Old L.A. and the U.S.

TL;DR -- We continue to look at CA via two cities in order to learn more about the Spanish period that preceded the entry of New England's influence into the area. Period photos are the enabling technology. 

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We have been looking at two CA cities, LA and SF. Early on, we had Jedediah Strong Smith representing the eastern culture in his wanderings across that country. He was there in the 1830s. Later, we looked at the Butterfield Express which brought people, goods and mail from St. Louis, MO and from points in between, such as TX and AZ, to LA and onward to SF. This was in the 1850s and was quite successful despite the arduous nature of the trip. However, the Civil War interrupted the business for a few years, but post that conflict things boomed again. 

There were several motivations for looking at this area of the country which include the early explorations when it was a territory of Spain, then the initial comings and goings by sea and land, the acceleration of the New England influence after the Civil War, and, in particular, an area of DTLA that was known as Bunker Hill. As we have mentioned, it now is full of sky scrapers (high-rise corner), but the area represents changes that were fast and furious over the years. However, a huge change was the introduction of the railroad across the country. We can read of this: Samuel Clemens took the trip by stage coach; later, R. W. Emerson took a similar trip by rail. Clemens disliked the journey so much that he returned to the east coast by sea which was no mean feat either.  

W e have mentioned, before, the Cathedral (St. Vibiana's) that moved from the base of Bunker Hill to being on top in the latter part of the 1900s as urban renewal took its toll. The older building still stands, near the LA City Hall and serves the function of an event center. Today, we saw an early photo which was from before the time that the Cathedral was built. It is a smaller Catholic church with an interesting history with respect to our continuing studies of the other colonial experiences in the founding of the U.S.  

Before going further, let's pause to recognize and honor the work of the Water and Power Associates (WPA) which has collected photos related to the history of Los Angeles. This is their mission statement: 

to inform and educate its memberrs, public officials, and the general public on critical water and energy issues affecting the citizens of Los Angeles, Southern California and the State of California.

The below photos and information are courtesy of their virtual museum and collection of period photos. 

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We start by looking at an earlier church (La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles - Wikipedia). It is on the left of this photo that looks north on the Calle Principal which is now Main Street (Wikipedia) and which has been mentioned many times. We can consider the area to be at the foot of hills to the west of DTLA such as Bunker Hill. 

Old Plaza Church 

Zanja Madre

The caption for the photo at the WPA site mentions the "Mother Trench" (Wikipedia) with this caption:

The "Old Plaza Church" facing the Plaza, 1869. The brick reservoir in the middle of the Plaza was the original terminus of the Zanja Madre.

As mentioned, LA is a very dry place. So, water was brought in early and has continued to be of concern as the population abounded, and still abounds, almost without bounds. 

But, in the beginning: 

The Pueblo de Los Angeles was an official settlement of Spain. They had three types of settlements in Alta California: presidio (military), mission (religious) and pueblo (civil). The pueblos would provide the commercial and agricultural needs of the military as an alternative to the missions. (source Wikipedia) 

When researching Jedediah's experiences, we looked briefly at the military aspect of the community. The Old Plaza Church and St. Vibiana's are examples of the religious. In some of the early photos that we show below there were other churches appearing as New England's influence grew. But, for now, let's look at travel and trade, again. Butterfield is mentioned in one of these photos. 

Old Plaza Church
and the LA City Hall

In our earlier look, we mentioned how his coaches came into the area where the Times-Mirror building is now. Let's use a photo of Main Street looking south to set the dimensions. The photo is from 1928 which was not long after City Hall was finished. We see that the civic building is just down the street from the church. 

And, the facilities used by Butterfield (and his cohorts) would have been just on the other side of the City Hall from the church. 

Quoting the WPA site: 

The Overland Mail Company operated by John Butterfield (the founder of American Express) rented space for a station until it built new quarters in 1860 at Second and Spring--the present location of Mirror Building. The Wells, Fargo and Company also had their office here and Phineas Banning (Wikipedia) operated coaches to Wilmington and San Bernardino from the hotel.

But, that brings up another view to consider. We will be looking more at the history of Bunker Hill, eventually. It is just south of Fort Moore Hill which is in the background of the church in this photo. From this perspective, one can see why there was an effort to tunnel through these hills to go west. 

Fort Moore Hill to 
the west of the 
Old Plaza Church

The PWA site on Fort Moore hill: 

Fort Hill (also known as Fort Moore Hill) was a prominent hill overlooking the pueblo of Los Angeles. Its commanding view of the city made it a strategic location.

Fort Moore was an historic U.S. Military Fort during the Mexican–American War. Its approximate location was at what is now the Hollywood Freeway near the intersection of North Hill Street and West Cesar Chavez Avenue, downtown. The hill on which it was built became known as Fort Moore Hill, most of which was removed in 1949 for construction of the freeway. The hill was located one block north of Temple Street and a short distance south of present day Cesar Chavez Avenue, between the Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown.

The fort is now memorialized by the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial, 451 North Hill Street.

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Now, getting back to Butterfield, the building where he started was built in 1835. That is very early as the area was still under Spanish control. This next photo is from 1865 and shows the state of the building after additional floors were constructed. 

1865 view after
addition to 1835 building of
Isaac Williams (Wikipedia)

Quoting the PWA site: 

The Bella Union Hotel was considered the first hotel in Los Angeles. It became the Clarenden in 1873 and the St. Charles in 1875.

Constructed in 1835 as the home of Isaac Williams, a New England merchant who moved to Los Angeles three years earlier, the one story adobe became the last capitol of Alta California during the Mexican era when Governor Pio Pico purchased it for his office.

