Hi Ken, as a native Angeleno whose done too much research on the Downtown / Bunker Hill area, I can tell you that by the 40s and 50s, many of the prosperous families that didn't have descendants who wanted the properties had to pass them on to housekeepers or caretakers. The mansions were turned into apartments so that people could afford to live in them. Most of them fell into disrepair by the 60s and had unfortunately become slums. By the mid 60s, local officials got obsessed with modernizing the area to "clean it up" and build more high rise buildings, demolishing mansions that people could not afford to move to places like Heritage Square to save them. I'm so grateful that the homes on Carroll Ave were left alone! There are some historical neighborhoods and random homes around L.A. that can still be appreciated, but it still breaks my heart what they did to Bunker Hill 😭
Yes, it is a shame that so many incredible homes were just demolished. Some forward thinkers were smart enough to salvage details from some of those homes like crown moldings, fireplace mantels, doors and stairrails, hardware like doorknobs, and handles for cabinets. Grew up at the beach near LAX and when LAX bought out all the homes at the end of the runways off Vista Del Mar Lane there were some very old mansions, some did get moved only a few blocks away and others further away. But most were destroyed. A few remained empty and just shells of a house when I was a kid and you could walk inside a couple of them. I now live downtown in the Westlake District only blocks from Bunker Hill and a mile from Echo Park. 40 years ago as a teenager my girlfriend and I stayed the night at a bed and breakfast, one of the very first ones on Carroll or Lake I don't remember which. It wasn't a gingerbread Victorian but a more simple Victorian. It was very nice. I work in film and TV production as an electrician on locations for shooting and I get to work in and on some of the most amazing old mansions and new ones as well, but places in the old neighborhoodslike West Adams , Hancock Park both outside of and inside of the gates, mansions in Pasadena, and Beverly Hills, Los Feliz, I attended a party at Pickfair Manor I've been at parties at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, I've worked inside and outside of Greystone Manor also known as Doheney Mansion, I've worked in and outside of the F.L. Wright Jr home he built on Franklin Ave the Sowell House which looks like an Aztec castle and was the home of the doctor who is believed to be the Black Dahlia murderer. I've worked in and around the other Doheney Mansion downtown on the Mount Saint Mary's University grounds. There are more but I don't recall the names. I've also worked in historical apartment buildings and hotels like the Biltmore and others downtown a Cathedral built in 1920 in Compton that looks like the Taj Mahal with a mausoleum and Cemetery the original cathedral was built in late 1800s there are tombs and crypts from the 1870s and '80s interned there. Have worked in the Wiltern Theater a few times. I am very fortunate to have walked through and done work on these incredible, famous and historical places in L.A.
Yes, I lived in a mansion in the 70s in another state. It was like a rooming house where we all had a bedroom and kitchen but shared bathrooms in the hallways. Really nice house in its day but in dire need of repairs.
We see grand Victorian home like this today and think they’re eternal. This video shows just how fragile even the most ambitious projects and greatest wealths really are.
What I think I see is that when a person becomes a craftsman, they can work these restorations, preservations, and rehabilitations inexpensively, or be expensive work; the modernity of restorations and preservations seem to be more about the record of technique applied, and when, in conjunction to the knowledge base and materials access. For instance, a modern hand-crank drill is not more than 15% of an electric, but the time consumption is the variance of comparison. Also, a hand-fabricated, period- and place-specific tool is also a differentiatable feature as well as same-source or same-method material production. So, the vast variables of anywhere between the nearest free and the most expensive is probably a good (closer) synopsis than just saying more expensive. On a personal productivity level, I really appreciate your assertions as they fortify needed considerations.
Oh to have lived one hundred years ago and to have seen what Los Angeles looked like. Heaven. Clean air. Lots of citrus and blooming flowers year round. Glorious climate. Thanks for a walk through the wayback machine. "This House" never dissapoints.
Yeah, to live a hundred years ago…. Must’ve been grand, dying of polio, influenza, in childbirth, watching your babies not live beyond infancy. This was so much more common back then.
@@divinedaytripper6916 I came out of that era of 100 years ago My Grandmother and all her sisters ( Showgirls) came from New Mexico when they built the Santa Fe Railroad..I have a photo album of my Dad (born 1918 in Anaheim) all thru the 1920s and a collection of Grandmas hats from the roaring 20s Red Velvet black rooster feathers about 15 hats from Paris San Francisco and New York...id never sell em ....I was born and raised in Downey and grew up waving to Richard and Karen Carpenter from 1970 up until Karen passed away... we'd be outside on our bicycles on our corner lot ...she had big hands and a bigger smile for such a petite person...God bless her.... Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High School Downey California USA 👉♥️🇺🇲🙏🗽🦅
My mother grew up in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s. My grandfather worked for Standard oil as an engineer on those oil well pumps that used to be everywhere. Their house disappeared under Dodger Stadium in the 1950s. California has a nasty habit of tearing out the old to build the new. My own house, thankfully, was spared and sits in a beautiful neighborhood full of other 1920s Spanish Colonials. I feel blessed.
@@kays749 I understand you wanting to keep it private and respect it. The greater LA area means, basically half of Southern California. That includes, Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County. They are all heavily populated areas as well. For the people that are not familiar with Southern California
I grew up in Los Angeles. As a child I witnessed the demolition of many of the Victorian, Queen Anne, and the Richardsonian mansions which lined Wilshire Boulevard. It was a sad sight to see. The detailed work and the intricate ornamentation were so beautiful. Riding in my grandmother’s car looking out the back seat window allowed me to use my imagination! Each structure was stunning! But every time we drove towards downtown or from downtown to Santa Monica many of the beauties were demolished or in the process of being torn down. It was heartbreaking to see! 😢Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
I grew up in Los Angeles and witnessed untold destruction of the bucolic San Fernando Valley. In 1959, my best friend Randi's grandmother's childhood home, built in 1890 on the corner of Cortine Place and Magnolia Ave., was torn down and an ugly stucco apartment building took its place, still there today. The Ventura Freeway took our house on Sarah St., via Eminent Domain, in 1956. I don't remember the grand mansions of Wilshire Blvd., but I have a dim, early 1950's memory of the old Hollywood Hotel, as we drove past it on Hollywood Blvd. I was in a Bunker Hill mansion for a piano recital, in about 1964, just prior to it being torn down. That entire area had fallen on hard times, with former mansions becoming seedy rooming houses. The 1947 movie, "Criss Cross," was filmed on location on Bunker Hill and you can get a good look at the area when the decline had firmly taken hold, but the area was still vibrant.
