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A car made in ... Japan? Built by some outfit called Toy-o-ta? You can't be serious. Hm. "33 m.p.g." I wonder what that means. Email me
Above, the Nadeau Hotel (sometimes called the Hotel Nadeau) at Spring and 1st streets (now the site of The Times Building), in an undated drawing.
An early ad for a business in the Nadeau, 1889. |
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times
Demolition of the Nadeau Hotel, 1932.
Times columnist Lee Shippey writes about the sad farewells to the Nadeau, 1932.
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peaking of Spring Street, here's a bit on the Nadeau Hotel, a Los Angeles landmark built by Remi Nadeau in 1882 as the Nadeau House.
Nadeau was a Canadian who came to Los Angeles about 1867. He began in the freight business, hauling bullion from mines in Inyo County to Los Angeles and hauling goods from Los Angeles to the miners in Inyo County. According to The Times, Nadeau had a 2,400-acre vineyard, which the paper called one of the largest in the world.
The hotel went through some difficult times after Nadeau died in 1887. It closed for several weeks in 1912 while it was in receivership and was again in receivership in 1916.
Over the years, it was the site of countless luncheons of political and social groups, and fraternal organizations, and occasionally the site of crimes and accidents, notably an employee who was crushed by the elevator.
Bonus fact: The site of the Nadeau Hotel was previously owned by Louis Roeder, a German immigrant who operated a blacksmith shop there. At his death in 1915 at the age of 80, he still owned an adjoining lot, The Times said.
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Los Angeles Times file photo
Some people have asked for another clew. Fair enough, how's this?
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I thought I'd take a break from the obscure starlet genre. Who is he? (And in response to a frequent question, if nobody guesses the mystery man/woman, the picture goes into the pile to be posted again in a few months. Of course, I could simply reveal whom these folks are, but what fun is that?)
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- Harpo Marx? Interesting guess. But no (and a hard-boiled egg).
- Is that Ann Sheridan on the left wearing the hat? (Rotter) Yes it is! Very good.
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C.C. Pierce & Co. Photographers, Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A.
An undated photograph of the Phillips Block, 1887-1912.
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After looking at the old photos of Spring Street over the last few days, I wanted to learn more about the Phillips Block, a seemingly lovely building north of 1st Street. The Phillips Block, designed by R.J. Reeve looked wonderful--but even before it was finished there were problems with the construction, see story below left.
In December 1888, developer Louis Phillips denied charges that, for example, "in Chicago or New York this building would be condemned in 20 minutes. He also denied that "the building is nothing but a shell and a very light earthquake might bring the whole thing to the street."
The Times lavished praise on the People's Store, which opened in the building in July 1888.
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Above, books on sale at the People's Store, in the Phillips Block.
Above, in the final days of the Phillips Block, after most of its tenants had left, including the Hamburger Brothers' store, it housed an auctioneer.
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By 1912, however, the Phillips Block was considered a deathtrap and the worst fire hazard in the city.
Below, possibly my most favorite fact in a very long while: In 1911 "mice and matches" were blamed for 12 fires in the city of Los Angeles.
A few months after the 1912 article was published, the building, in fact, burned in what was believed to be arson. Fortunately, no one was injured in the blaze, which drew enormous crowds, The Times said.
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C.C. Pierce & Co. Photographers, Los Angeles, Cal. U.S.A.
This picture was taken from Spring and 2nd streets about 1895, and shows the reverse angle of Spring and 1st, which we looked at yesterday.
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One of the most prominent buildings in this photo is the courthouse, which was at Fort (later renamed Broadway) and Temple.
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Above, the courthouse, which was torn down in 1935 after being badly damaged in the Long Beach earthquake, a phenomenon I call "seismic Darwinism." (Thanks to Brady Westwater, I now know that the 1888 cornerstone is outside the Criminal Courts Building). By the way, the two brass cannons that used to be at the courthouse, originally from Ft. Moore, were to be installed in a park in Montebello to commemorate the Battle of Paso de Bartolo, according to a 1941 Times story.
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The Nadeau Hotel, now the site of The Times Building, at 1st Street and Spring. The Nadeau was built in 1882 by Remi Nadeau and demolished in 1932. Note that the gingerbread decoration at the top is false front and disappears in later photos.
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We also have a better view of the Phillips Block, 1886-1913. A Times article reviewing major Los Angeles buildings for 1886 attributed the Phillips Block to architect R.J. Reeve. The Times gives the dimensions as 120 feet on Spring Street, 131 feet, 6 inches on Franklin Street and a height of 120 feet at the main center of the building. Construction materials were brick, granite and iron, and the cost was $125,000 ($2,850,281.51 USD 2007). Stay tuned for more on the Phillips Block.
