Thank you for the info on the Alisal.

shave and a hair cut (1960s?)
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/1738/3ypi.jpg
ebay



today
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/8738/n8zq.jpg
GSV

The building across the street (reflected in the rear mirror of the vintage postcard) is gone...replaced by a McDonalds.
__

-another Los Angeles barber shop scene. -be sure to pan right to see all the reflections -->
http://imageshack.us/a/img542/6408/ftyo.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img560/996/9ey6.jpgebay

When I was a little boy my barber's name was Snuffy Bart. He was like 4 feet tall and had to stand on a box.
__

Conventional wisdom suggests that the Beverly Hills Listing would begin with a CRestview or a handful of other exchange prefixes, and not OX. But, conventional wisdom is hardly infallible. The '36 directory has several OXford listings for BH and Westwood addresses. (see below) By '42, Tanner's listed number was CR6-3111 http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...ry&submit=Find Tanner name was still out there in '59 (MAdison 3-111)

In the '20s and '30s, the larger, more dominant utilities probably followed their their own rules and occasionally disregarded the practices of others. The '36 CD lists only one phone company, yet there were several. :hmmm: Consider that in the same time period, BH was serviced by a local Bell company. A non-Bell company provided service to the Pico Rivera area. Not familiar with the public regulation of California telephone service in the '20s and '30s, but until some public entity or entities with significant influence could intervene, listing anomalies and equipment incompatibility probably occurred more than we can imagine. Probably not unlike the situation many encountered with poor service after the Bell breakup in '84 and the introduction of different long distance and local carriers. :hmmm:

Interesting coincidence that other exchanges with numbers ending in -3111 are auto related. E.g., RIchmond-3111 was the auto club's number.




http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...rch_doc=OXford

http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...rd&submit=Find

http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...rch_doc=OXford


1936 - Tanner Tour of Death Valley. (Note car door seems to bear Grayline Tours marking. Curious how long the Tanner-Grayline affiliation lasted and whether it was a temporary or permanent arrangement. The brochures suggest Tanner was a local Grayline franchisee. Grayline was and still may be synonymous nationwide with Bus Tours. No idea whether Tanner continued with Grayline but dropped the T name, or went on its own path.)


http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1139&h=726http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1139&h=726


http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-1959-...n+Q~~60_57.JPGhttp://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-1959-...n+Q~~60_57.JPG

Thanks for sharing your photographs GatoVerde. I am especially impressed by the windows in this view of the Harrelson Block.
I am sorry to say, I did several searches but came up empty handed. :(

Is that a homeless enclave on the sidewalk? -stark reality.
__

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1900-hotel-pa...SnTU0/$_57.JPG

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1900-hotel-pa...$_57.JPG?rt=nc

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1900-hotel-pa...$_57.JPG?rt=nc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1900-hotel-p...-/301033377669

'Froebelian Garden'

I am hoping someone can help me identify the location of this photograph.
http://imageshack.us/a/img824/7039/jgm1.jpg
http://www.theiff.org/

The tower in the distance might be the old Los Angeles Times Building.



http://imageshack.us/a/img801/9535/sb5g.jpg
unidentified Los Angeles 1900/ocdom
__

:previous:


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V...2520PM.bmp.jpgUSCDL

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-o...2520PM.bmp.jpgGSV

The Froebel method was, as the captions and illustration suggest, a tool for teaching children. Frank Lloyd Wright was apparently highly influenced by it. Architect Sumner P. Hunt's Casa de Rosas at Adams and Hoover, while not appearing to be the same building as the one seen in your pics--was an early Froebel Institute. More here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=cnn...ngeles&f=false

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/mar...pcasaderosas11

Gee, I'd planned to get you this for Christmas, but it pales next to a monley island (even if it is FULL STRENTH, not that near-beer stuff):cheers:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...e/eastside.jpg
lat 12-19-34

Where is Roman Polanski when you need him?

I was surprised to see that there was no more commentary here on "Mob City" today...and then I sat down to watch it on DVR, and perhaps now understand the silence. Reviews in the NY Times and elsewhere seemed to be positive, claiming the show to be superior to Gangster Squad (which would hardly seem difficult) and even somehow closer in quality to Chinatown—an absurd notion. Aside from the huge number of commercials, annoying even when easily fast-forwarded through on DVR, "Mob City" starts off dully and darkly—in an inauthentic backlot New York. There is very little to suggest Los Angeles...at some point there are more street scenes, these supposedly in L.A., that look like the same NY backlot sets, with Eastern urban basement row housing, vaguely set off by a neon sign reading "Los Angeles Hotel." The vaguest attempt was made to have City Hall appear under construction in a scene marked "1927", but the thing just never seemed to take hold, and seems full of clichés—nightclub singers by the dozen, for one thing. Not a single thing to suggest Los Angeles, 1947. The art director is completely clueless.

Wilshire takes on a European flair!

