I'm with you, Scott.

Especially the Canary Island. They grow slowly (only about 1- 1 1/2 feet per year) compared to the more common Mexican Fan and Queen (which shoot up at 3-4 feet per year.

The Canary Island fell out of favor beginning around 1950 or so, as it needs plenty of room (one thing not many newer California lots have much of). But to see a 60 or 80 year old Canary Island is majestic. If the early photo at Mildred's is dated 1945, I suspect the palm was planted around 1925-1930.....probably about the time the house was built.

And those Italian Cypresses at the Gaylinda? They grow tall and narrow up to age 30 or so.......then they don't add much height but just get fatter as they age. (Don't we all? LOL LOL LOL LOL)

Maddux Airlines, located at 636 S. Olive in downtown LA.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034235.jpg
LAPL

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034236.jpg
LAPL

Very interesting, Mike, to discover the actual locations of familiar shows. In this case, another bit of lost Hollywood history.
Another small town set that has been filmed countless times is a circular grassy park with trees and some benches, a kind of town square, surrounded by old-fashioned "Main Street" type buildings. Sound familiar? Characters often sit in the park and discuss something as an occasional car passes in the distance.
I assume that it may well be on the Universal lot, but don't actually know.

Oh yes, I will definitely make it to the Pierces' house and take pictures. ;)

I think I know the one you are referring to (lots of Twilight Zone episodes) and this is NOT it.......

Nevertheless, you DO see plenty of the Orange Circle, aka Plaza, in contemporary movies and TV. Several street in the surrounding Downtown core also do stand in for "Anytown, USA". None of the buildings surrounding the Circle are less than 80 years old.

The big fight in town is over whether to replace the Canary Island PINES (planted in the early 50s and now up to 80 or 90 feet - two of which are shown towering above the buildings in the second photo) with palms that originally surrounded the plaza from 1890 or so through 1950.......

One of the problems with historical preservation in SoCal......there's so little of it that people launch huge fights over what would otherwise be table scraps.

http://activerain.com/image_store/up...3541396675.jpg

http://pics3.city-data.com/businesse.../1/5785201.JPG

http://www.reidsrodparts.com/images/...circlecopy.jpg

I hate to sound like a dope.....but what am I looking at here? (the building, I mean)......My initial reaction is Hotel Hollywood, but it looks nothing like other photos I have seen.

:previous:


Immaculate Heart High School/College

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics43/00071330.jpgLAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics50/00074977.jpgLAPL

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics30/00049833.jpgLAPL
ca. 1960

Los Angeles in the 1940s
 

I don't know if this has been posted, if it has I apologize for the double post. But I found this beautiful color movie of 1940s Los Angeles with a hauntingly serene Miles Davis score. ("It Never Entered My Mind" from: Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.)

This seems to be a movie compiled from different times. My favorite clips are the Brown Derby (0:17 - 0:22), Graumans Chinese Theater/Hollywood Blvd. (0:55 - 1:02), Paramount Studios ( 1:02 - 1:08), and an all too brief look at a semaphore traffic signal at Hollywood & Highland (1:15).

The video then inexplicably cuts at 1:39 to a bw film of the House Un-American Activities Committee with French subtitles! But for a short time we can catch a glimpse of late 1940s Los Angeles in all its beauty.

Thanks Ethereal for starting this great post, it has captivated me for many months now. Also, many thanks to all posters who have contributed. There are gems on every page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDRY7DzbRGM

Shemp: With scenes like this, who couldn't enjoy it over and over? Thanks for posting!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_z...82714%20AM.jpgyoutube.com

once again, time to ridiculously right scroll!

Baist's 1921 real estate map plate 8. bounded by Bonnie Brae on the West, Hill Street on the East, 12th Street on the South, and 5th Street on the North

All the streets wiped out by the harbor freeway and other developments are all intact for your viewing pleasure! (who woulda' thunk there was a tunnel underneath the normal school!!??!!)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/...d82cd2f8_o.jpg
Source: LAPL Visual Map Collection

Wilshire's Janes
 

:previous:


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_z...11920%20PM.jpgLarry Underhill



What's not to love about old real estate and insurance maps, especially when they're of Los Angeles? It's a pleasure to scroll, gs.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_z...14201%20PM.jpgLAPL


