noirish Los Angeles

[Snix]

Love these. The "Live Better Electrically" jingle has been on a loop in my head since I first heard it many decades ago. It's a classic of Cartoon Modern.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnzI5GWINI

SO MUCH GOOD STUFF on the campaign here:




https://dahp.wa.gov/live-better-elec...-home-campaign

Originally Posted by Mackerm

I'm so excited. Today I found one of these babies in the wild!

Mackerm's own photo.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Good news, noirishers...I have a mystery location.

SIP - N - BITE,... Los Angeles County.


eBay

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

This picture is also included in that ebay auction.



It shows more clearly the SIP-N-BITE next door to a Abe's Liquor Store.

That particular Abe's is still selling liquor at 122 Sumner Avenue in Avalon, Catalina Island.

Noir_Noir nailed the location of the ebay pictures, but FYI, according to the CDs there was also a Sip N Bite Restaurant at 315 W Florence Avenue circa 1960-63.

[ethereal_reality]

.
A Mystery location.

About 4 or 5 days ago I happened upon some amazing photographs from an old photo album on eBay.

Here's the first photograph.



Holy Cow! ..(that's what I saw when I first saw the photograph)

Does anyone recognize the building(s)?



.

[odinthor]

e_r, isn't that the Highland Villa at about dead center?


detail of image in odinthor collection

[rick m]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
A Mystery location.

About 4 or 5 days ago I happened upon some amazing photographs from an old photo album on eBay.

Here's the first photograph.



Holy Cow! ..(that's what I saw when I first saw the photograph)

Does anyone recognize the building(s)?



.

Lovely to look at! Building under construction in front is one of early hotels on Broadway -- peeking at us from said front structure's top right corner would be the Highland Hotel on First at Hill-- Further up one can see the spire of the Bradbury mansion.....

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by odinthor

isn't that the Highland Villa at about dead center?


detail of image in odinthor collection

Yes!



From UC113302 @ USCDL

Since the Highland Villa was on the NW corner of 1st and Hill, that puts the building in the eBay photo (seen here in the lower left corner)
on the NE corner of 2nd and Hill. This photo looks NW from the City Hall on Broadway.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

e_r, isn't that the Highland Villa at about dead center?


detail of image in odinthor collection

THANKS, odinthor! . . Rick M and Flyingwedge. I appreciate your help!

I'm going to post another photograph from the album later this afternoon. .so stay tuned.

.

[ethereal_reality]

.
As promised, photograph #2.

I have never seen a train quite like this one. ..The passenger car is somewhat familiar but the 'engine' part in front isn't. It looks like something out of Looney Tunes.



My eye keeps gravitating to the tall aerial with the two thingies on top. Is it fastened to the top of the railcar or the house behind it?



.

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
A Mystery location.

About 4 or 5 days ago I happened upon some amazing photographs from an old photo album on eBay.

Here's the first photograph.



Holy Cow! ..(that's what I saw when I first saw the photograph)

Does anyone recognize the building(s)?



.

Wow! I need to own that!!! I can't find the listing on eBay though. Would you be so kind as to send me a PM with it? (I tried sending you a pm but it said " ethereal_reality has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space") Thanks!

[ethereal_reality]

,
Beaudry, I'm unable to find the photographs again on eBay. (that's why I didn't include the link in my post) They might have been listed under 'paper' or 'historical memorabilia' as opposed to, say, photographs.

I'll keep looking for them and will let you know if I find them again.

.

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
As promised, photograph #2.

I have never seen a train quite like this one. ..The passenger car is somewhat familiar but the 'engine' part in front isn't. It looks like something out of Looney Tunes.



My eye keeps gravitating to the tall aerial with the two thingies on top. Is it fastened to the top of the railcar or the house behind it?



.

_______________________

We're looking at the pride of Col. Charles H. Howland's Los Angeles Electric Railway c.January 1887. The four-wheeled vehicle to the left is the "dummy" that contained the electric propulsion system which allowed it to move and to tow the passenger car behind it.

As for the "Looney Tunes" arrangement, the dummy took power from a four-wheeled "troller" that ran atop a pair of overhead wires. This technology was engineered and promoted by "Professor" Leo Daft*, and it found brief, limited success before being supplanted by the arrangement of a trolley pole with springs that place upward pressure on a single wire.

The LAER ran from the Plaza to Pico & Harvard, site of a land development by Howland and his partners and likely where your photo was taken. A branch continued southward on Maple Ave. to 32nd St. Neither the land development nor the passenger traffic met with much success, and operations apparently ceased by the end of March 1889.

* I don't know if the colloquial use of the term preceded or followed his invention.

Historical notes are from Robert C. Post's indispensable Street Railways and the Growth of Los Angeles (Golden West Books, 1989).