noirish Los Angeles

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

REMEMBER THIS.


I located a postcard of the Casa Malibu.


ipin.img

Looks quaint. ...



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Sure looks like a Crosley convertible/roadster parked to the left.

Cheers,

Earl

[AboveTheNorm]

I'm looking for old photos of 726-740 Hartford Ave. Is anyone able to help out!?

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by AboveTheNorm

I'm looking for old photos of 726-740 Hartford Ave. Is anyone able to help out!?

These posts from four years ago by ethereal_reality and HossC feature 740 Hartford Ave.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

EBAY

" ROSELLE APTS. 740 HARTFORD AVE. LOS ANGELES, CAL. FEB. 23, 1920 MR. BROWN PROPRIETOR "

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another snapshot taken at 740 Hartford Avenue.


EBAY

As you can see...the caption says the photo was taken "outside the kitchenette". Do you think this is the back of the house or the side of the house?


_

Originally Posted by HossC

This 1940 aerial (below, left) shows that there was another building behind 740 Hartford Avenue. The building next door (above 740 on the aerial) is numbered 734 & 736, so maybe the second house moved by Mr Wiley in 1913 (originally 712 Hartford, it became 738 Hartford) was placed behind 740. That might explain the number of residents that oldstuff found. Perhaps someone with access to the Sanborn maps can check it out.


mil.library.ucsb.edu/Google Maps

I think that the sweet potato photo was taken between the two buildings, looking toward the lower right corner of the aerial view, and past the house below 740 on the aerial. You'll remember that the house below was missing from the 2009 GSV image I posted. I think it was 742 & 744 Hartford Avenue, which got its demo permit in 1980.

While trying to find info on the building behind 740, I found that it was still there in 1972, but gone by 1980 (according to Historic Aerials). The only building permit in that date range was an alteration/repair permit from October 30, 1979, but it held the answer. There was obviously a fire at 740 which necessitated a repair to a portion of the front building and the demolition of the middle and rear portions. They even included a handy plan. Notice that the fire damage to the front portion was to the roof and 2nd story at the back right. I'm guess that the fire may have damaged the house next door, which was further back from the road. Maybe its demo a year later was connected. Now I look at these plans again, I think that the sweet pototo photo was taken on the steps at the lower-right corner of the rear portion.


www.ladbs.org

[ethereal_reality]

If you look closely at the photograph of the man carrying the mutant sweet potatoes
there is a woman in the doorway looking out towards the photographer.

Judging by the house next door I'd say the kitchenette is on the side of the house. (not that it matters)

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[ethereal_reality]

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We have seen gay this and gay that but I don't recall if we have the Gay Inn.


originally on eBay

As you can see. . it was located at 710 1/2 South Hill Street.



The photographs (there are two) inside the folder are of a nice looking, well dressed, woman.



It makes me wonder if she worked at the inn or if she was merely a customer.





Let's take a closer look at the black and white snapshot.



Oh, how I wish I knew where she is in this photograph.




There is a date stamped on the back of the folder but it's rather difficult to read.



It looks like the year is 1935 but the woman's appearance suggests (to me) 1945.



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[HossC]

Originally posted on August 3rd, 2018:

Originally Posted by HossC

The old Roselle Apartments building is still standing at 740 Hartford Avenue, although it's seen better days. It actually looked worse a year earlier, and I can't see a demo permit, so hopefully it's being restored.


GSV

Here it is looking nicer in 2009.


GSV

As far as I can see from the building permits, 740 Hartford was moved from 1242 W 7th Street in mid 1913, and 712 Hartford was moved to 738 Hartford at the same time. The owner of both was H C Wiley of 1246 W 7th Street. I found a Hency C Wiley at 1242 W 7th in the 1909 CD, and there's a Mrs H C Wiley there in 1913. The 1912 CD lists her as Nellie Wiley, widow of H C Wiley.

The apartments initially seem to have been called the Heath, but the Roselle name is in the CDs by 1918. The CDs of the 60s call it Hartford House.

In the second picture above, you can see that the lot to the right was empty. The old house to the right of that was already boarded up in 2009, but was not demolished until 2014. A modern apartment building now stands on those two lots.

Regarding 740 Hartford Avenue, it looks like my optimism of four years ago was misplaced. Here's the January 2022 Google Streetview of Hartford Avenue showing 740 and its two neighbors boarded up and in a bad state of repair. The Googlemobile went along 7th Street as recently as June 2022, and as far as I can tell from there, the buildings are now gone.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

It's AMAZING that the dismantling was captured on google street views. Thanks for the reminder, Hoss!



CORRECTION

I jumped the gun. I thought Hoss' GSV was from the past and that 740 Hartford was gone.


There are not one, not two, but three houses waiting for their inevitable destruction.


Link

Should we all meet tonight and chain ourselves to the fence?...I'll call the press.



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[ethereal_reality]

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Returning to the gay theme from earlier today.




We have seen the Gay Way on NLA but not this particular souvenir photograph that is currently on eBay
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First, here's the folder itself.

eBay



And the amazing photograph from within showing two military men and their woman friend.


eBay

Although there is nothing on the back of the folder. (which is a bit surprising) ...um. .judging by the military uniforms I'd say the photograph was taken in the 1940s. (of course it might have been taken during the Korean War)




The back of the folder.


What'd I tell you.


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[OJC1927]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Has anyone heard of Rembrandt Studios at 312 S. Main Street, Los Angeles?


