noirish Los Angeles

[MartinTurnbull]

I was recently approached by a Ron Rodriguez who emailed me to say that his grandfather was the proprietor of the Trocadero Cafe at 6600 Hollywood Boulevard. I asked him if he had any photos of it in some family album. He dug around and came up with this one:



I love that old-style floor tiling! Then I realized it's the same photo used in an advertisement I came across somewhere:

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by Lojack

The last page of the article mentioned the new house was to be at 3726 Canyon Crest Road. Google shows larger houses there, but it looks like the rebuilt house from the article was removed. (Lots of boulders in both the aerial and street views on the property area.

The county assessor says that 3726 Canyon Crest was built in 1941, and so that fits. Here is a UCSB aerial from 1931 which shows both the sanitarium and the Busch house, I think. Canyon Crest was slightly rerouted after the fire.


UCSB

The sanitarium looks like it had a lot of linear buildings at right angles:


lawc.org

The tree break visible to the north of the Busch house follows the property line shown on the assessor's map.


la county assessor

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

It is not The 101, it is The Hollywood Freeway.

Slim, I thought the Hollywood Freeway was part of the 101.



socalregion


the area where the snapshots were taken back in 1950.


google_earth

as you can see, melrose intersects vermont quite some distance from the actual freeway. ....makes me wonder if the first snap was labeled correctly



"Building of a Highway Los Angeles Vermont & Melrose, c.1950"



ebay

Now say.....

if we were looking in the direction of melrose and vermont (northeast)
there might be a glimpse of the old Bergstrom/Pantages Estate which was demolished the following year, in 1951. (far right, 2nd snap)

but that's me grasping at straws & wishing for things that aren't actually there . -like living in my own ethereal reality. blah. blad. blah


Bergstrom Estate, N. Vermont Avenue

[ScottyB]

250 N Lake St, Pasadena, mid-fifties.


PDHC

(looks like the photo was cropped to clear the background)


I was unaware such vehicles were able to be driven on city streets....you could drive them on the streets, right?

Here's a zoom-in for you, ER. The very proud owners I assume- she reminds me of comedian Catherine O'Hara.



Here's a restored, show quality CruiseAbout car(t). Probably not going to be featured at Pebble Beach anytime soon, though you never know.



The building is apparently still standing.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I had never heard of the Van Norman Dam until I happened across this photograph on ebay.






The Van Norman Dam in 1920.


museumofsanfernandovalley.com


February 9, 1971 -earthquake damage


nisee2.berkeley.edu

For a length of about 1,800 feet, the embankment (including the parapet wall, dam crest, most of the upstream slope, and a portion of the downstream slope) slid into the reservoir. A loss of about 30 feet of dam height resulted when as much as 800,000 cubic yards of dam embankment was displaced into the reservoir. The reservoir was about half full at the time (thank god!).

Eighty-thousand people living downstream of the dam were immediately ordered to evacuate, and steps were taken to lower the water level
in the reservoir as rapidly as possible. (hence the water in the Los Angeles River in the first photo)

The Sylmar Earthquake was 47 years ago today. Here are some more photos of the Lower Van Norman Dam,
which almost collapsed. Here it is on February 10, the day after the quake:



Photo by Robert E. Wallace, USGS @ Wikimedia


This photo looks in the same direction as the previous shot. This and the next photo may have been taken on Feb 9:



Gendisasters.com


Here we're looking back in the opposite direction (compare with e_r's sepia photo):



Photo by T. L. Youd, USGS @ Wikimedia


The LADWP's Earthquake Emergency Report on its Water System at CSUN's Oviatt Library has additional
information on the near-disaster.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ethereal reality

Can anyone figure out what ledge the photographer is sitting on to achieve this vantage point? (I couldn't )

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Seems like the photographer is in an upper window of the Jewelry Trades Bldg.

You nailed it Beaudry. Thanks!


detail

Is it just me, or does that floor look like it has an extremely short floor-to-ceiling height.
it's like the architects were told to squeeze in an extral floor below the cornice.



like this


athenacinema / Being John Malkovich
_

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ethereal reality

Originally Posted by odinthor

Way to go odinthor!

