noirish Los Angeles - Page 2555

HossC · #**51081** Posted **Apr 12, 2019, 10:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

Hey guys, have any of you seen this photo before? I'm trying to locate where it was. Apparently it was included in the book "California Crazy. American Pop" by Jim Heimann

That appears to be the Restaurante El Charro in Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Their website is here (I wish I could read Spanish).

www.ruizhealytimes.com

And today.

GSV

FredH · #**51082** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 5:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

re: mystery bar at Alameda St. and Marchessault St.

Yes it was, FredH...at 206 Marchessault. (it's right below where it says Apablaza, right?) nevermind...I got confused.

This map of the old Chinatown area was posted back on Page 3! (almost 10 years ago!)

sopas_ej

It will give newcomers an idea of the general area. (of Chinatown)

.

For a little different perspective on the location of Dragon's Den, look at the photo below. This is Burt Lancaster standing
in front of Union Station in the 1949 movie Criss Cross. Dragon's Den is right across the street.

Criss Cross, Universal International.

The view today is this:

Google Street View

CaliNative · #**51083** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 9:10 AM**

[QUOTE=FredH;8537460]Oh boy, if I couldn't have the bar from the Yee Mee Loo. I would have loved the neon Chop Suey sign.

lamag.com

I think the only Chop Suey sign left in L.A. is on the Far East in Little Tokyo?

I'm pretty sure I related this story years ago: My wife is from Taiwan, so I asked her if she knew how to make chop suey. She looked at me like I was nuts...and not for the first time.

According to Wikipedia: Chop suey (/ˈtʃɒpˈsuːi/) is a dish in American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, consisting of meat (often chicken, fish, beef, shrimp, or pork) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce.

Translation: Wikipedia has no idea what chop suey is either.

^^^^
I read somewhere that "chop suey" was invented in the California mother load gold fields. Resourceful Chinese who gave up on mining either took in laundry or set up makeshift restaurants to sell "Chinese" food to adventurous American (and other) miners. At first pretty much anything went into chop suey, but it later evolved to the ingredients you mention. I'm sure Mark Twain was familiar with the dish when in the goldfields (and perhaps ate it in Virginia City & San Francisco too) & I just bet Hop Sing on the Ponderosa whipped up chop suey for Ben and his boys, and I bet Hoss ate massive quantities and licked his plate shiny clean. Before the 1970s, most lower end Chinese places had a "Chop Suey" sign out front. Sometimes "Egg Foo Young" & "Chow Mein" also. I doubt any of these dishes are actually found in China, or at least not called that. Rare is the Chinese person who would actually order chop suey. It is strictly for the gringos. That being said, I am rather fond of the stuff in a nostalgic sort of way, and sometimes order it in the little cardboard takeout boxes when I can find it. Never order Egg Foo Young though.

Earl Boebert · #**51084** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 2:46 PM**

Here is Victor Sen Yung's recipe for Chop Suey (He played Hop Sing on Bonanza as well as Charlie Chan's No. 2 son. Oh, and had an economics degree from UC, did graduate work at USC and UCLA, and was an intelligence officer in WWII.)

1 lb boneless pork sliced 2 x 1/2 x 1/8 inches

2 tbs oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges

2 stalks celery, cut diagonally into 1/4 in slices,

2 tbs soy sauce

1 cup beef broth

1 10 oz can bean sprouts or 1/2 lb fresh bean sprouts

1 tbs corn starch

2 tbs water

Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, and broth. Heat oil in wok, stir fry pork until brown. Add onions and celery and stir fry. Add broth mixture and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, simmer 3 min. Add bean sprouts, stir fry, cover and simmer another 3 minutes. Combine cornstarch and water, mix well, add until sauce thickens.

This is slightly abridged and corrected from his "Great Wok Cookbook" of 1974. One important thing I learned from that book was how to scrub the starch off rice before cooking it.

In the preface he gives essentially the story of Chop Suey that CaliNative did. He listed the first class Chinese restaurants in Southern California as General Lee's, House of Kwong, Grand Star, and Far East Terrace.

Cheers,

Earl

Martin Pal · #**51085** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 7:36 PM**

I've never had Chop Suey! Something I read: "Chop Suey restaurants are now rare, but were once a common sight in the United States."

If you search "chop suey" (on youtube as well) it seems lots of people still eat it, so why did those restaurants with the numerous "chop suey" signs eventually disappear for the most part?

Martin Pal · #**51086** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 8:12 PM**

Have the plans to demolish LACMA as we know it (Pereira designed buildings and the 1986 addition) been discussed here before?

LACMA's New Building Design Has Some [?] People Mad
https://laist.com/2019/04/09/why_so_...g_proposal.php

1965:

ArchPaper

Periera in Peril: Time is Running Out for William Pereira’s Modernist Legacy
https://archpaper.com/william-pereira-preservation-legacy/

I and some acquaintances have often discussed for a long time now the building boom going on in Los Angeles, with multi-story buildings that are changing the landscape and the feeling of Los Angeles -- the open air spaces that unfold before you in so many areas of the city, and it's being encroached by more and more high-rises and several story apartment buildings that you can feel creeping and crawling around you; closing in on you.

