CSUN Library has several online photo collections in their Tom & Ethel Bradley Center (Lorendoc has posted a few pictures out of the collection)...I browsed the work of two photographers employed by The California Eagle and Los Angeles Sentinel...accordingly, their focus is on the city's African-American community in the post-war years...most of the pictures are of the mundane: weddings, funerals, various social gatherings & some cheesecake stuff...even these are evocative of the Walter Mosley/"Devil In a Blue Dress" city...I culled out a few that I found interesting...as always, apologies for any re-posts.
The photogs in question are Charles Williams and Harry Adams...I could not find any reference to Williams in a search of the thread, so I don't think we have seen most of these...the photos Lorendoc posted were by Adams....the collections are here:
http://digital-library.csun.edu/bradley-center/
Charles Williams photos:
S. Central Ave. & 42nd St...1940.
Two photos taken on VJ Day:
Dancers at the Million Dollar Club, 1948.
Clarence Moore's bar, 1948.
Lorenza Jordan Cole greets audience members following a recital at the Embassy Auditorium, 1948....Ms. Cole was a Juilliard-trained, Los Angeles-based concert pianist.
Jack's Basket Room, 3219 S. Central Ave., 1949...note the camera shy table at photo center.
Unidentified couple behind the bar at Jack's Basket Room.
Faint traces of Jacks's signage are visible on the building...the entire phrase reads "Chicken...ain't nothin' but a bird"...more on Jack's here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack%27s_Basket_Room
Unidentified clothing store, 1949...two-tone shoes were in fashion that year...
...as were, apparently, two-tone convertibles:
Jefferson Blvd. and Central Ave., 1949....I find this an interesting picture, as photographer Williams is somewhat elevated (I believe he may have been up in the framing of a small commercial building under construction)...I can count 3 or 4 houses of worship...another view:
This is from E. 35th St....the white church building on the left survives:
The flamboyant Bishop Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace leads his flock in what appears to be some sort of conga line, 1950...in the late '30's, Grace preached in Augusta GA., and his congregation included the family of 5 year old James Brown...Brown's biographers claim he borrowed much of his stage act (including the famous "Cape Routine") from the good Bishop...Daddy Grace died in Los Angeles in 1960, age 79.
Murder suspect at University Station, 1957...the officer in the foreground is holding a gentleman's hat, coat and shoes...these likely belonged to the deceased.
Zotar Building, Adams Blvd. and Cloverdale, 1955....E_R posted this photo at #42929.
I had a tangential connection to this building, as in the mid-'90's I knew the two young hipsters who had just bought the property, and were trying to make a go of the Fais Do Do club...they were living in the former theater space, in a loft/office area over the auditorium...the building was used (exterior only) as the location of Mia's one-woman show in "La La Land":
1960.
Watkins Apartments, 2022 W. Adams Blvd., 1960...operated as a hotel for the African-American community after 1945...it's still with us:
Harry Adams photos:
Unidentified woman in unidentified bar, 1955
5600 Fernview Ave., Hollywood...1964.
Bill Robinson Theater, 4319 S. Central Ave....1966.
Onion Field killers, 1963.
Undated photo...I would guess about 1964.
1965....no address provided....
1966...again, no address.