noirish Los Angeles

[CaliNative]

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----->

"April 4, 1910 L.A."

"dear old friend "

"This is a picture of my California home
where the mocking birds sing in the ___ trees
moonlight nights. don't that sound fine-
but I feel like wringing their necks."

Flaggis




Can anyone decipher what's written for the type of tree?

Perhaps odinthor, our resident horticulturist, can tell us what kind of trees they are from the picture.

__

Picture is fuzzy, but they might be young "pepper" trees, which were commonly planted in L.A. area in 19th & early 20th century. Some really big & old gnarled specimens around V.A. campus just off Wilshire, and at some of the CA missions. If not pepper trees, maybe some kind of eucalyptus or acacia? Pepper trees aren't planted much anymore, because they're kind of messy, dropping lots of seeds etc. But old trees are really cool looking, and they do have a nice "peppery" smell, although they aren't related at all to the trees that give us the spice pepper. If you pull off a feathery leaf from a pepper tree, the sap is milky white.

[ethereal_reality]

Here are some very interesting looking people.

"At Farewell Party to British Consul in Los Angeles, 1939"


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-Los-Ang...8AAOSwo4pYeDlr

"Ann Kresge, Johnny Addams ,RAF squadron leader, and Frieda Anescort
pictured at the party given in honor of Captain Francis E. by British members
of the film colony before Capt. Evans, British Consul here for the past four years,
returned to London to assume new duties." 5/24/39
_



Too bad it doesn't say were the party was given.

__

[GaylordWilshire]

Frieda Inescort-- one of the unsung greats. Went looking for a picture of her & Bette Davis together in The Letter, couldn't find one--but then remembered her as the mother-in-law Monty Clift was hoping for in A Place in the Sun...





In the '36CD, she was listed as a "studio worker" at 1746 N Cherokee (sec Yucca):

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Frieda Inescort-- one of the unsung greats. Went looking for a picture of her & Bette Davis together in The Letter, couldn't find one--but then remembered her as the mother-in-law Monty Clift was hoping for in A Place in the Sun...





In the '36CD, she was listed as a "studio worker" at 1746 N Cherokee (sec Yucca):

'studio worker' seems a bit of an understatement for Ms. Inescort who was quite well established both on stage and in film by 1936.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Swamp cooler my a**...it's a warp drive nacele. "Making the jump to light speed"

Concerning these swamp coolers: Driving to CA in the 50s by way of Arizona, you could rent one of these at the beginning of the Mojave Desert (along with a canvas waterbag to hang off your hood ornament), and drop it off on the other sde. We did this around summer '55, driving there from Texas. It turned out cool and rainy the whole way.

[ethereal_reality]

Like this?

I had never heard of such a thing until your post JMR.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I had never heard of such a thing until your post JMR.

Really? Such a standard piece of equipment back in the day. Ours used to hang off a wing-mirror

[GaylordWilshire]

Seems like an odd place to hang one of these things-- the wind would blow it around even if full of water. Hanging it front of the grille was in part to prevent this, as well as, some say, to cool the air flowing through the radiator (although I wouldn't have thought it would lower the temp all that much).

[HossC]

This post nearly didn't happen today. The display on my laptop died first thing this morning, but I've nearly managed to get it up and running again (white currently shows up as cyan lines, but all other colors are fine) with bits salvaged from my previous laptops which I held onto when their motherboards failed. It looks like hoarding and brand loyalty pay off occasionally .

I'm staying in Beverly Hills for today's Julius Shulman post, but due to the issues above, I haven't had time to research its location. This is "Job 1105: Pereira & Luckman, Parking Garage (Beverly Hills, Calif.), 1951".



I was hoping for at least a street number, but the only signs say "PARKING" "ENTRANCE" and "EXIT".



Would I be right in saying that this is a 1950 Pontiac Silver StreaK?



Here's a close-up of the triangular device by the wheels. Is it some sort of roller arrangement to help center the car?



I think I prefer fixed ramps - this looks rather complicated. Do you think the car was on its way to/from an Iowa picnic?



The final picture shows what looks like a fireman's pole. I'm not sure if they were for drivers or staff.



