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 first Chinese on record arrived in Los Angeles in 1852, but by 1910, Old Chinatown had grown to cover approximately 15 streets. In 1931, a California Supreme Court decision was upheld, approving land condemnations and the construction of the new Union Station upon the site of Old Chinatown. The Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association was formed in 1937 and by February the following year the first tenants were moving to New Chinatown. The dedication ceremony took place on June 25, 1938. This view down Marchessault Street in old Chinatown, which is full of two and three story brick buildings, Chop Suey rooftop signs and storefronts, ends abruptly at a construction site. Men holding planks of wood, gather under the steel framework for Union Station, while further framing can be seen in the background. This street was full of oriental trading goods stores including Yee Sing Chong (305 Marchessault Street) in the foreground, as well as four others not visible across the street. Man Jen Low restaurant (309 1/2 Marchessault Street) was eventually relocated to New Chinatown as General Lee's and later Mountain Bar. This entire street was demolished for Union Station.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm. Photographic prints
Union Passenger Terminal (Los Angeles, Calif.) Man Jen Low (Restaurant : Los Angeles, Calif.) Yee Sing Chong (Los Angeles, Calif.) Building construction--California--Los Angeles Stores & shops--California--Chinatown (Los Angeles) Signs and signboards--California--Chinatown (Los Angeles) Cooking, Chinese Chinese language Lost architecture--California--Chinatown (Los Angeles) Streets--California--Los Angeles Marchessault Street (Los Angeles, Calif.) Old Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.) Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs
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