noirish Los Angeles

[Mackerm]

I'm blanking out. How were gas stations listed in directories and yellow pages from the 1910s-1920s? Phone books from the 1940s have a category of "gasoline service stations"

[ethereal_reality]

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Thanks for trying, Mackerm, but I can't answer your question, sorry.



Another mystery location (sort of)

I happened upon this interesting photograph on eBay a couple of weeks ago.



B.ut does anyone know where in East Pasadena.

I thought it would be fairly easy to find the address of the post office but so far I haven't had any luck.
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[Mackerm]

I see "Giddings" on one sign. The house on the left looks pretty darn close to the 2-story house shown here:


Water and Power
Calisphere Giddings First Home.


The description says 1318 East Colorado Street.

(Hmmm, on second thought 🤔 the roof doesn't seem to go down far enough. Oh well. Can't delete the post, so enjoy!)

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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I've been trying to get on NLA all day but it kept saying "server busy". This has been happening alot lately. I hope Skyscraperpage fixes the problem behore we all get discouraged.


Guess what noirishers: I have a mystery location that needs to be solved.

Here's how it's listed on eBay.

Van Fleet & Durkee 427 Shell gas station S California Los Angeles ? visible pump....< - - - - Note the question mark behind Los Angeles.


eBay

We have seen other Van Fleet & Durkee sevice stations on NLA but I don't believe we have seen this particular one. ..I initially thought that was a plowed field in the distance but it's the roof of a building.



I think a sign down the street might says Billiards.


detail

The "Van Fleet and Durkee" branding of the stations lasted from 1929 to 1931. The chain then went under the "Shell Service Inc." banner.



archive.org - los-angeles-times_1931-03-10


If the the company stayed with their numbering system after the rebrand, the station pictured was likely in the general San Francisco area.

A 1933 San Francisco/Daly City directory lists the area's Shell Service Inc. stations with their designated number.

The stations are all in the 400 - 450 range. There is no listing for a 427 Shell station that year. Maybe closed or jumped ship?


I can't find a listing that fits but I think the pictured station may have been somewhere close to the intersection of Mission Street and Hillside Blvd. in Daly City.

You can make out "Mission" at the bottom of the real estate sign to the right of the picture.




The top of the sign maybe referring to the Vista Marina mentioned here.


archive.org - Daly City Record 1932-11-04


There is a Vista Avenue close to the intersection these days.

Back in the early 1930's there was a billiards hall just north of the intersection at 6375 Mission Street.

The area I think it might be nowadays.


GSV


Apologises for all the in the post.

[riichkay]

Great work Noir Noir, I think you have this one.....the San Mateo County list of remediated environmental properties shows a LUST (Leaking Underground Storage Tank) site at 6417 Mission St., just south of Hillside Blvd. and very near the billiards parlor at 6375 Mission St.....this would put the station right around the fenced area in your Google street view....








Starting in about 1980 there was a nationwide effort to clean gas station sites, even if the station was long gone, as the metal underground tanks of prior generations invariably corroded over time and leaked petroleum products into the soil....note the action to clean the subject site commenced in 1986.

Here's a view facing south and towards the fenced site at the corner of Hillside and Mission, note the DC Smoke Shop building which now has an address of 6389 Mission St....





....the siding looks similar to that of the billiards parlor.....





I could not find a zoomable 1930-ish aerial of the area, that could put the matter to rest.

[Bristolian]

Apparently there is minor debate regarding L.A.'s longest street regarding whether all must be within city limits or not. If one tosses that out, Western Avenue, which works it's way through five cities, is the longest at just over 28 miles.
Some folks from the LA Times walked the entire length in one day and wrote a pretty interesting article on it this week.
The article is supposed to be for subscribers only but hopefully the link works for all.


http://https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2024-05-06/walking-western-avenue-in-a-day


LA Times

[odinthor]

Western's north end careens east and becomes Los Feliz, which terminates in due course at Glendale . . . unless one wants to construe as part of it its little continuation across the street into Forest Lawn territory as a lane appropriately called Roads End St.


gsv

[ethereal_reality]

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I agree riichkay,.. Noir Noir is correct about the location of the Van Fleet & Durkee photograph. Now I see why the seller placed a question mark after Los Angeles.
I was certainly surprised the Van Fleet & Durkee brand only lasted from 1929 to 1931. (a casualty of the Stock Market Crash?)




I just happened upon this rather odd photograph currently on eBay.

Seller's description:.. "American Legion Star Post #309 Los Angeles Sheriff's Department 1923"


eBay

The American Star Legion Post is located at 220 N. Monte Vista, San Dimas. Of course the parade photograph could have been taken anywhere.

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[ethereal_reality]

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Here's another parade photograph. I happened upon it a few days ago on eBay.


1918 Los Angeles History Cabinet Photo Flag Day Girl Colson Tandem Bicycle


eBay

You can clearly see the Los Angeles Brewing Co. sign on the side of the building down street but I think it's a tavern and not the company itself.



Back


An address is written at upper left. I believe is says 1268 W. 14th Street.



Let's take a closer look.

The banner behind and to the right of the girl is all but decipherable.



The seller mentioned Flag Day but it could very well be the La Fiesta de Los Flores Parade which was held from 1896 to 1916.

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