noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

Re movie deviations from actual life--there is such a thing as willing suspension of disbelief...which is not to say that actors filmed in a car on a process trailer as though they're actualy driving--with the shift lever clearly in "Park"--drives me nuts. And only in the movies do people get in and out of the driver's seat on the passenger side rather than go around to the driver's door as is usally done.... For instance,





Action here:
https://ok.ru/video/32652855978?fromTime=279

[HossC]

We're revisiting a location with Julius Shulman today. This is "Job 408: Stiles Oliver Clements, Citizens National Bank, 1949".



I only realized which branch this was when I spotted Coulters in the background of the image above. Can you still get served in a bank in under 20 minutes?



The other shot shows a reverse view. I've tweaked the contrast quite a bit, but it's still not great.



Both from Getty Research Institute

Here's the front of the bank which I posted just over a year ago. The full post, which includes the building permit and a look at the building currently on the site, can be found here.

Originally Posted by HossC

I could only find a picture of the corner of this building when I was nearing the end of my Citizen's National Bank round-up in post #20876. Here's a much better view showing the front of the Stiles Oliver Clements designed Wilshire-Curson branch at 5780 Wilshire Boulevard. This is "Job 231: Stiles Oliver Clements, Citizens National Bank (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1948".



Getty Research Institute

[Martin Pal]

A new article in the L.A. Weekly discusses:

L.A.'s 10 Most Iconic Buildings That Have Been Destroyed
by Hadley Meares

Los Angeles is a forgetful city. We are continually reinventing ourselves, rebranding and rebuilding. In this process of perpetual forward motion, buildings that once symbolized an architectural movement, civic pride, a neighborhood’s identity or an industry’s progress are often torn down, with little regard for their past importance. By looking at the history of the most famous of these forgotten buildings, we can learn not only about L.A.’s architectural past but its boundless, highly innovative — and disposable — future.

http://www.laweekly.com/news/historic-los-angeles-buildings-that-have-been-torn-down-8118824

Whenever lists of anything are published, I like to know what criteria is used
in assembling them. Most articles with lists don't ever say, but here are the ten:
Any comments?


Paul de Longpre Mansion

Hollywood Hotel

Garden of Allah

Pickfair

Ambassador Hotel

Marion Davies Beach House

The Brown Derby

Richfield Tower

Pan Pacific Auditorium

Gateway West Building

[Martin Pal]

Personally, I'd have to place "NBC Radio City" on the list.

[ethereal_reality]

The only one I don't recognize is the Gateway West Building. What's that?

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Back home in Indiana, 1955


Getting a haircut in Fairmount, Indiana, 1955, photo by Dennis Stock
"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Modern day noirish actor....James Dean, also known for his NY style ''method acting".



"Rebel Without A Cause".....1955, Warner Bros., filmed in Warner Color.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The only one I don't recognize is the Gateway West Building. What's that?

I had to look that one up too - you can see the Wikipedia page here. It was "the first high-rise building erected in Century City", designed by Welton Becket, and demolished in 2015.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

A new article in the L.A. Weekly discusses:

L.A.'s 10 Most Iconic Buildings That Have Been Destroyed
by Hadley Meares

The destruction of The Richfield Tower was borderline criminal.

[Blaster]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Re movie deviations from actual life--there is such a thing as willing suspension of disbelief...which is not to say that actors filmed in a car on a process trailer as though they're actualy driving--with the shift lever clearly in "Park"--drives me nuts. And only in the movies do people get in and out of the driver's seat on the passenger side rather than go around to the driver's door as is usally done.... For instance,





Action here:
https://ok.ru/video/32652855978?fromTime=279

Respectfully, Gaylord, I can recall my parents getting in on the passenger side and sliding across the seat to the steering wheel when our car was parked on a busy or narrow street. Of course it was just one long seat then, no bucket seats yet. It also wasn't uncommon to have a kid (me!) seated between them with no seat belt!

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Rose Bush at Horatio Rust Residence, South Pasadena, California, about 1890."


https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt0p3023t5/

I'm guessing the gentleman on the right is Mr. Rust.

Originally Posted by oldstuff

Horatio Nelson Rust was born in Massachusetts in 1828. The 1900 Census indicates his occupation as "orchardist". He died in Los Angeles in 1906. The picture of the roses was taken around the time of the death of his first wife in 1899. According to an obituary posted on "Find a Grave" he had a very interesting life, being an abolitionist and a friend of John Brown, serving as a surgeon in the Civil War before coming to California in his later years. Find a Grave also has a picture of him which does seem to match the man shown on the right of the picture with the roses.

