noirish Los Angeles - Page 988

Retired_in_Texas · #**19741** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 6:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

I was wondering who are these well dressed middle age people sitting in this impromptu classroom at the Hotel.

This is a ''law'' class of some kind according to the photo ID. My guess is they're studying so they can take the CA Real Estate License Exam. Any other ideas?

Would be a good guess, but not likely. According to the history of the DRE it wasn't until 1931 there was a written exam for real estate broker/sales person licensing. Prior to that there was some sort of an oral interview, with whom and specific nature not clear.

I thought it interesting that all but three in the photo had sour expressions on their faces as if someone had just announced the evening meal would consist of boiled Okra and baked Road Kill. We know it was evening because all the windows indicate it's dark as pitch outside.

HossC · #**19742** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 7:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Great panorama HossC. I poached a copy (with attribution of course) for my photo-stream. I hope you don't mind. Let me know if it's a problem.

No problem at all. I posted (properly credited) information from your photo-stream a couple of weeks ago, so I guess that makes us even

.

------------

The picture below comes from a USC set titled: Series of pictures for lantern slides, at Southern Pacific depot, Los Angeles, CA, 1927. The camera is on South Central Avenue, looking south toward 6th Street. Apart from the Terminal Market warehouses in the distance on the left, everything has now gone.

USC Digital Library

Checking the 1927 CD, the Barber Shop in the center appears to be H C Gordon.

rescarta.lapl.org

I'm intrigued by the cab driver's expression - is he just posing for the camera, or is he getting impatient because he's had to wait for the picture to be taken?. The cab itself looks quite dark for a Yellow Cab Co. vehicle, but maybe that's just in comparison to the Gray Line cab on the right of the main picture. The phone number here is DUnkirk 50-50 rather than the more familiar MAdison 1234.

Detail of picture above.

On the left of the photo above are the New Orleans Hotel and Grand Sheet Metal Mfg Co. Here are their 1927 CD entries:

rescarta.lapl.org

Earl Boebert · #**19743** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 8:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

[Snip]

I'm intrigued by the cab driver's expression - is he just posing for the camera, or is he getting impatient because he's had to wait for the picture to be taken?. The cab itself looks quite dark for a Yellow Cab Co. vehicle, but maybe that's just in comparison to the Gray Line cab on the right of the main picture. The phone number here is DUnkirk 50-50 rather than the more familiar MAdison 1234.

Detail of picture above.

Looks like he's wearing eye makeup, possibly a shot from a silent film.

Cheers,

Earl

CityBoyDoug · #**19744** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas

Would be a good guess, but not likely. According to the history of the DRE it wasn't until 1931 there was a written exam for real estate broker/sales person licensing. Prior to that there was some sort of an oral interview, with whom and specific nature not clear.

I thought it interesting that all but three in the photo had sour expressions on their faces as if someone had just announced the evening meal would consist of boiled Okra and baked Road Kill. We know it was evening because all the windows indicate it's dark as pitch outside.

Thanks Retired, you got me thinking again on this puzzle. I found another photo of this room. Some of the same students but now we see the teacher and his blackboard. Some of the words on the board are:

Contracts, Seller, Deed, Broker, Agents Authority, Sales, and Deposit.

Maybe this is a class on real estate law. Could these people be real estate agents or lawyers or both?

Huntington Library collection

Those Who Squirm! · #**19745** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 10:29 PM**

This looks like a George Wesley Bellows painting, though I'm sure it isn't. He would have been too young.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

1894 - Sunday visit to Chinatown. Turn your hymnals to page 7.

http://www.printsoldandrare.com/losangeles/122los.jpg

GaylordWilshire · #**19746** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 11:03 PM**

LAPL

First seen a few years ago is this great DeSoto dealer on La Brea...
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=4974833&postcount=1767

Now for a little car-id debate...