All from Getty Research Institute

If there's no post tomorrow, you'll know why!

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Early 1989?--January??? February??? Snow in the north San Fernando Valley & Santa Clarita Valley was socked in by at least 6" of snow. A winter wonderland. I drove up to Newhall to check out the snow but beyond Newhall the roads were closed. Can someone pinpoint this weather event with a date & pics? I'm quite sure it was early 1989. I remember fairly deep snow even around Sylmar and Newhall.

This may have been around the time that artist Christo had his giant umbrellas north of L.A. along I-5.

FYI: Christo's umbrellas were in the fall of 1991, dotted along Interstate 5 in the Tejon Pass.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Picture is fuzzy, but they might be young "pepper" trees, which were commonly planted in L.A. area in 19th & early 20th century.
Some really big & old gnarled specimens around V.A. campus just off Wilshire.

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Pepper Trees are kind of messy, dropping lots of seeds.

pepper tree

I take it the mocking birds mentioned in the postcard were eating these berries?
_

It's disappointing the google-mobile doesn't drive through the grounds of the Veteran's Hospital. I wanted to see some of those gnarly old pepper trees.

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' plant

snapshot / Los Angeles, 1970


ebay

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location


old file

I think this might be somewhere like Santa Monica or Long Beach since there's a young man walking around in his speedos.

There's writing along the curb but I can't make it out.
__

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Really? Such a standard piece of equipment back in the day. Ours used to hang off a wing-mirror

These water bags were common in the days when most all car's engines tended to run hot and often need the radiator refilled. This was especially true in a terrain such as a desert.


farm4static

Remember that ER is just a youngster compared to us oldsters here.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' plant

They are commonly called Century Plants around here, but that may be in error. One for odinthor.


robert patrick

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location


old file

I think this might be somewhere like Santa Monica or Long Beach since there's a young man walking around in his speedos.

There's writing along the curb but I can't make it out.
__

2701 Main at Hill, SM:

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location
__

Oddly enough, that shot is used on Santa Monica's Historic Preservation page:


smgov

What is that fellow doing at the base of the street lamp?

[ethereal_reality]

That was quick GW! Thanks for figuring out the location.

I was wondering the same thing tovangar2.

Does the site say anything about the photograph? it's an odd pic. to highlight.





originally posted by HossC

Julius Shulman Getty

Hoss, I couldn't help but notice the Iowa plate.

& what do I think of when I see Iowans in CA?

Iowa Picnic.


August 11, 1951 (same year as the license plate in Hoss' photo)


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/15411/rec/32

The three hostesses in Bixby Park, Long Beach.

Sherle Lewis 16 yrs.
Donna Roach 18 yrs. (Sioux City)
Darla Jean Ford 19 yrs.





looks like one of the pensioners on Clay Street..............................




Here's Governor Earl Warren (soon to become a Supreme Court Justice) and the Governor of Iowa at the 1951 picnic. (dig the policeman on the right)


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/15411/rec/32

The picnics (which we've covered before on NLA) became so popular, one picnic topped 100,000 people!

(I can't even visualize 100,000 people at a picnic)

__

More reading on Iowa Picnics here:
http://historylosangeles.blogspot.co...elsewhere.html

[Earl Boebert]

"This car sticks out like spats at an Iowa picnic." -- Raymond Chandler

Saddle shoes, on the other hand ...

Cheers,

Earl

[John Maddox Roberts]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;7677572] That was quick GW! Thanks for figuring out the location.

I was wondering the same thing tovangar2.

Does the site say anything about the photograph? it's an odd pic. to highlight.





originally posted by HossC

Julius Shulman Getty

Hoss, I couldn't help but notice the Iowa plate.

& what do I think of when I see Iowans in CA?

Iowa Picnic.


August 11, 1951 (same year as the license plate in Hoss' photo)


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/15411/rec/32







looks like one of the pensioners on Clay Street..............................

Here's another long-gone piece of the era. He's holding a hand-carved Mexican cane. They were painted in the Mexican national colors of red, white and green and you could buy them in any souvenir or junk shop in the Southwest from Texas to CA. I like to think he bought his in some joint on Olvera Street.