The J.J. Haggarty in Beverly Hills.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9409/sisshown.jpg
usc digital archive

A smoggy day in downtown Los Angeles, circa 1948. You can faintly see the "It's in the Examiner" sign above the building on the right.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3...asmog19481.jpg
usc digital archive

I love the extremely long shadows in the lower portion of the photo. This pic. must have been taken very early in the morning.
(or it could have been very late afternoon I guess)

I was also wondering....were there more than one "It's in the Examiner" sign downtown, or is this
the same sign as in the photo below.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3168

What a great shot of BH, e_r-- how almost bucolic the town looks. That little cottage office at right... The sign at left looks like it's for a restaurant of some sort, but I can't quite make out the sign. Anyone know what the restaurant might have been? Mildred's?

I can't make out that sigh either GW. Strangely enough, I see a sign middle left that says "I'm Victor Hugo". What's up with that?

Here's the pic. again.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9409/sisshown.jpg
usc digital archive

Also notice that a street cleaner had just shot a U in the lower left. (but did they have street cleaners back then?)
I also like how the derby would fix nicely on the dome. I have a pretty vivid imagination. :)

Not absolutely positively sure about this, but I seem to remember seeing a slightly different angle of the area during this same time period and the sign is for The Ambassador Hotel Pump Room.

Also, Victor Hugo's Restaurant was at 235 N. Beverly, so that could be the explanation for the curious sign.

No clue on the street cleaners :D

~Jon Paul

The J.J. Haggarty residence at 3330 West Adam Blvd. was dubbed "The Castle".

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/30/...artycastle.jpg
lapl



http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/3...artycastle.jpg
lapl



below: Here is the grand staircase complete with a pipe organ (!?!?) and Tiffany stained glass.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8...alljjhagga.jpg
lapl


Before its demolition J.J. Haggarty's "Castle" was used as a drug abuse rehabilitation facility.

Can you believe they actually placed recovering drug addicts here? To me the whole place seems like some sort of bizarre mind-f*ck.


______

Oops! I forgot to include this photo of one of the fireplaces in Haggarty's "Castle".

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/9...tyfireplac.jpg
lapl

At least it's more sedate than that musical staircase.


_______

below: Here is a 1921 photo of Charlie's studio blanketed in snow Handsome_Stranger.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6...onlabreain.jpg
http://localgod.tumblr.com/post/6499222804

Wow...I've seen a small handful of photos of snowy scenes in Los Angeles, but this one is new to me. Excellent find! And I really enjoy any photos of early Hollywood that impart a sense of what a sedate and sparsely populated little community it once was.

Speaking of--um--baskets, or basketweave patterns, at least, here's an interesting building I've never noticed before:

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics45/00072372.jpgLAPL
2600 S. Broadway at Adams


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogle Street View

.

Thank you for sharing that resource so-cal-bear! A quick look has shown me what will probably become a new obsession!

I enjoyed your story about almost getting hit by a car while escaping swaying buildings, so something I would have done. I am never the one to follow during an emergency situation :D

Have to admit though that my favorite part of the Adams and Broadway bulding is the extreme aluminum window coverings and I am absolutely jonesing to know what happened to the matching entrance doors!!! Its my passion for midcentury ornamentation speaking.

~Jon Paul

Hi guys, it's Martin Turnbull here. I thought I'd weigh in on this. When I first found this photo (on Facebook, I think) I was excited that I'd found a "new" photo of the hotel where I've set my novels. I knew it was the one used on the cover of Sheilah Graham's book but I wasn't sure how the photographer got a shot like that. Then I found that a model existed of the place (have you seen the video of it?) and figured that it must have been the same shot. I tried to track down who took it, and when, but I never got anywhere.

Horse-drawn mechanical street sweepers first came on the market in the 1840s. The first self-propelled street sweeper came out in 1914 - made by the Elgin company (still a common name in street sweepers http://www.elginsweeper.com/) it was delivered to Boise, Idaho (horse 'dust'?) and was successful.

