noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Fantastic post!

Originally Posted by HossC

At first I thought there was some writing on the front,
but, on closer inspection, I realized it was the top decoration of the roof of the building in front.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

I believe we're looking at the side of the building Hoss. If you look closely you can the gabled front with the large flagpole "sprouting" from the top.
I'd say the main entrance would be under the gable (facing left).....toward the High School (out of frame)

It was great to see those old wooden steps next to the tunnel. Thanks for pointing them out Hoss.
Is that round sign next to the steps advertising that empty plot of land for sale? (I just noticed there's a square sign there as well on the opposite side of the stairs)
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[HossC]

I think you're right about the location of the entrance on our mystery building, e_r.

Here's a close-up of those "For Sale" signs. The one on the left belongs to R A Rowan at 419 Douglas Building. The one on the right shows the distinctive diagonal design of W M Garland & Co. Both companies moved around quite a bit - the 1901 CD has both of them at 212 Wilcox Building. I believe the Garland sign here says "Wilcox Block". The 1906 CD lists R A Rowan at 200 Herman W Hellman Building.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

Garland's diagonal design can be seen in color on the front of the 1917 CD (1920 refers to the year of the population estimate). Note the address in the Van Nuys Building.


LAPL

[ethereal_reality]

-very cool. I thought that was a diagonal shadow on the sign. I stand corrected.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

It was great to see those old wooden steps next to the tunnel. Thanks for pointing them out Hoss.
__

Yes, thank you. I don't remember being aware of the first steps before.



Incredible to think that the old Protestant cemetery on Fort Moore Hill, between LAHS No. 1 and No. 2, once so remote on its far-away hill, vandalized at will with no one noticing, became embedded in this urban neighborhood. The city was gruesomely negligent in removing the graves (much discussed on the thread). The city announced that the cemetery had been completely emptied by 1947, but remains have been continually exposed during various construction projects, most recently in 2006 when the remains of 80 more early Angelenos were found.

Hollywood Freeway construction, April 2, 1951:

lapl (first posted by fhammon on pg 380)



Thank you too CBD for the Leo Carrillo post. He had such famous and important ancestors, both Carrillos and Bandinis. He was very proud of them and loved California. He was on the California Beach and Parks Commission for 18 years and made possible the acquisition of San Simeon and the LA Arboretum, among other properties, for the public. Leo Carrillo State Beach is named for him.


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[ethereal_reality]

This is my favorite matchbook find.


old file / eBay


It's from a place called the "Jitterbug House" at 875 N. Vine Street.


eBay

I've been searching for a vintage photograph of the place but have had no luck. (a little help would be appreciated ).



Here's how the whole matchbook appears.


eBay

[searth words] Louis Prima and his band.

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The Jitterbug House is included in this list.

1998 article_LATimes

I'd also like to learn more about the Grape-Vine Cocktail Lounge in the bus station. -sounds like a great setting for a film noir!

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[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' bus slide/photo.


eBay

I love the green Charger and the purple Mustang, but that is one ugly bus.

detail


note the Civic Center sign.


I'm outta' town for a few days, have a great HALLOWEEN everyone!


unknown / http://www.vintag.es/2014/10/hauntin...otographs.html
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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' bus slide/photo.


eBay

note the Civic Center sign.

The Civic Center sign has me confused, but we're looking west on Gage Avenue near the intersection with Miles Avenue. I think the building to the left of the big tree is the market store from e_r's picture.


GSV

The building across the intersection also looks to be a survivor.


GSV

[unihikid]

If you look at the windows and where the intersection is, the market seems to have been razed..the one story is now a two story. also take a gander at the storefront window..its a pretty close match.

Originally Posted by HossC

The Civic Center sign has me confused, but we're looking west on Gage Avenue near the intersection with Miles Avenue. I think the building to the left of the big tree is the market store from e_r's picture.


GSV

The building across the intersection also looks to be a survivor.


GSV

[HossC]

Originally Posted by unihikid

If you look at the windows and where the intersection is, the market seems to have been razed..the one story is now a two story. also take a gander at the storefront window..its a pretty close match.

Here's a close-up of the building in question. It now contains two stores with their entrances at an angle to the sidewalk.



The banner on the window gives the address of Robert's Cigars as 2867 Gage Avenue ...



... which is the same address as the market. This detail also shows the angled double front.



All from GSV.

[mrfredmertz]

The left white door is to send the capsules and the right door is to receive.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by HossC

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's Baby Town at 18725 Sherman Way. Do you think this is the same Baby Town as advertised on the 1953 sign above?

2012

gsv

Baby Town recently closed, and the building is being renovated.

