noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

Another reminder to mark your calendar for Sunday, March 27: the new HBO Mildred Pierce
premieres. You've got some mighty big shoes to fill, Miss Winslet.


But first (in the automotive spirit of recent posts), Glendale, 1945:
www.imcdb.com
Albert Pierce's 1936 DeSoto Airstream in front of what Veda deemed a shack. (I'd kill for
that shack.)


Global warming: palm trees on Long Island. Well, not exactly, but they've actually put
palms in the ground at the Woolworth house in Glove Cove to pass it off as Monte and
Mildred Beragon's Pasadena mansion in the new version...are these the right
kind of palms? (All eyes are going to be on this new version....)
www.glencove.patch.com
Well, it looks suitably seedy here--you can see that the Beragons were definitely in
queer street before Mildred got her hands on it....


And back to 1945:
www.imcdb.com
I never noticed that Mildred's base of operations was at her Beverly Hills unit. That's Veda
pulling out in her brand new Buick--the one with "VP" on the door.

[Beaudry]

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

Felix Chevrolet 12th and grand 1930


Source: California State Library

detail of lobby facade


Source: California State Library

current view of the building


Source: you are here

What in the world were they thinking when they destroyed the integrity of the first floor?
Not only did they brick up the windows, they also installed those tacky "carriage house" lighting fixtures.

[ethereal_reality]

Kitsch at it's finest.

A ceramic vase in the shape of the Bonaventure Hotel.



currently on ebay


It's SO bad....that it's good.

[1939er]

wow just what i've been looking for awsome.been inside of this building and the inside has retained alot of it's original charm.the facade is no longer bricked-up.glass all the way around. all take all the images i can get hands on. felix and his bag of tricks will make your heart go pitter patter as i recall. jees now i can't get that jingle out of my head.

thank you

[scanlessfool]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

usc archive

This picture is one of my favorite in this thread because it shows my old high school in the background, Cathedral. It is located in the upper right hand right where the 110 North curves.

[mdiederi]

Suicide under 1st Street and Figueroa Bridge, July 15, 1951.


usdcl

[kanhawk]

Is this the same parking lot where Jim Rockford parked his old beat up trailer in the The Rockford Files?

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

\Then,
as now, the Cove was trailer heaven:

LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics06/00022919.jpg

[GaylordWilshire]

http://stupendouslyamazinglycoololdtv.blogspot.com


dvdbeaver.com

Indeed it is, kanhawk. Other than this partial shot, I couldn't find any usable pics of it, but apparently Jim kept his trailer at "2354 Pacific Coast Highway, L.A." in the first couple of seasons. After that he moved to "29 Cove Road" in Paradise Cove next to the pier and restaurant, and the trailer got dolled up.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com

[GaylordWilshire]

Google Street View


In The New York Times tomorrow:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/tr...e&ref=homepage


No mention is made of Cole's in the article, but its nighttime alter ego, the Varnish, is listed.

[sopas ej]

I LOVE Cole's. I'm glad it still exists, though I liked the really old feel it had before its renovation, back in the days when they had sawdust on the floor, and you were running the gauntlet of scary/schizophrenic homeless and panhandlers to walk to the entrance, and when you were driving and stopped at a red light at the intersection of 6th and Los Angeles Street, bums would descend on your car and start rubbing the windows with newspaper. And this was the early 1990s.

I've never been to the Varnish. To get to it, you have to go through a door in the back of Cole's. Cole's already has a bar in the front, but I guess the Varnish is more of a "speakeasy." I believe they opened only a few years ago.

Here's a shot of the Pacific Electric building, with Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet, as it was called. The USC Archive captioned this as being between 1900-1920. Uh, yeah. The building itself opened in 1904, with Cole's having opened in 1908. So, you guys be the judge. My guess is 1908-1910, judging by the modes of transportation. I can't imagine having to get used to the smell of horses. If only there were ladies in the photo, I could probably date it by their fashions-- even in the 1910s, women's fashions were constantly changing, the beginning of that decade was considerably different than the middle and end of the decade in terms of what women wore, looking at stills of silent films from that decade.


USC Archive

[sopas ej]

mdiederi that's a creepy photo.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Another reminder to mark your calendar for Sunday, March 27: the new HBO Mildred Pierce
premieres. You've got some mighty big shoes to fill, Miss Winslet.


But first (in the automotive spirit of recent posts), Glendale, 1945:
www.imcdb.com
Albert Pierce's 1936 DeSoto Airstream in front of what Veda deemed a shack. (I'd kill for
that shack.)

"We lived on Corvallis Street where all the houses looked alike. Ours was number 1143."

"I saw father go out... What did you and father quarrel about?"

I love that movie.