(source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_sweeper)

Ravine Dream
 

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050946.jpg
Lake in Chavez Ravine:
This idea was proposed before the Los Angeles City Council on October 23, 1958, by Assemblyman Don Anderson, 45th District, who expressed the belief the state would lend assistance to the project, which he said would give people needed recreational facilities and help beautify the downtown section.

:previous: Very interesting...This is the first time I've heard about this idea/proposal.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068923.jpgLAPL


More pics of the "I'm Victor Hugo" restaurant in B.H.... just kidding e_r:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S...2520PM.bmp.jpg


latimemachines.com has this description: The Victor Hugo was at "233 N. Beverly Drive at Wilshire. Table d'hote Dinner in 1937 - $2. Owned by Hugo Aleidas. First location was 619 S. Grand Ave. Los Angeles, California"


Must also have once been on Hill:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e...2520PM.bmp.jpg

LOL I need to get glasses.

The fun searches on LAPL and USC are keywords such as plan, model, drawing, design, etc. I have a whole series of pictures I was going to post of plans that never came through, like the LAX airport extension on an island off Playa Del Rey. But I lost all the original links and haven't had to to find them again.

Here are a few:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050691.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=54885
LAPL

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050690.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=54885
LAPL


Original plans for the Forum
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics36/00052719.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=61667
LAPL

:previous: I have the first two illustrations of the 'Santa Monica Island' in my files, but the last one of 'The Forum' is quite surprising!
I would LOVE to see further plans for this proposal. The majority of sports facilities built during this era placed the arena and a vast majority of the seating below grade. I can't imagine what's going on inside this top-heavy proposal.

Speaking of LAX, I didn't realize that pre-Jet Age, LAX was on the EAST side of Sepulveda. Here's a rendering from 1951, for a "proposed" development at LAX-- or was it still called Mines Field in 1951?
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033831.jpg
LAPL

I didn't realize the Sepulveda underpass under the runway at LAX dates from 1953:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033801.jpg
LAPL

Mines Field circa 1937
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064738.jpg
LAPL

LAX circa 1976. The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no parking in the red zone.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033835.jpg
LAPL

Construction, 1960
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033800.jpg
LAPL

LAX Theme Building under construction, 1960
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034021.jpg
LAPL

LAX, 1988. Bradley International Terminal and double-decking of roadway were completed in 1983, in time for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00083/00083232.jpg
LAPL

Circa 1960s
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics36/00067904.jpg
LAPL

LAX, 1962
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics24/00031615.jpg
LAPL

Hangar 1, LAX, 1983. This building is one of the original buildings of LAX, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045716.jpg
LAPL

Mines Field, 1939
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033999.jpg
LAPL

Jackie Brown, 1997
http://i2.listal.com/image/1160728/9...screenshot.jpg
i2.listal.com

The Graduate, 1967
http://fryingmineinbutter.files.word...hegraduate.png
fryingmineinbutter.files.wordpress.com

LOL You made my night sopas_ej! That is too funny.

Jackie Brown and Ben Braddock....I never expected to see them in the same post. Kudos to you. :)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C...2520PM.bmp.jpg400scalehangar
A mid-'50s air show at LAX

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...2520AM.bmp.jpgWikimedia

Since LAX has degenerated into such a horror show today, I wonder what it was like when it was brand-new and futuristic almost beyond believing.

Randomness
 

These are a bunch of photos I have taken around the area, I thought maybe some of you would like to see them. I usually like to go out very early on sundays as soon as it starts to get a little bit bright outside, especially if its foggy or raining. I find there are very few people out, so I can get some really good shots with no people around. I find that the lack of life in my pictures just...I dunno, looks really cool (I was trying to think of something deep and artsy to say, but then I would have just sounded like a twat). Anyways, I hope you like them.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a01.jpg
Between 9th and Olympic on Main

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...lio-/a20-1.jpg
Santee between Olympic and 11th

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a02.jpg
Between 11th and 12th on Santee St.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a04.jpg
Corner of 11th and Santee St.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a06.jpg
Random bit of Olvera Street

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a07.jpg
Another random bit of Olvera Street

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a09.jpg
Chinatown...

