on spring street, 2005
well, uploading them took forever, as expected, but here is my photo set of every building and parking lot on spring street from aliso st. to 9th st.
as with broadway, there were a few buildings that were surprises to me. one was this building, next to the van nuys building that was probably a bank at one point, but i couldn’t find any information about in my meager searching.
something that should not have surprised me, since i walk past the building nearly every single day, is that the broadway spring center is mostly a giant parking garage. for some reason, that had never really registered before.
and the person how decided that it was a good idea to use a star trek font for the name on the los angeles theatre center needs a boot to the head.
Comments
I'm actually coming up pretty empty on this one. I don't think it was a bank, though. The only bank I know on that block was the First National in the Van Nuys building.
I see a couple different building permits issued for that lot, but the one that seems most interesting is from 1908. On May 24th a story ran talking about a six-story building to be built "on the west side of Spring street, 170 feet south of Seventh street." The story claims excavation to be already occuring at that point, and that the building was (to be) owned by M. A. Newmark, a wholesale grocer. The ground floor was to be used as a hardware and plumbing store.
But then on August 2nd there's a building permit notice that reads:
"M. A. Newmark, three story Class C business block, No. 721 South Spring street, $45,000."
So maybe between May and August plans got downsized.
Complicating all this is the fact that building numbering tends to change quite a bit. 717 S. Spring, which you can see belongs to this building (the number's just next to the right garage door), is later listed in the 1920s as the Van Nuys Garage.
Then in 1955:
"Completion of a $90,000 expansion of the large basement parking facilities of the I.N. Van Nuys Building was announced yesterday by President J.B. Van Nuys.
"The new garage floor was constructed at an intermediate level in the building at 721 S. Spring St. and is serviced by a ramp from the Spring St. entry."
So maybe it was a plumbing/hardware store, maybe not. That's about all I've got. -e;
let's "urban explore" and break in...then we'll be able to figure it out...good job eric.
well, there’s also a big sign with phone numbers on the building advertising lofts for lease. someone could just call them and ask if they know the history of the building….
ha! i'm sure they have no idea on the history of their building...and it's probably a sign for lofts elsewhere. i know...why don't YOU call. :)
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i'm sure eric richardson could help you out with that bank building, he's got major ability to look up stuff like that.