noirish Los Angeles

[Scott Charles]

I'm surprised nobody was able to figure out where this is.

There can't be that many streets in LA with such a distinctive bend in it?

The closest I can think of such a street would be where Los Felix turns into Western Avenue... (though this is clearly not that)

For some unknown reason, the poster on Reddit originally said this picture was taken in Santa Monica, though he edited his post after he noticed that it said “over Hollywood” on the back of the photo.

Could that gray area off in the distance actually be the Pacific ocean?

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I just stumbled across this post on Reddit:





Back of the photo:



Maybe it's somewhere near “DE MILLE FIELD NO. 3”..?

Here are the links to the much larger, full-sized images:

https://i.imgur.com/e6hDnR3.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/S5Lmcvo.jpeg

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

The photo accompanying the L.A. Times article


https://www.latimes.com/california/s...larry-harnisch

A crime of the most ghastly kind imaginable, even by today's debauched standards. It's infuriating knowing that the killer got away scot-free.

Knowing what was done to Elizabeth Smart's body, those cops in the photo must have had extremely strong stomachs...

[Martin Pal]

The Bellhop.

[quickstop]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I'm surprised nobody was able to figure out where this is.

There can't be that many streets in LA with such a distinctive bend in it?

The closest I can think of such a street would be where Los Felix turns into Western Avenue... (though this is clearly not that)

For some unknown reason, the poster on Reddit originally said this picture was taken in Santa Monica, though he edited his post after he noticed that it said “over Hollywood” on the back of the photo.

Could that gray area off in the distance actually be the Pacific ocean?

Curtis jn4 "jenny"
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Call...p%2BAbEgLac%3D

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I'm surprised nobody was able to figure out where this is.

There can't be that many streets in LA with such a distinctive bend in it?

The closest I can think of such a street would be where Los Felix turns into Western Avenue... (though this is clearly not that)

For some unknown reason, the poster on Reddit originally said this picture was taken in Santa Monica, though he edited his post after he noticed that it said “over Hollywood” on the back of the photo.

Could that gray area off in the distance actually be the Pacific ocean?

I'll stick my neck out: What's going on in the middle left of the pic with the gateway and so on, and then all the flat land around it, the curved internal drive, the trees regularly placed along the perimeter--all this has the general vibe of a new big cemetery of the Forest Lawn sort, with its initial development just getting underway.

[ethereal_reality]

.

FLYINGWEDGE, you did it! ..You no doubt located Viola's chicken farm.

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

If Viola Dana had a farm, it may have been in the San Fernando Valley at what was called Cahuenga Park, where she bought 6 lots:

Here's a map showing Cahuenga Park (and the nearby Hollywood Country Club -- have we discussed that before?). The "proposed blvd.
from Cahuenga Park to the ocean" (lower left corner) I guess is now Beverly Glen Blvd.:


November 26, 1922, Los Angeles Times @ Newspapers.com



_____________________________________________________________

I looked everywhere for more information on 'Cahuenga Park' and found nothing so good job on your findings, FW


I thought I'd remind you noirishers that diminutive Viola Dana was married to former Yale football player, Maurice Lefty Flynn.

He also appeared in silent films with Viola and their size difference is rather mind boggling.


IMDB...Maurice 'Lefty' Flnn - Viola Dana - Adophe Menjou

From Open All Night. (1924)


There's a scene where Viola races Lefty on a tricycle.



LOL. I've never seen the film so I have no idea how the race ended but I'd put my money on Lefty.


,

[ethereal_reality]

.
I have a mystery location to start off the week.


Ifu cked the post.

.

[ethereal_reality]

Let's try it again.



Does anyone have an idea where this photograph was taken? I'm especially intrigued by the mural.




Judging by the Mazda I'd say it's from the 1980s.



Yes, I see the highway sign but it'sa bit difficult to read. (for me anyway)

.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Here's another mystery location I happened upon this afternoon on eBay.

"Vtg 1970s B&W Photo Hardware Store Fire Hollywood Los Angeles CA Fire Truck 8x10"


eBay


I imagine the original name of the hardware store is at the top of the old blade sign.




Go forth my trusty minions! Make me proud.

.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Let's try it again.

Does anyone have an idea where this photograph was taken? I'm intrigued by the mural.



Judging by the Mazda I'd say it's from the 1980s.

Yes, I see the highway sign but it's a bit difficult to read. (for me anyway)

From the link below the picture:

Artist: Kent Twitchell
Address: 1255 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Size: 30' X 22' ft
Medium: Acrylic
Date: 1974
Type: Portrait

Description / Interpretation:

An elderly woman standing with a granny-squared afghan wrapped around her. The model was Lillian Bronson, a character actress who resembled two of the artist's great-grandmothers. In 1981 a new structure built next door to the hotel obscured the mural's bottom half. in 1986 the mural was painted over, without informing the artist, in order to sell the space for advertising. Citing California Art Preservation Act (passed in 1980), Twitchell sued the building's owner. In March, 1992, a settlement was reached, providing $125,000 for restoration of the mural. The re-born version includes a three dimensional fiberglass extension of the afghan above the roof, as well as an added segment on the adjoining wall down to the ground. Photo © Peter Mackertich.


www.themcla.org/murals/freeway-lady

[ethereal_reality]

I just drove the google-mobile to the area and didn't see it...Is it still there?

