[JeffDiego]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Flyingwedge, great stuff! I've not come across this info before!

And welcome ovens.

There is lots of conflicting information concerning this Norma Triangle area of West Hollywood and possible relationship to Norma Talmadge.
Here's some of it.

From IMDB: (Link HERE.)

Talmadge Street in Hollywood, California, USA is named for Norma and her sister Constance Talmadge. It ran along the west side of Vitagraph's west coast studio where the Talmadges made some of their movies in the 1910s. The studio is now the ABC Television Center, west coast home of the American Broadcasting Company and its Los Angeles station, KABC-TV.

Another street, Norma Place in West Hollywood, California, is also named for her. The street was originally an easement road that led to the entrance of a tiny studio Norma's husband, Joseph M. Schenck, built for her when she joined his company, First National, in 1919. The studio was used solely to produce movies made by Norma's and Constance's production companies. It was abandoned in 1926 when the production company owned by Norma and her sister Constance Talmadge moved to First National's new home, the Burbank Studios (now home to Warner Brothers). The studio, too small to be properly converted to sound production, was torn down in the 1930s. Norma Place was lengthened, making it a through street, and houses were built where the old studio once stood. Dorothy Parker and her husband, Alan Campbell, lived on Norma Place for most of the years they worked in Hollywood.
___

Article about the Norma Triangle on WeHoVille: (Link HERE.)

Legend has it that the silent movie star Norma Talmadge had a film studio in the area and the homes were originally dressing rooms for the stars after whom she named the streets (Cynthia Street, Lloyd Place, Dicks Street, Phyllis Street, Keith Avenue, etc).

However, historians say the homes in the area were built for the people who worked for the streetcar company, Los Angeles Pacific Railway, which had a depot where the Pacific Design Center now stands. Those historians say the streets were named after children and friends of Moses Sherman, who founded the area (West Hollywood’s original name was Sherman).
___

From an article about WeHo street names: (Link HERE.)

Historians, who couldn’t establish any connection between Talmadge and the neighborhood, believe Norma, and streets like Clark, Lloyd, Cynthia, Dicks, Hammond and others "were named after senior executives of the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad Company or their spouses or children. Those executives, Moses Sherman and Eli P. Clark, built the streets prior to Norma Talmadge's arrival in Hollywood.
___

A West Hollywood Historic Resources survey form dated 1986-87, lists info about the Tony Duquette property thusly:
Link HERE.

Since its apparent construction in 1924*(1), this early industrial building has seen a variety of uses. Built for the lace factory (Cristoefelles Lace Factory) of Cornelius and Edith Christoffeles*(2), the building is reputed to have been the sound studio for Norma Talmadge but as she never had a studio of her own, was probably only used for a location in a film. By 1930, it was sold to George McGlagan and in 1932 housed the Beverly Hills Water Bottling Company. Natural springs are common on these southwestern slopes of the foothills, and several bottling companies operated in this area. In the late 1930's the building was also used for light manufacturing and a sheet metal works and in 1949, woodworking. In 1956, costume and set designer Anthony Duquette took over the building for his studio, from where he designed for many Hollywood films including Camelot in 1952*(3).

* Notes:
(1) -- Though it says "apparent" here, it's listed as factual on the West Hollywood Historic Resources survey form, but the builder and architect are listed as unknown.
(2) --The various spellings of "Cristoefelles" are the way they were spelled in the survey entries.
(3) --Anthony Duquette won a Tony for the costume design of the original Broadway production of Camelot, 1960.

The current West Hollywood Cultural Resources database says:
LINK HERE.

Architectural Description: This is a 2 and 3-story commercial building in the Utilitarian style built in 1921.*
* Date source: Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor

__________

--It's worth noting that the boundaries for the "Norma Triangle" area vary in different sources. (And aren't always triangular.)



--Not much of the information, gleaned from the above sources, is itself sourced to anywhere else.

--The IMDB info indicates the studio in question was torn down and on Norma Place itself, if I read it correctly, and then that street was extended. Wonder where the source for this info came from.

--Though several of the street names in the area are attributed to actual people, the one most in question (Norma Place) never is. (That i've found.)

Thanks for the interesting information on Talmadge Street, Norma Place, the Norma Triangle, the old "Talmadge Studio," and the Tony Duquette building which has apparently been referred to in the past as once being The Talmadge Studio.
For some who may find it interesting, Norma Talmadge and her sisters Constance & Natalie, lent their names to an upscale residential subdivision in San Diego called "Talmadge" in 1925. The neighborhood's developer had received substantial financial assistance from Norma's husband, Joe Schenck, along with MGM's Louis B. Mayer and theatre owner Sid Grauman. The Talmadge sisters were at the dedicatory ceremony for the subdivision in January, 1926, along with Buster Keaton and William S. Hart.
Talmadge is still a very desirable, manicured neighborhood in eastern San Diego, near San Diego State University. Famed architect and "father of the California Ranch House," Cliff May, built his first houses in Talmadge in the early and mid-1930's. These early Cliff May homes were graceful & picturesque one-story "Mexican Hacienda/Ranch Houses" inspired by the 19th Century Mexican ranch houses that May had admired while growing up in San Diego, and looked very little like the classic shingle-roofed "Western-Style" ranch houses that May became so famous for in the 1940's and 50's.

Here is a photo of a large home in Talmadge that was originally the sales office for the subdivision in 1925/26.


https://sduptownnews.com/storybook-stories/


Here is Cliff May's first house, built in San Diego's Talmadge neighborhood in 1932.



http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...htmlstory.html