noirish Los Angeles v2.0

[Scott Charles]

...

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

[...]On the other hand, I'm kind of cynical about these “breakthrough” discoveries that appear every few years.[...]
_______________________________________________________________

Jeff and Scott...

Larry Harnisch, who used to work for the Herald Examiner and L.A. Times, considers himself a historian of this subject and often debunks a lot of this stuff that often comes up about this case. He has two youtube podcasts a month: Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything and Black Dahlia Book Club.

He addresses this documentary in this one, and probably others, Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything, August 2026.

To me his manner takes some getting used to, he repeats things a lot, and sometimes his responses have the air of someone who knows so much about something that it could take an hour or more to explain so he'll sound dismissive, but I tend to believe he really knows what he's talking about.

Has anyone else watched any of these?

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Has anyone else watched any of these?

Martin - I have not. But thanks to your post, I am watching the video now.

PS: Right beside the YouTube video, there's a thumbnail about another case that seems to get “solved” every few years - the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.



EDIT: I just watched Harnisch's Dahlia video, Harnisch talks about the new documentary at 10:25 in the video, and he talks about it for only two minutes. He claims to have dealt with the producers of the new documentary in the past, and describes them as “painfully amateurish”, and doesn't go into much detail.

[Alkapone]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

Here's a fantastic mystery photograph that just popped up on eBay


"Union Consolidated Refinery Co. Fuel Stage LOS ANGELES Orig. 1890s Photo"


eBay




Here's a clue.





Hmmm. . .the main photograph isn't showing up. ...You can see it Here




Here's the back of the cabinet card.




It's barely legible.



As you might have noticed, there appears to be a private residence next to a very large building. ....I want to know was those are.



.

Union Consolidated was organized in 1901. So the 1905 date on the photo may be acceptable. 7th & Spring had the Los Angeles Furniture Company there, or close IIRC, so maybe that’s the building with the Murray’s Cabinet & Case in there? U.C. Refining had their plant in the Arroyo as noted in this article from 1903: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19030717.2.156&dliv=none&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------

But weren’t there trolley tracks already running down Spring to 8th and well beyond in 1905? A view in that direction shows some pretty crude old store fronts or conversions lining the west side below where these houses may sit at that time on Spring.

And it’s Show Cases, just to be clear. So maybe the stuff made for retailers to use in their stores.

[riichkay]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Neon mystery sign solved by riichkay.






THANKS!

Permit dated 4/19/1956...

[Alkapone]

That second 1920’s era shot at Santa Monica & Highland looking eastward turns out ti be in UCLA online here: https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz002cw2s5

The view east..



via UCLA online as above.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a fantastic mystery photograph that just popped up on eBay

"Union Consolidated Refinery Co. Fuel Stage LOS ANGELES Orig. 1890s Photo"


eBay

Here's a clue.



As you might have noticed, there appears to be a private residence next to a very large building. ....I want to know was those are.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Time lapse:



TA DAH!

I found Murrays' Cabinet and Show Case Company in the 1902 CD. The lower floors of 621-623 S Los Angeles Street have been altered over the years (GSV shows two variations), but the rest of the building is virtually the same. The same 1902 CDs indicates that the building next door at 629 S Los Angeles Street was furnished rooms.


GSV/LAPL

[ethereal_reality]

.


That's it!!!

Thanks, Hoss.

-note the changes on the building at the ground floor - truly awful.
Thankfully, it looks like the 'modern' facade could be easily removed. I hope that happens sooner rather than later.


.

[odinthor]

Murray's and its neighbors had a fire in October, 1903:


LA Times, 10/7/1903

The members of the Jonathan Club could have looked down and watched the blaze.


LOC, 1909 Birdseye map

[ethereal_reality]

Look at that cute li'l teeter-totter.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by HossC

GSV/LAPL

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

-note the changes on the building at the ground floor - truly awful.
Thankfully, it looks like the 'modern' facade could be easily removed. I hope that happens sooner rather than later.

I'm trying to decide if the previous facade from 15 years ago was better or worse than the current one. The older one was bland, and the newer one reintroduces the arches, but it just looks cheap and tacky to me.


