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Image / China City sign and Chun Dat Loo

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Title
China City sign and Chun Dat Loo
Alternative Title
Los Angeles Photographers Photo Collection;
Creator
Schultheis, Herman
Contributor
Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation
Date Created and/or Issued
Circa 1939
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description
Title supplied by cataloger.; 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.
Christine Sterling, the civic leader who created Olvera Street, created a similar project for the Chinese American community. China City covered the entire city block from Spring on the west to Main on the east and from Macy (now Ce´sar Cha´vez) on the south to Ord on the north, with gates on Main Street, Spring Street and Ord. By 1935, the development had an atmosphere of a Chinese village or small town, with booths and stalls along narrow winding streets. Unfortunately, due to two major fires over a ten-year period, China City came to an end by the early 1950s.
This China City sign says " Follow Dragon Road north south east and west past charming oriental shops into the harbor of Wang Po and the Chinese junk - On its wending path is the Leong & Son Playhouse - Fong Yun Art Shop - Chinese Art Gallery - Cheeking Importers - the Flower Hut - Rainbow Tea Garden and Gift Shop and other points of interest." In the background is Chung Dat Loo near the Main Street entrance.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;15 x 11 cm.
Photographic prints
Identifier
00101418
Herman J Schultheis Collection; Los Angeles Photographers Collection;
N-010-871 8x10
CARL0005125325
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/40199
Subject
Chung Dat Loo Restaurant (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Restaurants--California--China City (Los Angeles)
Architecture--California--China City (Los Angeles)--Chinese influences
Signs and signboards--California--China City (Los Angeles)
Chinese language
Stores & shops--California--China City (Los Angeles)
Storefronts--California--China City (Los Angeles)
Dragon Road (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Court of the Four Seasons (China City, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Schultheis Collection photographs

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