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Vintage Los Angeles

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wig-Wag

Wonderful photos, GW. Based on the size and angle of the windshield plus the shape of the hood, I would argue that the car in the foreground is a 1953-55 Studebaker.
Cheers,
Jack

You might be right, W-W...some models/series of mid-50s Studes have a slightly visor-like framing to their windshields...as do 55/56 Chryslers and DeSotos. The three makes even share a similar angle to A-pillars.... What pushes me toward believing it's a Chrysler product is what appears to be a slightly peaked chrome headlight rim...the Studes' rims are chrome but rounded. The detail of the wiper pivots on the car on the ferry appears to be Cryco....and also on the ferry car's cowl I am detecting the characteristic retractable air intake of Chrysler products, while, of course, a characteristic of Studes was their fender-scoop intakes. Studes and Chryslers both had the elaborate hood ornaments of the era, not seen in the ferry shot.... ok, ok, before anyone cries uncle, I'll stop. Just trying to make my case... No one could actually be reading down this far, could they?

1956 DeSoto

1955 Studebaker

Godzilla · #**19747** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 11:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL

Before the Vincent Thomas bridge was built, there was the LA's municipal ferry Islander between San Pedro and Terminal Island. The photo might look older than it is, given the '49 Buick...looks like a '55 or '56 Chrysler--maybe a DeSoto?--this side of it.

The Islander made her last run on November 14, 1963.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProphetM

The ferry building had the good fortune of becoming the LA Maritime Museum. And right outside is the only place (so far as I'm aware) that you can ride a red car on an actual former PE line:

Photo by me, 2007

They have 2 replica cars for daily service, and one genuine restored PE car (pictured above) used mostly on special occasions, on a short line which uses part of the former PE line as clearly illustrated by the older pic!

1959 - Interior of Ferry Bldg.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00079/00079323.jpg

But let's look back at much earlier times.

1890 - Bath House

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/2K9BC87JRL5FY21IX49BCB2CT6P9EB.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068814.jpg

1899 - Terminal Island had a lumber yard. Maybe more than one!

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics27/00033347.jpg

1924 - The Island

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics27/00033105.jpg

1924 - East End of Terminal Island

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics27/00033111.jpg

1930 - "Waterfront scene" Interesting multi-story building.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics06/00002606.jpg

1930 - Rum Raid!! Sparkletts with a kick?

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics49/00074431.jpg

1938 - Bet EL Cord would have approved.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00100/00100544.jpg

1942 - Japanese-Japanese-American businesses on Terminal Island

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043969.jpg

February 3, 1942 - Terminal Island checkpoint. (Per source, 400 people of Japanese descent were rounded up.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043977.jpg

1938 - Immigration Service Building

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics46/00057764.jpg

1939 - Terminal Island Prison

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics35/00037418.jpg

Terminal Island Federal Prison - used in '42 to house Naval recruits. Per source.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050793.jpg

Armed guards (?)

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050795.jpg

Terminal Way and Tuna Street

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043975.jpg

1945

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00088/00088292.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00088/00088291.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00088/00088301.jpg

1966 - Shame

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/YGE2BRI5NJM3K9BSQLATCN6SYU9JCC.jpg

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/XMXLKENJBF45GA4XNLFVE1S8CM24BR.jpg

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/M3VKFMKYIB6MDDHUGDDX5MIF9V2F7N.jpg

Nearby resident - Spruce Goose tries to stay dry. Terminal Island's lumber yard and appurtenant ship building might have been a source for spare parts?

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/2NG1P7IN99E5JE4CCLJGN4D8EEM3PQ.jpg

Terminal Island's Freeway

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics45/00042299.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008353.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008345.jpg

GaylordWilshire · #**19748** Posted **Feb 22, 2014, 11:52 PM**

Despite its downbeat name and checkered history, its infamy among Japanese-Americans and its industrial uses--Terminal Island was once a resort rivaling Catalina, as some of your pictures show, Godzilla. Bralys and Woolwines, among others, owned summer houses on the island:

http://stjamesparklosangeles.blogspot.com/2012/07/please-visit-our-companion-histories.html

Godzilla · #**19749** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 12:58 AM**

The Beacon beckons. Get laundry here. Get laundry dirty, next post. If you survive, get clothes laundered again.

Beacon Laundry - 9134 Wilshire Boulevard, BH. (Gone!)

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085731.jpg

Godzilla · #**19750** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 1:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Despite its downbeat name and checkered history, its infamy among Japanese-Americans and its industrial uses--Terminal Island was once a resort rivaling Catalina, as some of your pictures show, Godzilla. Bralys and Woolwines, among others, owned summer houses on the island:

http://stjamesparklosangeles.blogspot.com/2012/07/please-visit-our-companion-histories.html

Good points. I am guessing that by the time the prison was constructed in the late '30s the likes of the Bralys and Woolines were very far and few between. The random images neglect to depict all of the island's history, including shipbuilding, fishing and canning.