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And finally, we get a good view of the crazy angle in Spring Street. Today, of course, Spring has been realigned so that it's straight, and it's been widened.
And why was there a kink in Spring Street? The answer is complicated. At one time, Spring (originally Primavera when Los Angeles' streets had Spanish names) went in a straight line from the early plaza. Instead of taking a bend at 1st Street as it went south, Spring originally angled through the site of the Nadeau Hotel, the corner of what is now Broadway and 3rd Street, Hill and 4th Street, and Olive and 5th Street.
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Below, thumbnail histories of Los Angeles' streets from 1896, including an explanation of why they were 28 feet wide. Warning: This story describes a bullfight in Los Angeles and refers to Calle de los Negros, later known as "N-word Alley." Email me
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C. C. Pierce Photographer, 1572 W. Pico, Los Angeles
This photograph of Spring Street, looking south from Temple, is slightly later than the one in the previous entry and was taken about 1896.
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Notice that our single-track, horse-drawn streetcars have vanished. Instead, we have parallel tracks for cars powered by--what's this? A cable! Also notice that Spring has been paved with bricks.
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According to The Times, the City Council granted a franchise to the Los
Angeles Cable Railway Co. in 1887. The route began at Spring 200 feet
south of 1st, went along Spring to Main, Upper Main Street, Alameda and
San Fernando streets, and Downey Avenue to the intersection with Workman.
The fare was not to exceed 5 cents per passenger ($1.14 USD 2007).
At left, an 1889 accident involving a buggy that was caught in the tracks for the cable car. Notice that the team of horses ran away and one of them broke a window before being caught.
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Another detail from the photo shows the Nadeau Hotel at 1st and Spring (now the site of The Times Building). To the left is Jevne's grocery store. Also notice the tower at the center of the picture.
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The tower visible in the center of the picture is City Hall, then located on Broadway. The building was demolished for a parking lot, but the annex remains as the Victor Clothing building. |
I think this pedestal clock is a wonderful detail from a 19th century streetscape. London Clothing Co. later became Harris & Frank.
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The unhappy fate of photographer Lemuel S. Ellis, who worked for C.C. Pierce and died in 1902.
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This imposing building is the Phillips Block and the location has an interesting history. Los Angeles' first City Hall was located here in what was known as the Rocha House, an adobe on Spring between Temple and 1st on an unnamed street.
In 1853, Juan Temple sold the house and lot to Los Angeles County, which in turn sold a share of the building to the city, according to a 1930 Times story. Because a building on the property was used as a jail, the unnamed street became known as Jail Street and, after neighbors' protests, was renamed Franklin Street in 1872.
According to the 1930 Times story, criminals were hanged from the portico of the Rocha House, including a murderer and his two companions on Nov. 21, 1863.
In 1883, the city sold the Rocha House to Louis Phillips and used the money to build another City Hall at Spring and 2nd. Phillips demolished the Rocha adobe to make way for his five-story Phillips Block. The building, which housed the People's Store, was destroyed by a spectacular fire in 1912 and torn down in 1913, according to The Times.
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And finally, we find a young boy being led, presumably by his father. Are they headed for London Clothing to get a new outfit? We can only wonder.
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July 26, 1948By Keith Thursby Times staff writer uiz time: What does this headline mean? It's pretty clear we're talking about baseball, but who are the Twinks and the Suds? The Twinks were a familiar headline name in The Times for the Hollywood Stars. I never understood the need for the nickname's nickname. You really need another way to say Stars? The Suds referred to the Seattle Rainiers, named after a local brewery. The story was a run of the mill wire report on the doubleheader but there's one line that really stopped me. The Seattle pitcher is referred to as a "wrong hander." As a lifelong left-hander, I've been called a southpaw, a port sider and even a goofy footer, but a wrong hander? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the pitcher was right-handed.
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aul "the Porpoise" Chotteau collapses within 10 miles of his goal of swimming from Santa Barbara to Venice ... A bomb in Haifa kills 50 people, wounds 58 others and touches off rioting ... Kentucky Gov. A.B. "Happy" Chandler is recovering after being poisoned ... And the city clerk's office certifies petitions to recall Mayor Frank Shaw. The election is set for Sept. 16, The Times says. Candidates seeking to run against the mayor must qualify by Aug. 22.
ps. The last we heard of Chotteau, in 1960, he was living in Key West, Fla. He had invented a pontoon boat to be towed by an unsuspecting shark that he would capture and harness. "Sharks make wonderful motors," he said, "Of course, sometimes they decide to go straight down." Hm. Sounds like a plot for "Jabberjaw."
