Skip to main content

Image / Ambassador Hotel pylon and Wilshire Boulevard

Have a question about this item?

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title
Ambassador Hotel pylon and Wilshire Boulevard
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.
The Ambassador Hotel, designed by renowned architect Myron Hunt, opened in 1921 on the site of a former dairy farm. The Schine family owned the Ambassador for about 50 years, until its doors closed on January 3, 1989. The landmark hotel was eventually demolished between late 2005 and early 2006. An unknown sculptor created the bronze statue in the fountain, which might have been originally named "Gloria." This statue was lost and artist Bobbie Carlyle recreated a replacement version for LAUSD (now titled "Seaswept"), lightly clothed as a concession to the new use by the school district.
Looking northeast down Wilshire Boulevard, showing the pylon tower, which includes a fountain, nude bronze sculpture, and a bas-relief, in front of the Ambassador Hotel (right). Also shown are the Gaylord apartment house (left), and Immanuel Presbyterian Church (to the right of the pylon).
Type
Image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;15 x 11 cm.
Photographic prints
Identifier
00101660
Herman J Schultheis Collection; Los Angeles Photographers Collection;
N-011-175 8x10
CARL0005134975
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/40783
Subject
Ambassador Hotel
Gaylord (Apartment House : Los Angeles, Calif.)
Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Female nude in art--Statues--California--Los Angeles
Statues--California--Los Angeles
Fountains--California--Los Angeles
Bas-relief--California--Los Angeles
Bronze sculpture--California--Los Angeles
Automobiles--California--Los Angeles
Church buildings--California--Los Angeles
Presbyterian church buildings--California--Los Angeles
Streets--California--Los Angeles
Palms--California--Los Angeles
Sidewalks--California--Los Angeles
Art deco (Architecture)--California--Los Angeles
Wilshire Lanterns
Lost works of art--California--Los Angeles
Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Schultheis Collection photographs

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.

Explore related content on Calisphere: