noirish Los Angeles

[FredH]

Our old friend Bert:


www.lileks.com


www.lileks.com

[GaylordWilshire]

jetphotos.net

Re Western Air Lines... that bus in front of its downtown ticket office looks like a Gray Line bus to me. Anyway, you bought your ticket downtown, got yourself to the airport, and got on, say a Convair 240 ...


and, if you were lucky, got to fly over downtown on your way up to SFO...

http://photovalet.com/372155

[FredH]

1941 Los Angeles Guide And Apartment Directory

Colonic irrigation....I'll pass


www.lileks.com

[Derek]

Why did I just find this thread now? It's amazing!

[FredH]

Now who would want to do this to such a swell guy?


Los Angeles Times

Story and more pictures here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/07...s-home-bombed/

Poor Mickey!

[GaylordWilshire]

Looks like it was the room with the octagonal window...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=961

[GaylordWilshire]

Paradise Leased

Paradise Leased


What could these two Hollywood buildings possibly have in common? I'd never heard of this proposed museum:

http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/

[Trumpet-Golfer]

It's took me a long time to look through this superb thread. I don't think the followng clips have been posted, however I may be mistaken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvAk5-RTR0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylUvgmX6mVA

[GaylordWilshire]

youtube

Welcome, Trumpet-- Great videos-- I know I've never seen them. I did see the model when it was under a plastic bubble at Sunset and Crescent Heights some time in the late '70s.

[FredH]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Looks like it was the room with the octagonal window...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=961

GaylordWilshire:

I think you are right about the window. They probably thought that was his bedroom, but it seemed to be his closet. His 200 suits probably cushioned the blast.

The house looks about the same:


Google Street View

Mickey's Caddy is in a museum in New Zealand!


latimesblogs.latimes.com

[Fab Fifties Fan]

Found this great postcard on e-Bay showing the USO Service Women's Club at 540 S. Olive during WWII. My mom volunteered there serving coffee and donuts every Wednesday evening throughout '43 and '44. She had wonderful memories of the WAVE's, WAC's and, as my dad and his corp buddies called them, the BAM's. (Broad A%&ed Marines). She kept in touch with a great many of them for years after the war.

I also remember her telling me that the Hollywood Canteen was originally for service men only, but after pressure from donors, became a service men and women's club in late '43.



540 S. Olive today. It seems that even the large trunked palms are history.



~Jon Paul

[GaylordWilshire]

LAPL



LAPL

Google Street View


LAPL

Thelma Todd lying in state on December 19, 1935, at Pierce Brothers. The open gold casket was lined with orchid satin, and her hair was arranged in big blond curls the way she liked it, according to the LAPL

[sopas ej]

It's funny some of the uses that have been found for former mortuaries throughout the Los Angeles area. Some years ago I learned that what is now the Fremont Center Theatre in South Pasadena was originally a mortuary. Another old former mortuary in Pasadena later became a restaurant.

___________________________________________________


Here's the 7th Street Bridge back in 1927. It's actually two bridges stacked on top of each other, the newer bridge having been built over the older bridge.

USC Archive

I didn't know that there are now plans to turn the unused, lower deck into a mercado or something; I also posted this on another thread:

From KPCC (Southern California Public Radio scpr.org):

Secrets under LA's 7th Street Bridge

Jerry Gorin


scpr.org

Most of the bridges that cross the LA River are your standard single-deck bridge. They might be pretty to look at, but one of the bridges has a secret world beneath it, and there's a plan, at least, to open it up to the public. Jerry Gorin reports.

Before 1927, crossing the 7th street Bridge was a traffic nightmare. Train tracks blocked traffic on both sides and city planners knew they had to build over them. But instead of tearing down the old bridge, they built a new span on top of the old one, and the space beneath has been sitting idle for 80 years. Arthur Golding, an architect who’s always had a passion for bridges, recently began a project to convert the unused space below the 7th Street Bridge into an open-air marketplace.

“It can be a kind of Mercado – I call it the Mercado del Rio – where there are shops, restaurants, and craft and art venues.”


scpr.org


scpr.org

[...]

For the rest of the story, more pictures and an audio transcript, click here (you actually get more from the audio transcript).

[GaylordWilshire]

Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering

Equally fascinating drawings of other L.A. River crossings can be found here:
http://eng.lacity.org/projects/bridg...rical_gallery/

[rick m]

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

This thread continues to blow my mind, so many amazing photos, so much great information. It's been endlessly fascinating to hop on the Noir train to see these old images and learn the history behind places that I drive and walk past every day. I haven't recently, but only because I've been absorbed in reading the older pages (I'm on page 176 now!) and have been kind of waiting till I become "current", to avoid rehashing things that were already covered.