Historians say that the destruction of those old rooming houses that were once ornate luxurious mansions was the genesis of the homeless problem that has plagued LA ever since. The city was so fixed on urban renewal they apparently evicted everyone so they could tear down their homes and build structures like the Music Center. If anyone knows a different version of this please share it.
Los Angeles' unofficial motto is "Out with the old and in with the new" I use to live in LA and got tired of the traffic and crime. There's a city nearby that still has preserved mansions, Pasadena, I highly recommend visiting the Huntington Library.
I love the little bit of "humanization" for the Crocker mansion (2:10) provided by the woman (Margaret?) waving at the camera from the upper balcony. So much more affecting than simple brick, stone and timber. Nice. ♥
Watch "Sunset Boulevard" and you'll see a great lost mansion of Los Angeles -- the William O. Jenkins House (also called the Getty Mansion) which served as Norma Desmond's abode.
The “Sunset Blvd.” house (also used in “Rebel Without a Cause,”) was where Crenshaw dead ended into Wiltshire Blvd. I was a teenager living across the street on Lorraine Blvd. when they filmed “Rebel.” The catering setup was on the old tennis court, which faced Lorraine. Lots of fun for a kid to watch the filming. I remember the scene with Dean and Wood in the swimming pool. The pool had been built for the movie, Sunset Boulevard.” It really was as the scene portrayed - empty and full of leaves. We used to sneak around the property as kids, but never inside. The house was open to sell pieces like the famous staircase, wall tapestries, before demolition. It was demolished to build what was then the Tidewater Oil Building.
It’s heartbreaking and surreal to witness how the combination of wind and fire has left so many mansions reduced to ash. And the year barely started. My prayers are with Los Angeles.
Does anyone remember Jack Nicholson's line from the 1930's period film, China Town? "Los Angeles is a small town." My, how things change. The usual order of "progress": build, bulldoze, repeat.
Pictured at 0:13 is the Higgins mansion. It was moved in sections, west from its original site just outside of Bunker Hill, to the Hancock Park neighborhood. It's still there on Lucerne and Wilshire and was restored a few years ago.
My Old Friend Lee Chase had one of the oldest houses on that street. By on the corner of 6th. It was the House that belong to the org Designer. Rite behind the the Mayor's home. Less passed at 98 and sweet Anne. Passed at 95. Kids sold the home for only $3.6 Million! Now redone and selling for $6.6 Million. Anne was a Decendt of Mary Lincoln. Unfortunately many homes will be going to Demolition do to New young City council members. 😢😅😮
Can u do a story of the homes by the County hospital east of the 5 n North if the 10? I was trying to buy a Vintage Home for $80.000. Still needed work and bring it up to code. Was another $50.000. 😮 but it fell under Historical codes. So the city was supose to wave that ! NOT! When Karen Bass came in. 😮. They want to tear everything down ! Ugh
One year we toured maybe 16 of those homes - inside and out! It was a restoration fund raiser. Can't remember who sponsored the event, but they were wonderful to see and their owners were so proud of their preservation efforts.
I am always fascinated by the humble beginnings of these urban areas. Thank you for showing the early drawings of Los Angeles when it was a village by the river.
I was born in LA many years ago. At the time, my parents lived in an apartment on Bunker Hill. Although they later moved out to the San Fernando Valley, I remember going downtown and taking Angel’s Flight many times. Central Market was at the base of the little railroad and sold wonderful products. 😺
I go to LA once a year and stay right near the market. I use Angel's Flight all the time (partially disabled and gotta get to Starbucks up top lol). But I love the little funicular and eating at the market.
The Los Angeles Elk's Lodge was at the top of Angel's Flight. The letters BPOE are still written over the railway. I took it when I was last in downtown Los Angeles.
"Weather," it's the almost perfect year-round weather that made LA grow, the entertainment industry left NY for LA for the lack of harsh winters -- year round filming. Walteria, a small sub-section of Torrance CA, is said to have some of the best weather in the country. Our local paper is called "The Daily Breeze." Los Angeles grew due to the great weather, BUT today she needs a lot of TLC, mostly in the downtown and metro area.
When you mentioned homes on Bunker Hill I was hoping you would show a picture of the one my cousin painted. Sadly it wasn’t there. My cousin went there just before they tore down the last few remaining houses still standing. He ended up painting two versions of one home. The first one he gave to his mother (my aunt). My mother kept a newspaper clipping of my cousin winning some type of award for it. I have no idea what happened to that clip. When my mother saw it she wanted one. So, my cousin painted one for her, and now it belongs to me. This one is visually different in the colors. My cousin made it a little bit brighter for my mother, but I am not certain why he made that choice. I think both paintings are equally lovely. The first one was done in circa 1958. The second was hanging on my mother’s wall in circa 1961. My mother’s is now in my home. I enjoyed your video. Thank you.
IT SICKENS ME EVERY TIME I SEE VIDEOS OF THESE MANSIONS BEING DESTROYED. OTHER COUNTRIES HONOR THEIR PAST AND KEEP HISTORY IN THEIR HEARTS. THEY HAVE BUILDINGS HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD. NOT IN THE USA. ITS SAD AND DISGUSTING THAT OUR HISTORY IS NOT KEPT.
Unfortunately, almost all of these mansions are gone. Even more unfortunate, the horrible looking buildings that replaced them will degrade the landscape forever.
Thank you for letting us know about the Victorian Society. I have a book I bought in the early '80's about LA's Bunker Hill and what it looked like before all the mansions were eventually demolished to make way for the office towers. I worked at a law firm in one of the office towers, and I would walk around outside during my lunch hours picturing in my mind the mansions that stood where this or that office tower now stands. Amazing how it all changed.
I remember Angel's Flight from the late 1950s to the mid-'60s. It was a fun ride for an 8-yr-old. Pershing Square, the Biltmore Hotel, Union Station, Chinatown, and Olvero Street all enchanted me. My mom worked on 8th and Broadway, in the Chapman building, where I spent many after-school hours, having taken a bus from school. She would send me over to the May Co. to buy her a tall carton of carrot juice mixed with just the right amount of coconut milk. What a bustling, vibrant city it was then. We loved the huge downtown library -- an architectural marvel: kind of Egyptian, Art Deco, and arts and crafts -- but then that's my 8year-old's memory of it -- and what did I know about design back then? Nothing; It was exotic, for sure. Thank you for stirring up memories from my youth.
I grew up in the Bunker Hill area between the late 1950s until 1973 when we were all evicted. By then the mansions were abandoned and we as kids found them very scary as we thought they were haunted. City officials were merciless as hundreds if not thousands were evicted from their homes through the use of eminent domain. We were scattered all over Los Angeles to start new lives that were not necessarily any better. The area continues to be gentrified with more people being evicted.
