noirish Los Angeles

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's what she sees (I'm not sure if this is actually what she would have seen from that vantage point) -we're looking west here, right?



And then the view fades to NIGHT.



The bright horizontal building in the distance caught my eye.(the first floor appears to blink) Anyone know what building that would be??

If you want to watch this cool fade-to-black scene on the video, it occurs at 26:26)

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Seems it was shot from a back porch at the Alta Vista. Here's a shot

usc

where we're looking from Third and Bunker Hill, there's the McBurney House at lower left, and the Alta Vista's across the street, and a bit more to the left is the "bench-park" (and just over the edge of the tunnel there's the aforementioned Café Bobs where Rue went scrappin') and stretching into the distance above the end of the tunnel is Third, and where it junctures that's Tanner Gray Lines. I wondered about its blinky-blinky neon in this post.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for this aerial Beaudry! It explains so much.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

They need to put the tower back on the Earth.

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I certainly agree!!! Plus, repaint the earth. It was last painted in 1934.

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks again Beaudry. One more quick question if you don't mind.

Towards the end of the movie the two leads park near the bottom of Angels Flight. The word ELEVATOR is painted on the cement wall.



What elevator would this be??
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Good question! To be where they're supposed to be, that would be the retaining wall along Clay Street, beneath the Sunshine and the Astoria Apts. I always presumed there was an elevator at the back of the Astoria (the wall sign reads "REAR ELEVATOR" I believe). But, take a look at it in Kiss Me Deadly:



The wall in AF is smooth-finished, and look at that difference in color near the roofline of the car; different from the uniform block wall of KMD. Compare it to The Exiles, too.

Does anyone out there recognize the wall with the elevator sign?

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

April 4, 1910 L.A.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/RPPC-Victori...QAAOSw241YZWXE

I'm hoping someone here on NLA can identify this building. note that the street appears to go down hill off to the right----->

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Here's a 1957 shot for comparison. Lost the porch and part of the tower, yep. There's a 1945 permit to "repair fire damage" which possibly explains the loss of one or both.

huntington, also compare with this lapl image

Here's something I was sent recently, a shot of the Nugent with a tower behind it—the original tower of the McBurney.



The McBurneys built the Nugent, btw. It opens in 1904, the architect is Robert E Nelson.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Good question! To be where they're supposed to be, that would be the retaining wall along Clay Street, beneath the Sunshine and the Astoria Apts. I always presumed there was an elevator at the back of the Astoria (the wall sign reads "REAR ELEVATOR" I believe). But, take a look at it in Kiss Me Deadly:



The wall in AF is smooth-finished, and look at that difference in color near the roofline of the car; different from the uniform block wall of KMD. Compare it to The Exiles, too.

Does anyone out there recognize the wall with the elevator sign?

Are we looking at both walls a second later in KMD? The one on the right has the color change and the smooth(ish) finish. We also, on the north have a set of steps w/ the needed landings, so the leads can face each other after going part way up:

youtube


I wish AF wasn't so damn murky, because we never see the steps they start to climb, before stopping at a landing:

youtube


Also, this is supposed to be the view of Angels Flight, from the leads POV after they exit the car in AF:

youtube

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

usc digital archive

[Earl Boebert]

Here's the last AF shot, lightened up to show a little more detail:



Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I wish AF wasn't so damn murky, because we never see the steps they start to climb, before stopping at a landing:

That whole sequence has several oddities.

Am I right in thinking the landing where the duo stops was artificially lit for the movie.



It looks like a back-lit screen or something to the right of the two people...




The man points to the spot where 'Liz' had been attacked five year earlier.

Liz looks at the spot.




I was surprised to see, what looks likes like a small maintenance room with a door and two windows.



It also resembles a spare rail-car (is it possible' Sinai' and 'Olivet' had a sister hidden away? )

Like t2 said, if only the movie wasn't so darn murky. I'm hoping there are plans to restore the film.


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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Here's a 1957 shot for comparison. Lost the porch and part of the tower, yep. There's a 1945 permit to "repair fire damage" which possibly explains the loss of one or both.

huntington

Thanks for this 1957 view Beaudry. Now I see which window lodger Liz was looking from.

So what's the smaller house behind it? I hadn't noticed it before. (it looks older than the McBurney house by a good 10 - 20 years)

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That whole sequence has several oddities.

Am I right in thinking the landing where the duo stops was artificially lit for the movie.



It looks like a back-lit screen or something to the right of the two people...




The man points to the spot where 'Liz' had been attacked five year earlier.

Liz looks at the spot.




I was surprised to see, what looks likes like a small maintenance room with a door and two windows.



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Yes to the maybe added panels on the south side of the building. I think the spot they look at is just an insert shot.

Does the wall on the right (north) in the KMD shot look like the "elevator" wall to you?

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Yes to the maybe added panels on the south side of the building. I think the spot they look at is just an insert shot.

Does the wall on the right (north) in the KMD shot look like the "elevator" wall to you?

