noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

I remember one hot spot for hamburgers in the 1980s was Hamptons on Highland in Hollywood. (there was also a location in Toluca Lake)

"Hamptons (spelled with no apostrophe) was an upscale hamburger joint, perhaps the first one in Southern California. Once upon a time, it was impossible to get a table at lunch without a long wait. People loved the eighty varieties of burgers, including Stan’s Fantasy (with sour cream and black caviar), The Nelly Burger (creamed horseradish and bacon) and the Pink Peppercorn Burger topped with a Sherry-wine dressing. People also loved the little buffet that accompanied each burger,
allowing you to further dress your sandwich and pile the plate with salads and side dishes. The menu did not include french fries." (they offered German Potato Salad instead)

http://oldlarestaurants.com/hamptons-2/comment-page-1/#comments


This comment caught my eye.

"My grandparents built the house in 1920 that became the entire kitchen and serving area for Hamptons Cafe on Highland Avenue. My dad was born in that house in 1909 and he remembered that a lodger had planted the avocado tree that became the feature the cover over the patio was built around. It was a fruitful tree for years and years. I remember my grandparents house and family get togethers where we’d all get around and make music after dinner. I was sad to see the place razed to the ground to make way for condos. Even the fruitful avocado tree is gone now. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." -David Cutter

I didn't realize it was located in an old house. (how did I forget that!) & so far I haven't been able to find a photograph of the place
(or even a menu) I'm hoping one of you sleuths will be able to help me out.

The exact address was 1342 Highland Avenue (if I remember correctly it was on the east side of the street) -several blocks south of Sunset blvd.


update

A little more about the house.

"For a short time before it became Hamptons, the little orange house on Highland Avenue was an unsuccessful recording studio. I can’t recall the name at the moment, but the corporate name for the recording studio was the same as the corporate name for Hamptons. Ron couldn’t bear to sell the house when the recording studio went belly up, so he decided to convert it into a burger restaurant." -Robin Jones
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[tovangar2]

I remember Hamptons well e_r. IIRC, they had a really good wine list.

It very much was an old house with a make-shift, translucent cover over the side-yard dining area. The whole place kind of looked like a tree-house built by kids:


seeing-stars

Hamptons was between DeLongpre and Fountain:


seeing-stars (thx gary!)

Permit says the six-room frame home at 1342 Highland went up in 1919 for a cost of $3K. The owner was Geo. White. His offices were in the 1909 Toberman Building at 6412 Hollywood Blvd.

[ethereal_reality]

There it is!! Thanks so much t2.

I hate to say it but it was a bit tacky looking.

The house is mostly hidden; maybe that's why I don't remember it.

[ethereal_reality]

I love everything about this 1938 photograph of Flynn's Grill in San Fernando City.


http://pstp-edison.com/waldie.html

"A2-Bc-Air Conditioning-Flynn's Grill-people in the bar-San Fernando G. Haven Bishop 1938"

As the description states, this is the bar area. The waitress no doubt wandered over from the 'grill'/cafe area.

I like the lighting fixtures on the ceiling. (or maybe they're exhaust fans to clear out the smoke)

Lastly, take a gander at that early jukebox.




I didn't know where in San Fernando Flynn's was located until I happened upon this postcard.


ebay





And take a look at this wonderfully noirish photograph taken in the 1930s.


https://lopezadobe.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/san-fernando-at-night-1930s.jpg

note the rooftop Porter Hotel/Flynn's Grill billboard.

__

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I remember one hot spot for hamburgers in the 1980s was Hamptons on Highland in Hollywood. (there was also a location in Toluca Lake)

"Hamptons (spelled with no apostrophe) was an upscale hamburger joint, perhaps the first one in Southern California. Once upon a time, it was impossible to get a table at lunch without a long wait. People loved the eighty varieties of burgers, including Stan’s Fantasy (with sour cream and black caviar), The Nelly Burger (creamed horseradish and bacon) and the Pink Peppercorn Burger topped with a Sherry-wine dressing. People also loved the little buffet that accompanied each burger, allowing you to further dress your sandwich and pile the plate with salads and side dishes. The menu did not include french fries." (they offered German Potato Salad instead)

http://oldlarestaurants.com/hamptons-2/comment-page-1/#comments

I too remember Hamptons and recall being asked by tourists if there were any celebrities in our midst. One, who I would prefer not to name, was heard to say, "Do I count?" It also brings to mind its alleged connection with P Newman and the Foggy Bottom Burger (peanut butter and sour plum jam) which I never tried, but heard was good. I do recall the tree laden courtyard, insects, birds and maybe even the haphazard parking situation.

