noirish Los Angeles

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

sopas_ej, would you post the page of your 1943 Atlas that shows this same area of Laurel Canyon? I have found very few old maps of that area, and wonder if it would reveal anything about the old roads that I'm still trying to identify. Plus I am just plain curious to see it. Thanks.

Sure, I'll see what I can do. My scanner at home is broken and I haven't replaced it, so I'll have to take photos with my camera and see if they come out clearly, then I will post it. I'm currently at work (on my lunch break, actually) but when I get home, I'll work on posting it.

[GaylordWilshire]

LAPL

An off-ramp of the 10 has replaced this interesting house once at the northwest the corner of 23rd and Arlington. (The freeway plows between the back of this house and the one you see in the background, also gone.)

[3940dxer]

We've seen this great old Cahuenga Pass shot a few times on this thread. I love it and always think of it when I drive the 101 between Hollywood and the Valley. It's dated 1905, but just where was it taken?


http://www.lapl.org/


I had to know, so I started with Google Satellite. Hmm, it sure seems to resemble that section near the parking lot, across the 101 from the Hollywood Bowl:


http://google.com


So this afternoon, on an errand to Hollywood I pulled over near Hillpark Drive and walked around a bit. Bingo! I took this photo from the 101 overpass near the Ford Theater:



The Highland Ave exit ramp is off frame to the right; the Ford Theater is to my left. The hilly area ahead on the right is of course Whitley Heights, bisected when the 101 was cut through the area. The 101 here is elevated by columns and grading so we can't see the original canyon floor or the the lower part of Whitley Heights, making the hills there look less high than in the early photo. The two groups and their horse drawn wagons are heading towards the San Fernando Valley, and probably passed through Hollywood (then called Nopalera I think) an hour or so before being immortalized in the photo.

Ah...closure.

[ethereal_reality]

Nice post David.




The Clifford Street School fire in 1915.


http://socal-yearbooks.com/socalother/aselem.html




below: The Clifford Street School in 1950.


http://socal-yearbooks.com/socalother/aselem.html

[radio63]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I think maybe the "KNX" sign was on the east side of the CBS blade sign from the beginning....







All: gsjansen

Yes that is correct, the west side of the sign simply said "CBS", in large neon. The east side always said "CBS Station KNX" in smaller neon. In the 1950s or 60s, the neon signs was replaced by large non-illuminated letters that just said "CBS".

[ethereal_reality]

nice design


ebay

[cleats]

From Rick M, taken from a Gentlemen's Sporting Guide of the 1890's 327 New High street...where Pearl Morton ran her house...moral turpitude in Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

The Crisis November 1923

I came across this jewel-box of a Los Angeles funeral parlor online, which turns out to have been an early work by
Paul Williams--note the classical details that would become one of his hallmarks. It was the Conner-Johnson
Mortuary at 1400 East 17th Street, at Naomi...sadly, now a parking lot.


It's not by Paul Williams, but nearby at the the corner of 18th and Naomi is the Hamilton Methodist Church, now,
sans the church's best windows, the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church:



An eclectic roofline, including a witch's hat and a bit of the Alamo. The finial on the main tower is (mostly) still there....


Three pics just above: Google SV

[GaylordWilshire]

Dave's Web

These gates have been attributed to Paul Williams by one historian; whether or not Williams designed anything that
was actually built at the end of the driveway is unclear. But at least one historian claims that he designed Murphy
Ranch in Rustic Canyon, supposedly a bunker for Nazi sympathizers and intended to be the headquarters for Hitler's
eventual takeover of the U.S.: See Huffington Post and LACurbed.


I know it was touched on a year or so ago:

Originally Posted by LAboomer52

and the rumored para-military compound located in a Canyon in Brentwood, (Rustic canyon) adjacent to Will Roger's Estate, a sprawling fifty-acre property known as the “Murphy Ranch” which was a self-sufficient community with three thousand fruit trees, underground tunnels and bomb shelters, several houses and a power station capable of producing electricity.

(LAboomer52's full post here.)


