noirish Los Angeles

[malumot]

I DO agree that LA's history is littered with bottom-feeders and scoundrels and quarrels by the bushel. There's no denying that, GW. You are absolutely correct.

But look at it this way - I think you would also agree that an early-20th Century Los Angeles would never have allowed a large parcel adjacent to City Hall to slumber for four decades in a way that a late-20th Century Los Angeles has.

Or consider this - I'll bet that in the same time it took the Gold Line to go from draft proposal to actual in-service running (over already-existing R.O.W. I might add), the PE and LARY laid hundreds of miles of track and put dozens of routes in operation from one end of the Basin to the other.

It's a problem not restricted to L.A., of course. But they sure seem to have perfected it.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I don't know... I've read every history of Los Angeles I've ever been able to get my hands on, political and otherwise, and don't see that there were really any fewer such civic cockups... nostalgia has a tendency to edit out the unpleasant parts....

[nostalgie]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for the information on the Swelldom Store G_W, I really appreciate it.

Ethereal:

Thanks so much for the info on the Universal Life Church & Miss Velma. About 15 years ago, that ghastly yellow-rose-of-whatever photo appeared as a full-page advert in the LA Times Metro section. Was so taken with it that I cut it out & had it framed. It's been in my bathroom ever since, but I knew almost nothing about the church or the husband. WOW! What a piece of work that couple was! It's another one of your really impressive pieces of research - this stuff makes my Christmas complete!


This is Miss Velma, Queen of the Christmas Pageant. Her Universal World Church was/is located in none other than Los Angeles.


http://ellenbloom.blogspot.com/2011/...-holidays.html




below: Miss Velma's invitation to "the most splendiferously beautiful event in 6000 years!"


unknown




Click on the Links below to see Miss Velma in all her glory!!




The best part of this clip is her entrance in a tiny home-made bus. It's hilarious!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH4m4g3MOAQ





In this clip Miss Velma enters as a floating angel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoN9MeKI0tk



In my brief venture into the land of Miss Velma I was unable to come up with a photograph of the actual Universal World Church.
This seems a bit strange since the building had to be HUGE to hold all her props, her ego, and that three and a half ton tree of life.

______

[GaylordWilshire]

Amazon

Originally Posted by malumot

But look at it this way - I think you would also agree that an early-20th Century Los Angeles would never have allowed a large parcel adjacent to City Hall to slumber for four decades in a way that a late-20th Century Los Angeles has.

Or consider this - I'll bet that in the same time it took the Gold Line to go from draft proposal to actual in-service running (over already-existing R.O.W. I might add), the PE and LARY laid hundreds of miles of track and put dozens of routes in operation from one end of the Basin to the other.

Well, 1900 = apples; 2011 = oranges. A fraction of the land area; a fraction of the population, and one that was homogenous vs. polyglot; year-by-year accumulation of political interests and purposes; myriad and differing civic goals; and Harrison Gray Otis. The book pictured above is sort of interesting, though I'd recommend getting it from the library or buying a used copy--the introduction especially is almost comically, obtusely academic. The book itself does remind you of how much was accomplished 100 years ago, but it also helps you understand that, as history has shown, getting the trains to run on time can sometimes involve tyranny. Anyway--Viva Los Angeles, then and now!

[GaylordWilshire]

LAPL

[GaylordWilshire]

[IMG]LAPL Google Street View

A relic remaining on the northwest corner of Figueroa & 42nd Street.

[ethereal_reality]

That's a great before/after photo G_W.

_____


Earlier this year I came across this sad story of eminent domain from the LAPL archives.
While searching for further details I came across a wonderful blog by Steve Vaught named 'Paradise Leased'.
Two clippings and several photos in this post were found on the 'Paradise Leased' blog. All the rest are from the Los Angeles Public Library.

Click on the link to read an excellent in-depth story about Steven Anthony by Steve Vaught.
http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/...nthony-part-i/



los angeles times via paradiseleased





Illustration of the proposed Hollywood Museum of Film and Television.


William A. Pereria & Associates



Sadly, the site chosen for this mega-museum was Alta Loma Terrace....a distinctly beautiful enclave of residences in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the entrance to Cahuenga Pass. Fifteen home owners agreed to a buyout except for one, Steven Anthony of 6655 Alta Loma Terrace.