Hi Ken, The Bradbury Mansion fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1929. Angels flight was built in 1901, so it had nothing to do with the mansion's demise.
Native Angelino here and I gotta say that my favorite thing to see when I travel around LA is seeing the older well maintained buildings. I live next to one of the only two original homes left on block that was built before 1910 and it's really what cemented my move to the neighborhood. It's sadly a little rundown but the resident does their best and it still exudes a proud and stately aura about it. I fear the day they pass away and the property gets sold to another souless developer.
Los Angeles has a lot of older neighborhoods that feature wonderful architecture and the occasional mansion. I lived in Pasadena not far from the designated "Bungalow Heaven" neighborhoods. I commuted to Los Angeles city, Los Angeles' Mid Wilshire, and later the West Side (Century City) for work. A drive along Sixth Street between Western to San Vicente will reveal neighborhoods full of large homes with a few modest mansions tucked among them--it is worth the drive to explore. 😉
Sorry to see many of the mansions have been bulldozed. My mom and I used to drive to Bunker Hill to see the homes as they were being removed, really sad to lose our City of Los Angeles History.
There's a GREAT LONGING in my spirit for what Los Angeles USE TO BE! I LOVE LA! But what I think I love is "WHAT IT USE TO BE," not what it now is. Thanks for the emotional walk down Nostalgic Lane. Oh, how I wish it still were....😢
Born with both British and American citizenship I am often not even aware of the proper pronunciation of words until someone points it out! You are correct!!
Yes, the good old days living in Mandeville. Sad that most of the homes of our day have been dozed and replaced. We had the best time period to enjoy the Canyon and chow down at Redi-chix at the Mart.
Thanks, Ken, for featuring California homes in your series. All four of my grandparents left home (Wisconsin, Ohio, NY, and England) in the mid-1920s and moved to Los Angeles. I have a photo my grandmother took of a 'storybook' style real estate office for the new housing development where her older sister had just bought a house. Nothing like a mansion, but amazing to see the half-finished Spanish and Mock-Tudor style homes with the empty grid of lots behind them. As mentioned below, old Hollywood movies (even the silent ones) must have captured many of these homes. I have an old postcard (sent by my grandfather to his sister in England, and returned to me by my cousins 70+ years later) showing a Richardson style main Courthouse in Los Angeles. I asked my Dad about it, and he said due to decades of earthquakes it was no longer safe. He remembered when it was torn down around the late 1940s. I grew up seeing the one immortalized in both Perry Mason and Dragnet; both shows ran in syndication on TV when I was a kid.
I always find it so interesting to see some of the homes in the silents. A good ex example is in "The Kid," where the large house occupied by Edna Purviance is so crisp and new in appearance because it was. Obviously, a location it is preserved with no multiple layers of paint, chipped concrete walkways, and copings around lawns. It is almost too perfect because we don't usually think of some buildings as ever having been "new."
This is one of the best documentary shows on RUclips. Ken does a lot of work and is extremely thorough. How would we know any of this, without his dedication?
Good report, Ken. I always appreciate your backstories. Did you ever find much on the modern log homes? Could you check on some of the historic homes, mansions and missions in San Antonio, TX? My wife and I love the idea of your St. Louis tour -- still a special place in our hearts before returning to my native home of Texas. My mom's family was from St. Louis. I remember finding my great grandmother's home in St. Charles.
Downtown Los Angeles was so unique at the turn of the century, it would be hard to believe it was an American city. The business district was one of a kind. Hope you can do a story on those old buldings. Venice has been done, Pasadena also.
They have burned down because of primitive wiring or heating sources. And as you were saying property values went up as well. Sad thing is were mostly made of redwood. And some of the old construction methods they used were really not designed to survive. If we could have them now they could of been saved by upgrading to modern methods. Great channel as always
Grew up in East LA back in the 70’s and 80’s. I thought LA has changed a lot since then, but after watching this…Jeeshh! Those old homes were magnificent!
I,d like that book.Love all the old bungalows in California.Lot of old mansions and victorian's etc here in San Antonio.and many Texas towns Lots of ancient buildings in Europe.They haven't torn everything down.Rekatives in Garmisch have lived in the same house for over 300 years. Shame about these houses
If you want a quick look at the historic mansions referenced here, just watch some of the old silent comedies of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, the Keystone Cops etc. especially the chase scenes...These historic homes were everywhere. Moreover, we're not done destroying these houses. It's still on-going. Pickfair, the Harold Lloyd estate etc. The list continues to grow...
Every time i watch these types of videos i hope that i see an old photo of my house by chance. I have a 1900 queen Anne just south of dtla that I'm restoring. It be nice to have more than one of photo!
Great video! I think there was a missed opportunity to do more before and after shots of the precise locations were some of these mansions stood but other than that very interesting! Much love from Oakland, Ca
Thank you for meticulously explaining the history of Los Angeles. I still find it fascinating the amount of growth over the years that Los Angeles still keep reinventing itself.
Very nice thank you. I grew up around LA and my job brings me in and around the old neighborhoods. I often wonder who lived in some of those bygone era homes. Some may be in disrepair others look as if they are still loved. My dad grew up in Huntington Park in the 30s and told me how nice LA looked back then. My wife and I moved th Menifee a few years ago and have taken many trips to Redlands and we just love all the old Victorian homes that were built there so long ago.
As a member of The Magic Castle, the Rollin Lane Mansion built in 1909 is truly a work of art and such an iconic piece of LA's history. Although changed a great deal, the basis structure is still stunning holding massive charm and prestige.
Wow what was once a beautiful city Los Angeles is now following the trends of such places as Detroit when it comes to crime. It's so sad to see. I can't imagine what Hollywood once was in its golden age. I love to read about it. Great video Ken and thanks for sharing this.
LA's track record in the area of historic preservation is unfortunately very poor. "Tear down" seems to be one of the most common terms used in southern California's real estate market.
I worked on that 75 story building downtown that sits on Bunker Hill....and I worked on the Bunker Hill Steps... The Terrazzo we installed in the lobby diamond rhomboid pattern resembled a spider web . It won Terrazzo job of the year USA 1989... I walked my Dad through that job , he was beside himself with pride and pure joy! He was born in Anaheim in 1918 and worked for the Los Angeles Times for 37 years.
What a spectacular home! My gods, what great artists and visionaries they were back then. where I live there are several historic neighborhoods and the last few decades if house is on land that needs redevelopment or falls in disrepair it is actually moved to new lot from its foundation. Usually the local private college that is known for its fine arts buys them and becomes homes for professors. I love walking these neighborhoods in such awe of even the most minute details made these so eloquent. I never get bored and always find something new on a timeless beauty to appreciate.
