noirish Los Angeles

[tovangar2]

[QUOTE=procab;6008357]

Originally Posted by westcork

That was an incredible landslide...

LAPL.ORG

Does anyone want to volunteer to wade into that morass of poison oak to see if the tunnel still exists?

Anyone?

Anyone?

"Incredible" is the word for it.



Thx again procab, but no thx.

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I know it's on the wrong side of the street from the focus of your post, but I found the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce billboard quite interesting. The fact that it slides out of the can and stays can-shaped is apparently a feature worth touting!

Then I looked above to the hillside, which still says "HOLLYWOODLAND".

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by ProphetM

I know it's on the wrong side of the street from the focus of your post, but I found the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce billboard quite interesting. The fact that it slides out of the can and stays can-shaped is apparently a feature worth touting!

Then I looked above to the hillside, which still says "HOLLYWOODLAND".

A lot going on in the pic. I focused on both points too.

The source dated the photo as '26 but also mentioned something about an image bearing a '24 mark. Seems inconsistent with the large talking pictures ad, or maybe the Uptown was ahead of its time? Most sources date the Jazz Singer as opening in '27.


USC Digital

[kznyc2k]

One more note on the location of the old Bunker/Court/Fort Moore Hill tunnels:


1936, LAPL

[kznyc2k]

More cruising around downtown in LA Noire, starting at Hope and 5th:





Looking up Olive:



The Biltmore's drive:





Rooftop shots down Broadway:





And a shot looking up Main Street towards 7th and the Cecil Hotel:

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

1928 - Catalina Island gag photos of goats, ladies and straw hats. Goats will do anything for attention. Neither ladies nor goats are identified, but several respond to the name Billy.

Lapl

Could be that one of these goats donated its gonads to some rich, impotent L.A. duffer via Dr. Wheeler...



Catalina Islander, August 8, 1935



Catalina Islander, December 3, 1924

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by kznyc2k

One more note on the location of the old Bunker/Court/Fort Moore Hill tunnels:


1936, LAPL

below: An aerial from the same year, showing the two southern portals of the Hill Street tunnels #1 and #2.

1936

LAPL

The photograph shows the proposed changes to the street grid by the Regional Planning Commission.
At first glance I thought the circle with the radiating streets was The Plaza, when in the fact The Plaza is further east.





I had some fun with the sepia photo.

I circled The Plaza in blue. I marked the two Hill St. tunnels in red. I am intrigued by the planning commission's dotted line (circled in yellow). Do you think the commission was contemplating straightening out the Hill Street tunnel? If the solid white lines are the proposed street grid...why the dotted line? (as everyone knows, dotted lines are usually used to denote tunnels)


LAPL

above: I marked the Broadway Tunnel in green. I'm not sure how close this is to the actual location.





previously posted by kznyc2k

google earth

Hill Street tunnels in red. Broadway tunnel in orange.


__

[tovangar2]

Glass negative from eBay. I don't think this particular image has been posted before.

North end of Central Park/Pershing Square, 1912, showing the Auditorium Building and John Parkinson's design for the park, particularly the corner balustrades:


Interesting expressions:


Busy people, all now long gone:


wwwpcs/eBay

I imagine Madame Vera sold hats:


The image is a reminder too, that back in the day, one wasn't supposed to walk into an urban park, but keep to the paths and benches while viewing it. People now expect to use parks and be provided with all sorts of recreational facilities.

[ethereal_reality]

A wonderful photograph showing the Halifax Apartment Hotel at the intersection of Cahuenga & Yucca Street.


ebay



Similar view today.


google street view

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The lobby of the Halifax Apartments at 6376 Yucca Street.


ebay






ebay




At far left you can see the Capitol Records Building on Vine Street just above Hollywood Boulevard.


google street view

As always, I love the old sign on top of the apartment building.

____

[GaylordWilshire]

IMDB

Notice the neon sign at the top of this shot from Gangster Squad...it's all you need to know.

Well, it was a snowy afternoon and I thought, how bad could it be, especially for someone interested in noirish L.A.? Excruciating is not too strong a word. It's a cartoon that goes off the rails in every direction. (Even the femme fatale is made to look like Jessica Rabbit.) About 2/3 of the way through a Carmen Miranda character made an appearance--one cliché too many. Along with others in the theater I groaned, and I got up and left (not the first to do so). But after discovering that I'd left my hat--I considered just leaving it--I went back to get it and decided to stay...and then the movie's biggest blunder of all appeared on the screen. It was a dying movie's desperate footage of a shootout in--guess where? Chinatown. Which reminded me to go home and watch an actual movie masterpiece again, not an all-around schlock job. The Mickey Cohen we've come to know here is nowhere in this film--nor is an even slightly deep hint of period L.A. feel.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Could be that one of these goats donated its gonads to some rich, impotent L.A. duffer via Dr. Wheeler...



