Our newest special newsletter edition for subscribers is out now, featuring a virtual visit to the non-public spaces of the Baltimore Hotel in old Skid Row. (We also have a free newsletter packed with local historic preservation news and musings.)

The hotel has been on our mind, because it plays a central role in Detective Mike Digby’s Saturday’s webinar about the 1910 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times. Tune in to learn more.

We are always glad of an opportunity to explore an early 20th century basement, where massive boilers and steam tanks lurk, and the Baltimore has some beautiful relics.

But it was the chance to peep inside the derelict rooftop penthouse that really blew our mind.

How many of these forgotten living spaces are tucked away on Downtown roofs, invisible from street level?

Your pandemic project: zoom around with the Google maps satellite view and see what you can find! (Those metal doohickeys on top of the King Edward across Fifth Street are wind-powered air vents.)

For more about the Baltimore Hotel, including a visit by the Rolling Stones and the in-house iguana, click here.