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 a large 2-story commercial building located along Sunset Blvd. in the city of West Hollywood. Shops calling this colonial-looking building home are: "Josie Sedgwick and Ray West Agency", "Fitra Productions, Inc.", and "M.D. Howe". 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 large homes can be seen on the mountains in the background.
Josie Sedgwick and Ray West Agency (West Hollywood, Calif.) Fitra Productions, Inc. (West Hollywood, Calif.) M.D. Howe (West Hollywood, Calif.) Commercial buildings--California--West Hollywood Stores & shops--California--West Hollywood Dwellings--California--West Hollywood Streets--California--West Hollywood Sunset Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) West Hollywood (Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs
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