Above I've taken a fragment of the '21 Baist map, placing at center a structure that has always intrigued
me and that I was reminded of by your post. Sitting at an unconventional angle at the SW corner of Witmer
and Orange streets (Orange later to become part of Wilshire Boulevard), catty-corner to Good Samaritan
and just above the Prince Ruppert, is what must be among the oldest buildings left in these parts. There
might be another I'm not thinking of, but this is surely the last Victorian house left on Wilshire--its answer
to the Janes house on Hollywood Boulevard, you might say. I can find no vintage shots of it, but it has an
interesting and somewhat amusing history. Apparently it was once the home of Charles C. Chapman, of the
Chapman Market, the Chapman Building on Broadway, and of Chapman College in Orange--quite the
SoCal muckety-muck. I have no idea who lived here after Chapman (who decamped to Fullerton sometime
before 1909) or what other businesses might have occupied it since, but a branch of the La Parrilla Mexican
restaurant has been on the corner since 1978. Whether it was the owners of La Parrilla or a previous occupant
who mistook "Chapman" for "Chaplin" I don't know, but there is said to be a good deal of Little Tramp
memorabilia on the walls. (I have not actually been there--sopas, perhaps you'll might swing by
after calling on Veda and Mildred.)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_z...15823%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View
The Prince Ruppert (spelled elsewhere as "Rupert") is still there too, far left, at 1305 Ingraham St.
Ingraham is full of small-to-medium apartment buildings--oh the noir I imagine for the street ca. 1940.


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_z...25511%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View
Complete with Wilshire Special

For this, I will happily scroll......

Wonder what they used to provide color (This was long before highlighters and Sharpies!)

Regular water colors of the type we used in elementary school?

Thanks Gaylord!

Quite an impressive structure. (and get a load of the size of those Canary Island Palms in 1960! LOL)

Apparently the building was a casualty of Sylmar in 1971.

The replacement is rather bland by comparison, but it's clear they tried to tie in some design elements of the old building - twin towers and arches.

http://la.remap.ucla.edu/remappingla...serialNumber=2

Hi Jeff,

Universal definitely has a town square but not sure it's the one you are thinking of. One of the early 'Leave It To Beaver's' uses it when the Beav climbs a tree with a creepy girl and is caught by Whitey & Larry. The Columbia/Warner Ranch which was used by the old Screen Gems TV shows also had a town square; the fountain was used for the end of 'Friends'. There was a website that showed all the houses; 'Bewitched', 'Hazel' and others but I can't find the link. I guess it was pretty standard to have a town square on your lot.
My brother and I took the Warner Brothers VIP ($35) Studio Tour about 10 years ago. They drove the tram into the middle of the city street backlot ('Angels Wash Their Faces' was mentioned) and told the group we could get out and walk around. My brother and I looked at each other - "Did she say we could get out?" - and scurried around like rats. Even better, once they collected us, they drove us to the since-demolished western set and let us out there! I'm surprised they got us back on the tram. It was great - all those old WB westerns!

Here's a picture I took back in 2007 of the building a few doors down from PRC . I didn't know Sunset Gower Studios was where PRC once stood. Next time I'll try to get the entire block in the shot.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...rtedpix421.jpg

Hi Mike:
Thanks for the info. Next time I see that particular square, I'll see if I can find the location via IMDB.
Here's an even more complete history of the RKO/Desilu backlots and the countless series filmed there:
http://ponderosascenery.homestead.com/files/rko.html
Had no idea that Bonanza was filmed there (although I didn't watch Bonanza). This site has a shot of the boys riding up towards Baldwin Hills! Ha.
I too visited the Warner's lot and particularly remember the city sets that were so familiar from countless old movies.

I'd rather drive my own Nash around town in search of such landmarks, but I just read
that Esotouric's Cain bus tour includes a visit to 1143 N. Jackson/Corvallis in Glendale.
Even the palm is mentioned: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...8Z3$reE#<br />


http://www.esotouric.com/cain

:previous:

I've always wanted to go on one of those Esotouric tours, I have yet to go on any. They even do Pasadena locales. In fact the next Pasadena one (called Pasadena Confidential) is on June 18th. Hmm...

For you diehard Film Noir fans in the LA area (or who will be in the LA area), the Los Angeles Film Noir Festival is coming up, too, for three weeks this year (it used to only be two), from April 1st through April 20th. You bet I'll be there!

Thanks for that link, Gaylord. It's nice the French woman who lives in the Mildred Pierce house didn't do away with the palm tree. Glendale having a large Armenian population, I had assumed that an Armenian did NOT currently live at that house, being that many Armenians, when they move into an older neighborhood, will often actually rip out very old trees! I wonder why? I hate to say it, but I hope she doesn't sell it to Armenians!

I do plan on paying a visit to the house this Saturday, after I get my haircut in the morning. ;)

This double feature looks particularly delicious!

Clicky here: THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS / THE DARK MIRROR

I think I definitely want to see these films! On the big screen, the way they were meant to be seen, in their correct aspect ratios-- and at the Egyptian!

"The Two Mrs. Carrolls" with Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck
• Video Link

"The Dark Mirror" with Olivia de Havilland and Olivia de Havilland
http://www.americancinemathequecalen...jpg?1300738496
americancinematheque.com