Not only sad to lose these beautiful Homes but the absolutely beautiful landscaping they had and some were just so stunning and to think it was all demolished for High rise buildings and paved streets 😢
What stood out to me was the Margaret Crocker mansion. I want that mansion on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with a beautiful rhododendron and rose garden, with an orange orchard, and an arboretum.
I was living in L.A. in the late 60'swhen they tore down Bunker Hill. We used to sneak in there on weekends and "liberate" wonderful woodwork and leaded glass windows, carpets and fittings galore.
Stockton Ca, a city with a population that has a tenth of Los Angeles and about 28 percent of its land total, managed to maintain more victorian homes in its Magnolia historic district known as midtown and turn of the century residences than Los Angeles.
My family has a looong history in Los Angeles. My GGG Grandfather, James Towell, helped start the L.A. Times after moving there after his retirement. Two of his daughters, Louisa and Addie, were married to lawyers in LA. In Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, I’ve tracked down 40+ people we are related to. The oldest one is my GGG Grandmother’s Aunt.
Any info on mansions of San Fernando Valley? In the 80's there were two in Pacoima. The last was demolished by the end if the 2010's. There were more mid-valley 🤔 Not sure about the Woodland Hills area
My ancestors came to Los Angeles in 1895. They lived in a two story colonial cottage just south of Bunker Hill. It was torn down I’m assuming by the early 1950s.
There are lots of these homes still around Los Angeles and surrounding suburbs. I wish we got to see some of what’s still standing! (I live in LA, there are a ton!)
My 3rd great grandmother and grandfather lived in the 2 story adobe pictured in the first drawing. Built by her uncle in 1844, it was temporarily general Fremont's headquarters and state capital during the transition from Mexican to US rule.
LA grew exponentially and the mansions got in the way. Take a look around Angeles Crest, though. There's a gaggle of beautiful old homes hiding away there.
Just so I remember, the house in the thumbnail was the William S. Mason house in Portland Oregon, built at 651 NW Irving st which is currently renumbered to 2031 NW Irving street, north side of the road, currently a tiny parking lot. People believe it was in Bunker Hill because a postcard of it was mixed into a huge collection of photos from bunker hill which was donated to a library. 1:52 it was later renamed the Caswell House. It was built around 1891 and the fancy front window is allegedly now owned by the Bosco - Milligan foundation. it had been demolished by 1950
I lived in a Victorian house that was on Court Street but Belmont School is there now. My old house is now on Carrol Street it survived along with many others
In every major world city I've ever lived I've chosen pre-war residential buildings, but I understand progress. London, New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, even Singapore, there is beauty in the expression of architecture, but we need to understand massive metropolitan growth. I work in tourism marketing and it is one segment that definitely celebrates the historic beginnings of cities, but also the gleaming architecture of the future.
1. Please understand that homes have a finite life span, no matter how well constructed. 2. The land uses change over time. I remember the dairy on La Cienega and also going to competing dairies in the San Fernando Valley to buy milk in glass bottles in bulk and return the empties. 3. My home was a bean field in 1949. Then, a tract house appeared. Two doors down from me is a new home (same small lot size) that went on sale this year for $6,230,000. The other new house on the corner just had a reduced monthly rental rate of $18,000! My first full time job paid top dollar of $18,000 a year!
Los Angeles is a victim of horrible city planning and zoning. I was researching a home in West Adams that was listed on a street that I could no longer find. After reading newspapers during the early 1900's I found they let a factory go up amongst a residential neighborhood without any zoning issues. Driving through neighborhoods, many have no charm as they are a mish mash of different types of uses and just ugly. In addition you have the mansions that were built that did not have the best construction or no longer meet earthquake codes. Many homes were built quickly to look good but not to stand the test of time.
Suprised you didn't include the West Adams historical district, just down the I 10 freeway....many mansions still exsist and have been, for the most part restored
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Ken, as a native Angeleno whose done too much research on the Downtown / Bunker Hill area, I can tell you that by the 40s and 50s, many of the prosperous families that didn't have descendants who wanted the properties had to pass them on to housekeepers or caretakers. The mansions were turned into apartments so that people could afford to live in them. Most of them fell into disrepair by the 60s and had unfortunately become slums. By the mid 60s, local officials got obsessed with modernizing the area to "clean it up" and build more high rise buildings, demolishing mansions that people could not afford to move to places like Heritage Square to save them. I'm so grateful that the homes on Carroll Ave were left alone! There are some historical neighborhoods and random homes around L.A. that can still be appreciated, but it still breaks my heart what they did to Bunker Hill 😭
Thanks for the info.
Thank you. This is the kind of detail I was hoping for in the video, instead of ‘they tore them down and built high rises’
Yes, it is a shame that so many incredible homes were just demolished. Some forward thinkers were smart enough to salvage details from some of those homes like crown moldings, fireplace mantels, doors and stairrails, hardware like doorknobs, and handles for cabinets.
Grew up at the beach near LAX and when LAX bought out all the homes at the end of the runways off Vista Del Mar Lane there were some very old mansions, some did get moved only a few blocks away and others further away. But most were destroyed. A few remained empty and just shells of a house when I was a kid and you could walk inside a couple of them.
I now live downtown in the Westlake District only blocks from Bunker Hill and a mile from Echo Park. 40 years ago as a teenager my girlfriend and I stayed the night at a bed and breakfast, one of the very first ones on Carroll or Lake I don't remember which. It wasn't a gingerbread Victorian but a more simple Victorian. It was very nice.
I work in film and TV production as an electrician on locations for shooting and I get to work in and on some of the most amazing old mansions and new ones as well, but places in the old neighborhoodslike West Adams , Hancock Park both outside of and inside of the gates, mansions in Pasadena, and Beverly Hills, Los Feliz, I attended a party at Pickfair Manor I've been at parties at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, I've worked inside and outside of Greystone Manor also known as Doheney Mansion, I've worked in and outside of the F.L. Wright Jr home he built on Franklin Ave the Sowell House which looks like an Aztec castle and was the home of the doctor who is believed to be the Black Dahlia murderer. I've worked in and around the other Doheney Mansion downtown on the Mount Saint Mary's University grounds. There are more but I don't recall the names. I've also worked in historical apartment buildings and hotels like the Biltmore and others downtown a Cathedral built in 1920 in Compton that looks like the Taj Mahal with a mausoleum and Cemetery the original cathedral was built in late 1800s there are tombs and crypts from the 1870s and '80s interned there.
Have worked in the Wiltern Theater a few times.