After the conquest of Los Angeles by American forces in 1847, the building was used by Lt. Archibald Gillespie, who commanded the occupying forces. Later it housed American troops, and after they left, it became a saloon. By early 1850, the building was operating as the Bella Union Hotel. Later that year, it became the county's first courthouse and beginning in 1858, it was the region's transportation hub. The Overland Mail Company operated by John Butterfield (the founder of American Express) rented space for a station until it built new quarters in 1860 at Second and Spring--the present location of Mirror Building. The Wells, Fargo and Company also had their office here and Phineas Banning operated coaches to Wilmington and San Bernardino from the hotel. 

Wikipedia quote: 

On October 7, 1858, the first Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach from the East, arrived 21 days after leaving St. Louis, Missouri. "Warren Hall was the driver, and Waterman Ormsby, a reporter, the only through passenger. In that era it was the region's transportation hub: Wells, Fargo & Co. and Phineas Banning's coaches to and from Wilmington and San Bernardino had offices there.

By way of comparison, the Sante Fe trail went from Independence, MO through Fort Larned, KS on its way to NM after passing through Gardner, KS. That trek, western MO to western KS took three weeks of hard work, daily. The coach trip took the same. Mostly, the horses did the work. However, think of the difficulties of the trip compared to our modern times and its highways. 

Isaac Williams is an example of the multifaceted gents who were into fur searching, trading and then ranching. Earlier, we looked at William S. Bent, New Englander, and his adventures in the middle of the country; he was a cohort of Kit Carson and others. Williams was close to the same time and followed Jedediah Strong Smith out through the Mojave Desert to the lower coast.  

Connection: One owner was Obed Macy (WikiTree) who was a Thomas Gardner descendant of a Nantucket Island family. 

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Let's do one more photo as the three-story building that started as the Bella Union Hotel (Wikipedia) and became the St. Charles Hotel was there for a long while. And, it has a storied history that needs some attention. We will look more closely. The Daily Mirror sent an artist to visit the St. Charles and published a sketch March 16, 1936. It was demolished in 1940. 

As well, we will look at Bunker Hill houses and other buildings and identify those built by New England families. There are many photos to browse through which show the houses to be quite demonstrative of culture and money, considering the problems of LA and obtaining building materials. In one case, a mansion was converted to an apartment hotel and operated for years. 

Labeled photo, 1869

This photo is from one end of Bunker Hill which sweeps around to the right. It mentions the Times building and the "old" Overland Stage Corral. The Civil War interrupted the flow of traffic. This was several years after that conflict. Notice that the 3rd Street dig for the tunnel had already started. 

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So, as grounding or control, here is a modern view of the Bunker Hill area and its surroundings from Kenneth Hahn State Park (Times article). 

May human curators reign for a long while. Thank you, Power and Water Associates. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/23/2025

12/23/2025 -- More on the Butterfield stage as representing the U.S. government's concern for handling Overland Mail. There has been lots of research about the trail from St. Louis MO to San Francisco CA. 

New England, in LA

TL;DR -- Continuing the theme of the west coast, we look at the LA area. A Cogswell reference was one motive. Then, reports about early downtown LA are always interesting. 

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In FB, a post with the name of Cogswell (kin) got our attention. And, the setting was the western coast. So, what not to like? 

Los Angeles, CA has been mentioned in several posts on FB. One post dealt with Pasadena with respect to a Cogswell/Rhoades house. On looking further, the Cogswell was William F. (Wikipedia, Stanford U. bio) who was a painter born in New York with early Massachusetts ancestors. 

Source: California History (Facebook)
Sierra Madre Villa Hotel

This property was written up for being designated as a Historic Monument or Landmark in 2007. At that time, only one building (the laundry) was still on the property. The Water and Power website has early photos of the Pasadena area, inluding this hotel. This photo is from the Huntington Digital Library. 

View, 1877 to 1880

The area is now known as Sierra Madre, CA. This description of the property's history is from the California Historical Resources Inventory. 

The house is the only structure that remains from the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel. The Hotel was the first of its kind in Southern California. In 1874, William Rhoades and William Cogswell purchased 473 acres of the old Rancho Santa Anita, eventually planting the hillsides with flowers and orange groves. In 1877, they built a 70-room hotel, with a glass veranda, on the property.

Newspaper articles, interviews, and photographs document the use of the house as a laundry and employee housing for the hotel. Around 1900, other hotels had been built nearer the center of the city, and the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel became obsolete in its remote location. The property was divided and sold off in the 1920’s. The “Old House” has been the only remaining structure from the hotel since the late 1940’s.

Another post (California History) was about a Belmont Hotel in Los Angeles being in a photo of a cable car on 2nd Street. The view was west where one could see the area (see Bunker Hill, west) and the hotel plus the San Gabriel Mountains. This was in 1886. In 1887, the hotel burned to the ground. The hotel was later rebuilt (On Bunker Hill - Hotel Belmont 251 S Hill). 

The following photo was colorized. It shows that Los Angeles (its downtown area) was hilly. 

 

Source: California History (Facebook)

There are several themes that could relate to this post and further research which we will be getting into. We have 400 years to look at while we also get deeper into Origins.  

Remarks: Modified: 02/04/2024

02/04/2024 -- Found lots of more images and stories. The response to a query of "Los Angeles, CA" and the current map at Google shows Bunker Hill (Wikipedia) supporting a collection of tall buildings. By the way, the largest is 70 some stories or so. The Wells Fargo Building (54 floors) stands at the highest point of the hill. 

This view is from an area east of DTLA, say, down in the valley. 

see Bunker Hill, Los Angeles

The Water & Power Associates have a great collection of early DTLA (downtown, LA) including those from several eras of Bunker Hill which is the focus of study for many reasons.  

