noirish Los Angeles

[Los Angeles Past]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

"L.A. is a great big freeway, put a hundred down and buy a car..." --Burt Bacharach/Hal David

Jeez I WISH I could put a hundred down to buy a car.

lapl

Great shot of one of those old Auto Club porcelain freeway signs. I was sad as a little kid when they took them all down. Last section of freeway I remember seeing the black signs on was the Harbor right around Orthopaedic Hospital. That was probably around 1967.

And! In 1971, I almost bought a 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo off a used car lot in Azusa for $100 down! Total sticker price for that absolutely cherry sports car was $700. Ah, the ones that got away!

-Scott

[GaylordWilshire]

LAPL


I'm trying to picture Shirley Jones fishtailing it out of the Beverly Center....



Lee Grant, maybe:
http://www.twolia.com
Leaving the Bistro in Shampoo...

]martinostimemachine.blogspot.com


And finally... a classic shot of Mike's place, complete with bullet-nose Studebaker:
LAPL

[westcork]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

There was a period prior to and during the construction of LA's freeways, when reversible lanes were used on major surface streets during rush hour.

I am not certain how long those lanes have been in use on 4th street. But in this view you can see the box hanging above the roadway. That box will display a red X or a green arrow depending on the time of day.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

And finally... a classic shot of Mike's place, complete with bullet-nose Studebaker:
LAPL

Here is a great article from Saveur Magazine. I believe it was written in the early 1990s.

A short history of fine dining in Los Angeles.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Travel...ts-on-the-Town

[Mr Downtown]

Tail O' The Pup is in Angels Flight–style suspended animation. Declared a cultural landmark, but moved in 2005 into a Torrance warehouse to await a new site.

[GaylordWilshire]

A few Cushmans we may not have seen:

www.cartype.com
February 24, 1952: the 200 block of S. Main Street

www.cartype.com
June 14, 1940: Cushman's new Lincoln-Zephyr 3-window coupe in Elysian Park



www.cartype.com
An incredible Mercedes dealership from the '20s. The caption with it is unclear
as to whether it was in Los Angeles or Pasadena. Any ideas?


www.cartype.com
5746 what?




One for Scott (hope this makes you happy, rather than sad for the one that got away...)
hemmings.com
Notice the Mercedes touches: the grille and the body-color painted wheel
covers. (Studebaker was the U.S. distributor for Mercedes sat the time.)

[Los Angeles Past]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

One for Scott (hope this makes you happy, rather than sad for the one that got away...)
hemmings.com

That's the car! Mine was dark blue with white upholstery. Snazzy!

BTW, my dad had a Lincoln Zephyr like that, but that was before I was born.

Thanks!

[GaylordWilshire]

hemmings.com

hemmings.com
After his great post-WWII success as a salesman of used cars as well as of new tv sets, Earl "Madman"
Muntz founded the Muntz Car Company to produce the "Muntz Jet." About 400 were made from 1951-
-53, using the various Lincoln V8s of those years and GM's Hydra-Matic. Here a few Jets are pictured
on April 3, 1952, at 8363 Sunset Blvd.


The building is still there, tucked behind a Starbucks:
Google Street View

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past

Great shot of one of those old Auto Club porcelain freeway signs. I was sad as a little kid when they took them all down. Last section of freeway I remember seeing the black signs on was the Harbor right around Orthopaedic Hospital. That was probably around 1967.

And! In 1971, I almost bought a 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo off a used car lot in Azusa for $100 down! Total sticker price for that absolutely cherry sports car was $700. Ah, the ones that got away!

-Scott

Wow, that would've been great had you gotten that car and kept it! The ones that got away indeed!

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Tail O' The Pup is in Angels Flight–style suspended animation. Declared a cultural landmark, but moved in 2005 into a Torrance warehouse to await a new site.

OK. Thanks for the info. I wonder if it'll ever see the light of day again.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

The building is still there, on the southeast corner. It's now Long's Drug/CVS.

I just had to satisfy my curiosity, so I drove to that intersection today. The Rexall Building has been massively remodeled and the eastern half of it looks like it was demolished for a two or three-story parking lot.

For some reason, I don't remember The Odyssey nightclub. What stands in its place is a 2-story strip mall with underground parking and a few spaces of surface parking, a building that I remember having been there for a long time now. It's very 80s-looking; probably went up in the late 80s/early 90s.

Afterwards I went to Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena and bought what I think is a really cool book, a reprint of "The WPA Guide to the City of Angels." It gives decades-old, outdated, but delicious information about the Los Angeles area from the WPA era.


amazon.com

[Mr Downtown]

Not Pasadena. No house numbers that high in the business district.

Keyes Mercedes is (or was) at 5746 Van Nuys Blvd. The sun angle would be right (west-facing façade just after noon in winter). Different building today, though. And Mercedes, in a serious Spanish Colonial building seems a little odd out in the Valley in the 20s.

