noirish Los Angeles

[Handsome Stranger]

SAMSO = Space and Missile Systems Organization. Now known as Space and Missile Systems Center. It's another US Air Force operation.

• Video Link

"Mission: planning, developing and acquiring intercontinental ballistic missiles and military space systems essential to the national defense."

"SAMSO manages military space programs, spacecraft development, their launch vehicles, ground equipment and launch equipment, and operates the tracking stations to command and control these space travelers."

This was less than three miles from where I grew up. My age-mates and I were aware in the 1960s and 1970s that the US Air Force base in El Segundo was a top target of Russian nukes.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by SHERIFFPAUL

Vintage Hollywood Christmas Pics
The 1920s.....

[IMG][IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

Thanks for the pictures ifitshipitshere.com

The 2nd one from top is lovely Louise Brooks of course. Is the star below her Gloria Swanson? "Sunset Blvd" from 1950 one of my fave LA noirs, along with Double Indemnity, both directed by Wilder. The star on top is a young Joan Crawford I believe, and the lower pic is Myrna Loy.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

SAMSO = Space and Missile Systems Organization. Now known as Space and Missile Systems Center. It's another US Air Force operation.


"Mission: planning, developing and acquiring intercontinental ballistic missiles and military space systems essential to the national defense."

"SAMSO manages military space programs, spacecraft development, their launch vehicles, ground equipment and launch equipment, and operates the tracking stations to command and control these space travelers."

This was less than three miles from where I grew up. My age-mates and I were aware in the 1960s and 1970s that the US Air Force base in El Segundo was a top target of Russian nukes.

It's called Los Angeles Air Force Base, it's one of the few Air Force Bases without a runway(Lackland in San Antonio is another, but it's a BMT base).

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

It's called Los Angeles Air Force Base, it's one of the few Air Force Bases without a runway(Lackland in San Antonio is another, but it's a BMT base).

Bacon, mayonnaise, and tomato?

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Have we ever visited The Officers Club?


Ebay

_________________________________________________________________

Looking up the address shows it as 5800 Arbor Vitae "St." and not "Ave." (?)

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Bacon, mayonnaise, and tomato?

Heh, Basic Military Training(the kid was in the Air Force, so I had to learn all the abbreviations).

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: Ralphs at 3rd and Vermont.



eBay / 2012

Ralphs Grocery refund tokens. Can anyone shed any light on when and under what circumstances these were issued?

[ethereal_reality]

What the heck is in the center?

It looks vaguely Arabic.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

What the heck is in the center?

It looks vaguely Arabic.

"R" for Ralphs?

We've seen examples of Street Car tokens, but there are also a surprising number of less common LA commerce tokens.


http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...Af6mTk92Sw.jpg

https://i.etsystatic.com/5863064/r/i....258719564.jpg



http://www.stockmarketsreview.com/st...2490558869.jpg


https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/p...URNISHINGS.jpg


https://i.etsystatic.com/9820397/r/i...50143_ih20.jpg

https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/p...rdina-Good.jpg


https://historama.com/images/stories...t/0131060a.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

"The roots of the Space and Missile Systems Center and the Los Angeles Air Force Station date back to June 1954
at a former church and parish house on East Manchester Blvd. in Inglewood."


Some x-tra history:

Brigadier General Bernard Schriever put the whole operatio into motion when he began the Western Development Division on the site of an old parochial school
and parish church in nearby Inglewood on July 1, 1954. Its purpose: the development of strategic nuclear missiles for the defense effort, specifically the Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

401 - 409 E. Manchester Blvd.



The WDD found the revamped church and school [shown above] to be much too small, and moved to buildings on Arbor Vitae Street near LAX in 1955.

Development of military satellites was added to the WDD’s workload in 1955. The division also began developing rockets to launch satellites, redesigning Atlas,
Titan and Thor series missiles with extra stages that could carry satellites into orbit.

You can read the details HERE (it's rather confusing)

__


Any idea what the theater (rink?) is in the distance

This one

[ethereal_reality]

I just found this pic.

"Los Angeles Air Force Base Area A in 1964"


smcheritagefoundation

I believe this eventually became TRW.
___

LAAB, moved to Area B at ummmmm.....? (across the street...I think)

I told you it was confusing.




In 1961, the Air Force developed a plan to consolidate its Space Systems Division and the Research and Development (R&D) Center of The Aerospace Corporation, which had been created in 1960 to support Air Force space programs. The plan involved acquisition of two pieces of real estate adjoining the R&D Center. An aircraft plant owned by the Navy, at the northwest corner of Aviation and El Segundo Boulevards, was transferred to the Air Force in October 1962. Another site, at the southwest corner of the same intersection, was owned by a mining company. The Aerospace Corporation acquired that site in November 1962 and built its new headquarters there between February 1963 and April 1964. By April 10, 1964, the Air Force property at the intersection of Aviation and El Segundo Boulevards was designated as Los Angeles Air Force Station, which was re-designated Los Angeles Air Force Base in September 1987.