I thought e_r had found the Baby Town store advertised on the sign until I came across this Julius Shulman photoset. This is "Job 1604: Carl Maston, Store Buildings (Los Angeles, Calif.),1953",
and the description gives the location as Reseda (we've seen a couple of Carl Maston's designs recently). The first image is the only color photograph in the set. For search purposes, the picture
also includes Country Club fashions, Reeve's Shoes, and Anita, which also appears to sell clothes.



Here's a different angle of the store fronts.



This is the back of the stores facing the parking lot. Anita has a display of Fall fashions.



And from the other end.



All from Getty Research Institute

Here's an article about the opening of Baby Town from the October 29, 1953 edition of Valley News. It confirms the address as 18403 Sherman Way.
It also references an existing Studio City Store which is mentioned on the "Coming Soon" sign above.
NB. I've rearranged the layout to fit the screen better.


www.newspapers.com

Here's the block today. 18403 is behind the rear of the silver car. I posted "then and now" pictures of the greenish building on the left in post #31511.


GSV

The difference in appearance of the store fronts made me think the building in the Shulman photos had been replaced. Then I found that the Googlemobile made a single
visit to the parking lot behind in July 2007. I'm pretty sure that the store backs are the same, so I'm guessing that the fronts just got a makeover. Baby Town must've
moved to the store in e_r's picture at a later date.


GSV

[rick m]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Yes, thank you. I don't remember being aware of the first steps before.



Incredible to think that the old Protestant cemetery on Fort Moore Hill, between LAHS No. 1 and No. 2, once so remote on its far-away hill, vandalized at will with no one noticing, became embedded in this urban neighborhood. The city was gruesomely negligent in removing the graves (much discussed on the thread). The city announced that the cemetery had been completely emptied by 1947, but remains have been continually exposed during various construction projects, most recently in 2006 when the remains of 80 more early Angelenos were found.

Hollywood Freeway construction, April 2, 1951:

lapl (first posted by fhammon on pg 380)



Thank you too CBD for the Leo Carrillo post. He had such famous and important ancestors, both Carrillos and Bandinis. He was very proud of them and loved California. He was on the California Beach and Parks Commission for 18 years and made possible the acquisition of San Simeon and the LA Arboretum, among other properties, for the public. Leo Carrillo State Beach is named for him.


__

Carillo's home on Chatsworth St. in Granada Hills was THE place to go for a swim for a quarter- about '61 to '63 - He lived a city block west of our R.C.church - That's probably where my dad heard about this option- Carillo and he yakked a lot whilst we kids ran around the place keeping cool in the summer-- Some time later he passed on..

[tovangar2]

Speaking of the Broadway Tunnel, here's a 'Then' and 'Then' of the north portal.

Adobe left high and dry by the regrading/tunnel lowering. Source says ca 1920:

seaver center

"Sunset at Broadway. Downtown Los Angeles. June 4th, 1948.":

first posted by MichaelRyerson


A 2009 'Then and Now' from sopas ej here. 2009(also includes the adobe)
A 2011 'Then and Now' from gsjansen here (same 'Then').


Wow, exactly how long did that little adobe last?:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Broadway Tunnel 1926

ebay

There appears to be a small building or two behind the John T. Dye billboards (notice the smoking flue).
__

1934. Maybe this answers when the adobe was lost. I can't tell for sure:

first posted by MichaelRyerson

...............................................................................

Originally Posted by rick m

Carillo's home on Chatsworth St. in Granada Hills was THE place to go for a swim for a quarter- about '61 to '63 - He lived a city block west of our R.C.church - That's probably where my dad heard about this option- Carillo and he yakked a lot whilst we kids ran around the place keeping cool in the summer-- Some time later he passed on..

What? He was running a rec center at his house? I love that.

Leo Carrillo obit from LAT

[JeffDiego]

From out of left field, here's a slice of ultra-noirish Los Angeles.
Upon the recommendation of someone whose opinion I trust, I recently read a fascinating and well-researched series of articles by an investigative writer named Dave McGowan entitled "The Strange and Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon."
The articles, first published in 2008 at McGowan's website "Center for an Informed America" - Yes, some will dismiss McGowan as a "conspiracy theorist," - have been posted and discussed at many sites and on numerous TV and radio shows available at youtube - and have recently been expanded into a 2014 book entitled "Weird Scenes in the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream." (available at Amazon).
"Dark" hardly begins to describe this mind-blowing trip down the rabbit hole into the truly odd and sinister history of "bucolic" Laurel Canyon.
The author lays out pages of quite amazing and often jaw-dropping facts that offer compelling evidence of strange connections between the birth and flowering of the hippie/counterculture scene ( which originated, according to McGowan, in Laurel Canyon/Hollywood, NOT San Francisco), its most iconic musicians and celebrities, and some kind of manufactured, covert military intelligence operation. All of this against a bloody background of murder, suicide, a vastly overabundant premature death-toll, and some of the biggest and most influential names in America.
Sounds nutty, I know, but take a look:

http://www.sott.net/article/155794-I...eration-Part-1


Jeff

[CityBoyDoug]

Posted by tonvangar2
What? He [Leo Carrillo] was running a rec center at his house? I love that.