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Above, developer Samuel A. Selover buys a home at Bonnie Brae and Miramar streets. Selover, whose projects included Belmont Shore in Long Beach, died in 1939. Below, Bonnie Brae and Miramar via Google maps' street view. Email me
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 By Keith Thursby Times staff writer The Times published a tidbit about the Hollywood Stars and their owner, Bob Cobb, that made me go looking deeper for more details. Jeane Hoffman reported that Cobb "discovered" Chavez Ravine as a potential home for a baseball team and in 1954 proposed building a stadium and leasing it back to the city for $1 a year. Hoffman said the plan didn't work because it was for minor league baseball and Cobb was just a little ahead of his time. The Dodgers' plans to build a stadium were still on hold at this point in 1958 after a Superior Court judge ruled the contract between the team and the city was invalid. But what of Cobbs' idea? I found a Times story from Dec. 17, 1954, in which Yankees manager Casey Stengel, longtime baseball owner Bill Veeck and Cobb talked to a City Council committee about bringing big league baseball to Los Angeles. According to Paul Zimmerman's story, the discussion focused on whether the city should expand Wrigley Field or build a ballpark in Chavez Ravine. "No city in the United States can offer what Los Angeles does," Cobb said. "We need something new, something modern and a place to park 25,000 cars." Cobb and his Hollywood Stars have long fascinated me. My mom grew up in Los Angeles and her family's baseball allegiances were split down the middle between fans of the Stars and the Angels. Photos of Gilmore Field made the experience look glamorous and any search of Pacific Coast League games can find tales of wild fights and long doubleheaders. And Cobb was no ordinary owner, with his connection to the Brown Derby--and what other baseball owner had a salad named after him? After the Dodgers decided to move to Los Angeles--moving the minor league Stars and Angels out of the Southland--Cobb remained civic minded. In searching the website walteromalley.com for any connections between the two owners, I stumbled on a 1957 Times story where Cobb came to O'Malley's defense. "I'm shocked at the unbelievable position in which Walter O'Malley finds himself," Cobb told The Times' Hoffman. "We invited this man to Los Angeles. He didn't solicit us." Hoffman said Cobb's plan for Chavez Ravine was ahead of his time. The 1957 story had another example. "But you can't stop progress," he said. "We're going to have not one but two major league clubs here within five years. Where? Well, this second club will settle in Orange County, probably Anaheim. That's where the Hollywood Stars were going if the majors hadn't come." Too bad it didn't work out. I can seem them now--the Hollywood Stars of Anaheim. Wonder how much they'd charge for a Cobb salad? keith.thursby@latimes.com
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oe Shaw resigns as personal secretary to his brother, Mayor Frank Shaw, and elopes to Reno with Buelah M. Fuller of the mayor's secretarial staff. Curiously enough, Joe Shaw is identified as a lieutenant, which I haven't encountered before. Perhaps it refers to his former rank in the Navy.
"I have never fully agreed with your expressed desire that I remain an attache of your office during the recent period when heaven and earth have been moved by political malcontents and enemies to find fault with you because of my presence on your staff," Joe Shaw wrote.
"For me to ask to be relieved of service under these conditions has been repugnant to both of us alike, for, whatever the personal desires might be in the premises, they would be distorted and misunderstood by political critics sadly lacking in their makeups any sense of American fair play.
"In spite of their slander, you have continued to repose confidence in me and I cannot adequately put in words what this loyalty has meant to me, especially because of our relationship and in the light of my unblemished record in the United States Navy for 25 years prior to becoming your secretary....
"It seems a curious commentary upon human nature that a small group of gossips would assume that they could convince any considerable proportion of the people of Los Angeles that a man trained as I had been for 25 years in the code of an officer of the United States Navy could be capable of the actions that have been charged against me by innuendo.
"I now resume my status as a private citizen. As a private citizen I shall be at liberty to answer the slander that has been directed toward me."
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July 24, 1958
 Her name was Irene. She was a 40-year-old secretary at an ad agency, divorced with two sons. The younger boy was visiting his grandparents that summer and the older one, Craig, was living with her at their apartment, 4569 Edgewood Place. Her ex-husband was in Miami.
Irene didn't show up for work Monday or Tuesday, so two men from the office went to check on her. She and her son Craig had been lying there dead for two days, apparently.
She was face-down on the couch with a gag in her mouth. A nylon stocking had been used to tie her hands, and another one was used to strangle her. Her shorts had been ripped off and thrown on the floor, The Times said, and a nightgown had been tossed over her body. Craig was lying nearby on the floor, in his pajamas. He had been struck on the head and strangled with the antenna wire from the television set.
Detectives found hors d'oeuvres on the coffee table and the remains of dinner in the kitchen. They also found an empty vodka bottle and some mix.
