noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

It looks like the Janss Investment Compnay wanted to develop Westwood as "The Second Hollywood". This map is circa 1925.



The name lives on in the Janss Steps at UCLA. They were donated to UCLA by Harold and Edwin Janss.

1928



2007



All from waterandpower.org

----------- There are loads of early UCLA pictures at this link.

[HossC]

Today we've got more Buffums' in Long Beach from Julius Shulman. This is "Job 3260: Hugh Gibbs, Buffums' (Long Beach, Calif.), 1961".



The sign by the door identifies it as Buffums' Marina Sportswear.



There are no interior shots, but we get to see some oil wells on the right of the final image.



All from Getty Research Institute

The Peninsula Shopping Center was mentioned yesterday by e_r in his post about UCLA's propsed move to Palos Verdes. Here, in an article from Palos Verdes Peninsula News, we can see the groundbreaking for Buffums' sportwear store. The last paragraph says that Buffums' Marina Sportswear store was at Alamitos Bay.
NB. I've rearranged the layout to make it more screen-friendly.


California Digital Newspaper Collection

The GSV images up until 2011 show the old Buffums' store.


GSV

I'm not sure if the building was remodeled or knocked down and rebuilt. Either way, the arches are gone. I never found an address for Buffums' Marina Sportswear, but the address for CVS is 6265 E 2nd Street.


GSV

[59imperial]

The building on the right with the loading dock looks like the Compton PE depot. This is in reference to the mystery photo of a PE trolley in a previous post posted yesterday by ethereal_reality. For some reason my reply did not attach to the original post. I'm still new at this.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL
Gaylord's original stretch of Wilshire, west from Westlake Park. From right are the Otis, Earl, and Henderson houses.

LAPL
And to the east of the park, two houses (including the Shatto residence at right, also seen below) on Orange Street, which became Wilshire in the '20s.

LAPL
The Shatto house, 1213 Orange/Wilshire. George Shatto once owned Catalina.

Fascinating details.



We've seen these images on NLA many times since their first posting. (Now it seems whatever gets posted here, somehow ends up elsewhere, occasionally with a reference.)

Edit. Apropos of CBD's link regarding George Shatto, the man, vvvvvv, it is interesting to note that he is (probably) not in any of the pictures of the house he built - in 1892. Most of the shots are dated at 1892 or 1900. Shatto was in his early '40s when he died as a result of a train accident (1893). The sources do not clarify the identity of those pictured. Some suspect Leonard Zelig but it could easily be surviving members of the household.




Circa 1900 - (unidentified) Shatto family members
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/2600




Wonder about the ground covering. From a distance, everything looks well manicured. Closer views indicates the covering was "rough" or "spotty" rather than "smooth" ornamental grass, e.g., Bermuda. Was it an indigenous (drought-tolerant) grass? Succulents? Iceberg plants? Assume the landscape required constant maintenance, yet there may have been an effort to avoid capturing the action on film. (Cue the leafblowers and auto sprinklers.)











Circa 1892
http://waterandpower.org/Historical%20Photos%202/Shatto_ca1892.jpg




http://militantangeleno.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html



(Source presently unknown)



Circa 1900
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/2601














Duplicate of GW image, with slightly more detail.

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15150coll2/id/19054

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Fascinating details



We've seen these images on NLA many times since their first posting. (Now it seems whatever gets posted here, somehow ends up elsewhere, occasionally with a reference.)


Circa 1900 - (unidentified) Shatto family members
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/2600




Wonder about the Shatto home ground covering. From a distance, everything looks well manicured. Closer views indicated a "rough" rather than "smooth" covering. Was it an indigenous (drought-tolerant) grass? Succulents? Iceberg plants? Assume the landscape required constant maintenance? (Cue the leafblowers and auto sprinklers.)











Circa 1892
http://waterandpower.org/Historical%20Photos%202/Shatto_ca1892.jpg




http://militantangeleno.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html



(Source presently unknown)



Circa 1900
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/2601














Duplicate of GW image, with slightly more detail.

