noirish Los Angeles

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...ry9-story.html

Brew 102 has been mentioned in several posts in recent days. Besides describing a fatal incident of men digging for old beer cans and bottles, the story from 2005 linked above goes into the history of the brew. It was the 102nd brew that they liked & kept supposedly--hate to think of what the earlier brews were like if the 102nd was the best! The brew was owned by Maier Brewing. The brewery was located near the original site of the native settlement "Yang-Na" where the el aliso sycamore was once located. Does aliso mean sycamore in espanol?

CaliNative, thanks for the Brew 102 lore! And to answer your question, aliso is Spanish for "alder."

I began my drinking career a decade after Brew 102 disappeared, alas, but the beer "perfected after 101 brews" (as it said on the label, as I recall) was a fixture in local markets and liquor stores when I was a lad.

According to my (considerably) older brothers, Brew 102 was the apotheosis of swill. It was often consumed out of quart bottles, which were still referred to even in my early beer-drinking days as "depth charges."

One of my brothers once told me that it was so bad that it made Lucky Lager taste like Pilsner Urquell.

[Martin Pal]

I fixed the last line!

"More than 100 brews did we brew,
Perfecting the new finer Brew 102.
In the East and West,
Maier Beer is the best.
At least until 1972."

[Lwize]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Sad and depressing that the Bougainvillea plants or whatever are now missing from the scene. You can still see by the dirt on the wall where they used to be. Plus, someone painted over those lovely gray rock blocks of the wall...... Can't we just leave things as they are. White paint is not an improvement.

I would say the homeless encampment is the greater current problem with the image. Sad and depressing, indeed.

[Lwize]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

A brief return to the Mount Olivet Reservoir water tower on Franklin Street.

Remnants of the bases of the supporting legs appear to be still there on the ground. This fortunate circumstance greatly enabled the following reconstruction.



Google Maps

I can't explain why, but a simple drawing of the elusive water tower makes me smile.

[Lwize]

Since we're in the old Triftimart neighborhood, does anyone have a vintage image for the following office building on Santa Monica Blvd (12330 / 12340 SMB, LA 90025) that was revamped several years ago with a modern glass false facade.

I believe the actual building behind the facade is from the 1920's or 1930's.



(GSV, hosted by me)

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Lwize

I can't explain why, but a simple drawing of the elusive water tower makes me smile.

I also thought the illustration was great but couldn't help adding one thing myself.

Google Maps

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by odinthor

And those who have known Bougainvilleas intimately think of their lengthy stickers which prove so engaging when pruning the plants . . .


https://www.flickr.com/photos/claire...on/12860172154

Their stickers have managed to 'engage' me many, many times, however I still love Bougainvilleas.

[ethereal_reality]

Here's another Thriftimart 'mystery' location. [Los Angeles]


found in one of my old files (originally from ebay?)

Obviously.. the best clue is the Bekins Building. I initially thought this was West Hollywood, but now I'm not so sure.

As you can see..it's Christmas time and it's beginning to snow.




.

[FredH]

Baskin Robbins next door




Did they only have 11 flavors back then? Just kidding, but that's what it looks like on the sign.

[ethereal_reality]

I didn't notice the Baskin Robbins. Thanks FredH.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I didn't notice the Baskin Robbins. Thanks FredH.

Looks like there's a liquor store in front of the Baskin-Robbins, I thought this might be the Indian Hills mall in Pamona, but it doesn't match up.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

CaliNative, thanks for the Brew 102 lore! And to answer your question, aliso is Spanish for "alder."

I began my drinking career a decade after Brew 102 disappeared, alas, but the beer "perfected after 101 brews" (as it said on the label, as I recall) was a fixture in local markets and liquor stores when I was a lad.

According to my (considerably) older brothers, Brew 102 was the apotheosis of swill. It was often consumed out of quart bottles, which were still referred to even in my early beer-drinking days as "depth charges."

One of my brothers once told me that it was so bad that it made Lucky Lager taste like Pilsner Urquell.