Charles worked at a nearby gas station and told Detectives Herman Zander and E.V. Jackson that he met Irene on Friday when he started her car after it stalled. According to Charles, Irene invited him over for dinner Sunday and that everything was fine when he left at midnight or 12:30 a.m. Under further questioning, Charles said a man named John had come to the apartment about 11 p.m. and became jealous that he was there.
Neighbors said they had seen Irene and Charles together before Friday and recognized him from his job at the service station.
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Above, the Edgewood Place neighborhood via Google maps' street view.
After hours of questioning and a polygraph test, Charles Earl Brubaker confessed to killing Irene Potter Morey and Craig Morey. The Times said: "Brubaker held his nerve throughout the polygraph test but later collapsed emotionally and babbled his confession of the brutal slayings.... The boy awakened and caught him attempting to attack the woman and he killed them both."
Brubaker was also questioned in the unsolved stranglings of Ruth Goldsmith, Marjorie Hipperson and Esther Greenwald, all LAPD cases, but there's no mention of him being a suspect in the Geneva Ellroy killing, which was a sheriff's case.
 Brubaker, who had served time for petty theft and trespassing, was convicted of murder and sentenced to the gas chamber. In 1964, the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence and he was given life in prison by Judge Joseph A. Wapner. Although the court did not give a reason for overturning Brubaker's execution, The Times speculated that it was related to the Joseph Bernard Morse decision, which held that juries must not be told that convicted killers may be paroled if they receive a life sentence.
In 1965, after the ruling that spared his life, Brubaker told The Times, "I'm glad to be alive."
 Brubaker, who had a job in the prison furniture factory, said: "There were times when I started to feel sorry for myself -- but I'd stop and think of my victims. They didn't want to die either, so I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I never intended anything like that to happen."
The Times added: "Technically, Brubaker could be paroled next January. By that time, he will have been in prison seven years. But his chances of getting out are nil."
Wapner said Brubaker should "spend the rest of his natural life in the state prison so that he may not be released to possibly prey on society or to commit another such heinous crime."
Brubaker told The Times: "I don't know when I'll get out -- but there's always a chance. I'm glad to see the courts acting. There have been a lot of cases before mine where they should have acted. People want to criticize you for fighting for your rights. If we didn't have those, the Constitution would be worthless."
It's unclear what became of Charles Brubaker after that. He never appeared in The Times again, and the Social Security Death Index lists a fair number of men by that name.
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 he Daily Mirror overlooked the death of "Blind Tom" Wiggins, reported June 28, 1908. Blind Tom played the piano, but he was more than a pianist. He wrote music, but he was far more than a composer. Blind Tom was a sensation and a curiosity, a force of nature. I'm not even sure what term we would use for him today; perhaps "childlike genius" would be the most appropriate.
Whatever Blind Tom was, the piano was his connection to the world. According to accounts from the period, he could use the piano to reproduce any imaginable sound. He was apparently capable of mimicking performances of other pianists and seemingly never forgot anything -- at least about music.
And as you might expect, living in the 19th century, being African American and developmentally disabled, Blind Tom did not have an easy life.
Blind Tom performed in Los Angeles and Santa Ana several times and drew large crowds, according to The Times. Above left, a program from one of his concerts.
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Warning: The "N-word" appears several times in his obituary, below. |
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3714 W. Pico Blvd., via Google maps' street view
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July 23, 1958
  uth lived in a room at the Shari Hotel, 3714 W. Pico, that she shared with a little dog and a couple of parakeets. The landlord realized she hadn't been around for a few days, and when he checked on her, he found her pets were nearly dead.
But nothing was written about her until October, when he was finally caught. The Times said investigators searching her belongings learned that she had been a "wartime member of the WAF" and was originally from Plattsburgh, N.Y.* Apparently she worked as a stripper and a model, using the name Angela Rojas. The most important thing about Ruth was that unlike the other victims, she could disappear and no one would notice.
The only person The Times interviewed about her was someone who took her newspaper ads: "She was a seemingly clean-cut, nice kid who was anything but the kind of person you'd expect in that kind of business. She was reliable, the sort who always paid her bills on time."
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* The Times gave Ruth's age as 24 and California death records say she was born Dec. 19, 1933. If she had served in World War II she would have been much older. Possibly she served during the Korean War.
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ow this was truly a happy discovery: Someone turned two streetcars into a house. Alas, it's not there anymore. I would love to know the story behind the home, I'm sure it's an interesting one.
At left, an update on the campaign to recall Mayor Frank Shaw and federal charges are filed against Peter Pianezzi in the Les Bruneman killing.
Oh, and those $12 dresses at the Broadway? $171.59 USD 2007.
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