noirish Los Angeles

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Thanks for that info GW (and Godzilla).

If I have time to go by there sometime soon, I want to read what that "plaque" info says, for want of a better word.

I don't know if it was originally conceived that way, but the upper floor of the building contained several apartments until some point. In fact, there was a woman who was allowed to stay in her apartment well into her 90's as a sort of building caretaker/manager. I talked to her once, she had worked as a masseuse at the Beverly Hills Hotel and once told me how mean she thought Joan Crawford was. She remembered the rail yard across the street and said that a lot of the red car operators lived around there.

Most of the other apartments were converted to offices, one was a hair salon, but they retained their apartment look.

I know that at one time the Larrabee Street side of the building toward the north side was a post office. (I'm assuming it was until 1969 when they built the current West Hollywood Post office just north of this building, with it's address on San Vicente.) From 1983 that original post office space has been a video store (Video West) and still is open. Thirty years!

I also know that the building may not have survived the 1994 earthquake except for the mandated earthquake retrofitting that had been done a year before that. The building next to this one had some major structural damage after the quake and was closed for several months, but it was repaired. Then there was a fire there in 2007 that closed it for about a year, though the buildings on either side were saved from that. All this and they're still there!

___________________________________

P.S.: I had to laugh at the bottom of that newspaper clipping about building permits setting a new record. Appears that's a tradition started from the earliest beginnings of the city that has not abated. In fact, didn't an earlier post I wrote quote that the city name itself (West Hollywood) had been promoted by a real estate group? In addition to the milennium project that was eventually approved, and renamed, I've recently read about grandiose plans to build monstrosities at Santa Monica Blvd. and San Vicente and a giant building where the Garden of Allah used to be. (Not that I mind the disappearance of an ugly strip mall, but this bigger is better notion in Hollywood and West Hollywood will probably only stop when one of these things falls down in an earthquake or something.

Around 1973 I lived on Larrabee just up the street from this building. I seem to remember that there was a drug store located on the corner. The drug store closed in the mid 70's and was replaced by a gay bar. I guess that would be Revolver. There were some small offices upstairs converted from apartments. One guy operated a hair removal salon upstairs. He had personalized license plates that read "Wax and Rip"! Ouch!!

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another interesting sign, circa 1927 (notice the arrow on top) -I've been trying to locate the building on the right.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/P...ialbrowse=null

FWIW, USC has a zoomable version of the same photo - you can see it here. They also have the picture below which looks like it comes from the same shoot (the dates are the same). The caption reads:

"From west side of pavement on El Monte Boulevard looking south across Main Street and P.E. property desired for street purposes. Proposed easement from P.E. Ry. Company for connection of El Monte Boulevard with Columbia Street, El Monte, Los Angeles County"


USC Digital Library

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

-What's going on below the side entrance is something quite sordid (and noirish).
suicide leap from fire escape 1951


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/91245/rec/5

I vaguely remember posting this photograph years ago on the thread. At the time I commented on the little blonde boy on the right;
wondering what must be going through his mind.

Good spot on the varying Hotel Teris/Teris Hotel sign, e_r. The picture was originally posted by kanhawk way back in post #233. e_r, you commented on the blond boy in post #234. Neither post mentioned the location.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Wow, that's an awesome castle er!

As far as castle-inspired buildings go, I've always been partial toward the Pacific Coast Club (PCC) in Long Beach. I know we've seen it here before, but I searched and only found one post with a couple photos that have the PCC in the distance: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=438


I took the next five photos in, I think it was 1988, when I was working in downtown Long Beach and heard that the PCC would be torn down:

Looking across Ocean Blvd at the north side; the cornerstone is behind the big NO TRESPASSING sign.



Vnless my thinking is favlty, any elvcidation here wovld be vndve.

Pacific Coast Club:

When I was stationed at the Long Beach Naval Base in the 1960s I worked for an Admiral. He had a large military staff and a Marine chauffeur.

The old Admiral used to spend evenings drinking at the Pacific Coast Club Bar. At the end of the evening he'd be so drunk he could hardly walk. His kindly Marine driver would pick him up at the sidewalk and take him back to his home on the base. In the photo below I'm on the beach just a few blocks from the Pacific Coast Club. A month after this was taken, I was transferred to Norfolk, VA.


