noirish Los Angeles

[Mstimc]

So, apropos of nothing in particular...yesterday, (yes, a Sunday) I dropped my son off at the City of L.A. Personnel Testing Center at Temple and Vignes so he could take a civil service exam (he already works for the City--its a long story). After parking near Olvera Street and noting many of the places mentioned here like Marcessault St, New High, etc. my dogs got tired and I just drive around in the vicinity of the Testing Center. I was surprised how many relatively well-preserved buildings are in that area--several with very ornate entrances and cornices. Forgive the lack of photos: 1) I was driving, not conducive to shooting pics, and 2) I still can't get my head around posting pictures. But some impressive architecture nonetheless.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Great photo, CityBoyDoug! I wonder if Disneyland still sells fun hats like those (not the mouse ears cap) with your name custom stitched on the front.

I checked the Disney store....Didn't see exactly that but how could they ever go out of style.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Great photo, CityBoyDoug! I wonder if Disneyland still sells fun hats like those (not the mouse ears cap) with your name custom stitched on the front.

They still do the stitching of your name(or whatever you want), I've not been in 20 years so I don't know about the selection. They used to have other types of hats at "The Mad Hatter", I bought a tan bowler once.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Meeting a spaceman at Disneyland....it might even be more fun than Panning for Gold.


https://78.media.tumblr.com/

Bob Barger, Tomorrowland Spaceman, with Ron Hamblen, Bill Brakemeyer and Jim Ferguson, June 7, 1958

The late 1950s Disneyland was pretty tame. Not even a Space Mountain back then. Oh those poor kids in those dweeby 1950s clothes. Could have been me. I visited Disneyland as a dweeby kid around 1958. Still remember the flying teacups and Dumbo ride and Carnation ice cream on Main Street. I was too young to pilot a go cart in the go cart attraction. No monorail back then. No Disneyland hotel. Not even a Matterhorn. Pretty much crop fields where Angel Stadium is. But it was a fun day. I saw Mickey Mouse, and I vaguely remember seeing this spaceman dude. I was six, so he scared me. I went on the Rocket to the Moon ride, and it basically was a film with some sound and vibrations to simulate takeoff. A couple of years later, we went out to P.O.P. in Venice Beach, and that was fun. Lots of rides and booths where you could throw things and win prizes. For a kid from the hot S.F. valley, I remember being amazed at how cold and cloudy Venice Beach was in August. My first lesson in L.A. region microclimates. If you liked the Old West, you went out to Mr. & Mrs. Knott's Berry Farm. Capped the day off with a chicken dinner and boysenberry pie slice with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm. They had a satellite operation out near Barstow at the old Calico ghost town. Ah, the 1950s and early 1960s. Yes indeed.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Great photo, CityBoyDoug! I wonder if Disneyland still sells fun hats like those (not the mouse ears cap) with your name custom stitched on the front.

My cousins and I all had those hats at the time. We thought they were great. I might still have it, stuffed in a closet somewhere, that is the advantage of always living in the same house. I think now most of the hats are tied into movie themes, BOO!! Most are baseball style hats or knitted beanies with a few more elaborate, but again movie themed, hats. Of course, they are all much more expensive than they were then. The plain mouse ear hats in adult and kid sizes are now $15, whereas I think that the one I had was somewhere in the range of $1.50 (of course that was in the 50's)

Disneyland used to have great merchandise that was unique and not all made for walking commercials, but now......

[odinthor]

Sometimes it's startling how much Los Angeles has changed in a hundred years.

From the Los Angeles Times of June 12, 1918:


Los Angeles Times via ProQuest via CSULB Library

Can you imagine a time when Los Angeles was crowded, jammed with cars, and there were drunk drivers to be found on the streets? Huh!

[ethereal_reality]

After Noir Noir posted that great ad for orchids from Tropical Flowerland I was ready to let the subject go. (to everyone's relief no doubt )
But since it's me , I decided to go on one more 'orchid' google search.

It led me to an orchid grotto up in the Hollywood Hills.

Here it is from the outside looking in (with strategically placed bathing beauties!?!)


POPULAR MECHANICS

Welcome to Hal Hayes' ATOMIC HOUSE. [c.1953]


This view shows the shock-proof outer wall (Hal said the glass could be easily repliced)
At the bottom, you can see Hal's car parked on rails that cantilever out past a retainng wall.




POPULAR MECHANICS




Another look at the car situation. (and the shutters....steel shutters)





The breakaway windows with dramatically posed starlets.


Popular Mechanics 1953

....... That must be Hal.





DECONTAMINATION POOL.