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15150coll2/id/19054

Born August 15, 1850
Medina County, Ohio
Died May 30, 1893 (aged 42)
Ravenna, California

I thought it might be good to know just who was George Shatto. Link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shatto

[Bristolian]

The recent posts about the links between the early days of UCLA and Palos Verdes reminded me that Cal State University Dominguez Hills actually started there and at one time had plans to make Palos Verdes its permanent home with a design drawn by architect A. Quincy Jones that was eventually built at the Carson site.

http://patch.com/california/palosverdes/...dominquez-hills-almost-came-to81a3a1d8de

http://modernistarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-quincy-jones-designs-college-campus.html

Site of first classes at CSUDH


Original Palos Verdes plan


Library on campus designed by A. Quincy Jones


All from modernistarchitecture.blogspot.com

[jumbo0]

I'm still reading through the whole topic, but it's growing so fast that I barely can keep up! I'm like only half way through, somewhere around 2012. Anyway, I found these photos online and I hope they are not posted yet, if so, I'm sorry! For some of them I made a comparison with recent Google images.


City Hall at night, Los Angeles, 1961
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu


Crowds at the Hollywood Bowl, 1940
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu


Greenleaf Ave, Whittier, California, 1907
Source: oac.cdlib.org


Christmas trees, South Flower Street, Los Angeles, 1928
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu


Whittier Boulevard & California Avenue, Montebello, 1934
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu


Rainy day, Ventura & Woodman, Sherman Oaks, California, March 15, 1952
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu


Main Street between Sixth & Seventh, Los Angeles, 1941
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu




Tom Breneman's restaurant, Hollywood, 1948
Source: digitallibrary.usc.edu

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

I don't remember where I read it(I did read it recently), but there were 3 locations that were under consideration for the new campus for the "Southern Branch"(as UCLA was called then): Pasadena, Burbank, and PV. The Janss Brothers apparently hired out all the livery services in LA and made sure their guy drove the Regents around and made sure they stopped by their property in Westwood(well it was on the way back to Berkeley).

Burbank wanted the University very badly and laid out a subdivision they called "University Hills" with streets named after universities, Harvard, Cambridge, Tufts, Eton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Andover, etc and "UCLAN" named for UCLA which never came. We did keep all the school street names, though.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

[...]
Circa 1900 - (unidentified) Shatto family members
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/2600




Wonder about the ground covering. From a distance, everything looks well manicured. Closer views indicates the covering was "rough" or "spotty" rather than "smooth" ornamental grass, e.g., Bermuda. Was it an indigenous (drought-tolerant) grass? Succulents? Iceberg plants? Assume the landscape required constant maintenance, yet there may have been an effort to avoid capturing the action on film. (Cue the leafblowers and auto sprinklers.)

Hmmm, hard to tell just what the main planting might be. Most of the bushes look like . . . well, at first glance, they looked like Camellias to me, which would be a very poor choice for their (very exposed to the sun) location; they could be very robust and well-foliated roses (except for the one all the way at the left of the larger photo, which very much indeed looks like a Camellia and not at all like a rose). The fact that they're all or nearly all carefully staked ("until they get established" would be what's in the gardener's mind) makes me suspect that they're very newly-planted, so they could indeed be (doomed) Camellias which haven't had enough time to die yet. The big plant looks as if it could be a citrus (probably an Orange) or maybe some kind of Magnolia (also well-staked).

But the ground cover...eh, I'm drawing a blank there. The fact that the main planting is seemingly so new, it could be that, for the time being, they're relying on Mother Nature to cover the rest of the ground while they concentrate on the bigger stuff.

[HossC]

We haven't had a travel bureau from Julius Shulman for a while. This is "Job 3233: Risley and Gould, British Overseas Airways Corporation (Beverly Hills, Calif.), 1961".



That's a pretty impressive map on the back wall.



