[Kingpin]

I've come across something whilst researching Station №23 that I figured I'd put to the hive mind here.
Whilst going over period photos of the station, and reviewing episodes of Hill Street Blues that were shot in downtown L.A. and the city's Skid Row area in the 1980s, there seem to be lingering bits of evidence that at one point in the city's history, (and maybe the wider California area in general), that the resident replaced or painted the upper panes of their sash windows, usually rendering them white.

I haven't any information to indicate when this trend first came about, but it looks like it was not uncommon by the '60s, '70s and '80s to still see some windows that either had the traces of the white paint on them, or still had the panes replaced by white-painted wood. It doesn't look like it was aimed specifically for municipal buildings, as one episode of the show appeared to show an apartment building with these white window panes/panels in place.

Were these window modifications made for the city's "dimouts" during the Second World War? Or some other city ordinance? Or was a trend to give people respite from the amount of sun shining on the city?

[edspengler]

Wow blast from the past! My elementary and middle school (LAUSD in the 80s and early 90s) had this on upper windows of the classrooms that we would open with a long pole with a hook on it. Both schools were older buildings and this was already there when I was a kid. Perhaps it was an effort to soften light from a particular constant direction since these did not have interior window coverings.