noirish Los Angeles

[CityBoyDoug]

Handsome Stranger;8177471]I did some snooping at 5426 Melrose Avenue today. There's a very interesting and mysterious building hidden behind those badly overgrown trees.

At the Melrose entrance, the globes of the lamps on either side of the door appear to have been broken for quite a long time. There is no doorknob or handle on the door.

demolished.
[/SIZE]

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

even though it was broad daylight, did you get a little spooked? That place is creepy as hell.

It was a bit creepy, but I'd still love the opportunity to wander around inside for a few even creepier photos.

[ethereal_reality]

at night.




GIPHY

[Noir_Noir]

Deleted Post

[ethereal_reality]

The documents don't open up for me Noir Noir.

but I see that the building was originally a gas station. that's some good information. thanks!

Originally Posted by acorn8332

The twin street lights along Melrose were the Marbelite 1900 model, distinguished by its squarish base.
The Melrose lights were removed around 1950, but there are a few survivors fairly close by.

This one is on the North side of West 3rd, between Las Palmas & McCadden.


My photo: July 27, 2015

Thanks acorn8332. It's been awhile since I've seen a close-up of a Marbeite street light.



SPEAKING OF STREETLIGHTS:

You probably already know this, but an early idea for the Grand Avenue Project
included a "march of street lights", stretching down the middle of Grand Avenue from Cesar Chavez to 5th Street.

Here's a description of a visit to Chris Burden's studio in Topanga Canyon.

by Merry Norris

PDF

I wish this plan had come to fruition. I think it was a great idea.

also....I'm surprised Gehry went along with the idea. (he's the 'Frank' mentioned above)

What do you noirisher think of the idea...good?....or bad?
________


Information from GRAND ILLUSION: "A Story of Ambition, and it's Limits, on LA's Bunker Hill"

(the pdf includes a small montage of the vintage street lights on Grand avenue) It's a bit disappointing because they used Burden's Urban Light in the montage instead of stretching the lights down the street.

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' vantage point.

Hollywood Ranch Market, Vine & Fountain [1969]


Pamela Greyson / flickr

I've been wondering where the photographer was when he (or she) took this photograph.

_

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' vantage point.

Hollywood Ranch Market, Vine & Fountain [1969]



I've been wondering where the photographer was when he (or she) took this photograph.

_

alison martino

I used to buy BBQ chicken

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The documents don't open up for me Noir Noir.

but I see that the building was originally a gas station. that's some good information. thanks!

Apologies! I had the LADBS site open in another tab so the links worked for me while I was posting them - not thinking.



The other permits -

1953 Permit

1958 Permit

1982 Permit

1993 Permit

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Lomara

I remember that building when it was a Big Ben records, and wasn't it also a Wherehouse later on? Or maybe the Wherehouse was further south on Lakewood. The years make my memory fuzzy.

It used to be a Wherehouse. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I would rent videos from there. I grew up in Cerritos, and the Wherehouse in Cerritos was a smaller rinky-dink one with less of a selection for some reason, when it came to video rentals, so I would go to this Wherehouse in Lakewood, or the Tower Records on South Street to rent movies.

Blockbuster seemed to not have become a thing until into the 90s, and I found the movies there to be too mainstream; the more indie/alternative/rare movies were better found at Tower, and some at the Wherehouse.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' vantage point.

Hollywood Ranch Market, Vine & Fountain [1969]


Pamela Greyson / flickr

I've been wondering where the photographer was when he (or she) took this photograph.

_

I assume the shot was taken from the roof (or an upper window) of our old friend Villa Elaine

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/2b/e1/9d2be1a7365d9bc6e80cdea4fd0766aa.jpg

That location is now 3540 West MLK Boulevard, at McClung:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0109451,...0Z8d-yOsFMyzrtQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline;
[IMG

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/2b/e1/9d2be1a7365d9bc6e80cdea4fd0766aa.jpg[/IMG]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/2b/e1/9d2be1a7365d9bc6e80cdea4fd0766aa.jpg

Note liquor store photo above >>>>>>

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Note liquor store photo above >>>>>>


handt signs

_____________________

This reminds me: Not many people know of Reynolds' first try at Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse.


odinthor collection, Fine Art division.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by odinthor

_____________________

This reminds me: Not many people know of Reynolds' first try at Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse.

hahaha I didn't know about that........LOL I wonder if its at the Huntington?

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

hahaha I didn't know about that........LOL I wonder if its at the Huntington?

Maybe it will be part of the upcoming Odinthor visiting exhibit.

[acorn8332]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks acorn8332. It's been awhile since I've seen a close-up of a Marbeite street light.



SPEAKING OF STREETLIGHTS:

You probably already know this, but an early idea for the Grand Avenue Project
included a "march of street lights", stretching down the middle of Grand Avenue from Cesar Chavez to 5th Street.

