noirish Los Angeles

[CityBoyDoug]

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Of course there are many more on this list.

[Krell58]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks Handsome Stranger.
So this 'video' pre-dates the MTV era by about 7 years....interesting. (so where was it shown?)

To be totally honest, it's all so...how do I put it mildly.....AWFUL

Here's Ringo wearing a bargain basement Ziggy Stardust outfit with star sunglasses.

VIDEO LINK

& inexplicably...Ringo appears with one of those Steve Martin arrows through his head. (symbolism...or simply a bad idea?)


Starting at 3:00 (in the 3:25 video) the helicopter takes off and reveals not one, but two GIANT ROBOTS on the roof.


VIDEO LINK

The robots are MIA in the slides I posted earlier.

__

ER, I remember they would show videos like this on the Smothers Brothers show, Glen Campbell, and Hollywood Palace show. Later on, The Midnight Special and SNL had them on.

[UphillDonkey]

Originally Posted by HossC

I know this is old news, but I only came across the story below when it appeared as clickbait earlier today. Apparently:

On St. Patrick’s Day, a pub on Detroit’s Michigan Avenue refused to serve anyone Irish or wearing green.

“No Irish Pub” is an installation by Bloomington Hills resident Dan Margulis, who wanted to raise awareness of and generate conversation about how different immigrant communities were and are treated in America.

What a shame it was only temporary. With just a slight tweak to the letter spacing, I think it could be a great place for members of this thread to meet .


vinepair.com

OMG I never realized that my license plate could be read that way

[ethereal_reality]

re: Bohemian Gardens.

I can't thank you enough for the your insightful post Flyingwedge
The sanborn maps were fascinating. (as usual)

First of all I have to confess.
I always thought the Selig Zoo was located inside Eastlake/Lincoln Park. (I should have known better since it was privately owned)


But I'm still confused about a couple other things.

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

In the flood photo above, there seems to be a slight gap between the house-like building on the left and the
square or rectangular building on the right, which would match the building you've marked "Bohemian Grove?" in the photo below.

I don't see how it matches FW. Is this the building you think is the house? (with the white line as the 'gap')






But the house appears in a different spot in the sanborns. (unless I'm looking at it cockeyed)

that said, I think the area shown in the top photograph is the area I've marked in yellow below.







that is until I looked at this aerial again. (this is exhausting)
I don't see the paned windows in the building on the right. (I'm pretty sure those are huge doors hanging on a rail)




BUT it's definitely the same house that's outlined in the sanborn map (even though it's facing a different way.)
In the sanborn, the porch is facing the building and the turret is in the back. They must have turned it when they built the building next door.

If I had to make a guess, I'd say the building on the right was renovated at some point. (it was built between 1920 and 1924).
So yes, this could be the same spot shown in the top photo.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________





Now let's look at the photographs that were taken closer to the earthen mound that show the fort-like structure.





I'm almost certain the photographs were taken in the area shown below in yellow.



But after ALL THIS we still don't know which building was the Bohemian Gardens, right? (or did I miss that part? lol

Here's a far-flung possibility: perhaps Bohemian Gardens was in the old Selig Administration Building (Mission Inn) with parking behind the building.
That would at least place the cars in the location(s) shown in the photographs.

SIDE NOTE:
Were the two building with orange dots candidates for the nightclub FW? (is that the reason you put dots on them?)

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[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the response to the church slides GaylordWilshire, Handsome Stranger and LA KITTY KAT. meow

Before I call it a night here are two more slides.

"Vtg 1953 3D Stereo Slide LOS ANGELES Street Scene WILSHIRE BLVD Hotel STATLER"

#1

ebay

Dayum...that's some scooter.




#2

ebay


Good night folks!

[Handsome Stranger]

ER, I'm enthralled by that Flying A Service sign opposite the Statler...but where the heck is the gas station?

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

[


Here are two last notes regarding the Bohemian Gardens and the 1934 flood:



January 2, 1934, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL




January 4, 1934, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL

Elwood Plumb's full name was Walter Elwood Plumb. His picture is in family trees on Ancestry.com. He was born in Illinois in June of 1885. He married Bertha Hopkins in 1906 and they had three children. Walter appears in the 1920 Census living with his family in Brookings, South Dakota where he was a farmer.
He is buried in the Angelus Abbey Memorial Park in Compton. Find a Grave indicates that his address at the time of his death was 1497 Henderson Street in Long Beach. That site indicates that he was retired at the time of his death. His widow lived until 1961.[/QUOTE]

This morning I find more about the Plumb family. Apparently Elwood and Bertha were divorced prior to his death. Bertha, who was apparently a practical nurse, is found in the 1930 Census, listed as being divorced, and living as a boarder with a couple named Richardson at 8274 Marmont in Los Angeles. There are no records which show when they were divorced. Bertha then appears in a voter registration in Tracy, California in 1934 where she was working as a clerk.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

ER, I'm enthralled by that Flying A Service sign opposite the Statler...but where the heck is the gas station?

Looks like it must have been just a parking lot with a pump for its customers, not a full-fledged station....