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a10.jpg
Corner of New High and Alpine St.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a11.jpg
Arts District...Angel City Brewery...Corner of Traction Ave. and Rose St.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a16.jpg
Wilshire and S. Berendo St.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a15.jpg
Park View St and 6th.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...lio-/a19-1.jpg
Park View St and 6th.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tulio-/a17.jpg
6th and Hoover St.

All photos by me...

:previous: I am very impressed horthos.

I especially like the first four photos. Their desolation is hauntingly beautiful.
When I look at them I hear the song 'Waltzing Matilda'.*

_____

A detail:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...eblinginit.jpgForgotten LA

John A. Roebling was most famous for designing, among other crossings, the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm always fascinated to find Los Angeles branches of East Coast firms, especially their remnants.

I have a vivid memory of the flat round building in the lower left quadrant of this photo. It was a gas station, moderately large by today's standards but absolutely vast in comparison with other gas stations in the 1960s. (Or perhaps it just appeared vast to a wee tot such as I was at the time.) Can't recall the brand, but the building was most impressive at night when fully illuminated.

In the run-up to the 1984 Olympic games I briefly worked as a shuttle bus driver for a tiny, cheap car rental company near LAX. During the peak of construction as they were adding an upper level to the traffic loop, all lanes of traffic were sometimes corralled down to a single lane. Of course this brought traffic to a virtual standstill, and the passengers in my shuttle were frequently panicked that they would miss their flights.

One of my co-workers was driving a shuttle on the upper level of the loop not long after it first opened, when the entire left rear wheel of the shuttle suddenly broke free, catapulted over the guard rail, then fell and smashed into a moving vehicle on the lower level.

~~

Horthos, your photos are gorgeous. I hope you'll be sharing more of them.

.

.

originally posted by sopas_ej
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2329/lax1962ssp.jpg
LAPL

:previous: When I first saw that LAX photo I wondered about that round building......you answered my question Handsome Stranger.

It looks like a 'mini-me' Pan Am terminal at Idlewild/JKF. (see below)

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/2...allexpress.jpg
blueballexpress

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/1...lakeavepc1.jpg
ebay


http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/2...eaveolympi.jpg
google street view

I LOVE the old Olympic Apartments sign.


http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/3...keavetoday.jpg
google street view

This is truly an amazing snapshot from the Workman family collection.*


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8...tscablewor.jpg
Loyola Marymount University



*postscript:
OOPS....I just realized I posted this many months ago. It's such a great photograph I'll go ahead and leave this post.
Just so you all know, I have a terrible memory. I try to make sure I don't double-post...but sometimes one slips past.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iJP_wg6Tna...n_the_rain.jpgOrange Crate Art
Anyone know what that big building is in the background?


College is about to come on TCM

In 1947 this site was chosen for the Baldwin Hills Reservoir.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9780/...essite1947.jpg
LAPL



below: View of the recently completed Baldwin Hills Reservoir in 1951.


http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/9...onstructio.jpg
LAPL



below: This is my favorite photograph of the series. At the bottom of the reservoir you can see two individuals
walking atop the concrete intake pipe as it begins to fill the reservoir with 300 million gallons of water from the Owens Valley.
In the distance a mysterious car overlooks the reservoir.


http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/9...onstructio.jpg
LAPL


_____

In 1963 a small crack appears.

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/1...begins1963.jpg
LAPL

This small crack grew into a gaping hole that eventually released 300 million gallons of water into the community below the reservoir.


http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6450/...eshugegapi.jpg
LAPL




http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/1...es1963lapl.jpg
LAPL



http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3...eservoirbr.jpg
ebay

Aftermath of the reservoir collapse.



http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/9...dwinrapids.jpg
LAPL




http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/1...amage1963a.jpg
LAPL



http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7...amage1963b.jpg
LAPL


http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/1...damage1963.jpg
LAPL



http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/8...naftermath.jpg
LAPL


The Baldwin Hills Disaster caused the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power to phase out small regional reservoirs.