Bunker Hill West - 1873

TL;DR -- Today we saw an old photo of a sketch which shows part of Bunker Hill West in the 1870s. That's early enough to be before lots of the changes introduced over the long span of US history. The English culture took over in 1847 from that of New Spain. And so, the area has lots of offer with respect to our interest in the long reach of New England. 

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Here we go with a post on LA, again. Yesterday, as we looked at New France and New Spain, we mentioned Bunker Hill West. In the early days, the hill overlooked bustling LA. Then, people built upon the hill. They tunneled under it to start to build on the other side. It was partly lowered starting in the 1960s. Now long after, the skyscrapers started to appear with the first one right by the Library which is about as old as the LA City Hall. 

This pointer is to a search on Los Angeles within our blog. There may be Bunker Hill posts that did not come up on the list. In any case, the below photo which is courtesy of the Water and Power Organization of Los Angeles, CA is from a sketch near what is now 9th Street looking north. To orient the view, the well-known City Hall is between Spring and Main Streets (shown converging here) eight blocks north above 1st Street. 

To the middle below the foothills is where one would find The Cathedral of the Angeles, not built yet. The train station is north of that. 

Of interest today are the hills on the left. If one follows the Fort Street line (left of Spring Street) up toward the hills to north, there is a building standing above the city. That was Fort Moore. Going to the left, one can see parts of Bunker Hill West. 

Prior posts had some information about the history of development of the hill. Today, we wanted to show a view indicating that there was a hill of size. According to Wikipedia, the elevation was up to 200 feet above Los Angeles. Naturally, there are higher hills including the massive 14k-foot  mountain within a morning's drive seen on the upper right. 

The Bunker Hill represents history, pre-US and post the events of 250 years ago. In this area, the culture changed several times in a manner that is representative of the changes in the US. The current stature of Bunker Hill is obvious in the photos of LA. The majority of the skyscrapers have their footing on the scraped down and leveled heights of the hill. 

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Caption of the photo: (ca. 1873)* – Panoramic sketch looking north toward downtown Los Angeles showing mostly undeveloped land.  At lower-right can be seen the junction of Main and Spring streets at a point where 9th Street will one day intersect.  Hill Street and Fort Street (later Broadway) are on the left.  The Verdugo Hills and snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains can be seen in the distance. Photo of a lithograph, courtesy of the California Historical Society. 

DTLA, 1873 

We are fortunate to have original photos, sketches, and paintings of the area. One hopes that these photos with provenance continue to be available in the age of mimic and copy in a manner that does not preserve the truth of the matter. 

But, that's a technology matter to be discussed further with an actionable focus. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/23/2025

10/11/2025 - Water and Power has a whole page of photos from Bunker Hill West from the 1930s onward, including many areas compared with photos from then and now. 

12/23/2025 -- More on the Butterfield stage as representing the U.S. government's concern for handling Overland Mail. There has been lots of research about the trail from St. Louis MO to San Francisco CA. 

Mirror building

TL;DR -- John Butterfield was involved with several businesses, some of which still exist today. Today, we look at his facilities in Los Angeles CA that supported the Butterfield line. When travelers got that far, some had already trekked from St. Louis, MO or Memphis, TN. Where Butterfiled hung out is now the building that houses the Los Angeles Times (or did until recently - need to update that).  

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We have had several posts about John Butterfield and his work. This post is about his facilities for the Butterfield Overland Mail in LA which were at the Mirror building which was the home of the Daily Times of LA. Coming forward, Times-Mirror published the LA Times for which the poster (John) worked back in the early 60s while a student at UCLA. 

Butterfield Overland Mail
Company- 1st stage arrived
at LA on 7 Oct 1858

Our original interest in Butterfield's stage line was the start of a leg, either in St. Louis, MO or Mephis, TN. Then, there was the long trek of many days across the southern border. The travelers endured a lot; the photo is of the southern part of the route - dusty, hot, and dangerous. 

The Civil War interrupted the southern route as TX became part of the Confederacy. The nothern alternative was a little more treacherous in terms of terrain and weather: Winter won. Many took this northern route (Mark Twain) until the rails were in (Ralph W. Emerson). 

We will get back to Butterfield and his heritage and associations. For one thing, he's kin of John (and John Quincy) Adams. Another of his business interests is in operation: American Experss. The Times-Mirror Company, for a long while, was owned by a New England family. 

One continuing theme is the long reach of New England. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/23/2025

09/28/2023 -- Adams Express. Example of New England activity that covered the country. 250th themes apply. 

10/15/2023 -- Los Angeles Relics is a Facebook group with photos. This one is from 1888 and pre-auto. It's of First Street between Spring and Main. That's where the LA Times building is plus the City Hall is in the area. 

10/18/2023 -- More on the theme: Los Angeles, again; Bunker Hill, west. 

12/16/2023 -- Updated photo of LA: First between Spring and Main. In the photo, the Massachusetts Boot and Shoe House was the retail arm of the W. L. Douglas Shoe Company of Brockton, MA. William Lewis Douglas served a term as Governor of Massachusetts. 

12/23/2025 -- More on the Butterfield stage as representing the U.S. government's concern for handling Overland Mail. There has been lots of research about the trail from St. Louis MO to San Francisco CA. 

Bunker Hill, II

TL;DR -- The Siege of Boston continues until March of next year. This past week, there was an effort by the British to dislodge the patriots (or provincials as known in London) which didn't work. We will have to look at what the next nine months entailed for both sides, in MA and elsewhere. Speaking of which, "Bunker Hill" has been used a lot in naming over the 250 years. We compare the MA one with that area in DTLA with the name, again. But, will look at some others, ,worldwide. 