I venture to say in a blind taste test, a significant # of beer swillers couldn't tell Brew 102 from finer pilsners. It was a cheap drink, the Ripple and Thunderbird of beers. It wasn't actually all that bad for a 20 cent can of suds.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...ry9-story.html

Brew 102 has been mentioned in several posts in recent days. Besides describing a fatal incident of men digging for old beer cans and bottles, the story from 2005 linked above goes into the history of the brew. It was the 102nd brew that they liked & kept supposedly--hate to think of what the earlier brews were like if the 102nd was the best! The brew was owned by Maier Brewing. The brewery was located near the original site of the native settlement "Yang-Na" where the el aliso sycamore was once located. Does aliso mean sycamore in espanol?

"More than 100 brews did we brew,
Perfecting the new finer Brew 102.
In the East and West,
Maier Beer is the best.
Wonderful, wonderful Brew 102"

Brew 102 went defunct in 1972, but is fondly (or maybe not so fondly) remembered by old timers. It was cheap anyway--a six pack for a bit over a dollar. Proximity of the brewery to the L.A. River led to jokes about the source of the H2O. I found it to be satisfactory with a sandwich. People still collect the old cans & bottles--check out ebay etc.

^^^^

What the unfortunate and late digger may have been seeking--a vintage steel Brew 102 can pre-pop-top:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pale-Dry-Br...QAAOSwigpc-W8P

Some of the ebay pics reference San Francisco cans. Was Brew 102 once brewed in that snobby city? Makes sense. Until recent years, in pre tech billionaire days, Frisco had a large blue collar resident population that would relish cheap brewskis. Now most of the worker drones have been deported to the distant exurbs so the billionaires can move in. Anchor Steam has taken over fog town. One thing I like about L.A.--it still is economically and ethnically diverse, unlike San Francisco. Los Angeles is more real. San Francisco is becoming a rich ghetto. L.A. to some extent is moving in that direction too, but large swaths of the city are still working class.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another Thriftimart 'mystery' location. [Los Angeles]


found in one of my old files (originally from ebay?)

Obviously.. the best clue is the Bekins Building. I initially thought this was West Hollywood, but now I'm not so sure.

As you can see..it's Christmas time and it's beginning to snow.

I found the picture in a 2007 post at downtownnoho.blogspot.com. It's credited as "-ancient Polaroid by Richard Sapiro -looking NORTH", and identified as the Thriftimart on Lankershim, just north of Oxnard. The shadows of the two Ts are visible on this 1971 aerial.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

This is as close as I could get to the original with GSV. The Bekins building, on the corner of Erwin, is now Studio Self Storage.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

.
Hmmmm .....did Barbara Stanwyck and Zeppo Marx have their own train stop?


"Barbara Stanwyck estate in the foreground and Zeppo Marx home in the upper corner. Devonshire looking east toward Reseda. 1937"



Dayna Woethen-Reynold on pinterest






A closer look.



If you look closely there is a small worn path from the arch-like structure to the r.r. tracks. . .and a 'lane' leading up to the Zeppo residence.
There is another path, far less pronounced, leading from the arched structure to the Stanwyck estate. .......(also...note the large incinerator on the Stanwyck property)

As I sit here looking at the enlargement I am starting to see a 'sign' between the railroad tracks and the arch-like structure. Do you see it?

THIS MIGHT HELP.

detail


.

[GaylordWilshire]

Are we sure those are RR tracks?

[HossC]

I think the "station" was just the entrance to the Marx property. Here's an aerial from a few years later - 1944 to be precise.



Here's the whole block. I wonder what was raced at the bottom. There seems to be a road/track all the way down from the two houses.



mil.library.ucsb.edu

[Noir_Noir]

It was a racehorse training track - part of the Marwyck Ranch thoroughbred breeding operation that Barbara Stanwyck and Zeppo Marx and his wife Marion set up.





Barbara and husband Robert Taylor at Marwyck.




barbara-stanwyck.com

[FredH]

I think Gaylord is right. The house is facing Devonshire St. There are some railroad tracks, but they are on the other side of the house.

Zeppo's half of the property has been turned into a car dealership.




Google Maps


They sure did look like railroad tracks though.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by FredH

I think Gaylord is right. The house is facing Devonshire St. There are some railroad tracks, but they are on the other side of the house.

Zeppo's half of the property has been turned into a car dealership.




Google Maps

At the left side of the property there appears to be a drainage canal....no rail tracks.

The old pool is still there....filled at the deep end with a foot or so of muddy water.