noirish Los Angeles

[Tourmaline]

[HossC]

Originally Posted by JeffDiego

...and speaking of Hollywood intersections in the 1950's, does anyone recognize this interesting apartment house or or know its location?


pinterest/feedly.com

And by the way, the blonde actress/model on the left MAY be Susan Oliver; looks like her.

I found a larger version of the picture which shows more text at the bottom. I think it names the ladies and the traffic cop, but even after mirroring it and adjusting the contrast, I'm still having trouble reading it. My best guess is "Linda Wah???, ????? Anderson & motorcycle officer Leo Edwards". Then again, there's a period after the officer's first name, so it might be "Geo. Edwards".


studebakerdriversclub.com

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by HossC

I found a larger version of the picture which shows more text at the bottom. I think it names the ladies and the traffic cop, but even after mirroring it and adjusting the contrast, I'm still having trouble reading it. My best guess is "Linda Wah???, ????? Anderson & motorcycle officer Leo Edwards". Then again, there's a period after the officer's first name, so it might be "Geo. Edwards".


studebakerdriversclub.com

Hot weather negatives, 9 July 1958. Linda Wahner: Dru Anderson (walk across street in bathing suits -- stops traffic); George Edwards (motorcycle officer).; Caption slip reads: "Photographer: Lou Mack. Date: 1958-07-09. Assignment: Hot weather pix [sic]. 21/22: Motorcycle Officer George Edwards wipes brow as cool chicks Linda Wahner; and Dru Anderson walk across street, stopping traffic.

USC Digital Library/Los Angeles Examiner Collection


Heat Wave, 1958 (2)

And back by popular demand, Motorcycle Officer George Edwards, Linda Wahner; and Dru Anderson and a very nice Pontiac.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

I was recently contacted by a woman who is researching her family’s history. In 1935, her parents borrowed $25 and drove from Kansas to Los Angeles, where her father worked at several McDonnell’s restaurants, eventually becoming manager at McDonnell’s No. 3 on the corner of Wilshire & Robertson. She sent me four photos from her family’s collection. I find them wonderfully evocative of the era. I can almost smell the burgers!

All photos from the Wetzel family collection.

McDonnell's No. 6 Sunset & La Brea, Tiny Naylors later built at same location.


McDonnell's No. 3 NE corner, Wilshire & Robertson, carhop standing outside circa 1938.


McDonnell's No. 1, Beverly & Western circa 1935, Walter Wetzel in foreground on way to work as dishwasher.


McDonnell's No. 3 NE corner Wilshire & Robertson, manager Walter Wetzel with carhop, circa 1938.

Wow! McDonnell's. When I was a very small child, before 1957, we used to go to McDonnell's on San Fernando Road and Sonora in Glendale. It was located so that you could see the runways at Grand Central Airport and I loved to watch the planes takeoff and land. This particular location had inside seating with big windows on the airport side. They also had the best chicken noodle soup ever. I have searched ever since then, to find as good a soup.

[JeffDiego]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Hot weather negatives, 9 July 1958. Linda Wahner: Dru Anderson (walk across street in bathing suits -- stops traffic); George Edwards (motorcycle officer).; Caption slip reads: "Photographer: Lou Mack. Date: 1958-07-09. Assignment: Hot weather pix [sic]. 21/22: Motorcycle Officer George Edwards wipes brow as cool chicks Linda Wahner; and Dru Anderson walk across street, stopping traffic.

USC Digital Library/Los Angeles Examiner Collection


Heat Wave, 1958 (2)

And back by popular demand, Motorcycle Officer George Edwards, Linda Wahner; and Dru Anderson and a very nice Pontiac.

Thanks Hoss and Michael Ryerson! Where did you find these? Those larger photos not only give the names of the two women, but prove indeed that the blonde is Linda Wahner and definitely NOT Susan Oliver. What a difference a close-up makes.
Linda and Dru, where are you?...and do you still stroll around L.A. in bathing suits and high heels?

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by JeffDiego

Thanks Hoss and Michael Ryerson! Where did you find these? Those larger photos not only give the names of the two women, but prove indeed that the blonde is Linda Wahner and definitely NOT Susan Oliver. What a difference a close-up makes.
Linda and Dru, where are you?...and do you still stroll around L.A. in bathing suits and high heels?

