Office Locale Update
In March of 2006, I received an email from Joe Hartley regarding the Perry Mason office location. Included were six pictures which really help to understand the neighborhood. Here are the pertinent paragraphs from Joe's message. The bracketed numbers refer to the pictures below:

Your conclusion is correct: your lines intersect at the north side of fourth street between Hill and Olive. The aerial photography you have is correct with the layout of the streets, but not with the buildings, because until about 1980 there was a large office building exactly where your green and red lines intersect. I'm attaching some jpegs of the building [1], taken mainly from the side and from Hill St. You can see the 4th Street rising; it's right around where they relocated Angels Flight in 1996.

I'm also including a couple of other photographs from 1966 that may help. The first [2] is a view of the Times building from the north. The aerial shot was taken from City Hall, and you can see the MWD building [3] just above the back structure of the Times, the part along 2nd St. The Black building is off to the right, but it's hard to distinguish it from the Subway Terminal buildings. Looking at it from NORTH on Hill Street from Pershing Square, you can see it in the picture [4] entitled Subway Terminal Buidling 1927. If you look carefully along Hill, you'll see where it cuts across, and on the other side is the Black Building.

Another possibility is that the office was on the back side of the Subway Terminal building, which was a tad taller than the Black Building. You can decide!

Finally, there's a picture [5] from 1966 looking down 4th st. Black Building is to the left of the Savoy Garage.

Of course, the inside of Mason' s office was very much mid-1950s, and the Black Building was MUCH older than that and lacked balconies. However, they probably took the pictures they used from the Black Building.

The Pictures


[1] From 1948, the Black Building from across Hill Street with 4th Street rising to the left.


[2] From 1966, the Los Angeles Times as seen from from City Hall. The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) building can be seen above the back structutre of the Times complex. Beyond that and a bit to the right is the Black Building in front of the Subway Terminal Building.
 

[3] From 1995, at the right, the MWD building. The Times and City Hall can be
seen in the distance midway to the left. The distinctive tower of the MWD can be
easily seen in Picture 2.


[4] From 1927, the Subway Terminal Building looking north. Hill Street is at the right.
The Black Building is across 4th Street at the right.


[5] From 1966, 4th and Olive. The Black Building can be seen in the middle, the
Savoy Garage is the low white building to the right.


[6] From 1986, looking down 4th towards Olive. The Black Building is now
missing. The Savoy Garage has lost it's sign.

 
Comments
I suppose that the office photo could have been taken from the rear of the Subway Terminal Building, but the crossing lines on Exhibit 3 are closest to the Black Building.

For a circa 1950 map of this area, visit Tom Wetzel's site here. In the map, the green block at 3rd and Broadway is the MWD. The Million Dollar Theater was in this building facing Broadway. The red block on 4th Street between Hill and Olive is the Subway Terminal building.

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