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Right now, we are in the period that was associated with the Battle of Bunker Hill with a main skirmish happening on 17 Jun 1775 with the first piece of the action happening at the locale of Lexington & Concord in Apr of 1775. Bunker Hill Day is a regular holiday in Boston on Jun 17th. 

At this time, in 1775, the British were still surrounded. The Siege of Boston continued. The next day of commeration will be the Evacuation of Boston that happened on 17 Mar 1776. 

As we mentioned, the Massachusetts Magazine had an article on the troops that participated in this Siege with some information about the officers. There was an article in every issue, 1911 to 1918. 

And so, we will look at events and people over the coming years as the 250th lookback unfolds. 

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May we change gears? Bunker Hill is a little over 100 feet high and is in the Charlestown neighborhood. There is a monument for the event on Breed's Hill which has a lower elevation and where most of the activity took place.

At the time of the Battle, the British owned the waters as Boston was across the Charles River from where the Battle took place. The whole affair is quite strongly resident in the American mind. In fact, Bunker Hill has been used as a name in many places. We will look again at Bunker Hill West which is in Los Angeles and about which we have had several posts. Today, we look at the lay of the land. 

But first, here is a London map of the situation in 1775. 

Printed Aug 1775, London

Before transitioning to the west coast, we have to mention the last surviving veteran of the incident: Ralph Farnham (1756-1860). He is of the upper part of Massachusetts now known as Maine and is cuz as are many. We will look at him, again, as the whole of the Maine experience needs more attention partly due to the case of the southern entity, Boston, was more prevalent in historical accountings. 

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Now, Bunker Hill West? The name has been used in many places: the Wikipedia list. Notice that Los Angeles is on the top of the list. Our interest was first brought to the area as this is where the stage coach route from St. Louis arrived after an arduous trip down into Texas, across the souther border (wandering into Mexico), and then ending in Los Angeles. That was not the terminus, as with some refreshment of resources, the stage line then carried passengers and freight up to San Francisco. Where, the process started again on the way back to St. Louis. 

Mind you, folks, there are several things to consider: logistics (compared to the Pony Express, this was much more of an intricate maneuver; we are talking pre-Civil War however some of the western States had been defined (such as Missouri in 1820 - added along with Maine to balance the north-south  issues; in terms of Bunker Hill in DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles), though, the terrain was entirely different as we will be pointing out. 

The lowest point in DTLA was about 59 feet. The hightest was the hills to the west with Bunker Hill (BHW) topping 350 feet. DTLA is many miles from the ocean. In terms of survival, being in a sheltered, inland cove with fresh water from the mountains would be more appealing than the environment now associated with being encrusted by salty waters. 

In the latter part of last century (post the 1950s), there was an effort to knock BHW down which seems to have been successful. They flattened the basis for the high rises that rose and that are now photogenic against the background of Nature's display of mountains. 

Here is an example. I marked three things. 1) On the right, the line points to where City Hall pokes its head up proudly. This 1937 building was the limit for heights until later in the 1900s. We can be more specific. There are early photos from Bunker Hill showing the top of the spire of the City Hall. 

Now is the time to mention one other thing. In the center, the tannish (round) building behind the white (square) one was the first building to penetrate the old limit. The developers used the opportunity of the LA Library having experienced arson and selling its airspace to get funds to recover as a means to start the trend that gave us the high-rise look. 

So, speaking of the Central Library, they recovered physically and bought replacement books. But, there was another instance of arson later. To me, on any of these photos, I look for the bank building and figure out where the library is nestled (having spent many hours there; across the street; the base of the bank building is on higher ground along the elevation of BHW). 

2) and 3) These have to do with old DTLA from the time of New Spain onward. In the middle, the text says that if we jump (or fly like superman) over the buildings we would find the Old Plaza Church. Several of our posts have photos of this building from various time periods. Yes, it was there when Butterfield came in with his stage line. In terms of the beauty of DTLA, the Train Station which is a remarkable example of SoCal architecture is across the street. 

So, now we can consider another church. Not far from the Old Plaza Church and the City Hall is the structure that was St. Vibiana, a Catholic cathedral. That old building dates from the 1870s which is new from the west coast view point (reminder for those looking from the east). An earthquake caused some damage but not enough to destroy the building. It now is an event center of some note. 

The cathedral was moved to the left side of the photo where US 101 and the 10s intersect. We can figure out the lingo, but the area has been visited by tourists with many photos extant. This view shows the extent of the high-rise area. And, the larger buildings are clustered there at BHW. 

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There are early photos (1870s) showing that people started to try to tunnel from the getgo. Several tunnels were completed with many still operational. As well, there were steps put up for people having to go up to the buildings on the BHW or over to the other side. And, the Angel Flight configuration of a rail car exploited the arrival of electrical power. Fortunately, through many periods of reconfiguration such as the scraping down the elevation, people saved the old mechanism which is now more of a tourist event rather than operational. 

 

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What's next for looking at the namesakes of Bunker Hill? 

Remarks: Modified: 12/23/2025

12/23/2025 -- More on the Butterfield stage as representing the U.S. government's concern for handling Overland Mail. There has been lots of research about the trail from St. Louis MO to San Francisco CA. 

Small world, technology

TL;DR -- Again, the holiday issue in 2025 of The Economist has an article that is apropos to our research. This one has a focus on "El Segundo" which is a town known to us for several reasons. Anyone going into or out of LAX flies over the town. It was a technology town for WWII and before and somewhat after. For a time, it was derelict until efforts at the real side of technology came to town with a new motto: Bits to atoms. Or is it atoms to bits? In any case, we'll feature the location regularly for a while as we take the focus from that Valley up north which is so famous. 