Taken by my friend Roger.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another interesting sign, circa 1927 (notice the arrow on top) -I've been trying to locate the building on the right.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/P...ialbrowse=null

Originally Posted by HossC

USC Digital Library

After reading ProphetM's suppositions about the location of the El Monte photograph, I looked up the area on Historic Aerials. The Historic Aerials image dates from 1948, about 20 years after the photos, but before the roads changed to their current layout.

I've marked the church from the original photo in blue, with the blue arrow denoting roughly where I think the photographer was standing. The building outlined in red is the one in the photo that I found in the USC Library. The red arrow marks the photographer's position for that picture. I believe the photographs show two sides of the same tree, with the corner of the church just visible on the left of the second picture. The second aerial shows how the intersection looks today.


Historic Aerials/Google Maps

The structure outlined in red had already gone when the 1954 aerial was taken. The building which replaced it is the Columbia School, which ties in with ProphetM's suggestion that Ramona Boulevard used to be Columbia Street. The church was still there in 1954, but gone by 1972.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Around 1973 I lived on Larrabee just up the street from this building. I seem to remember that there was a drug store located on the corner. The drug store closed in the mid 70's and was replaced by a gay bar. I guess that would be Revolver. There were some small offices upstairs converted from apartments. One guy operated a hair removal salon upstairs. He had personalized license plates that read "Wax and Rip"! Ouch!!

Thanks for the added information! It's the first I heard of a drugstore having been there previously. Before the Revolver it was a bar called The Blue Parrot.

[GaylordWilshire]

Great sleuthing, Hoss--




While I was digging around, I came across "5 Points" in El Monte, down Valley Blvd south of the 10. I was familiar with Ray Crawford because of his Road Race Lincoln, but didn't know that his supermarket was in El Monte...


A few more shot from this interesting blog:
http://crawfordselmonte.blogspot.com/




Santa arriving at Crawford's in the '50s--we've seen the Tumbleweed here before:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16576





Wasn't there a post recently about big cheeses?

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Pacific Coast Club:

When I was stationed at the Long Beach Naval Base in the 1960s I worked for an Admiral. He had a large military staff and a Marine chauffeur.

The old Admiral used to spend evenings drinking at the Pacific Coast Club Bar. At the end of the evening he'd be so drunk he could hardly walk. His kindly Marine driver would pick him up at the sidewalk and take him back to his home on the base. In the photo below I'm on the beach just a few blocks from the Pacific Coast Club. A month after this was taken, I was transferred to Norfolk, VA.


Taken by my friend Roger.

Doug, thanks for sharing that story and your handsome photo, too!

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by HossC

After reading ProphetM's suppositions about the location of the El Monte photograph, I looked up the area on Historic Aerials. The Historic Aerials image dates from 1948, about 20 years after the photos, but before the roads changed to their current layout.

I've marked the church from the original photo in blue, with the blue arrow denoting roughly where I think the photographer was standing. The building outlined in red is the one in the photo that I found in the USC Library. The red arrow marks the photographer's position for that picture. I believe the photographs show two sides of the same tree, with the corner of the church just visible on the left of the second picture. The second aerial shows how the intersection looks today.


Historic Aerials/Google Maps

The structure outlined in red had already gone when the 1954 aerial was taken. The building which replaced it is the Columbia School, which ties in with ProphetM's suggestion that Ramona Boulevard used to be Columbia Street. The church was still there in 1954, but gone by 1972.

Yup, I think this one is solved! The 1932 USGS map I was looking at also has a really large school building in the same spot as that USC photo and 1948 aerial. Thanks for the great comparison. I was looking at Google Street View and was not finding any angles that were at all helpful.

Oh - I think I see the same building in the top left corner of both aerials.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ProphetM

Oh - I think I see the same building in the top left corner of both aerials.

Here's that surviving building.

GSV
__

[ethereal_reality]

GW, I thought you might like to add this postcard to your wonderful Burdette page:
http://oldhomesoflosangeles.blogspot...-s-orange.html


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Postcard-Col...item53f860dd1c

Some of the bells look quite ancient, hopefully they ended up in a museum.
__

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

There's a similar building at 8851 Santa Monica Blvd., is it the same designer?

