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    Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles' Architectural Reincarnation
    Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles' Architectural Reincarnation
    Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles' Architectural Reincarnation
    Ebook248 pages1 hour

    Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles' Architectural Reincarnation

    By Marques Vickers

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    About this ebook

    “Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles’ Architectural Reincarnation“ is California author Marques Vickers’ celebratory pictorial edition recounting the evolution and transformation of one of downtown Los Angeles’ primary boulevards. The edition features photographs of buildings and architectural details that line the blocks of North and South Spring Street. The book traces colorful legends, anecdotes and landmarks that preceded current standing constructions.

    The once modest dirt highway was originally called the Old Brea Road, servicing as a major commercial artery originating from the Los Angeles’ El Pueblo settlement and separating in the direction of the LaBrea Tar Pits and the Cahuenga Pass (present day Hollywood). Spring Street officially derived its name from Trinidad Primavera Ortega, the girlfriend of Lieutenant Edward Ord who drafted the city’s initial survey map in 1849 that included street naming rights. Primavera is the Spanish name for Spring and Ord designated the honor to Ortega (the nickname he called her). She was also the granddaughter of Spanish explorer Jose Francisco Ortega.

    The El Pueblo settlement was established in the mid-18th century along the then fertile banks of the Los Angeles River. The colony’s terrain was agriculturally cultivated for vineyards, cattle ranching and later citrus groves before an encroaching urban environment altered the complexion of city towards the close of the 19th century.

    Drawing from varied archival documentation and narratives, Vickers traces the four stages of evolution of Spring’s transformation including: 1) retail center, 2) cradle of Silent Film movie production offices, 3) bank and financial institution headquarters and 4) contemporary retail, office and residential mixed-use developments. The most current Spring Street reinvention followed a prolonged period of four-decade stagnation following World War II.

    “Eternal Spring Street” further documents numerous colorful and influential contributors to the local opulent history. Among the profiled personalities include John Temple, William Wolfskill, Jean-Luis Vignes, Abel and Arcadia Sterns, Pio Pico, Isaias Hellman, Joaquin Murrieta (his severed and pickled head), Ozro Childs, John C. Fremont, John Parkinson, Prudent Beaudry, George Lehman, Biddy Mason, Remi Nadeau, Sarah Bernhardt (her severed leg), James J. Jeffries, George Ralphs and many others.

    The book profiles each distinctive building’s architectural lineage and unique legacy that have been often historically overlooked. The buildings photographed include: the Los Angeles City Hall Complex, United States Court House, Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Los Angeles Times, Douglas Building, Washington Building, Ronald Reagan Building, Hellman Annex and Banco Popular Building, Title Insurance Building, Crocker Citizen National Bank, The Braly/Continental Building, El Dorado/Stowell Hotel, Rowan & Chester Building, Alexandria Hotel, Spring Arcade Building, Pacific Southwest Bank, Security Building, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Merchant & Lloyd’s Bank, Hotel Hayward, E. F. Hutton, California Canadian Bank, Barclays Bank, A. G. Bartlett Building, United California Bank, Los Angeles Stock Exchange, Mortgage Guaranty Building, Banks & Huntley Building, Bank of America, I. N. Van Nuys Building, Lane Mortgage, William May Garland Building. Marsh & Strong Building, Financial Center Building, Renco Films, Great Republic Life Building and National City Tower.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarques Vickers
    Release dateJun 15, 2020
    ISBN9780463234112
    Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles' Architectural Reincarnation
    Author