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This is the fourth series.  So far, we have looked at science, literature, and economics. Two of these were motivated by the holiday issue of The Economist this year. This post picks up the thread of technology which has been our focus for a while which became more visible with the release of GenAI/LLM (or AI/ML) three years ago. So, we will pause the usual focus and move the looking glass at culture and technology which is imperative. 

Motivated, again, by this article: America’s fight back against China starts in Los Angeles—in flip-flops to be found in The Economist. 

El Segundo? Of California? Los Angeles area? Near LAX? Gosh, it's about time that we mention the place. As we have had lots of posts on DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) where we find a neighborhood with the name of Bunker Hill West where the U.S. and its 250th have a long history. And, it is technology focus that got our interest shifted. 

Though, it could have been the SoCal beach culture that was the focus. We are talking about a place that is north of the more known beaches (say, those mentioned in song by the Beach Boys, Redondo Beach). Too, it's north of Long Beach. But south of the LaLa land up north starting with Venice up to Malibu. Lots of history to cover.  

The new kids on the block have an adage that is important to our discussion of technology: Bits to atoms. This is interesting as a good meaning deals with grounding the work of making digital twins with something real, in the world. Turning the concept around, atoms-to-bits is interesting too in the sense of how to come of with the digital twin (MRI, CT_Scan, ...) and knowing the essential differences that ensue in order to not get lost (which seems, many times, to be of concern with the present situations with AI/ML). 

Example: MRI

In other words, physics and mathematics come to fore and get attention. 

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Both of us have family history in the area, going back to before WWI. The technology focus will include firms in the El Segundo/Hawthorne area. Some say that the area is blue collar. The major industry were oil (Chevron) and aerospace (Douglas), and computers (Silicon Beach). As said, LAX is right there. But, Defense work was a prime contributor, too, over the years. 

In terms of culture, Hawthorne is named for cousin, Nathaniel, who is also important to New England's reach. That will be a topic of a future post. Prior to WWI, the area was agricultural. By the time of WWII, the technology focus grew abound. And, looking at such ought to give us pause with respect to recent manias, but that's an old topic still under discussion with respect to the future focus that we ought to take. 

Finally, stepping back to the time of New Spain and Mexico, this land was part of Rancho Sausal Redondo. Formed earlier by the new Mexican government, it was granted to the Avila family in 1837. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/17/2026

01/17/2026 -- Brought in the comment from WikiTree. Also, here is a record from the Pacific Coast Architecture Database on Rancho Sausal Redondo, Los Angeles County, CA (1837). 

Los Angeles, again

TL;DR -- Los Angeles has had a few mentions in this blog. Following up on details related to development in the downtown area, we looked further at some historic moments. For one, a service club started in 1942 went on for over 10 years. That building was next to a Cathedral. We look at some details related to that associated area of downtown LA. 

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We have had a few posts on this city (recently, Mirror Building) and its northern neighbor (San Francisco). Yesterday, we saw that Facebook has a group dealing with LARelics which has many older photos of the LA area. The one that got our attention was from the Victory Service Club (VSC) from 1942. Since we are following the long arm of New England to LA, we had to dig deeper. 

We won't detail every site that we visited, today, but we followed several threads. One dealt with Main Street in LA, in particular the area around where the City Hall was built. It's remarkable, for several reasons. But, there were many blocks along the street with differing histories. For this case, we wanted to know what building housed VSC. In that area, several bank buildings were built in the late 1890s. That brings up how things worked before banking. Expect a post on that topic. 

Where the VSC was, the 1st National built. But, many changes had taken place between the 1890s and 1942. First, what was that VSC building, and when was it built? Turns out that the VSC was run by the Union Rescue Mission (URM, see notes on Wikipedi page for Main Street (Los Angeles). Those are my notes which reference a 1955 book plus pionts to various other photos from different times. The URM was on of the early missions and was large. 

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Turns out that the book noted that the URM picked up part of the Swanfeldt building at 226 So. Main. Next door was the IOOF building that they acquired in the late 1930s. That's not the gist of this post, it's coming. The Swanfeldt family had a canvas company and did tents and awnings in the LA area. They were from Sweden and show the influence of a new family. We have many New Englan families to detail, though, some of which deal with the LA Times and the buildings in the area. 

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Next door to the VSC and URM was an old Catholic cathedral (Saint Vibiana). That's our theme today. The parish had to move. Part of the reason might have been earthquake damage, however enough of the structure was saved to be extant today. Most likely, the move was through gentrification which had earlier brought the URM into the area as it had to move back in the 1930s to make room for LA's new City Hall. There are sites with photos taken during the construction which ought to be of interest. 

This photo is of the church not long after it is built. This area is right downtown LA off of US 101. 

Vibiana Lofts

Does it look to be in a scrubby desert? Well, LA is a dry place. Guess what? That building still stands. When the diocese was forced to move, there was an effort to save the building which worked. Then, the government got involved and made it a National Historic building. Now the site is an events center of some note. This is very analogous to what happened to the Presidio in San Francisco. 

While searching I found this site which has period photos. It is just wonderful what the web is allowing in terms of independent historical work. We want to encourage that. 

So, the site shows both the IOOF and the Swanfeldt buildings. Now, we want to look for when they were built and by whom. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/25/2023

10/17/2023 -- Following our usual mode, we went to the FB page for TGS, Inc. and posted a few words with a link to this post. It was liked by one of the regular readers. But, within about 10 minutes, there was a message of the FB post being deleted with an ominous message. Still not sure what precipitated this reaction by Meta's watcher (which one and of what variety - I would like to know specifics). Have heard of this type of thing. Have been watching over the past decade, various debacles, as technology was put into the place of people. Also, noticed that companies that cared about the clients kept people in the loop that one could talk to. This image is the message about the FB (Meta) post. 

10/18/2023 -- More on the theme: Los Angeles, again; Bunker Hill, west. 

