I can't help with this but did notice another interesting old photo from the same seller described as "Los Angeles City Scene"
With the special border, I think it's safe to say this one is Los Angeles.
I wish I could be more help with this photo, e-r. The scene doesn't resemble any photos of a PE location that I can recall. Google Lens suggests that it's looking north on Brand Blvd. in Glendale, but the discrepancies from that location and period are numerous. I'll try a more thorough investigation tomorrow if I can carve out some time. Perhaps the mystery will be solved in the meantime.
I wish I could be more help with this photo, e-r. The scene doesn't resemble any photos of a PE location that I can recall. Google Lens suggests that it's looking north on Brand Blvd. in Glendale, but the discrepancies from that location and period are numerous. I'll try a more thorough investigation tomorrow if I can carve out some time. Perhaps the mystery will be solved in the meantime.
I got the same result, but when I pushed Google Lens further it was also convinced that we were looking at Main Street, Vancouver and Main Street, Salt Lake City. It also provided a link to why AI might be wrong!
I wish I could be more help with this photo, e-r. The scene doesn't resemble any photos of a PE location that I can recall. Google Lens suggests that it's looking north on Brand Blvd. in Glendale, but the discrepancies from that location and period are numerous. I'll try a more thorough investigation tomorrow if I can carve out some time. Perhaps the mystery will be solved in the meantime.
FWIW and without doing any real research, the tall power poles with the six crossbeams don't look like anything I remember seeing in photos of old Los Angeles. The mountains in the background, and having driven through there a few years ago make me think the Salt Lake City possibility that Hoss got from Google may be accurate.
This undated photo from a Salt Lake Tribune article shows Main Street, SLC with two tracks and some similar utility poles
And it seems the entire 400 & 500 blocks of San Fernando have been eaten up by the Burbank Town Center shopping mall, street and all. And that includes the cross street... San Jose.
Could you describe what the lights on the Richfield Building's “derrick” actually did? I've heard the lights were animated, and simulated an erupting geyser - is that correct?
Of course, I'd LOVE to see a movie of the tower's lighting, but I don't know that such a thing exists.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Pal
I remember someone on NLA writing about attending Dodger games and on the way home seeing the Richfield Building lit up.
UPDATE:This video was posted on YouTube just over one month ago. Both of the two following shots feature the Richfield building in the background... and what do these brief clips reveal?
There it is on video! The Richfield “antenna” really DID have animated lights that simulated a geyser!
The Richfield section occurs at around 8:10 in the video:
While scanning through the photograph, I came across some unidentified (at least to me) details. Does anyone know what these structures in the distant background are (or were)?
This dark, and seemingly huge, building far off in the distance behind the Stimson Building:
Also, this other seemingly quite large building (or facade) visible behind the panorama building of the Battle of Paris:
Scott Charles, that is pretty amazing that you noticed that Richfield neon--in motion--in the video! Now I wonder why footage of that sign wasn't specifically ever shot over the years? I had watched this video sometime after it was posted and did not catch this.
Today there are a lot of confirmations online that this neon display actually existed, and a lot of lamentations there is no filmed footage of it, in color or b&w.
Such as:
The terra cotta clad building was topped with angel figures and a 130 foot animated lighted tower that simulated an erupting oil well. The RICHFIELD neon lighting was the tallest electrical sign in the world that could be seen a 100 miles away.
While scanning through the photograph, I came across some unidentified (at least to me) details. Does anyone know what these structures in the distant background are (or were)?
This dark, and seemingly huge, building far off in the distance behind the Stimson Building:
If I remember correctly, our former noirisher CityBoy Doug replied that it was an orphanage where he had stayed.
I'm sure we have seen the Sisters Orphanage/Los Angeles Orphanage before, but my searches didn't find any surviving photos on the thread (I'm sure someone will prove me wrong). Here's the orphanage in 1950. It stood at 917 South Boyle Avenue, Boyle Heights. Constructed 1890-92, it was damaged in the Long Beach Earthquake of 1933, but was still in use up to 1950. It was demolished in 1957.
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