noirish Los Angeles - Page 1535

unihikid · #**30681** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 4:44 PM**

Hoss , I was driving down Wilshire yesterday and at Cresent Heights is Wells Fargo...however i saw a huge ship on the side of the building, I wish i could of snapped a pic but i was turning north onto Cresent Heights. What caught my eye was the fact that i remember the building next to it was a C and H suit outlet (maybe C and R , im not sure they use to be big before Men's Wearhouse came to be). Hope this helps.

Tourmaline · #**30682** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 4:50 PM**

nice work on the Hobart mysteries, FW and HossC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I just came across this photograph of the Culver City Speedway, circa 1924.

be sure to pan right-->

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item3f151c0678

It's so much larger than I ever imagined. Now I understand the importance of this racing venue (located just south of the old MGM Studios).
__

There is a much nicer version of this image here: http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../id/4278/rec/8 And it more accurately identifies the subject.

Various sets can be seen in the background.

Extremely steep banking!

Is this a Japanese flag, or does it have some other Culver City or racing significance? Perhaps it merely demarcates an entrance/exit or is a not-so-secret regarding the availability of beer during prohibition

?

HossC · #**30683** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 5:22 PM**

That Huntington image is well worth a look. Not only is it huge, but there's also a lot more background detail than we could see in e_r's original post.

---------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by unihikid

Hoss , I was driving down Wilshire yesterday and at Cresent Heights is Wells Fargo...however i saw a huge ship on the side of the building, I wish i could of snapped a pic but i was turning north onto Cresent Heights. What caught my eye was the fact that i remember the building next to it was a C and H suit outlet (maybe C and R , im not sure they use to be big before Men's Wearhouse came to be). Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tip-off, unihikid. The Googlemobile last went past in April, and the ship can clearly be seen above the door on the left.

GSV

Here's a closer view.

6301 Wilshire Boulevard was a Bank of America in the 1956 CD (the only one I checked). I'll keep an eye out for a vintage picture as I work my way through the Shulman images.

ethereal_reality · #**30684** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 5:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Nice work on the Hobart mysteries, FW and HossC.

I concur!

And it all started with this simple postcard.

ebay
__

Thanks for the information on the 'glassy structure' t2.

tovangar2 · #**30685** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 6:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Thanks for the tip-off, unihikid. The Googlemobile last went past in April, and the ship can clearly be seen above the door on the left.

GSV

Thank you to both of you for the follow-up on the ship logo.

The combination of the ship plus "Bank of America" spelled out in the distinctive Old English typeface was very familiar and instantly identified the bank back in the 1950s. Surprisingly hard to research now.

The ship (as ProphetM said) and the Old English typeface are holdovers from the Bank of Italy days. A search turned up this nice example, titled "Bank of Italy ship ornamentation" from San Jose:

flickr

As for the Old English typeface, we've all seen this:

uscdl (detail)

tovangar2 · #**30686** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 6:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

I think we talked about this once before, was the Culver City Speedway the source of the current street configuration and the name "Motor Ave"?

google maps

ethereal_reality · #**30687** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 7:02 PM**

I love how the streets mirror the old track. -so cool.

Demolished R.R. Watchman's Tower at 3rd and Alameda, September 1939.

eBay

This is the building that is visible on the right in the vintage photograph above.

gsv

Surprisingly, the building has a 'Neptune' motif.

detail

Trident on left, and Neptune himself on the right.

More Neptunes, and a rather odd engaged column topped with a 'headdress'.

detail

architectural panels bookend the balconies.

detail

Does anyone know the history of this building?
(I'm pretty sure we haven't seen this building on NLA; I think I would have remembered the Neptune motif)

If we have seen it....my apologies.
__

Flyingwedge · #**30688** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 9:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I think we talked about this once before, was the Culver City Speedway the source of the current street configuration and the name "Motor Ave"?

google maps

I also thought we covered the Culver City Speedway before, but all I could find is that one panorama.

So here's a good shot of the track on the day of its first race, Dec. 14, 1924. We're looking SE. In 1924,
the intersection in the foreground at the corner of the parking lot was Putnam and First; now it's Culver and
Overland (Culver runs nearest the track, on the north side). The MGM lot is in the lower left corner:

LAPL -- http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics34/00051978.jpg

Here's a diagram of the facility from the November 23, 1924, Los Angeles Times. The speedway was built in just 42 days!:

LAPL

This 1927 photo looks NW at the west grandstand:

UCLA Digital Collections -- http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/

This photo, probably taken at the track's last race on March 6, 1927, provides a good look at the track surface:

LAPL -- http://jpg1.lapl.org/00081/00081840.jpg

tovangar2 · #**30689** Posted **Aug 29, 2015, 11:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Surprisingly, the building has a 'Neptune' motif.

detail

Does anyone know the history of this building?