GSV

[Alkapone]

I’m a little lost here. The news article is from 1903 and seems to suggest Murray was at that time in a small building on the future site of the Huntington Building, even though it was already owned by (old) Pacific Electric….correct? So, then in the 1905 image they are now within the new PE terminal with the two-story house still standing next to it. So it must have then survived the fire? And, of course, this later became the site of the PE Annex Building which is the lower structure present in modern photos? Finally, the old photo was incorrectly pencilled as 7th & Spring when it should be 6th & Los Angeles?

[ethereal_reality]

.
There's an amazing collection of 14 hand-colored glass slides currently listed on eBay.



We have seen most of these places on NLA but I believe these particular images are new to NLA.

Enjoy!


1







2








3








4








5







6








7




Seven more to go . . . .
.

[ethereal_reality]

.

Did you all get your breath?



Here are the remaining seven slides.


8






9







10







11








12








13







14




That's all folks!


LINK
.

[Alkapone]

Originally Posted by Alkapone

I’m a little lost here. The news article is from 1903 and seems to suggest Murray was at that time in a small building on the future site of the Huntington Building, even though it was already owned by (old) Pacific Electric….correct? So, then in the 1905 image they are now within the new PE terminal with the two-story house still standing next to it. So it must have then survived the fire? And, of course, this later became the site of the PE Annex Building which is the lower structure present in modern photos? Finally, the old photo was incorrectly pencilled as 7th & Spring when it should be 6th & Los Angeles?

I think the solution may be found by looking at the c.1908 image found here: https://misterdangerous.wordpress.com/2022/05/31/pacific-electric-building/

The Huntingtiing Building rear view on Los Angeles Street..




sourced misterdangerous as above

The small three window building is in place, but looks slightly different from the c.1905 image. So maybe that image is earlier, pre-fire of 1903, and the whole frontage was cut back flush with the trolley terminal. If it had been built out to the edge of a more narrow street, then chopping off the front would have allowed for the placement of sidewalks and any roadway widening. Of course it’s just a guess at this point. At any rate, that photo would be the only one known so far which would capture the older look of the building’s face. I know there’s a real photo on the Main Street side which shows the house that sat next to the PE complex, so maybe the backside of this building can be seen in that one…I just have to relocate the source of the image.

[Alkapone]

We’ve seen the view from a fruit wagon/stand on Los Angeles looking this way toward 6th, and USC has two parts of a panoramic from 01 January 1907 staring back up from the top of the Huntington Building here: https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=&PN=1&DocRID=2A3BF132OCY

Have these been explored before?

Part 2 right side looking up Los Angeles Street…



sourced via USC digital as above.

[ethereal_reality]

.
A quick glimpse into the past.

"1940s 'New' Chinatown Los Angeles CA Kim King Inn Rice Bowel Cafe Original Photo"



eBay

. . with the very cool L.A. border.

.

[ethereal_reality]

.

A mystery location.


"Santa Monica Firefighters at Coffee Shop Fire Unframed"


eBay



.

[Martin Pal]

In mid-January we were discussing the L.A. Times article about the 101 Best Movies about Los Angeles.

The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica was showing one of them last night and a friend and I went to see it. It was #96 on the list and, coincidentally, 96° was the high temperature yesterday.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog_(film)

Italian comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Franco Rossi. It premiered in competition at the 23rd edition of the Venice Film Festival. The film is regarded as the first Italian production entirely shot in the United States (Los Angeles).

It traverses almost every area of the city and is like a time capsule of L.A. in 1962.
And Alison Martino, of VLA (Vintage Los Angeles), was announced as a guest in the audience and was sitting in front of us.

[Alkapone]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

I believe this is our vey own L. H. Woods driving a three horse fire apparatus down an unnamed street in Los Angeles.


LAFD Postcard via an archive in Texas



. . . and here's a closer look.



There is no writing on the back of this one. ...(darn it)

The billboards,stairs, and retaining wall below Locke Hotel at Hill & 2nd in 1906: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lostmarket/posts/1562178477889541/


The shot looking NE across Hill…



sourced FB as above ( see also W&PA).