noirish Los Angeles

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by HossC

I don't know what time period or area you're looking for, but I found some Arlington Hotels in the CDs. Pre-1900 there seems to have been one in Riverside and one in Santa Barbara. After 1902 there are a few references to an Arlington Hotel at 214 Commercial Street, although this one was called New Arlington House in earlier CDs. After 1934, another Arlington Hotel appears at 611 E 5th Street. This one was previously known as the Hoover Hotel, and seems to have been built as a rooming house in 1913. It's currently St Mark's Hotel.

There's no mention of the Tenderloin in the CDs.

Thanks Hoss, I figured you'd come through. It's going to be the Commercial Street address. Larry Harnisch has an interesting piece up today about a city councilman, Tom Savage, who was accused, in 1907, of running a bordello out of the Arlington Hotel. "The matter at hand involves Tom Savage, boss of the 8th Ward, known as the “Bloody Eighth,” on charges of running a disorderly house, the Arlington Hotel, in the Tenderloin." Jury deadlocked and the case dropped. Savage subsequently died of a drug overdose in his room at 111 1/2 Commercial Street. As per usual, a good article...

https://ladailymirror.com/2018/06/01...ning-bordello/

For what it's worth, I have a shot of the rooms where Savage passed...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michae...13039/sizes/o/

So far unable to lay hands on an image of the Arlington.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

the Arlington Hotel was located? And where was 'the Tenderloin'? I know, I feel like I should know this but the only 'Tenderloin' I'm familiar with was in San Francisco. Can't find the Arlington on any of my maps and, of course, the Tenderloin' wouldn't be noted by any cartographer. Thanks.

L.A.'s Tenderloin appears to be mostly if not completely associated with the crib district off of Alameda (all images LA Times via ProQuest via CSULB Library). Some early mentions:

[MichaelRyerson]

Thanks odinthor. You guys are the best.

[Lomara]

Originally Posted by Lojack

So in a current GSV of the intersection, you can see the old location of the trough on the corner, and while there is a divider just to the south, it now has art and vegetation. Did they remove the facilities, or just pave them over?

I saw this comment and had to go look at the location. Sure enough, you can see the filled-in post holes from that trough/fountain. Amazing to me that they can be seen so many years later.


Horse/man fountain Main and Spring by Kimberly, on Flickr

[Slauson Slim]

Scott Charles wrote:

"If the Mona Lisa, Acropolis, and Notre Dame had their home in Los Angeles, they too would have been considered “relics” and gleefully destroyed in the name of progress. It's a travesty what was done to Los Angeles in the name of “progress”."

Viable housing, beautiful buildings and neighborhoods destroyed - the latter cut off by freeways and isolated by poor or indifferent public transport. I recall LA before freeways - we rode street cars. I grew up in a multi-racial working-class and lower middle-class South Central LA, as did my parents. We shopped at the great department stores, and went to the theatres, downtown. I went to the Hope Street YMCA.

The great post-war boom, freeways and the car culture and the rise of the savings and loan industry, and the need for worker middle-class housing built the suburbs - Downey, Artesia, Lakewood, Torrance, the Valley, OC, etc. but at the same time sucked the viability out of large parts of LA. And this was exacerbated by the riots.

Granted, there is a good old days gloss to some memories, and old LA had real poverty, racism, corruption, organized crime, wide open prostitution and gambling, Main Street was a dump of seedy bars, etc., but the place has lost much due to ruthless leveling and destruction at the expense of, and indifference to, lower and middle income folks. Television also knocked off the sense of community - instead of going out folks stayed home and no longer enjoyed things communally on a day-to-day basis.

LA is a magnet for folks from the US and overseas due to opportunity and employment, and it always has been.

Change is inevitable, but the changes wrought on LA lowered the quality of Place. I recall the Richfield building, the stone buildings on Spring Street, Wrigley Field, neighborhood movie theatres, hamburger stands, the NBC building on Sunset, movies at The Orpheum, musicals at the Philharmonic Auditorium, visiting my grandmother's friends on Bunker Hill, etc. When I go back it is painful to see the filthy rutted streets, cracked sidewalks, hideous strip malls, what was done to Bunker Hill, businesses that are essentially fortresses and being stuck in a car.

I left in 1966 and live in Northern California.

As an aside, I am curious as to how many posters here live in or grew up in LA or SoCal.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

I left in 1966 and live in Northern California.

As an aside, I am curious as to how many posters here live in or grew up in LA or SoCal.

I was born, on Sunset Blvd, in 1966. I've lived in LA my entire life.

[Martin Pal]

^^^

I've lived here since 1977.