POPULAR MECHANICS

Oh so that's how it works.





odinthor, sit down before you see this next feature.



I don't care if it is nuclear winter that's NO way to treat a tree.





And this must be Hal's wife. (Hal was also, at one time, the fiance' of Zsa Zsa Gabor)


POPULAR MECHANICS

Nothing says Home Sweet Home like swirled linoleum paste.





And here's the best part!

The home is still there nestled into the Hollywood Hills.


GOOGLE EARTH

. . .nestled into the Hollywood Hills.



and FOR SALE (at least it was in 2010). Read about it at LACURBED


LACURBED

__

[Krell58]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Meeting a spaceman at Disneyland....it might even be more fun than Panning for Gold.


https://78.media.tumblr.com/

Bob Barger, Tomorrowland Spaceman, with Ron Hamblen, Bill Brakemeyer and Jim Ferguson, June 7, 1958

Young Bill is in current fashion with his shirt half tucked.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

[...]

odinthor, sit down before you see this next feature.

______________________


http://www.theblowoff.com/2012/05/men-who-cry-and-why-i-love-them.html#.WyAZV8GWxPY

______________________

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

don't care if it is nuclear winter that's NO way to treat a tree.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

If you liked the Old West, you went out to Mr. & Mrs. Knott's Berry Farm. Capped the day off with a chicken dinner and boysenberry pie slice with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm. They had a satellite operation out near Barstow at the old Calico ghost town. Ah, the 1950s and early 1960s. Yes indeed.

We went to Knotts more often than Disneyland since my did liked the Old West, though Jungleland was local so we went there alot.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

We went to Knotts more often than Disneyland since my did liked the Old West, though Jungleland was local so we went there alot.

No offense to Knott's Berry Farm fans, but in high school we always referred to it as Not Very Fun.

Never saw Jungleland, but I did enjoy childhood visits to Busch Gardens, Marineland of the Pacific, and the trains at Griffith Park. I was also taken to Pacific Ocean Park but I have no memory of it.

Of all the Southern California tourist attractions I saw as a kid, Calico Ghost Town was the most disappointing.

[odinthor]

What? No love for the world's most boring delightful attraction? You don't want scores of tame deer nudging you for crackers???



http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2011_09_28_archive.html

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

No offense to Knott's Berry Farm fans, but in high school we always referred to it as Not Very Fun.

Funny, because when I was in junior high back in the early 80s, Knott's (and Magic Mountain) was considered the better amusement park because it had "better rides." Maybe we thought it was less baby-ish or something, who knows.

And in the 80s, Knott's had a "dance club" (haha) called Studio K. It was fun watching poser New Wave kids trying to dance.

And of course there was Knott's Scary Farm, which I went to from 9th through 11th grade.

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

No offense to Knott's Berry Farm fans, but in high school we always referred to it as Not Very Fun.

Never saw Jungleland, but I did enjoy childhood visits to Busch Gardens, Marineland of the Pacific, and the trains at Griffith Park. I was also taken to Pacific Ocean Park but I have no memory of it.

Of all the Southern California tourist attractions I saw as a kid, Calico Ghost Town was the most disappointing.

For an 80's only child, my favorite park was Disneyland....mainly because of the flowers. I remember we use to park where California Disney is now, and there would be no shade at all... then we would walk to the gates and there we're tons of flowers. The rides we're kinda boring back then as well. I got to ride the sky buckets and i saw Frankie Ford and Avalon perform together on stage (i want to say tomorrowland, the stage raised up from the ground) along with my dad's group. Oh and they use to have dixieland players perform all over the park (some of the players i later found out we're big name jazz artist in their sunset years).

We also went to Marineworld/land (dad did a radio commercial for them) and i have a caricature from one of our trips out there. Knotts was only an option during school trips, and Universal was always a waste of time.

One place that i always rode my bike past was Playland right near Pan Pacific Park, it was an indoor kiddie park, and by the time i found out i was too old to really enjoy it. It was on Third right between Farmers Market and Pan Pacific Park and next to Gilmore Bank... Its now the Grove.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by odinthor

What? No love for the world's most boring delightful attraction? You don't want scores of tame deer nudging you for crackers???



http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2011_09_28_archive.html

I visited this place one time. I think I can still smell it. One of a long history of animal parks in So. Cal. Monkey Island, Alligator Farm, Ostrich Farm , Gay's Lion Farm, Jungleland, Lion Country Safari, MarineLand, ......did I miss any?

