places
The Gilmore House
Jose Antonio Carrillo, one time "Alcalde" (Mayor) of Los Angeles, issued this land grant to Antonio Jose Rocha and Nemisio Dominguez (not from Rancho San Pedro). The building is also known as the Gilmore Adobe. The land grant included the La Brea Tar Pits. The building is a private office. The adobe building can be found inside the back parking lot and is encompassed by the Los Angeles Farmers Market.
In the 1870's, with a partner, Arthur Fremont Gilmore purchased two ranches in the Los Angeles vicinity. The purchase inaugurated a string of serendipitous events which not even the far-sighted Gilmore could predict. When Gilmore and his partner elected to dissolve their arrangement, they drew straws - Gilmore's straw secured 256 acres on which he created a successful dairy farm. A.F. Gilmore had no plans for a world-renowned institution when he moved to Los Angeles from Illinois in 1870. Rather, he was seeking a better life on the promising West Coast. When he married Mary Elizabeth Bell in 1882, the small adobe on the property became the new home for his family.
The Witch's House of Beverly Hills
The Spadena House, also known as The Witch's House, is a storybook house in Beverly Hills, California. Located on the corner of Walden Drive and Carmelita, it is known for its fanciful design that intentionally cause it to look dilapidated and old, and is a landmark included on tours of the area.
Fletcher St. Trestle
Today's little journey on the way-back machine takes us to a little bridge that is no more. You may have noticed the "Stonehenge of SilverLake" along the side of Fletcher St. just west of Riverside Drive. They sit as a silent testimony to the public transport that is no more, the defunct Pacific Electric Railway (PER).
(Most of this article is lifted from the fantastic "Red Car Property" blog. It's a great resource for anyone looking for more informatiion about the Corralitas part of Silverlake, and the greenspaces around it.)
The Glendale Airport
User Rating: 5 / 5
Glendale Airport / Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, CA
34.16 North / 118.29 West (North of Downtown Los Angeles, CA)
The earliest depiction which has been located of Glendale Airport was on a illustration of circa-1925 LA-area airfields from Ross Diehl's Air National Guard yearbook (courtesy of Dan MacPherson). During the first couple of years of the 1920s, a group of airplane owners made an appeal to the Glendale Chamber of Commerce to assist them in securing a landing field where private hangars could be erected, as well as servicing facilities & manufacture of aircraft.
A Chamber committee consisting of approached John D. Radcliffe, a property owner who had a 33 acre site south of the Southern Pacific right-of-way and at the southern end of Grandview Avenue (now where the Golden State Freeway and Ventura Freeway meet), about purchasing his property. The site was purchased in 1922 for $66,000.
Leimert Park & LA's Oldest Public Library
Leimert Park, built in the 1920's & 30's, is one of several LA neighborhoods known as models of modern urban planning. It was designed by the Olmsted brothers, whose father is known for designing Central Park in New York. It is known for its design innovations, like making sure that automobile traffic near schools and churches was minimized, utility wires were buried or hidden from view in alleys, and of course densely planted trees lined its streets. Walter Leimert, its developer, envisioned a self-sufficient community, with a town square, theatre and retail shopping. Leimert Park became a desirable community and one of the first to have a Home Owners' Association.