504 South Hill was two doors down, on the right side of the picture, here, ca. 1965.
This funny little building was the oldest remaining structure fronting Pershing Square when it was unceremoniously demolished. It’s too bad — it’s a first-rate little commercial block with a sorta restrained but sexy Jugendstijl air.
Pershing Square was sexy once, too. In 1947 it had a grand fountain and unbelievably lush vegetation and Communists bickering with one another. Sure, all that got torn out in the 1950s, but at least they replanted foliage and laid pathways. Thanks to Ricardo Legoretta and Laurie Olin, the late-80s cultural terrorists, Pershing Square is now justifiably known as the Worst Public Space in America.