Mr. Anthony's cottage was especially enchanting. It was built in 1923 for cinematographer Gordon Pollock, best known for his work with Erich Von Stroheim and Charlie Chaplin. Many of the home's most endearing details were originally set pieces from Rex Ingram's 1922 production of 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. (these details were found at http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/...nthony-part-i/)


In the 1930s Bette Davis rented 6655 Alta Vista Terrace from the Pollocks.


from ms. davis 1962 autobiography via http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/...nthony-part-i/


below: Ms. Davis posing in the living room at 6655 Alta Loma Terrace.


from ms. davis 1962 autobiography via http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/...nthony-part-i/








Mr. Arnold decides to stand his ground against eminent domain (along with his wife and three children).


http://www.lapl.org/



Mr. Arnold peering out an upstairs window. I'm guessing that gorgeous window pane is indicative of the rest of the house. Can you imagine what the interior must have looked like?


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=77561



Sheriff's deputies and newsmen mill about following attempts to evict Mr. Anthony.


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=77558




Mr. Arnold is arrested on a six year old traffic warrant. In the middle of the night Sheriffs deputies supervise movers as they carry Steven Anthony's possessions from the condemned Hollywood home.



http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=77554






Released on bail, Mr. Anthony and his wife return to 6655 Alta Loma Terrace but are not allowed to go up to their home on the hill.


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/FullRecord?
databaseID=968&record=6&controlNumber=77551

description of the above photo from LAPL:







A wrecking crane begins demolishing the cottage.


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=77547



6655 Alta Loma Terrace is gone.


LAPL




Children play where the cottage once stood. Notice the small sign on the tree above the middle girl.


LAPL



This is that sign.


LAPL






Signs and flowers are left at the bottom of the hill next to the sign advertising the new $6.5 million Hollywood Film and Television Museum.


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=77541




And the museum?...........NEVER BUILT.

_____

[GaylordWilshire]

Steve Vaught does a fantastic job with Paradise Leased.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL

One house on West 27th St that has always intrigued me is that of Frances de Pauw still at 1146. I'd love to find a shot of it before a 1952 fire destroyed what was apparently a large gable on the facade. The pic above is dated 1980.

A good friend just alerted me to a couple of good shots of the de Pauw house... one showing the fire of January 6, 1952, and the remains of the lost gable.

USCDL

And the house today, looking good except for that odd mansardish roof...
Wikipedia

Turns out that 1146 W 27th was also at one time the home of William Dennison Stephens, mayor of Los Angeles for 11 days in March 1909, a U.S. congressman, and governor of California 1917-1923. (Well, in 1915 he was listed at "1108" W 27th, but since so many sources say it was this house... maybe there was a renumbering... and, Frances de Pauw was listed at "1110" in 1899.. history is slippery, isn't it?)

Thank you, Don!

[ethereal_reality]

Such a beautiful house. Hopefully the original blueprints survive and the top portion of the house will eventually be restored.
Are there any photos with the turret intact G_W?

[FredH]

Torn down for an apartment complex. What else!


Los Angeles Times

Nice story and more pictures here:

http://www.latimes.com/features/home...,2938783.story

[ethereal_reality]

It's hard to believe it was designed in 1914 and completed in 1916.

Here is a photo of the interior.


http://consommacteurs.blogs.com/phot.../012044pv.html

______




...and to drive the point home.



http://www.latimes.com/features/home...0,840790.photo


Soulless investors blinded by dollar signs.
_______

[FredH]

Trips from the 1941 Los Angeles Guide and Apartment House Directory:


www.lileks.com


www.lileks.com


www.lileks.com

[FredH]

Handsome Stranger:

Your image of the Earl Carroll Theater...


EBay

...reminded me of this screen grab from the introduction to Farewell My Lovely (1975)


Farewell My Lovely (1975)

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Looking down at Hollywood & Vine, 1945 Feb. 9

[source: eBay]

This is such a great find Handsome_Stranger. I love the swath of sunlight piercing the intersection.
In the lower right corner is the Melody Lane Cafe.




Here is another view of Melody Lane about five years later. The sign above the entrance says 'free parking'.....I wonder where that would be?


Also found on ebay-April 2010

______

[FredH]

Yes, I got some! So here we go with a few screen grabs.

Out of the Past (1947)

You can't go wrong with Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming.

Driving down Main Street, going past Our Lady Queen of Angels Church:


Out of the Past (1947)

Today we have:


Google Street View

Around the corner from the church:


Out OF The Past (1947)

Gone now.