Both from Getty Research Institute

I couldn't find this office in the CDs, but the advert below appeared in many issues of Black Belt magazine in 1968. The advert is from seven years after the Shulman pictures, and gives the address as 9460 Wilshire Boulevard. Trading on the James Bond movie 'You Only Live Twice', we have Mie Hama enticing bachelors on an Orient adventure. It's a shame they spelled her name wrong at the bottom.


books.google.com

While I was searching for information, I came across a collection of Julius Shulman pictures at theguardian.com. The article includes the second picture above, which comes with this caption:

‘What a vivid contrast of colours in this travel agency scene,’ Shulman wrote of this image. ‘This represents a perfect example of the functional design and spacing of the clients’ offices embellished with elegant decor’

British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA) merged in the early-70s to form British Airways.

[Bristolian]

Oh, flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C.
Didn't get to bed last night

-The Beatles

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by HossC

[...]

The last picture also appears to be in the menswear section, although I'm not sure what's in the bottles.



[...]

One of my more unusual enthusiasms is men's fragrances (whiff of Kouros, anyone?). The middle ones in the pic are a fragrance called King's Men, a bit before my fragrance-using time (but I checked on a men's fragrance discussion group I'm on). Looking at the caps of the other bottles, which seem mostly much the same, I'd guess that the rest are other variations of the same line (after-shave, balm, etc. etc.).

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

Oh, flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C.
Didn't get to bed last night

-The Beatles

Flew B.O.A.C. from LA to London in 1961. Pure-jet 707, the most underpowered aircraft ever certified by the FAA. Over the pole, non-stop or one stop (Gander) depending on the wind.

Loaded to the gills with fuel and cargo, cleared the perimeter fence at LAX with a couple of feet to spare. I think that 15 miles out to sea we were finally up to about 5,000 feet. Stopped at Gander. Return trip was nonstop, not much cargo. Service was terrific.

Cheers,

Earl

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Hmmm, hard to tell just what the main planting might be.

But the ground cover...eh, I'm drawing a blank there. The fact that the main planting is seemingly so new, it could be that, for the time being, they're relying on Mother Nature to cover the rest of the ground while they concentrate on the bigger stuff.

In connection with something called a drought, there has been a call for return to native drought-resistant plants. Unfortunately, most suggestions include hybridized versions of native plants. Native ground coverings, by their very definition, might not necessarily have been in the Nursery, Hardware or Seed Catalogs of the day. Wasn't some of LA covered in something like generic Buffalo Grass or Meadow Grass, both of which, when manicured, would look smooth like traditional lawns?


Harper & Reynolds Co. (48-50 South Main Street. and 61 -63 Los Angeles Street was selling Excelsior reel push mowers per the 1886-1887CD. So whatever the typical LA lawn's composition, it was being mowed then. (A decent hardware seed/sod catalog from the period might come in handy right now.) The 1894CD lists James Denham (245 S. Main Street) as a dealer in nursury stock (seeds, blubs and plants.) Whether this encompasses ornamental grass, seed, sod or turf, is unknown.)


When Don Ameche is too busy? Call Ralph Bellamy!

1940 - "Ralph Bellamy is impeccably dressed as he mows the lawn by the driveway of a large estate, possibly his, in a wealthy area of Southern California."
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics50/00074596.jpg


Undated view of Bernheimer Estate lawn, which was evidently maintained by human power. (See bottom)
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics42/00070817.jpg



Undated Rent-a-mower?
Jones Hardware, 1258 American Avenue, Long Beach,
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics34/00066518.jpg




Since golf courses (greens and fairways) tend to make heavy use of some ornamental grasses, it might even be fair to assume that LA ornamental grass history loosely parallels Golf's history in LA.

This is by no means a definitive ten-minute study. (It took six minutes.) The 1900-1CD lists a Westmoreland Golf Club, somehow affiliated with Plessier. A different 1900CD lists the "Golf Store" at 108 W. Third, operated by the Watson Brothers. The LA Country Club's history page indicates 1897-1899 as dates for a 16-acre nine-hole course at Pico and Alvarado (The Windmill Links), and a nine-hole course at Hobart and 16th Street (The Convent Course named for its proximity to a Convent near Rosedale Cemetery). https://www.thelacc.org/history So, by the turn of the last century, ornamental grasses were probably taking root, if not firmly rooted throughout LA.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by odinthor

One of my more unusual enthusiasms is men's fragrances (whiff of Kouros, anyone?). The middle ones in the pic are a fragrance called King's Men, a bit before my fragrance-using time (but I checked on a men's fragrance discussion group I'm on). Looking at the caps of the other bottles, which seem mostly much the same, I'd guess that the rest are other variations of the same line (after-shave, balm, etc. etc.).