The notion of repurposing a house or small business as a restaurant, of course, invites recollections of other such places mentioned on NLA, e.g., Butterfield's (8426 Sunset Blvd.) and possibly Father Yod's The Source (8301 Sunset Blvd.). From the early '80s - Cafe Mambo, (707 Heliotrope Drive) and Cha Cha Cha (656 Virgil Ave.) There were more, I recall at least two upscale French and/or Italian restaurants in the Valley. A cursory permit search suggests Butterfield's may have started out with a different street address, perhaps on De Longpre.

The Source's address yields even less info. I am not certain that the Source's main structure was ever a residence, although it certainly had the feel of one. I can still envision the melted candle wax on what may have been a brick fireplace. And there were the dark wooden bowls. How they were washed . . . and kept sanitary is a mystery. In 1942, the location has a listing for Alf Anderson, Personal Guide. This suggests we may have seen Alf before on NLA. Down the road a spell, at 8351 Sunset is the only other '42 listing for a Personal Guide, S.H. Russell. Wholstadter Ins. Agency was at 8310 in '56 and Tinkham Enterprises is listed there in '60. Today, the former Source has been pushed into a proverbial corner and its former parking lot has been subsumed by a multi-story structure.



A business enterprise easily adapted to travel.

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7739190&postcount=40525



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=7744694&postcount=40658







http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=7608006#post7608006



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/923/KsYuaz.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=7608391&postcount=37615



Sunset (near) Sweetzer, ca 1950.
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7760421&postcount=40962




http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7760445&postcount=40964





Mario Tamayo's Cha Cha Cha
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5f/aa/fd/5faafd4af623cb66480daf59352e898a.jpg


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7d/e5/72/7de57262b1dc4ea9654c1378e476d6eb.jpg



https://inthecuttravel.files.wordpress.c...terior_guests_in_the_cut_travel_blog.png




http://www.thefabliss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/IMG_5099a1.jpg?w=640

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I love everything about this 1938 photograph of Flynn's Grill in San Fernando City.


http://pstp-edison.com/waldie.html

"A2-Bc-Air Conditioning-Flynn's Grill-people in the bar-San Fernando G. Haven Bishop 1938"

As the description states, this is the bar area. The waitress no doubt wandered over from the 'grill'/cafe area.

I like the lighting fixtures on the ceiling. (or maybe they're exhaust fans to clear out the smoke)

Lastly, take a gander at that early jukebox.

Wow, that jukebox is a wonder isn't it? Just look at that burled veneer and the way the horizontal banding becomes the pattern of the speaker grill. The closest I could find is this 1938 Wurlitzer counter-top model:


icollector

"AN ART DECO WURLITZER MODEL 61 COUNTER-TOP "MULTI-SELECTOR PHONOGRAPH" JUKEBOX
Serial #682821, original selection keys, coin mechanism and lights works, case all original, case key present. Wurlitzer first produced this counter-top jukebox, designed by the Swiss engineer Paul Fuller in 1938, as part of their 1939 model line; some 8,260 units were manufactured in all. The classic streamlined Art Deco design of its cabinet was enhanced by bands of burled maple and walnut veneers above a black lacquered base, the whole tied together with flowing chrome trim. Additional decorative touches include wood-grained metal escutcheons on the upper half of the case and illuminated corner pieces of translucent red catalin, a cast bakelite product. The machine has a playing capacity of twelve 78 rpm records. 22"h x 21"w x 18"d"

I love those Thonet bentwood chairs too. I'd collected six of them back in the day, but left them behind when I moved back to LA. (regret)

Nicely designed and finished bar too, plus those stools are sharp.

