noirish Los Angeles

[Martin Pal]

Yelp

E_R, I believe the Burbank Saloon is where the recently closed Tinhorn Flats was at 2623 W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank.

Yelp listed it as a sports bar. This 2021 article (w/video) says it was sold after a lot of controversies:

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/n...sold-by-owner/

Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill, the bar that raised controversy over their defiance of coronavirus mandates and restrictions, was sold on Tuesday. The new owner is listed as Old Fashioned Investment, LLC. Little was found upon looking into the origin of the new owner.

City officials announced that the fence that has surrounded the property for the last several months was removed on Friday, despite not receiving an application for reuse of the property at this point. In June, the bar underwent a forced eviction from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department due to their refusal to shut their doors during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

This all began nearly a year ago, when the bar had its business license revoked by the city of Burbank for violating health orders in February. A cease-and-desist order was filed against the restaurant as early as January 2021, for disregarding the city's outdoor dining ban.


More at the link.

It had a verrry cool neon sign:

[ethereal_reality]

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Thanks for your help, Martin Pal.

Do you think someone drove that little car to the saloon for a beer? It looks like they ran into the pole. ..ha ha


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[ethereal_reality]

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Mystery Balloon


This intriguing old photograph c.1900 just showed up on eBay.

Seller's description:..Vintage 1901 Photo of People in Hot Air Balloon Basket American Flag in Pasadena


eBay


As you can see there aren't many clues other than the rose(?) trellis's, the ugly fence. . .

. . . and if you look closely there appears to be bench seating facing to the left. . .so perhaps there is a stage just out of view. (to the left)



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[ethereal_reality]

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Well, all you Sherlocks, we have a mystery vantage point to solve.


I don't believe we have ever seen a view from this particular angle.


eBay

So what skyscraper was the photographer in when he/she took the picture? You can see the window on either sided of the slide.


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[HossC]

I'm going for the AON Center. It was completed in 1974 and the Rex Arms was demolished around 1976.

[ethereal_reality]

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..After some calculatin' and sipherin' I figure the photographer was on (or near) the 36th floor .................................................................................................


1976


Thanks for your help, Hoss!


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[ethereal_reality]

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Here's an earlier view when the AON Center was still under construction. [1973] For everyone's convenience I've cricled the Rex Arms...(I forgot to circle it).. You all know where it is anyway.



historiclosangeles

The Rex Arms will be gone in three years...(the one not circled)

The large building to its right is the original Wilshire Grand Hotel slash Statler Hotel which opened in 1952. (it hosted the Emmy Awards that same year) The hotel was demolished in 2013 to make way for the Wilshire Grand Center



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[ethereal_reality]

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Here's a cool old photograph of three men standing in front of the 'Torrance Electric Shop'. I'll take a guess and say it's in the late 1920s. (note the parked car in the reflection of the window)
You can see its two headlights and canopy top.


I quickly looked through some street directories but I didn't an address.


eBay

I'm curious about the men's shoes and boots.

The two on either end look like they might be going duck hunting. The middle dude is wearing what appears to be Bozo's shoes. ...



The seller is asking a whopping $99.99

[HossC]

The main advert is from the 1922 City Directory and just lists the address as the P.O. Building. The second entry with an address of 1419 Marcelina Avenue is from the 1929 CD, and the last with an address of 1421 Marcelina Avenue is from the 1940 CD, although the Torrance Electric Shop was already at that address by at least 1936. It was still there in 1956, and at 1421½ Marcelina in 1959. The last reference I found in the Torrance CDs was at 1778 W Carson in 1975.


1922 CD1929 CD1940 CD

[odinthor]

Typing this out rather than posting the actual article because the points of interest in this long article are merely composed of two widely separated sentences:

"Continuing its investigation of asserted monopolistic practices in Southern California building-trades industry the special Federal grand jury yesterday returned two indictments in the electrical contracting field against 2 chapters of an association, 2 locals of an electrical union, 4 corporations and 39 individuals. [... after listing various worthies, under the heading "Other Members Charged" will be found:] B.J. Scott, doing business under the name of Torrance Electric Shop and member of the defendant association." --LA Times, 3/30/1940.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks, Hoss & odinthor. To be honest I didn't think anyone would figure out the location. I'm glad you did.

