valiosas y caras del todo el oeste de E.E.U.U. Y un cuarto de siglo después, toda el área de la derecha de la imagen, albegará el actual distrito de los rascacielos.

Parece un poco sobrecogedor poder contemplar este lugar como una corriente zona residencial. Sin embargo, toda esta zona residencial ha sido borrada de la faz de la tierra sin dejar ningún rastro. Ningún terremoto, o fuego, ni ningún otro desastre natural natural pudo haber cumplido tan bien su cometido de destrucción, como lo hizo simplemente la mano del hombre.

Hotel Nadeau

This was one of the most important structures in early Los Angeles – it being the city's first-ever four-storey building, and incorporating its first passenger elevator, as well: the Hotel Nadeau, as viewd in 1908. The building was located in First and Spring St corner, a very interesting place to retail a business.

Today, the main L.A. Times building occupies this once-vibrant street corner...