Etan Does LA - Page 4 of 13 - Exploring Los Angeles history, one landmark at a time

#155: Great Hall/Long Hall (West Hollywood)

#155: Great Hall/Long Hall (West Hollywood)

June 2, 2023

Great Hall/Long Hall in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park was built in 1938, on land that was owned by the colorful Eugenio “Captain” Plummer. The building was one of many projects in LA funded by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. It’s served West Hollywood's diverse communities for decades, most notably as a meeting space for the advocacy group ACT UP, which shaped the federal government’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

#154: Memorial Branch Library (Mid-Wilshire)

#154: Memorial Branch Library (Mid-Wilshire)

May 28, 2023

The Memorial Branch Library from 1930 was dedicated by Los Angeles High School to the memory of its 20 alumni who died in WWI. It's a pitch-perfect gothic revival building, highlighted by a heraldic stained glass window crafted by Judson Studios.

#153: Peter Gano House / Holly Hill House (Avalon)

#153: Peter Gano House / Holly Hill House (Avalon)

May 23, 2023

This idiosyncratic Queen Anne Victorian is one of the oldest standing buildings in Avalon. It was built from 1888-1890 by retired civil engineer Peter Gano, and constructed with the help of a former circus horse named Mercury. This is one of the few extant connections to the earliest phase of Catalina's development as a resort destination, decades before the Wrigleys came to town.

#152: Commercial Club (Downtown)

#152: Commercial Club (Downtown)

May 20, 2023

The Commercial Club building was the headquarters of a short-lived social club from the 1920s and early '30s. It was designed by the venerable Curlett & Beelman, whose expertise in handsome high-rises helped define the downtown skyline. After a decade of disuse, it was transformed into the swanky Proper Hotel, while retaining many of its historic quirks.

#151: Casa de Rosas (University Park)

#151: Casa de Rosas (University Park)

May 10, 2023

Built in 1893, Casa de Rosas was the first project by architect Sumner Hunt, who's also credited with the Bradbury Building, the Automobile Club of Southern California and many other classics. It's also housed many important tenants over the years: the Froebel Institute, one of the first kindergartens in LA; a WWII army barracks, LA's first mission catering to women, even the headquarters of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics Foundation.

#150: Vasquez Rocks (Agua Dulce)

#150: Vasquez Rocks (Agua Dulce)

May 5, 2023

Native Americans

Visit the Vasquez Rocks for a lil' slice of Mars less than an hour out of LA. These heaving piles of sandstone jut out at impossible angles, yielding an alien landscape that's backdropped westerns, horror flicks and sci-fi epics since the 1920s. Read on for a capsule history of the Rocks, with cameos from the indigenous Tataviam, the Spanish missionaries, and the Mexican bandit that gave the Vasquez Rocks their name.

#149: Killingsworth, Brady & Smith Office (Long Beach)

#149: Killingsworth, Brady & Smith Office (Long Beach)

April 25, 2023

Long Beach architect Edward Killingsworth honed the mid-century modern aesthetic into 3D poetry, creating sanctuaries out of right angles, high ceilings, open plans, expansive glass and natural light. One of the purest distillations of his design philosophy can be seen in the office he designed for his own firm in 1955.

#148: Christian Science Society (Avalon)

#148: Christian Science Society (Avalon)

April 15, 2023

Built in 1929 by the fabulously wealthy Wrigley family, owners of Catalina Island, the Christian Science Society was the first building in Avalon designed in the Spanish colonial revival style, an aesthetic that would dominate Avalon's look and f for the next half century.

#147: Seaman-Foshay House (University Park)

#147: Seaman-Foshay House (University Park)

April 12, 2023

This exuberant Queen Anne-Eastlake style Victorian home from 1887 was one of the earliest houses built in the fashionable St. James Park neighborhood, just north of USC. We're not 100% sure who designed it, but we know it was home (at different times) to two of LA's most eminent educators, whose professional lives intertwined in a number of ways.

#146: Bungalow Court at 940-948 N. Raymond Avenue (Pasadena)

#146: Bungalow Court at 940-948 N. Raymond Avenue (Pasadena)

April 4, 2023

Back around 1910 - 1930, Pasadena was a laboratory for the bungalow court: a type of multi-family housing that placed a group of small dwellings around a central courtyard, with a driveway leading down to a garage in the back. This here court is one of 28 Pasadena bungalow courts listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's a fine example of the Spanish colonial revival style applied to the bungalow court genre. Plus its architect has a very silly last name.

#145: Venice Beach House (Venice)

#145: Venice Beach House (Venice)

March 29, 2023

This historic craftsman house has stood in the same spot in Venice since 1911, back when this area was just white sand dunes. It was the summer home of LA Daily Journal editor Warren Wilson, an important early settler of Venice whose daughters married into the family of Venice founder Abbot Kinney. The house was a popular stopover for local politicians, businessmen and the cultural elite. These days it's a posh B&B, beautifully restored with much of the original woodwork and craftsman detailing intact.

#144: Halifax Apartments (Hollywood)

#144: Halifax Apartments (Hollywood)

March 23, 2023

The Halifax Apartments were constructed in 1923 to help address the influx of emigrants attracted to the exploding film industry. It's on the NRHP as a dignified Italian renaissance revival design by Walker & Eisen. But way more interesting is the story of its builder: Leach Cross, a Jewish dentist who moonlit as a mediocre boxer and eventually turned to real estate. And then the restaurant biz. And then back to dentistry and boxing.

#143: Louise C. Bentz House (Pasadena – Greene & Greene)

#143: Louise C. Bentz House (Pasadena – Greene & Greene)

March 17, 2023

This house is a minor marvel from the craftsman starchitects Charles & Henry Greene. It was commissioned in 1906 by Asian art importer John C. Bentz, one of the developers of the fashionable Prospect Park Tract in Pasadena. The house was the very first built on the tract, and it set a sky high quality standard for the neighborhood. It's also a great example of how Greene & Greene could work with more modest budgets and still showcase their architectural mastery.

#142: Citizen Publishing Company Building (Culver City)

#142: Citizen Publishing Company Building (Culver City)

March 13, 2023

Beginning in 1929, the Citizen Publishing Company printed Culver City's most popular local newspaper, The Citizen - a family-owned rag that championed civic reform and boosted the local film industry. Architect Orville Clark based his design on original plans by Kitty Donovan, wife of the paper's owner Eugene Donovan. Since 2020, the building has operated as a swank food court.

#141: Ebell of Los Angeles (Hancock Park)

#141: Ebell of Los Angeles (Hancock Park)

March 8, 2023

Since 1927, the Ebell of Los Angeles has been the forever home in LA for this venerable women's cultural and philanthropic organization. Designed by the great Sumner Hunt, this Italian Renaissance marvel wears its 75,000 square feet well, with refined exteriors, richly decorated interiors, and a courtyard that ties it all together. The adjoining Wilshire Ebell Theatre has hosted historic appearances by too many celebrities to name, including Judy Garland, Amelia Earhart, Stravinsky, Michelle Obama - the list goes on.