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

When I go back it is painful to see the filthy rutted streets, cracked sidewalks, hideous strip malls, what was done to Bunker Hill, businesses that are essentially fortresses and being stuck in a car.
_________________________________________________________________

I don't find this a problem in my "day to day" here. The city is way better than it was in 1977, IMO. (Except for Frank Gehry buildings. )

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

CaliNative, are you saying that you actually saw the Richfield Tower in person?

If so, (1) that's amazing, and (2), could you describe what the lights on the “derrick” actually did? I've heard the lights were animated, and simulated an erupting geyser - is that correct?
_________________________________________________________________

I remember someone on NLA writing about attending Dodger games and on the way home seeing the Richfield Building lit up.

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Of course, I'd LOVE to see a movie of the tower's lighting, but I don't know that such a thing exists.
_________________________________________________________________

Is it weird that the building was around for 40 years and there's hardly any film footage of it, and, when there is, it is usually a distant background view?
___________

Odinthor, can you restore this photo?

Originally Posted by odinthor

On January 4, 1969, when I knew the Richfield Bldg.'s demise was in the offing, I happened to be at the Music Center with my brother, and said, "Let's take a photo of me with the Richfield Bldg.!"



odinthor collection

What do you mean, "So where's the Richfield Bldg.?" Huh! It's right there, exactly where it should be.
_________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: Odinthor, I see that E_R replied to the above post and the photo is included on his
post as he added an arrow to it, for clarification purposes.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I think that group of girls across the street have their eyes on you.


odinthor / January 4, 1969

Is that the Richfield Building to the left of my red arrow (it appears the tower on the roof has already been removed)
__

wiki says the Richfield Building was demolished between November 12, 1968 and the Spring of 1969.
_________________________________________________________________

[Andys]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

Scott Charles wrote:

As an aside, I am curious as to how many posters here live in or grew up in LA or SoCal.

Born in Texas (1949). Family moved to Pico-Union in '54, then to Atwater (Village) in'57 , then to Glendale (Verdugo Woodlands) in '68. I flew the coop in '71. Lived in SoCal ever since. Now in Santa Clarita.

Andys

[Martin Pal]

Odinthor, were you at the Music Center to see a show or anything on January 4, 1969, and, if so, do you recall what it was?

If it was at the Ahmanson Theatre, January 4th was the last day of this
World Premiere Musical:

“Love Match”
Book by Christian Hamilton
Music by David Shire
Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Starring Patricia Routledge,
Michael Allinson and Hal Linden
Directed and choreographed by
Danny Daniels.
(World Premiere)
November 19, 1968 - January 4, 1969

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

[...]
As an aside, I am curious as to how many posters here live in or grew up in LA or SoCal.

So Cal native here, proud to be one of the quality fruits and nuts from Sunny Southern California! And still here!

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Odinthor, were you at the Music Center to see a show or anything on January 4, 1969, and, if so, do you recall what it was?

If it was at the Ahmanson Theatre, January 4th was the last day of this
World Premiere Musical:

“Love Match”
Book by Christian Hamilton
Music by David Shire
Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Starring Patricia Routledge,
Michael Allinson and Hal Linden
Directed and choreographed by
Danny Daniels.
(World Premiere)
November 19, 1968 - January 4, 1969

I'm sure I was there to see a show . . . but it wasn't the above. Likely I went to . . . something . . . at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The Romanian Folk Ballet appears to have been at the Pavilion that evening, which sounds like something I might have gone to see; but I can't say that seeing that no doubt thrilling endeavor has stuck in my memory. The Mark Taper Forum had several plays in repertory that year; but none of them did I see, alas.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Lived all over, but spent my summers in the '50s in Pasadena with my aunt & uncle's family. In '60 they relocated to Santa Barbara and I lived there off and on until the late '70s.

[LA Kitty Kat]

I was born in Los Angeles, Siverlake area to be exact, way back in the fifties. My family moved to Alhambra in 1957 and I started working downtown in 1969, but I do not remember seeing the Richfield Building. Perhaps it was already gone?

[HenryHuntington]

L.A. native (Boyle Heights). Lived in SoCal my entire life except for one year in high school (Pennsylvania) and two years in the army (Ft. Ord, Vietnam, Germany).

[CityBoyDoug]

I was one+ year old when my mother and I came by train to Los Angeles. She secretly fled from her first husband who was an alcohol abuser and total psycho. He later burned all of her clothes, her photos and our family furniture. We stayed with her father in Hollywood where he was Tarot Card reader and a Spiritualist Lecturer.. The psycho later that year assaulted him in his apartment . I was only about 3 at the time but I remember there was blood on the floor, which my mom soaked up with newspapers. This was at 1006 N. El Centro in Hollywood. The first 5 years of my life in Los Angeles was a real life noir horror story.


