Here's that mid-block location on Crenshaw.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...921/4HxP1y.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/UBTo72.jpg
gsv

former site of Alba Furniture (1961)

It's a fine looking building, especially the horizontal strip of detailing along the top.

this
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...922/JcphZ3.png
detail




The detailing wasn't as easy to see back in 2009 with the entire facade was painted white.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/uaAMvq.jpg
gsv

I just realized the detailing can still hard to see at certain times of day because of the shadow of the overhang.
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Look carefully. There are several (at least two) drilling platforms in the original wide shot.
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...n.jpg~original


You may have located a different Alba's. Market Street is to the left, but for someone unfamiliar with Inglewood, I am guessing the wider street is La Brea. Could Alba's have been close to 1041 N. La Brea? https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9772...2!8i6656?hl=en The La Tijera theater sign would be pointing toward the Southwest? Names of other businesses, e.g., "Rainbow Liquor" has a listing at 150 East Santa Barbara. :no:

:previous: Tourmaline, you're absolutely right, this is the old Alba Furniture building.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/BoNxTA.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/OYrVJ9.jpg
gsv

Do you know why I'm so certain?


Look what's peeking out from behind this tree down the block.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...922/0pwuNS.jpg
detail

It's that tiny building with the curved barrel-like roof.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...923/UEaJmq.jpg
detail

Fun little discovery (to me anyway :))

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Hoss, I was looking at this beautiful photo & noticed a square dark area :previous: above the hood of the car.


I lightened the pic and a billboard came into view.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/p04lAU.jpg

"R.H. Malon...something..?
realtors..."



I found a R.H. Malone Co. in the 1956 directory.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...923/XUSlUV.jpg

and it was situated right next door to the theater (hence the sign ;))

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/gM0m4U.jpg
google_earth






And I believe this might be the same portable billboard for R. H. Malone Co. in GW's 1958 crime photo..

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/DgWAoA.jpg

Could that be the same sign?

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e_r,

I can't help either with the reason for the Twin Chimneys name. Unless someone else comes up with a better story I think we'll have to go with yours.

This is a stock shot from an early scene in Murder, My Sweet with Dick Powell.
Should be an easy one for the experts to identify the location. Notice that RKO is giving themselves a little plug.


http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...psxbceq6m4.jpg
Murder, My Sweet - RKO Radio Pictures, 1944

Circa 1953 - Belmont SanChez's Studebaker, capable of reaching 200mph at Bonneville, UT.
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...f.jpg~originalHotRodNetwork


http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...6.jpg~originalHotRodNetwork




SanChez has a colorful history. The name is connected with land speed records as well as involvement with development of recreational SCUBA equipment. Belmont SanChez (Sr.) may also be familiar to Long Beach'ers as having a Studebaker dealership located at 1350 American Ave. (American Ave was renamed Long Beach Blvd.)


June 16, 1953 - American Ave., Long Beach Another hot Summer night.
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...t.jpg~original

1350 American Ave.
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...g.jpg~original


Packard Dealer, Long Beach
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...n.jpg~original




The above images are part of a four-picture compilation all, apparently, from the same June '53 date. None of them are specifically identified or addressed other than Long Beach. http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compou...coll2/id/60154


Safeway - Long Beach

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...9.jpg~original




http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...h.jpg~original



http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...i.jpg~original




Street
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...0.jpg~original






http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...s.jpg~original





http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...s.jpg~original



http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...0.jpg~original


South Shore Motors, Lincoln Mercury. Long Beach
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...a.jpg~original



