Los Angeles Orphan Asylum in Boyle Heights

I do love buildings from the eugenics era and particularly the orphanages.  So many kids growing up in the years between the wars were raised in orphanages because of their parents couldn't afford to raise them during the Depression.

LA Relics writes, 

Aerial view of the Los Angeles Orphanage at 917 South Boyle Avenue, southwest corner of Boyle Avenue at Stephenson Avenue (now Whittier Boulevard) in Boyle Heights, 1924. The orphanage is a multistory, brick, L-shaped building with a tower at the entrance that is flanked by date palm trees. The driveway leads from the entrance through gardens to the highway. The twelve acres include not only the orphanage and school but plots for gardens and fruit trees. Source: LAPL

Martin Turnbull writes, 

Believe it or not, this imposing building was the Los Angeles Orphan Asylum. It was built in 1890 by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Boyle Heights on what is now known as Whittier Blvd. where it gave LA’s orphans a home until the late 1950s. I guess the nuns must have had some pull because the architectural firm who designed this gorgeous building also designed the Los Angeles County Courthouse, which is another of LA’s great losses.

 

Westbound US 101, Mid 1960's

 

Thank you to Victor B. D'Agostino for the photo.  Terrific.  

Some more gasometers across Los Angeles.  

What's a gasometer?  Wikipedia explains,  

A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressure coming from the weight of a movable cap. Typical volumes for large gas holders are about 50,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft), with 60-metre (200 ft) diameter structures.

Sunset Blvd. Exit from the South 110

I love this shot because it reminds me of the route that my dad would often take to go downtown and to his work on weekends.  He would exit there on the Sunset Blvd. off-ramp, maybe stop at Donovan's Texaco station at the northeast corner of Figueroa and Sunset before heading to his office at 1st and Hill.  You can't get those days back, fewer people remember or care, and the likelihood of finding a photo of a place where my dad stopped to get a newspaper or stopped for prayer or to grab a bite to eat seems more and more lost.

The caption reads, 

1960-Dec-29 - SB Pasadena Fwy (then US-6-66-99/CA-11, now Arroyo Seco Pkwy CA-110), just north of four level interchange. Figueroa St/Sunset Blvd off-ramp at right. Alpine St and Sunset Blvd OCs in the background (DOH D7 Archives photo).

Originally Arroyo Seco Pkwy when it opened in 1940, it was changed to Pasadena Fwy around 1955. Original name restored in 2010 on its 70th anniversary.

All