Catalina Islander, August 8, 1935



Catalina Islander, December 3, 1924

Dr. Wheeler's selection methods were probably as controversial and vast as his expertise in gynecology and endocrinology. It remains uncertain whether Louis Pasteur would have approved, let alone understood Dr. Wheeler's treatments. Without additional information, one has to guess at the non-surgical approach. Did it involve an easy-to-stomach elixir or tonic, as suggested elsewhere?

Hard to say whether Fred Waring knew about the practice before rolling up his sleeves in his blender endeavors. It should be noted that the blender carrying his name was allegedly used in Polio vaccine research. (?) http://inventors.about.com/library/i.../blblender.htm Rumor has it that modern researchers now avail themselves of the "magic bullet," but in ways probably not depicted in the infomercial.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

A wonderful photograph showing the Halifax Apartment Hotel at the intersection of Cahuenga & Yucca Street.


ebay

Union '76 "Stop-Wear Lubrication." Does the competition offer lubrication that promotes wear?

1933 - Unknown address (Free consultation with Dr. Wheeler for anyone who correctly guesses the address)

USC Digital





(Could you please give me directions to Dr. Wheeler's office?)





A thorough lubrication job. Room enough for two goats in that rumble seat?



A location clue? (signage top left?)
USC Digital

[BifRayRock]

1959 new electromagnetic traffic sign. Bound to help traffic even when it fails to deploy properly?




USC Digital


USC Digital

[Mr.Swink]

Thanks for all the welcomes to the forum by the way. The pyramid planetarium in a recent post made me think of a couple of Egyptian Revival apartment buildings I came across in Hollywood one day on a side street.

When I first stumbled across this building at 5616 Lexington Ave. several years ago it had not been painted and it was so dirty it looked like it was an eroded temple in Karnak Egypt.



from: Google Street View

There is a very similar building just one block to the north on La Mirada Ave. as well. I assume they were built around the same time by the same contractor. I know after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 Egyptian Revival made another comeback in architecture. This building looks to be early 1920’s and I like to assume the discovery of Tut’s tomb influenced it’s design.

There is another building that has been talked about a lot on this forum that has Gothic Revival elements but also has a very Egyptian Revival feel to it...



from: YOUAREHERE.COM
http://www.you-are-here.com/building/park_plaza.jpg



from: Google Street View

Confession... Park Plaza Hotel/Elks Lodge #99 (opened in 1925) has always been my favorite building in Los Angeles ever since my family stayed there in 1986 when my parents enrolled my sister in Otis/Parsons art school, which happened to be right next door. I can remember thinking back then that I thought there was something Egyptian about the building.

First was the color. Even back in 1986 I remember it having a light sandy yellowish color which made me think of pyramids. Not to mention the large blocks of stone or concrete that make up the structure seemed pyramid size. And the guardian angel figures on the facade are surely like a gothic church but they remind me of these guardian figures of Egyptian temples.


from: www.filmapia.com
http://www.filmapia.com/sites/defaul...-of-Karnak.jpg

Of course hieroglyphicesque details like these help with the Egyptian Revival vibe.



from: Google Street View

I really am in awe of Park Plaza. Every time I work on a film or tv production that uses it as a location I feel like I am king of the world or at least Pharaoh of the Valley of the Kings for that day.

[kznyc2k]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Well, it was a snowy afternoon and I thought, how bad could it be, especially for someone interested in noirish L.A.? Excruciating is not too strong a word. It's a cartoon that goes off the rails in every direction. (Even the femme fatale is made to look like Jessica Rabbit.) About 2/3 of the way through a Carmen Miranda character made an appearance--one cliché too many. Along with others in the theater I groaned, and I got up and left (not the first to do so). But after discovering that I'd left my hat--I considered just leaving it--I went back to get it and decided to stay...and then the movie's biggest blunder of all appeared on the screen. It was a dying movie's desperate footage of a shootout in--guess where? Chinatown. Which reminded me to go home and watch an actual movie masterpiece again, not an all-around schlock job. The Mickey Cohen we've come to know here is nowhere in this film--nor is an even slightly deep hint of period L.A. feel.

Can't say I'm surprised in the least...I mean it's called Gangster Squad fer crying out loud. But thanks for sitting through it so I won't have to!