...
http://www.yesterland.com/images-sidetrips/lioncountry_brochure.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

What? No love for the world's most boring delightful attraction? You don't want scores of tame deer nudging you for crackers???


http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2011_09_28_archive.html

I remember the Japanese Deer Park from an episode of MANNIX. [Enter Tami Okada]
The park was a significant part of the plot so it appeared throughout the entire episode. (obviously a promo the deer park)

Mako and Mannix meet the marvelous Miko Mayama!


Watching it as a kid I wondered why the whole place was empty. It didn't make you want to go there.
__




August 1969

check out A nicely dressed couple on a date at the deer park in 1969. [MORE PHOTOS]









OCTHEN

"Why did Dad and Mom bring me here?"



__

[ethereal_reality]

1909 Los Angeles 'mystery' Badge.


invaluable

Brass badge with "Souvenir" hanger. 1.5" diameter, "1900 Jaehrige gedenkfeier der hermanns - schlacht im teutoburger walde"//
"Los Angeles, Cal. 15 August 1909". This is the first of these we've seen in decades.

Anyone speak....Teutonic?

On closer inspection the guy looks like a Viking....maybe.

__

[Scott Charles]

Wow, what a list of amusement parks you folks have come up with! Brings back a lot of memories!

Originally Posted by unihikid

One place that i always rode my bike past was Playland right near Pan Pacific Park, it was an indoor kiddie park, and by the time i found out i was too old to really enjoy it. It was on Third right between Farmers Market and Pan Pacific Park and next to Gilmore Bank... Its now the Grove.

I never went to, nor heard of, this Playland you mention, unihikid. But I did go to another place somewhat nearby that hasn't been mentioned yet - Beverly Park, aka Kiddieland:

• Video Link

Located where the Beverly Center is now, Kiddieland was open between 1945 and 1974.

My family has photos of my big brother and I riding the cars at Kiddieland. Anybody else remember this place?

As to the places mentioned so far in this thread:


Places I've been to:

Beverly Park/Kiddieland - See above.
Disneyland - I went here many times. My favorite attraction was/is the Haunted Mansion. I liked architecture even as a kid!
Marineland of the Pacific - I remember going here more than once.
Japanese Deer Park - We have photos of my brother and I here feeding the deer.
Magic Mountain - I went here a number of times.
Trains at Griffith Park - I rode these trains a number of times.
Lion Country Safari - I remember this place vividly. I think I went twice.


Places I've heard of, but have never been to:

Knott's Berry Farm
Busch Gardens
Pacific Ocean Park
Alligator Farm


Places I've never heard of:

Jungleland
Calico Ghost Town
Monkey Island
Ostrich Farm
Gay's Lion Farm
Playland near Pan Pacific Park

[Scott Charles]

The last time I thought I could stump the forum was when I asked about the downtown building with an ocean liner on its roof. Of course, you people are unstumpable, and the building was identified in the very first response!

Well, here's another one to try to stump the forum with! All these posts about amusement parks reminded me of it.

This place was a miniature golf course within a quarter mile of my parents' house. It was located on the south side of Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake. It was between Cartwright Avenue to the east, and Riverton Avenue to the west. The approximate location can be seen here on Google Maps.



The following is all from memory, and may not be fully accurate: The golf course was there in the 1970s, and might be much older than that (I'd guess since the ’60s, maybe even the ’50s). I got my driver's permit in 1982, and I remember driving past the course at least once, so it was still standing around ’82-’84. It was out of business by that time, and the buildings that replaced it probably showed up in the mid/late ’80s. My older brother remembers the course, too, but he doesn't remember its name or any other details. He actually went there with a date, but I never got to go there.

I've tried to locate the place over the years by using Google, but any search for “miniature golf riverside drive” (or similar) simply redirects you to the nearby Lakeside Golf Club on the shores of Toluca Lake, roughly ten blocks away. Frustrating!

I've actually dreamed about this place over the years: in my dream it will be night time, I'll pull the car over, and wander through the course. Abandoned amusement parks and places like that appeal to me for some odd reason, which is probably why I have these dreams.

Does anybody else here remember this miniature golf course?

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

1909 Los Angeles 'mystery' Badge.


invaluable

Brass badge with "Souvenir" hanger. 1.5" diameter, "1900 Jaehrige gedenkfeier der hermanns - schlacht im teutoburger walde"//
"Los Angeles, Cal. 15 August 1909". This is the first of these we've seen in decades.

Anyone speak....Teutonic?

On closer inspection the guy looks like a Viking. One of your distant ancestors odinthor?

__

Commemorates the victory of Hermann the Cheruscan, AKA Arminius, over the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. There's a giant statue of the guy in New Ulm, Minnesota, known to locals as "Hermann the German." There was a fraternal order called the "Sons of Hermann."

Cheers,

Earl