Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire
Mark L: A few other small notes on 2412 W. 7th... the building is listed in vintage city directories as the Kosloff Building, and at one time it housed J. G. Davenport & Associates, the L.A. representatives of Boy's Life magazine. An office of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is also listed in city directories there, as are some other publisher's reps, insurance offices, and other firms. All 2412 listings were in the DUnkirk telephone exchange... now, we're getting into real Asperger territory here, but I couldn't help but notice that the "382" in the neon number over the door today (213-382-7229) corresponds to "DUnkirk".... The name Kosloff is likely that of the owner and/or builder--there were a few other small (though not as architecturally interesting) apartment buildings in the area bearing the name Kosloff. The name Kosloff seems, not surprisingly, to be of Russian derivation. I can find no connection with 2412 and two other well-known Kosloffs in L.A. (though one or the other could conceivably be the investor/developer of it): Theodore, a ballet promoter/coach ( http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr...t/ca-kosloff5), and Maurice.... In my Googling I've also read of a producer by the name of Maurice Kosloff (also apparently connected to the ballet-- http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...control-p.html. He may or may not be--but likely is--the same Maurice Kosloff who was the proprietor of the "Maurice Kasloff School of Dancing-Singing-Radio & Acting", once on the top floor of the Art Deco building still at the SW corner of Wilshire and Robertson:
 LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics01/00020217.jpg
Detail:
 Los Angeles Art Deco
and today:
 Google Street View
OK... now for the (anti-climatic, I'm afraid) Dahlia connection: As the writer does in the second Times link
above, some people speculate on some of the BD boards (most of which are decidedly loopy) that "Maurice
the Voice Teacher", sometimes mentioned in connection with the Florentine Gardens, was Maurice Kosloff....
No? Oh well, Mark L (if you're still reading), I know this probably has little to do with 2412 W. 7th, but I do
like to try to make a noir connection here if I can.. and the building above is pretty, isn't it?
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I can solve this mystery. Maurice Kosloff was my great grandfather. He was not related to Theodore Kosloff and was, in fact, threatened with a lawsuit by the family of Theodore Kosloff because he had changed his name from Koslove (which had been changed from Love, which had been changed from some spelling of Koslovsky), to Kosloff and went into the entertainment industry and they felt he was fraudulently trying to capitalize on the name.
I don't believe he owned either of the buildings which housed his studios. Lastly, he was not Maurice the voice coach at the Florentine Gardens. That was Maurice Clements according to the L.A. Times article.
Suffice to say, I'm positive he wasn't responsible for the Black Dahlia murder. He may have gotten around a bit in his day but my great grandmother always knew where he was and he was always home for dinner in the evening. He was very content with his home life and I think, at least in his later years, he really looked forward to going home at the end of the day.
The only time he was late coming home was when he had been attacked in his office and beaten in the head with a baseball bat. He suffered a skull fracture that required multiple surgeries but survived. He was never able to identify his attacker and speculations ranged from attempted robbery, to a personal debt to the Armenian Mafia.
My great grandmother once commented that she thought it might have been a former office manager. I remember in his later years, he dedicated himself to managing the business and never retired because he didn't trust anyone to run it for him.
He ran the business until his death in 1986 at the age of about 84 I think. He suffered a heart attack on his way out the door to work.