More American Ave/Long Beach blvd. 1939 http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...coll2/id/33838 and http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...coll2/id/33836



http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...i.jpg~original



http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...o.jpg~original

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...w.jpg~original


http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...8.jpg~original



http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...5.jpg~original



tom tom
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...m.jpg~original





http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...r.jpg~original




http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...u.jpg~original

THe classic oil derrick was used while drilling the well and for maintenance of the pipe later if necessary. Today a portable machine is used.
The derrick was used to pull the drill string out of the hole, one section at a time, replace the bit etc, and put the string back in , one at a time. once the hole reached the desired bottom the string was pulled out and various fittings applied at the ground level. SOme of that was a complicated set of valves etc to allow shut-down of oil, protect against gas pressure blow out . The arrangement of pipes and valves was nick=named a "Christmas Tree"
The drilling floor was a very dangerous place, part of the reason the workmen were called "roughnecks". The drill string was connected piece by piece by threaded joints. The down hole part of the string was supported by a gripping turntable at floor level. The table - I forget the vernacular, was also rotated to drive the drill string and the bit at the bottom
The piece above the table was held by a chain wrapped around it to sort of control it when it was free as well as to keep it from rotating. Hence the possibilities of flapping loose chains, swinging pipe rotating machinery etc. leading to injury and death
Now then
Howard HUghes got his airplane money from his father's Hughes Tool CO. Hughes Sr invented the rotary bit and LEASED them to drillers

SO
NO pipes in the derrick except when drilling was being done

Somewhere at home I have a watch fob that belonged to my grandfather, who worked as a driller for Union Oil. It is fairly flat with an image on one side with the twin rotary drill bits. On the other side it says Hughes Tool Co.

As mentioned above by Ed Workman

This is the famous rotary bit that Howard Hughes Sr. invented... that made son Howard Hughes a multi-millionaire playboy. The rest is history.

The rotary bit could cut through solid rock like a hot knife through butter. It totally changed the oil industry.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psb354uyf1.jpg
hughes tool co

Had a hard weekend? Why not relax at the beauty salon. This is Julius Shulman's "Job 13: Saks Fifth Avenue, Beauty Salon (Long Beach, Calif.), 1947". I'm afraid that I know very little about this type of business, so I'll just let you enjoy the pictures. I've left one out because it was similar to one here.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute

It's only on-screen for a couple of seconds, but I think this is RKO Proctor's 125th Street Theatre at 112-118 E 125th Street, Harlem, New York. As far as I can see, all the RKO Proctor's Theatres were around New York and New Jersey. There's a sign in the top left corner which says "Park Ave", which would be correct for this location, and the top line may say "E 125", but I'm guessing here. The crime-fiction novel Cotton Comes to Harlem by Chester Himes contains the line "They drove over to a White Rose bar at the corner of 125th and Park Avenue, across the street from the 125th Street railroad station, and parked the two-toned Chevrolet.". I know this is fiction, but it may have used real places like the White Rose Bar seen in the screengrab.

According to cinematreasures.org:

Built by Oscar Hammerstein as a playhouse named Columbus Theatre in 1890. It opened as the Miner’s Theatre October 11, 1899 with a production of “Romeo and Juliet”. It was sold to F.F. Proctor in 1899, and went over to presenting vaudeville. Around 1900 it became Keith & Proctor’s 125th Street Theatre and films were added to the programming in 1908. The Keith/Proctor partnership was dissolved in 1911. It was renamed Proctor’s Theatre and advertised as Proctor’s 125th Street Theatre. In 1926 a Wurlitzer organ was installed, and in that year, the seating capacity was given as 2,200.

It was taken over by RKO in the 1930’s. The RKO Proctor’s 125th Street was closed in late-1953. The building was converted into a church. In 1985, a fire broke out in the front of the building. It was damaged enough to eventually make it a dangerous structure and the theatre was demolished in 1987.

:previous:

Thanks HossC. I only found RKO Proctors in the New York area too. The stock shots were shown as Philip Marlow (Dick Powell) was
ruminating about a couple of recent cases, and how big Los Angeles was getting to be.

Boy, you can't trust anyone these days.

Originally posted by BifRayRock
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/yXny6J.jpg
Huntington

Bif, the old Packard Dealership building is still standing!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/C1t9KU.jpg
gsv



Here's an aerial to show the building's unique shape.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/XjTRe5.jpg
google_earth

The site of the F & M Bank is now an empty lot.