Noise Collusion
hikespeak.com
The exterior and interior of the powerhouse. Did Williams design this? Was the 22-bedroom
main house he drew up ever built?


And more here:
hikespeak.com

I can find no reference in an admittedly cursory check of any reference to Paul Williams having
designed this on any sites devoted to his work.

[sopas ej]

Here you go, David. Forgive the quality of the images. I hope I got the area you wanted. Great Cahuenga Pass photos you posted!


Renie Atlas 1943


Renie Atlas 1943


Renie Atlas 1943


Renie Atlas 1943

I'm wondering if "NAPPY LN." is a misspelling. On my Thomas Guide, it's "HAPPY LN." I like that you can see the PE car route through the Cahuenga Pass, and then it goes north on Vineland.

Oh, and here's the Doheny Estate, now Trousdale Estates:

Renie Atlas 1943

[3940dxer]

sopas_ej, thanks a lot for posting the maps. I will study them and see if I can pick out any new details.

G_W, I have visited Murphy Ranch (the Nazi compound) twice, have done a fair amount of research on it, and have been planning to do a long post here with pictures...when I have time.

BTW, my personal site is off line at the moment and all my photos here seem to be MIA. I freaked out when I first saw this but all will be restored before long, I promise!

[ethereal_reality]

below: A somewhat obscure film noir from 1954 starring Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak.


http://annyas.com/screenshots/update...orothy-malone/

above: Columbia Pictures....just across the street from Dillon's Copper Skillet.



below: In this scene you get a glimpse of a theater at far right.


http://dearoldhollywood.blogspot.com...1_archive.html (thank you Robby Cress)




below: It turns out this is the Magnolia Theater located at 4403 W. Magnolia Avenue in Burbank.


http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1649/photos/28939





below: The theater stills stands on Magnolia Avenue......but it looks like it's been covered in marzipan.


google street view

____

[GaylordWilshire]

The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

[ethereal_reality]

We think alike G_W...I was going to post that same photo last night.

[ethereal_reality]

Here are a few others.





http://hollywoodhistoricphotos.ipowe...oducts_id/2816







postcard view







http://www.flickr.com/photos/funimages/2712342804/



below: pre-peacock logo 1954.

[ethereal_reality]

oops....forgot this one from 1952.



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...M-N-9706-002~3

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: pre-peacock logo 1954.

Great shots, e_r--and I'd forgotten about the chime logo.

Click here to hear the chimes.

[BrandonJXN]

I have a question: I recently moved to Westlake (on Union Drive above 6th Street) and I was wondering if anyone has any pics of the area from way back when?

Anyway, AWESOME AWESOME thread. Thanks to you all.

[GaylordWilshire]

300: Just search "Westlake" on these two websites--there are hundreds of pics on these two sites alone.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearchADV.jsp?

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...mplesearch.htm

Check them out and post some here for us.

[GaylordWilshire]

FULL UPDATED STORY HERE: http://losangeleshistory.blogspot.co...tories_12.html


USCDL/USCDL

GoogleSV


John Parkinson, as we've seen, built alot of iconic and still-extant Los Angeles buildings. He designed the Homer Laughlin Building on Broadway (a.k.a. the Grand Central Market) and the Braly Block (a.k.a. Continental Building) on Spring; with his early partner Edwin Bergstrom he designed the A. G. Bartlett building (a.k.a. Union Oil) on 7th; with his son Donald at the firm from 1920, he designed City Hall with Albert Martin; later works of the Parkinson firm include Bullocks-Wilshire as well as Union Station and many other downtown buildings.

Above is the architect's own house at the southeast corner of 6th and St. Paul (top left, brand new, ca. 1909). If it lasted until after WWII, it looks like alot of earth must have been removed with it to make way for the building on the corner now, built in 1948 for Westinghouse's Engineering and Sales Staff... even if it's not the home of a famous L.A. architect, its late-Streamline details make for a pretty interesting architectural relic of noir-era L.A. (Apparently it's now the home of L.A. Wilshire Orthopaedic and Medical Associates.)