Augmented Reality Experience Will Bring L.A.’s Original Chinatown Back to Life
... When the dealer opened the box, "I was really blown away," Watts recalls. A block by block, building by building sequence of photographs depicting early 20th century Los Angeles were, she knew, as "rare as hen's teeth." What's more, she quickly surmised, nothing that the pictures depicted remains. It is all gone, obliterated. This version of L.A.'s Chinatown got demolished right after these pictures were made in order to make way for the Union Station railroad depot. Every bit as amazing was the fact that the images were meticulously addressed. The photographer took care to note, on the images themselves, where he was on this or that street, writing the house or building number on the printed photograph. ...
Then, a chance meeting with Professor Scott Fisher of the USC Cinema school happened. ...
Fisher knew that he could place the 1930s photographs in space by way of augmented reality. He knew that commuters in route to and from their trains in Union Station could, by way of their phones or tablets, "see" the old neighborhood that had once been right there at their feet. Travelers laid over and awaiting departure could do so as well. ...
See the full story here: https://www.kcet.org/food-discovery/augmented-reality-experience-la-old-chinatown
