Hollyhock Lamppost
This streetlight exists only in Barnsdall Park, at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Vermont Ave. Barnsdall Park was originally private property, owned by one Ms. Aline Barnsdall (an oil heiress). In 1919, she hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build a house for her on this site, known as the Hollyhock house. Shortly after in 1926, she donated the house and property to the city of Los Angeles. There is now a public art gallery on the site, along with the Hollyhock House.
This lamp - cast iron on a concrete base - was designed to fit in with the stylized hollyhock motif that adorns the eponymous house on site.
Van Nuys Triple
This cast-iron three-globe lantern was originally installed in Van Nuys in the 1910s - Van Nuys is located in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles proper. At that time, many residential lampposts were installed by land developers, rather than the city. It was a way to attract potential customers - sometimes they were installed before there were any houses.
By and large, most of these were quickly replaced a decade later by larger, more powerful lamps. But in the 1980s, the Carroll Ave Restoration Foundation - a community improvement organization for Angeleno Heights, a neighborhood with a collection of historic Victorian houses - acquired some of the three-globe lampposts (and five-globe, not pictured here), restored them, and installed them in their neighborhood.
The Van Nuys Triple was originally designed by the Llewellyn Ironworks, a Los Angeles-based company, who supplied iron for many iconic Los Angeles projects, including the ornate wrought-iron railings in the Bradbury Bldg. lobby in Downtown Los Angeles.
Hollywood Special (Now Defunct)
The Hollywood Special was a relatively simple three-bulb cobra-head lamppost. The five stars along the side of the bulb housing mirrored the stars along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, running along Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St.
The Hollywood Specials were removed in the mid-2000s; they were replaced by the Highland Genie “Special”.
