noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

As I've said before, I skip over most of the private houses photographed by Julius Shulman. Then I spot an interesting thumbnail and find a property like this. It's "Job 4811: Bowler House (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), 1971".



Here's a view of the side.



The set is a mixture of color and black & white images, but there's a fair bit of duplication. Sadly, none of them show the interior. I'll finish with shot showing a little further around the back.



All from Getty Research Institute

There's some information about the Bowler House at laconservancy.org. Other than the address, 3456 Via Campesina, Rancho Palos Verdes, the article tells us that the house was built in 1963, and was designed for industrial building contractor John Bowler by Lloyd Wright (Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr). The protruding parts are blue corrugated fiberglass, which were used to "blur the line between roof and sky". The house can be seen from the street, but I found it hard to get a good GSV image. Instead, here's an aerial view showing the layout of the house and garden.


Google Maps

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Here's the obit of the inventor:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=41610530

Since it's lighting a fluorescent bulb in one of the pictures in the obit, looks like it generates RF instead of microwaves for heating.

Thanks so much for this link Earl.

I hope you don't mind if I go ahead and post several of the photographs from the obit site.

Here's the inventor of Radio Snack Bar , LTC James A. K. Richards


http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=41610530


"In the late 1940's he assisted in the development a little device called a "Radio Snack Bar". It could cook small amounts of food, like a hot dog, in about 30 seconds.
It was not successful -- it wasn't eye-catching and at that time no one seemed interested in something that could cook a hot dog in half a minute.
It seemed that there was no future in it."



And here's the photograph Earl mentioned where the 'waves' are lighting up a fluorescent light bulb.


http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=41610530

sort of reminds me of a theremin.....except for the cooking part.
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[odinthor]

Can anyone help this nice lady who just sent me an email (bolding mine)?: "I was born 1005 ½ Court St. los angeles ca I have spent almost 8 years off and on looking for a picture of the home I grow up in for some reason or another I just can’t find it , well I’m not getting any younger and was hoping that you might point me in the right direction , have gone to Los Angeles public library and started looking through film, I had a feeling this was going to take a long time but never 8 years. I do remember that all the adults called it the crooked house, on Court St. and at that time Court St. was a big hill and Beaudry St. was at the bottom."

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

"Job 4811: Bowler House (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), 1971".



he house was built in 1963, and was designed for industrial building contractor John Bowler by Lloyd Wright (Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr).

Here's a glimpse inside.


http://blog.jonberrydesign.com/2008/06/buy-wright.html

I wonder if the original furniture is still inside?

Glad you brought this home to our attention Hoss....I wasn't even aware it existed.

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[HossC]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Can anyone help this nice lady who just sent me an email (bolding mine)?: "I was born 1005 ½ Court St. los angeles ca I have spent almost 8 years off and on looking for a picture of the home I grow up in for some reason or another I just can’t find it , well I’m not getting any younger and was hoping that you might point me in the right direction , have gone to Los Angeles public library and started looking through film, I had a feeling this was going to take a long time but never 8 years. I do remember that all the adults called it the crooked house, on Court St. and at that time Court St. was a big hill and Beaudry St. was at the bottom."

1005½ Court Street was very close to Court Circle (as discussed earlier by FredH). It's one of these houses in this 1955 aerial view.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

I then had a look through the 1963 Temple urban renewal project film which Beaudry told us about in June. It looks like the house on the corner has gone, but I'm fairly sure that one of these is 1005 Court Street. It's at the 13 minute mark if anyone wants to check it out.


USC Digital Library

And here's the view down the hill to Beaudry.


USC Digital Library

[odinthor]

Many thanks, HossC--I'm sure that the lady will be overjoyed!

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

1005½ Court Street was very close to Court Circle (as discussed earlier by FredH). It's one of these houses in this 1955 aerial view.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

Although they're very far away, here is a front view of the three houses pointed out by HossC (above)

1955

detail from photo #21 http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll44/id/55294



" I do remember that all the adults called it the crooked house, on Court St. and at that time Court St. was a big hill and Beaudry St. was at the bottom."



(actually they all look a little crooked....but the middle one a bit more so than the rest)

a bit closer

Photo #21 at http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll44/id/55294

I think the utility pole(s) might be playing tricks on my eyes


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[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

________________

The angles and colors remind me of birds of paradise plants.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

The old Peoples Bank building is also still standing.
_______________________________________

LOL, that line made me smile.

[Martin Pal]

___

Thanks for pinning down the address/location for the Chanteclair the other day, HossC!

