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. Pershing Square, bounding 5th, 6th, Hill, and Olive streets, was called La Plaza Abaja ("The Lower Plaza") when former Mayor Cristobal Aguilar signed it into being in 1866. In 1910, renowned architect John Parkinson renovated the park and designed this three-tier fountain braced by four life-size concrete cherubs supporting a vase of cascading water; the sculptor was Johan Caspar Lachne Gruenfeld. The park was renamed in November of 1918 in honor of General John J. Pershing. Banana plants frame the view of the main fountain at Pershing Square. Many of the park's visitors are seated on benches, but are few are seen strolling about.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm. Photographic prints
Parks--California--Los Angeles Pedestrians--California--Los Angeles Fountains--California--Los Angeles Banana plants--California--Los Angeles Pershing Square (Los Angeles, Calif.) Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs Parkinson, John,1861-1935 Gruenfeld, Johan Caspar Lachne
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