I am very fortunate to have walked through and done work on these incredible, famous and historical places in L.A.
Yes, I lived in a mansion in the 70s in another state. It was like a rooming house where we all had a bedroom and kitchen but shared bathrooms in the hallways. Really nice house in its day but in dire need of repairs.
A Native what? 😂 Last I checked the Natives of L.A were/are called the Tongva.
We see grand Victorian home like this today and think they’re eternal. This video shows just how fragile even the most ambitious projects and greatest wealths really are.
What I think I see is that when a person becomes a craftsman, they can work these restorations, preservations, and rehabilitations inexpensively, or be expensive work; the modernity of restorations and preservations seem to be more about the record of technique applied, and when, in conjunction to the knowledge base and materials access. For instance, a modern hand-crank drill is not more than 15% of an electric, but the time consumption is the variance of comparison. Also, a hand-fabricated, period- and place-specific tool is also a differentiatable feature as well as same-source or same-method material production. So, the vast variables of anywhere between the nearest free and the most expensive is probably a good (closer) synopsis than just saying more expensive.
On a personal productivity level, I really appreciate your assertions as they fortify needed considerations.
High @@meljane8339
Oh to have lived one hundred years ago and to have seen what Los Angeles looked like. Heaven. Clean air. Lots of citrus and blooming flowers year round. Glorious climate. Thanks for a walk through the wayback machine. "This House" never dissapoints.
Thankfully we have pictures.
My uncle told me that the air was sooty due to people burning their rubbish.
Yeah, to live a hundred years ago…. Must’ve been grand, dying of polio, influenza, in childbirth, watching your babies not live beyond infancy.
This was so much more common back then.
@@ThePursuitofHappiness1988 I see your point! We are lucky to be alive now. I was being nostalgic for the "good ole days."
@@divinedaytripper6916
I came out of that era of 100 years ago
My Grandmother and all her sisters ( Showgirls) came from New Mexico when they built the Santa Fe Railroad..I have a photo album of my Dad (born 1918 in Anaheim) all thru the 1920s and a collection of Grandmas hats from the roaring 20s Red Velvet black rooster feathers about 15 hats from Paris San Francisco and New York...id never sell em ....I was born and raised in Downey and grew up waving to Richard and Karen Carpenter from 1970 up until Karen passed away... we'd be outside on our bicycles on our corner lot ...she had big hands and a bigger smile for such a petite person...God bless her....
Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High School Downey California USA 👉♥️🇺🇲🙏🗽🦅
My mother grew up in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s. My grandfather worked for Standard oil as an engineer on those oil well pumps that used to be everywhere. Their house disappeared under Dodger Stadium in the 1950s. California has a nasty habit of tearing out the old to build the new. My own house, thankfully, was spared and sits in a beautiful neighborhood full of other 1920s Spanish Colonials. I feel blessed.
You are blessed.
Where is your house? (what area)
@@real_hello_kitty Let's just say it's the greater LA area.
@@kays749 I understand you wanting to keep it private and respect it. The greater LA area means, basically half of Southern California. That includes, Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County. They are all heavily populated areas as well. For the people that are not familiar with Southern California
@@aiver.a Yes.
I grew up in Los Angeles. As a child I witnessed the demolition of many of the Victorian, Queen Anne, and the Richardsonian mansions which lined Wilshire Boulevard. It was a sad sight to see. The detailed work and the intricate ornamentation were so beautiful. Riding in my grandmother’s car looking out the back seat window allowed me to use my imagination! Each structure was stunning! But every time we drove towards downtown or from downtown to Santa Monica many of the beauties were demolished or in the process of being torn down. It was heartbreaking to see! 😢Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
I grew up in Los Angeles and witnessed untold destruction of the bucolic San Fernando Valley. In 1959, my best friend Randi's grandmother's childhood home, built in 1890 on the corner of Cortine Place and Magnolia Ave., was torn down and an ugly stucco apartment building took its place, still there today. The Ventura Freeway took our house on Sarah St., via Eminent Domain, in 1956. I don't remember the grand mansions of Wilshire Blvd., but I have a dim, early 1950's memory of the old Hollywood Hotel, as we drove past it on Hollywood Blvd. I was in a Bunker Hill mansion for a piano recital, in about 1964, just prior to it being torn down. That entire area had fallen on hard times, with former mansions becoming seedy rooming houses. The 1947 movie, "Criss Cross," was filmed on location on Bunker Hill and you can get a good look at the area when the decline had firmly taken hold, but the area was still vibrant.
Historians say that the destruction of those old rooming houses that were once ornate luxurious mansions was the genesis of the homeless problem that has plagued LA ever since. The city was so fixed on urban renewal they apparently evicted everyone so they could tear down their homes and build structures like the Music Center. If anyone knows a different version of this please share it.
So much character in those old homes. Id choose one of those over one of the new ones in a heartbeat.
Oh, yes! Same here! No matter how architecturally designed!
ME TOO, THESE SQUARE BOXES ARE JUST SO IGNORANT AND IN A WORD PURE POISON NEVERMIND TREASON!!!
Me, too! Nothing like an old house.
I’m fortunate to live in a Victorian house from this time period. Thank you for the history lesson!
Los Angeles' unofficial motto is "Out with the old and in with the new"
I use to live in LA and got tired of the traffic and crime. There's a city nearby that still has preserved mansions, Pasadena, I highly recommend visiting the Huntington Library.
They should refine that to: "Out with the old treasure, in with the new garbage."
(Miami suffers from the same motto)
I agree with you, the Huntington is great.
Love that library. I think Wingate still exists. Lived near it as a kid. Knew the owners in the kate 70s El cerrito circle.
@@MH3GL. The Parisians cherish good design.
I love the little bit of "humanization" for the Crocker mansion (2:10) provided by the woman (Margaret?) waving at the camera from the upper balcony. So much more affecting than simple brick, stone and timber. Nice. ♥
Yes, so nice! 💗💗💗
Watch "Sunset Boulevard" and you'll see a great lost mansion of Los Angeles -- the William O. Jenkins House (also called the Getty Mansion) which served as Norma Desmond's abode.
Thanks. I didn’t know this.
The “Sunset Blvd.” house (also used in “Rebel Without a Cause,”) was where Crenshaw dead ended into Wiltshire Blvd. I was a teenager living across the street on Lorraine Blvd. when they filmed “Rebel.” The catering setup was on the old tennis court, which faced Lorraine. Lots of fun for a kid to watch the filming. I remember the scene with Dean and Wood in the swimming pool. The pool had been built for the movie, Sunset Boulevard.” It really was as the scene portrayed - empty and full of leaves. We used to sneak around the property as kids, but never inside. The house was open to sell pieces like the famous staircase, wall tapestries, before demolition. It was demolished to build what was then the Tidewater Oil Building.
