It's an interesting book indeed; quite good, actually.
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Contemporary photo of Fire Engine Co. No. 28., a firehouse built in 1912, courtesy of Google Maps. Located on the east side of Figueroa, just south of Wilshire. It's now a restaurant, which has been operating since 1989.
I've always wondered what the environment looked like around it when it was first built, being that it looks so out of place. Well...
This photo is from 1919, which shows the Samuel Calvert Foy residence, on the northwest corner of Figueroa and 7th. But look to the right, you can see the firehouse.
LAPL
And then of course the northwest corner of Fig and 7th later became the Paul Hoffman Studebaker dealership:
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Which of course became the Statler/Hilton/Wilshire Grand. You can see the little firehouse across from it on Figueroa.
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The Statler/Hilton/Wilshire Grand is supposedly going to be torn down to build a Korean-owned dual skyscraper monstrosity with LED lighting and 10 bottom floors of LED advertising.
What's that French expression? "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." Loosely translated, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
But of course in LA it's the more things change, the more things change.