This new LACMA design even takes away the long sighted vista of the wide Wilshire Blvd. by extending buildings over the street.

It looks like an airport terminal.

I just hate this...

FredH · #**51087** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 8:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I've never had Chop Suey! Something I read: "Chop Suey restaurants are now rare, but were once a common sight in the United States."

If you search "chop suey" (on youtube as well) it seems lots of people still eat it, so why did those restaurants with the numerous "chop suey" signs eventually disappear for the most part?

OK, I have to admit that the wife cooks up a lot of dishes that resemble the ingredients in various chop suey recipes... and I scarf them up. I think the major reason that the word chop suey has disappeared is language. The early Chinese that settled in Los Angeles, worked out west, and built the railroads were mostly from Hong Kong and spoke Cantonese. Current Asian immigrants are mostly from mainland China or Taiwan and speak Mandarin. The wife speaks Taiwanese (imported from the Fukien province) and Mandarin. Cantonese sounds like Greek to her. I bet that if you go to most Chinese restaurants (other than the Panda Express type places) you can order a dish that probably used to be called chop suey.

I do miss the Chop Suey signs though.

odinthor · #**51088** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 9:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Have the plans to demolish LACMA as we know it (Pereira designed buildings and the 1986 addition) been discussed here before?

LACMA's New Building Design Has Some [?] People Mad
https://laist.com/2019/04/09/why_so_...g_proposal.php

1965:

ArchPaper

Periera in Peril: Time is Running Out for William Pereira’s Modernist Legacy
https://archpaper.com/william-pereira-preservation-legacy/

I and some acquaintances have often discussed for a long time now the building boom going on in Los Angeles, with multi-story buildings that are changing the landscape and the feeling of Los Angeles -- the open air spaces that unfold before you in so many areas of the city, and it's being encroached by more and more high-rises and several story apartment buildings that you can feel creeping and crawling around you; closing in on you.

This new LACMA design even takes away the long sighted vista of the wide Wilshire Blvd. by extending buildings over the street.

It looks like an airport terminal.

I just hate this...

Hate it? So do I! Airport terminal in a not-very-important town; or a 1950s motel--nice enough for a motel, but "Huh? Come on, now, are you serious?" for a museum.

I like the design of the current incarnation of the museum as seen from Wilshire--it has a feeling of grandeur, stability, power.

gsv

I have always been mystified by its detractors.

CaliNative · #**51089** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 9:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Here is Victor Sen Yung's recipe for Chop Suey (He played Hop Sing on Bonanza as well as Charlie Chan's No. 2 son. Oh, and had an economics degree from UC, did graduate work at USC and UCLA, and was an intelligence officer in WWII.)

1 lb boneless pork sliced 2 x 1/2 x 1/8 inches

2 tbs oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges

2 stalks celery, cut diagonally into 1/4 in slices,

2 tbs soy sauce

1 cup beef broth

1 10 oz can bean sprouts or 1/2 lb fresh bean sprouts

1 tbs corn starch

2 tbs water

Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, and broth. Heat oil in wok, stir fry pork until brown. Add onions and celery and stir fry. Add broth mixture and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, simmer 3 min. Add bean sprouts, stir fry, cover and simmer another 3 minutes. Combine cornstarch and water, mix well, add until sauce thickens.

This is slightly abridged and corrected from his "Great Wok Cookbook" of 1974. One important thing I learned from that book was how to scrub the starch off rice before cooking it.

In the preface he gives essentially the story of Chop Suey that CaliNative did. He listed the first class Chinese restaurants in Southern California as General Lee's, House of Kwong, Grand Star, and Far East Terrace.

Cheers,

Earl

No MSG (monosodium glutamate)?

CaliNative · #**51090** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 10:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Have the plans to demolish LACMA as we know it (Pereira designed buildings and the 1986 addition) been discussed here before?

LACMA's New Building Design Has Some [?] People Mad
https://laist.com/2019/04/09/why_so_...g_proposal.php

1965:

ArchPaper

Periera in Peril: Time is Running Out for William Pereira’s Modernist Legacy
https://archpaper.com/william-pereira-preservation-legacy/

I and some acquaintances have often discussed for a long time now the building boom going on in Los Angeles, with multi-story buildings that are changing the landscape and the feeling of Los Angeles -- the open air spaces that unfold before you in so many areas of the city, and it's being encroached by more and more high-rises and several story apartment buildings that you can feel creeping and crawling around you; closing in on you.

This new LACMA design even takes away the long sighted vista of the wide Wilshire Blvd. by extending buildings over the street.

It looks like an airport terminal.

I just hate this...

^^
I hate it too. Awful design, motel-like, smaller than the current version, and a total waste of money. Maybe they can hire Gehry to wrap the current buildings in a Gehryesque facade like the Bilbao Guggenheim, or at least add a Gehry wing to the complex. He'd have to do it for an affodable price.

ethereal_reality · #**51091** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 11:09 PM**

I have a quick question.

