A Break From Sports: Fun Old Pix of UCLA, Westwood
by KSBruin on Feb 20, 2012 6:00 AM PST
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PrintBumped. Happy President's Day everyone. ICYMI - wanted to make sure everyone had seen this amazing post. GO BRUINS. - BN Eds.
Not sure how I stumbled upon these...I think it was from a picture in wikipedia. Regardless, these are from an amazing photo archive at the LA Public Library. Its main search page is here:
Royce Hall on the first day (week?) of classes. The building was ready. The grounds? Not so much.
I ended up searching for pictures of campus and Westwood from prior to 1940. Here are some of my favorites. Frustratingly, I opened a new window to write this so I could easily bounce back and forth from this to the window where I had 20+ tabs open of pictures and descriptions...and their system kicked me out of most of the windows back to the main search screen, so I can't copy their descriptions as I had planned. Anyway, here's at least some of the good stuff I found.
Looking north from the Ralphs Grocery Building, 1929 or so.
Amazing aerial view of campus, 1929. The original four buildings are (mostly) done, as is the bridge, but Janss Steps aren't yet, nor is there much of anything surrounding campus.
Slightly later aerial view, showing Moore Hall under construction, and Janss Steps perhaps in progress, perhaps complete.
The bridge now between Schoenberg and Perloff. I'd known it was there since freshman orientation (I somehow knew this part was real, unlike Bunche...), but I had no idea it was this substantial.
Royce Hall on the first day (week?) of classes. The building is ready. The grounds? Not so much.
Aerial view of Westwood Village September 14, 1929.
Aerial view of Westwood Village taken from the Goodyear Blimp, in I believe the mid- to late-1930s. Buildings have filled in some of the spaces, and there's a grove of trees north of Le Conte.
Looking north on Westwood from Wilshire, this shot shows a gas station and, in the background, a Sears somewhere. This one also looks north on Westwood, but I think it's from slightly south of Wilshire and probably a few years later than the first link.
Did you know there was an outdoor ice skating rink in Westwood? Here are some pictures of the Tropical Ice Gardens being built in 1938, from 1939, and in 1949. According to this site, it was located at the SW corner of Weyburn and Gayley, though with the info in the quote below, it looks like it was not on Gayley but on the UCLA property behind Helen's, Oakley's, The Coffee Bean, and (as some of us remember there once had been) Breadstiks. The LAPL page with the 1949 pic has these details:
Historical Notes The Tropical Ice Gardens in Westwood Village opened in November 1938. It had a seating capacity for 10,000 spectators and could accommodate 2,000 ice skaters on its year-round outdoor rink. There were conflicting reports that Norwegian ice champion Sonja Henie had acquired the arena sometime in the 1940s and renamed it Sonja Henie's Ice Palace, but her actual affiliation with the establishment remains uncertain. The building sustained considerable damage due to a fire in May 1939, but re-opened shortly after. It was torn down in 1949 to accommodate expansion of UCLA.
Summary Things Are 'Hot' Over This Ice Rink In Westwood Village - Ten Thousand Men, Women and Children in Area Are Battling Over Whether It Should Be Demolished; Medical Center Is Planned Two Years From Now.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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Always enjoy that kind of stuff.
Always brings to mind the story my dad told me about riding his bike from Santa Monica, over Mulholland, to the San Fernando Valley and the orange groves.
You notice how many of the businesses had their company name “plastered” up in the air?
Been a Bruin since birth
Like to see more of this - thanks for posting
Years ago, one of the local LA channels did a story on the bridge and what’s inside. Then, they reported what was inside of the bridge and how it was accessed. Don’t know today if it’s still accessible.
by boelterbruin70 on Feb 12, 2012 10:13 AM PST reply actions
Breadstiks closed in the late 90's, I think.
Having a Ralph’s (back) in Westwood killed us – I mean, them. :)
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
The bridge
Anyone know more about that? When/How was the area around the bridge filled in?
They should post this pictures up on campus somewhere…
by Showcase Showdown on Feb 12, 2012 11:16 AM PST reply actions
You can access the bridge by going into the steam tunnels
It’s not decorated like that picture anymore, just a very large cavern. Someone else on the internet took this pic
by Objection Penguin on Feb 12, 2012 11:34 AM PST up reply actions
The Bridge
I think there was something here in the BN a few years ago about the bridge (which I never knew existed until then.) Apparently there are all sorts of catacombs and stuff. I think it would be fun to go exploring and find all the secret passages. Maybe even we can find the athletic relevance that has been missing for the last decade.
