noirish Los Angeles

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

1933 - Hoofers' heaven?

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/61061/rec/18

Aw, pity the 1931 dance studio lost its nice balcony and arched entrances. Westmore Dance Studios is there now. Zillow says it used to be an Elks building (or maybe it was just owned by the Elks):

Originally Posted by JScott

By far the clearest/sharpest photograph of the early Court House that I have ever seen...
You'll be amazed at just how intricate the stonework was in this great old edifice...

It is amazing. Nice to see the remnants when they were in place:


Denver Public Library


Beaudry

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Aw, pity the 1931 dance studio lost its nice balcony and arched entrances. Westmore Dance Studios is there now. Zillow says it used to be an Elks building (or maybe it was just owned by the Elks):

Curious about the Elks possible connection with 607 South Western.

There are other photos, circa 1930, that purportedly show the ground breaking at that address for a new dance studio. The ground breakers are not identified but one sure seems to be a dead ringer for Cecil B De Mille. FWIW, De Mille was a Free Masonhttp://nymasons.org/mason/famous-masons/demille/, so it is also possible he was an Elk too.



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/23971/rec/47

[thingsbuilt]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks to HossC for the location the Alessandro / Whitmore Ave. photo.

When I first saw the two story building with the covered stairs out front I thought it was a wooden structure covered with cheap siding.


eBay detail


Long story short: I believe the building is still there almost completely hidden by trees and shrubs.


GSV

If you look closer, you can see it's a brick building with a horizontal lines.


GSV detail


Detail of brick pattern.




below: You can see the horizontal brick pattern more clearly in this photograph.

posted by HossC

redcarproperty



Just for fun....here's an aerial.


google_earth




I also believe the building on the corner opposite corner is still there as well with a screwy alteration on the front.


GSv

__

What I know from living on the street.. the white stucco-front property along Allesandro Street
was vacant from the mid-to late- nineties, and was sort of burned out looking,

and had a fake "mansard roof" along the front.

It had been a row of shops, or at least
one grocer and one smaller store. There was a biker "chop shop" on the property behind it.

Two artists bought the property back in 2002-2003 and tried to keep the front as it was (at least without the wood clapboard facing). They made it into one
large residence. The cost was high, since they did it strictly to code, and the LA building inspector didn't like them (they had tattoos, and he was a born-again christian). He made them jump thru hoops just to get the place finished.
There wasn't time or money for "historic restoration".
The inspector later was fired or
forcibly retired, or something.. . he left a lot of "unresolved issues" that newer inspectors had to "sort through" (that's all I will say)...

At least they didn't build a McMansion or sell it off to a developer for a 4 story mixed-use nightmare, as on the rest of Allesandro.. the original building is exactly the same as it was, except that they had the front stucco'ed instead of the original wood siding. It was a terrible area back when they bought it, but I suppose they were wise to buy the place... considering real estate prices now..

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

607 South Western

There are other photos, circa 1930, that purportedly show the ground breaking at that address for a new dance studio. The ground breakers are not identified but one sure seems to be a dead ringer for Cecil B De Mille.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/23971/rec/47

1922 LA City Directory:

fold3.com

If C. B. DeMille and his fellow groundbreakers are standing in front of rubble at 607 S. Western, that rubble is probably from this building. According to the article that accompanied the photo, the building was pink, and the cactus garden was quite a novelty:

November 1922 The Architectural Record @ HathiTrust

[tovangar2]

Snap! Flyingwedge. The two of us have got this covered :-)

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

The ground breakers are not identified but one sure seems to be a dead ringer for Cecil B De Mille.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/23971/rec/47

DeMille was, of course, Agnes de Mille's uncle and also helped found the USC Film School in 1929. Not surprising that he was also backing a dance studio.

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

A tale of two Ernies

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/61061/rec/18

(note the little figure holding up the balcony. The balcony's gone, but the figure's still there)



Londoner Ernest Belcher (1882-1973), the "Father of Ballet in Southern California", appears to be the other man in the photo:

"Belcher was born in London, England, in 1883; studied ballet in London and was the principal danseur at the Alhambra Theatre (1902-09); came to Los Angeles, 1915; founded Celeste School of Dance in 1916, which supplied dancers for films; produced ballets for Hollywood Bowl concerts, 1923-36; his career as a film dance director took off in 1918 when he staged dances for D.W. Griffiths' Broken Blossoms; also worked in silent era films for directors Cecil B. de Mille, Mack Sennett, and Thomas H. Ince; trainer and coach of many film performers, including Beth Beri, Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, Ramon Navarro, Nanette Fabray and Shirley Temple; died on February 24, 1973 in Los Angeles."
-online archive of california

Performer:


Choreographer:


Producer:


Teacher:


Family guy:

Gladys and Ernest Belcher with children Marjorie and Richard. Lina Basquette, Gladys' daughter from her first marriage, is at left.
The Belchers lived on Orange Drive south of Hollywood Blvd. The children were born at home.

library of congress archive project (more pix at the link)



Little Marjorie Belcher (born 1919), is the child in the 1930 photo,. She became famous as Marge Champion.
She began teaching at her father's school when she was twelve. She's 95 now:

broadwayworld


uscdl



Marge Champion gave a wonderful series of video interviews in 1998. In the first one she recalls that Cecil B DeMille built the school for her father. Well worth watching.