    Marques Vickers

    Visual Artist, Writer and Photographer Marques Vickers is a California native presently living in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, Washington regions. He was born in 1957 and raised in Vallejo, California. He is a 1979 Business Administration graduate from Azusa Pacific University in the Los Angeles area. Following graduation, he became the Public Relations and ultimately Executive Director of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce between 1979-84. He subsequently became the Vice President of Sales for AsTRA Tours and Travel in Westwood between 1984-86. Following a one-year residence in Dijon, France where he studied at the University of Bourgogne, he began Marquis Enterprises in 1987. His company operations have included sports apparel exporting, travel and tour operations, wine brokering, publishing, rare book and collectibles reselling. He has established numerous e-commerce, barter exchange and art websites including MarquesV.com, ArtsInAmerica.com, InsiderSeriesBooks.com, DiscountVintages.com and WineScalper.com. Between 2005-2009, he relocated to the Languedoc region of southern France. He concentrated on his painting and sculptural work while restoring two 19th century stone village residences. His figurative painting, photography and sculptural works have been sold and exhibited internationally since 1986. He re-established his Pacific Coast residence in 2009 and has focused his creative productivity on writing and photography. His published works span a diverse variety of subjects including true crime, international travel, California wines, architecture, history, Southern France, Pacific Coast attractions, fiction, auctions, fine art marketing, poetry, fiction and photojournalism. He has two daughters, Charline and Caroline who presently reside in Europe.

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      Book preview

      Eternal Spring Street - Marques Vickers

      The Early Settlement and Later Development of Los Angeles

      The history of Spring Street is about change, resilience and adaptation.

      The Agricultural Glory That Was Spring Street

      Imagine a horizon of vineyard acreage punctuated by uniform apple and citrus groves. Visualize expansive herds of cattle grazing amongst lush hillsides, which once formed the Aliso trail (now the 101 Hollywood Freeway). The downtown Los Angeles of the 1830s was an agricultural oasis nourished by its proximity to a flourishing river, the Rio Porciuncula, later renamed the Los Angeles River.

      The shores and banks of this water conduit flowed southwards emptying into the Pacific Ocean in present day Long Beach. It had nourished transient hunters and gatherers for thousands of years before the first Spanish settlers arrived to colonize the region around 1769.

      Explorer Gaspar de Portola and missionary Father Junipero Serra previously headed the most prominent expeditions passing through the territory.

      Establishment of El Pueblo Settlement

      A permanent settlement was officially christened in September of 1781 under the name El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles di Porciuncula. The Spanish appellation was designed to honor the Virgin Mary and more succinctly as Our Lady of the Angels.

      The construction of a Presidio and homestead was a project mandated by King Carlos III of Spain that initially received a modest response by only 11 relocating families. The resulting Spanish style settlement featured a rectangular layout that included a city plaza, guardhouse, cathedral, living quarters and granary. Each family was allocated land to build and cultivate on. The concentrated center became the El Pueblo district of Los Angeles. The development parcel would later evolve into the expansive Temple and Downey Junctions and afterwards into a collection of city and county administrative buildings, parking lots and parklands.

      As a consequence to the overall settlement of the Americas, the colonist’s expansion displaced existing indigenousness tribes. Their diverse ranks included the Cahuilla, Cupeno, Luiseno, Serrano, Kawengnam, Asuzangna, Topanga, Cucamongna, Tuhumgna, Maliwu, Simi, Kamulos, Kastic, Yangna, Suangna and Pasbengna.

      The fate of the local disbursed tribes followed a familiar Colonial pattern. Some tribal members assimilated into the Catholic mission settlements, while others immigrated towards uninhabited territories. The least regarded, simply lingered on the periphery of the settlement. Today, the homeless camps that occupy the fringe of commercial downtown are perceived similarly. Wickedness and debauchery may seem apt descriptions. Tragically, poverty, mental illness and the destructive effects of alcohol (and later) substance abuse are as blatant now as then.

      Each group of remaining Colonial settlers had their unique motivations. The missionary’s priority was focused towards the conversion of the indigenousness to Christianity. The remaining contingents, comprised of soldiers, colonist families and ambitious adventurers shared divergent dreams. Security became paramount as did prudent land and farming management for survival.

      The Topography of 18th Century Los Angeles

      Contrary to popular assumption, the original Los Angeles landscape was not an arid desert wasteland. Based on the 18th century reports by Gaspar de Portola, the Los Angeles River basin was an impenetrable jungle of marshes, thickets and dense forests of willow, sycamore, and elderberry trees.

      The Rio Porciuncula/Los Angeles River

      By the 1850s, following the imposition of civilization by the Spanish settlements, the once plentiful tree-covered plains had become desolate. The forests had been leveled for timber, the wetlands dried and the once free-flowing river diverted and channeled into numerous irrigation ditches and garbage disposals. By the turn of the 20th century, the Los Angeles River had effectively become a dry wash accented periodically by flash flooding following torrential rains. Once the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cemented the riverbanks in the 1930s, the river’s flow was effectively extinguished. Today, the majority of the water level originates from treated sewage, industrial discharges and municipal runoffs.

