Etan Does LA - Exploring Los Angeles history, one landmark at a time

#233: Highland Park Masonic Temple

#233: Highland Park Masonic Temple

September 13, 2024

Built in 1923, this handsome brick and terracotta building witnessed 60 years of ritual and fraternity as the Highland Park Masonic Temple. Since 2017, it's housed the music venue the Lodge Room and an adjoining restaurant, Checker Hall. All the original Masonic symbols are still intact, and EVERYWHERE.

#232: Fire Station No. 30 (Downtown)

#232: Fire Station No. 30 (Downtown)

September 1, 2024

Fire Station No. 30 once housed one of LA's two all-Black units during an era when Black and White firefighters were segregated. After a restoration in the 1990s, the old station building was reopened as the African-American Firefighter Museum, dedicated to preserving and retelling the story of Black firefighters in LA and beyond.

#231: Villa Carlotta (Altadena)

#231: Villa Carlotta (Altadena)

August 23, 2024

Villa Carlotta is a fine example of architect Myron Hunt's residential work, and one of Altadena's first homes designed for electricity from the get-go. It was built for Francis R. Welles, who oversaw European operations for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone company for over 30 years.

#230: Mariposa Street Bridge (Burbank)

#230: Mariposa Street Bridge (Burbank)

August 18, 2024

Since 1939, Mariposa Street Bridge has connected the equestrian neighborhoods of Burbank & Glendale with the bridle trails of Griffith Park. It’s a reminder that, even though this is a car town, cowboy culture is still alive in LA.

#224-229: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 4 (Pasadena)

#224-229: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 4 (Pasadena)

August 11, 2024

The bungalow court blossomed in Pasadena between 1910 & 1930. For part four of my tour of all 30 Pasadena courts on the National Register of Historic Places, we're focusing on six that are known only by their addresses. I call them: THE NAMELESS.

223: Rancho Los Alamitos (Long Beach)

223: Rancho Los Alamitos (Long Beach)

August 6, 2024

Native Americans

Rancho Los Alamitos compresses 150+ years of Los Angeles history into a single site. It went from Tongva village and sacred site, to Spanish land grant, to Yankee cattle and sheep ranch, to the center of a massive agricultural operation, and now a beautifully-preserved educational site, open to the public for free.

#222: LAX’s Hangar One (Inglewood)

#222: LAX’s Hangar One (Inglewood)

July 23, 2024

Hangar One was the first building constructed for the LA Municipal Airport (now LAX), and the only one still standing from the airport’s earliest days.

#221: Michael White Adobe (San Marino)

#221: Michael White Adobe (San Marino)

July 11, 2024

Pioneers & Settlers

Constructed ~1845, the Michael White Adobe is one of just 39 historic adobes left in LA County, and the second oldest building in San Marino. Its first owner was a sailor, shipbuilder and rancher who unwittingly took part in some of the most significant events in 19th century Los Angeles history.

#220: Winona Boulevard Mid-Century Modern Historic District (Los Feliz)

#220: Winona Boulevard Mid-Century Modern Historic District (Los Feliz)

June 28, 2024

The Winona Boulevard Mid-Century Modern Historic District includes 13 apartment complexes in a grab bag of MCM styles, built from 1950-1964. Collectively they offer a snapshot of a neighborhood in transition during the post-WWII population boom.

#214-219: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 3 (Pasadena)

#214-219: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 3 (Pasadena)

June 22, 2024

The bungalow court flourished between 1910-1930, especially in Pasadena. For this third batch in our exploration of all 30 Pasadena courts on the National Register, we’re looking at six courts clustered around the historic section of South Marengo Avenue.

#213: Glendora Bougainvillea

#213: Glendora Bougainvillea

June 15, 2024

The Glendora Bougainvillea is the largest planting of the vine in the US, and a living connection to the story of the citrus industry that helped to build LA around the turn of the 20th century.

#212: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (East Hollywood)

#212: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (East Hollywood)

June 8, 2024

Completed in 1921, Hollyhock House was Frank Lloyd Wright's first LA commission, and a departure from the prairie style that made him famous. This was one part of a planned theater complex for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. And while their grand vision was never carried out, the house still stands as one of Wright's most significant buildings.

#211: Washington Building (Culver City)

#211: Washington Building (Culver City)

June 2, 2024

The wedge-shaped Washington Building is one of the few remaining structures from downtown Culver City's heyday in the 1920s. It was commissioned by Charles Lindblade, a real estate developer who, alongside Harry Culver, built Culver City in the 1910s through the early 1930s.

#210: Fox Theatre Inglewood

#210: Fox Theatre Inglewood

May 24, 2024

Opened in 1949, the Fox Theatre Inglewood was one of the grandest movie houses in a neighborhood full of them. It was also the final LA-area theater built by Fox before the government consent decree that required the major studios to divest themselves of their theater holdings. It's been closed for 40 years, with all of its original interiors intact – a slowly decaying time capsule, waiting for whatever's next.

#209: Charmont Apartments (Santa Monica)

#209: Charmont Apartments (Santa Monica)

May 17, 2024

Santa Monica's Charmont Apartments were designed in a unique combination of Spanish colonial & art deco styles by Max Maltzman, one of LA's first Jewish architects. It was lovingly rehabilitated after sustaining damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.