Thank you oldstuff and e_r:





find a grave

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

I had to look [the Gateway West Building] up too - you can see the Wikipedia page here. It was "the first high-rise building erected in Century City", designed by Welton Becket, and demolished in 2015.
___________________________________________________________________

The Gateway West Building might have been important for the beginnings of Century City, but as a building itself, not so much. A Gateway East building was constructed right across the street, built a year later. The best thing was that there were two identical buildings at the corner (entrance) to Century City on the Avenue of the Stars and a "Gateway Arch" to walk over the Avenue.

Below is a 1967 view of the area. #1 & #2 are Gateway East and West respectively.


Century City Chamber of Comerce

Without the clutter of buildings now in Century City they look impressive enough in the photo, but maybe there wasn't too much fuss about this one being demolished because there's a twin of it across the street. Personally, I like the Gateway East better because of the water feature it has fronting Avenue of Stars.

Looking at that photo, it's amazing how much the area has grown in over 50 years with dozens of high-rises and current plans for many more. Looking at car commercials on TV I'd say a huge percentage of them are filmed in Century City. The streets are nearly empty there at night and during the day on weekends and moreso now that the Shubert Theatre and Plitt Century Plaza movie theatres are gone, part of the ABC Entertainment Center that was entirely demolished.

[tovangar2]

Yes, you beat me to it. Most odd, to decry one of a pair:

gsv

If it had been the 1971 heartbreaker we all still call the Carlsberg building (above and below), I would have been full of regret:

ziffrenlaw

Designed by Matlin and Dvoetsky. Originally covered in bronze glass, the building was artfully reclad by Barton Myers Associates.

[DViator]

Originally Posted by DViator

As an added bonus Ray Bradbury (seated) was the keynote speaker. I couldn't afford any of Mr. Shulman's monographs at the time (would have been nice to have one on hand to get autographed), but I did have a copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes for Mr. Bradbury to sign.

Speaking of Ray Bradbury, I just read an article from 2 years ago about his own house in Cheviot Hills (where he lived for 50 years) being demolished by its new owner, architect Thom Mayne.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/us/cl...e-being-bulldozed-into-history.html?_r=0


The Bradbury House in 2014 (photo by Byron Espinoza/Results Real Estate Group).


Current Google street view of the new house under construction.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by DViator

Speaking of Ray Bradbury, I just read an article from 2 years ago about his own house in Cheviot Hills (where he lived for 50 years) being demolished by its new owner, architect Thom Mayne.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/us/cl...e-being-bulldozed-into-history.html?_r=0

The Bradbury House in 2014


Current Google street view of the new house under construction.

I don't understand how this new construction house ever got approved by the city. Although I like its form and style, its nothing harmonious with even one of the nearby homes in that area. I admire this modern design but its wildly visually jarring in this neighborhood.

[ethereal_reality]

In the past week or so we saw some great motorcycle-centric snapshots
so I thought I'd look for a few items.




I found this neat decal the other day.


http://socalvoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/BayDistrict.jpeg



After a little further digging....

Here are a couple snapshots taken in front of the Bay District motorcycle dealership.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aWWlul47h6Q/Su...g-fhnFIXM/s1600-h/vincent+black+prince+3


"1955. In front of Jack Baldwin's shop. Bay District Motorcycles on Pico in Santa Monica. Does anyone have any more info on the shop?
Seems like a good place to hang out. I see bobbed fenders for days!" -Flathead Jedd



In this second rather washed-out snap, a young man tries the motorcycle on for size. (I'm pretty sure it's the same bike in the 1st pic)


http://www.chopcult.com/news/blogs/another-shot-at-jack-baldwins-shop10-26-09-10-51-03.html

Across the street you may have noticed the giant green pickle!


It turns out that's an eating place called Pickle Bill's.



Here's an earlier photograph of the joint.


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354940014364470142/




Does anyone remember this place?
_

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

Horatio Nelson Rust was born in Massachusetts in 1828. The 1900 Census indicates his occupation as "orchardist". He died in Los Angeles in 1906. The picture of the roses was taken around the time of the death of his first wife in 1899. According to an obituary posted on "Find a Grave" he had a very interesting life, being an abolitionist and a friend of John Brown, serving as a surgeon in the Civil War before coming to California in his later years. Find a Grave also has a picture of him which does seem to match the man shown on the right of the picture with the roses.

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thanks for the information on Horatio Rust oldstuff & t2. I appreciate it.

