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. It's a busy afternoon as pedestrians, automobiles and street cars move about on 5th street. Several women walk past a newspaper stand next to the Biltmore Hotel (on right). A marquee halfway down the block reads "Erlanger's Biltmore Room Service Now". The Biltmore Hotel, designed by Schultze & Weaver in 1922, is located at 515 S. Olive St. Across the street on the left is the San Carlos Hotel, "Where you feel at home", located on 5th and Olive. Adjacent to the hotel is the Philharmonic Auditorium Building, located on the northeast corner of 5th and Olive, facing Pershing Square. Charles F. Wittlesey designed the original building in 1906, and Stiles O. Clements remodeled the facade in 1938. And the tall building in the background is the Title Guarantee & Trust Company Building, located at 401 W. 5th St., designed in Art Deco style with a Gothic Revival style tower by architects John and Donald B. Parkinson in 1930.
Title Guarantee Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Millennium Biltmore Hotel (Los Angeles, Calif.) Philharmonic Auditorium (Organization : Los Angeles, Calif.) San Carlos Hotel (Los Angeles, Calif.) Bank buildings--California--Los Angeles Commercial buildings--California--Los Angeles City traffic--California--Los Angeles Pedestrians--California--Los Angeles Streets--California--Los Angeles Sidewalks--California--Los Angeles Automobiles--California--Los Angeles Lampposts--California--Los Angeles Signs and signboards--California--Los Angeles Lost architecture--California--Los Angeles Hotels--California--Los Angeles Fifth Street (Los Angeles, Calif.) Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Cityscape photographs Schultheis Collection photographs Clements, Stiles Oliver,1883-1966 Whittlesey, Charles F Parkinson & Parkinson Schultze & Weaver
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