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106 E. Hobson Ave., Sapulpa OK.
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Shot in February 2002 on black and white film with a Canon 650.
In 1923, Harry Chandler, owner of the biggest real estate empire of the time, was looking to get people out to Los Angeles, and decided to build what was first supposed to be a gated community in the hills northwest of downtown. This was deemed "Hollywoodland," and the iconic sign later built as a hillside billboard for that community once reflected that longer name.
Two stone gates were set up at the time, to retain privacy for the future residents. They still sit there, at the top of Beachwood Canyon.
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940 W. Olive Ave., Burbank CA.
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Paraphrased from www.historicechopark.com:
The Jensen Recreation Center, located at 1706 Sunset Blvd. in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, was built by the late Henry Christian Jensen in 1924.
Originally, the three-story Jensen Recreation Center had a row of shops, a bowling alley, and a pool hall at street level, and 46 apartments on the top two levels.
The center was a hub of activity for the neighborhood. Residents coming and going, people dropping in for a bite to eat at the lunch counter, men stopping by for a shave or a haircut, or a quick game of pool. The recreation center often hosted celebrity athletic events and continued to do so until it closed in the 1970’s.
Today, the building looks much like it did in the 1920’s, with a few exceptions. A section of windows in the space that once housed the corner drugstore have been filled with stucco. And several plastic and metal storefront signs cover the decorative tile work that hangs over each street level window. All signs of the bowling alley are gone. Miraculously, through the years, the Egyptian-inspired ornamentation that wrapped around the walls near the ceiling of the large room, though slightly faded, still exists. Over the decades, the space has been used for everything from an indoor swap meet to a photo studio.
For more that 50 years, the 17x28 foot incandescent sign (illuminated with 1,300 red, green and white light bulbs) atop the building that depicts a bowler throwing a strike was dark. A testament to the neglect and disrepair the building and the neighborhood sometimes suffered over the years. In 1997, the sign was restored to its original appearance through a cultural affairs grant.
The building was declared Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument No. 652 in 1998.
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