When I posted the Busch's hat ad I had no idea Busch had anything to do with this house.




A week or so ago, I came across some photographs....and guess what...it's the same house!


altadenahistoricalsociety.blog

"Hewn from Millard Canyon granite and El Prieto Canyon timber, the huge home was built overlooking the east edge of the canyon
where the road curves to go up to the Meadows. The huge craftsman-like lodge was constructed in the Swiss Chalet style
and featured spectacular gardens, bridges, an aviary and petting zoo."





one of the largest boulders at Boulder's Crest.


altadenahistoricalsociety.blog

"Busch published a brochure featuring the property. In it he boasted, “More than 200 men were here employed at different stages
of this work, each one taking unusual interest, thus making it possible to achieve these results.” The caption describing the photograph
featuring the ground floor entry (photo above) read, “At the door of this rocky castle the visitor turns through a gateway
formed by two immense boulders weighing many tons – resting just where they were placed by the great Creator.”
The cornerstone of the lower entrance stood 17 feet high."



this pic includes the veranda above the front entrance.


altadenahistoricalsociety.blog


__

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The Sylmar Earthquake was 47 years ago today.

I didn't realize that FW. thx for the pics of the Van Norman Dam-age.


The screengrabs below show a building in downtown Los Angeles that was damaged in the Sylmar Earthquake.

Does anyone recognize it?












I thought it would be interesting to use google earth/gsv to see if the patch-up job is visible. (maybe different color of bricks?)





The 'mystery' building is shown at 6:01 in the 28 minute video. (I haven't finished the whole thing yet)

• Video Link

[odinthor]

I had to follow one more lead with Mr. R.J. Busch:


L.A. Times via ProQuest via CSULB Library.



Seems like it was a nice-looking building once upon a time!

Edit to Add:

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

I love that old-style floor tiling!

It may not be obvious for everybody here : this looks exactly as a traditional french restaurant. They date roughly from the 1870-1930 period and they are a lot of survivors, mainly in the provinces.

[Lojack]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Way to go odinthor!

When I posted the Busch's hat ad I had no idea Busch had anything to do with this house.




A week or so ago, I came across some photographs....and guess what...it's the same house!


altadenahistoricalsociety.blog

"Hewn from Millard Canyon granite and El Prieto Canyon timber, the huge home was built overlooking the east edge of the canyon
where the road curves to go up to the Meadows. The huge craftsman-like lodge was constructed in the Swiss Chalet style
and featured spectacular gardens, bridges, an aviary and petting zoo."





one of the largest boulders at Boulder's Crest.


altadenahistoricalsociety.blog

"Busch published a brochure featuring the property. In it he boasted, “More than 200 men were here employed at different stages
of this work, each one taking unusual interest, thus making it possible to achieve these results.” The caption describing the photograph
featuring the ground floor entry (photo above) read, “At the door of this rocky castle the visitor turns through a gateway
formed by two immense boulders weighing many tons – resting just where they were placed by the great Creator.”
The cornerstone of the lower entrance stood 17 feet high."



this pic includes the veranda above the front entrance.


altadenahistoricalsociety.blog


__

You were right, the apparent address for the Busch property is 3740 Canyon Crest Rd. Zooming in on Google maps shows the boulders and the new house at the location.

https://goo.gl/maps/c7udYELtgW42

Also, from the UCSB archive, Flight C-3758, Frame 20 (red dot on upper Canyon Crest Rd.) has an aerial of the site after the fire, you can see all the stonework on the ridge.

[Noir_Noir]

Long time lurker, avid viewer and reader of this thread. Thought I'd make a small contribution.

A little glimpse of the house that replaced the original Busch house at 3740 Canyon Crest Rd.





At Home: Pasadena - Google Books


It looks like one of the big boulders has come indoors.

[Lorendoc]

Here is another Harry Adams view from the Tom and Ethel Bradley Center at CSUN. It is captioned "Street Scene, 1964."


CSUN

There are some clues: the most obvious one is for the African-American Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper. Some others can be seen by enlarging to get this view:



The sign on the left looks like _BER SHOP....ECHO.
And to its right, almost hidden by a telephone pole is another large sign which says S________ERS ______ET.

