noirish Los Angeles

[Noir Lady]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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"A boy stands on a lawn in front of Quayle properties on Griffin Avenue between Manitou and Baldwin streets, Los Angeles, 1930."

I haven't checked to see if the houses are still standing.



ucla archives

I realize boys used to wear beanies back in the day (think Jughead) but this boy's hat is a bit different. I wonder if he was in some kind of neighborhood club. . .or just stylish. (the hat looks a little fascisty)

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2247 Griffin Avenue has some resemblance to the house directly behind the little boy or the one next to it at what is now 2251 Griffin.

[Noir_Noir]

The houses behind the young boy are still there.

From right to left - 2226, 2226½ and 2230 Griffin Avenue.



GSV (clearest view from 2012)

[ethereal_reality]

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Thanks, Noir Lady and Noir Noir... The houses appear to be in tip top shape. That's a nice surprise.


There appears to be a 2nd photograph of the young whipper-snapper.

"Boy stands next to the West's house at 2223 Griffin Avenue, Los Angeles, about 1932."


ucla archive

Another interesting outfit.

The "West" mentioned is H. H. (Henry Hebard) West... 1875 - 1958


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[ethereal_reality]

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From the same archive.


"Ace Reliance Electric Service Co., former location, where H. H. West. Jr. had worked, Los Angeles, 1940."


ucla archive

Archive description.

View of the facade of a 2-story commercial building with a house and cafe on the left.

Text from negative sleeve: 1970. Los Angeles, California. Ace Reliance Electric Service Co. 1645 West Vernon Av. Taken August 11, 1940. The firm had sold out, and the sign board over the door was painted white ready for the sign of the new tenant. At this place Henry H. West, Jr. had his first job - a handy man, delivery boy, pick up truck driver, etc. 1. The left hand down stairs room of the 2-story building.


If I were to guess, I'd say H. H. West Jr. is the boy's father.

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[odinthor]

e_r, it appears that all the buildings are survivors, the cute little house faring much the best:


gsv

[riichkay]

Re: the H.H. West photos at UCLA, we covered some of his work several years back....

https://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7740818&highlight=H.H.+West#post7740818

At that time the broad collection was not available online, pleased to see that the library has posted many additional images....it's a great collection.

[ethereal_reality]

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Holy Toledo! Take a look at this exquisite cabinet/boudoir card just listed on eBay


"Antique Boudoir Cabinet Photo 1896 Los Angeles Victorian Home Being Moved."


eBay



Reverse.




For easier reading.





X marks the spot.



If you look again at the photograph you'll see that Ivor was a young boy at the time.

My kingdom to anyone who identifies the house.





for search purposes: e.e. owens - los angeles 1896...x is ivor owens

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Lwize

Here is Center Sinai Animal Hospital in WLA (Venice Blvd. at Selby) where my folks took the family dogs more than 40 years ago.
I looked at the building (while sitting at a red light this morning) and noticed the second floor appears to be an old Venice Bl front home that the first floor of the hospital was built around.

Does anyone have a photo of the home as it originally stood?

I call upon the super-sleuths of this thread to produce quick results!


Thank you.


(GSV, hosted by me)

Your whip was a strong motivator, Lwize, but I'm afraid the best I could do is the 1950 Sanborn Map, with the
NEC of Venice and Selby (formerly Malcolm) at bottom center:



ProQuest via LA Public Library


The two-story building at the NEC of Venice and Selby had its beginnings here, with the ground floor perhaps an
addition to the store next door (note how the interiors seem connected in the Sanborn map above):



Sep 7, 1940, Venice Evening Vanguard @ Newspapers.com


Mr. Rathburn seems to have been a bit of a character:



May 16, 1940, Venice Evening Vanguard @ Newspapers.com


Here is the August 23, 1940, building permit for the two-story stucco structure:



LA Department of Building and Safety


This is Rathburn's original store at 10733/35 Venice on June 18, 1934 (Overland is at the right edge of the image).
I wonder if the one-story, eastern half of today's 10737 Venice is what we see here -- or the front of it, anyway:



UCSB (Flight c-3060, Frame 100)


Here is 10733 Venice on the 1929 Sanborn Map:



ProQuest via LA Public Library


I believe Mr. Rathburn had started his store by 1929:



May 7, 1929, Los Angeles Evening Express @ Newspapers.com

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

,
Holy Toledo! Take a look at this exquisite cabinet/boudoir card just listed on eBay


"Antique Boudoir Cabinet Photo 1896 Los Angeles Victorian Home Being Moved."


eBay

A few vague "clews":



1894 LACD



LA Herald Oct 1, 1896

Peru Street became Griffith Avenue by the summer of 1897. If you google-drive on 17th between San Pedro and Griffith today, you will find freeway on the north side and a few Victorian residential remnants in the 800 block.



LA Herald March 14, 1896

Apparently another house moved by Malby in 1896 led to trouble. It seems that Yates lived at 612 S Los Angeles St.

[ethereal_reality]

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The seller has another one on eBay!


Is this the same house?



eBay


Reverse



I'm speechless. (almost)

Did ya'll notice the man on the roof?

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[Martin Pal]

There's an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times about the "singular L.A. landmarks and institutions [that] made their debuts in the year 1923."

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-16/hollywood-sign-centennial-los-angeles

I enjoyed this colorful postcard within the article and this sentence that made me chuckle: The Hollywood sign, like the city at its feet, rambles horizontally, across 400 feet of hillside, its letters at slightly irregular levels. If they were a starlet’s teeth, they would long since have been straightened out by studio dentists.