@@ericthorson3246 Wow! What a cool experience that was, thanks for sharing!
This was absolutely fascinating. Love the old history of LA.
It’s heartbreaking and surreal to witness how the combination of wind and fire has left so many mansions reduced to ash. And the year barely started. My prayers are with Los Angeles.
Does anyone remember Jack Nicholson's line from the 1930's period film, China Town?
"Los Angeles is a small town."
My, how things change.
The usual order of "progress": build, bulldoze, repeat.
Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.
@@NinjaRunningWild 👌
Pictured at 0:13 is the Higgins mansion. It was moved in sections, west from its original site just outside of Bunker Hill, to the Hancock Park neighborhood. It's still there on Lucerne and Wilshire and was restored a few years ago.
My Old Friend Lee Chase had one of the oldest houses on that street. By on the corner of 6th. It was the House that belong to the org Designer. Rite behind the the Mayor's home. Less passed at 98 and sweet Anne. Passed at 95. Kids sold the home for only $3.6 Million! Now redone and selling for $6.6 Million. Anne was a Decendt of Mary Lincoln. Unfortunately many homes will be going to Demolition do to New young City council members. 😢😅😮
Can u do a story of the homes by the County hospital east of the 5 n North if the 10? I was trying to buy a Vintage Home for $80.000. Still needed work and bring it up to code. Was another $50.000. 😮 but it fell under Historical codes. So the city was supose to wave that ! NOT! When Karen Bass came in. 😮. They want to tear everything down ! Ugh
@@James-ik8yz I know that house well. I used to drive by it every day to work. Thank you for the history!
There is a pocket of beautiful Victorian homes in Los Angeles on Carroll Avenue. Worth a look if you're near LA.
My grandfather used to own the house at 1320 Carroll Avenue. They sold it in the 70’s for less than $100k!
How did this video not mention Angeleno Heights...
One year we toured maybe 16 of those homes - inside and out! It was a restoration fund raiser. Can't remember who sponsored the event, but they were wonderful to see and their owners were so proud of their preservation efforts.
@@hollywoodharriet13How fun! What a cool event.
I just checked out Carroll Avenue, that's a nice neighborhood.
I am always fascinated by the humble beginnings of these urban areas. Thank you for showing the early drawings of Los Angeles when it was a village by the river.
I was born in LA many years ago. At the time, my parents lived in an apartment on Bunker Hill. Although they later moved out to the San Fernando Valley, I remember going downtown and taking Angel’s Flight many times. Central Market was at the base of the little railroad and sold wonderful products. 😺
I go to LA once a year and stay right near the market. I use Angel's Flight all the time (partially disabled and gotta get to Starbucks up top lol). But I love the little funicular and eating at the market.
The Los Angeles Elk's Lodge was at the top of Angel's Flight. The letters BPOE are still written over the railway. I took it when I was last in downtown Los Angeles.
"Weather," it's the almost perfect year-round weather that made LA grow, the entertainment industry left NY for LA for the lack of harsh winters -- year round filming.
Walteria, a small sub-section of Torrance CA, is said to have some of the best weather in the country. Our local paper is called "The Daily Breeze." Los Angeles grew due to the great weather, BUT today she needs a lot of TLC, mostly in the downtown and metro area.
When you mentioned homes on Bunker Hill I was hoping you would show a picture of the one my cousin painted. Sadly it wasn’t there. My cousin went there just before they tore down the last few remaining houses still standing. He ended up painting two versions of one home. The first one he gave to his mother (my aunt). My mother kept a newspaper clipping of my cousin winning some type of award for it. I have no idea what happened to that clip. When my mother saw it she wanted one. So, my cousin painted one for her, and now it belongs to me. This one is visually different in the colors. My cousin made it a little bit brighter for my mother, but I am not certain why he made that choice. I think both paintings are equally lovely. The first one was done in circa 1958. The second was hanging on my mother’s wall in circa 1961. My mother’s is now in my home. I enjoyed your video. Thank you.
Nice summary of Los Angeles' history. Pasadena's craftsmen houses are well preserved at least.
IT SICKENS ME EVERY TIME I SEE VIDEOS OF THESE MANSIONS BEING DESTROYED. OTHER COUNTRIES HONOR THEIR PAST AND KEEP HISTORY IN THEIR HEARTS. THEY HAVE BUILDINGS HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD. NOT IN THE USA. ITS SAD AND DISGUSTING THAT OUR HISTORY IS NOT KEPT.
I agree with every capitalized you posted. Just plain sad😢
The USA is not a "country" it's a business😢
Quite a few were wiped out by earthquake and fire, too. I agree that it's so sad.
Unfortunately, almost all of these mansions are gone. Even more unfortunate, the horrible looking buildings that replaced them will degrade the landscape forever.
turning your capslock on doesn't make your flaccid thoughts any less flaccid, Jenny-poo
Thank you for letting us know about the Victorian Society. I have a book I bought in the early '80's about LA's Bunker Hill and what it looked like before all the mansions were eventually demolished to make way for the office towers. I worked at a law firm in one of the office towers, and I would walk around outside during my lunch hours picturing in my mind the mansions that stood where this or that office tower now stands. Amazing how it all changed.
I remember Angel's Flight from the late 1950s to the mid-'60s. It was a fun ride for an 8-yr-old. Pershing Square, the Biltmore Hotel, Union Station, Chinatown, and Olvero Street all enchanted me. My mom worked on 8th and Broadway, in the Chapman building, where I spent many after-school hours, having taken a bus from school. She would send me over to the May Co. to buy her a tall carton of carrot juice mixed with just the right amount of coconut milk. What a bustling, vibrant city it was then. We loved the huge downtown library -- an architectural marvel: kind of Egyptian, Art Deco, and arts and crafts -- but then that's my 8year-old's memory of it -- and what did I know about design back then? Nothing; It was exotic, for sure.
Thank you for stirring up memories from my youth.
I grew up in the Bunker Hill area between the late 1950s until 1973 when we were all evicted. By then the mansions were abandoned and we as kids found them very scary as we thought they were haunted. City officials were merciless as hundreds if not thousands were evicted from their homes through the use of eminent domain. We were scattered all over Los Angeles to start new lives that were not necessarily any better. The area continues to be gentrified with more people being evicted.
I wish we still had the trollies! 😢
Hi Ken, The Bradbury Mansion fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1929. Angels flight was built in 1901, so it had nothing to do with the mansion's demise.