Here's a lightened version:



Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Does the wall on the right (north) in the KMD shot look like the "elevator" wall to you?

Good eye t2. I think you're correct. You can clearly see the lines of the cement blocks on the left wall (see t2's screen-grab below), while the right wall
has been smoothed over. (see t2's screen-grab below)

I would say the 'Elevator' sign was added just for the movie; but unless I missed it, an elevator is never mentioned in the plot....so why would they go to the trouble (of adding it)

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The one on the right has the color change and the smooth(ish) finish. We also, on the north have a set of steps w/ the needed landings,
so the leads can face each other after going part way up:


youtube

[CityBoyDoug]

A film like never before seen on the silver screen....shocking...!!!

[ethereal_reality]

That's very good CBD. I now have a new screen-saver!
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Are we at "beating a dead horse" territory concerning 'Angel's Flight' (1965)

No?

OK then.....

I also liked these two 'special effects' (despite the low budget)

#1


The old standby, the noirish spiral...used to great effect back in the 1940s and 50s.



#2



Granted..my screen-grab looks more "Children of the Damn" than "Angel's Flight".

It's actually a bit more subtle. Liz's eyes gradually reflect revolving police-lights. (as she's standing in the middle of a strip-club no less!)

You can see it around 29:19

Better yet, go to 27:32 and watch the strip tease that precedes it.
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Of course you could grab some popcorn & watch the WHOLE movie.

At YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81HvMHetMJg

[HossC]

This Julius Shulman set seems to be slightly mislabeled. As we've seen before, the Singer building is at 520 E Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Anyway, this is "Job 334: Matcham and Heitschmidt, Singer Sewing Machine Company (Alhambra, Calif.), 1948".



A close look at the side.



My main reason for choosing this set is that we get to see inside.



Sewing machines and more.



There's more space around the sewing machine in the final shot. Maybe this was a demonstration area.



All from Getty Research Institute

I posted 1949 Julius Shulman images of the exterior of the Singer building in post #37933.

[ethereal_reality]

What a treat to see inside! Thanks Hoss.

That last photograph made me think of notions. Does anyone know why sewing accessories are called 'notions'?

That's something I've never been able to figure out.

(it's a word from my childhood, our small drugstore in my hometown sold notions)
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That reminds me, every February the elderly lady owner (Geneva Ryan) would order heart-shaped boxes of candy for all the married men in town. (population 600)

Then she would call (I remember her calling our house) to tell the men to come and pick up the candy for their wives on Valentines Day.

(the divorce rate in our town was quite low )

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

What a treat to see inside! Thanks Hoss.

That last photograph made me think of notions. Does anyone know why sewing accessories are called 'notions'?

That's something I've never been able to figure out.

(it's a word from my childhood, our small drugstore in my hometown sold notions)
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That reminds me, every February the elderly lady owner (Geneva Ryan) would order heart-shaped boxes of candy for all the married men in town. (population 600)

Then she would call (I remember her calling our house) to tell the men to come and pick up the candy for their wives on Valentines Day.

(the divorce rate in our town was quite low )

ER: That was an interesting yet bizarre story about life in small town America.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That last photograph made me think of notions. Does anyone know why sewing accessories are called 'notions'?

That's something I've never been able to figure out.

"A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips (in the United Kingdom), or a men's outfitter (American English). The sewing articles are called haberdashery, or "notions" (American English)." - wiki

LOL, that's one that confused me for a minute when I moved to London. Divided by a common language, etc, etc.

Weren't American "notions" originally called "Yankee notions (ideas)"?

[HossC]

This is my limited research so far.

From Wikipedia:

In sewing and haberdashery, notions is an umbrella term for a variety of small objects or accessories. Notions can include items that are sewn or otherwise attached to a finished article, such as buttons, snaps, and collar stays, but the term also includes small tools used in sewing, such as thread, pins, marking pens, and seam rippers. The noun is almost always used in the plural. The term is chiefly found in the United States, and was formerly used in the construction Yankee notions.

From Cow Hampshire:

Yankee notions– goods made in New England, made widely known by traveling Yankee peddlers (salespeople).

These items included (but were not limited to) pins, needles, hooks, scissors, combs, small hardware, buttons, thread, ribbon, minor trinkets, knick-knacks, household industries, nails, clocks, tin ware, and miscellaneous novelties. The peddler often carried his goods in trunks slung on his back by a harness or a leather strap. Sometimes he used large wagons. He traveled by land primarily until rivers and lakes became connected by canals. Then direct selling in early America branched out to the frontiers of the West and the Canadian territory in the north.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

What a treat to see inside! Thanks Hoss.

That last photograph made me think of notions. Does anyone know why sewing accessories are called 'notions'?

That's something I've never been able to figure out.

(it's a word from my childhood, our small drugstore in my hometown sold notions)

[...]
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The Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?...wed_in_frame=0 has it that "notions" refers to "'miscellaneous articles,' 1805, American English, from notion with the idea of 'clever invention'."