Thanks, odinthor. Here's a detail of the original picture.


Getty Research Institute

I'm curious to know what Kings Men Thistle and Plaid Cologne smelled like .


eBay

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by HossC

Thanks, odinthor. Here's a detail of the original picture.


I'm curious to know what Kings Men Thistle and Plaid Cologne smelled like .


eBay

A Scottish golf course?

[Bristolian]

...

[GaylordWilshire]

MYSTERY BUILDING...


Though not as to location. While putting together my residential survey of Wilshire Boulevard, I came across a small apartment building at the nwc of Gramercy Place. There was never a single-family house on the corner, so I put the lot aside. It appears in images we've seen on NLA before, including the eastward view from Wilton Place below dated by the USCDL as 1923... also in a previously-seen 1929 aerial. The building is missing from another air view dated 1948.

EDIT: Mystery solved--the story of the apt building is in this survey of post-residential Wilshire Boulevard called Wilshire After Its Houses, available here.


USCDL

Showing a bit of itself on the other side of the apt building is 646 South Gramercy, which Jack Pickford and Olive Thomas were renting just before she died in Paris in 1920. At right is the Leon Kaufmann house, which he had moved to the boulevard from Alvarado Street and would move from after building the famous Villa Leon. (Read all about the boulevard's houses here: wilshireboulevardhouses.com.)



LAT Jan 7, 1923





Hoss: enjoyed the pictures of B.O.A.C.--or, as it was known, "Better On A Camel"....

Originally Posted by odinthor

One of my more unusual enthusiasms is men's fragrances (whiff of Kouros, anyone?).

odinthor: Your interest is a new one on me-- men's cologne. To be honest, it's a huge turn-off to me-- I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it-- but, well, very interesting interest. Maybe there were some scents produced in L.A. back in the days of primitive plumbing....

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

[...]

odinthor: Your interest is a new one on me-- men's cologne. To be honest, it's a huge turn-off to me-- I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it-- but, well, very interesting interest. Maybe there were some scents produced in L.A. back in the days of primitive plumbing....

Not sure if you mean the ever-polarizing Kouros, or men's scents in general; but, yes, a lot of people feel that way, so "I hear you." But men's scents get a bum rap because of guys who don't know how to wear them, and so ladle it on like gravy on their Thanksgiving turkey. Scent--men's or women's--should be worn just enough so that someone who gets close enough for a handshake can get a faint notion of the fragrance. Trust me: Fragrance fans hate over-scenters even more than "regular people" do. When a person walks into a room and the paint on the walls begins to blister, that's too much scent, gentlemen...

[HossC]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

MYSTERY BUILDING...

Though not as to location. While putting together my residential survey of Wilshire Boulevard, I came across a small apartment building at the nwc of Gramercy Place. There was never a single-family house on the corner, so I put the lot aside. It appears in images we've seen on NLA before, including the eastward view from Wilton Place below dated by the USCDL as 1923... also in a previously-seen 1929 aerial. The building is missing from another air view dated 1948; I've dug around in building records, as well as looking for it by both possible Gramercy and Wilshire addresses in newspaper archives but have turned up nothing.

Anyone interested in a hunt? Hoss?

No luck with a good picture yet, but I can narrow down your time window. I think the mystery building can just be seen in this 1930 view from the construction site of the Pellissier Building.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

The image below already appears on wilshireboulevardhouses.com. It's dated 1937, and shows that the mystery house has already been replaced.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

I've previously posted this 1936 image which gives a better view of the building that replaced the mystery house.

Originally Posted by HossC

The building can be seen on the left of this 1936 shot of Perino's. Morgan at 3951 Wilshire was a florist.


USC Digital Library