LA COUNTY STANLEY MOSK COURTHOUSE, 1958-2019

I started this post, one, to track my dad's start in and retirement from civil service in LA County, and two, to capture images of where he worked and served for 30 years in the County, the LA County Courthouse, Superior Court, Floor #2.  For help, I turned to my brother, Dan, who explained to me in an email exchange where Dad worked before his role as a court clerk in the Superior Courthouse #2 at First and Hill Streets.

Dad retired from the County in 1976, putting in 30 plus years of civil service with LA County not just in the Superior Court where he finished.  So 30 plus years would mean that he had to start working in the County by 1946.  According to his resume below, he states that he served in the military from August 1943 to January 1946, "honorably discharged with Corporal's rating" from the Marines.  So we have some dates: his 30 years in the County ran from 1946 to 1976.  

The family knows that he worked in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at First and Hill, but that courthouse wasn't finished until 1958.  Where did he work before 1958, before the Stanley Mosk Courthouse was built?  

His resume says that he was doing "mostly freelance" work from February 1946 to December 1946.  So immediately after his honorable discharge from the Marines in January 1946, Dad went to work freelancing in and around Alhambra where he lived.  He lists his work as copywriter providing “Advertising and public relations” services, but omits to name any company names.  We do have some clue as to whom he did work for: see this.  So it looks like he freelanced for one full year, for he didn’t start working with Clayton until January of 1947.  His freelance services ran the gamut,

Prepared advertising copy for merchants in San Gabriel Valley; specialized in creative newspaper advertising, mostly freelance work; layout, copywriting, cartoons; publicity manager for Alhambra Baseball Nine.  Alhambra City Merchants sponsored team for participation in Denver Post “Little World Series”, and I worked directly under Richard F. Hoaney, owner and manager of [the] Alhambra Nine.   

Okay, so this starts to establish some chronology.  But it sounds like business was sporadic as though there was a downturn or that his marketing efforts weren't producing.  1946, by the way, was the greatest year on record for GDP of the United States.  So there's that.  

It looks like he gave up, at least full-time, the advertising and copy business and went to work with Clayton, where his dad worked.  He worked at Clayton Mfg. or only five months, not long at all.  With two kids under his belt (Charlen in '43 and Dan in '47), Dad had to get to work and make more money.  He left Clayton in May of '47, but to where?  I asked Dan, who provided this reply

After that, he worked for the LA Co. Sheriff's Dept, I think.  He was a Deputy Sheriff in the Civil Division.  I think it was in 1952 when [he] took the Superior Ct Clerk job as it paid more, but he had to leave the Sheriff's Dept.., but still a LA County Employee.

He had "Press Passes" from LA Sheriff's Office as early as 1941...  

Okay, so Dad started working for the LA County Sheriff's Department in 1947.  Five years later, in 1952, Dad "took the Superior Court Clerk job as it paid more."  Given that his resume is a 1947 resume, his 1947 Superior Court Clerk position is not going to appear on a Work History section of a 1947 resume.  So he worked as a Superior Court Clerk from 1952 to 1976.  So we know what he did from 1952 to 1976, but I wanted to know WHERE he worked before 1958, the year the Stanley Mosk County Courthouse was completed and where he worked for 17 years from 1959 to 1976.  Before Dad worked in the courthouse below, 

he worked in these County bungalows on Temple between Broadway and Spring Street.  The building immediately behind the bungalows is the LA County Hall of Records where the L.A. County Auditor’s Office was housed.  Dad worked in Room 203 of the Auditor's office.  The pic below is a 1948 shot.

But Dan did point out that Dad worked in the County before his 1943 entrance into WWII.  His resume states that he worked from June 1940 to 1942 in the L.A. County Auditor's Office:

June 1940 to June 1942, earning$1,005 and $1,380 per year in the L.A. County Auditor’s Office, Room 203 in the Hall of Records, where he was payroll clerk, entertainment editor of County Employee Magazine; reviewing current stage attractions & reporting news of amusement world.”

Dan's point about Dad having press passes puts a lot of this into beautiful context.  Thank you, Dan Walgenbach.  So Dad had press passes as early as 1941 as Editor of LA County's Employee Magazine.  Not bad, Dad.  Here is Dad's 1947 resume.  Enlarge your screen if you're having difficulty viewing it.   

Because the mimeograph is difficult to read, I wanted to reprint a few names in his resume here.  

First, the Frank Wiggins Trade School, that's the former name of LA Trade Tech.  That's the school where Sally earned her drawing degree.

Second, the Metropolitan Business School, also the former name of LA Trade Tech.  

Clayton Manufacturing is where my grandfather and my dad both worked: Dad as the company's PR man and employee event organizer, counselor, and human resource manager in 1947.  Not sure of what his dad did at Clayton.  Maybe a press operator.  

Regarding Clayton Manufacturing, [they're now called Clayton Industries] Joe replied

back in like 1979 maybe....I was driving around Alhambra and Monterey Park areas looking for a job and walked into a few manufacturing businesses filling out applications....one business I walked into was Clayton Manufacturing and I filled out an application....when I got home, Dad asked me how my job search went....I mentioned one of the places I applied to was Clayton Manufacturing....He got all excited....he told me how he used to work there when he got out of the Marines.....ha-ha.... 

