Radium Sulphur Springs
Hollywood Mineral Springs
California Mineral Springs
Caption: Radium Sulphur Springs - Melrose Ave. and Gower St., Los Angeles, Calif. Image: Lithographic postcard of one-story stucco building with Dutch Colonial style facade and an flagpole with American flag on the roof; four people sit on the front porch
Location5625 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Coordinates34°05′01″N 118°19′23″W / 34.0835°N 118.3231°W / 34.0835; -118.3231
Spring sourceOil test well
Elevation?
TypeGeothermal
Temperature93 °F (34 °C)
Depth1,500 feet (460 m)

Radium Sulphur Springs, located on the north side of Melrose Avenue between Larchmont and Gower Street in Los Angeles, California, U.S., was an early-20th-century hot spring that resulted from an unsuccessful attempt to drill 1,500 feet (460 m) for oil. "Discovered" in 1905 and opened as a spa by G. P. Gehring in 1908,[1] the owners claimed that the water was radioactive, germicidal, and blood purifying.[2][3][4] The spa was located in Colegrove, an electric-railway stop and associated community just south of Hollywood.[2]

In 1915, a U.S. government geologist reported that the spring's water temperature was 34 °C (93 °F) and that the water had measurable levels of calcium, carbonate, phosphate, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and sulfate.[3] The same year, owners claimed the waters were "wonderfully curative" for diseases and disorders from catarrh to neurasthenia.[5] The spring water was also bottled and sold for drinking.[3]

The name changed to Hollywood Mineral Springs in 1924. In 1926, the street address was 5625 Melrose, near Larchmont, and the phone number was GLadstone 2149.[6] Services offered 1928 included "mineral Roman tub, mineral steam, marathon bath, mineral colonic, mineral Scotch douche and massage by a graduate. Baths open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m."[7] The spa endured until around 1929 when the Great Depression and the death of the owner shut down the business.[2][8][9]

The site reopened as California Mineral Springs briefly in the late 1950s.[10] Circa 1968, the California Department of Water Resources reported that the spa was owned by Mr. Harold Brooks, and the source was an test well, probably drilled in 1905, and while the well had once flowed the "water level [has] declined below land surface and well is now is pumped".[11] The well has reportedly been capped off.[12]

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See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hotel at City's Edge". The Los Angeles Times. November 28, 1909. p. 88. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  2. 1 2 3 Morrison, Patt (December 28, 2021). "From sacred to profane: A brief history of Southern California's hot springs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  3. 1 2 3 Waring, Gerald Ashley (January 1915). Springs of California. Water-Supply Paper no. 338–339 (Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 71–72. Retrieved 2023-11-01 – via HathiTrust.
  4. ↑ "Radium Sulphur Spring". Los Angeles Evening Express. March 9, 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  5. ↑ "Radium Sulphur Springs". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. February 27, 1915. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  6. ↑ "You don't need to be fat!". The Los Angeles Times. October 17, 1926. p. 78. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  7. ↑ "Drink from the Fountain of Youth". The Los Angeles Times. November 4, 1928. p. 133. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  8. ↑ "Los Angeles Evening Express 08 Oct 1929, page 31". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  9. ↑ "Hotel Owner Dies". The Los Angeles Times. October 7, 1929. p. 36. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  10. ↑ "Here's Good News". Valley Times. September 30, 1958. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  11. ↑ Berkstresser Jr., C.F. (1968). Data for springs in the southern coast, transverse, and peninsular ranges of California. Department of Water Resources. Menlo Park, Calif.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey, Water Resources Division. p. 29. Retrieved 2023-11-11 – via HathiTrust.
  12. ↑ Moen, Rick (2016). "California Hot Springs - A Selfish Guide". Retrieved 2023-11-09.
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