Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 21, 1941

March 21, 1941, Germans Open Spring Offensive

March 21, 1941: Tom Treanor says that the war has created a narcotics shortage in Los Angeles, so that many addicts are getting clean and sober or switching to liquor. The evidence is mostly anecdotal, however, and doesn't inlude marijuana use. Police report an increase in drug thefts from doctors and pharmacies, as well as rise in forged prescriptions.

Cuff Notes: Phone Headman Buddy De Sylva at Paramount and ask why, with all the testing, he doesn't look into this column's suggestion that Luise Rainer would be perfect for Maria in "For Whom the Bell Tolls," Jimmie Fidler says.

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More in: 1889, 1919, 1941, Art and Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor

Profiles in Domestic Violence

Aug. 25, 1889: Prince Albert suits for $14 ($331.36 USD, 2008).

The late 19th and early 20th century newspapers are full of harrowing stories about domestic violence, usually alcoholic men beating their wives and children. The women in these reports typically say that they endure countless beatings because they are unable to support themselves and their children, and because the husbands, once sober and/or in jail or in court, promise to reform.

In fact, the husbands almost never reform and the drinking and beatings escalate until the women end up in the hospital and the husbands are prosecuted, even though the wives refuse to press charges.

I've come across an interesting variant of these stories in the papers of the 1950s. As the abused children grow older, one of them -- usually a son in his mid-teens -- confronts the drunk, abusive father as he's beating the mother and kills him. I haven't read enough of the earlier papers to know if this occurs regularly, but these stories are a fixture of the mid- to late 1950s.

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Spring Street revisited

Above, the Nadeau Hotel (sometimes called the Hotel Nadeau) at Spring and 1st streets (now the site of The Times Building), in an undated drawing.

An early ad for a business in the Nadeau, 1889.

Photograph by the Los Angeles Times

Demolition of the Nadeau Hotel, 1932.

Times columnist Lee Shippey writes about the sad farewells to the Nadeau, 1932.

peaking of Spring Street, here's a bit on the Nadeau Hotel, a Los Angeles landmark built by Remi Nadeau in 1882 as the Nadeau House.

Nadeau was a Canadian who came to Los Angeles about 1867. He began in the freight business, hauling bullion from mines in Inyo County to Los Angeles and hauling goods from Los Angeles to the miners in Inyo County. According to The Times, Nadeau had a 2,400-acre vineyard, which the paper called one of the largest in the world.

The hotel went through some difficult times after Nadeau died in 1887. It closed for several weeks in 1912 while it was in receivership and was again in receivership in 1916.

Over the years, it was the site of countless luncheons of political and social groups, and fraternal organizations, and occasionally the site of crimes and accidents, notably an employee who was crushed by the elevator.

Bonus fact: The site of the Nadeau Hotel was previously owned by Louis Roeder, a German immigrant who operated a blacksmith shop there. At his death in 1915 at the age of 80, he still owned an adjoining lot, The Times said.

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Technorati Tags: 1882, 1932, downtown, hotels, lodging, Los Angeles Times, Nadeau Hotel, Spring Street

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Spring Street revisited

C. C. Pierce Photographer, 1572 W. Pico, Los Angeles

This photograph of Spring Street, looking south from Temple, is slightly later than the one in the previous entry and was taken about 1896.

Notice that our single-track, horse-drawn streetcars have vanished. Instead, we have parallel tracks for cars powered by--what's this? A cable! Also notice that Spring has been paved with bricks.

According to The Times, the City Council granted a franchise to the Los Angeles Cable Railway Co. in 1887. The route began at Spring 200 feet south of 1st, went along Spring to Main, Upper Main Street, Alameda and San Fernando streets, and Downey Avenue to the intersection with Workman. The fare was not to exceed 5 cents per passenger ($1.14 USD 2007).

At left, an 1889 accident involving a buggy that was caught in the tracks for the cable car. Notice that the team of horses ran away and one of them broke a window before being caught.

Another detail from the photo shows the Nadeau Hotel at 1st and Spring (now the site of The Times Building). To the left is Jevne's grocery store. Also notice the tower at the center of the picture.

The tower visible in the center of the picture is City Hall, then located on Broadway. The building was demolished for a parking lot, but the annex remains as the Victor Clothing building.

I think this pedestal clock is a wonderful detail from a 19th century streetscape. London Clothing Co. later became Harris & Frank.

The unhappy fate of photographer Lemuel S. Ellis, who worked for C.C. Pierce and died in 1902.

This imposing building is the Phillips Block and the location has an interesting history. Los Angeles' first City Hall was located here in what was known as the Rocha House, an adobe on Spring between Temple and 1st on an unnamed street.

In 1853, Juan Temple sold the house and lot to Los Angeles County, which in turn sold a share of the building to the city, according to a 1930 Times story. Because a building on the property was used as a jail, the unnamed street became known as Jail Street and, after neighbors' protests, was renamed Franklin Street in 1872.

According to the 1930 Times story, criminals were hanged from the portico of the Rocha House, including a murderer and his two companions on Nov. 21, 1863.

In 1883, the city sold the Rocha House to Louis Phillips and used the money to build another City Hall at Spring and 2nd. Phillips demolished the Rocha adobe to make way for his five-story Phillips Block. The building, which housed the People's Store, was destroyed by a spectacular fire in 1912 and torn down in 1913, according to The Times.

And finally, we find a young boy being led, presumably by his father. Are they headed for London Clothing to get a new outfit? We can only wonder.

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Technorati Tags: 1896, City Hall, Spring Street, Temple

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More in: 1872, 1887, 1889, Architecture, City Hall, Downtown, Freeways, Transportation

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Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 21, 1941

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Spring Street revisited

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