They're in the USC Digital Archive/Examiner Negatives under 'hot weather negatives, 1958'

sorry, can't seem to get the girls upright.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michae...11095/sizes/l/

[tovangar2]

La La Land has come up again on the thread and I noticed Lindsay from IAmNotAStalker.com did a write-up/review, focused on the Orcutt Ranch location.

Lindsay is usually universally enthusiastic about everything, but La La Land left her cold (she also links to the glum New Yorker review)


iamnotastalker.com

[Martin Pal]

And back by popular demand, Motorcycle Officer George Edwards...

And why would there be a "motorcycle officer" at that location?
And where is his motorcycle?

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

La La Land has come up again on the thread and I noticed Lindsay from IAmNotAStalker.com did a write-up/review, focused on the Orcutt Ranch location.

Lindsay is usually universally enthusiastic about everything, but La La Land left her cold (she also links to the glum New Yorker review)


iamnotastalker.com
_______________________________________________________________

Too bad! I really like the film. There seems to now be a sizable amount of people ready to lambaste a film they might otherwise have just felt indifferent to. Maybe because it's gotten so much attention, awards and critical acclaim, I don't know. I understand if someone might be indifferent to it, but there's alot of anger in what some are no writing about it.

Oh, well, I don't feel that!

[HossC]

Here's today's Julius Shulman post. It's "Job 269: Gruen and Krummeck, Kutlers Department Store (Long Beach, Calif.), 1948".



There are a few extra shots of the interior, but they don't add much to the ones I picked.



This display cabinet appears to hold a lighter and accessories like cuff links.



I'll finish the Shulman images with a night shot showing the neon.



All from Getty Research Institute

A bit of Googling suggests that Kutlers was a men's shop rather than a full department store. It was located at 120 E Broadway, Long Beach. I think that the arched windows on the second floor of the current building match those in the vintage views.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

detail

Hoss, I couldn't help but notice the art deco parking meter.

I mean, that's quite an extravagant design.......for a parking meter.

[Martin Pal]

In the current GSV image in HossC's post above, why would they
blur out the last word in the "Broadway Pizza & _____" sign?

[HossC]

I think that some of the blurring process is automated, because I often see blurred street numbers, street names, phone numbers etc. I contemplated using an older GSV image for that very reason, but the recent ones either had similar blurring or sheared lines where the images didn't quite match together properly (sometimes I just edit that out if I have the time!). I think that the blurred word was "Grill".

I don't remember seeing those Art Deco meters before, e_r, but I haven't been looking. I bet it costs slightly more than 5¢/60 mins to park there today.

[ethereal_reality]

"Corner of Broadway and Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, 1953"


http://www.vintag.es/2016/11/corner-...rson-blvd.html

Well, there's no description, but this is obviously a posed photograph showing the effects of smog Los Angeles was experiencing in the 1950s.

I wonder who the person is?
detail






# # #

update:
I just noticed Martin_Turnbull has this photograph on his site as well.

Here's what he wrote.

"I don’t know what was going on at the corner of Broadway and Jefferson Blvd when a photographer
from the L.A. Examiner took this photo on February 4th, 1953, but the result is pretty stunning, don’t you think?'

http://martinturnbull.com/2014/12/26...uary-4th-1953/
__

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

That's the entrance to Paradise Cove which is maybe three or four miles north of Malibu Pier. Mr. Teas is headed south on PCH and if he does indeed make that left turn he's signaling for he's going to cross about four lanes of high speed traffic. BTW, the words are 'Paradise Cove', 'Sports Fishing' and 'Finest Beach' This is where Jim Rockford had his ramshackle trailer parked.

Thanks M R.

Here's another look at the billboard.


http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/ne...ure-id85080412 (I'm pretty sure we've seen this image once before on NLA)

Parked near a sign for 'Paradise Cove.' people stand by their cars and watch the smoke from a wildfire in Malibu, California, late 1940s or early 1950s.
The silver car in the center is either a 1949 or 1950 Nash Ambassador 4-Door hardtop sedan.

