noirish Los Angeles v2.0

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

[...]

This link says the location was 700 Banning Street. I could not find an exact match in my collection of Banning Street photos. However I did find the following photo on Flickr, described as “Just off of Alameda Street”, which is where Banning Street was located, and which appears to show the same street:





Can anyone confirm if these photos actually show BANNING street?


This is a closeup of the same block identified by HossC.

Here is Banning Street in its totality, as represented in the earliest Historic Aerials for the street, 1948. Of the three streets going horizontally, it's the central one.


Historic Aerials

We see a slight bend in Banning Street. Does that agree with the slight bend we see in the distance in the photo of Banning Street?

Looking at successive Historic Aerials images, it appears that the half of Banning Street reaching westward from Vignes to Alameda had disappeared sometime between 1988 and 1992. Vignes is the major street running vertically just right of center. The 700 Banning Street mentioned is the first (and still extant) address on Banning east of Vignes, the site located under the "ST" in the image's watermark.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I saw Phantom of the Paradise there when El Portal was still a movie theater and I was a little kid (1974).
_______________________________________________________________

I thought that film was a few years later than 1974, but you are correct!
Oh, and the El Portal still is a movie theater sometimes!

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

In 2021 the Filthy MacNasty's facade was rebuilt for Daisy Jones and the Six mini-series...Has anyone seen it?
via WeHoTimes.

I have not seen that mini-series, but I did write about being surprised when I went by there one afternoon and seeing the street redressed for the filming! November, 2021. Includes photos.

Link HERE!

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for the information, Martin Pal. I didn't know Filthy MacNasty was a real person. ....:.
_______________________________________________________________

I don't think I did, either!

[Lwize]

I wasn't around when the OG NLA broke, and was freaking out that my login wasn't letting me post or quote.

Just now getting accustomed to v2.0.

It might help the health of the server if quoted posts were judiciously edited to only show relevant images (especially when they're large). A post with five images rarely needs all five images to be repeated when someone comments on it.

Let's keep it clean, folks!

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

,

Good news! I have a mystery location, folks.


“1948 Chrysler New Yorker 1940s Photo LOS ANGELES Zinke’s Proud Man“


eBay

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

But wait, there’s more!…Here’s a second photograph.....Same location. - Same car.



eBay

I’m pretty sure the two photos above show the same street that HossC identified as “the 1600 block of Cahuenga Boulevard” a few pages back:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
A mystery location.

“1940s Enlisted Man Young Woman Harley Davidson Flathead Photo Los Angeles White Dress“


eBay

Originally Posted by HossC

We’re looking north on the 1600 block of Cahuenga Boulevard. Barker Allen Electric (on the right) was at 1642, but I think the only surviving buildings are at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard.


GSV

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Here is Banning Street in its totality, as represented in the earliest Historic Aerials for the street, 1948. Of the three streets going horizontally, it’s the central one.


Historic Aerials

We see a slight bend in Banning Street. Does that agree with the slight bend we see in the distance in the photo of Banning Street?

Thanks for responding, odinthor! I’m not sure if this is what you’re asking, but every photo I have of Banning Street reveals the bend in the street.


Screenshot from the 1990 movie, Darkman.

Originally Posted by odinthor

Looking at successive Historic Aerials images, it appears that the half of Banning Street reaching westward from Vignes to Alameda had disappeared sometime between 1988 and 1992. Vignes is the major street running vertically just right of center. The 700 Banning Street mentioned is the first (and still extant) address on Banning east of Vignes, the site located under the “ST” in the image’s watermark.

The whole section of Banning, west of Vignes, absolutely did disappear during that time - I remember when it disappeared! It was apparently still there when Darkman was filmed, probably a year or two before the movie was released (1990).

I have to admit, I have a bit of a fascination with Banning Street.

When I was around 18 (1984), I started driving around downtown LA at night. I was mesmerized by the old building I discovered, and began to photograph the scenes I found most interesting.

One night, I discovered Banning Street. I was completely entranced by it, it reminded me of the industrial woodcut images of Frans Masereel.

One of the buildings on the north side of Banning had an old, dimly-lit booth in front, and despite it being the dead of night, there was a man sitting inside. He must have been a night watchman or something.

This night was a rare occasion where I did not have my camera (and tripod) with me, but I swore I would return and photograph Banning Street.

By the time I returned with my camera, the vast majority of Banning street was GONE! You can only imagine how disappointed I was!