I ask because of this amazing (original!) photograph of a bevy of ingenues in a large faux-room.....(or maybe it's a real room)


ebay Link


Here's the writing on the back.....If you ask me it's rather intriguing.



Do you think the photograph was taken upstairs at 312 S. Main?

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FYI, that's Gloria Swanson sitting on the bed at left.

[JeffDiego]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Returning to the gay theme from earlier today.




We have seen the Gay Way on NLA but not this particular souvenir photograph that is currently on eBay
.


First, here's the folder itself.

eBay



And the amazing photograph from within showing two military men and their woman friend.


eBay

Although there is nothing on the back of the folder. (which is a bit surprising) ...um. .judging by the military uniforms I'd say the photograph was taken in the 1940s. (of course it might have been taken during the Korean War)




The back of the folder.


What'd I tell you.


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Interesting photos, Ethereal. IMO, the woman's hairstyle & general "look" says WW2.

[Martin Pal]

I'll note this as Gayway or GayWay as the search function doesn't search for three letter words, like Gay Inn. GayInn?

Gayway/Galway

Dan Fitchie says "My parents were there in 1943," but he didn't include the photo.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by OJC1927

FYI, that's Gloria Swanson sitting on the bed at left.

And that's Fatty Arbuckle on the bed behind her.

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[KevinW]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I just wish they spelled Rehearsal correctly.

[odinthor]

The posting about Gay Way at 514 S. Main led me on my usual Odyssey looking into that address, which proved quite interesting in little ways. It's pleasant to get acquainted with the characters and population of the town, and their doings:

Leaving aside the address's successive service as a fish store, furniture store, market, hardware store, curio shop, hall for the Independent Order of Foresters, and various incidences of crime, not to mention that it accommodated boarders upstairs, a few interesting items remain. We start for a moment on Wall St.:


LA Times, 10/21/1904

The abovementioned Mrs. Coe lacked nothing in spirit, and the papers over a decade had a light sprinkling of her tussles, her high point perhaps being an emotion-filled appearance in court in which she called her opponent a monster. The judge had to rein her in. Her opponent the monster prevailed in the case.

Focusing more closely on our Main St. address, we draw in a familiar Angeleno family now, as well as another name already known to NLA:


LA Times, 10/16/1921

Mrs. Ducommun was the widow of Charles Ducommun, whose hardware store founded in 1849 is familiar to students of old L.A., and that business still exists, now serving the world of technology, as the oldest continuously-operating firm in California. Mrs. D. would die November 28, 1926, at the age of 83. Meantime, search of NLA will find mention of Mr. Toplitzky, a very active dealer in real estate.

By 1930, the site was on the way to its Gay Way persona, and fits all the criteria for Noirish Los Angeles:


LA Times, 1/19/1930

We've neglected the adventures of the upstairs boarders, and so will end with this outspoken fellow in the depths of the Great Depression:


LA Times, 2/24/1933

Food and shelter? Such frivolous desires.

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Has anyone heard of Rembrandt Studios at 312 S. Main Street, Los Angeles?


I ask because of this amazing (original!) photograph of a bevy of ingenues in a large faux-room.....(or maybe it's a real room)


ebay Link

Originally Posted by OJC1927

FYI, that's Gloria Swanson sitting on the bed at left.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And that's Fatty Arbuckle on the bed behind her..

It looks like IMDB misidentified the movie containing the above room of young women putting their shoes on. (Page 2738).



OSCARS



Archive.org

It is from Whose Baby (1917). Sylvia Ashton plays "Heavy Girl".

[Lwize]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

It's AMAZING that the dismantling was captured on google street views. Thanks for the reminder, Hoss!



CORRECTION

I jumped the gun. I thought Hoss' GSV was from the past and that 740 Hartford was gone.


There are not one, not two, but three houses waiting for their inevitable destruction.


Link

Should we all meet tonight and chain ourselves to the fence?...I'll call the press.



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Almost worth doing a drive-by to see if they're all still there...

[HossC]

Originally Posted by HossC

The Googlemobile went along 7th Street as recently as June 2022, and as far as I can tell from there, the buildings are now gone.

As I said at the top of the page, I think the buildings have now been demolished. Here's the view from 7th Street.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

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Originally Posted by odinthor

The posting about Gay Way at 514 S. Main led me on my usual Odyssey looking into that address.


LA Times, 1/19/1930

odinthor, thanks for posting the information relating to 514 S. Main St. The newspaper article about the 'Girlesque' show (above) piqued my interest so I tried to find a photograph of Dixie Lee. . .but the only Dixie Lee that kept appearing in my searches was this scantily clad Dixie Lee. (the 2nd photograph is supposed to be her too)







You might be thinking, "Well, that's probably her, Bruce." but this Dixie Lee was married to none-other-than BING CROSBY!..
They were married on Sept. 29, 1930)



Initially I thought odinthor might have uncovered a scandal that had been swept under the rug after her marriage to Bing Crosby
but just this afternoon I read that, at the time of the marriage, Dixie Lee was more famous than the relatively unknown Bing Crosby.

Sadly, Dixie Lee Crosby died in 1952 of Ovarian Cancer at the age of 42. : -(


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[ethereal_reality]

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Let's briefly return to the Gayway.


I'm not certain, but I don't believe we have seen this NLA.


eBay


You can read all about it at Bizarre Los Angeles

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[ethereal_reality]

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At first I thought this was a 'wooden nickel' from, say, a hundred years ago.


Recently on eBay



Let's take a closer look.





I've never heard of this establishment....Does anyone know where (in Hollywood) it was located?

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