10/25/2023 -- Earlier (or Earliest) LA. -- Why was downtown LA built so far inland? Erik Painter, on Quora.  

02/19/2024 -- Bunker Hill, the Cathedral, and such. 

Bunker Hill, west

TL;DR -- There are many reasons to be interested in New Spain and New England. Too, CalState has examples of research. We have seen such elsewhere. An example was Berkeleyites looking into the jaunts, early on, of Jedediah Strong Smith. More coming.  

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There are plenty of sites with the name, no doubt. But, our focus is Los Angeles (LA), in the great State of California. We have mentioned Los Angeles, several times, and will continue to do so. There are many reasons for this interest, some of them personal. But, New England influence was there early on. And, the site is rich for providing information related to following the 250 years of the U.S. and its development. 

L.A., 1869 
from Rediscovering Downtown L.A.'s 
Lost Neighborhood of Bunker Hill
(see red circle in the
map of the next photo)

So, LA has hills. This photo was taken in the area of First and Broadway in 1869. Bunker Hill is mentioned in the caption. Some say that the hill was named because there was a Fort nearby. A 1849 document mentions the name. About the time of this photo, a developer brought the name as  a remembrance of the battle of the Revolution, in the Boston area. The 1849 document was in Spanish, the language of New Spain. The developer was from the east. 

Note: This event was covered in each issue of The Massachusetts Magazine - Regimental History Series, background and motivation. 

As we mentioned, our early interest was New England cousins who established regular coach traffic in the 1850s between St. Louis, MO and San Francisco, CA via El Paso, TX and Tucson, AZ and LA. We looked at the site of Butterfield's operation which was the Mirror building which became the home of the L.A. Times for whom John worked back in the early '60s. 

Below, we show an area near the LA City Hall which has quite a history itself. The photo looks along Temple Street from Main. It was circa 1884. Then, we have two snaps of Google shots in the area. Why do this? Places have history. Technology will be very useful in helping us preseve history, especially through the use of older photos from which people can determine landmarks. 

Perish a thought? Technology now involves AIn't (search in this blog and see our comments which are very much on solid foundations - pun intended). So, in the future, we will have to decide whether some set of old photos is of the "fakery" that has been the main output of supposed sophisticiated technology over the past year. Thanks, young guys (mainly). 

Okay, I put this together. The Hill will be up slope shown here. Ignoring particulars, for now, close to this intersection is where the Cathedral of St.Vibiana was for a long while. The Cathedral is now up on the top of this hill with the name of the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels. Vibiana is an event center. 

Heading up the hill along Temple from
Main to the
Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels 

The circle for City Hall needs to move
to the left two streets. It is between
Spring (where the entry is) and
Main. And, in the middle of the area
from 1st to Temple.  
.  

Okay, we started this thread yesterday with a post showing the early Cathedral in the scrubbed desert that is LA. It got deleted. So, here is something for credence. 

I found this page at the site of California State, Long Beach which has the title: A visit to Old Los Angeles. It has a collection of wonderful photos over the years. For me, I want to gather and document the middle period which would be from the start of New England's influence as New Spain's grasp was loosened up until after WWI. 

The developer mentioned above was Prudent Beaudry. We will look further into his work. 

Note: New France - Prudent Beaudry. Interesting. Lots of those coming into the area were from New England. We use the term to cover the northern and southern origins, loosely.  

Incidently, John has personal reasons to do this research. Ann had family involved with early development both in L.A. and the San Francisco areas, including a great-grandfather who went west to see San Francisco in the heyday of the mania of gold. 

Now, the mania? Seems to be technology gone wild like some kids like to do at spring break. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/08/2024

02/04/2024 -- Wikipedia page on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. 

02/09/2024 -- Used this at a FB New England Historic and Genealogical group's photo. 

02/19/2024 -- Bunker Hill, the Cathedral, and such. 

04/08/2024 -- Put comment about City Hall's location. The circle points to the label for the Park. The building itself borders on Spring on its front and Main on its rear. And, it's nestled between Temple and 1st Streets. 

NEHGS Events

TL;DR -- We like the NEHGS which has been there since the 1830s and had many illustrious members, such John Quincy Adams. So, NE is in its name. But, it has been extending its reach. Okay, we like that. Let's compare notes. 

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This post looks at several events so as to tie together what might be disparate research but really is cohesive, or will be in the longer run. We have noticed ads about the types of events events offered by the NEHGS from time to time. Some have raised thought of joining. Have not yet. But, we have attended several meetings of various groups of the  Hereditary Society Community which meet in the spring in D.C. 

Now, the recent three events scheduled by the NEHGS shown here are very much appealing. For one thing, we have had lots of posts mentioning both Northern and Southern California. Both of us have lived in the State and have family in the area. The history of both of these areas shows lots of New England influence. There is more on that later in the post. 

The NEHGS meetings in CA will be in Oakland (June 8th) and Los Angeles (June 9th) this weekend. The LA event will be held in San Marino. That specific reference is necessary due to the sprawl of LA. 

NEHGS in CA 

NEHGS has been slowly expanding its reach out of New England over the past decade or so. This is reflected in their databases. For instance, it was nice to see information brought forth on Virginia and the Northwest (which is really the mid-west). Now, with CA on the radar, we can expect to see more focus on the large interior that was covered in the frontier century. 

The reality is more than the flyover country that became popular, recently, brought by the technology of aircraft. In the areas between the coasts, we deal with real people. But, just as that theme comes up, we see that the NEHGS has found one of the libraries in the interior. 

Independence, MO

In August of this year, they'll be in MO where the trails came through the trails came through. The library has been a great assest to the region where, btw, Harry S. Truman's Presidential Library can be found as well as other historical notions that ought to be remembered. 