Originally Posted by HossC

That revealed the number on the awning to be 8572. The only appearances of 8572 Sunset in the CDs is for the Crescendo Club in 1956 and 1960.



The Interlude was upstairs. It's the same building as the Sphinx and the Chanteclair with a different paint scheme.

The 1964 image at Historic Aerials in unclear, but the site was definitely a parking lot by 1972.
_____________________________________________________________

Marc Myers/JazzWax


Chubby Checker at the Crescendo dancing the twist with a woman from the audience:


LIFE Magazine dated November 24, 1961.

Here's a short video of the strip in 1961, too, passing by the Crescendo and Interlude on the left at about the 15 second mark.
The youtube page identifies a place called The Cloister Clubs. Is that the building right before the Crescendo?
• Video Link



A blogger named Kathleen Rowell indicates that the Interlude may have been the Tiger Tail, subsequently, but there's no source or info I can find about that.
Marc Myers on his JazzWax blog says that disc jockey Marc Norman owned the Crescendo (as well as the Interlude), but sold it in 1963 to concentrate on
his "GNP Crescendo" record label.

The building re-opened in 1965 as THE TRIP, previously mentioned on NLA, and was there until the spring of 1967.




Alison Martino/VLA

That tall building on the other side of The Trip was built in 1963 or '64 and is the tall Playboy Club building.
Sources say it opened in 1964 or perhaps New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 1963. Some sources identify this location
incorrectly as 9000 Sunset Blvd., too, for some reason, but it is 8560.



In the 1961 video above, before the camera passes the Crescendo and Interlude, you can spot a billboard with
the Playboy Bunny logo on it. I couldn't make out the writing, but it was perhaps announcing the building of 8560.

The following photo shows the "Trip" marquee being used to announce that the Playboy Club is moving
to the then new ABC Entertainment Center in Century City. This is the area that had the Century Plaza
Hotel, the Plitt Theatres (movies) and the Shubert Theatre (stage).

Hollywood Photographs

The source says this, and the following photo, are dated 1973, but I'm guessing it should be 1972,
as that's when the ABC entertainment comlpex opened and above HossC indicates that the
"Trip" location is a parking lot in the 1972 aerial.

Here's a photo looking at the Playboy Bldg. from the opposite direction.

Hollywood Photographs

I don't know if there still is a Playboy Club in Los Angeles as the ABC Entertainment Center
was demolished and a new complex is located there, minus the Shubert Theatre, which is a
real shame, and minus any movie theatres.

I found this article about a mysterious time capsule that was found when the ABC Entertainment
Center was being demolished:

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jun/19/local/me-mystery19

The 2-by-2 1/2-foot aluminum container resembles a television camera and bears an ABC logo and the words,
"Corner Stone in the Stars, Sept. 21, 1971." Inside are about 15 items, including a bright yellow sweater, a bottle
of Martinelli's apple juice, a warped Andy Williams "Moon River" album, a Screen Actors Guild document signed
by Charlton Heston and a program signed by Gregory Peck. Missing are the usual time capsule staples. ABC
officials have looked in their archives and can find no record of the time capsule being placed at the Entertainment
Center, let alone a list of its strange contents.


The article also has some interesting information about some other Hollywood time capsules and what's happened to them.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Here's a short video of the strip in 1961, too, passing by the Crescendo and Interlude on the left at about the 15 second mark.
The youtube page identifies a place called The Cloister Clubs. Is that the building right before the Crescendo?
• Video Link
_____________________________

At about the 15 second mark of this video when we pass the Crescendo on the left, you can see, on the opposite
side of the street a restaurant under the large billboard, which is where the current Mel's Diner is located. Before
that it was the noted Ben Frank's coffee shop. In this 1961 dated video you can't read what restaurant it is, but you
can see a sign that says Coffee Shop. I was wondering if it was Ben Frank's in 1961. So far, I have only seen
information that Ben Frank's opened in 1962, which is a year after this video, or that the video may be dated wrong.
What was there before Ben Frank's I do not know, however.




Ben Frank's was a Sunset Strip hangout in the 60's and 70's for the musicians and
wannabes and hangers on in the emerging rock and roll club scene. Some may
know the famous ad placed by the producers of The Monkees in Variety and The
Hollywood Reporter.

Notice the Ben Frank's reference.



Must come down for interview was taken to mean they shouldn't be high on anything.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Here's a short video of the strip in 1961, too, passing by the Crescendo and Interlude on the left at about the 15 second mark.
The youtube page identifies a place called The Cloister Clubs. Is that the building right before the Crescendo?
• Video Link

Very interesting follow-up on the fate of the Crescendo, Martin Pal.