________

Mr. Bengston, I'm certain, could identify it. Unfortunately I can't find my copy of "Silent Echoes" to see if he's already done so.

Baldwin Hills Flood
 

Great post etheral_reality! I don't think I was ever aware of the reservoir collapse and flood and the photos are quite disturbing. I dealt with the aftermath of a flood, a few years back, when a vacation home that I owned in Sonoma Couty was destroyed by a massive flood. aaand don't get me started on FEMA :yuck:

Anywho, I was just chatting with a long-time neighbor of mine who I knew grew up in Baldwin Hills. Even though she was only eight at the time, she remembers the collapse very well.

Their house was not damaged by the mud flow, fortunately, but she recalls her dad boosting her up so that she could look over their backyard wall and see the flow.

Her most vivid recollection of it was that there were what seemed like hundreds of shiny and colorful Christmas ornaments dotting the sludge and a large hollow plastic Santa spinning around on the currents.

Obviously, since the flood was just 10 days before Christmas, a lot of decorated trees had been swept into the flow.

She told me that, being eight, she was on the fence about believing in Santa Claus, but that experience convinced her he didn't exist. Poor kid!

Thought I would share her memories on here, she's a great person and loves her Los Angeles!

~Jon Paul

:previous: That's a great story Jon Paul....
especially the part about the hundreds of shiny Christmas ornaments stuck in the sludge.
No wonder she remembers it after all these years.

Have we seen this 1932 drive though Hollywood before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3BXhNIIRMA


It includes glimpses of Chaplin's studio seen recently in color shots posted by Handsome Stranger...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_...2520PM.bmp.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...2520PM.bmp.jpgUSC

Apparently there was to be an exposition of some sort in Los Angeles in the early '40s, no doubt derailed by the war.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O...2520PM.bmp.jpgHathi Trust

:previous:
Wow, just Wow! I've been a big fan of expositions and world's fairs...so much so that I started a World's Fair thread
entitled 'Ephemeral Cities' several years ago...http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=178168

I have never come across any information on this proposed 'Pacific Mercado' exposition.
Good find G_W!

Wow...nice find! I'm having fun trying to identify the buildings and locations in each shot. I love the lengthy shot of United Artists Studios on Santa Monica Blvd., but I'm a bit puzzled by the building that sits at an angle as the studio comes into view. Would that be the Formosa Cafe? If so, at some point the original building must have been torn down and the current building erected in its place.

A postcard view of the Hollywood Palladium and the Columbia Broadcast System's western headquarters on Sunset Boulevard.


http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8...diumhugece.jpg
postcard via Cesar Del Valle



The Headliner in the above postcard is Freddy Martin and his Orchestra.


http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/6...edsreduced.jpg
amazon




http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7...diumfromra.jpg
radiocityhollywood




below: The vast interior of the Hollywood Palladium featured a round dance floor.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/9...diuminteri.jpg
LAPL



below: Freddy Martin in the 1943 movie 'Stage Door Canteen'.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/9...ymartinsta.jpg
H.R. Studios




below: Freddy Martin received billing in numerous movies in the 1940s.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/186...diumposter.jpg
movieposter_w

What's Buzz'in Cousin?



In 1947 Freddy Martin wrote the song 'Pico and Sepulveda' under the alias Felix Figueroa.

This should be our theme song here at 'noirish los angeles'. Click on the link below.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8...ndsepulved.jpg
forbidden zone

Here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-DGz...eature=related


_____

I absolutely agree e_r! I love Dr. Demento and Freddy Martin (Felix Figueroa) AND Ann Miller!!!!

Who else here remembers Ann Miller dancing on a soup can?

~Jon Paul