Herman J. Schultheis was born in Aachen, Germany in 1900, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1920s after obtaining a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles the following year. He worked in the film industry from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer. Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic exhibitions in 1955 that he disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala. His remains were discovered 18 months later. The digitized portion of this collection represents the images Schultheis took of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities after he relocated to the area in 1937. Built in 1926 by Edward B. Rust and Luther Mayo in a Mission Revival style, the Los Altos Apartments were originally developed as a "co-op", but went bankrupt during the Great Depression. It is rumored that William Randolph Hearst once kept his mistress, actress Marion Davies, in the penthouse apartment. Other Hollywood stars also rumored to have stayed at the famed hotel include Bette Davis, Mae West, Judy Garland and Loretta Young, among others. In 1999, Los Altos received a design award from the California Preservation Foundation, it was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1999 - Building #99000765; it is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #311.; The Thriftimart building was designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements and completed in 1934. Paul R. Williams later transformed it into the second location for Perino's Restaurant. Looking northeast across Wilshire Boulevard from S. Bronson Avenue, showing the Los Altos Apartments (left) and a Thriftimart grocery store (left of center). Further east (center) are various office buildings, businesses, the Gramercy Wilshire, a French style residential building located at 634 S. Gramercy Place, St. James Episcopal Church, and the Wilshire Professional Building. Wilshire Lanterns are present on both sides of the boulevard.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm. Photographic prints
Los Altos Apartments (Los Angeles, Calif.) Thriftimart Wilshire Professional Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Grocery stores--California--Los Angeles Dwellings--California--Los Angeles Art deco (Architecture)--California--Los Angeles Architecture, Domestic--California--Los Angeles--Spanish influences Architecture, Domestic--California--Los Angeles--French influences Streets--California--Los Angeles Office buildings--California--Los Angeles Commercial buildings--California--Los Angeles Lost architecture--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Wilshire Lanterns Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs Rust, Edward B Mayo, Luther Morgan, Walls & Clements
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