Photo captures what appears to be European tourists in front of the Chapman Park Hotel. Definitely not Tanner livery!


http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032988.jpghttp://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032988.jpg

BifRayRock, this looks like a scene from "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium". :)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064471/

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GatoVerde, welcome to the forums and to this thread that is a forum by itself.

You'll probably want to check out the L.A. County Assessor's Parcel Viewer, where you can find the earliest build dates applicable to most privately owned parcels in the County. A couple of caveats are in order however: Firstly, although I do believe most of the build dates are correct or close enough, I have come across one or two that are preposterously incorrect. For instance it indicates that a bungalow on Georgina Avenue in Santa Monica was built in 1841 when it was actually built around 1920. Ultimately all this data is entered by human beings who occasionally make human errors, but I believe that any such inaccuracies are inadvertent rather than deliberate.

Secondly, building information is generally unavailable for public schools and other government-owned buildings, unfortunately including those in historic parks. (Although the 1822 build date of the Plaza Church is given, presumably because it still belongs to the Archdiocese and as such is private property, there's no building information for any other structures in the park boundary.)

The Harrelson Block was apparently built in 1916; except for the obviously newer structures, most of the others on the block date from the same general period.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1930s-Hotel-C...G+Q~~60_57.JPGhttp://i.ebayimg.com/t/1930s-Hotel-C...G+Q~~60_57.JPG


http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1930s-Hotel-C...0_57.JPG?rt=nc

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1930s-Hotel-C...0_57.JPG?rt=nc


http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1930s-Hotel-C...0_57.JPG?rt=nc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1930s-Hotel-...-/380766504290

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;6112475]http://imageshack.us/a/img16/3910/aa...lesnodatee.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img38/1381/aa...lookingeas.jpg



MR, thanks for the information on the Sunset Hotel & San Fernando Hotel. The two postcards are much more interesting with your help.

Also...I now know the two buildings that are looming in the background of these China City photographs. :)


The Sunset/Hill Hotel
http://imageshack.us/a/img10/9250/aa...dr1adetail.jpg
detail



The San Fernando Hotel
http://imageshack.us/a/img197/9873/a...r2building.jpg
detail

-note the back porch that we saw in MR's photograph looking west on Ord Street.





the complete postcard
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/4373/a...dragonroad.jpg
http://www.lmu.edu/






one more
http://imageshack.us/a/img10/3966/aabchina1pc.jpg
ebay

It looks like the huge CHINA CITY sign is on the roof of the San Fernando Hotel. (is it?)


I've always been a bit perplexed by the parameters of China City. Was it directly across the street from these two aging hotels, or are the photographs misleading? It would be great if someone could outline China City on this aerial.

http://imageshack.us/a/img594/6964/7lku.jpg
google aerial

ER - Here you go! (a few months late) I have outlined the borders of China City in red (above). It took up the entire block of Main, Ord, Spring, and Macy. Philippe's is outlined in blue. The San Fernando and Sunset Hotels were behind Philippe's on Ord. You can see these hotels in several of the photos above and below.

China City had four entrances. The main entrance was near the corner
of Macy and Main.

http://imageshack.us/a/img855/9669/i3v7.jpg
lapl

Another entrance was north of this on Main street.

http://imageshack.us/a/img809/2395/nbfl.jpg
lapl

A third entrance was on Ord Street, across from Philippe's.
(In this picture, I have also outlined the first two entrances)

http://imageshack.us/a/img849/5058/om3m.jpg
lapl

The last entrance was over on Spring Street.

http://imageshack.us/a/img198/9761/srih.jpg
lapl

And yes, it does appear that the large China City sign was
attached to the top of the San Fernando Hotel - good eye!

http://imageshack.us/a/img89/7345/li0u.jpg
lapl

:previous: I certainly didn't realize there were four entrances. Thanks FredH! :)
__

ER - This is a screen grab of Dennis O'Keefe walking down Ferguson Alley in the
movie T-Men (1947). It appears that the poster on the wall is for Coles Brothers Circus. Looks like it is being
held at Washington and Hill? The poster looks kind of ragged. Do you think it was still there from the
1940 circus in your picture?

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/8573/1w24.jpg
T-Men (1947) Eagle-Lion Films

ER - I think I have the same spot. Facing north on Santa Fe Ave. The bridge is First Street. I believe the gasometers in your picture are the ones that used to be next to the 101 Freeway. Seems like a strange place to get off the train.

http://imageshack.us/a/img199/9074/ps8r.JPG
Google Earth

Tanner Gray Line
 

BifRayRock. Gray Line is now a world wide operation. (See Wikipedia). I am not sure when they dropped the Tanner name (which I believe was restricted to Southern California) but I can remember riding their buses into the early 1960s as they operated services to all the local area horse racing venues, a sport my mother viewed as an investment opportunity, and to which she contributed copious amounts of coin with little return!

Cheers,
Jack