1937 view of Flower Street, looking south from Seventh Street.
Part of the Automobile Club of Southern California Collection in the USC Digital Library.
Circa 1884 view looking north at the intersection of Hill and Temple streets in downtown Los Angeles. Past Temple St. stands Fort Moore Hill, one of downtown L.A.’s “lost hills.”
May 15, 1956: the Superior Oil Building under construction at Sixth and Flower in downtown L.A. For decades, the modern office building served as the headquarters of the Superior Oil Company and then Union Bank of California. Today, the building is home to The Standard, Downtown L.A. hotel.
In 1886, Los Angeles’ first high school moved across the street from Poundcake Hill to clear space for a new county courthouse.
L.A. as Subject explains in “The Lost Hills of Downtown Los Angeles” at KCET.org:
Civic leaders had initially planned to move the original Los Angeles High School several blocks from Poundcake Hill to Fort Moore Hill. A contractor who claimed he could accomplish the task hoisted the building onto scaffolding and, using rollers, horses, and human labor, slowly moved the schoolhouse toward its new location. After work was underway, the contractor decided that the task was impossible after all. The building remained where his crew left it, repurposed as a schoolhouse for younger students while a new, grander high school was built atop Fort Moore Hill.
1886 view of the original Ralphs Brothers Grocery store at Spring and Sixth streets in Los Angeles. Brothers George and Walter Ralphs opened their grocery and bakery in 1873. Today, Ralphs is one of Southern California’s largest supermarket chains.