Gun Crazy (1950)

Much better than I thought, with Peggy Cummins and John Dall.

Here we are driving to the Amour plant in Albuquerque?


Gun Crazy (1950)

Wait a minute, I think I see gas holders!

The "Albuquerque" plant:


Gun Crazy (1950)

Actually, the plant was located at 2300 E. Olympic Blvd, in Los Angeles. Today, it looks like this:


Google Street View

More gas holders:


Gun Crazy (1950)


This Gun for Hire (1942)

The building in the background...


This Gun For Hire (1942)


This Gun for Hire (1942)

...is still there at Broadway and Savoy:


Google Street View

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by FredH

This image reminded me of Billie Burke... who once lived at 607 N. Elm Drive in Beverly Hills (Robert Young succeeded her there):

Seeing Stars
(Today, Google Street View reveals that the house needs some TLC--some shutters are in
shards. Billie would never have allowed it.)

Receiving her first social security check, 1958:
USCDL

[GaylordWilshire]

Ebay

Looking (to me, at least) as though it might be out in the country instead of in the middle of Los Angeles--then (1920) and even now--is lawyer Leonard B. Slosson's unusual house at 426 S Arden.

Google Street View

[malumot]

I'll give you half a bag of apples and half a bag of oranges, GW......

True, it was a lot easier to lay PE track across a mostly empty San Gabriel Valley in 1910 than it is to construct a Gold Line in an urbanized area. In retrospect, I agree that analogy doesn't hold much water.

But I still maintain that empty State Building site is an unintentional monument to LA's general shnide.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Amazon



Well, 1900 = apples; 2011 = oranges. A fraction of the land area; a fraction of the population, and one that was homogenous vs. polyglot; year-by-year accumulation of political interests and purposes; myriad and differing civic goals; and Harrison Gray Otis. The book pictured above is sort of interesting, though I'd recommend getting it from the library or buying a used copy--the introduction especially is almost comically, obtusely academic. The book itself does remind you of how much was accomplished 100 years ago, but it also helps you understand that, as history has shown, getting the trains to run on time can sometimes involve tyranny. Anyway--Viva Los Angeles, then and now!

[GaylordWilshire]

So, malumot... I take it that by using that term you might be open to the possibility that at some point L.A. may go off the schine.... I moved to NYC in the '70s, and no one would have ever thought that the city, at the very bottom of a losing streak (but still an incredibly exciting and enriching place to live), would turn into the pulled-together place it is today. Arguably, it's a duller town, but there's no going back to any romanticized era--not '70s NYC, not "golden age" L.A.....

Maybe, given that L.A. seems hell-bent on imitating Manhattan, building tall and out to the sidewalks and subwaying underneath, it will rebound the way we did. And as far as I can see, downtown L.A., at least, from the Broad to the many loft conversions, is off to a pretty good start...

[3940dxer]

In response to my post about Barney's Beanery and their infamous anti-gay policy, GaylordWilshire wrote

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

It's always good to be reminded that it was the architecture and scale of old L.A. that causes us to wax nostalgic...reminders of unhappy old coots like Barney do make it easier to accept that we really have little choice whether we live in the hideous aesthetics of the present or not...Colorful, but can't say much missed.

GW, your words really stuck with me and you are so right...looking at all these wonderful old photos, it's easy to romanticize this very stylish chapter in L.A.'s history and forget that the "good old days" were in many respects not very good.

While looking into the history of Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway yesterday, I came across another sad reminder of our past...not noirish, just dark...as seen near the center of this old map, and the inset on the left. I won't repeat the name in this text, because I don't want search engines to associate it with this thread. But some cartographer, landowner, committee, person, or entity once thought it was a perfectly reasonable name and I guess the L.A. Times and most Americans would have agreed.


L.A. Times June 5, 1927

After scouring my old Santa Monica mountains hiking map, I believe that this area is now Rocky Oaks Park, in Agoura.

This was not the only place with that name. Searches for more information turned up absolutely nothing in Southern California but I did find a cemetery in northern California (recently renamed, amid much consternation to those involved) and places with the same name in Boston, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, Australia and New Zealand.

I guess we should not blindly wax nostalgic about those times. Yes, the architecture was splendid and a bowl of chili may have cost only a nickel. But I doubt that many of us, knowing what we now know do and enjoying more freedom than could have been imagined back then, would be deeply satisfied if transported back to that time.


P.S. e_r, I loved your post about the Hollywood Museum that never was.