Looking east from the Melrose, 1914
Stitched together two nice C.C. Pierce negatives shot from the roof (or upper floor) of The Melrose (at about 128 S. Grand in the ugly new building). County Courthouse tower visible over the top of the new Hall of Records, crenelated tower of the Los Angeles Times building at 1st and Broadway. Row of buildings at the bottom of the image all address on Olive street. Far left bottom is the St. Mark Hotel (originally the Cecil and soon to be the Gladden, in three years it will become the home address of a local oil company accountant and soon to be struggling writer named Raymond Chandler) at 100 S. Olive. Next to the St. Mark/Cecil/Gladden is the northern entrance to Olive Court, albeit hidden by that tree, over to the right you can see the southern entrance to Olive Court and at the far right (bottom corner) is the Argyle. You will notice that by 1914 The Annex (133 S. Hill Street) has been torn down, leaving the Hotel Locke (behind the Argyle and directly behind that star pine) at 139 S. Hill Street (NW corner of 2nd) out on the point overlooking 2nd and Hill street all alone. Now we have a clear view of the Moore Cliff Apartment/Hotel (center, stark white, drab, featureless multi-story) and to the left the smaller, more architecturally interesting El Moro Hotel. Both the El Moro and the Moore Cliff address on Hill Street (109 and 121 respectively) yet are served by entrances here on Olive Court.
USC digital archive/Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (chs-5711, 5712)