Originally Posted by Godzilla

http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/B...A44F8310B8.jpg

I am not too familiar with the above building, nor do I recognize the name Wilhelmina Moore.

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

If I have time to go by there sometime soon, I want to read what that "plaque" info says, for want of a better word.

It was a bit hard to read this--it was etched into the concrete (when built?), but I believe it says:

Built 1926
by
Wilhelmina Moore
&
Olive M. (or S.) Moore
Architect
Gable & Wyant

[animatedmartian]

Hey guys, just came across this aerial photography video of LA circa 1961. It's really fascinating and informative about the urban planning of the time. I never realized LA was so massive even during the middle of the century!

• Video Link

[ethereal_reality]

I just located another Burdette interior postcard on ebay. -somewhat Middle-East/Persian touches.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/CA-Pasadena-...item565e122819
__

[JScott]

Originally Posted by HossC

After reading ProphetM's suppositions about the location of the El Monte photograph, I looked up the area on Historic Aerials. The Historic Aerials image dates from 1948, about 20 years after the photos, but before the roads changed to their current layout.

I've marked the church from the original photo in blue, with the blue arrow denoting roughly where I think the photographer was standing. The building outlined in red is the one in the photo that I found in the USC Library. The red arrow marks the photographer's position for that picture. I believe the photographs show two sides of the same tree, with the corner of the church just visible on the left of the second picture. The second aerial shows how the intersection looks today.


Historic Aerials/Google Maps

The structure outlined in red had already gone when the 1954 aerial was taken. The building which replaced it is the Columbia School, which ties in with ProphetM's suggestion that Ramona Boulevard used to be Columbia Street. The church was still there in 1954, but gone by 1972.

Excellent! I considered Ramona Blvd. in El Monte, too, because the PE RR did follow that route, but Ramona ends just east of Baldwin Park, so at first blush it didn't seem that would qualify to be the road to San Dimas and beyond. However, the PE RR did continue east from Ramona onto Badillo Street into Covina, then it made its way up to San Dimas via Covina Blvd, where it connected to Arrow Highway, and thence on to La Verne.

So Ramona Blvd. > Badillo St. > Covina Blvd. > Arrow Highway (> White Ave.) would be the "New boulevard to Pomona" advertised on the old sign.

[ethereal_reality]

-this is fun.

You can see both the old and new high school among other buildings. (I think that's Rupert Everett on the left)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RPPC-WOMEN-I...item2584d85a2f
__

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by Lwize

(Francine Orr, Los Angeles Times / January 2, 2013)



http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,1048619.story

Colors, general vicinity. . . .

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6...bff51f84_o.jpg




Amazing how different things look after the sun sets.


http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1004&h=732

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Wasn't there a post recently about big cheeses?

Maybe the record still stands - for cheese west of the 5 - Golden State Fwy!? Cheese? All I see is packaging.

When records are set, does anyone describe cheese type, e.g., Velveeta?


1569 W Sunset. (Is the cheese visible, or could it be hidden somewhere inside the shop?)



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17750




http://www.adweek.com/files/adfreak/...ese%202003.jpg



???
Runny Cheese

[Graybeard]

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

???
Runny Cheese

...Post-consumption?

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

In one of the WPA maps I noticed the Bimini Slough area.


uscdl


Here is a 1929 and 2010 comparison of the same area by Vokoban.
If you look closely you can see both the Bimini Baths and the Palomar Ballroom.



http://www.flickr.com/people/vokoban/

________________

I know we've covered the Bimini Baths in the past so I ventured back in the thread.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=644

I believe the following photos/postcards are new to this thread.



latimes

above: The grand opening of the Bimini Baths. I believe this original structure was destroyed by fire a few years later.


below: The Bimini Baths in the 1930s.


vokoban




below: There was also the Bimini Inn. Amazingly, this building survives.


vokoban

below: The Bimini Inn today.


google street view

The Bimini Inn is now known as the Bimini Recovery Center.

below: A postcard of the new Bimini Baths.


vokoban








Graceful swimming was something I always wanted to try. But not after eating.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8327/8...23dd0020_b.jpg