noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Old P.E. substation, circa 1959


http://www.ebay.com/itm/LAMTA-Los-An...item418b45cde8

The seller also included "Riverside-Glendale" as the location. (I looked.....I wasn't able to find it)
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I also have this slide, also dated 1959-"vintage Budweiser billboard sign".

eBay

Do you suppose that is the same substation over there on the right?
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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I tried looking up "Café Lafayette" in the LAPL directories and it said 'no match'.
When I tried just 'Lafayette' there were hundreds of hits ( I didn't want to wade through them all.....I guess I'm a bit lazy after my Thanksgiving turkey)

It looks like Cafe Lafayette were in business in the mid-20s. Here are some mentions I found in 1927 editions of 'Hollywood Vagabond'. The first was in a issue where pretty much all the advertisers were congratulating Cecil B DeMille and his "King of Kings".


archive.org

As promised, Ray West!


archive.org

And here's the accompanying article.


archive.org

I also found this advertisement titled "Harry Owens and His Orchestra, December 17, 1925".


Loyola Marymount University Historical Photograph Collection

The Hollywood Vagabond adverts all offer the same vague "Opposite Westlake Park" address, and I also drew a blank looking for the Cafe Lafayette in the City Directories. Then I checked through the restaurants section of the 1927 CD and found a listing for one owned by H M Miller at 2312 W 7th Street. That's the same address as the Café de Paree. To help with the time frame, Peter Dokas is listed as manager of the Café De Paree in the 1936 CD, and as manager of an unnamed restaurant at the same address in the 1938 CD.

The detail below is from a Dick Whittington picture dated as circa 1920/1940. On the left is the building at 2228 W 7th (I'm pretty sure the blade sign says "Pollyanna's"), while across S Grand View Street is a cafe which appears to be called Paul Perrot's. I can't find it in the CDs, but I think it must be the same building which also housed Cafe Lafayette and Café De Paree. Before you all look, it's no longer there. Historic Aerials suggest it was demolished sometime in the 1980s.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Old P.E. substation, circa 1959


http://www.ebay.com/itm/LAMTA-Los-An...item418b45cde8

The seller also included "Riverside-Glendale" as the location. (I looked.....I wasn't able to find it)
__




I also have this slide, also dated 1959-"vintage Budweiser billboard sign" (no location given)

eBay

Do you suppose that is the same substation over there on the right?
__

Riverside Dr. and Glendale Bl.

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by westcork

Take a close look at the newer buildings in this picture. If you look closely, you will see the footprint of each building is a diamond shape.

Also, there is an active gang in this area called "Diamond St." I always thought it was a little ironic that there is almost nothing left of their namesake.

Diamond and La Loma (The Hill) were old gang names from the days of Bunker Hill. Diamond and La Loma were still gang names used while I was in Jr. and Sr. High. Belmont and Marshall Highs had a lot of those guys as students.

[ethereal_reality]

originally posted by HossC


Thanks for digging up the additional information on the Café Lafayette HossC.
So the Café Lafayette and the Café De Paree were in the same building (at the same time?)

-Paul Perrot's sounds familiar, maybe I'll find something in some old files I have stashed away.

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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

Riverside Dr. and Glendale Bl.

So you're saying it is the same substation in both slides? There are some slight differences (and both slides are dated the same year.....1959) -so that threw me off.
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[HossC]

I agree with Hollywood Graham about the location, and also think that both pictures show the same substation. I was looking for photographic proof when I can across this 1959 image of the viaduct being demolished. The stairs to the left of the billboard in e_r's second picture apparently survived until the apartments were built there in the 1980s.


Corralitas Red Car Property

The same article also has this helpfully labeled aerial. The old PE substation is just below the words "Viaduct removed" on the left.


Corralitas Red Car Property

The building on the hill behind the substation in e_r's pictures is the Monte Sano Hospital. We discussed it in post #20737.

[ethereal_reality]

I'm almost certain this photograph is new to NLA.

"5013 inbound just south of Arden Jct. on Brand Bl. 3-7-41, JW Coll"


http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPG...0JW%20Coll.jpg



below: I believe this is the view in the 1941 photo. (the bridge you see in the above photograph is over the Verdugo Wash)

google_maps

Arden Junction was actually up near Glenoaks Blvd. (but the vintage photo states P.E. 5013 is 'south' of the actual junction)



google_aerial

side_note: The Verdugo Wash is covered over between Brand Blvd. and Central Ave. (Central Ave. is out of view to the west)




below: So here's the 1941 view today (approximately)

GSV
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This view is looking south from Arden Jct. in 1942 (note the Verdugo Wash bridge)


http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/gbline.htm


...and the same view today.

