Signs of the Times: Photograph of Downtown Los Angeles

I’ve been working on two genealogy projects involving Los Angeles, California. I was looking for a person but found a photograph of Main Street and near Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles (see Image 1). This area was completely redeveloped in the last century, so it is unrecognizable today. The iconic silhouette of the Los Angeles City Hall building (built 1928) is a recognizable landmark to identify this location today. The photo is undated on the Library of Congress Website and the year 1886 is attached to the photograph in Wikimedia Commons.¹ Compared with a 1906 map of the area, the location is more precisely Main Street looking north toward Temple Street and Commercial Street.² The first power pole on the right is likely at the corner of Commercial Street. Several signs captured by the photographer help to identify businesses in the area. Is the photograph accurately dated “1886”? There are signs that it is a photograph from 1886.

Image 1: Photograph of Main St., ca. 1886

Image 2: Los Angeles City Hall, after 1928³

Signs of Age (of the Photograph)

A digital copy of the photograph is displayed on the Library of Congress website.⁴ It is sepia tone and printed on paper. It can be described as a cabinet photograph. The right edge of the photograph bears the photographers name T. A. Stanton. The bird’s-eye view of the scene may have been created from the rooftop of the photographer’s studio at 118 and 119 North Main Street. Two general clues suggest the age of the photograph:

• A – The first powerplant was not built until 1917. ⁵ Limited telephone service began as early as 1879. ⁶ Power poles in the photograph could date the image to about 1879. If they electrical poles, then I could be an older photograph.
• B – Is a man or men standing by a street light. The subject is at a distance to it is difficult to discern if they are gas street lamps or electric. The person may be just one man photographed through a long exposure. His image is ghostly faint. He appears to lean his back against the lamp and then restlessly moves to brace himself against the lamp with one extended arm. The long exposure is part of photography in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Read The Signs

What do the signs say? The many signs along Main Street are compatible with city directories and newspapers to date the photograph to about 1886.

1. Farmers Merchants Bank. A bank known by this name still operates in Southern California. They say they’ve been in business since 1907.⁷ A bank by the same name was doing business in Los Angeles in 1886.⁸ The bank had a building at Main and Commercial Streets in 1886.⁹
2. Cosmopolitan Hotel – Several residents in the Cosmopolitan Hotel were listed in 1883, showing the hotel existed about the time the photograph was taken:
   R.S. Day, clerk W.F. & Co. [Wells Fargo?], res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   A. H. Denker (Hammel & Denker), res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   G. Farrington, mechanic, res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   R. L. Greathouse, messenger W.F. & Co. [Wells Fargo?], res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   Henry Hammel (Hammel & Denker), res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   J. B. Lankershim (Lankershim & Co.), res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   L. F. Scott, clerk, res Cosmopolitan Hotel.
   W. D. Wilson (Curson & Wilson), res Cosmopolitan Hotel.¹⁰
3. Commercial Restaurant listed in 1887 at 221 N. Main.¹¹
4. IXL Auction – A listing for a business with a similar name appeared in San Francisco: “IXL Auction House, M.J. Flavin proptr, SE cor Kearny and Commercial.”¹² The sign says the business was also Tienda IXL.
5. The Rally – Multiple copies of a notice or broadsheet advertise a rally. They are posted on a square elevated stage or grandstand. Mid-term elections for U.S. Senate and House seats were held in 1886. In October a rally for the Democratic party candidates was held on Temple block.[efn-note]”Democratic Rally,” Los Angeles Daily Herald (Calif.), 30 October 1886, p. 1, col. 4 and 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/41091556/).[/efn-note] This location may have been a popular gathering spot for parade or rallies. The location can be seen in another photograph showing a crowd gathered a mezzanine balcony Elements in the subject photograph are also in this other photograph–the same pole is in the foreground the facade of the “Commercial Restaurant” building are visible.[efn-note]Paul R. Spitzzeri, “Through the Viewfinder: “North Main St. From Temple Block,” Los Angeles, ca. 1885,” 20 July 2020, second untitled photograph, The Homestead Blog (https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2020/07/20/through-the-viewfinder-north-main-st-from-temple-block-los-angeles-ca-1885/).[/efn-note]
6. H. Siegel – Listed in 1886, “Siegel H., gents’ furnisher and hatter, 200-222 N Main, res 316 S. Fort ¹³
7. Law Office – The office was plausibly occupied by E. M. Ross. In 1887 Ross, an attorney, was listed at the southeast corner of Main and Commercial.¹⁴
8. C. Prager’s, Dry Goods, Emporium, Clothing – In 1887 Charles Prager was listed on the northeast Corner of Los Angeles and Commercial Streets.¹⁵

Evidence strongly points to 1886 as the year the photograph was made.

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FEATURED IMAGE: T. E. Stanton, “Bird’s-eye View of Main Street from Temple Block in Los Angeles, California,” photograph; digital image, Library of Congress, “Prints and Photographs Online Catalog” (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/).

1. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_Main_Street_looking_north_from_Temple,_T.E._Stanton,_1886.jpg) “North Main Street looking north from Temple,” T.E. Stanton, 1886, posted by “Keizers,” rev. 12:23, 20 February 2023.
2. Los Angeles: Travel and Hotel Bureau, “Map of the city of Los Angeles : showing railway systems,” pub. 1906; digital image, Library of Congress, Maps (https://www.loc.gov/maps/).
3. Julius Shulman, “8. East side – Los Angeles City Hall, 200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA,” photograph, 1981; digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ca1261.photos.012140p/), no. HABS CAL, 19-LOSAN,51-8.
4. T. E. Stanton, “Bird’s-eye View of Main Street from Temple Block in Los Angeles, California,” photograph; digital image, Library of Congress, “Prints and Photographs Online Catalog” (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/).
5. “Power Plant One, the First Power Plant to Generate Electricity for the City of Los Angeles’ Utility, Turns 100 Years Old,” 17 March 2017, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (https://www.ladwpnews.com/power-plant-one-the-first-power-plant-to-generate-electricity-for-the-city-of-los-angeles-utility-turns-100-years-old-2/)
6. Gary Goff and others, “The History of Los Angeles Telephone Service,” Gary’s Antique Telephone Collection (https://www.telephonecollector.info/the-history-of-los-angeles-telephone-service/).
7. “Our Story,” Farmers Merchants Bank (https://www.fmb.com/about)
8. “Insurance and Banking, Statement of Condition of Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank,” The Los Angeles Times (Calif.), 14 July 1886, p. 2, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/378312715/).
9. “Masser and Wilder, Dentists, Los Angeles Herald (Calif.), 6 November 1886, p. 7, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/41091939/). Showing office at “Main and Commercial streets, over Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank.”
10. “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/), Los Angeles City and Santa Ana Valley Directory, 1883-84, pp. 76, 77, 85, 97, 100, 120, 167, and 194.
11. “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/), Los Angeles City Directory 1887, p. 144.
12. “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/), Langley’s San Francisco Directory For the Year Commencing April 1881, p. 497.
13. “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/), Los Angeles City and County Directory 1886-7, p. 206.
14. “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/), Los Angeles City Directory 1887 Including A Directory of Pasadena, p. 448.
15. “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/), Los Angeles City Directory 1887 Including A Directory of Pasadena, p. 497.