I was unaware that the Federal prison had its own colorful history, having been both a Federal (including military) and State facility, as well as a mental hospital. http://wonderland1 981.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/happy-54th-birthday-barbara-richardson/

Notorious San Pedro video: "Beacon Street was the toughest four blocks in the world." http://vimeo.com/25152402 Per the narrative, RattleSnake Island became Terminal Island in 1918. The name "Terminal" may have been the Rail Road's unimaginative moniker as the obvious end of the line.

1900-1910 Beacon Street. Sepulveda Bldg.

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/51DJSTRYLXD21BG1N76HAQTFBNGBU9.jpg

1910 - Beacon Street, San Pedro

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics35/00037183.jpg

1910

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/T3B1GS8Y6FSBAR3YYFMQLKJRH7HQQC.jpg

1970 - Beacon Street, San Pedro

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics39/00039127.jpg

1970 More Beacon

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032606.jpg

1971 - Last glimpse

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/UD5L51TU2DG31H8MHE11M4FUCVXYN4.jpg

1971 - Demolition

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/VQE8CI11AIRXV15MKJGBA8XMRR7UJ8.jpg

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/KCEJ75X4SYU4SIX23Q659XPTTV8JN3.jpg

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibris/aleph/a19_1/apache_media/G8S3KVQI716XB4QDVB4GJAMD14J4QR.jpg

Prior Beacon Street references:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=4810187&postcount=1098;
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6274466&postcount=16724
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6274876&postcount=16732

sadykadie2 · #**19751** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 2:15 AM**

This is my grandmother in 1925. The caption says "In front of Mary Pickford's house"

ProphetM · #**19752** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 5:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadykadie2

This is my grandmother in 1925. The caption says "In front of Mary Pickford's house"

No image shows up here, but I can copy & paste the URL into a new window by quoting your post and looking at the code that way. There is a ton of extra stuff in your URL - you should be able to remove everything after the ".jpg", BUT even when I do that I can't get the picture to show up in a post, no idea why.

I tried the short version here but still no luck:

Everyone else, if you can't see the pic just use the quote link for her post or mine to get the URL. It's a nice pic!

Beaudry · #**19753** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 8:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Sherwood Hotel and Apartments, 431 S. Grand Avenue

As full frontal as you're going to get. Interestingly, the low wall on the street next door goes back to the abandoned foundations of 1900. Same wall.

We still need a good photo of the Sherwood facade, but until such time we can at least have a study-worthy scan of the dang postcard. To that end:

I'm curious to know what the rooftop rooms -- scaled down from the more overtly Franco-Mansard original treatment -- contained. Perhaps something akin to the well-documented Engstrum solarium? They had a "sun parlor," after all. Plus disappearing beds on doors!

Beaudry · #**19754** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 9:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

That garage was replaced by the Edison Annex, seen here in April 1931:

Huntington Digital Library -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16003coll2/id/27111/rec/2

I'm quite happy to see this here, and recent mention here, somewhere, of the Gas & Electric Bldg, since they are part of the unsung legacy of Bunker Hill.

huntington

Everybody loves the Edison Bldg but who remembers its contemporary annex at 432 S Hope, also by Allison & Allison? That a major Art Deco work of theirs was allowed to be demolished is kind of shocking.

huntington

huntington

Station 42 at 428 S Hope was an early-20s branch powerhouse for Los Angeles Gas & Electric, purchased by the Bureau of Power and Light in 1937, and later as a distributing station for the DWP a lot of its load was taken over by the 1957 construction of the underground station at Temple between Broadway and Hill.

dwp

We know it existed at least through 1977, as it was at the end of that year the papers noted its leaky roof resulted in a sixteen-minute blackout downtown.

GSV

Station 42 is now about where "Hope Place" starts. The only recognizable imagery is the library peeking through foliage in both shots.

HossC · #**19755** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 11:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Station 42 at 428 S Hope was an early-20s branch powerhouse for Los Angeles Gas & Electric, purchased by the Bureau of Power and Light in 1937, and later as a distributing station for the DWP a lot of its load was taken over by the 1957 construction of the underground station at Temple between Broadway and Hill.

