noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

I was sure that we'd explored the locations of The Graduate here at NLA before, but no luck in a search.

The Robinsons' house was at 607 N Palm in BH ("Glenview Road" in the movie)



It looked better whitewashed in the film--and from an angle closer to the street rather than from atop the google truck. I think you see more of the half-timbering on the chimney in the movie and instead of a Range Rover Mr. Robinson drove Elaine (who got started in the back seat of a Ford) back up to Cal in a '67 Continental (as Mrs. R trailed forlornly after the car as it left the driveway, her ravishing of Ben having been revealed). I wouldn't call Ben a ne'r do well-- I mean, he won the Frank Helpingham award, after all. I think he was supposed to have graduated from a Little Ivy like Williams. PS At least one real estate description refers to 607 N Palm as the work of Paul Williams, but I haven't been able to find any verification of this...maybe it was mixed up with 707 N Palm, which was definitely designed by Williams.

CaliNative-- while I might defend Ben, I also have been struck over years of reviewings by Mrs. R's plight. Anne Bancroft did a great job conveying it when Ben asked her what her major had been and she said art and he said I guess you lost interest over the years and she sighed, "Kind of."

I've read somewhere that the pool scenes at the Braddocks' house were filmed at 607 N Palm...something like that.

And I'm pretty sure the hotel lobby scenes were filmed at the Ambassador.




D Street, La Verne. Do you suppose that cross is the one Ben used to lock the doors?

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I was sure that we'd explored the locations of The Graduate here at NLA before, but no luck in a search.
_________________________________________________________________

I thought so, too. And I know once I mentioned that the strip club scene from The Graduate was filmed at The Galaxy, 8917 Sunset Blvd. I couldn't find that in a search either.

[Mackerm]

You can type something like this into google:

site:skyscraperpage.com noirish "the graduate"

The first hit says the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood was the site of Ben and Mrs. Robinson's first romantic encounter.

Hint: replace the word "showpost" with "showthread" in the URLs to see the posts in context.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

Cousin Maggie and George Young's house is located at 803 Hyperion Avenue.

Thanks for your help Noir Noir. I really appreciate it.


Ever since I found the Young photographs, I've wondered why the street address is on the side of the porch instead of the front.
(unless that little sign isn't the street address)



It made a little more sense once I noticed that the garage (toward the back of the house) is facing an unknown side-street.







If you look at the aerial (below) you can see, what must be one of the shortest street in L.A., ADRIAN ST. I believe this is the street the garage faced.

Maggie & George's house is circled in red.

google-earth

It's a dead-end now, but I imagine it was once a through street (to Hyperion) back in the days of Maggie & George.


If the house was a duplex it might have also had an Adrian Street address.


.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

No relation to the "Carl's Jr." chain we know today I guess. Different Carl?

Wikipedia says this about the early days of Carl's Jr:

"In 1945, the Karchers moved the short distance to Anaheim, California, and opened their first full-service restaurant, Carl's Drive-In Barbecue at 1108 N. Palm St. (now Harbor)...

In 1956, Karcher opened the first two Carl's Jr. restaurants – so named because they were a smaller version of Carl's Drive-In Barbecue restaurant – in Anaheim and Brea."

So in the late '40s & early '50s, there was the growing Carl's/Carl's Jr. enterprise in Orange County, Carl's on Figueroa, and Carl's At The Beach in Pacific Palisades, all apparently unrelated.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Mackerm

You can type something like this into google:

site:skyscraperpage.com noirish "the graduate"

The first hit says the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood was the site of Ben and Mrs. Robinson's first romantic encounter.

Hint: replace the word "showpost" with "showthread" in the URLs to see the posts in context.

I think since then it has been established that the Ambassador was used as the "Taft" in The Graduate, or at least as inspiration for sets. There are probably online experts on this, but here are a few comparisons of detail:

[ethereal_reality]

.
This colorful original slide was recently listed on eBay



Charles Luckman & Associates, 9220 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles California [1962]



What we're seeing here is. .umm. . .the parking lot?