_

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

__


Any idea what the theater (rink?) is in the distance

This one

Im Pretty sure thats the Fox which is still with us.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Ralphs Grocery refund tokens. Can anyone shed any light on when and under what circumstances these were issued?

I can't think of anything a grocery store would regularly issue refunds on other than glass soda pop bottles.

The "symbol" in the center looks fairly arbitrary. It appears to be a raised surface; maybe the purpose was to tell by touch (reaching into one's pocket or purse) that these were not coins.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I just found this pic.

"Los Angeles Air Force Base Area A in 1964"


smcheritagefoundation

I believe this eventually became TRW.

TRW was a bit further south, at Aviation Blvd. and Marine Ave. (Aviation Blvd. is seen here stretching from the center right to the upper middle of the photo. We're looking south-ish, with the Palos Verdes peninsula looming in the distance.) The building in this photo remained part of the Air Force base until it was torn down to make way for the monotonous multifamily housing units that stand there now.

I love seeing how much open, undeveloped land there was in the South Bay area back then.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I just found this pic.

"Los Angeles Air Force Base Area A in 1964"


smcheritagefoundation

I believe this eventually became TRW.
___

LAAB, moved to Area B at ummmmm.....? (across the street...I think)

I told you it was confusing.



_

Those buildings were at the southeast corner of El Segundo and Aviation. Here's the 1985 aerial:

FrameFinder

The area is currently apartments:
Google Maps

TRW(now Northrurp Grumman) is further south(Marine & Aviation), though they might have occupied those offices at some time.

[ethereal_reality]

I had TRW on my mind because of this paragraph from the Daily Breeze article.

"The WDD found the revamped church and school to be much too small, and moved to buildings on Arbor Vitae Street near LAX in 1955,
which also housed members of the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation. (It would become TRW in 1958.) The firm provided technical support
for the missile operations."

"Ramo-Woolridge bought 40 acres of property at Aviation and El Segundo boulevards in El Segundo in order to expand its operations.
It called the site its Research and Development Center, or R&D Center for short."

__

[ethereal_reality]

I just found this.


RAMO-WOOLDRIDGE CORPORATION, 1956.


Calisphere


"Aerial view of the Ramo-Wooldridge Corp., located at 401-409 E. Manchester Boulevard* (horizontally, at forefront) in the city of Inglewood; view is undetermined. When WDD (Western Development Division) was established on July 1, 1954, it set up temporary headquarters in a former parochial school and parish church. In early 1955, WDD moved to El Segundo and housed Air Force and civil service personnel, along with personnel for The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, which supported WDD's missile programs. Photographed for Albert C. Martin & Associates (the architects and engineers for this project) on October 2, 1956."

I think this is mislabeled....because *401 -409 E. Manchester Boulevard was the address of the parochial school and parish house.


THIS BIT OF INFORMATION WAS ALSO INCLUDED with this PHOTOGRAPH.

"The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation's Guided Missile Research Division was renamed Space Technology Laboratories in 1957,
just before it moved into the R&D Center. Ramo-Wooldridge became Thompston-Ramo-Wooldridge (TRW) in 1958."
_____



TRW = Thompson-Ramo-Wooldrige. Interesting. Am I the only one that didn't know this?

[HossC]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

The area is currently apartments:
Google Maps

TRW (now Northrurp Grumman) is further south (Marine & Aviation), though they might have occupied those offices at some time.

As a reminder, I posted a couple of pictures of the TRW building along with some information just over two years ago in post #37105. Here's some of that post:

Originally Posted by HossC

Today's Julius Shulman subject was also designed by AC Martin Partners. It's "Job 4235: TRW Inc. Office Building, 1967".


Getty Research Institute

I found an article about the whole Redondo Beach campus at laconservancy.org. From that article:

"Developed primarily between 1960 and 1967, the property started as the headquarters of Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc. when founders Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge bought the land from the Santa Fe Railroad. TRW hired Albert C. Martin & Associates to design the campus and fourteen of its buildings, with Craig Sturm serving as project architect and Arthur G. Barton as landscape architect. Space Park, as it was known, is an excellent example of the suburban corporate campus, the type of self-contained office and manufacturing community that grew popular after World War II."

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Ralphs Grocery refund tokens. Can anyone shed any light on when and under what circumstances these were issued?

Could the raised doodads on the tokens provide the color? See the reference in this wartime LAT ad of February 28, 1944...

[HossC]

The tokens only appear to be embossed/raised because the image has been flipped (check out the shadows). Here they are the right way up, showing a cutout logo.



I think Tourmaline was right about it being "R" for Ralphs. I also found this color image.