Thx for the link to the history of the hotel and grill.

The building was remodeled by AC Martin Asscociates after a big fire in 1964:

gsv

...........................................................................................

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

I miss Hamburger Hamlet restaurants. The food was supremely high quality.

We use to go to the one on the west side of Flower, just south of 6th. The #5 was good.


............................................................................................

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I hate to say it but it was a bit tacky looking.

Yeah, but when Hamptons opened, the adjective that would have been used was "funky". People liked that look back then.


.

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

I miss Hamburger Hamlet restaurants. The food was supremely high quality.

We had a great one in Costa Mesa. It's been repurposed. Nothing better, so miss them

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Sunset and Sweetzer, ca 1950.
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7760421&postcount=40962

This somehow doesn't look like Sunset and Sweetzer to me; something about the curve of the street. I'm thinking this is a little west, at about the 8335 Sunset office building, with the private drive next to it, east of Carney's.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0959193,...0tOiiNQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en

[HossC]

Agreed. I think this early-30s shot shows the white pillars at the base of the slope by the car (pickup?) on the right.

Originally Posted by HossC

hollywoodphotographs.com

[Tourmaline]

Judging by the "pickup" photo, this pic appears to have been taken from the Sunset Towers. It has been identified as being "near" Sweetzer.

http://www.playgroundtothestars.com/word...hoto-1950-sunset-strip-looking-east1.jpg


Of course HossC explored this area in an earlier post: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=7633875&postcount=38032 As did ER: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=7633865&postcount=38031

[HossC]

Here's a nighttime view of roughly the same area from 1957. In the lower left there's a sign for the Sunset Capri by the white pillars. I believe Sweetzer Avenue is just above the third utility pole - the building on the east side of Sweetzer appears to be the one that's still there today.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

NB. I've just spent over an hour trying to upload this picture, and then found six copies in my album! Every attempt got stuck at 90%, so I assumed they weren't working. I guess it's just Photobucket's technical issue of the week.

[Martin Pal]

The long exposure has those billboards pretty unreadable, but I can make out
Coca Cola on top of the left one.

[HossC]

Today's Julius Shulman post shows another design by Matcham and Heitschmidt, who did the Llords and Elwood store we saw a few days ago. It's "Job 296: Matcham and Heitschmidt, United Parcel Service Building, 1948".



Getty Research Institute

This is another "location unknown" that's easy to find - the street signs for Santa Monica Boulevard and Pelham Avenue are a big help! Matcham and Heitschmidt obviously did a good job designing this building, because it's still being used by UPS nearly 70 years later. The building is nearly opposite the Mormon temple.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Our brief visit to Hamptons had the effect of transporting me back to the 1980s.

Does anyone remember when the Mondrian Hotel was painted as a homage to the artist Piet Mondrian?


https://www.facebook.com/VintageLosAngel...7946929/1400080570048658/?type=1&theater


...and Today.


gsv

The hotel was converted from a 1950s apartment building. It opened as the Mondrian in 1984, two years after I arrived in Los Angeles.
I remember being quite impressed by it's new paint job.


Here's a side view from Olive Drive from the late 1980s or early 90s..............and today.


www.alamy.com / gsv





As a reminder, here's an example of Mondrian's work.


https://www.artsy.net/artwork/piet-mondr...rge-red-plane-yellow-black-grey-and-blue

Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey and Blue, 1921
Oil on canvas

-------




Why was Olive turned into a One-Way street at this point along the east side of the Mondrian? (curious minds want to know )


detail / gsv

The only thing I can think of....

It helps regulate traffic into and out of the 'House of Blues' (southeast corner of Sunset and Olive)

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I love everything about this 1938 photograph of Flynn's Grill in San Fernando City.


http://pstp-edison.com/waldie.html

Lastly, take a gander at that early jukebox.

