Etan Does LA

#78: Hollywood Studio Club

March 8, 2022

Architect Julia Morgan designed this 1926 building for the Hollywood Studio Club, a one-time home of Marilyn Monroe, Rita Moreno, Kim Novak, Barbara Eden and nearly 10,000 women seeking employment in the film industry

#77: Old Santa Susana Stage Road (Chatsworth)

March 4, 2022

Pioneers & Settlers

This treacherous mountain trail through the Santa Susana Pass was an important artery for stagecoach passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the 1860s-70s, and an official Butterfield Overland Mail route during the Civil War

#76: John Lautner’s JW Schaffer House (Montrose)

February 27, 2022

Architecture

One of the great homes that John Lautner designed in the ‘40s, the Schaffer house blends into its wooded surroundings as if it had always been there.

#75: Lincoln Theater (South LA) | Black History Month

February 24, 2022

Entertainment

From its opening in 1927 'til 1962, the Lincoln Theater was the biggest venue on Central Avenue catering to the Black community in LA.

#74: 28th Street YMCA (Paul Revere Williams – South LA) | Black History Month

February 20, 2022

Architecture

A vital community center and gathering place for Black Angelenos, and a major early building by legendary architect Paul Revere Williams

#73: McCarty Memorial Christian Church (West Adams) | Black History Month

February 17, 2022

Architecture

A fine example of gothic church architecture, McCarty Memorial also tells us a lot about how West Adams became a majority-Black neighborhood

#72: Dunbar Hotel (South LA) / Hotel Somerville | Black History Month

February 14, 2022

Architecture

The hub of Central Avenue's vibrant jazz scene in the late '20s through the early '50s, the Dunbar Hotel hosted everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Thurgood Marshall to Joe Louis, and served as a symbol of Black achievement during the Jim Crow era

#71: 27th Street Historic District | Black History Month

February 10, 2022

Architecture

The century-old Victorian and craftsman homes of the 27th Street Historic District have housed generations of minority communities in LA – including a large population of African Americans during the heyday of Central Avenue

#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

#69: Second Baptist Church (South LA) | Black History Month

February 2, 2022

Architecture

A center of Black community life since 1926, Second Baptist Church has hosted MLK, Malcolm X & James Baldwin, and is an early work of noted LA architect Paul R. Williams

#68: Montecito Apartments (Hollywood)

January 30, 2022

Architecture

Standing tall in Hollywood since 1931, this art deco high-rise once housed Gene Hackman, Montgomery Clift, Mickey Rooney and Ronald Reagan

#67: John Lautner’s Harpel House (Hollywood Hills)

January 28, 2022

Architecture

A triumph of light and space for mid-century modernist John Lautner, the Harpel House pointed the way to his later masterworks

#66: Hollywood Argyle Apartments (Hollywood)

January 23, 2022

Architecture

While this 1920s Hollywood apartment building is anything but glamorous, its story says a lot about the development of Hollywood over the past century.