Native Angelino here and I gotta say that my favorite thing to see when I travel around LA is seeing the older well maintained buildings. I live next to one of the only two original homes left on block that was built before 1910 and it's really what cemented my move to the neighborhood. It's sadly a little rundown but the resident does their best and it still exudes a proud and stately aura about it. I fear the day they pass away and the property gets sold to another souless developer.
Los Angeles has a lot of older neighborhoods that feature wonderful architecture and the occasional mansion. I lived in Pasadena not far from the designated "Bungalow Heaven" neighborhoods. I commuted to Los Angeles city, Los Angeles' Mid Wilshire, and later the West Side (Century City) for work. A drive along Sixth Street between Western to San Vicente will reveal neighborhoods full of large homes with a few modest mansions tucked among them--it is worth the drive to explore. 😉
The neighborhood bordered by Melrose and Wilshire between Gower and Highland is still full of beautiful old homes as well.
You're talking about Hancock Park
Sorry to see many of the mansions have been bulldozed. My mom and I used to drive to Bunker Hill to see the homes as they were being removed, really sad to lose our City of Los Angeles History.
Thank you! I’ve always been interested in LA area history 🙏
There's a GREAT LONGING in my spirit for what Los Angeles USE TO BE!
I LOVE LA! But what I think I love is "WHAT IT USE TO BE," not what it now is.
Thanks for the emotional walk down Nostalgic Lane.
Oh, how I wish it still were....😢
Hi Ken! I'm still in awe of your research skills & European pronunciations ❤
Born with both British and American citizenship I am often not even aware of the proper pronunciation of words until someone points it out! You are correct!!
I grew up in the canyons just above Santa Monica about 70 yrs ago. The difference between even now and then is enormous.
Yes, the good old days living in Mandeville. Sad that most of the homes of our day have been dozed and replaced. We had the best time period to enjoy the Canyon and chow down at Redi-chix at the Mart.
Thanks, Ken, for featuring California homes in your series. All four of my grandparents left home (Wisconsin, Ohio, NY, and England) in the mid-1920s and moved to Los Angeles. I have a photo my grandmother took of a 'storybook' style real estate office for the new housing development where her older sister had just bought a house. Nothing like a mansion, but amazing to see the half-finished Spanish and Mock-Tudor style homes with the empty grid of lots behind them. As mentioned below, old Hollywood movies (even the silent ones) must have captured many of these homes. I have an old postcard (sent by my grandfather to his sister in England, and returned to me by my cousins 70+ years later) showing a Richardson style main Courthouse in Los Angeles. I asked my Dad about it, and he said due to decades of earthquakes it was no longer safe. He remembered when it was torn down around the late 1940s. I grew up seeing the one immortalized in both Perry Mason and Dragnet; both shows ran in syndication on TV when I was a kid.
I always find it so interesting to see some of the homes in the silents. A good ex example is in "The Kid," where the large house occupied by Edna Purviance is so crisp and new in appearance because it was. Obviously, a location it is preserved with no multiple layers of paint, chipped concrete walkways, and copings around lawns. It is almost too perfect because we don't usually think of some buildings as ever having been "new."
This is one of the best documentary shows on RUclips. Ken does a lot of work and is extremely thorough. How would we know any of this, without his dedication?
Awesomeness, I Love the History. Thank you Brother🙏
Good report, Ken. I always appreciate your backstories. Did you ever find much on the modern log homes? Could you check on some of the historic homes, mansions and missions in San Antonio, TX? My wife and I love the idea of your St. Louis tour -- still a special place in our hearts before returning to my native home of Texas. My mom's family was from St. Louis. I remember finding my great grandmother's home in St. Charles.
Downtown Los Angeles was so unique at the turn of the century, it would be hard to believe it was an American city. The business district was one of a kind. Hope you can do a story on those old buldings. Venice has been done, Pasadena also.
Downtown is kinda small, not that many skyscrapers and lager development projects.
3d artists should rebuild it again, show what it was.
Yeah we're all hoping for that one.
How far our architecture has fallen. Just boxes nowadays. What a sad reflection
Still building them, just behind walls and gates
They have burned down because of primitive wiring or heating sources. And as you were saying property values went up as well. Sad thing is were mostly made of redwood. And some of the old construction methods they used were really not designed to survive. If we could have them now they could of been saved by upgrading to modern methods. Great channel as always
There should be large pictures with historical descriptions lining the streets of all the glorious old mansions.
Thank you Ken 🙏☺️
Grew up in East LA back in the 70’s and 80’s. I thought LA has changed a lot since then, but after watching this…Jeeshh! Those old homes were magnificent!
SUGGESTION: A BOOK ABOUT THE VINTAGE MANSIONS OF LOS ANGLES.
I,d like that book.Love all the old bungalows in California.Lot of old mansions and victorian's etc here in San Antonio.and many Texas towns Lots of ancient buildings in Europe.They haven't torn everything down.Rekatives in Garmisch have lived in the same house for over 300 years. Shame about these houses
If you want a quick look at the historic mansions referenced here, just watch some of the old silent comedies of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, the Keystone Cops etc. especially the chase scenes...These historic homes were everywhere. Moreover, we're not done destroying these houses. It's still on-going. Pickfair, the Harold Lloyd estate etc. The list continues to grow...
Every time i watch these types of videos i hope that i see an old photo of my house by chance. I have a 1900 queen Anne just south of dtla that I'm restoring. It be nice to have more than one of photo!
Great video. Love any history and architecture of LA
Great video! I think there was a missed opportunity to do more before and after shots of the precise locations were some of these mansions stood but other than that very interesting! Much love from Oakland, Ca
My apartment building was built in 1929 when not much else was around, now it's surrounded by skyscrapers and parking lots
Thank you for meticulously explaining the history of Los Angeles. I still find it fascinating the amount of growth over the years that Los Angeles still keep reinventing itself.
it's an 8 minute video - where do you get meticulous??
Very nice thank you. I grew up around LA and my job brings me in and around the old neighborhoods. I often wonder who lived in some of those bygone era homes. Some may be in disrepair others look as if they are still loved. My dad grew up in Huntington Park in the 30s and told me how nice LA looked back then. My wife and I moved th Menifee a few years ago and have taken many trips to Redlands and we just love all the old Victorian homes that were built there so long ago.
Very beautiful, loved the old days better. Thx for sharing 🙌🏻
As the population grew sprawling estates couldn't be maintained as the property values increased.
As a member of The Magic Castle, the Rollin Lane Mansion built in 1909 is truly a work of art and such an iconic piece of LA's history. Although changed a great deal, the basis structure is still stunning holding massive charm and prestige.
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane. Well done....
