Commerce Archives - Page 2 of 2

#138: Greystone Mansion/Doheny Estate (Beverly Hills)

February 16, 2023

This 55-room mansion in Beverly Hills was designed by Gordon Kaufmann for oil heir Ned Doheny and his family. Over the years it has been a residence and a public park; a popular place to get married or hold a fashion shoot; the site of a still-controversial murder-suicide case; a film school where David Lynch and Paul Schrader honed their chops; and the location of Beverly Hills' largest reservoir.

#120-122: Garment District High-Rises (Downtown)

October 10, 2022

Architecture

The 1920s-era Garment Capitol Building, Textile Center Building and Maxfield Lofts each have their own thing going for them aesthetically. And they each capture a unique period in the economic and architectural development of the Garment District in downtown LA, which remains one of the city's economic engines to this day.

#106: Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building (Boyle Heights)

July 6, 2022

Commerce

The massive art deco Sears building in Boyle Heights was once the mail order center for the entire southwestern region of the US, and a fixture for generations of eastside Angelenos. Now abandoned, the building awaits an uncertain fate.

#103: Oaklawn Bridge & Waiting Station (Greene & Greene – South Pasadena)

June 23, 2022

Architecture

South Pasadena's Oaklawn Bridge is a unique entry in the canon of master craftsman architects Charles & Henry Greene. Enhancing its gracefulness are the adorable waiting station and mysterious obelisk attached to its eastern end.

#99: Pioneer Oil Refinery (Newhall)

May 27, 2022

Commerce

From 1877 - 1888, the Pioneer Oil Refinery processed oil from Pico No. 4, the first commercially successful oil well in California. The refinery had a brief heyday, but it was an important part of the birth of the oil industry in California. Today it stands as the earliest extant refinery in California (some say the entire world).

#97: Pico No. 4, First Successful Oil Well in CA (Newhall)

May 8, 2022

Commerce

Pico No. 4 is one of the most important LA landmarks of them all. This unassuming bit of rusty pipe is the remnant of the first commercially successful oil well in CA, drilled in 1876 and producing oil for 114 years.

#92: Angelus Funeral Home (South LA)

April 17, 2022

Commerce

Founded in 1922, Angelus Funeral Home became one of the most successful Black-owned businesses in Los Angeles. This lovely building by architect Paul R. Williams was its home from 1934 through the '60s.

#70: Golden State Mutual Building (South LA) | Black History Month

February 5, 2022

Commerce

The original headquarters of one of the most successful African-American-owned businesses west of the Mississippi, and an anchor of the Black community around Central Ave. in the late 1920s - '40s

#54 – #62: Historic Sites on the Rose Parade Route in Pasadena

December 29, 2021

Architecture

All eyes are on Pasadena this week for the Rose Parade. Get to know the historic buildings that line the route of Pasadena's Rose Parade, a new year's day tradition since 1890.

#47: The Old Mill/El Molino Viejo (San Marino)

November 30, 2021

Commerce

The Old Mill is Southern California's oldest surviving commercial building. Its millstones once ground grain for the San Gabriel mission, and were later rediscovered by a famous WWII hero.[…]

#11: Mentryville (Newhall)

October 16, 2021

Commerce

A boomtown turns to a ghost town on the site of the first successful oil well in California