Here's a description of a visit to Chris Burden's studio in Topanga Canyon.

by Merry Norris

PDF

I wish this plan had come to fruition. I think it was a great idea.

also....I'm surprised Gehry went along with the idea. (he's the 'Frank' mentioned above)

What do you noirisher think of the idea...good?....or bad?
________


Information from GRAND ILLUSION: "A Story of Ambition, and it's Limits, on LA's Bunker Hill"

(the pdf includes a small montage of the vintage street lights on Grand avenue) It's a bit disappointing because they used Burden's Urban Light in the montage instead of stretching the lights down the street.

Thanks, ethereal_reality! I had recently assisted LACMA with the identification of the street lights that make up Burden's "Urban Light." I was unaware of the Grand Avenue scheme! While I think the posts would have looked great parading down the median of Grand Avenue, I'm happier they ended up at LACMA. The photo opportunities are so much better at "Urban Light" than a linear arrangement along Grand would have provided.

The museum published a "Field Guide" to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Burden installation. It's available through LACMA's Museum Store.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by acorn8332

Thanks, ethereal_reality! I had recently assisted LACMA with the identification of the street lights that make up Burden's "Urban Light." I was unaware of the Grand Avenue scheme! While I think the posts would have looked great parading down the median of Grand Avenue, I'm happier they ended up at LACMA. The photo opportunities are so much better at "Urban Light" than a linear arrangement along Grand would have provided.

The museum published a "Field Guide" to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Burden installation. It's available through LACMA's Museum Store.
]

Chris Burden, artist. Had himself shot with rife in 1971. A real NLA type guy. Anything for art.

theartsory.org.

[Lorendoc]

Today I finally got around to buying (at Book Soup in WeHo) Dark City by Jim Heimann ($109.50 with tax - ouch, but I'd still rather pay more there than less at Amazon)

Surprisingly Heimann does not give individual credits for the hundreds of pictures he uses in this 500 page book. There are some good mystery photo locations. One I found on pp. 38-39 (reproduced below) had captions in 3 languages: the English one says:

"Once the domain of the city's rich, Bunker Hill had become a warren of cheap rooming houses - the perfect place for hoods and criminals to escape to, ca. 1936."

J. Heimann

I've added a red circle around the one building i recognized, the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue at 229 N. Olive. gsjansen and beaudry covered this structure way back on page 204 in the thread.

So it looks like we're looking southwest towards the synagogue, from perhaps near where Spring street now crosses over the 101?

The photo has a misleading clue: the La Salle Apartments sign at the bottom left. There was indeed a La Salle Apartment but it was at 1249 W. 6th St which looks a great deal like the same building in Heimann's picture, but it is a mile *west* of Beth Israel.

Any thoughts from the Bunker Hill enthusiasts about where the corner shown in the right-center of the photo?

[acorn8332]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

This brings me to the following Shorpy photo, said to be from August '63. I thought I had seen it on NLA, but today my memory and search skills are blunted. Notice the overhead street light. Notice the five horizontal red "dots"? Are they reflectors or lights? Do they serve a specific function, other than being decorative and to splash more color on the canvas?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ac/1d/3e/ac1d3ee7529cce115dc683f0f317100f.jpg

Found this while doing a search. While the question of what the "dots" are has been answered (they are stars), here's a bit more about them.

The stars were not reflective, and had no illumination of their own. Instead, holes cut in the internal reflectors above the three large lamps provided "spill light" for the five stars.

The stars were originally a dark orange-red, but had faded almost to pink by the time the "5-Star" fixtures were removed in 2005. This one was on the South side of Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Roosevelt Hotel.

My photo: August 12, 2005



Sorry, I hope this answer isn't too stale ...

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

J. Heimann

I've added a red circle around the one building i recognized, the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue at 229 N. Olive. gsjansen and beaudry covered this structure way back on page 204 in the thread.

So it looks like we're looking southwest towards the synagogue, from perhaps near where Spring street now crosses over the 101?

The photo has a misleading clue: the La Salle Apartments sign at the bottom left. There was indeed a La Salle Apartment but it was at 1249 W. 6th St which looks a great deal like the same building in Heimann's picture, but it is a mile *west* of Beth Israel.

Any thoughts from the Bunker Hill enthusiasts about where the corner shown in the right-center of the photo?

Beaudry posted the same picture and answered your question just a couple of months ago. The full post is here.

Originally Posted by Beaudry

I'm thrilled that Cal State Lib has started posting their images larger, so now we can see it like this



So aaaaanyway, in case anyone has ever wondered about that image, I threw together this:



Red dot at the bottom is where Reagh shot the image, above the Broadway Tunnel. Red dot at the top is the Olive St Shul, 227 North Olive. Blue dot is the La Salle Apartments, 314 California, between Broadway and Hill, home of the guy with the DeSoto.

Orange dot is the inersection of Broadway and Fort Moore Place, where the grandest houses were. The yellow dot to the right is Mary Banning's place (that began life as the Buena Vista, Jacob Phillipi's beer hall, in 1883.) The other yellow dot to the left is the Hill St tunnel opening onto Temple.