My guess is 5746 Sunset Blvd., later site of the KTTV station and now a new school, based on the simple fact that no streetcar tracks are visible. As that's on the south side of the street, the photo would be late summer afternoon, chosen so as to have sun on the façade.

[GaylordWilshire]

All pics: martinostimemachine.blogspot.com

[gsjansen]

diners using binoculars to read distant wall menu at Scandia 1954



not all was fun and games at the establishment though...................

Scandia Restaurant holdup, 1952

Patrons demonstrate to police how they were robbed at the bar, (i'm guessin' the bandits forced them all to smoke as well)


Source: USC Digital Archive

Cashier Roselle Baron tell police how it all went down


Source: USC Digital Archive

gathering evidence


Source: USC Digital Archive

[Los Angeles Past]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

martinostimemachine.blogspot.com

Wow, Scandia! My parents always went there for their anniversary. When I turned high school-aged, they would take me along, as well. Scandia's gravlaks with dill sauce was probably my favorite dish ever! That thin-sliced salmon just melted in ones mouth...

Also, the only "movie star" I ever saw in person was at Scandia: Carroll O'Connor (Archie Bunker) and his family came in for dinner one night when we were there. "All In The Family" was still on TV in those days and one of my favorite shows, so that was quite a thrill.

Last time I was in L.A., I drove down that stretch of Sunset and was disappointed to see Scandia was no more. Is that a recent thing, or has it been gone awhile? (I moved away almost 30 years ago.)

-Scott

EDIT: I've been struggling all day to remember the name of the entree I always ordered at Scandia, and it finally came to me: Kalvefilet Oskar! It was tender veal scallops in a delectable brown sauce with grilled onions. Another melt-in-your-mouth taste treat! Only thing I didn't like about Scandia was that dinner for a family of 3 could cost almost $100, but because of the relatively small portions, you could still leave the restaurant hungry. I wasn't paying the bill, though, so I could hardly complain.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

All pics: martinostimemachine.blogspot.com

I never got to see Tiny Naylor's. It was demolished in 1984, before I was old enough to drive (I was 14 that year)-- old enough to drive legally, that is. And my parents never really drove down Sunset Blvd., unless we were going to a doctor's appointment at the Kaiser hospital on Sunset. Looking at the FOR LEASE sign, I'm noticing the phone number. No area code. I only see that now in states where there's only one or few area codes in the whole state, like in Hawaii. I remember when all of LA was 213, and then in 1984 my parents' friends who lived in Woodland Hills became 818; back then, 714 not only covered Orange County but the Inland Empire as well. Now it's area codes galore.

[ethereal_reality]

I saw Tiny Naylor's during a family vacation in the 1970s.
I was pretty young but it stuck in my mind because it seemed so 'space age'. It looked like a giant airplane preparing to take off.



usc digital archive

[ethereal_reality]

Another image of the Rexall on the SE corner of Beverly Blvd. and LA Cienega.


unknown/possibly ebay


below: Here is the main entrance to the building.
I can't remember if these were Rexall executive offices.......or perhaps medical practices (Cedars-Sinai Hospital is a block west).







below: The entrance to the Rexall Drug Store was at the rounded nw corner of the bldg.




Sopas_ej, did you take any photographs when you visited this area yesterday?

__________________

[ethereal_reality]

A 'noirish' photo of Tail-O-The-Pup.



max yavno


When I ate lunch at Tail-O-The Pup I usually sat at one of the two yellow picnic tables that were behind the iconic 'dog'.
At night my friends and I used to visit Pink's Hotdogs after a night of partying. There was nothing greasier than a Pink's Hotdog.

_____________

[JeffDiego]

While on the subject of memories of Hollywood restaurants, here's one from an elder statesman here. For my seventh birthday in 1957, (I was already crazy about "Hollywood" and movie stars), my loving parents took me to the Hollywood Brown Derby. We were visiting from Fresno, my hometown.
The Derby seemed very glamorous to me. When we drove up in front I particularly thrilled to see the huge "Hollywood and Vine" sign outside the Broadway Hollywood. There were three movie people in the restaurant (seated at different tables) that my parents discreetly pointed out, none of whom I'd ever heard of, but I got their autographs. They were Raymond Burr (he was just starting "Perry Mason") and the waiter took me to meet him (he was friendly and polite), a character actress named Lurene Tuttle, and an old-timer from the 30's and 40's named Gail Patrick, who then was the producer of the Perry Mason series. Someone on a loudspeaker repeated "phone call for Mr. Burr" and a long-corded telephone was carried to his table.
I had a steak with French Fries, and I particularly remember a beautiful young blonde woman with a full-skirted pale yellow dress and white backless high heels waiting for a table with her escort. She was my little-boy idea of what a Hollywood woman should look like.

[ethereal_reality]

Wow, what a beautiful memory you have of your 7th birthday JeffDiego!
I love how you remember the little things....the steak and fries.....the yellow dress......the phone cord...etc.

Your parents were great to take you there for your birthday. Thanks for sharing your memory with us.

_______