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. Looking northeast across Wilshire Boulevard, from just west of S. Gramercy Place (mid-right). Identifiable are the Hams and Eggs Incorporated restaurant (left) at 3953 Wilshire Boulevard, a glimpse of the building occupied by the original Perino's Restaurant (right) at 3927 Wilshire Boulevard, and the Gramercy Wilshire (center), a French style residential building located at 634 S. Gramercy Place. The storefronts covering from 3951 to 3973 Wilshire Boulevard were later razed and replaced with the Wilshire Gramercy Plaza.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm. Photographic prints
Gramercy Wilshire (Apartment house : Los Angeles, Calif.) Hams and Eggs Incorporated (Los Angeles, Calif.) Restaurants--California--Los Angeles Apartment houses--California--Los Angeles Stores & shops--California--Los Angeles Art deco (Architecture)--California--Los Angeles Architecture, Domestic--California--Los Angeles--French influences Streets--California--Los Angeles Lost architecture--California--Los Angeles Wilshire Lanterns Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) Schultheis Collection photographs
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