Ms Champion interview for the New York Sun:
"He had a very large school as I was growing up - first in downtown Los Angeles, then on Western Avenue. C.B. DeMille built the new building for my father and gave him a 99-year lease. I have a picture of myself at age 11 with C.B. at the dedication, with my foot on the spade. The building is still there, and on the top floor is a ballroom studio that my father designed. The first two floors of that school are where I grew up."


uscdl


Maria Tallchief recalls the Belcher Studio in her 1997 autobiography

"We reached Los Angeles after an overnight stay with Mother's relatives in San Diego. Without knowing where we would settle, we just drove on. In the Wilshire District Daddy stopped for gas. Marjorie and I were restless and hungry, so Mother took us to the local drugstore. We ordered hamburgers and soda pop at the fountain, and we sat on red-leather stools while waiting for them to be served. Mother asked the druggist if he knew a good dancing school in the neighborhood.

"Yes, I do," the man told us. "Ernest Belcher's."

That was it. An anonymous man in an unfamiliar town decided our fate with those few words. After we devoured our hamburgers, Mother walked out to the car and told Daddy that she wanted to live right there, in a neighborhood where we had only stopped to fill the gas tank...

...Ballet school was different. There I had to work. At Ernest Belcher's studio, in addition to ballet, pupils studied tap, acrobatics, and Spanish dancing. So Marjorie and I had it all. Elissa Cansino, who taught Spanish dancing, was a wonderful teacher, and I became expert with the castanets. We even studied tumbling, and for hours on end I had to practice walkovers--which Marjorie did so easily--until I wanted to scream. I hated the tumbling classes and worked myself into such a frenzy over them that Mother let me stop, but years later I'd be able to put all I learned there to good use.

Mr. Belcher understood, however, that it was not character dancing technique Marjorie and I lacked. A character dancer performs national or folk dances, such as mazurkas and polkas, which are not performed on pointe. My sister and I were deficient in the basics of ballet technique. Our training shocked him.

"Your daughters have been put on pointe way, way too early, Mrs. Tall Chief. It's a miracle they haven't injured themselves."

He insisted we go back to the beginning.

We were fortunate. Mr. Belcher was an excellent teacher who had studied the principles of Enrico Cecchetti, the Italian ballet master who worked in Russia at the turn of the century. A small man with a tiny mustache, Mr. Belcher sat when he taught; even so, he would demonstrate in his chair, and that fascinated me. I was eager to learn.

Mr. Belcher was a family man, and sometimes in class his daughter Marge would study with us. She was a beautiful, friendly young girl, and I liked her. When she grew up, she and her husband, Gower Champion, became film stars."



Ernest E. Ryan was this fellow:

1947 project



The building now houses the Westmor Dance Studios (founded 1958)
The building was formerly owned by the Elks Building Foundation of Los Angeles, a non-profit

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

1933

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/61061/rec/18

Thx Tourmaline

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Marveling at all of the recent panorama posts, which reminds me of one I tried stitching together (unsuccessfully) in a large format. It is labeled as Downtown LA - 1930. Apologies if this subject has already been addressed. DWP's version http://waterandpower.org/3%20Histori...ramic_1930.jpg appears to be cropped from a larger version at USC. http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/71421/rec/16


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/71421/rec/16

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24347


-------------------


Easter egg roll at Pershing Square, 1957

Happy Easter everyone .


USC Digital Library

[Tourmaline]

Thanks to T2, HossC and FW, for your collective follow ups and puzzle solving. Overlooking the obvious is becoming a specialty. Looking for HossC's panorama, I recalled seeing it yet my favorite search functions belied my sharp-as-a-hammer memory.


