noirish Los Angeles

[Martin Pal]

In looking something up about Robert Young, I happened to notice and read about this television series I knew nothing about. Does anyone else know anything about it?



Title Card for TV series "City of Angels," February through May, 1976.

Synopsis: Set in Los Angeles in the 1930's, this period detective series was patterned after the hit motion picture Chinatown. It concerned the exploits of Jake Axminster, an often broke but always free-wheeling private investigator who was not above stretching the law and his ethics to get the information he wanted. He keeps his office in downtown L.A.’s historic Bradbury Building, phone number OXford-8704. The office was run by a beautiful but daffy secretary who also ran a switchboard for call girls. A mid-season replacement, it was known more for it's period production design and vintage cars and fashions than for dramatic involvement and it was soon cancelled after one season.

(13 episodes. One of the episodes is titled "The House on Orange Grove Avenue.")
It starred Wayne Rogers and Elaine Joyce. --TVRage

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Original Slide, Richfield Gas Station, Los Angeles, early 1950s."


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item5d556f695c

Does anyone recognize this corner? It's got me stumped.
__

Alert J Scott Shannon! Those are the Longstreet Palms alrighty.

Note the gate tower of Singleton Court



...and the Holton Arms

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

In looking something up about Robert Young, I happened to notice and read about this television series I knew nothing about. Does anyone else know anything about it?



Title Card for TV series "City of Angels," February through May, 1976.

Synopsis: Set in Los Angeles in the 1930's, this period detective series was patterned after the hit motion picture Chinatown. It concerned the exploits of Jake Axminster, an often broke but always free-wheeling private investigator who was not above stretching the law and his ethics to get the information he wanted. He keeps his office in downtown L.A.’s historic Bradbury Building, phone number OXford-8704. The office was run by a beautiful but daffy secretary who also ran a switchboard for call girls. A mid-season replacement, it was known more for it's period production design and vintage cars and fashions than for dramatic involvement and it was soon cancelled after one season.

(13 episodes. One of the episodes is titled "The House on Orange Grove Avenue.")
It starred Wayne Rogers and Elaine Joyce. --TVRage

Oh...City of Angels. I once said My obsession with old LA began with a 1976 TV show about 30s Los Angeles called "City of Angels." in this 2005 interview. Then about five years ago I bought the works on DVD. They say you can't go home again; it wasn't quite what I remembered, but still worth a look. If you've got a spare thirteen dollars and thirteen hours of your life, buy it now. You won't regret it.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by WS1911

Such a great photo, ER!

Does anyone know the exact year when the three bells were reinstalled at the top of the Plaza Church, replacing the gazebo? And also what year was the gazebo installed. I've always been curious about this and thought maybe the bells were put in around 1900.

________

F. A. (Frank A.) Coffman had the repair shop which is to the left of the Plaza Church in this picture. He appears in the 1910 Census as having a repair shop and his address is given as 521 N. Main. That would at least indicate that the bells were there before 1910. Coffman does not appear in the 1900 census.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I'll have to disagree. The distance along the coast between Venice and Redondo Beach would be at least ten miles, and those oil derricks appear to be much closer than that.

I believe I have seen a picture which is almost the same shot and the caption said "Huntington Beach"

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Oh...City of Angels. I once said My obsession with old LA began with a 1976 TV show about 30s Los Angeles called "City of Angels." in this 2005 interview. Then about five years ago I bought the works on DVD. They say you can't go home again; it wasn't quite what I remembered, but still worth a look. If you've got a spare thirteen dollars and thirteen hours of your life, buy it now. You won't regret it.

Thanks for the info Beaudry!

[fhammon]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Oh...City of Angels. I once said My obsession with old LA began with a 1976 TV show about 30s Los Angeles called "City of Angels." in this 2005 interview. Then about five years ago I bought the works on DVD. They say you can't go home again; it wasn't quite what I remembered, but still worth a look. If you've got a spare thirteen dollars and thirteen hours of your life, buy it now. You won't regret it.

I found the series intro on the Youtubes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGcaFtxJH8A

There might be a few episodes posted also.

[fhammon]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

Thanks for the nice welcome folks.

Soon I will post some pictures. My grandfather owned the Royal Cafe in Downtown LA in the 1920s - mom told me that it was torn down to make room for City Hall.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if somebody here has a photo of it, something at least showing the sign. What street was on?

[Beaudry]

Ok brethren, especially those with an keen eye for early residential, here's a mystery (to me at least). An RPPC postmarked from Station B, from Sarah to Dorothy Van Vleck ("This is a picture of our house. With Love.") of Baltimore.

I looked in the '09 directory for a Young who's also a physician and found a couple, one down at 42nd near Fig where the houses tend toward the bungalows there in the flats, and one lived at 427 S Alvarado, where now there's an early-20s apartment...fairly raised from the street which I don't see here so I'm not feeling it for Alvarado. Was thinking one of y'all might immediately recognize this big bracketed-Italianate with the large square cupola right off the bat or can puzzle out where it might have been.

[unihikid]

I was reading the article about the 5-4 Ballroom(not 54) and saw this line....

"Within 10 blocks on Broadway--the new name for Moneta--numerous blues venues sprouted, including the defunct Dixie Club at 59th Street and Cotton Club at 50th."

Now i remember a few years back us talking about Frank Sebatians Cotton Club in Culver City...I also remember my dad telling me about his first gig at the Savoy near the 5-4..but whats this about a CC on 50th?

[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

Thanks for the nice welcome folks.

Soon I will post some pictures. My grandfather owned the Royal Cafe in Downtown LA in the 1920s - mom told me that it was torn down to make room for City Hall.