If I'm not mistaken Luckman's mid-century office was gone less than two years after this 1962 slide was taken.
I say this because the high-rise building that took its place was built in 1964. (according to redfin).

1/2 hour later:

Here's a second scenario:...The date on the slide is incorrect and the Charles Luckman and Associates offices were located in the new high-rise tower....(?)...Does anyone know?



P.S...I believe the slide was taken because of the flowers.... Why do I say this? Slides by this same amateur photographer are mostly flower-centric)

[ethereal_reality]

oops

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Well the orchid corsage does add some poignancy....

So the body found on the roof was first believed to be a woman until it was learned that the victim was a man dressed in woman's clothing with a corsage pinned to his dress? Mercy! That is certainly an interesting twist. This was in 1953. Wonder where the victim tended bar?

[odinthor]

Victim's residence, 1241 Dawson Avenue, Long Beach:


gsv

The residence had had drama previously:


LA Times, 11/23/1938

and


LA Times, 12/12/1947

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

oops

5900 Normandie Avenue.



Google Maps

[Slauson Slim]

Window and door security bars and bricked up windows.

[ethereal_reality]

.
I've gone through every past post that mentions "Effie" (there were a lot of them!) and I didn't see the following images.


CSUN









CSUN









CSUN

At first I thought the images were pneumonic plague photographs that we saw in the early years of NLA. (they're not)

If interested, or if you're a newbie, you can find the amazing plague photographs from 1924 Here. (377 images! Lots of rats!)



for search purposes: panoramic view from the corner of bishop and effie streets showing the property of charles e. johnson of 1705 pine street -
about 25 shacks can be seen from this vantage point - almost all of them have been illegally constructed without any building permits. - inspector myers 1-18-1938

[odinthor]

For those as mystified as myself by "the corner of Bishop Road and Effie Streets," here, from a very useful but undated Bekins map (only clue to date is, perhaps, the map's mention of "Population 175,000") which I have is a detail of the locale in question:


Bekins map, odinthor collection

[Noir Lady]

Thanks, Odinthor, I went searching also. My conclusion was that those streets were "rearranged" by the Harbor Freeway and Dodger Stadium constructions. Great map!

[HossC]

The intersection is at the center of this 1938 aerial (taken about seven weeks after e_r's photos). The location is now a parking lot to the north of Dodger Stadium. The reservoir in the lower-right corner is still there to give you a point of reference.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

[ethereal_reality]

.
Thanks for the maps, odinthor & HossC. They helped quite abit.



Now how about LeRoy Street? (in 1938)


CSUN

for search purposes: 313-35 LeRoy Street - Exterior view of the house court - Frank Childs, owner 48 apartments - 2 rooms each - without gas - electricity - kitchen sinks or any plumbing inside the building.



Sadly, two additional photographs are missing. They probably showed the court area.



If I eventually find them as. .say. .miscellaneous photographs, I'll make sure to post them and link them back to the top photo.

.

[odinthor]

Ah, good ol' Leroy Street! Beautiful to look at, lovely to stroll:


Much enlarged detail, Bekins Map ca. 1905?, odinthor collection; going by historical population count, the map with its "Population 175,000" would seem to date to somewhere around 1905.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Noir Lady

Thanks, Odinthor, I went searching also. My conclusion was that those streets were "rearranged" by the Harbor Freeway and Dodger Stadium constructions. Great map!

Thanks, Noir Lady, and Welcome!



For me, photos don't mean a lot until they have at least the context of location . . . and so my first interest is always in seeing where they are, what areas adjoin, what streets are near, to get an idea of what the location is all about. And then I move on to wondering What happened there, who lived there, what were their stories???--and so on.

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Ah, good ol' Leroy Street! Beautiful to look at, lovely to stroll:


Much enlarged detail, Bekins Map ca. 1905?, odinthor collection; going by historical population count, the map with its "Population 175,000" would seem to date to somewhere around 1905.

Here is the "now" version of 313 Leroy. It is part of the William Mead housing project.


GSV

I made a post about this neighborhood 4 years ago here.