Leo Carrillo obit from LAT[/QUOTE]


I well remember the situation in the 1950's and 60s. Yes, there were a few people who operated their private home pools for a fee. One family in San Gabriel welcomed the Cub Scout boys for 25 Cents per head.
They even provided hot dogs and sodas for a small fee. It felt very strange but that's the way it was.

Having a pool in those days was often very awkward. My family did not generally allow neighbors to use our pool. We had the only pool in the neighborhood and my parents enacted strict rules. Our friends from school were not welcome either. The only time I ever saw strangers using our pool were people from our church. To be honest, I was happy when that era ended and we moved to a different house.

How our backyard began circa the 1950s and as later remodeled by a Japanese company...Dyo Bros, Pasadena.. The pool was built in 1948 by a previous family with four boys.
Left photo....the reed fencing came from the Akron surplus store.

[so-cal-bear]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' bus slide/photo.


eBay

I love the green Charger and the purple Mustang, but that is one ugly bus.

detail


note the Civic Center sign.


I'm outta' town for a few days, have a great HALLOWEEN everyone!


unknown / http://www.vintag.es/2014/10/hauntin...otographs.html
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The ugly bus is a GM OLd Look model and the green charger is actually a 1970 Plymouth Duster.

[HossC]

This is the Ahmanson Bank and Trust Company at 1460 Westwood Boulevard. Although it's from Julius Shulman's "Job 5179: Frank Homolka, Ahmanson Bank (Los Angeles, Calif.),1975", the description says "Photography credit to Carlos von Frankenberg."



A couple of shots of the interior.





Being a later photoset, it also includes some color images.
NB. I've tweaked the colors of the exterior shots.



This is the view from Ohio Avenue.



I haven't touched the colors on this interior shot. I wish banks still had rugs like the one seen here!



All from Getty Research Institute

Here's the building today. It's now the Dollar Loan Center. Other than the signage, I think the only change is the addition of a ramp at the front.



Streetview also goes inside the building. I miss the rug .



A current view from Ohio Avenue.



I'll finish with this attractive little building across the street.



All from GSV

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

This is the Ahmanson Bank and Trust Company at 1460 Westwood Boulevard. Although it's from Julius Shulman's "Job 5179: Frank Homolka, Ahmanson Bank (Los Angeles, Calif.),1975", the description says "Photography credit to Carlos von Frankenberg."

Yes, that carpet is a lot of fun. I want one... Its probably now in someone's den.


detail from previous post

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

I'll finish with this attractive little building across the street.

GSV

Your little building was built surprisingly late, 1940. R.E. Williams designed the $30K project as a store for owner John Stone. It's frame and stucco on a concrete foundation.

..............................................................


Happy Halloween everyone


attireclub (no location or date)

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Posted by tonvangar2
What? He [Leo Carrillo] was running a rec center at his house? I love that.

Leo Carrillo obit from LAT

I well remember the situation in the 1950's and 60s. Yes, there were a few people who operated their private home pools for a fee. One family in San Gabriel welcomed the Cub Scout boys for 25 Cents per head.
They even provided hot dogs and sodas for a small fee. It felt very strange but that's the way it was.

Having a pool in those days was often very awkward. My family did not generally allow neighbors to use our pool. We had the only pool in the neighborhood and my parents enacted strict rules. Our friends from school were not welcome either. The only time I ever saw strangers using our pool were people from our church. To be honest, I was happy when that era ended and we moved to a different house.

How our backyard began circa the 1950s and as later remodeled by a Japanese company...Dyo Bros, Pasadena.. The pool was built in 1948 by a previous family with four boys.
Left photo....the reed fencing came from the Akron surplus store.
[/QUOTE]

I well remember those years. My aunt and uncle had a house in Pasadena, in the Linda Vista neighborhood, and they had the only pool in the neighborhood at that time. The neighbor kids could use it, but only at certain hours and only with an adult present. The rules, as you say, were prominently posted. It was surrounded by a fence, as was the law. A pool could be a serious legal liability in those days and failure to observe all the rules could open you to a charge of "maintaining an attractive nuisance." This was the result of a rash of child drownings in the then-new backyard pools of the postwar L.A. area.