It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of historic vintage maps of Los Angeles. I love pouring over high-resolution versions of the documents and one I’ve spent some time with is a fantastically detailed bird’s-eye view of the city from back in 1909 that I found here on the incredible Big Map Blog about a year ago.
I hadn’t looked at it in awhile, but I opened up the file again yesterday for no particular reason. And while past explorations left me kind of certain that our neighborhood was further to the right side of this image, yesterday’s visit left no doubt that I’d been waaay off.
Here’s the section annotated below (numbered and arrowed by me; click it for the bigger picture):
1. The intersection of Bellevue and what was then Temple or Old Temple Road (now bisected by the 101 with London Street to the north of the freeway and Park View to the south). Our street was originally called Sugg (and then later Ensign) and it’s shown extending northward from that intersection into what was originally the Rowland Heights tract.
2. This was the key element that I hadn’t previously recognized. That bend in the road is now the present curve of LaFayette Park Place (one street east of ours) down to what’s now Benton Way.
3. Is essentially our house. Not really, but pretty dang close to where it was built in 1906. It was one of the first on the block, and its position there on the map is good in relation to the view we have of Sunset Boulevard, seen above angling up between what was then curiously known as Capitol Hill (what’s now Micheltorena Ridge) and Crestmont (site of the famed Canfield-Moreno Estate aka Paramour Mansion built in 1923).
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