Anyways, here is a photo I took that night after Banning had disappeared. It was taken just a block or two away (possibly on Garey St? perhaps Vignes?), and the photo was taken while facing east…



I’m sure it’s impossible to figure out the exact location from the signage on the left of the photograph.

I have quite a few photos I took of downtown LA at night, from the mid 1980s to early ’90s. I don’t know if anyone here would be interested in them; I’ve never posted any of them here because I didn’t want to SPAM the forum with old photographs of mine. By default, all of them would count as being “never before seen” - I don’t have a Flickr page or anything like that, so the only people who have ever seen my old photographs are an ex-girlfriend or two…

[odinthor]

Heh, Scott Charles, mostly I was just musing that the angle of the bend in the ground photos seems more than shown in the aerials.

I've just spent half an hour reading dibs and dabs from the archives of the LA Times and LA Herald about Banning Street, the earliest ones in particular. Lots of human interest: Suicides, baby falling into boiling water, destitute couples, burglaries, and so on. The tracks on Banning no doubt served Banning Street's big resident, the L.A. Soap Company.

I suspect we'd all be interested in your nighttime L.A. photos!

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Another mystery location from Whore (1991) which is a pretty bad movie by the way. That said, it's availabe on YouTube for anyone who'd like to bite the bullet and watch it. ..(I did)......twice
The opening credit are there- you just have to rewind to the beginning.

This convenience store appears to be makeshift but I think that's probably how it was in real life too.



If this is where I think it is - I had no idea there were stores down there. ..(or if I did I had forgotten)

Originally Posted by knapford

E_R, looks to me like the interior of the Pershing Square Parking Garage.
Why I remember these things, I do not know...

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

THANKS, knapford! That's what I was thinking too.

This screengrab shows the Hill Street exit from the Pershing Square Garage rather than the Olive Street one in e_r's picture, but the styles match.



It's from the video below:

Only 1 Working! Defunct OTIS Single-File Escalators - Pershing Square Garage - Los Angeles, CA

• Video Link

[ethereal_reality]

.
I appreciate all the terrific follow-ups and answers, noirishers. Thanks to you, the 2.0 version of noirish Los Angeles is off to a great start.

I couldn't be prouder.


,

[ethereal_reality]

.

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I’m pretty sure the two photos above show the same street that HossC identified as “the 1600 block of Cahuenga Boulevard” a few pages back:

Hmmm, so maybe the blade sign doesn't say 'cocktails' after all.


Complete photograph Here.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Here's an amateur night-time view of Los Angeles taken in the 1960s.

If you look closely you can see the Arcade Theater (and several others) at 534 S. Broadway. We recently saw the Arcade in one of the screen-grabs from Whore.



Found on eBay a couple of days ago.

The first thing that caught my eye was the station wagon. ..At first I thought it was a hearse with hippies driving around in it. . .

. .then I thought it might be a fire rescue vehicle. .but now I'm thinking it's a normal station wagon.
oh, & the volkswagon 'beetle' behind it looks pretty cool. Is that a chrome grill towards the tip of the vw's hood or a reflection of one of the tall buildings?


.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by odinthor

In re: 5301/5303 Lankershim

Probably built as a bank, by its looks; but its history before 1958 has so far eluded me--perhaps the address used differs from the above. From 1958 to 2001, recourse to LA Times archives reveals (the mentions are unremarkable and unworthy of occupying space here with images):

1958, Lemonade stand for the Multiple Sclerosis Drive (likely referring to the sidewalk in front!)
1960, No. Hollywood Democratic Party Headquarters
1963, Security First National Bank
1972, unoccupied branch of the above, being used temporarily by the Junior Achievement organization, after a fire destroyed their other headquarters, still there July 1973
1974-1976, Wide World Import Bazaar
By 1985, Paperback Shack (Scott Charles mentions it as there in the 70s as well as 80s, so it probably immediately (?) succeeded the above Bazaar)
1995-1997, American Renegade Theatre
2001, being used for presentation by California Artists for Humanity, unclear if they were resident at the site

I haven't checked the city directories yet for further information.

But now I have checked the city directories, of which let us look at 1928 (the first year address 5303 is found) and 1930:


LA City Directory, 1928


San Fernando Valley City Directory, 1930

So yes, it definitely appears that the building was first put up to house a bank (other offices are also in the building, including a Christian Science Reading Room). Note that Mr. Weddington, mentioned in both listings, has the cross street named after him (the structure is at the corner of Lankershim and Weddington).

___

EDIT ADD:

But wait! There's more! See: https://spectracompany.com/project/weddington-house/

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's an amateur night-time view of Los Angeles taken in the 1960s.