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

[


Here are two last notes regarding the Bohemian Gardens and the 1934 flood:



January 2, 1934, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL




January 4, 1934, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL

Elwood Plumb's full name was Walter Elwood Plumb. His picture is in family trees on Ancestry.com. He was born in Illinois in June of 1885. He married Bertha Hopkins in 1906 and they had three children. Walter appears in the 1920 Census living with his family in Brookings, South Dakota where he was a farmer.
He is buried in the Angelus Abbey Memorial Park in Compton. Find a Grave indicates that his address at the time of his death was 1497 Henderson Street in Long Beach. That site indicates that he was retired at the time of his death. His widow lived until 1961.[/QUOTE]

This morning I find more about the Plumb family. Elwood and Bertha were divorced in South Dakota prior to 1925. They had a daughter, Carol Joy, who was born in 1917 and died in 1922 in South Dakota. Bertha, who was apparently a practical nurse, is found in the 1930 Census, listed as being divorced, and living as a boarder with a couple named Richardson at 8274 Marmont in Los Angeles. Bertha then appears in a voter registration in Tracy, California in 1934 where she was working as a clerk.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

ER, I'm enthralled by that Flying A Service sign opposite the Statler...but where the heck is the gas station?

I found a thorough account of the Statler here: https://paradiseleased.wordpress.com...mic-age-hotel/ which included this exterior shot which shows a couple of gas pumps but no actual station. It looks to be fairly close, time-wise to the 1953 shot posted by e_r.


"Dick" Whittington/USC

Another view showing the Flying A sign and St. Pauls Cathedral

Examiner/USC

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

ER, I'm enthralled by that Flying A Service sign opposite the Statler...but where the heck is the gas station?

An earlier Associated Oil sign is visible here:




This may be a rendering made between the ASSOCIATED sign and the round Flying A one, or the round one lasted but a minute...anyway, you can see the pumps...


Both USCDL



And a couple more...


With the round Flying A sign and the pumps...




There was yet another Flying A sign in the view of the hotel as the Statler Hilton....


Both LAPL

[Rustifer]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

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Of course there are many more on this list.

Many, many more...

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

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Of course there are many more on this list.

CityBoyDoug, « The Third Man », « Sunset Boulevard », « M » and « Rebecca » are great movies but I don't feel they are « noir » like the 6 others. Yes, they are filmed with the esthetic which came from Murnau, Lang and some other German directors of the silent Twenties but this is not my comprehensive « noir » mood of the 6 others and many others. To my sense « noir » films are not based on psychology like the 4 movies but on suspense situations related to a police ambience or something relevant. Am I the one to think like that ?

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

CityBoyDoug, « The Third Man », « Sunset Boulevard », « M » and « Rebecca » are great movies but I don't feel they are « noir » like the 6 others. Yes, they are filmed with the esthetic which came from Murnau, Lang and some other German directors of the silent Twenties but this is not my comprehensive « noir » mood of the 6 others and many others. To my sense « noir » films are not based on psychology like the 4 movies but on suspense situations related to a police ambience or something relevant. Am I the one to think like that ?

I certainly agree with Alvaro on this. I posted the list to get the noirishers to think on the topic. So far there have been some good comments.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

CityBoyDoug, « The Third Man », « Sunset Boulevard », « M » and « Rebecca » are great movies but I don't feel they are « noir » like the 6 others. Yes, they are filmed with the esthetic which came from Murnau, Lang and some other German directors of the silent Twenties but this is not my comprehensive « noir » mood of the 6 others and many others. To my sense « noir » films are not based on psychology like the 4 movies but on suspense situations related to a police ambience or something relevant. Am I the one to think like that ?

Agree!

[Handsome Stranger]

GaylordWilshire and Bristolian, many thanks for the follow-up on that Flying A sign. I've never heard of branded gas pumps at a public parking lot, with no attached gas station. Very interesting! I wonder how common or uncommon such a setup was. The Associated Oil sign intrigues me too. I did a little online reading and learned that in 1938 Associated Oil merged with Tidewater Petroleum, the parent company of Flying A.

AlvaroLegido and CityBoyDoug, that's definitely a questionable list of film noirs. (Or is it films noir?) I can accept Sunset Blvd as film noir. The Third Man is kind of iffy. But Rebecca? Nuh-uh!

"My, my, my! Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains! You know, you're the second guy I've met today that seems to think a gat in the hand means the world by the tail."

[GaylordWilshire]

The Julian Oil Company built the first filling station on the corner in 1923 There was a regular Associated station on the corner--addressed 625 S Figueroa—in the '48 directory. The Statler must have bought the property to create parking for itself, leaving an island in place....

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Interesting topic, e_r, and a tip of the NLA cap to Lorendoc for finding the location, and to Hoss for his follow-up.

If the first and third photos show some of the same overturned cars, that would clinch the
location, but I can't tell if they're the same cars.

Thanks Flyingwedge, e_r, Hoss_C et al. for all the interesting posts about this place. A search of newspapers.com reveals a lot of noir stories about Reservoir #5 including pre-1934 dam failures, drownings, suicides etc.

I would say these two photos do indeed show the same cars, check out the three just below the letters "image" on the watermark: one vehicle is on its side, one upside down, and the next right side up, from north to south on the east side of the parking lot:

[John Maddox Roberts]

For me, film noir involves a rejection of the idealism of earlier films. In noir, nobody is really innocent. Even the best people are deeply flawed. People who are not career criminals think they can solve their problems with a crime, just this once. As Sterling Hayden says in "The Killing," "They've all got a little larceny in 'em."

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The Julian Oil Company built the first filling station on the corner in 1923

The story of C.C. Julian and his oil company is quite a noirish tale in itself.