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another mystery location I happened upon this afternoon on eBay.

"Vtg 1970s B&W Photo Hardware Store Fire Hollywood Los Angeles CA Fire Truck 8x10"


eBay

1638 N Cherokee Avenue. It looks like the hardware building has gone, but the building with the arches is still there.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I just drove the google-mobile to the area and didn't see it. Is it still there?

I couldn't see it either. My best guess is that it was where you can see the wall with the three ghosts from the freeway.

There's an identical freeway sign to the original image just south of there, but I think the one in the original picture might have been on the E Edgeware Road bridge, although there's a different sign there now.

[ethereal_reality]

.

Thanks for checking it out, Hoss. I can probably quit looking for it now.


Oh! And one more thing. (Columbo imitation)

LOL. When I first inspected the hardware store fire photo I was going to suggest the store might be near NBC Studios because of the logos on the 'newish' sign.



But then I had a flashback from my youth:..My father used to paint houses (as a side hustle) so our garage was full of paint cans. . aaaaand . .lo and behold. .





How you like dem apples?


.

[Snix]

Originally Posted by HossC

The signs in the pictures of old Orange Julius locations posted Snix and unihikid reminded me of one of my (Orange?) Julius Shulman posts. I've edited the version below - the full post is here.

I checked the CDs, and this was indeed an Orange Julius location in the '60s and '70s. Although it lacks the distinctive architecture in the posts above, you can see the original sign outlines in the GSV image below.

INDEED! Machos Tacos at 1670 N. Vermont Ave. was once another Orange Julius stand. It dates from 1966, which I suppose is a bit later than the folded plate designs. This must be a whole new prototype. I like the optimism of "Dine a la sidewalk cafe" at the busy intersection of Hollywood and Vermont.


City of Los Angeles Building Permit 8/3/66
I can't find anything on an architect named Reese L. Freelang but I did find a reference to a Reese L. Freeland at USC - neither of which show up as licensed California architects in 1956 or AIA members in 1962 or 1970.


Hollywood Boulevard, 1973 : Roll 3 : Edgemont Med Center headed east : Image 0073 via Getty Museum
https://www.getty.edu/research/colle.../object/102Z9R

[Snix]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Let's try it again.



Does anyone have an idea where this photograph was taken? I'm especially intrigued by the mural.




Judging by the Mazda I'd say it's from the 1980s.



Yes, I see the highway sign but it'sa bit difficult to read. (for me anyway)

.

Kent Twitchell's poor "Freeway Lady" was painted in 1974 and destroyed in 1986 by a billboard company looking to sell ad space overlooking the Hollywood freeway. The artist spent years trying to uncover and restore her. Lawsuits were filed, restorations were started, and thirty years later she's still covered with paint.

LAT 12/29/86

BUT
Twitchell painted a new version at Los Angeles Valley College in 2016



https://www.dailynews.com/2016/04/13...rnando-valley/

[odinthor]

Freeway Lady in her original placement. (I remember her well.)


eBay

I believe this (on the left, the ghosts) is the current look of the site. I made the picture so wide to show the freeway sign, which has the same streets as the old sign:


gsv

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Snix

Hollywood Boulevard, 1973 : Roll 3 : Edgemont Med Center headed east : Image 0073 via Getty Museum
https://www.getty.edu/research/colle.../object/102Z9R

Wow, look at how CLEAN everything is!



I live 4 blocks north of where this photo was taken, and I wish it still looked as nice as it does in this photo!

That dining area has been fenced off to keep the usual Hollywood Blvd crazies out, and that island/park on the far left is usually populated by homeless tents...

It's pretty much always been that way, at least since I first started coming to the area back in '93.

[Martin Pal]

Los Angeles Dodgers 2024 World Series Champions!

LAT

[Snix]

Midcentury supermarkets are such an endangered species that coming across a fairly original exterior is exciting. I recently visited M&L Fabrics at 3430 W. Ball Street in Anaheim, which was built as a Mayfair market in 1960. It even has a mosaic "M" logo at the entrance which I foolishly did not photograph. I'd love to see a picture of it in its prime. The last store lingered into the 2000s but it was once a huge bustling chain.

GSV

Anaheim Bulletin
3.29.61
Here is a particularly elegant one in Palm Springs from 1959 by the architect Wiliam Cody.

California State University San Luis Obispo
https://archives.calstate.edu/concer...ives/g445ch55f

The Anaheim location was designed by a Mexican architect named Emil J. Warner who I had never heard of and who does not seem to have left much of a trail. Here are some breadcrumbs for future researchers. The 1970 AIA directory says he took a post-grad course in architecture at Paramount Pictures. That's interesting.

Emil Jack Warner
AKA Jose Emillio Benito Uriarte
Born in Mexico City 3.21.20 (died 10.20.78)
USC, 1944

Hawthorne Community Hospital addition, 1957
Mayfair Market, Anaheim, 1960
Alpine Alley (bowling center), Sacramento, 1961
Ellis home, Montrose, 1959
Church of the Nazarene, Palmdale, 1965
Antelope Valley Hospital, 1966
Bank of America, Inglewood, 1966
Gerry Chazan shopping center, Woodland Hills, 1967
7-J Investment office building, South Pasadena, 1967