If you look closely you can see the Arcade Theater (and several others) at 534 S. Broadway. We recently saw the Arcade in one of the screen-grabs from Whore.


Found on eBay a couple of days ago.

...

oh, & the volkswagon 'beetle' behind it looks pretty cool. Is that a chrome grill towards the tip of the vw's hood or a reflection of one of the tall buildings?

I think it's a checkered hood cover.


beetleness.com

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by odinthor

I suspect we’d all be interested in your nighttime L.A. photos!

In that case, here’s a mystery building for my fellow Noirishers!



This is probably amongst the most poorly-focused* of my photos - they’re not all this bad, I assure you!

* It’s not actually poorly focused, the photo is blurry because the camera vibrated during a very long exposure....

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

In re: 5301/5303 Lankershim

Probably built as a bank, by its looks; but its history before 1958 has so far eluded me--perhaps the address used differs from the above. From 1958 to 2001, recourse to LA Times archives reveals (the mentions are unremarkable and unworthy of occupying space here with images):

1958, Lemonade stand for the Multiple Sclerosis Drive (likely referring to the sidewalk in front!)
1960, No. Hollywood Democratic Party Headquarters
1963, Security First National Bank
1972, unoccupied branch of the above, being used temporarily by the Junior Achievement organization, after a fire destroyed their other headquarters, still there July 1973
1974-1976, Wide World Import Bazaar
By 1985, Paperback Shack (Scott Charles mentions it as there in the 70s as well as 80s, so it probably immediately (?) succeeded the above Bazaar)
1995-1997, American Renegade Theatre
2001, being used for presentation by California Artists for Humanity, unclear if they were resident at the site

I haven't checked the city directories yet for further information.

Wow, that took some work! ..Thanks for the information, odinthor...


And I see that you just added more information.



.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Hmmm, so maybe the blade sign doesn't say 'cocktails' after all.


Complete photograph Here.

The 1956 CD has a listing for Stage Coach Inc at 1626 Cahuenga Boulevard. Could that be what the main sign says? There's no indication in the CD about what type of business it was. The 1942 CD has a restaurant owned by Henry J Shaffner at that address.

[ethereal_reality]

,


Could be Stage Coach, Hoss, the lettering might be stylized ropes or whips.

If memory served me correctly there was a cocktail lounge downtown called. . um . 'Corral' something that used rope-like lettering. (or maybe it was barbed wire)
Does anyone remember that place? I think it might have been near the bus terminal.

Anyway, good job, HossC, for sticking with it...

..

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

In that case, here’s a mystery building for my fellow Noirishers!



This is probably amongst the most poorly-focused* of my photos - they’re not all this bad, I assure you!

* It’s not actually poorly focused, the photo is blurry because the camera vibrated during a very long exposure....

From an October 7th, 1985 LAT article:

Burbank firefighters Sunday were investigating the cause of a two-alarm fire that gutted a bowling alley, causing more than $250,000 in damage.

The fire broke out at about 11 p.m. Saturday at Burbank Bowl, 430 S. San Fernando Road. Twelve units brought the blaze under control about 1:30 a.m., preventing the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings, Dean White of the Burbank Fire Department said.

There were no injuries.

Firefighting efforts were hampered when the building’s roof caved in, White said.

There's a 1985 black and white photo of the Burbank Bowl at www.alamy.com. The description says it was torn down around 1987.

[ethereal_reality]

.

I love the look of your long-exposure photograph of the Burbank Bowl, Scott Charles. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Hmmm, for some reason photographs of it are hard to come by. The only one I found was the alarmy photo that Hoss mentioned. Every other search led me to the Pickwick Bowl or to the outdooor Starlight Bowl.

So why so few photographs of the Burbank Bowl?
. .did it go by some other name?


.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Here's an amateur night-time view of Los Angeles taken in the 1960s.

If you look closely you can see the Arcade Theater (and several others) at 534 S. Broadway. We recently saw the Arcade in one of the screen-grabs from Whore.



Found on eBay a couple of days ago.

The first thing that caught my eye was the station wagon. ..At first I thought it was a hearse with hippies driving around in it. . .

. .then I thought it might be a fire rescue vehicle. .but now I'm thinking it's a normal station wagon.
oh, & the volkswagon 'beetle' behind it looks pretty cool. Is that a chrome grill towards the tip of the vw's hood or a reflection of one of the tall buildings?


.

I believe the station wagon is a 1956 Mercury Monterey.