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. Photo showing the corner of 5th and Hill streets looking north, taken from alongside Pershing Square. The building on the left corner is the Title Guarantee and Trust Company Building, located at 401 W. 5th Street. Architects John and Donald B. Parkinson designed it in Art Deco style with a Gothic Revival style tower in 1930. Across the street on the right corner, the brown building is that of the Hotel Portsmouth. The taller building behind it is the Hotel Clark. Built in 1912 by architect Harrison Albright, Hotel Clark boasts of "555 rooms with private baths" and with fire escapes on both ends is "Absolute Fireproof". Several pedestrians and automobiles move about on the streets.
Title Guarantee Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hotel Portsmouth (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hotel Clark (Los Angeles, Calif.) Commercial buildings--California--Los Angeles Automobiles--California--Los Angeles Pedestrians--California--Los Angeles Streets--California--Los Angeles Hotels--California--Los Angeles Pershing Square (Los Angeles, Calif.) Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs Albright, Harrison Parkinson & Parkinson
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