According to this article about the Mocambo at playgroundtothestars.com, "The Mocambo closed a year later, on June 30, 1958. Another club called the Cloister opened in the space briefly." The address was 8588 Sunset Boulevard, although I can't spot it in the video. Maybe it had moved down the street by 1961.

[odinthor]

Many more thanks, e_r! I'm sure the lady will have tears in her eyes having come to the end of her 8-year journey. I'll report back if she has any stories about the neighborhood.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

As I've said before, I skip over most of the private houses photographed by Julius Shulman. Then I spot an interesting thumbnail and find a property like this. It's "Job 4811: Bowler House (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), 1971".

All of Wright's son's work was wonderful and very much in the vein of his father's work. It was all Wrightian....but with something added and something missing.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

Very interesting follow-up on the fate of the Crescendo, Martin Pal.

According to this article about the Mocambo at playgroundtothestars.com, "The Mocambo closed a year later, on June 30, 1958. Another club called the Cloister opened in the space briefly." The address was 8588 Sunset Boulevard, although I can't spot it in the video. Maybe it had moved down the street by 1961.

Thanks for that interesting link!

HossC, I just noticed, if you look at the youtube video as it comes up on the page before you press play, that tall blade sign thingy has a kind of banner tied around it. Above the banner it says "The" and on the left of that banner thingy is a "C" and on the right is an "r". I'm guessing that is "The Cloister." What's your opinion? Thanks!

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

___

A blogger named Kathleen Rowell indicates that the Interlude may have been the Tiger Tail, subsequently, but there's no source or info I can find about that.
Marc Myers on his JazzWax blog says that disc jockey Marc Norman owned the Crescendo (as well as the Interlude), but sold it in 1963 to concentrate on
his "GNP Crescendo" record label.

The Crescendo and the Interlude were operated by GNP, or Gene Norman Presents. The Crescendo was the main venue, while the interlude, upstairs, was the smaller club.

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Ben Frank's was a Sunset Strip hangout in the 60's and 70's for the musicians and wannabes and hangers on in the emerging rock and roll club scene. Some may know the famous ad placed by the producers of The Monkees in Variety and The
Hollywood Reporter.

Ben Franks was a popular hangout in the early 1960s and became the hangout in the later 1960's when the British Invasion was in full swing. Ben Frank's, Carolina Pines Jr on Vine and Canter's on Fairfax were incredibly popular in those days, since they stayed open late or all night. You had to wait forever to get inside to a booth. You could always see Wild Man Fisher or General Hershey Bar in the crowd. Long-hairs had to stick together in those days, since they were not welcome everywhere.

[ethereal_reality]

I happened upon this fantastic photograph earlier today on eBay.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/1925-PRESS-PHOTO...9?hash=item543a402c63:g:Fi0AAOSwmfhX5Tlm

"The Shriners from the Tadmor Temple of Akron Ohio parading down Broadway in Lo Angeles." [June 5, 1925]

I'm not sure this is Broadway though. Is that the Southern Pacific train station at the end of the street? If so, this is 5th Street & not Broadway.




below: "Miss Kathleen Brown is shown in the small automobile."


detail

Kathleen appears disgruntled.

Look at those tires! they look like roulette wheels.
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Here's the information/date stamps on the reverse

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks so much for this link Earl.



http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=41610530

sort of reminds me of a theremin.....except for the cooking part.
__

I suppose you could also put butter in that and have buttered popcorn while you're at the movies.
America...such great inventions.!

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I happened upon this fantastic photograph earlier today on eBay.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/1925-PRESS-PHOTO...9?hash=item543a402c63:g:Fi0AAOSwmfhX5Tlm

"The Shriners from the Tadmor Temple of Akron Ohio parading down Broadway in Lo Angeles." [June 5, 1925]

I'm not sure this is Broadway though. Is that the Southern Pacific train station at the end of the street? If so, this is 5th Street & not Broadway.

No, not Broadway. The five-globe Llewellyns went in on Broadway in 1905 and were replaced by the Broadway Rose in 1920. This is 5th Street.

Here's another shot of Shriners on 5th Street. Note the Hotel Morris.


Shriners on parade ca.1931

A street full of Shriners as they march past the Hotel Morris at 817 E. 5th Street having, I assume, just arrived in town at the Arcade Station which is behind the camera about two blocks. Ah those were they days!

LAPL