Angelenos older than about 40 probably remember signs for Brew 102 as a downtown L.A. landmark off the Hollywood Freeway. Next to the brewery were some giant tanks that as a kid I naively assumed held vast quantities of beer. Eric at blogdowntown has unmasked the behemoths as natural gas holders that rose or sank in height depending on the amount of gas being stored. He has a photo of a 300-footer that loomed over the corner of Ducommon and Center, east of the Civic Center, and an amusing comment from the LAFD's Brian Humphrey: "Please count our agency among those who harbor no nostalgic feelings about towering containers of flammable gas!" This undated photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection shows City Hall in the background. After the jump is a view from the 1st Street bridge in 1939, taken by William Reagh.

Photos: LAPL.org