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

1936

LAPL

The photograph shows the proposed changes to the street grid by the Regional Planning Commission.

__

Not to get too heavy-duty about it, but every time I see one of these damn planning overlays I'm reminded of the Milgram Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment. What are people thinking? The conclusion dawn from the experiment was, "Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process." Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, they continue under instruction from "authority".

If anyone here hasn't read Jane Jacobs Death and Life of Great American Cities (the fiftieth anniversary edition is out), relatively cheap, used copies may be had from Amazon.

Yet still the Robert Moses "solution" is turned to again and again because it makes the rich richer. More money was to be made tearing down LAHS rather than repairing the tower, the ghastly Staples Center/LA Live complex is supposed to be "fun". The freeway "system" (as opposed to the Red Cars, the "best public transit in the world") and Bunker Hill...well there's a gazillion examples. Our alleys and byways and lanes are gone. Depopulated, pedestrian-hostile, weird, abstract, anxiety-producing environments are in.

It's like we've lost the will to resist, ashamed to want human-scale, convenient, charming, decent streetscapes including Dragon Dens and Spotlights. Afraid to speak up.

[Mr.Swink]

Thanks for posting about Jane Jacobs book. Sounds like something I need to read. And while I can see how Staples/LA Live has "helped" revitalize downtown in some way; I agree with your term ghastly for it. That is what I think every time I see that complex.

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Not to get too heavy-duty about it, but every time I see one of these damn planning overlays I'm reminded of the Milgram Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment. What are people thinking? The conclusion dawn from the experiment was, "Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process." Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, they continue under instruction from "authority".

If anyone here hasn't read Jane Jacobs Death and Life of Great American Cities (the fiftieth anniversary edition is out), relatively cheap, used copies may be had from Amazon.

Yet still the Robert Moses "solution" is turned to again and again because it makes the rich richer. More money was to be made tearing down LAHS rather than repairing the tower, the ghastly Staples Center/LA Live complex is supposed to be "fun". The freeway "system" (as opposed to the Red Cars, the "best public transit in the world") and Bunker Hill...well there's a gazillion examples. Our alleys and byways and lanes are gone. Depopulated, pedestrian-hostile, weird, abstract, anxiety-producing environments are in.

It's like we've lost the will to resist, ashamed to want human-scale, convenient, charming, decent streetscapes including Dragon Dens and Spotlights. Afraid to speak up.

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

A wonderful photograph showing the Halifax Apartment Hotel at the intersection of Cahuenga & Yucca Street.


ebay

The Halifax was known for it's gangster clientel in the 1930's and 1940's. Across the street, on the north side of Yucca (next to the Richfield station) was the apartment building where Ed Wood lived when he filmed most of his movies.

Notice the Biff's sign on the lower left. Biff's was owned by Tiny Naylor, who also operated Tiny Naylor's at Sunset and La Brea. Biff was Tiny's son. Biff is currently one of the owners of DuPar's. The cool little Googie restaurant on the north side of Yucca Street was across from the Green Apartments, where Carol Burnett lived with her grandmother while attending Hollywood High in the 1950's.

[DouglasUrantia]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Not to get too heavy-duty about it, but every time I see one of these damn planning overlays I'm reminded of the Milgram Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment. What are people thinking? The conclusion dawn from the experiment was, "Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process." Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, they continue under instruction from "authority".

If anyone here hasn't read Jane Jacobs Death and Life of Great American Cities (the fiftieth anniversary edition is out), relatively cheap, used copies may be had from Amazon.

Yet still the Robert Moses "solution" is turned to again and again because it makes the rich richer. More money was to be made tearing down LAHS rather than repairing the tower, the ghastly Staples Center/LA Live complex is supposed to be "fun". The freeway "system" (as opposed to the Red Cars, the "best public transit in the world") and Bunker Hill...well there's a gazillion examples. Our alleys and byways and lanes are gone. Depopulated, pedestrian-hostile, weird, abstract, anxiety-producing environments are in.

It's like we've lost the will to resist, ashamed to want human-scale, convenient, charming, decent streetscapes including Dragon Dens and Spotlights. Afraid to speak up.

Does anyone know why Los Angeles was not platted on a strict compass direction? This is very weird. Didn't they have any compasses in those old days?

[GaylordWilshire]

This is an oversimplification, but it has to do with Spain requiring houses in its colonies to be set at a 45-degree angle to true north-south so they would get equal light on all sides....something like that. But it clashed with the Jeffersonian plan (I think it was his idea) to have the whole country gridded true north-south... The city from Hoover Street west was on the "American plan." Actually, I don't think downtown is actually 45 degrees but maybe 35.