      Yet even rivers cannot be subdued indefinitely. A restoration project is currently in the funding stages for an 11-mile stretch of the river between Griffith Park and central downtown. The revitalization process is intended to restore portions of the river for habitat and recreational amenities including bikeways, park, hiking trails and water sports options. More pointedly, as money literally flows towards river revival, so too will accompanying residential, commercial and office development.

      Speculators already are buying up neighboring warehouses and vacant land, anticipating an epicenter of transformation. As Spanish explorers foresaw a future for the Rio Porciuncula, contemporary developers are viewing the bottled up river as the final undeveloped territory remaining within urban Los Angeles.

      The Disbursement of Land

      Major upheavals in the Americas transformed this remote outpost of 650 colonists in 1820 into an economically ambitious enterprise. Mexico wrested independence from Spain in 1821. The territories of Upper (Alta) California were assimilated into the new republic and the designation of El Pueblo was changed into La Ciudad (The City).

      The secularization of the missions followed throughout the next decade obliging the Catholic Church to liquidate their land holdings. This divestiture radically altered the usage and ownership of the territory. The resulting land rush that followed significantly enabled parcel availability to government officials, ranchers and diverse speculators. Individuals with financial means and in the best position to cultivate and exploit the terrain purchased the largest consolidated tracts of land. Their access was in direct proportion to their sworn allegiance to the new Mexican regime.

      Entrepreneurs such as Jean-Louis Vignes, Abel Stearns, John Temple and William Wolfskill would individually and collectively subjugate the land for commercial purposes. These visionaries would forward the farming and livestock interests of the region until subsequent development would ultimately urbanize Los Angeles.

      Spring Street would function as a major transportation artery for each stage of this evolution.

      The Emergence of Spring Street

      Spring Street, then the Old Brea Road was a modest dirt highway meandering through the central El Pueblo settlement. The thoroughfare was a primary channel for stagecoaches, wagons and cattle drives. The original routing included segments from Gaspar de Portola’s expedition maps.

      During the mid-century when Los Angeles’ first official street survey was documented, the juncture of Spring and Main Streets formed the southern tip. The trail then proceeded to the western limits of El Pueblo. It crossed the blocks between First and Thirds Streets, Spring and Broadway, diagonally. It then intersected Hill at Fourth Street and Olive at Fifth Street. Skirting the hills, it exceeded the old pueblo limits near Eighth Street. At this point, the road divided. One deviation veered off towards the LaBrea Tar Pits and the other headed towards the Cahuenga Pass (present day Hollywood).

      Today, South Spring Street still initiates its southern extremity at the identical juncture with South Main at West Ninth Street. It continues northbound through the Gallery and Financial districts, Grand Park and numerous city and county administration buildings. A newer additional northern fork continues through Chinatown and then hugs the southeastern boundary of the Los Angeles State Historic Park. The street is ultimately absorbed into North Broadway Street which itself culminates into North Mission Road.

      The transportation network and grid that defines contemporary southern California was influenced originally by available sources of forced labor dating from the earliest settlements. Expanding missions and pueblo communities were located adjacent to indigenous villages. The large newly purchased land tracts and grants were populated by ranchos. The ranchos ultimately centered boomtown settlement concentrations, which over time absorbed the remaining open space.

      The trails between villages escalated larger to accommodate greater traffic. With urbanization, they became freeways.

      Origins of the Street Name

      Spring Street derived its name from one of the oldest known male motivators: romantic infatuation. In 1849, U.S. Army map surveyor Lieutenant Edward Ord was commissioned to lay out the official municipal blueprints intended to clarify development property boundaries. Part of his responsibility included naming rights. He reputedly honored his girlfriend residing in Santa Barbara, Trinidad Ortega (whom he called Primavera, Spanish for Springtime). She was honored with the distinction of her own street name.

      Ord, who was commissioned with creating a similar survey for the city of

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