Though there is a great deal of printed and digital information about downtown Los Angeles theaters, the vast majority cover those centered in the theater district on Broadway and nearby streets and concern those that featured English-language films and live entertainment. Material on theaters that catered to Spanish-speaking audiences is much harder to come by.…
Boyle Heights and Its “Pioneer Aristocrats”
As noted in the last post, there was a brief time in the 1920s, when, at least to some people, Boyle Heights was actually known as “Hollenbeck Heights.” In September 1926, a lengthy article appeared in the Los Angeles Times called “Hollenbeck Heights Once Was Home of Pioneer Aristocrats.” Though romantic essays like this were…
The Boyle Heights and Hollenbeck Heights Controversy!
A recent question about when the name “Hollenbeck” was applied to the Los Angeles Police Department station in Boyle Heights led to an interesting aspect of the history of the neighborhood. First, a police station was contemplated for the community as far back as the mid-1890s, though it was a few years before one was…
Boosting Boyle Heights During the Boom of the 1880s
After a decade of economic stagnation, Los Angeles entered into a major growth boom in 1886 shortly after a direct transcontinental railroad link was made to the city from the east by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Over a few year period, tens of thousands of new arrivals poured into the region and…
Blast from the Past: Brooklyn Theatre’s Mysterious Bombing, 1926
In the early morning hours of 17 June 1926, a series of powerful blasts rocked Boyle Heights. At about five minutes to four, five explosions broke windows, toppled chimneys, and drove panicked residents into the streets. Soon, it was determined that the scene of the blast was the single screen, 900-seat Brooklyn Theatre, located at…
“The Buddhist Temple of Los Angeles”: Rafu Bukkyokai/Higashi Honganji in Boyle Heights
An essential component to any community is its religious life. In the early years of Boyle Heights, religious structures were almost certainly all Christian, but, by the first part of the 20th century, as the neighborhood’s population diversified, so did its religious buildings.
A 1920s Boyle Heights Artifact: 1921 Walker & Todd Ford Dealer Ink Blotter
This is a small little item that no one (or very nearly) uses anymore: an ink blotter. These were just to wipe excessive ink on when people used the old ink pens with steel nibs on them, before fountain and ball-point pens came into being. Frequently, blotters were an opportunity for businesses to advertise their…
Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, one of the main rail empires in America’s railroading history, built a hospital for company employees in 1904-05 at 610-630 St. Louis Street in Boyle Heights. The facility, known as the Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital, was razed and rebuilt in 1924. The hospital was opened under the…
The Los Angeles Orphans’ Asylum
In 1856, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, a society of apostolic life for Roman Catholic nuns founded by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac in 1633 to serve the poor, took possession of the Los Angeles house of Benjamin D. Wilson, early mayor of Los Angeles, later state…
Rare Boyle Heights Map: Valencia Tract
In April 2010, a post was dedicated to some historic photos of the Queen Anne-style residence of Robert Wirsching and his wife, Carlota Valencia, which still stands on Brittannia Street in Boyle Heights.