The tunnels are awesome
I entered an entranceway adjacent to Moore, wandered around for a few hours, then popped up at YRL, completely disoriented. There are some cool things down there! Lots of old books, films, creepy passageways and doors.
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Feb 13, 2012 10:59 AM PST up reply actions
awesome pictures
It’s amazing to see how far UCLA has come, and how far UCLA will GO
Back to the Future IV
Calling Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox. Would that we could have them return to 1947 or so, when available land was plentiful, and see to it that an on-campus football stadium is built. Not a frill, but a necessary part of the UCLA student experience, all Bruin football teams to be enjoyed in-house. Riding the post-war, feel-good boom, this should be an easy tweak of history for charmers like McFly and finaglers like Doc.
Thus built in the late 1940s, the stadium would soon become home to many of UCLA’s national championship football teams. Under the bold stewardship of coaches, such as Red Sanders and Tommy Prothro, and under the bold management of Athletic Directors and Chancellors, such as Franklin Murphy, J. D. Morgan and Charles Young, UCLA would become the standard of Division I excellence. It would be an embarrassment of riches when, in the early 1960s, John Wooden would also begin leading basketball teams to multiple national championships.
With a pattern of excellence deeply ensconced in UCLA culture, UCLA supporters would shake their heads with pity at other big-time institutions that would adopt cultures of mediocrity, and whose teams would drive fans crazy with their play-not-to-lose mentality.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Or, is that back to myself? In any case, thanks very much, KS, for opening this treasure chest of history. Rec’d.
Better yet
Marty McFly meets and marries the woman who later gives birth to Dan Guerrero. Dan never materializes. A different guy plays second base for UCLA in the 70’s. A different AD is hired in 2001. We still have 108 National Titles in 2012, but our football and basketball teams actually matter in the national landscapes of both sports.
108 national titles?
If we had a different AD, we’d have 130 by now, including a title in 07 with Westbrook/Love/Collison/Mbah a Moute/Mata-Real/Shipp!
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Feb 13, 2012 11:01 AM PST up reply actions
I don't understand
How would a different AD affect the team? The players, talent and heart was there and we just came up one game short (only talking about the ’07 season).
Are you kidding?
Sure, an AD doesn’t matter game to game. But, an AD builds and maintains the athletic culture at a university. Thus, an AD matters greatly from season to season.
Athletic culture goes to top-notch facilities, reinforcing and building the fanbase, encouraging student enthusiasm and attendance, reaching out to and including alumni in an ongoing basis (including former Bruin athletes), recognizing heritage and tradition in uniform designs, building rivalries and doing sensible scheduling, and, in general, marketing the institution’s brand.
Whether a school has a poor, average, or great AD matters. It also helps if the AD has the unequivocal backing of the Chancellor.
(Nothing like replying a week late, huh? :-) )
Just to add to week-late replies
Gbek, there are a couple of dozen contributors here who could generate much more student interest in games than our current athletic director. In my opinion, a more energized student presence at games would have a positive effect on the players. The ideas aren’t necessarily new, either. In my day, games were free, or next to free (a quarter, or something like that.) My guess is that opening the doors to the student body for free would increase overall revenue because the seats now empty would be buying cokes and hot dogs, whereas now the empty seats just make us look like we’re apathetic. When is the last time the team showed up at any of the dorm dining rooms at lunch time for an impromptu rally? That would generate interest. Or here’s one – an imperial edict saying "THIS shade of blue is our true blue Bruin blue school color. Anyone not wearing this color will not be admitted to the next game, but if you trade in any piece of cloth of any color, we’ll give you the Bruin blue T-shirt to wear at the game. "
Where is our athletic director when it comes to ideas (other than stupid ones that hurt, like moving the students out to Gayley, or having our home games on just$c*’s campus)?