Was parking ever allowed on the 6th Street Bridge?

EBAY

"Vtg photo wealthy people & cars parked on 6th street Bridge Los Angeles 1930's."

It was certainly wide enough.

1933 / water_and_power

I thought the NO PARKING policy was, for one thing, a suicide deterrent. (especially in the 1930s)

As the seller states; the people shown in the snapshot look rather well off (but that's besides the point)

.

Earl Boebert · #**51092** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 11:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliNative

No MSG (monosodium glutamate)?

Nope.

The recipes in the book are pretty straight-ahead Cantonese, few if any with MSG although he mentions it in the general ingredients topic in the beginning of the book.

Cheers,

Earl

ethereal_reality · #**51093** Posted **Apr 13, 2019, 11:47 PM**

"Original slide - 1955, Santa Monica Beach"

EBAY

In a few years, I'd think twice before crossing that wooden part of the sidewalk.
The erosion is going to make it unstable.

.

odinthor · #**51094** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 1:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I have a quick question.

Was parking ever allowed on the 6th Street Bridge?

EBAY

"Vtg photo wealthy people & cars parked on 6th street Bridge Los Angeles 1930's."

It was certainly wide enough.

1933 / water_and_power

I thought the NO PARKING policy was, for one thing, a suicide deterrent. (especially in the 1930s)

As the seller states; the people shown in the snapshot look rather well off (but that's besides the point)

.

e_r, it's mostly illegal to park on bridges in California, "except vehicles of the authorities in charge, being used in the repair, maintenance, or inspection of the facility, and except that buses engaged as a common carrier in local transportation may stop to load or unload passengers upon a bridge where sidewalks are provided, when authorized by local authorities pursuant to an ordinance, and except that local authorities pursuant to an ordinance or the Department of Transportation pursuant to an order, within their respective jurisdictions, may permit parking on bridges having sidewalks and shoulders of sufficient width to permit parking without interfering with the normal movement of traffic on the roadway. Local authorities, by ordinance or resolution, may permit parking on these bridges on state highways in their respective jurisdictions if the ordinance or resolution is first approved in writing by the Department of Transportation. Parking shall not be permitted unless there are signs in place, as may be necessary, to indicate the provisions of local ordinances or the order of the Department of Transportation," California Vehicle Code 22500 (k).

ethereal_reality · #**51095** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 3:35 AM**

Thanks for the information odinthor. I appreciate it, buddy.

FredH · #**51096** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 4:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I have a quick question.

Was parking ever allowed on the 6th Street Bridge?

EBAY

"Vtg photo wealthy people & cars parked on 6th street Bridge Los Angeles 1930's."

It was certainly wide enough.

1933 / water_and_power

I thought the NO PARKING policy was, for one thing, a suicide deterrent. (especially in the 1930s)

As the seller states; the people shown in the snapshot look rather well off (but that's besides the point)

.

This probably falls into the category of..."Anything is legal if you don't get caught."

I've fallen into that category a few time through the years.

sadykadie2 · #**51097** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 5:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

That appears to be the Restaurante El Charro in Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Their website is here (I wish I could read Spanish).

www.ruizhealytimes.com

And today.

GSV

I went to the website, ready to have my husband translate it (he went on a Spanish speaking mission) and voila! there is a "translate" button!

FredH · #**51098** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 5:56 AM**

The original El Charro looked like a fun place to hang out and throw down a few.

The current place...ahh...no thanks.

Lorendoc · #**51099** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 6:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

It was certainly wide enough.

1933 / water_and_power

This might be as early as 1932. It looks like the road surface hasn't been finished and there's a barrier across the roadway. The view is looking west towards the river; the large 5 story structure in the middle distance between the piers is the 1923 Peck & Hills Furniture Co. building, the first furniture mart in Los Angeles. it is a survivor.

LAT 9/23/1923

Not sure if I would want to cooperate with the process.

ethereal_reality · #**51100** Posted **Apr 14, 2019, 6:48 AM**

.

Cabinet Photo - Marine Sailors Engineer Division - USS Pinta - Los Angeles, 1890s

EBAY (when you go to the link....scroll down)

It doesn't say, but I am pretty sure the sailors are posed in front of the old Los Angeles County Court House.

Specifically, here. ...circled in red, below.

USC.

The date is included in the lower left corner of the Ebay pic . . .
................................................................................................................................................................May 8th

detail

but the year is difficult to discern.

Back of the cabinet card.

I couldn't help but notice, that one of the sailor's last name is 'Barr'. (same as mine)

So, of course, I had to take a closer look.

Much to my surprise...he looks very much like my two of my cousins. (twins)

Oh..and one last thing.

Here is the USS Pinta..... Juneau Harbor, 1889

"The Pinta was an iron, schooner-rigged, screw steamer of 550 tons displacement, and had been built in 1865; she was 137 feet long."

...California State Naval Forces

.