We know it existed at least through 1977, as it was at the end of that year the papers noted its leaky roof resulted in a sixteen-minute blackout downtown.

Here's a screengrab from 'CHiPs' that I posted recently. The episode, which aired in 1979, shows the Edison Annex and Station 42 still standing.

MGM TV/Rosner TV

Both buildings also seem to be present in this aerial shot from 1980 which I posted last year (the red box surrounds the Engstrum).

Historic Aerials

HossC · #**19756** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 11:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadykadie2

This is my grandmother in 1925. The caption says "In front of Mary Pickford's house"

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProphetM

No image shows up here, but I can copy & paste the URL into a new window by quoting your post and looking at the code that way. There is a ton of extra stuff in your URL - you should be able to remove everything after the ".jpg", BUT even when I do that I can't get the picture to show up in a post, no idea why.

I tried the short version here but still no luck:

Everyone else, if you can't see the pic just use the quote link for her post or mine to get the URL. It's a nice pic!

The image shows for me when I quote the original post, but then disappears when I leave the page and come back. I can't figure out why it's behaving like this, so I copied the image to my PhotoBucket account:

GaylordWilshire · #**19757** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 2:27 PM**

Well, it's not Pickfair...

LAPL

davelandweb.com

credit link

As seen with its original gates--perhaps put in by the original owner, attorney Lee Allen Phillips (story here).

GSV May 2011

GSV May 2011

The matching back gate, and below, the not-very-attractive now-primary entrance to the late Pickfair

GSV May 2011

From the air, the neighborhood of Pickfair looks about as exclusive as Levittown these days

GSV

Could we nevertheless have Pia's head on a pike? You know, the Golden Globe best-actress winner of of 1952?

Beaudry · #**19758** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 6:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Both buildings also seem to be present in this aerial shot from 1980 which I posted last year (the red box surrounds the Engstrum).

Historic Aerials

Those are awesome, thanks! Oh and by the way, I want to take the time to thank you (since this isn't Facebook and there's no "like button") for the excellent work you did on the Connor slide-stitchery the other day. It's what prompted me to post on these two.

Retired_in_Texas · #**19759** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 7:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Thanks Retired, you got me thinking again on this puzzle. I found another photo of this room. Some of the same students but now we see the teacher and his blackboard. Some of the words on the board are:

Contracts, Seller, Deed, Broker, Agents Authority, Sales, and Deposit.

Maybe this is a class on real estate law. Could these people be real estate agents or lawyers or both?

Huntington Library collection

Well if anything the puzzle seems to expand a bit. I would agree that what is on the blackboard would indicate some sort of seminar about real estate practice or law. What makes it more puzzling is some of the same people being in both photos and the total absence of any of the women seen in the first photograph. At this point I'm thinking the LAPL date on the photo is off by a couple of years.

As a side note, I have come to the conclusion the room is on the second level and on the left side if one is looking at a front elevation of the building. Conclusion arrived at on the basis of the windows we could see in the first photo seem to follow the outside shape at that point. I'm also thinking that some of the "fixtures" that appear to be without light bulbs may actually be sprinkler heads.

Retired_in_Texas · #**19760** Posted **Feb 23, 2014, 8:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzilla

1945

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00088/00088292.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00088/00088291.jpg

Thanks for the great photos of the Battleship Texas. I suspect those were taken before she headed of to support the landings at both Iwo Jima and Okinawa considering when she returned she had been painted in camouflage to make her less visible to Japanese aircraft.

The USS Texas was the last of the Dreadnaught class of Battleships in the Navy and had the unique distinction of having served in both WWI and WWII in both the European and Pacific theaters. Having in the early 1930s been the "Flagship Vessel" of the Navy she enjoyed many firsts as the Navy geared up to more modern times.

The Texas was decommissioned in April of 1948 after 34 years of service. She is now located in San Jacinto State Park in the Houston metro area. I had the privilege of touring her pretty much as she was on decommissioning. Anyone who is interested in her unique history can go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/battleship-texas and http://www.usstexasbb35.com/

For those who venture to the second link the spire seen in the background is the San Jacinto Monument, erected 1936 as tribute the location where Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. Our next door neighbor was the mason that constructed the 34 foot high Star atop the 570 foot tall Obelisk. It is the tallest stone memorial monument in the world and is 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/...attleground-state-historic-site-monument