__

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by odinthor

As it happens--and I hadn't checked out this on NLA at that time--I was at this precise location today: My gym is where the (well-remembered) Circle Drive-In was, so I pass the aforementioned Pep Boys, strip mall, and Burger King three times a week. For reasons unknown to me, a couple of miles of PCH, of which this was about the middle, had a vaguely and sparse Polynesian theme about the 1950s-1970s. There was a Trader Vic's farther on down (I was in it once, as a tyke; the building remains as what seems to be a South American sort of restaurant called Green Fields; but in GSV it's well-hidden by trees), across from the present Pep Boys site was and is a car wash which once upon a time also carried out the Polynesian theme, and up the street above the Traffic Circle was until quite recently a bowling alley with the same theme. Today, sort of continuing the Polynesian coincidence, having left the gym, I continued on down PCH to the Huntington Beach pier area and had a delicious lunch at the Hawaiian-themed Duke's! Cuz, you see, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxyF864X9jk I get around . . .

ERROR! ERROR! It suddenly occurred to me that the restaurant I refer to in the above was like a Trader Vic's, but was actually named Mr. C's. The address of the place was/is 5305 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach. Here's a page at another site about it and its neighbor the (well-remembered) Outrigger Inn: http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/...=32578&forum=2. The Mr. C's building is intact--at least, exteriorly--but well hidden by vegetation. I'll be passing by it in about 2.5 hours . . .

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Corner of Broadway and Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, 1953"


http://www.vintag.es/2016/11/corner-...rson-blvd.html

Well, there's no description, but this is obviously a posed photograph showing the effects of smog Los Angeles was experiencing in the 1950s.

I wonder who the person is?


for some reason my mind keeps telling me this might be a female.




# # #

update:
I just noticed Martin_Turnbull has this photograph on his site as well.

Here's what he wrote.

"I don’t know what was going on at the corner of Broadway and Jefferson Blvd when a photographer
from the L.A. Examiner took this photo on February 4th, 1953, but the result is pretty stunning, don’t you think?'

http://martinturnbull.com/2014/12/26...uary-4th-1953/
__

Uncertain traveller, 1953


He picked her up just east of Vermont. She might have been waiting for a cab or a friend or she might have been watching for a guy with an empty front seat. She had a nice smile, kinda shy, climbed in, seemed maybe a little older than she'd looked on the sidewalk but needed a ride up to 11th and Hill, had a room next door to the Mayan. They hit the fog at Figueroa, turned on the wipers and plowed on through until he had to stop and climb on a mailbox to see where they were. She stayed in the car and thumbed through his glove box.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks M R.

Here's another look at the billboard.


http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/ne...ure-id85080412 (I'm pretty sure we've seen this image once before on NLA)

Parked near a sign for 'Paradise Cove.' people stand by their cars and watch the smoke from a wildfire in Malibu, California, late 1940s or early 1950s.
The silver car in the center is either a 1949 or 1950 Nash Ambassador 4-Door hardtop sedan.

__

I believe that's a 1955 Chevy across the street at the right. Yes, fires are always a crowd magnet.

[ethereal_reality]

futurestudio.typepad.com > Historic Roadside Los Angeles

We've seen many examples of 'mimetic' architecture on NLA, but I don't believe we have seen "Betsy Ann".


http://futurestudio.typepad.com/phot...betsy-ann.html


The Betsy Ann, in the shape of a woman with a hat, long curls in her hair, a large hoop skirt, and holding a fan, is an ice cream and candy shop.
Two ice cream cones flank the entrance, which is through her skirt. Signs on either side of her read: "We manufacture our own ice cream and candies,"
below that, another sign reading, "Betsy Ann fancy ice cream & candies," and "Good old Eastside. The perfect brew. We serve cold drinks of all kinds."
There was a real Betsy Ann behind Betsy Ann Candies; Betsy Ann Helsel founded the company in 1938. In this photo, two 2-story homes can be seen
directly behind the ice cream parlor.


I looked through several directories....but no Betsy Ann Helsel.

lapl

Does anyone know where the "Betsy Ann' was located.......was it really in Los Angeles?

__

also,

I can't remember...what non-alcoholic beverage did Eastside 'brew'?
detail

I mean, this is an ice cream shop.



__

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks so much Beaudry! I didn't notice the Krogh Store in your pic until you pointed it out.


detail

Originally Posted by Beaudry

See the side of the building where it says 339? That's Joe Krogh's retail store. The alley shots were taken next to the Follies!

At first I didn't realize the Krogh store was in the same building as the theater.

__