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. Christine Sterling, the civic leader who created Olvera Street, created a similar project for the Chinese American community. China City covered the entire city block from Spring on the west to Main on the east and from Macy (now Ce´sar Cha´vez) on the south to Ord on the north, with gates on Main Street, Spring Street and Ord. By 1935, the development had an atmosphere of a Chinese village or small town, with booths and stalls along narrow winding streets. Unfortunately, due to two major fires over a ten-year period, China City came to an end by the early 1950s. A man adjusts the canopy that covers one of the rickshaws ready at the Main Street entrance for a 25-cent ride around the seven acres of China City. According to the sign the route start at Dragon Road and takes the adventurer past: the Court of Lotus Pools, the Court of the Four Seasons, the narrow street by the House of Wang, the harbor of Whang Po, the House of Leong and Son, the tunnel to the Chinese village, the Lotus Inn with lotus Chinese nut, and the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;15 x 11 cm. Photographic prints
Rickshaws--California--Los Angeles Stores & shops--California--China City (Los Angeles) Storefronts--California--China City (Los Angeles) Architecture--California--China City (Los Angeles)--Chinese influences Gates--California--China City (Los Angeles) Signs and signboards--California--China City (Los Angeles) Chinese language Dragon Road (Los Angeles, Calif.) China City (Los Angeles, Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs
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