In the late '50s and early' 60s the 54 Ballroom at 54th and South Broadway hosted the best and biggest name African American/R&B/Soul acts. The tour buses - Motortown Revue, James Brown, Bobby Bland, BB King, Ike and Tina Turner Revue, etc. - would be parked in front.

I would walk home from school past the 54 - this would be about 1959 to about 1964. A few times, I could hear the singers and musicians rehearsing, and I would go halfway up the stairs to hear better. Once or twice I was allowed to go upstairs after a musician saw me sitting on the stairs. The big polished dance floor, the stage, booths along the wall, the bar. Seeing the musicians and singers in their day clothes while they worked out an arrangement and got familiar with the room. And me in the white shirt/cords school uniform with my books.

I was too young to go to the shows in the evening.

On the ground floor was the 54 Bar, which featured Billy Preston on the Hammond organ......this would have been about '63 or '64. Also on the ground floor was a shoe repair shop and a liquor store. The liquor store had an old - even then - black and white patterned tile floor and nice interior architectural decorations.

The 54 closed when the neighborhood changed, and the building deteriorated.

Wow, slauson slim, just wow! Even the most fascinating photos tell only part of a story. Facts and figures, build dates, demolition dates, etc., all add to the scene. But memories like yours almost bring these photos into our own lives. I'm now imagining B.B.King in his shirtsleeves, wiping sweat from his brow, carefully setting down Lucille, wondering who that little schoolboy is standing there across the empty dance floor. Thank you so much for bringing this scene to life for us! I really look forward to future posts from you.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Ok brethren, especially those with an keen eye for early residential, here's a mystery (to me at least). An RPPC postmarked from Station B, from Sarah to Dorothy Van Vleck ("This is a picture of our house. With Love.") of Baltimore.

I looked in the '09 directory for a Young who's also a physician and found a couple, one down at 42nd near Fig where the houses tend toward the bungalows there in the flats, and one lived at 427 S Alvarado, where now there's an early-20s apartment...fairly raised from the street which I don't see here so I'm not feeling it for Alvarado. Was thinking one of y'all might immediately recognize this big bracketed-Italianate with the large square cupola right off the bat or can puzzle out where it might have been.

The 1908 LA City Directory shows a Dr. C. C. Young at 737 S. Westlake Ave. I couldn't find a period photo of that block. Today there's an old apartment building at 737 S. Westlake.
UPDATE: I just checked the 1906 Sanborn, which I should have done first, and the house there doesn't match the photo. Sorry.

FURTHER UPDATE: I hope this makes up for jumping the gun earlier:

Beautiful Highlands of Los Angeles @ Hathi Trust -- http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...iew=1up;seq=25

This was the home of J. E. Hollenbeck and was just south of the Hollenbeck Retirement Home, the building with the two turrets at the right of the above photo.

Here are both buildings in an undated photo:

LAPL -- http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics03/00011204.jpg

The home was old enough to appear in Thompson and West's History of Los Angeles County, California (1880):

Internet Archive -- https://archive.org/stream/historyof...ge/65/mode/1up

So perhaps in 1908 Dr. Young worked at or was a resident of the Hollenbeck Home?

[knites]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location of the day.


eBay
__

I know exactly where that is. I work in that building now.
1201 North Broadway

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by knites

I know exactly where that is. I work in that building now.
1201 North Broadway

Hi knites, here is what ER and hossC posted concerning your comment....click the link below:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=26239

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Here's a wider view of the same photo from the Seaver Center at the LA County Natural History Museum:

http://collections.nhm.org/seaver-ce...&refirn=592520

The Seaver Center also has this view looking over Hollenbeck Park Lake at both Hollenbeck Homes:

http://collections.nhm.org/seaver-ce...&refirn=590974

It seems that the view in the above photo would now be replaced by a view of the Golden State Freeway: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ho...60e0f587?hl=en

[HossC]

Here's a postcard showing a view I don't remember seeing before. It's looking down New High Street towards Court Street with the tower of the Times Building in the background. The seller dates it at 1908.


eBay

This is how the area appears on the 1910 Baist map.


www.historicmapworks.com

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by HossC

The De Soto/Plymouth dealer was Domenich Basso Inc at 1201 N Broadway. The end of the long wooden bridge over the rail yard is just visible of the right. Here's roughly the same view today.


GSV

With regard to ER's question below this, The Coffee company is Lingle Brothers. This must have been some sort of branch since the main Lingle Brothers was on Garfield in Bell Gardens. They were started in the 1920s and provide wholesale coffee. Many restaurants serve Lingle Brothers coffee. It is very good. Next time you are in a coffee shop, look for their name on the glass coffee pots.

[KevinW]

[source: kcet.org]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

I believe I have seen a picture which is almost the same shot and the caption said "Huntington Beach"

Then it was wrong as well, because this is definitely Playa Del Rey/El Segundo. As stated earlier, the derricks in Huntington Beach are in orderly lines and these, as with the Venice derricks, were not. Not to mention the outcroppings into the water that mark where the Playa Lagoon is and where the Marina would be dredged.

[HossC]

Los Angeles Street, the Wholesale District, circa 1910.


eBay

A slightly wider shot from 1918.


USC Digital Library

A close-up of some of the horses.


Detail of picture above.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/fu.../rv/singleitem

Anyone know what the large building is just to the right of this tower? It's pretty impressive.
________

Hi e_r, that building was the Poorhouse. I finally found the reference I was looking for in Adobe Days ( I should have known). As JScott guessed, the Poorhouse became the first unit of County General Hospital, now County-USC Medical Center.

Trying to catch up on the last few pages of the thread, I was struck by e_r's colored ebay slide of the Longstreet Palms. The full set appears to be intact in the photo. Only about half of them now remain. I hope the rest don't vanish in the next 65 years.