I just happened upon this nifty mb with a cut-out design for the 'Royal Crest' in Inglewood.








I checked out the address and am happy(?) to report that the 'Yee Olde' faux-type facade is still in place after all these years...(note the matching chimney)


GSV / 1508 Centinela Blvd.

I like the mid-century building on the left too.



Here's a better look at it.


GSV

I'll wager a guess and say this was built as a real estate doctor's office. ..Do you think I'm close?


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[Noir_Noir]

To award you a gold medal e_r, we would normally require that you specify an area of specialization in your doctor guess.

The NLA Organizing Committee has decided to let you away with this time and give you a big shiny gold.


1512 Centinela was built in 1950 -



movoto.com


and one of it's original tenants was an Osteopath.



archive.org. - journal-of-the-american-osteopathic-association_1950-06

[ethereal_reality]

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[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by HossC

The main advert is from the 1922 City Directory and just lists the address as the P.O. Building. The second entry with an address of 1419 Marcelina Avenue is from the 1929 CD, and the last with an address of 1421 Marcelina Avenue is from the 1940 CD, although the Torrance Electric Shop was already at that address by at least 1936. It was still there in 1956, and at 1421½ Marcelina in 1959. The last reference I found in the Torrance CDs was at 1778 W Carson in 1975.


1922 CD1929 CD1940 CD

It never ceases to amaze me that sign makers, typesetters and the like can let such obvious boo-boos slip through. Contracror? I would expect Mr. M.W. Smith was not pleased when that ad ran......

[odinthor]

It happens when the company or publication doesn't have dedicated proofreaders but rather depends upon the (usually weary) writers or typesetters to proof their own material. The brain knows what you mean, so it doesn't think a misspelling to be of any consequence. A trick I learned for when you have to proof your own stuff is to read the sentences backwards so the brain is jolted into thinking it's something new.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by odinthor

A trick I learned for when you have to proof your own stuff is to read the sentences backwards so the brain is jolted into thinking it's something new.

The typesetters would've been reading the movable type backwards anyway, so I'm not surprised the odd typo crept in.

[riichkay]

Screen grabs from "The Scarf", a 1951 psychological thriller with some noirish elements....the pic stars John Ireland and Mercedes McCambridge....there is a brief sequence with exteriors....the film is here.... [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qIrV5GtR9Q&t=109s...

....the sequence starts at about 54:27....


Ireland is in a bar supposedly on Main St....





.....as he leaves the place the Gayety Theater marquee is visible....



....Randolph Scott and Don Ameche are billed, but they never appeared together in a film....I assume the marquee was altered to delete an actual film title of the day....



....there was a bar/restaurant directly across from the Gayety, as seen in this 1940's photo....



....but I don't think Ireland was actually in Harry's, if you watch the sequence there is no ambient sound coming in off the street....my guess is this was a "process" shot, with footage of the Gayety projected in back of the bar set on a soundstage.



The sequence continues into the next day, Ireland is walking on 1st St....




....the Hill St. tunnel in the background.







....the camera pans around as he continues east on 1st St.....






We don't see it but at some point Ireland crosses to the north side of 1st. St., here he returns to the south side at Spring St....



....there is a rather prominent building in the background, I assume it's at 1st and Main....can anyone i.d. that building?



Ireland approaches the entrance to the Times Building, exteriors end here....

[HenryHuntington]

riichkay, I believe the building you asked about was the Hellman Building at 120 N. Main St., not to be confused with the other Hellman Building at 223 W. 2nd St., nor with the H.W. Hellman Building at 356 S. Spring St. and certainly not with the I.W. Hellman Building at 411 S. Main St. Got all that? :-) (Source: ResCarta L.A. City Directory 1912)

BTW, I'm pretty sure that the exterior shot looking north on Main St. from the Gayety Theater/Harry's Bar location was a B-roll taken in 1946 or the first half of 1947 based on the depiction of two-way traffic on 4th St. and on the LATL streetcars crossing Main St. at that location. IIRC, east-west streets in that part of DTLA were made one-way on or about August 24, 1947. The resulting gridlock caused by the changeover was monumental.