Along Sixth Street, near the Chapman Market, I vaguely recall a few quaint storybook-like structures with high pitched roofs used for commercial purposes. For good or bad, very little of that quirky-charming legacy remains. An example is 3418 West Sixth which seems to have been used by a succession of Drs. and Esqs. at least since 1956, per the CDS. Although I would have never seen it, the loss of the mission style structure fronted by the (ahead of its time) miniature desert is lamentable. Looking for evidence of the above, I discovered this set of remarkable 1926 images of the "general" Sixth and Western area. (I do not believe they have been previously posted on NLA) I have not been able to fully digest them but maybe some NLA'ers care to run with them. All of them are here http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../68819/rec/400 Could part of the large swath of unimproved property be part of the Sacatela flow that I picture as being further west?




Plenty of rattlesnake habitat in big swath of undeveloped land.

I

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../68819/rec/400





II





III
Gaylord Apts and Ambassador









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V
LA BERTHA








VI

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../68819/rec/400





VII
West Coast Uptown Theater (Western and 10th (Olympic))





VIII





IX
Ketchum-Whisler Richfield "836"





X






XI







XII
San Marino Street and South Hobart (Closer to 10th (Olympic) than 6th Street)





XIII







XIV








XV
Kellum-Whisler, another vantage







XVI







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XVIII








XIX
Pan Gas





XX
Speaking of stately residences south of Wilshire






XXI





XXII
W 7th Street








XXIII






XIV

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

V
LA BERTHA

La Bertha: still standing, complete with roof sign, on Oxford Avenue.


Google Maps

I tried to get a better view of the roof sign, but it's not easy from street level.


GSV

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

XVI

Corner of 8th and Western.


GSV

[Tourmaline]

Thanks HossC.

Million Dollar Handicap was apparently being shown at the Forum Theater at 4050 W. Pico, reputed to be the most beautiful theater . . .


VIII
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../68819/rec/400







1925 - Not much information available for "Million Dollar Handicap" It featured Vera Reynolds, below.
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.co...andicap076.jpg



https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...4KHVO4v1JAWVgI



The Forum theater, courtesy of our friends at Cinema Treasures
http://photos.cinematreasures.org/pr...jpg?1384733046


http://photos.cinematreasures.org/pr...jpg?1313180447

[tovangar2]

I'm still a bit confused about where the undeveloped land was (and why). Seems like north and east of San Marino and Western, but I can't quite visualize it yet.

If that's the case, it must have been developed soon after the 1926 photos. Leland Bryant's St Germaine Apartments at Serrano and 9th went up in 1929. The Villa Sir Francis Drake (841 S Serrano) was built that year too, as was the Mediterranean at 840 S Serrano

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I'm still a bit confused about where the undeveloped land was (and why). Seems like north and east of San Marino and Western, but I can't quite visualize it yet.

If that's the case, it must have been developed soon after the 1926 photos. Leland Bryant's St Germaine Apartments at Serrano and 9th went up in 1929. The Villa Sir Francis Drake (841 S Serrano) was built that year too, as was the Mediterranean at 840 S Serrano

I resisted posting prior to finding an aerial or a map to provide more perspective. It is hard to be certain what is natural versus fallow farm or dairy land. Notice an animal pen. (Did the Ambassador plan on having an off-sight Dude Ranch? ) The area does not appear to be a dumping ground and the vegetation seems somewhat controlled. It also appears to be elevated when compared to the homes to the direct north of it. Is there an area near there called the Heights?

III
Gaylord Apts and Ambassador










On the subject of level ground, here are two images of Rogers Airport (not to be confused with Wilshire-Fairfax, mort. '23) that may have been overlooked.



1929 - 3901 Angeles Mesa Drive, (Crenshaw Blvd)

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/13610



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/13610

[HossC]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I'm still a bit confused about where the undeveloped land was (and why). Seems like north and east of San Marino and Western, but I can't quite visualize it yet.

If that's the case, it must have been developed soon after the 1926 photos. Leland Bryant's St Germaine Apartments at Serrano and 9th went up in 1929. The Villa Sir Francis Drake (841 S Serrano) was built that year too, as was the Mediterranean at 840 S Serrano

The empty area is mostly Pellissier Square. You can see GW's post about it here. From that post, here's a comparison between 1921 and today.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Historic Map Works/GSV

Did anything ever happen with the proposed subway route? I think I can make it out as a dirt track on the images that Tourmaline posted, and the route can easily be seen on the modern aerial view.

Here's a picture I posted some time back showing the real estate office for Pellisier Square. It was taken in 1930 when a lot of the empty lots had been filled.

Originally Posted by HossC

On the site where the Wiltern/Pellissier Building will be built a year or later is The Henry de Roulet Co., selling property in Pellissier Square.


USC Digital Library

[Tourmaline]

St. James Church (Wilshire and St. Andrews) under construction.