Week late +2
Just to underscore Fox’s points…
I’m no marketing wiz, Gbek, but there’s a certain synergy created between enthusiasm and success, which a masterful AD could parlay. Rabid student enthusiasm helps the team play better. A good team fosters more fan enthusiasm, in students and all fans. Better overall enthusiasm and attendance goes to better team play. Better team play leads to a team’s sustained confidence, gradual rise in the national conversation, not to mention polls. Greater team success leads to Rose Bowl/Pauley sell-outs, standing-room only, and demand for tickets. “Hot ticket” status leads to bolstered public image, which leads to desirability in the minds of high school recruits, which leads to…
The UCLA athletic department today, by practically any measure, is dysfunctional. It’s not difficult to imagine, not just an improvement, but a radical turn-around in athletic department management. At least, it’s not difficult for folks like Fox 71, Class of 1966, and me, because we’ve seen it. We’ve been the enthusiastic students and young alumni, riding the wave of effective UCLA athletic department management. We know it can be done.
That it is not being done hurts in ways that I can’t describe.
Go Bruins.
Gbek, exactly what Fox71 and Bruinut said
:)
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Feb 22, 2012 4:57 PM PST up reply actions
Absolutely agree with bruinclassof10
How many times have you seen a losing program packing the house with students and fans? That all starts with the AD.
Been a Bruin since birth
by LongtimeBru on Feb 25, 2012 10:30 AM PST up reply actions
Saw and noted a couple of great pics
of the IM Field area long ago – had planned to emphasize them, and the possibilities they held…before the LAPL site dropped half the stuff I had kept tabs open for. As it was nearing 1 in the morning, I ran with what I had.
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
Great stuff.
My problem is, when I see these pictures of wide open land, I wish they had parceled out the land for a football stadium early on, before real estate prices soared.
Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. ~ Vince Lombardi
I still get kick out of the fact
We used to have a bowling alley at Ackerman. We had it just for one year – our freshman year in 91 before it got torn up. We used it few times – they were all fun times.
Yes it was
I got it for one year too. After that, had to settle for the arcade…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Never saw anybody in the arcade when I was an undergrad
I thought they should’ve turned the space into an on-campus bar
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Feb 16, 2012 1:26 PM PST up reply actions
When we were in school
there were no ipods or xbox 360. The best anyone had was the early Sega system…with the hockey game…that was still awesome. anyway, that’s why people went to the arcade.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Understood
That’s where my childhood and a lot of quarters were spent, on NFL Blitz one of the best arcade games ever created.
Dump Dan!
by bruinclassof10 on Feb 16, 2012 7:08 PM PST up reply actions
I put lots of quarters
into BlockOut (3D Tetris, basically!) and Super Mario Bros.
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
Ralph's!?
Who knew the store was so impressive and majestic back in the day. Was that the original store or something?
UCLA Benjamin and Gladys Thomas Air Photo Archives
I was fortunate enough to work at the UCLA Air Photo Archives (full name above). Big perk was being able to search through all the photos of the entire Los Angeles area, dating back to the early 1900s.
The majority of the aerial (oblique) photos at the archives were taken by the Spence Air Photo Inc.
But yes, if you guys have the money you can browse through the collection of the photos of UCLA. I used to browse through the construction of the campus all the way until the late 60’s, prior to Spence Air Photos shutting its business down.
My very first ever case
required me to research the old archives of the survey of Main Street from downtown LA all the way to the ocean. The case was a boundary dispute. My surveyor eventually found air photos (we think from a blimp, or else from a very early, circa 1929, satellite, although that’s doubtful). My guy was prepared to testify that our fence had been in place since 1929, and we were going to rely on adverse possession. Anyway, the surveyor’s notes were at the Huntington Library, which also got me in to see Pinkie and Blue Boy. I also had to look up LASC case no. 939 (I’ll never forget that number). That was the final judgment parcelling out land from the older Spanish grants to guys like Mr. Compton and Mr. Downey. The verbiage in that judgment was just the same as the verbiage in judgments nowadays. You nevere forget your first case.
We paid taxes on everything we occupied. My expert was prepared to testify to that.
Plus, the other side shot a survey and was supposed to call out stuff within 5 feet of the line, but neglected to point out that our garage was 21 inches on where they said the line was.