[Snix]

Our Kenneth Anger / St. Frances Hotel discussion the other day led me to this Sidney Skolsky column from 1958 that mentions Anger filming "The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" at the home of Samson De Brier.


Los Angeles Evening Citizen News
Tue, May 13, 1958

Los Angeles Mirror
Tue, Feb 07, 1961

The actor (1909-1995), who hosted salons at his home was called a 'celebrity warlock' in his Los Angeles Times obituary.


"...In 1953 he starred with Nin in Kenneth Anger’s cult film “Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome,” which centered on DeBrier’s Hollywood home, where the bed was shaped like a Chinese dragon’s belly....By 1941 his income had diminished and he moved to California to work in an aircraft plant. He stayed in Hollywood, buying a century-old Georgian House, which he filled with oriental robes, velvet pillows and emerald jewelry. For extra income he rented out the main house while presiding over his intimate discussion groups in the small rear bungalow.

There his guests over the years included the freshest faces of Hollywood: Jack Nicholson, James Dean, Stanley Kubrick, Steve McQueen and Jane Fonda, together with such older luminaries as Igor Stravinsky, Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, Anais Nin and Dorothy Parker."
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...291-story.html

DeBrier's home still stands at 6026 Barton Ave.

1956 City Directory


2019 GSV

Redfin
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angele...8/home/7108452

Interior photos here: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...20789551_zpid/

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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I loved your before and after photographs, Snix.



There are a couple of things that I've never noticed about the old St. Francis Hotel / Apartments.

For instance, the 'appendage' (wing?) sticking out in the back on the east side.



It's virtually impossible to see it from any angle. (especial after the Marshall's store was built directly to the east)


I thought perhaps it was an addition (annex?) but I see it is original to the building. (see below)


LATimes JHGraham

Another thing I didn't know was that the hotel's garage was located on the opposite side of Hollywood Boulevard. (that's rather inconvient)



Here's a photograph of it.

LATimes JHGraham

The garage is no longer there.
_______________________


I was really intrigued about Kenneth Anger living in the St. Francis, Snix. I had never heard that before. I saw a couple of mentions of it online but without much detail.
Does anyone know when he was a resident? Was it when he was young or later in his life? (I believe Anger also lived at the Chateau Marmont)


Kenneth Anger - 1955.

Variety


Newspaper articles and ads from JHGraham

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[ethereal_reality]

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Originally Posted by Snix

Our Kenneth Anger / St. Frances Hotel discussion the other day led me to this Sidney Skolsky column from 1958 that mentions Anger filming "The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" at the home of Samson De Brier.

The actor (1909-1995), who hosted salons at his home was called a 'celebrity warlock' in his Los Angeles Times obituary.

"...In 1953 he starred with Nin in Kenneth Anger’s cult film “Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome,” which centered on DeBrier’s Hollywood home, where the bed was shaped like a Chinese dragon’s belly....By 1941 his income had diminished and he moved to California to work in an aircraft plant. He stayed in Hollywood, buying a century-old Georgian House, which he filled with oriental robes, velvet pillows and emerald jewelry. For extra income he rented out the main house while presiding over his intimate discussion groups in the small rear bungalow.

DeBrier's home still stands at 6026 Barton Ave.

1956 City Directory

Fantastic sleuthing, Snix. ..I had never heard any of this before.

Here's a rare opportunity to meet Simon De Brier and see inside his home on Barton Ave.

The person he is talking about at the beginning is Evelyn Nesbit.

• Video Link

The cameraman begins filming the interior of the room at 3:14. ..

I wonder where all the marvelous bric-a-brac and tchotchkes ended up after he passed away. Hopefully they were saved.


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