This is my mother's father [my grandfather]. This was taken at his El Centro Apartment. He died at age just 52 whilst on a speaking tour in a few southern states.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

I was one+ year old when my mother and I came by train to Los Angeles. She secretly fled from her first husband who was an alcohol abuser and total psycho. He later burned all of her clothes, her photos and our family furniture. We stayed with her father in Hollywood where he was Tarot Card reader and a fortune teller. The psycho later that year assaulted him in his apartment . I was only about 3 at the time but I remember there was blood on the floor, which my mom soaked up with newspapers. This was at 1006 N. El Centro in Hollywood. The first 5 years of my life in Los Angeles was a real life noir horror story.


This is my mother's father. This was taken at his El Centro Apartment.

Sorry to hear you had to go through such horrible experiences, CBD!

Coincidence: I was within a block of 1006 N. El Centro just yesterday, and even noted the El Centro street sign. Why El Centro?, I always ask myself . . .

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

Scott Charles wrote:

As an aside, I am curious as to how many posters here live in or grew up in LA or SoCal.

My mother was an LA. girl, born in 1920--first lived in what's now WeHo and later across the street from Echo Park. By the time I came along in 1960 my parents had moved to Anaheim and I've lived in the OC ever since. But was a regular L.A. visitor to see my grandmother. I even spent some time working at the nig Red Cross blood center that was at Pico and Vermont. And I used to love going to Hollywood in the late 70's and early 80's just to see the crazies.

[Handsome Stranger]

CityBoyDoug's personal history is one of the most noirish things I've ever read in this forum, and I thank him for sharing it. My story will be weak tea by comparison.

I was born and raised in the South Bay and spent much of my life there. The maternity hospital in Hawthorne my mother went to was unique. In order to get around the ban on young children visiting, all patient rooms were on the ground floor and had large windows that connected to patios. Fathers could bring their kids to visit mama without ever setting foot inside the building. My dad did so with my brother (7) and my sister (5). That hospital no longer exists.

I'm just old enough to remember an era in which the only time freeway traffic ever slowed down was when an accident had happened.

The only remotely noirish aspect of my life is this: one of my high school pals had an older sister that had been Squeaky Fromme's close friend.

I've lived in the city of Los Angeles for 20+ years now.

[CityBoyDoug]

Odinthor, handsome stranger and fellow noirishers. There's lot more to my story.

My mother's father knew an attorney in LA., via one of his girlfriends. My mom persuaded this attorney to handle her divorce from the psycho. His wife had one year previously committed suicide by pistol in their garage attic. She had swiped the pistol from their neighbor the previous day whilst having tea and cake with her. This same attorney [who my mom later married] also obtained an arrest warrant for her former husband---then separated from.

My mom, my brother and I moved to a new home every two months, because she feared for our safety....due to the psycho's threats. During that year my brother and I were involved in a crosswalk accident with a drunk driver on Brand Blvd. in Glendale. Our names appeared in a local newspaper...after my mom had begged them not to print our names and address..they did anyways. The next day she received an unpleasant call from one of his relatives. Later that night us brothers were taken to San Bernardino where we stayed with a family-in-law for 6 months.

When her ex found out about the arrest warrant, he left CA, never to return.

This is the house where she committed suicide in 1943. They had bought the house new in 1935 for around $7,000...its in San Gabriel. She left a note claiming he had some girlfriends.


photo bucket

Here is the in-law family we stayed with. Mary Ellen and John Dobson. This was taken on the late night we arrived. Myself at the Left next to my older brother.
Later that summer the house caught fire and we had to move to another place. Mary Ellen's mother had been married to my grandfather. On grandfather's honeymoon car trip, the car door came open, she fell out on a steep mountain road and was killed. He was married for his 4th time about 4 weeks later. He went on a speaking tour and died in a Arizona hotel whilst drinking coffee with a lady her knew....only age 52.

photo bucket

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

As an aside, I am curious as to how many posters here live in or grew up in LA or SoCal.

I was born in Los Angeles (1944) in the hospital that sits on a hill overlooking the intersection of Temple and Silverlake Boulevard. In those days it was called Wilshire Hospital, the name changed a couple of times and now I think the building may be no more. Went overseas in 1965. Got out and came back in '69. Followed a job to Texas in '78. Back to LA in '82. Recruited by the same company in '92, back to Texas and now stuck. SoCal is still 'home'. They'll scatter my ashes in the blue Pacific unless the wind is onshore.