What I like about Joe's comment is that it makes Clayton Mfg. even more real to me.  It is still a thriving company, located on Temple City Blvd. in El Monte close to Rosemead. 

I could not find any information on the Alhambra Nine coached by Hoaney.  Nor could I find any comment, report, or article on Richard F. Hoaney himself.  I searched, however, and the only name that comes close was a Fred G. Haney who played for the Red Sox and for the Hollywood Stars in the Pacific Coast League out here in Los Angeles.  Was that the Richard F. Hoaney that Dad referred to?  Probably not.  I cannot imagine him being so sloppy with spelling, so no, absolutely not.  

Dad was a member of the U. S. Marine Corps, 4^th Marine Air Wing.  It looks like Dad was in the same Marine battalion as White Sox manager, Ted Lyons.

Additionally, Dad was in the Marines with the Chicago White Sox announcer, Lt. Sweeny, USNR, [there is a J. B. Sweeny, Jr. found two-thirds of the way down this page] who prior to the war was an announcer on major Chicago networks, and who conducted newscasts, interviews with touring USO stars.  USNR stands for U.S. Navy Reserve.

Dad's workplace, the LA County Courthouse, Superior 2 Courtroom, was located at First and Hill.  The courthouse wasn't built until 1958.  So what was at the site before the courthouse?  Tunnels, specifically, the Hill Street Tunnel.   

1928 photo of the Hill Street Tunnel.  I post these pictures to show what Dad's world looked like, a world that I'd never seen in real life but only here and elsewhere in pictures.  

And here:

From the top of the tunnel.  

1940, Looking south on Hill Street from atop the Hill Street Tunnel park.  This was a famous setting for many 1940 movies.  

Thanks to LA Relics for this next shot.  

1953.  Looking northeast across the intersection of W. First (foreground) and N. Hill streets (running diagonally from left to lower right), showing the Los Angeles County Law Library (right), the Law Building at 139 N. Broadway, and the bridge to its parking lot (upper right and center), ca. 1953. The Law Building and the Hill Street Tunnel (left) have been demolished. Source: 

1955, Street view of Hill Street Tunnels.  View of the side-by-side Hill Street tunnels, looking north from 1st Street. Two cars and a bus emerge from the left side tunnel.  Incredible. Note how the entire surroundings have been demolished in preparation for government and LA County buildings.

Hill Street Tunnels.  [See more pics on the tunnels.] The tunnel on the left was initially designed exclusively for buses and electric trains; the tunnel on the right was dedicated to vehicle traffic.  Clearly, the rules changed during the construction and excavation of the land on each side of the tunnels, effectively making way for the LA County Courthouse, where Dad would work for 30 years.  

(1954) *^#^ – An elevated view showing the Hill Street Tunnels during the early stages of demolition.  Note that traffic is still flowing through the tunnels.

That's something.  So that hill of dirt there to the left is the future location of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, also known as the LA County Courthouse, where my dad worked for 18 years, 1958 from its completion to 1976 to his retirement.  It's located at First and Hill Street. 

1967, LA County Courthouse, named the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, at First and Hill Streets in Downtown Los Angeles.  

But where did Dad work prior to 1958 when the Stanley Mosk Courthouse was completed?  

In one of the LA County bungalows seen below that replaced the old LA County Courthouse.

1945, LA County bungalows.  This view is looking southeast.  You can see the bungalows behind the statue of Stephen M. White at the left.

1946, LA County bungalows, LA County Hall of Records, and LA City Hall in the background.

1948, Los Angeles County bungalows built, I believe, just after the War.  I stand corrected.  Water & Power states that   

During World War II [1941-1945] bungalows were installed at the park seen above to accommodate military personnel. After the War the bungalows were converted to County offices.

My dad was "honorably discharged with Corporal’s [ranking]" in 1946.  Exactly when the bungalows were built is hard to tell, for the Water & Power caption reads only "During World War II. . . ."  According to his 1947 resume, Dad said that his only LA County experience was between June 1940 and June 1942 at the Auditor's Office, Room 302.  Basically, he went from the military directly to Clayton Mfg.  What year and month he started at the LA County, it's anybody's guess.  

The street in the bottom left-hand corner is Broadway.
The street at the bottom right-hand corner is Temple Avenue. 
The street opposite Broadway is Hill Street.

Behind the bungalows is the old Hall of Records building, 1908.  The lot where the bungalows sit is where the old LA County Courthouse, the red sandstone building (1891-1936) covered in ivy, seen below, used to stand until the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  The county demolished the old county courthouse in 1936.  

1940, LA County Hall of Justice.  On the north side of Temple Street is the Hall of Justice, built in 1925.  That's Temple Street that runs off to the left, and it's Spring Street that runs off to the right.  Note at the left is where the bungalows have yet to be built; as of yet, it remains a park.  