__

701 E 3rd Street was built in 1924 as a warehouse for the Neptune Meter Company to the designs of architect Walter Jesse Saunders:

The original permit was for 3 floors. The building now has four.

By the 1950s, the building had changed owners and was being used for manufacturing.

According to this, the building is owned by Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions.

Filming90210locations says the Neptune Building was used as a filming location in the 2006 Jason Statham vehicle "Crank".

They're right, but the appearance is very brief:

netflix

ethereal_reality · #**30690** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 1:22 AM**

Thanks so much for the information on the 'Neptune Meter Co. building tovanger2! I really appreciate it.
__

I just came across this amazing 'mystery' photograph on eBay.

"Crooked House, Los Angeles, 1923."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Crooked-hous...item3d0179d3dd

reverse / 10-21-23

This is so cool. Has anyone heard of this place before?
__

tovangar2 · #**30691** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 1:47 AM**

The Upside-Down House

Could this be it?

Krell58 · #**30692** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 1:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Talk about straight from central casting! This guy looks like he just stepped out of a film noir. (note the dramatic shadow

)

originally posted by CityBoyDoug

Good find CBD.__

He looks like he should have his own theme song.

ethereal_reality · #**30693** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 1:52 AM**

Another 'mystery' photograph from the 1920s. (it's been a good night

, eBay wise)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1920S-PHOTO-...item567a5c5311

I'm not sure where the eBay seller came up with 'Japanese-American'.

Larger...for your viewing pleasure.

note the fountain at extreme right--->
__

Jake's Place Inc. Market Fountain Cafe'

ethereal_reality · #**30694** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 2:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The Upside-Down House

Could this be it?

I think that's probably it t2. It fits the description.

I'm surprised we haven't we heard of this place before.

eBay

Is there an address.....is it still standing?
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tovangar2 · #**30695** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 2:20 AM**

I dunno.

The home was built by Joseph E Henabery (1888-1976)
His IMDB page is here

He was a director, but also an actor. Henabery played Lincoln in "Birth of a Nation"

ethereal_reality · #**30696** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 2:36 AM**

thx again t2.

I just came across this exceptional photograph earlier this evening.

eBay

Does anyone recognize this street?

__

HossC · #**30697** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 9:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Another 'mystery' photograph from the 1920s. (it's been a good night

, eBay wise)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1920S-PHOTO-...item567a5c5311

I could only find Jake's Place Inc in the 1930 CD. It was at 3627 Beverly Boulevard. A year earlier it had been a grocers named Silverman & Sperling, and it was Morris J Sperling and William W Silverman who were behind Jake's Place.

LAPL

By 1939, I could only find a collection of automobile businesses at that address. It looks like the building was demolished between 1954 and 1964.

Historic Aerials

The Jake's Place building may show up in the background of pictures of the American Storage Company building at 3636 Beverly Boulevard, which was just across the street.

ETA. I belatedly looked up building permits for 3627 Beverly Boulevard. I found that Morris Sperling applied for two in 1930.

Online Building Records System

ethereal_reality · #**30698** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 3:00 PM**

Excellent sleuthing Hoss. Thanks

HossC · #**30699** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 3:05 PM**

This Julius Shulman location took a bit of tracking down, but the clues were there. Here's the main Bank of America picture from "Job 1049: Bank of America (Los Angeles, Calif.),1951".

The Carnation Milk vendor is Turiace Bros 48th Street Market, which stands next to the Vermont Square Beauty Shop and the Pico Upholstering and Furniture Company.

There's another furniture store just down the street.

All from Getty Research Institute

Looking for a major road near Vermont Square, and intersecting with 48th Street, I found myself back on Vermont Avenue (I should have known!). Here's the old bank building. The white store on the left is the extant small furniture building (the latest GSV image shows it painted green).

GSV

Behind the bank on 48th Street, this building also survives, albeit with a foot or too missing from the top.

GSV

The 48th Street Market building is also still standing, but we've lost the Pico Upholstering and Furniture Company building.

GSV

When I saw that the larger furniture store had been replaced by the Deluxe Inn, I knew we'd visited this area before. In 1955, 4721 S Vermont Avenue had become Goodell's Furniture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This photograph is described as "PW & Vermont 1955."

ebay

It was on the corner of a long-gone streetcar right-of-way, which explains the shape of the building and the rails across S Vermont Avenue in the bank photos. I posted comparison aerial views showing the route of the right-of-way in post #23314.

GaylordWilshire · #**30700** Posted **Aug 30, 2015, 3:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

thx again t2.

I just came across this exceptional photograph earlier this evening.

eBay

Does anyone recognize this street?

__

This would be the view east on Pico just west of Los Angeles Street--the tall building at left is at the NE corner of Pico and Maple--the Allied Crafts Building.

GSV

LAPL

LAPL
The Allied Crafts Building appears in this view I believe we've seen here before, but couldn't find (note also the Bendix building).