Today it's Horn's Collision Center, 1427 Long Beach Blvd.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/lUlvBw.jpg
http://www.roadarch.com/13/9/horns.jpg

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'mystery' location.

Chanteclair Restaurant Hollywood California, 1940's

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/MpaXp8.jpg
eBay





Enlarged for your inspection.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/xYb00c.jpg
detail

The building is quite impressive, but it doesn't look familiar to me.


I thought I had lucked out when I found this matchbook, but it doesn't include an address!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...922/tawEAj.jpgebay


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...922/giFtHl.jpgebay

but there's an additional clue on the inside.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...923/Y7lvFD.jpgebay

Has anyone heard of Leo Curtner?
__


The only 'Chanteclair' that appears in L.A. directories is a 'fur room' at 227 1/2 E. 7th Street (but that was back in the 1910s and 20s)





And when it's spelled this way----> 'Chanticleer'

The trail leads to the oft-discussed Tam-O-Shanter Inn in Los Feliz. (an early favorite on NLA)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/FPap2G.jpg
http://www.rolandcommunications.com/tam

....the Tam-O-Shanter used to be Montgomery's 'Chanticleer Inn"




Here's the link to the 1940s 'Chanteclair' snapshot.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/153-vintage-...QAAOSwOyJX7GpQ

You can check out the matchbook here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1940s-Matchb...4AAOSw-7RVBeMy

I always thought those poles in middle of the street were on Ocean Blvd. Here is Ocean Blvd. [below] in 1920.....looking east. Doesn't American Ave./Long Beach Blvd.. go north and south?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psiq1efshm.jpg

Dead Man's Curve
 

OK, Something a little different. Noirish Los Angeles - Rock and Roll Version.

In the early 1960's. Jan and Dean had a song called "Dead Man's Curve" about a street race along the Sunset Strip. The race started at Sunset and Vine
and headed west. But where is the dreaded "Dead Man's Curve"? Let's follow the lyrics: "I flew past La Brea, Schwabs, and Crescent Hts....He passed me
at Doheny and I started to swerve, but I pulled her out and there I was at dead man's curve.

So, according to the song. dead man's curve should be here:

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...psx7oq6zun.jpg
Google Maps

In today's world, the guy in the Jaguar would have slammed into the City National Bank:

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...psinlecojt.jpg
Google Street View

Was this all feasible back in 1963? I doubt it. We are talking about a four mile street race along the Sunset Strip. There are currently maybe
20-25 traffic lights along this stretch of the Strip? There had to be at least 15 back then. And what was the chance of the Strip being deserted
"late Friday night"?

Anyway, I always liked the song. This is the original version from Jan and Dean's 1963 album "Drag City". It has slightly different lyrics and is not
as highly produced as the single which came out in 1964. I'm pretty sure you are hearing Brian Wilson doing some backup vocals on the recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Cu...=RDS1Cuekbklkg


Of course in April 1966, Jan Berry had his own version of the song. Speeding along Whittier Drive in Beverly Hills, he hit a parked truck in his Corvette.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps4dpv6awo.jpg

The accident resulted in his being in a coma for months and having to rehabilitate himself from partial paralysis. He was never the same.

1980s
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/SCM1GH.jpg
old file



I drove the google-mobile down to San Pedro and found the same wall (sans graffiti)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/9lOMwK.jpg
gsv

:previous: note the large clock under the R in the blade sign.




It's lit up in this screen-grab from Million Ways To Die' (1984)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...922/rJIjDz.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090568/


from 1984 to....

2009
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/xftGjc.jpg
Dona Junta https://www.blogger.com/profile/13243765116549656105


and in 2016

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/SvQTCS.jpg
gsv

King's Liquor & Deli at 145 N. Pacific Avenue (the building was built in 1925)


note that the Mexicalis Barber Shop is now Liberty Tax Service....among other changes.
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