GSV
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[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

So you're saying it is the same substation in both slides? There are some slight differences (and both slides are dated the same year.....1959) -so that threw me off.
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I know the location very well. Riverside Dr was our drag strip. We shut off a little before that intersection and that was 1959-62 for me.

[amybang]

Hi Everyone -

I've been following NLA since sometime this summer when it got posted to Hidden LA. I quickly got hooked and have been striving to catch up so that I can join the conversation. I keep wanting to post on things, but I knew the posts were months old so it didn't seem right without catching up. I didn't go back to the very beginning, but I'm current on the last 6 months or so. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself.

I've always had a bit of a fondness for buildings and architecture, and particularly old pretty ones. Evolutions of cities fascinate me. I currently live in Boston where I sometimes volunteer as trained tour guide with a group that focuses on educational tours about the history and architecture of the city. Seeing photos of LA that look like the ones of old Boston is fascinating!

I lived in LA from 1995-2002 when I was in grad school at USC and again from 2011-2013. I've lived in South Pasadena, Culver City, El Segundo/Hawthorne and my baby sister currently lives in Long Beach. I always love being in LA. In fact, I'm going to be in Long Beach for x-mas this year and so the recent posts about the beach area there are particularly fascinating.

Thank you very much for this forum, for the fantastic photos, and also the amazing stories (they're great, no matter what some people say!). It's always a treat to visit this site!

amy!

[ethereal_reality]

Welcome to the thread Amy! -so glad you discovered 'noirish' Los Angeles.
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[ethereal_reality]

I didn't realize the Vine st. Brown Derby jumped on the 'TIKI' bandwagon until I came across this highly scanned close-up.
Anyone familiar with the Bamboo Room? -it even had it's own entrance!

eBay

I've never noticed those planters with the derby painted on them either.

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[amybang]

Originally Posted by HossC

The aerial shot posted by e_r shows Disneyland in 1956. It hadn't changed much by 1963.


Historic Aerials

This shot is now 10 years old, but it shows how the park grew to cover the original parking lots and then some.


Historic Aerials

For comparison, here's how the area looked just three years before e_r's picture (and two years before the park opened). These are the orange groves and walnut trees that Mr Disney acquired to build his park.

Just wanted to point out that in the 10-yr-old photo, while that is all still the "Disney" Empire (I can legitimately call it that now that they own Star Wars) it is far more than just the Disneyland park. The original park still holds to the original footprint for the most part. The area directly north of the park in the 1956 photo is now administrative buildings for the Empire.

The area south and east of the Disneyland park, what was parking lots in 1956 is now Disney's California Adventure - a 2nd theme park with it's own $100 daily admission fee that opened in 2001 (so just 3 years before the "recent" aerial photo). There's a central entrance plaza between the two parks that allows them to just run a single shuttle service from parking lots and hotels and this is clearly visible in the recent aerial - a large squarish area just south of Disneyland's Main Street (there's a circle visible in the middle of Disneyland and Main Street runs due south).

The area south and west of Disneyland is both one of the Disney resort hotels on the property and also Downtown Disney - the mall that is open to everyone, without any entrance fee. Shops, restaurants, nightclubs, movie theater.

To the west of the park across West St or Disneyland Dr is the Disneyland Hotel and looks to be so in 1956 as well. Downtown Disney extends to this hotel. There's at least one other Disney resort on that side as well currently.

The modern parking structure is at the top left of the more recent aerial. Just to the right of it you can see the many traffic lanes swooping in to for all the guests flowing in off the 5 fwy.

I have a terrific photo of an old map of Disneyland from the 1960s that I saw when visiting the Hollywood Heritage Museum a couple of years ago. It's a great snapshot of how things were planned at the time to compare to what is there now. I'll have to dig it up and start a hosting service so I can post it. I also got some great photos of the movie set that inspired Hollywood and Highland while I was there.

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent post Amy. My first trip to California as a boy (with my family of course ) was to visit Disneyland.
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First and Mission looking west.

eBay



-same view today. (note city hall in both photos)

GSV
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[amybang]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

To be honest, I didn't realize there was a Broadway entrance until I came across that 1964 slide. I thought the only entrance was on Hill Street

The Broadway entrance is always what I consider the back door(s), but it's also my favorite. Because it's directly across the street from the Bradbury Building. So when I'm down there with people who don't like buildings the way I do, I always run through the Market (not easy because it's always crowded) and dash out the back to say hi to the Bradbury.