The 1964 CD listing of addresses on Central Avenue around E. 43rd Street gives:


lapl

...and we see the Echo Barber Shop at 4300 (SE corner of Central and E. 43rd St), and a few stores south the Shoppers Market at 4322.

So this picture was taken looking south on Central Avenue from the west sidewalk just north of E. 43rd St. The address of the Sentinel was at the time 1122 E 43rd St, just east of Central, which accounts for the billboard.

[odinthor]

I continue to go through my recently-discovered cache of photos I took around 1983-1985, and post here the very few which have some slight prayer of being of interest to NLA.

From the mosaic mural which formerly graced the front of the old Long Beach Civic Auditorium, and which fortunately was preserved when they demolished the auditorium:


odinthor collection, photography by odinthor

And here is the full mural:


odinthor collection, photography by odinthor

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Noir Noir

Thanks for posting interior photographs of the house Noir Noir.

The article mentioned that proteges(?) of Frank LLoyd Wright were invioved in the reconstruction (1946-1952),
so I looked on the internet for any archived photographs but came up with nothing
other than a build date of 1952 (see below)



zillow

redfin

the real estate sites have minimal info. / and all say 'Not For Sale'.

Here's the only pic I found:


redfin

I'm going to have my sleuthing badge taken away aren't I.

__

[Flyingwedge]

Since you started this thread and have posted here pretty much every day for the last eight and a half years,
I think we can cut you some slack.

[ethereal_reality]

so I get to keep my badge? Great!

Originally Posted by ScottyB

250 N Lake St, Pasadena, mid-fifties.


PDHC

The building is still standing.


_________________________________________________________________________
[condensed]

Scotty, the building looks a lot better now than it did back in 2007.

gsv
___________________________________________________________


I'll add a few things...

This is supposedly the earliest-known photograph of a 1940s Autoette.


Larry Fisher collection


Here's an Autoette in Catalina, early 1950s


medium.com

Originally Posted by ScottyB

I was unaware such vehicles were able to be driven on city streets....you could drive them on the streets, right?

That's a good question Scotty. I could be wrong, but I believe autoettes had to stick to the sidewalks.

.....but that presented it's own set of problems.



This Autoette is driving on Pine Avenue’s sidewalk.


Long Beach Press-Telegram

By the 1960s, autoettes were called the “scourges of the sidewalk”.

"The same newspaper which praised the Autoette in its “Parade of Progress” also decried it once the EV
was involved in a series of gruesome accidents. The first occurred in 1952, involving an Autoette
which skidded 58 feet before discharging one of its occupants, a Mrs. Jobe, of Long Beach, CA,
into the curb at the intersection of Walnut and Clark St. Mrs. Jobe died from wounds sustained during the accident.

The second accident followed in 1966, when an elderly Autoette owner struck a ladder while driving on the sidewalk,
causing a 51-year-old neon sign installer to fall from the top of the ladder. The man later died of his injuries."

Five years later, Autoettes were BANNED from the sidewalks.

the parade of progress comes to an end (for autoettes, that is)








"Here's a zoom-in for you, ER." -ScottyB

Always nice to be thought of.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

[...]

Long Beach Press-Telegram

"[...] an Autoette which skidded 58 feet before discharging one of its occupants, a Mrs. Jobe, of Long Beach, CA, into the curb at the intersection of Walnut and Clark St. Mrs. Jobe died from wounds sustained during the accident. [...]"

[...]

The Long Beach intersection of Walnut and Clark today (or today-ish):



gsv

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Seems like it was a nice-looking building once upon a time!

I was curious about that burnt-umber building down the street.

I jumped in the google-mobile to check it out. When I got there I noticed that odinthor was quite correct.
Busch's purchase certainly was a nice-looking building at one point in time.

Take a look at the architectural details facing Valencia street.


gsv




I forget what this is called...something foil....tin foil? no, that's not it.


detail



Here's a look at both building.


gsv





and a closer look at the burnt-umber colored apt. building. (it appears to have some Persian influences)


gsv

originally posted by odinthor


__

[Lomara]

You don't need no stinkin' badge(s).

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

so I get to keep my badge? Great!