XVI





http://www.you-are-here.com/building/saint_james.jpg




Good info regarding a proposed subway corridor. The area seemed so wide that I dismissed the thought out of hand. But perhaps there was some resistance to building residential too close to what might have been a monster construction project. In any event, those tracks indicate someone traversed it.


XXIII

[tovangar2]

Thx HossC. I didn't realize the Pellissier holdings were so large, extending so far from Wilshire.

There's some good info on the Pellissiers here and here. I always kind of liked them. Big Orange Landmarks gives the coordinates as Western to Normandie and San Marino to Wilshire (1/2 block east of Hobart does seem more likely than Normandie). Germaine Pellissier bought the 140 acres from the Southern Pacific for $3,200 in 1882.

St James' own website says the church was completed in 1926. They'd moved from Western and Monette.

[pwrof3]

I've been spending a lot of time in historic downtown San Pedro lately for work.
These are a few of the buildings I have become fascinated with. I hope you enjoy them, too!
Taken with a Nokia Lumia 1020.

Michael's Ristorante & Gallery 478. 470 W. 7th St.
WP_20150402_21_03_48_Pro by ryanrpalmer, on Flickr
.
WP_20150402_21_04_15_Pro by ryanrpalmer, on Flickr
.
WP_20150402_21_04_22_Pro by ryanrpalmer, on Flickr

And here is the Bank of San Pedro. Miraculously restored on the outside, but it looks like it's been modernized on the inside as it has been turned into lofts.
WP_20150402_21_06_11_Pro by ryanrpalmer, on Flickr
.
WP_20150402_21_06_55_Pro by ryanrpalmer, on Flickr

Would love to see some historic photos of these.

Also, if anyone is interested in any buildings in San Pedro, I am willing to take photos!

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

St James' own website says the church was completed in 1926. They'd moved from Western and Monette.

I stand corrected. Designed ≠ completed. Culled date from image source>http://you-are-here.com/building/saint_james.html

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

I stand corrected. Designed ≠ completed. Culled date from image source>http://you-are-here.com/building/saint_james.html

One of us should drop Martin a line. He's a really nice guy from Stuttgart

It might be of passing interest that Bay-area architect Benjamin McDougall designed St James. Its stained glass is by the Judson Studios. St James houses the 1911 Murray H Harris organ from St Paul's Cathedral, Pershing Square. The pavers in the sanctuary bear the same ancient design as those at Immanual Presbyterian to the east.

Info here and here

[Flyingwedge]

We've seen the Bendix Building at the SE corner of Maple and E. 12th Street before:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The Bendix Aviation Corporation at Maple and 12th Street.
The tower on top was a nighttime aid for aviation.
The tower stands 150 ft. The letter B is 25 feet tall and 16 feet wide.


usc digital archives

And we've briefly seen The Embassy Apartments at 702-708 S. Mariposa:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: Looking south on 7th Street showing the Embassy Apartments* on the left and the Reid Studio Apartment Building on the right.

* Remember I'm the one with a fetish for those archaic signs that hover over old apartment buildings in Los Angeles.


google street view

These two buildings had something in common. Can you guess what it was? In the meantime, here's The Embassy in 1931:

USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/35061

The entrance:

USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/35062

And here's the connection with the Bendix Building . . . a Neale Rainbow Light neon sign:


"Nighttime aerial view of lighted neon airway marking installed by the Neale Rainbow Light Corporation, Ltd., on the roof of the Bendix Aviation Corporation Building, Los Angeles, CA, circa 1932. Photograph courtesy NASM."

AirSpaceMag.com -- http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-pla...down-84508393/

May 11, 1930 Los Angeles Times:


LAPL

There seems to be no trace of the sign on the roof of the Bendix Building today:

GoogleEarth

And The Embassy no longer has a neon sign at its entrance:

GSV Apr 2011

Does the rooftop sign still light up? It did in 1931:

USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/35061


GSV Apr 2011

I found a GSV image showing a missing S in the rooftop sign, but now I can't find it again:

GSV (Apr 2011?)

Fans of The Embassy might be interested in this 1926 photo (DW-1926-612-10-25~06) showing the building before any signs went up: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/26460

Finally, here's an article about Neale:


November 19, 1927 Sausalito News from California Digital Newspaper Collection at UC Riverside -- http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN19271119.2.5#

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Does the rooftop sign still light up? It did in 1931:

USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/35061

The Embassy is on the Lumens list, but the list notes it is "unrestored"

A Guide to Neon Lights Along the Wilshire Corridor

The Bendix was relit in 2003:


flickr

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The Embassy is on the Lumens list, but the list notes it is "unrestored"

A Guide to Neon Lights Along the Wilshire Corridor

Hey thanks . . . that list is a great resource!