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Wow, that jukebox is a wonder isn't it? Just look at that burled veneer and the way the horizontal banding becomes the pattern of the speaker grill. The closest I could find is this 1938 Wurlitzer counter-top model:


icollector

It appears to be a 1937 Wurlitzer 616. For anyone who's interested, you can read more at jukebox-world.de (it's a German site, but over 90% is in English).


www.jukebox-world.de/Christian Gredel

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

NB. I've just spent over an hour trying to upload this picture, and then found six copies in my album! Every attempt got stuck at 90%, so I assumed they weren't working. I guess it's just Photobucket's technical issue of the week.

"Sorry, an unexpected error occurred." "Please try again."

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Our brief visit to Hamptons had the effect of transporting me back to the 1980s.

Does anyone remember when the Mondrian Hotel was painted as a homage to the artist Piet Mondrian?


https://www.facebook.com/VintageLosAngel...7946929/1400080570048658/?type=1&theater

Butterfields!

Yes, the Mondrian is well remembered. If there was a problem with the primary color concept, it was preventing the colors from fading, which they did. Tiles seem more durable, but also more expensive.

Regarding traffic control, cruising the boulevard had always been a problem, for which there has been no easy answer. AFAIK, there came a time, prior to the '84 Olympics, when traffic congestion rose to unacceptable levels and some of this was deemed related to certain criminal activities on side/feeder streets. Traffic redirection was somewhat effective as a deterrent to cruising and crime, within the jurisdictional limits of LA City. It spread to then, unincorporated areas, i.e., "The Strip".

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

TThis is another "location unknown" that's easy to find - the street signs for Santa Monica Boulevard and Pelham Avenue are a big help! Matcham and Heitschmidt obviously did a good job designing this building, because it's still being used by UPS nearly 70 years later. The building is nearly opposite the Mormon temple.


GSV

What has brown done for you lately?

Spent considerable time waiting in line in this building (trying to retrieve packages, shipping XMAS gifts, etc.) It is, naturally, a satellite for the larger center downtown.


From M Ryerson. LA, 1923
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8429/28656075231_c67238c385_b.jpg






Some remotely related (not necessarily from LA) images of the way things may have been.


http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/357804/slide_357804_3977920_free.jpg



http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1908636/images/o-UPS-TRUCKS-facebook.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Butterfields!

Refresh my memory Tourmaline; was Butterfield's outdoor dining area down a long flight of stairs?
If I'm thinking of the right place I remember it was quite beautiful with lots of trees! -especially at night.
__

You found the exact same jukebox Hoss! That's so great

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

was Butterfield's outdoor dining area down a long flight of stairs? If I'm thinking of the right place I remember it was quite beautiful with lots of trees! -especially at night.

Yes. Across from the Riot/Hyatt House. Lights strung through the trees. Said to be a former residence of John Barrymore, but unconfirmed. Briefly mentioned a few times on NLA. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6179161&postcount=15317

[BifRayRock]

J. Barrymore's former Sunset-adjacent residence.

Never determined the exact dates Barrymore may have had an interest in the property edging Sunset Blvd. For obvious topographical reasons, these ~1942 images of "the great profile" and his daughter have probably no direct connection with the alleged Sunset Blvd. adjacent estate. Sadly, Barrymore met his mortal demise in 1942, shortly after these images were taken. It may just have been good acting, but he emotes someone capable of enjoying his surroundings.

Stories abound how a certain Errol Flynn added to the Barrymore legend, after the latter's death. http://townsquareexiles.boards.net/thread/40792/errol-flynn-partied-barrymore-corpse One version of the Flynn-Barrymore story places some of the salient events 'below Sunset". Semi-noirish and dubious, but . . . not impossible.




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/19e8af2ce9683333_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/c12bee773b0c238e_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/383b72b628cd6c98_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/ae7a6f604aa2fb51_large




ebay




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/12cfdb57eb29c3ed_large


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/34071bfde38cb129_large



Recreating the famous scene from Rapunzel?
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/e2670d09ee159fa7_large



Who's been eating in my [former] house!
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d7f42d020796372f_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/86e7d11631e7890d_large



Rudy Valee and John B. in April 1942.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/c12cdb74d5fddade_largehttp://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/4f648b94f49cab9c_large




ebay