Riverside Drive: 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace Real Estate Brochure*

Unknown photographer, 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace real estate brochure. (Click on image to enlarge.)

"All the beauty of mountain colors; the healthfulness of mountain air..." proclaimed the 1922 real estate brochure. Today, the same location on Riverside Drive (center photo above) sports an array of overpasses for the 2 and 5 Freeways adjacent to Allesandro Elementary School (below). The air is no longer healthful, so we do value our trees.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2008. Riverside Drive from the main entrance to Allesandro Elementary School, facing east toward Allesandro St. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

* This post Is a summer rerun; originally published December 1, 2008. 

Click here to see all our posts from the 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace Real Estate Brochure.

2 Freeway Corridor: The More Things Change*

Photo: Hunter Terrace - Elysian Gardens real estate brochure, 1922. Shot from Corralitas Drive looking south toward Glendale Blvd. (Click on photos to enlarge.)


Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2004. Photo matches the one above as well as one posted earlier, shot from Corralitas Drive looking south toward Glendale Blvd. Note the 3 homes circled on Alvarado Ave. have not changed much other than a coating of stucco.

*This post was originally published October 3, 2008.

Corralitas Drive: 1922

Photo: Hunter Terrace Elysian Gardens Real Estate Brochure, 1922. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Corralitas Drive as seen from what is now the 2 Freeway, close to the same location as yesterday's photo. The Red Car Property trail would now be to the left of the hill. The roadway now dead-ends at the Red Car Property.

1922, Coolidge Ave., "Elysian Gardens"

Unknown Photographer, 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace real estate brochure. House on Coolidge Ave. at Ripple St. (Click on image to enlarge.)


Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2008. The same house at the corner of Coolidge Ave. and Ripple St. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

"Elysian Gardens" was the tract on the LA River side of Riverside Drive, within the community of Elysian Valley. Unfortunately, the trees obscure the unique roofline that proves the house above is the same house in the 1922 brochure. Today, the 2 & 5 Freeways run through its backyard.

1922, Elysian Gardens Lots: $50 down and $15 per month

Unknown photographer, 1922 Hunter Terrace - Elysian Gardens real estate brochure. (Click on image to enlarge.)

The brochure advertises prices ranging from $570 to $1200 for "lots" in "Elysian Gardens," the tract between Riverside Drive and the LA River. It is not clear if the price includes a house. The brochure also does not include prices of the hillside lots in "Hunter Terrace." Buyer beware.

1922, Riverside Drive

Unknown photographer, 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace real estate brochure.
(Click on image to enlarge.)
"All the beauty of mountain colors; the healthfulness of mountain air..." proclaimed the 1922 real estate brochure. Today, the same location on Riverside Drive (center photo above) sports an array of overpasses for the 2 and 5 Freeways adjacent to Allesandro Elementary School (below). The air is no longer healthful, so we do value our trees.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2008. Riverside Drive from the main entrance to Allesandro Elementary School, facing east toward Allesandro Ave. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

1922: Allesandro Elementary School from Corralitas Drive

Unknown photographer, 1922 Hunter Terrace real estate brochure.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)



Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2008. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Of course, the 1922 brochure does not mention the 800 sq ft lots that were closest to the Red Car tracks, which were typical of neighborhoods immediately surrounding the trolley lines throughout Los Angeles. The lots closest to the tracks were small and more affordable. As you moved away from the tracks, the lots and homes got larger.

Most of the neighborhoods closest to the Red Car tracks were destroyed for freeway construction. Stroll down Riverside Place for a walk through the past. Many of the original 500 sq. ft. homes on 800 sq. ft. lots still survive.

Selling Points: Nearby Trolleys, School & El Nino

Unknown photographer, 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace real estate brochure. (Click on image to enlarge.)

"Last December, shortly after the heaviest rainfall in 32 years, automobiles were driven over every lot in Elysian Gardens." Considering the LA River was prone to flooding prior to being encased in cement, this was an important disclosure.

Riverside Terrace & The Corralitas Hillside

Photo: Unknown photographer, 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace real estate brochure. (Click on photo to enlarge.)


Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2008. Matches photo above from slightly higher ground. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The hills to the left of Elysian Park in the current photo, are the hills in the background (left) of the 1922 brochure photo above. Today, houses, freeways and trees obscure the exact matching views. Differences in lenses, format, lighting and atmospheric conditions make the hills look closer in the earlier photo. Similarly, neighbors often ponder how some days the San Gabriel Mountains appear taller than usual.

1922 Real Estate Brochure

Photo: Unknown photographer, 1922. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Over the next week, we'll look at the 1922 Elysian Gardens - Hunter Terrace real estate brochure and attempt to match as many of the photos with current views as possible. Earlier postings showed images of the 2 Freeway corridor and a map. Can you guess the location of the photo above? (Answer tomorrow.)

Hunter Terrace was named for the former Asa Hunter Estate. The 1912 map, below, shows the Hunters owning large tracts of land on both sides of "Los Felis Road," which later became Riverside Drive. The map from the brochure indicates Elysian Gardens as the area between the Los Angeles River and Los Felis Road: the neighborhood is also know as Elysian Valley and Frogtown.


Map: Plate 42, Baist's Atlas, Surveys of Los Angeles, G.W. Baist, 1912. (Click on map to enlarge.)

1922: Infrastructure Already an Issue

Photo: Hunter Terrace Elysian Gardens Real Estate Brochure, excerpt, 1922. Photo on the right cannot be duplicated without stopping in the middle of the 2 Freeway, so here's a link to a close approximation. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Hunter Terrace brochure proclaims, "Big improvements are under way and contemplated, both on Allesandro Street and Riverside Drive...and there is every assurance that in a short time there will be a viaduct spanning the river at Allesandro Street." No such viaduct was ever built at Allesandro.

By 1955, the State declared eminent domain and bought out homeowners in the area for construction of the 2 and 5 Freeways.

Perhaps the most telling line of the brochure is, "Los Angeles is now estimated to have a population of over 800,000. Transportation facilities are not keeping up with its rapid growth - buy where you have good car service."

The More Things Change...

Photo: Hunter Terrace - Elysian Gardens real estate brochure, 1922. Shot from Corralitas Drive looking south toward Glendale Blvd. (Click on photo to enlarge.)


Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2004. Photo matches the one above as well as one posted earlier, shot from Corralitas Drive looking south toward Glendale Blvd. Note the 3 homes circled on Alvarado Ave. have not changed much other than a coating of stucco. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

October is 2 Freeway Month

Photo: Hunter Terrace - Elysian Gardens real estate brochure, 1922. Shot from Corralitas Drive, looking south toward Glendale Blvd. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The freeways so dominate the landscape of our neighborhood. We are grateful to the neighbors who had the forethought to take photos and save brochures of what the area looked like before and during construction of the freeways. In 1922, there were still a few remnants of the forest cut down for subdivision of the Asa Hunter Estate. (See tract map below from 1912.)

Map: Plate 42, Baist's Atlas, Surveys of Los Angeles, G.W. Baist, 1912.
(Click on map to enlarge.)

Corralitas Public Staircases, 1922

Map: Hunter Terrace, Elysian Gardens real estate brochure, 1922. (Click on map to enlarge.)

The Corralitas Public Staircase appeared in the original real estate brochure for the neighborhood. Corralitas Drive is the @-shaped street in the above map. Click on the map to see the two short spurs coming off the lower part of Corralitas, indicating the public staircases built for easy access to the Red Car Trolley.