Like, across the Missouri River in KS is where we find that John Brown caused some turmoil. Kansas was a Massachusetts which can be seen in Lawrence. John had supporters in New England. Thomas W. Higginson wrote of his visit to the area before the Civil War. 

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Let's get back to LA and defer more discussion to a later time about CA and SF. A recent post continued our look at Bunker Hill West (US History, details) we brought up the theme of details of someone's existence that is not related to the paper chase of genealogy. We will continue on that theme as it relates to our interest in technology and how it's being abused of late. 

But, technology is great, as well. Let's just use good old curated publishing as an example. Lots of the research to date has been looking at things known personally. Like, John lived in the Bunker Hill area for a while as a young worker. Given the work of the TGS, Inc. which has a focus on Essex County, for one thing, we have followed families as they went west. Too, the influence of New England is of interest and seems to have no end. 

Along that line, we can use Wikipedia's work to stop, look and listen (that's an old adage with regard to train tracks in the west - out where signs may be minimal). 

• Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) - this page has been seriously updated with new information since 2020 which is partly due to COVID. People were home and wanted to do something. In this case, the History section has increased significantly. We will go through this more thoroughly, but it does provide names of thsoe who were there at the time. We see missing names. Say, Butterfield who ran a stage-line from St. Louis, MO through upper TX and along the southern border (through Tucson, AZ) to LA. His stages stopped near the building that housed the LA Times for whom John worked while going to UCLA. (see post Mirror Building). Part of Butterfield's work met up in El Paso with a southern line started by someone from the Giddings family of Ipswich, MA. Like we noted, the stories are endless. 
• El Pueblo de Los Angeles - several buildings exist from the New Spain era. La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles is an example. We had a post about the area with LA City Hall in view in one of the photos (see post Old LA and the U.S.. One can also see the City Hall (which was remarkable for its time and was the limit for buildings - the high-rise phenomenon came about when that was repealed) is also visible from Olvera Street
  
• Bunker Hill (we added the "west") as it's named for the Boston landmark and cultural icon of the U.S.) - fortunately, photos exist that were taken at various times throughout the history. Now, the southern part of the Hill is high-rise laden. The Hill itself was scarfed several times but seriously so in the 1970s to make way for the skyline makers. Yet, there were elegant and quite remarkable buildings in the area. At least, the Angels Flight rail was saved through a dismantle, store during reconstruction, and then put back into place. 
  
• St. Vibiana - this was an early Cathedral whose building from the 1870s still stands. There had been some earthquake damage, but mostly it's there as an events center. There is a newer building up on the Hill (appropriately along Temple Avenue): Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels that has remarkable architectural features and serves the role of the former building. 

This post looked at NEHGS's work and then pulled the focus to LA specifics. We'll do the same for San Francisco, later. When we do that, the original look will be at the Presidio which is of New Spain. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/04/2024

06/04/2024 --

What's in a photo

TL;DR -- A comparison of an old and a new photo in the context of Boston which is coming up on its 400th year allows us to establish a necessary discussion with respect to technology of the sorts that seem to foster hype thereby interfering with proper engineering and science. 

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We saw two photos on Facebook in a post by the Lost New England (see the two photos) group which has been looking at former times in New England through old photos. 

Aside 1: We have been doing this with regard to what was called Bunker Hill (west) in Los Angeles. It's the upper northwest part of the DTLA area bounded by the modern freeways which are a gift of the 20th century. The  writer of this post lived in two areas on that hill back in 1963 which was before the modernization efforts started. 

The image to the right is a snippet from the combination of the two photos. The hazy top part is from the 1840s as an example of early photo-graphy. It required a long exposure time, but the content shows that it had been done right after a snow which would have decreased traffic. 

The lower part is recent. In both cases, this is the King's Chapel Burying Ground of Boston which took burials from the time of John Winthrop (who was interned there) up to the early part of the 20th century. 

The text of the FB post mentions that the photographer was Dr. Samuel Bemis and that the photo now is in a collection at J. Paul Getty Museum which is in Los Angeles, CA. 

Aside 2: Photos of early Los Angeles can come from several places. The collection at the Water and Power organization has been organized with an index. This post (Old L.A. and the U.S.) covers some of the themes of interest. For instance, regular coach traffic (wheeled vehicle pulled by horses across the country) regularly went from St. Louis (MO) to LA (CA) and SF (CA) via the southern border. That effort was driven by New England families, hence our effort. Too, it represents technology through time. That route ceased with the onset of the U.S. Civil War. Traffic went up north. In 20 years post the Civil War, the railroad had made progress in tying together the left and right coasts. 

Now, getting back to the photo and its comparison at two points in time, There is a lot to say and study. A comment on FB has been copied here (see below). However, as we pause before going on, there was work to list those whose body was interned, with John Winthrop on the list. We have other familiar names and will use this list for future posts. 

• Boston 400 blog -- King’s Chapel is Boston oldest burying place. The site was part of Isaac Johnson’s estate. Johnson was an esteemed early settler, who was the first to be interred on the site in September 1630. Early graves and tombs were scattered randomly throughout the grounds, with no formal pathways.  In the early in the 19th century, the City of Boston arranged headstones in rows and made paths to make the site more accessible to the public. Like the majority of Boston’s burying grounds, it has always been under municipal control and not affiliated with any church.

------ Share, comment on FB ----- 

This shows an event from a period of time, where all involved are phenomenal. ... Unlike a photo wannabe from an event on heated mineral formed into circuitry which we can call buckets of mineral bits which create virtual bits (multiply so - and across the framework of Ma Nature's world - doing lots of different types of pollution that through time are choking us and reality, too) that form more virtual bits which waff, essentially, so as to influence us in ways not all known, at this time. 