Also debuting yesterday on Hollywood Blvd. in 2023:

Taco Bell Opens Cantina Restaurant Experience with Historic 1920s Hollywood Flare
https://abc7.com/taco-bell-cantina-hollywood-boulevard-crunchwrap-supreme-tostada/12826512/

[GaylordWilshire]

ANOTHER WESTSIDE MYSTERY HOUSE








The Venice Historical Society wants to solve a mystery, and I thought the sleuths at NLA might have be able to do it. The caption reads

"Dolce Casa: Home of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Humphreys near Venice, California October 1, 1916"








Someone on the VHS's facebook page has already found this clew, which looks like it came from Southwest Builder & Contractor or the like:

[Earl Boebert]

Venice Evening Vanguard for 22 Jan 1915 has a story of the marriage of Harriet Humphreys, daughter of John F., in their "typical old Spanish home" on Pico Blvd. in Venice.

A 19 Feb 1915 story in LATimes society page has someone visiting the Humphreys at their home on Pico Blvd, "opposite Polytechnic station on the Venice short line."

FWIW.

Cheers,

Earl

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

ANOTHER WESTSIDE MYSTERY HOUSE

[...]

Someone on the VHS's facebook page has already found this clew, which looks like it came from Southwest Builder & Contractor or the like:

The location "Fredericks" was around "Frederick[s] Station," which was at Washington and Lincoln (8th):


Touring Topics, V. 8, p. 9, 1916

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The Venice Historical Society wants to solve a mystery, and I thought the sleuths at NLA might have be able to do it. The caption reads

"Dolce Casa: Home of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Humphreys near Venice, California October 1, 1916"

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Venice Evening Vanguard for 22 Jan 1915 has a story of the marriage of Harriet Humphreys, daughter of John F., in their "typical old Spanish home" on Pico Blvd. in Venice.

A 19 Feb 1915 story in LATimes society page has someone visiting the Humphreys at their home on Pico Blvd, "opposite Polytechnic station on the Venice short line."

FWIW.

Cheers,

Earl

These listings from 1919-20 are in line with Earl Boebert's 1915 newspaper quotes.



rescarta.lapl.org


rescarta.lapl.org



North side of Venice Blvd. close to Venice (Polytechnic) High School.

This is an aerial of that area from 1928, twelve years on from the original picture.



mil.library.ucsb.edu


Maybe the property I've circled. It appears to be the one with a large enclosed developed garden.


Present day NW corner of Venice Blvd. and Beethoven St.

[odinthor]

Absolutely, Noir Noir--I think you nailed it down.

Just for fun, here's the area at present, courtesy Google Maps:



Note Ferndale, the short street at left.

It is interesting to compare with your aerial photo. Ferndale corresponds to what appears to be the front drive, up to the front of the house (Beethoven doesn't appear to have been "streetified" quite yet there).



I had been gazing at one of e_r's original photos, and was wondering if in the distance we're seeing a canal. No, we're seeing Venice Blvd. and the tracks for the PE:



They're on the terrace of the house which, sensibly, overlooks their planned garden plot (not yet much planted, it appears), with Venice Blvd. and the PE tracks beyond.

[Flyingwedge]

You've struck a rich vein with these cabinet cards, e_r!

I don't believe the chopped-up house in the other photo is the same as this one, which shows a house that has just been
moved to the NWC of 10th and Hope from the NEC of Third and Broadway by Eugene Germain, after he'd bought it from
attorney Jackson Graves. Please note the palm trees (the one at left is being planted) and, in the left background, the
stable and little house to its right:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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eBay

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In this close-up from a Seaver Center photo we see the same house; the palm tree is planted and the rest of the landscaping
is complete. The same stable and small house are in the background. Also, what we can see of the house to the right of the
Graves/Germain home matches the cabinet card (if anyone heard a loud gasp a few days ago, that may have been me when
I first saw this image):



P-010-0131 @ Seaver Center


Here's the same photo from Graves' autobiography, My Seventy Years in California (1927), though the date has to be 1889
or shortly after, not 1888:



Hathitrust


The right edge of this view, dated 1888, shows the front of the Graves home when it was at the NEC of Third and Fort/Broadway:



BEHR-0072 at CA State Library


It seems Graves, the Seaver Center, and whoever wrote on the back of the cabinet card all have the date wrong (Graves
also misremembers the house being moved to Tenth and Hill). Here, the June 6, 1889, Los Angeles Times reports that
Germain is preparing to move Graves' former home from Third and Fort/Broadway to Tenth and Hope:



ProQuest via LA Public Library


The June 21, 1889, Los Angeles Herald wrote that, "One of the most notable residences in Los Angeles eight or nine years
ago was that of J. A. Graves, Esq., on the corner of Fort and Third Streets. This house is now on wheels, and traveling down
Hill Street, beyond Sixth, on its way to a new site . . . ." So if they were preparing to move the house on June 6, and it was
at Sixth and Hill on June 21, I'd say the end of June 1889 would be a decent guess at the cabinet card's date.


And here's 953 S. Hope at lower right on the 1894 Sanborn Map, which mostly agrees with the photos:



Library of Congress


1891 Los Angeles City Directory:



fold3.com


Oh yeah almost forgot -- there are photos of the Graves/Germain house in both locations in this Homestead Museum blog article.

[GaylordWilshire]

FANTASTIC sleuthing, odinthor, Noir_Noir, and Flyingwedge!

[Lwize]

In 1889, are they using a team of horses to move the house?
Steam tractors?
Alien tech?

[ethereal_reality]

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Levitation.