Has it been mentioned on here that the Bradbury is now where they make Twix candy bars?
Factory Tour!

[ethereal_reality]

No need to add a bowler hat to this whale float...it already has antlers!!

eBay

w o r s t - f l o a t- e v e r
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[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by HossC

I should've looked harder to start with! I found this much larger version of the picture at the Library of Congress. The only other ship with a visible number seems to be 173.


www.loc.gov

DD 173 was the USS Sproston ( the first of that name) She was also a Wickes Class destroyer. Her keel was laid in 1918 in Union Iron Works in San Francisco. She was powered by steam and was struck from the Navy lists in 1936 and sunk as a target in 1937.

It is interesting to see so many destroyers moored close together in what is now the main channel of the Los Angeles Harbor. I count approximately 20 four pipers in this picture which would have been somewhat less than a quarter of the entire 111 ship Wickes Class.

The picture also shows Dead Man's Island off Reservation Point in the background to the left of the elevators. Warehouse #1 appears on the left of that, on the opposite side of the channel. It was completed in 1917 which would help verify the date of the photo. The warehouse is still in use, although not for freight as it was intended in the era of containerized freight, but as a quarantine area for animals coming in from overseas and as a prime movie/tv location since it has lots of character with the train tracks entering the building.

Thanks HossC for finding the bigger picture

[Andys]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

So you're saying it is the same substation in both slides? There are some slight differences (and both slides are dated the same year.....1959) -so that threw me off.
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Looks like the same substation to me. Though the viaduct was torn down, the substation remained for quite some time until it eventually was torn down as well (date?). The section of Riverside Drive between Fletcher Drive and Glendale Blvd, was a popular drag racing spot on summer nights. Even had the start and finish lines painted on the pavement. I lived in Atwater (Village) just across the LA river from the substation from 1958 thru 1968.

Andys

[Andys]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

I know the location very well. Riverside Dr was our drag strip. We shut off a little before that intersection and that was 1959-62 for me.

HG,

Somehow missed your post before posting my own. As a kid, I remember walking the trestle over the LA River; pretty scary actually. Yeah, I could hear the cars on Riverside Drive when un-corked very clearly in Atwater. You're a local, I presume? Marshall High School alumni here.

Andys

[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by amybang

Hi Everyone -

I've been following NLA since sometime this summer when it got posted to Hidden LA. I quickly got hooked and have been striving to catch up so that I can join the conversation. I keep wanting to post on things, but I knew the posts were months old so it didn't seem right without catching up. I didn't go back to the very beginning, but I'm current on the last 6 months or so. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself.

I've always had a bit of a fondness for buildings and architecture, and particularly old pretty ones. Evolutions of cities fascinate me. I currently live in Boston where I sometimes volunteer as trained tour guide with a group that focuses on educational tours about the history and architecture of the city. Seeing photos of LA that look like the ones of old Boston is fascinating!

I lived in LA from 1995-2002 when I was in grad school at USC and again from 2011-2013. I've lived in South Pasadena, Culver City, El Segundo/Hawthorne and my baby sister currently lives in Long Beach. I always love being in LA. In fact, I'm going to be in Long Beach for x-mas this year and so the recent posts about the beach area there are particularly fascinating.

Thank you very much for this forum, for the fantastic photos, and also the amazing stories (they're great, no matter what some people say!). It's always a treat to visit this site!

amy!

Welcome, Amybang! I guess you and I are (almost) neighbors. I'm in Albany, NY. The cities of Boston and Albany are very lucky in that we both have many old buildings that are still architecturally original. As you know, many older LA buildings are forced to lose some of their ornamentation (and some of their character) due to earthquakes. I have included below a particularly beautiful building from Albany that still stands but, sadly, would not be able to survive intact in LA. I really hope you visit this forum as often as you can and enjoy exploring old Los Angeles as much as I do. Everyone here has made me feel welcome and appreciated, and the contributions by literally everyone are enjoyable and enlightening. I guarantee that the more you explore old LA, the more you will find to love on your journey!

http://www.wnyc.org/
(I know....it's not LA and it's not noir. I'm just welcoming a new friend, okay?)