Even millions and zillions of these wannabe photos brought into a video cannot capture even a mere piece of the reality shown here. 

Further, bringing these buckets, now minituarized into some encapsulation of minerals and plastic (Kant's a priori and synthetic - a bit) which Asimov and others dreamt of cannot replicate what was lost, namely "essence", cognitively for us (but, it's there, folks) - which is of time and space, and, guess what? time-space or space-time. Which we all know.

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That is a reference to the technology arguments that we will be making with respect to the basis of machine learning and its wonders. They deal largely with applied mathematics being used as it ought have been for decades. The computer brings new advantages that we can discuss. It does not come to life and get the "smarts" associated with living beings. 

Remarks: Modified: 03/09/2025

03/09/2025 -- 

 

US, examples, LA

TL;DR -- Los Angeles is interesting in so many ways. This post pulls some thoughts about what is known as Bunker Hill West which is in the heart of the downtown area that many do not remember. 

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This is another of the posts about Bunker Hill west which included a few, such as New England, in LA. As mentioned earlier, the first of these was motivated by looking at Butterfield and his relationship with the Mirror Company. The Los Angeles Times was a product of a later version of this company. Their building was emptied when the LA Times ran up north to be valley people. Now, its fate is being discussed. 

Luckily, the LA City Hall and some of the associated buildings are still there. We show a photo comparing to eras below. First though, near where the City Hall is now there was a Cathedral (St Vibiana) which was moved. As a reference, there was a post (Lost Angeles, again) that contained this real early photo of the area.  

St. Vibiana, 1885 

The area of the old cathedral and the city hall might be considered as at the eastern foot of Bunker Hill (west). US 101 runs right by there. Too, the whole area was rearranged a few decades ago. One result was the Dodger Stadium was built. Skid row was move several blocks over to the east toward the railroad. Fortunately, the old LA Train Station was spared. 

The story is well documented. What we have coming to fore are photos from people that can help us preserve the history. Case in point, the following image shows two photo from about the same location. One is from the 1950s and shows the LA City Hall in all of its glory. 

Two views of 
Bunker Hill West from 
the northwest

The later, bottom view is more recent. Some of the buildings are the same. But, the City Hall is now obstructed in the view, except for its tip. The low, flat building in the foreground? That is where the St. Viviana Cathedral was moved to. We will get back to the architecture and positioning. But, it is right at the corner of US101 and I110. Pan around to the right, and one will see the Cathedral of the Lady of the Angels. Too, the high rises of Bunker Hill will come into view. 

A prior post had this photo, which includes the LA City Hall, taken from the southeast. 

Those building are an island of high-rise in a sea of extended development that turned into the sprawl of LA. We have this photo for that, too, that bears some discussion. LA's downtown and Bunker Hill West is visible on the upper right.  

This view shows I110 pacing through the sprawl from its interchange with I105. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/19/2024

02/19/2024 --  

U.S., 1820

TL;DR -- New France has always been on the mind from school days. Later, we found that the officer corps of the generation (5th) that drove the Revolution had been trained by the English Crown during the French & Indian affair. The Revolution is coming up for commeration of its 250th. For the 400th, northern New England started these in 2020. Coming up will be Salem MA - 2026. Some of our themes will continue to be rivers, carving the interior, and more. 

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During the Covid times, we had time to do a lot of research, some of it related to families who came into (or passed through) the middle part of the country after the Lewis & Clark trip and report plus there was study of simultaneous activities in other than the New England part of the country. Mountain men, like Jedediah Strong Smith, were exploring. He went west through St. Louis which became a hub of activity. Jediediah got through the Mojave Desert and arrived in the Los Angeles area where the Spaniards took notice. After that he went up to northern California and was headed back to New England when he met his demise in the area now known as Kansas. 

See these posts as examples: State Missouri, 1821; U.S. Interior; and New Spain. There are posts covering later times before and after the Civil War: St Louis MO to San Francisco CA; Trapper, trader, rancher; and Old L.A. and the U.S. Our focus is across the board and 400 years: Boone, himself; Two different times; and, even, Josiah Willard Gibbs. That last one deals with serious early reserach in thermodynamics that got the attention of Maxwell, Planck and countless others. 

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We have followed a Space in Quora that deals with Spain, including people and events related to New Spain's ventures on the American continents. And, we have a particular interest in California with family involved with New England's long reach across the interior. Too, the writer of the post lived (and worked, studied) in CA, including dwelling on the Bunker Hill area of DTLA for a while.  

Today, we saw this map in a post on Quora (next section) which got our attention. The Adams-Onis Treaty was signed under the adminstration of John Quincy Adams (kin - see Mary Gardner Boylston) and represents the increase in activity that followed the Revolution which is coming up this year for recognition. 

Frankly, we like the map as it represents one of the views of the time. Also, we already have noted that New Spain (see New Spain span) has not gotten the attention that we saw with New France. So, we will be paying more attention, starting with the left coast side of things. 

--- post in Quora Space -- 

In the post, which is an answer to a Quora question (Who founded Los Angeles and in what year did California become a state?), there are interesting historic details including photos. The Quora Space has been a good resource. Our post is to recognize its importance. 

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And, we have two views to balance: the 250th - Lexington/Concord imminent; the 400th - Salem is next year - 1626 - Massey's Cove. 

We would like to point to more information on New Spain in those same times. 

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We will get back to this topic after more review of those early years of the U.S. For completion, we cannot ignore the great state of Texas (Juneteenth; Pre-Civil War, San Antonio TX to San Diego CA). This map is from a couple of decades later which is pre-Civil war. 

U.S. Territorial Acquisitions

Other topics will include the U.S. Interior and Carving the land. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/21/2025

02/21/2025 --