[sopas ej]

Speaking of "Mildred Pierce," the beach house in the film was located at what is now 26652 Latigo Shore Drive in Malibu. The beach house scenes for the film were shot here in December 1944. Here are some cheapie pics I took off of my computer monitor from the "Mildred Pierce" DVD.





Ever notice in movies of that era, that the passenger gets into and out of a car on the driver's side? And, if the car is parked at the curb, the driver will enter/exit the car from the passenger's side? I always thought that was weird.

The house was destroyed after a powerful storm in 1983.

Latigo Shore Drive branches off from PCH just west of Corral Canyon Drive and parallels the shoreline, while PCH continues west, ascending a bluff. But originally, PCH (back then called Roosevelt Highway, which opened in 1929) followed what is now Latigo Shore Drive. In the later 1940s when PCH was rerouted over the bluff, Latigo Shore Drive was turned into a private street, and today the street's name changes as you move from east to west; the street branches off from PCH and is called Seagull Way, then becomes Latigo Shore Drive, and then becomes Malibu Cove Colony Drive: 26652 Latigo Shore Drive, Malibu

[westcork]

Originally Posted by mdiederi

Suicide under 1st Street and Figueroa Bridge, July 15, 1951.


usdcl

I walk under that bridge everyday. It's amazing to see there was just as much trash and graffiti sixty years ago. One big difference is today there is at least twelve inches of guano stacked up on the horizontal portions of the metal beams.

[GaylordWilshire]

www.malibucomplete.com
"The End" for the Curtiz/Beragon/Rindge
house, 1983



sopas... not that we can drive by and take a look since the Pacific wrecked it, but the address I see most often for Monte's beach house (where he kept all those bathing costumes for his "sisters") is 26652 Latigo Shore Drive. But more interesting is that it was owned at the time of filming by the director, Michael Curtiz. And in a real twist of Malibiana, the owner at the time of the fatal storm was none other than Frederick Rindge Jr. His ma, of course, was the very feisty May Rindge--she who would have preferred that no one other than Rindges ever lived in Malibu in the first place.... Imagine--no movie stars...no Mildred Pierce....

[westcork]

Here is a gold mine of archives photos for you bus and train junkies
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolibraryarchive

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

www.malibucomplete.com
"The End" for the Curtiz/Beragon/Rindge
house, 1983



sopas... not that we can drive by and take a look since the Pacific wrecked it, but the address I see most often for Monte's beach house (where he kept all those bathing costumes for his "sisters") is 26652 Latigo Shore Drive. But more interesting is that it was owned at the time of filming by the director, Michael Curtiz. And in a real twist of Malibiana, the owner at the time of the fatal storm was none other than Frederick Rindge Jr. His ma, of course, was the very feisty May Rindge--she who would have preferred that no one other than Rindges ever lived in Malibu in the first place.... Imagine--no movie stars...no Mildred Pierce....

Ooops, my bad! I'll change it in my post.

Ah yes, the Rindges. Supposedly, whenever a storm or landslide closes off PCH, it's the Rindge Revenge at work.

[ethereal_reality]

Speaking of.......


turf cigarettes trading card




_______________________



But this post is about one of the uncredited waitresses in Mildred Pierce (1945). That's her on the right.


screen grab/Mildred Pierce






She also played the wife in D.O.A. (1950)


screen grab/D.O.A.







She was named Miss National Maritime (can you say publicity stunt).



los angeles times file photo






Her name was Lynne Baggett.









Universal Pictures




Warner Bros.



cheesecake



_________________



Her rise to fame came to an abrupt halt on July 7th, 1954 when she killed a young boy in a hit-and-run accident.



los angeles times




Ms. Baggett was driving a car loaned to her by actor George Tobias (Abner Kravitz on 'Bewitched'). That's him in the photo.


Phil Bath/los angeles times




Ray Graham/los angeles times


She was found quilty of felony hit-and-run (but not manslaughter). She was sentenced to 60 days in jail (served 50).




los angeles times






Sadly, Lynne Baggett eventually committed suicide in 1960 at the age of 35.


los angeles times




Larry Harnisch at
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...y-photo-9.html



Details of Lynne Baggett's life can be found here.
http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilversc...ett/index.html

[JeffDiego]

Ethereal: Fascinating, but what a sad tale!
I recognized her from a few movies, certainly D.O.A. but I think also a 40's musical called "Cinderella Jones" and maybe "Hollywood Canteen."

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

looking west on wilshire from St. James Church 1936


USC Digital Archives

Couldn't have been St. James' Episcopal Church; that's a few blocks farther west from the old Bullock's Wilshire store. It's on the corner of Wilshire & St. Andrew's Place.