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 taken from across the street showing two commercial buildings located along Sunset Blvd. in the city of West Hollywood. Some of the names on the buildings read, "Ivan Kahn", "Harry Green", "Beverly National Company", and "John Zanft and Walter Batchelor"; it is unclear as to what types of businesses these are. Sunset Boulevard is a long winding thoroughfare that begins in downtown Los Angeles and runs westward over 20 miles ending at the Pacific Ocean near Malibu. The best-known portion of this boulevard is the mile and a half stretch between Hollywood and Beverly Hills, known as "The Sunset Strip". Several cars can be seen parked along the front of these establishments. These two buildings eventually became trendy and popular restaurants years after this photo was taken. For information of the "new" establishments see photo #00039557.
Beverly National Company (West Hollywood, Calif.) Commercial buildings--California--West Hollywood Stores & shops--California--West Hollywood Automobiles--California--West Hollywood Streets--California--West Hollywood Sunset Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) West Hollywood (Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs
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.