I have especially enjoyed the Ostrich Farm photos, the old Hollywood photos, all the great contributions about the Paris Inn, the restaurant images, match books, the gas stations, the gal photos, and the old maps. I've also liked the recent posts on Burbank, where I live! This is so great.

I've also been following the new pages, and loved the old Hollywood sign girls in the bucket photo. My wife and I do lots of hiking and exploring around L.A., and twice in the last 2 weeks, we've hiked from Burbank straight up the mountain (very steep!) to Cahuenga Peak and the Hollywood sign. The first time we hiked right down the other side and trespassed through the Hollywoodland Girl's Camp to Canyon Ave., a block east of Bronson. We were right near the spot where the girls sat in that bucket.

General question: can anyone tell me how, outside of the web, I might find old info, plans, building permits, business name records, and such? My brother suggested Building & Safety. Should I try the Central Library? Other resources? I would like to find more info on the 1518/1520 Cahuenga building, and some other Hollywood addresses.





http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Mark_Twain.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toomuchfire/5186095880/



I'm also curious about this place, the Mark Twain Hotel at 1622 Wilcox Ave. I'm sure it goes back to at least the 1930's. Haven't found much on web searches, USC, LAPL, etc. An interesting old building, now a transient hotel painted pink. The reviews are 1 star and review keywords seem to be scabies, crack heads, bedbugs, stains, heroin, crazy Indian owner, screaming, and spidery writing on walls. Maybe it was a nice place a few decades ago. I wonder if Mark Twain stayed there. Does anyone have an old photo of this place?

Oh: I've learned from this thread about the old double lamp posts, and see a similar one in the hotel photo? Has the city been bringing these back in some areas?

Another question: Does any have info or an old photo of 524 S. Main St? It's now a fun little place called Nickel Diner, but was also a diner in the old days, maybe a Woolworths cafeteria or coffee shop? I have been unable to find old any photos of it.

Before signing off, I must add that all the great Paris Inn posts reminded me of Robaire's (348 S. La Brea), another "visit the continent without leaving L.A." exotic locale type restaurant. I used to go there for Hollywood Sapphire Group Meetings and it was always fun. I think the space is now a restaurant called Ca'Brea, in a new building.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...NGOj_w&cad=rja


Thanks again, more later!

Well you must get yourself up to the City Archives on the upperdeck at the large City Services Bldng on Vignes (its behind the MTA headqrtrs) Call them up first to go over your interests so they can pull whatever materials needed. Also- the next time you visit the Nickel Diner - take a gander at the recently hung early-forties street view I found for Monica and Kirsten- It shows that a Woolworths Five and Dime was there during that period. It suprised the hell out of them - comes from a not yet catalogued collection ----

[ethereal_reality]

I'm relieved to hear from you sopas_ej....I was afraid the Santa Ana winds had blown you into the next county.

______

[sopas ej]

I'm doing alright. My town is a mess right now, though. Still lots of power out in sections of South Pasadena, as well as huge fallen trees blocking streets. Traffic is a mess too, being that many traffic lights aren't working.

My neighborhood was without power for 10 hours. I was even told to go home from work yesterday because the power was out. Some parts of the US have snow days; yesterday I had a wind day.

Of course I took a few pics of my neighborhood:
This, and other fallen trees, slowed me down on my way to work (and then after finally getting there, I was miffed and also excited when I was told to go home).




Poor Squirrelly.




But I digress.

[ethereal_reality]

That's some damage sopas_ej. I'm glad you're OK. I feel bad for that flattened squirrel.

_____



below: The graceful 6th Street Bridge with it's twin arches.



LAPL




below: There is so much more to the bridge than the center span. Here you can see the twin arches far left.


usc digital archive


Sadly.....the 79 year old bridge has to come down.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov...ridge-20111119

[ethereal_reality]

An illustration of the proposed Beverly Hills Union Bank Building on Wilshire Boulevard, circa 1959.
(the Beverly Wilshire Hotel can be seen in the distance)



LAPL





below: The Beverly Hills Union Bank Building as it appears today.


google street view

[sopas ej]

I've always loved the 6th Street Bridge. It's indeed a shame that it's gonna be demolished.

Here it is in 1933.

USC Archive

Decades later, that end of it would have a freeway running beneath it:

Google Street View