"His home had long been noted for the rare and beautiful plants surrounding it.
Two wonderful 'Gold of Ophir' rose bushes planted by Major Rust have become world famous
and have been photographed hundreds of times."

I believe I found the location of Horatio's famous bushes!

in the 1888 city directory

lapl

It's almost 2 AM here, so I'll leave it to others (t2?) to see if there are any traces of the great Gold of Ophir rose bushes.


otherwise/ I'll google-earth-it tomorrow.
__

[tovangar2]

Monterey Road and Fair Oaks Blvd, South Pasadena:

google

After one gets back from the commercial strip there are many very pretty blocks of homes in all directions. I checked out some closest to the intersection, but could not find the Rust home. The Rust place is described as a "ranch" in what I've read, so it's not going to be a house on an ordinary lot. Also read that his family ran the nursery he started for 60 years. There must be pix:


discovernikkei



BTW, here's a very interesting article about Pasadena-area pioneer Abolitionists (including HN Rust) and formerly-enslaved people:


hometown pasadena

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

A new article in the L.A. Weekly discusses:

L.A.'s 10 Most Iconic Buildings That Have Been Destroyed

http://www.laweekly.com/news/historic-los-angeles-buildings-that-have-been-torn-down-8118824

Whenever lists of anything are published, I like to know what criteria is used
in assembling them. Most articles with lists don't ever say, but here are the ten:
Any comments?


Paul de Longpre Mansion

Hollywood Hotel

Garden of Allah

Pickfair

Ambassador Hotel

Marion Davies Beach House

The Brown Derby

Richfield Tower

Pan Pacific Auditorium

Gateway West Building

If we're talking "iconic", why isn't Lugo House on this list? Literally hundreds of structures spring to mind, plus whole hills, neighborhoods, people, springs, waterways, streets and stairways etc., plus one very big tree.

I wouldn't include the Delongpre or Davies places and certainly not Gateway West. Probably not Pickfair either.

The really annoying thing about lists like this is that there's no acknowledgement that we lose the irreplaceable every day, that the damage is ongoing and very, very harmful.

However, I have a list of thousands I'd like to see demolished. Between eyesores and our 10K empty lots, I don't see why anything decent is under threat.

[Rustifer]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

These two photographs remind me of a movie screening I'd gone to where a production designer was talking about the problems of location shooting for period films. While not everyone notices things in movies, a lot of people do. and the way sidewalk corners are constructed these days, with sloping and easier access for wheelchairs and the like, it poses problems if one wants to be accurate in a period film. He talked about one film where there was not time to do anything about it so the director just decided not to show the sidewalk corners, but he felt that was a distraction.

Not pertaining to streets, but to props: Pet peeves of art directors--after this was pointed out to me once, you wouldn't believe how many times I've noticed it since. Often when you see a bedroom or dining room scene, they use new sheets or tablecloths on the tables. The proper thing to do is to iron out the folded creases in them, but you'd be surprised how often you might notice people getting into bed and the sheets all have those fold marks because this wasn't done. The worst case of that I recall is a film in which people were in a scene by a clothesline and the sheets or tablecloths on the clothesline had the fold marks still on them!

Not so much a problem with location shooting but rather scene continuity--How many times have you seen an actor with a glass of liquid that keeps changing filled levels after a camera shift and without the actor actually drinking. This also is common for lengths of cigarettes being smoked. Don't film editors notice this while processing, or do they think it just won't get noticed? Maybe they just don't care.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

These two photographs remind me of a movie screening I'd gone to where a production designer was talking about the problems of location shooting for period films. While not everyone notices things in movies, a lot of people do. and the way sidewalk corners are constructed these days, with sloping and easier access for wheelchairs and the like, it poses problems if one wants to be accurate in a period film. He talked about one film where there was not time to do anything about it so the director just decided not to show the sidewalk corners, but he felt that was a distraction.

Not pertaining to streets, but to props: Pet peeves of art directors--after this was pointed out to me once, you wouldn't believe how many times I've noticed it since. Often when you see a bedroom or dining room scene, they use new sheets or tablecloths on the tables. The proper thing to do is to iron out the folded creases in them, but you'd be surprised how often you might notice people getting into bed and the sheets all have those fold marks because this wasn't done. The worst case of that I recall is a film in which people were in a scene by a clothesline and the sheets or tablecloths on the clothesline had the fold marks still on them!

The size and age of trees are also tough to get around for period pieces. Union Station has been used in numerous films but the palm trees in front are obviously taller than they would have been for the time periods of many of those films.