2005, LA County Hall of Justice.  Nice shot, too, of its classical architecture.   What follows is a visual series of the changes of that lot from the old red sandstone LA County Courthouse to the bungalows to the current courthouse.

1939, LA County Hall of Records.  Note that the LA County bungalows haven't been built yet.  Note further that the old red sandstone LA County Courthouse is gone, (1891-1936), and in its place is an empty park with the remaining statue of Stephen M. White.  The view is looking south down Broadway Street.  The intersecting street in the foreground is Temple Street.  On Stephen M. White, Water and Power writes that 

Stephen M. White was elected Los Angeles County District Attorney in 1882, State Senator in 1886 and United States Senator in 1893. During his term in the United States Senate, Senator White’s most notable accomplishment was his successful leadership of the fight to create the Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro as opposed to Santa Monica Bay, the site that was being advocated by powerful railroad interests.

The statue of Stephen White was moved several times before finding a home in front of the new County (now Mosk) Courthouse in 1958.  It would remain there for 30 years.  In 1989, the statue was moved again to its present location, at the entrance to Cabrillo Beach off Stephen M. White Drive, overlooking the breakwater at the L.A. Harbor. Click HERE to see a contemporary view.

The bungalows, shown a few images above, were replaced with the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in 1972.  So those bungalows lasted a long time, probably from 1944-1972.   

1972, Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center at the left.

The Hall of Records building at the right has also been demolished.  All that remains in that lot today is a city park, more of a city landscape than an actual park.  For a picture of its demise, see this: 

1973, County Hall of Records demolition.  

This is the rear or eastern view of the courthouse.  Hill Street is there in the foreground running off to your right, and First Avenue is there on your left running off in the distance.  Just to the left of First Avenue are two parking lots, one is a ground level, asphalt lot, and the other further west and closer to Grand Avenue is a multi-level lot where Dad used to park often when he'd go to work.  To the right of the courthouse you can see another parking lot but between that lot and the courthouse itself was a wide walkway with large square planters that had palms and larger trees that created terrific shade in the morning and afternoon for folks to sit on and lunch.  In the early morning, my dad would arrive to work, turn on the lights inside the courtroom, turn on the PA system, put a pot of coffee on for the judge and clerks, arrange the dockets for the day, and then come back outside to do some stretching exercises in the cool air.  The courthouse was built in 1958.  See these black and white photos from WaterandPower.org.

The owner of this color photo of the LA County Courthouse dates the photo 1954, but that's incorrect; the courthouse wasn't completed until 1958.  But the shot is stunning and the colors pretty accurate.  The shot looks northeast from the southwest corner of First Street and Grand Avenue, precisely where the Disney Music Hall stands today.  LA Conservancy explains it like this: 

The County Courthouse was completed in 1958 and formally opened on January 5, 1959. Los Angeles County had gone nearly twenty-six years without a dedicated courthouse structure after the previous 1891 sandstone courthouse was damaged in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. The Los Angeles Times noted that the architects of the present courthouse, which is home to both municipal courts and superior courts, designed it to last 250 years. 

The County Courthouse was renamed in 2002 in honor of Stanley Mosk, who was the longest serving justice on the California Supreme Court and earlier served as Attorney General of California.  

Here is a 2005 shot of the LA County Courthouse front entrance at 110 N. Grand Avenue.  Several times I picked Dad and Marilyn and other coworkers up at the curb and then drive over to Barragan's in Echo Park for enchiladas, rice and beans, and a beer.  

Okay, so if the courthouse was built in 1958 and opened in 1959, that means that my dad in his 30 years of service would have had to retire in 1989.  But he didn't.  He retired in 1976.  Backpeddle 30 years from 1976 and you get 1946, one year after the War ended.  But that's not when my dad started working in the Courthouse.  It may have been when he started working in the County.

But I'll always remember my dad inviting me back into the Judge's chambers on weekends when he'd go in on Saturdays to get ahead of the paperwork.  Will never forget the volumes, the linoleum tile in the men's room down the hall, my dad's secretarial, rolltop desk, and the amount of wood to give the courtroom a certain authority.  My brothers and sisters used to join my dad on a few Saturdays and we'd always enjoy acting out the cross-examination scene from the 1962 movie, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Not everyone wanted to be Atticus.  Often we'd prefer the more sympathetic and pathetic characters of Mayella Ewell, played by Collin Wilcox, or Tom Robinson or Bob Ewell or Judge John Taylor, played by the hardworking, Paul Fix, or the prosecuting attorney, Horace Gilmer, played by the terrific, William Windom.  

Kind of hard to find a photo of the parking structure that Dad used to park his blue VW Bug in just south of the courthouse on First between Grand and Hill.  But I found one.  This shot is from 2014.  

I love this picture for it shows the only remaining Victorian homes being moved off from Bunker Hill, a sad day for anyone who longed for the glory days of Bunker Hill.  I know my dad held those days in memory dearly.  

That's the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, completed in 1964, there at the left and the Stanley Mosk, LA County Courthouse where Dad worked at the right.  The lot in the foreground where the two homes sit atop trailers is where the Disney Music Hall is located today.  The date of this photo is probably 1965.

In case you need to orient yourself.