It turned out that there was a 6 foot discrepancy in the “official” maps. One map from the 1860’s had the length of one lot line being a number ending in 1, but it was the old-fashioned, hand-written 1 that had the little diagonal line at the top too long, and it came out in the next map written as a 7. That six foot discrepancy was at one end of a lot 800 feet long, which turned into a 21 inch difference of opinion by the time it got to our garage. The other side would not have given a crap except that they had already started digging a long trench for their fence and didn’t want to re-engineer. They actually knocked on my clients’s door and said they were going to tear down the garage and wondered where she wanted the rubble stacked. So my first case (I wasn’t even admitted – just clerking at a firm) required getting an injunction. Guess how many of those I got in my career? As my grandpa used to say, “That one and one more would be two.”
Anyway, we had them cold, and it was a case for attorney’s fees (although that took changing the trial court’s mind.)
I remember that when the case settled, I sent a release that was two pages long, but only got that long because my client had a lessee who needed a signature block. The lawyer on the other side was tremendously apolgetic, but said that his clients would probably not go for any settlement that was memorialized in only two pages, and asked if he could please be allowed to lengthen it. He came back with a nice 20 page document that, had the usual BS in it, and then it incorporated by reference my two pages, and said that the two pages would control in the event of any differences of opinion.
Fun case.
Clients
At the archive were always the most fascinating. We had many lawyers come in to discuss property lines (one at Jordan High!), years roads were built (to not pay people), and years retention walls were built. I personally loved listening to the interesting oral histories clients would tell me about families while growing up in Los Angeles. I remember meeting a Bruin from the 1940’s. Said his entire tuition was $45 for the whole year, which I know would be a different dollar amount today, but still crazy!
I think the only client I remember disliking was someone from Chevron (it’s the environmentalist in me). They didn’t want to pay out for contaminating some property they owned probably. Sometimes I’m surprised at the stuff people would disclose to a student.
But I’m glad you had the chance to browse through the photos. Spence Air Photos were taken from an airplane, if you were interested in that fact. Did you ever find it fascinating that the original settlement in Los Angeles was oriented 45 off of Cardinal North, and then the streets would angle back west? Sorry for my digression! This is what happens when you talk to a Geography major.
Awesome stuff KS!
It should make anyone associated with UCLA turn to the shop owners in Westwood and the Bel Air residents, and scream ’WE WERE HERE BEFORE YOU". Quit whining and let us have our stadium.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Thanx a 10^6
Such nostalgia! (Not that I have first hand recollection ;)
When I was an undergrad, some bank in Westwood had a bunch of old photos
like those and I would wander in there are gaze at them for a while. I did it so
often, I eventually, made friends with the guard. I still cannot recall the name of
the bank or what street it was on. Sigh.
BTW: It is fun to play ‘what if’ but I wouldn’t swap UCLA’s past for anything – it
is a damn fine school. Who knows, if we went back and stepped on a butterfly
(or stomped on a trogan) would John Wooden or Jackie Robinson be part of
Bruin history? I wouldn’t dare risk it.
We’ve been blessed, my friends and fellow Bruins!
Play with so much passion nothing else matters
More recommendations
The UCLA Faculty Association blog regularly posts some cool old photos:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/
Here’s a photo from 1956…pretty much all of North and South Campus covered with parking for cars:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D7DzoJeyrmc/TygfWjjlJNI/AAAAAAAAFcc/cDpghbifrk8/s1600/parking56.jpg
Film shot (by Roddy McDowall, apparently) in 1965 of Robert Redford on top of the Fox theater in the Village:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ebrsdhqvg
by Westwood Wizard on Feb 13, 2012 10:54 AM PST reply actions
Thanks KS!
I guess I’m a little late in looking at your post, but I love this stuff. Most people don’t believe me when I tell them about the bridge that was there before they filled it in. Love the pics. As Westwood Wizard noted above the UCLA Faculty Site has some nice pics. Here are a couple more I thought were worth posting…
Definitely room for that on-campus stadium…
Wanted to include those as well
before the library web site went wonky on me. Had the same thought as you, even when seeing pix of the IM Field area in the 1950s or so.
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
snowing in Westwood
This picture shows UCLA after snow fell on campus…always thought it was pretty cool.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JgYUlnw8Pgk/TWvcY1zKIjI/AAAAAAAACeQ/lXoinQfqD90/s1600/snowjan1932-2.jpg
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." RONALD REAGAN, 1985
by Devildog_Bruin on Feb 21, 2012 12:05 AM PST via mobile reply actions
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