Wow what was once a beautiful city Los Angeles is now following the trends of such places as Detroit when it comes to crime. It's so sad to see. I can't imagine what Hollywood once was in its golden age. I love to read about it. Great video Ken and thanks for sharing this.
LA's track record in the area of historic preservation is unfortunately very poor. "Tear down" seems to be one of the most common terms used in southern California's real estate market.
I agree with you. I feel it all looks the worse for the bulldozing of so many things.
I worked on that 75 story building downtown that sits on Bunker Hill....and I worked on the Bunker Hill Steps...
The Terrazzo we installed in the lobby diamond rhomboid pattern resembled a spider web . It won Terrazzo job of the year USA 1989... I walked my Dad through that job , he was beside himself with pride and pure joy! He was born in Anaheim in 1918 and worked for the Los Angeles Times for 37 years.
Amazing memories thank you for this piece of history 🎉
What a spectacular home! My gods, what great artists and visionaries they were back then. where I live there are several historic neighborhoods and the last few decades if house is on land that needs redevelopment or falls in disrepair it is actually moved to new lot from its foundation. Usually the local private college that is known for its fine arts buys them and becomes homes for professors. I love walking these neighborhoods in such awe of even the most minute details made these so eloquent. I never get bored and always find something new on a timeless beauty to appreciate.
Not only sad to lose these beautiful Homes but the absolutely beautiful landscaping they had and some were just so stunning and to think it was all demolished for High rise buildings and paved streets 😢
YOUR CHANNEL IS AWSOME 😊
What stood out to me was the Margaret Crocker mansion. I want that mansion on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with a beautiful rhododendron and rose garden, with an orange orchard, and an arboretum.
I was living in L.A. in the late 60'swhen they tore down Bunker Hill. We used to sneak in there on weekends and "liberate" wonderful woodwork and leaded glass windows, carpets and fittings galore.
Stockton Ca, a city with a population that has a tenth of Los Angeles and about 28 percent of its land total, managed to maintain more victorian homes in its Magnolia historic district known as midtown and turn of the century residences than Los Angeles.
I’m surprised no mention of Heritage Square Museum where so many mansions were saved
My family has a looong history in Los Angeles. My GGG Grandfather, James Towell, helped start the L.A. Times after moving there after his retirement. Two of his daughters, Louisa and Addie, were married to lawyers in LA. In Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, I’ve tracked down 40+ people we are related to. The oldest one is my GGG Grandmother’s Aunt.
Pasadena remains a shining example of multitudes of homes from the era
Those old mansions looked so cool to live in ❤😊
I lived there fifty years ago, it was beautiful.
Any info on mansions of San Fernando Valley? In the 80's there were two in Pacoima. The last was demolished by the end if the 2010's. There were more mid-valley 🤔 Not sure about the Woodland Hills area
I went to a baby shower at Pickfair in the mid-90s. We didn’t go inside the main house, but the grounds were magnificent. ✌🏼
Thanks Ken. This was interesting.
My ancestors came to Los Angeles in 1895. They lived in a two story colonial cottage just south of Bunker Hill. It was torn down I’m assuming by the early 1950s.
There are lots of these homes still around Los Angeles and surrounding suburbs. I wish we got to see some of what’s still standing! (I live in LA, there are a ton!)
My 3rd great grandmother and grandfather lived in the 2 story adobe pictured in the first drawing. Built by her uncle in 1844, it was temporarily general Fremont's headquarters and state capital during the transition from Mexican to US rule.
LA grew exponentially and the mansions got in the way. Take a look around Angeles Crest, though. There's a gaggle of beautiful old homes hiding away there.
I like how it started with the spanish. But it was already beautiful and settled.
That first image you show is from a colored stone lithograph from the Pacific Railroad Survey done in the late 1850's.
I grew up in echo park where you still have those victorian houses 🏘️
Would like to see the then and now of each of the mansion locations.
Just so I remember, the house in the thumbnail was the William S. Mason house in Portland Oregon, built at 651 NW Irving st which is currently renumbered to 2031 NW Irving street, north side of the road, currently a tiny parking lot. People believe it was in Bunker Hill because a postcard of it was mixed into a huge collection of photos from bunker hill which was donated to a library. 1:52 it was later renamed the Caswell House. It was built around 1891 and the fancy front window is allegedly now owned by the Bosco - Milligan foundation. it had been demolished by 1950
There is this cool community near Crenshaw/Adams. Beautiful. I think Saint Charles??
Me and my family use to walk to bunkers hill and take the angels flight unto the central market it was nice
Great Vid.
I lived in a Victorian house that was on Court Street but Belmont School is there now. My old house is now on Carrol Street it survived along with many others
Where are all the pictures of them being built? Would love to see how they designed the interior and the yards outside.
The church you show at the beginning is the San Fernando Mission.
My father was born in1914. They would visit l.a. visiting grandparents. There were farms still there
In every major world city I've ever lived I've chosen pre-war residential buildings, but I understand progress. London, New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, even Singapore, there is beauty in the expression of architecture, but we need to understand massive metropolitan growth.
I work in tourism marketing and it is one segment that definitely celebrates the historic beginnings of cities, but also the gleaming architecture of the future.
Thanks Ken 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
1. Please understand that homes have a finite life span, no matter how well constructed.
2. The land uses change over time. I remember the dairy on La Cienega and also going to competing dairies in the San Fernando Valley to buy milk in glass bottles in bulk and return the empties.
3. My home was a bean field in 1949. Then, a tract house appeared. Two doors down from me is a new home (same small lot size) that went on sale this year for $6,230,000. The other new house on the corner just had a reduced monthly rental rate of $18,000! My first full time job paid top dollar of $18,000 a year!
Los Angeles is a victim of horrible city planning and zoning. I was researching a home in West Adams that was listed on a street that I could no longer find. After reading newspapers during the early 1900's I found they let a factory go up amongst a residential neighborhood without any zoning issues. Driving through neighborhoods, many have no charm as they are a mish mash of different types of uses and just ugly. In addition you have the mansions that were built that did not have the best construction or no longer meet earthquake codes. Many homes were built quickly to look good but not to stand the test of time.
The dark mansion at the end was a dorm for students at Mount saint Mary's Doheny campus
Thank You!
What ever happened to those beautiful architecture beautiful homes they were really nice looking and pleasant to live.😢
You can find some of the houses at the Heritage Museum.
Seen a few. Western and vermont aves. Some became apts.😊 tent city now. Olympics 28 prayers.😢
It is truly criminal that so many stunningly built structures were replaced with such gross and boring skyscrapers
Suprised you didn't include the West Adams historical district, just down the I 10 freeway....many mansions still exsist and have been, for the most part restored
Beautiful houses!