noirish Los Angeles

[Lwize]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

ScottyB,


ganahllumber..Be sure to pan right ----->

Pasadena, right?

.

The little palm trees along Raymond have grown up.
(as seen on Google street view - I didn't have time to upload the image...)

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

You may be thinking of Scott Charles. He showed up and became an instant contributor with great stories and graphics skills.
If my memory is correct, he got involved in a little feud with CBD and abruptly left.

I will say that I would like to see Scott Charles return and leave it at that.

Hello, noirishers - how very nice to know that some of you remember me! I feel very flattered by these statements!

Yes, I did leave after a spat with another member. Stupid, I know, but I held my tongue so many times, and I finally lost my patience with him, and told him off.

I then decided to take some time off and let things cool down for a spell... then COVID struck, a million other things happened, and my “time off” grew ever longer...

Anyways, I have missed this place terribly, I've learned so much about this city I love from all of your comments, insights, and vast erudition on the topic.

So right now, I'm catching up reading all the pages I missed when I was gone! I'm currently up to page 2935!

This place is fantastic, and I'm very glad to be back!

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Mystery #2


One of my favorite comedies is MGM's Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House from 1948.

I took it for granted the house in the film was a mock-up on the studio lot but this snapshot I happened upon on eBay makes me think differently.



This appears to be a real house somewhere in Bel Air. (there was prob. a mock-up at the studio as well)

I'm looking for the Bel Air address to see if it's still standing.


Go forth, minions!
.

Still there at 913 Chantilly Road in BelHYPHENAir. (I'm a stickler for the -.) Here's perhaps the definitive story: https://jhgraham.com/2017/09/25/mr-b...s-dream-house/


Recently:

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

The Paramount Theatre was on the northeast corner of 6th and Hill. It was demolished in the early 1960s I believe, and then became a surface parking lot, and then in the 1980s, the International Jewelry Center was built there: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0473...8192?entry=ttu

I believe that is a Pacific Electric box motor car, which was used to transport light freight.

Isn't there still an annex of the Paramount building. I remember reading in a Charles S Lee bio, that there was an annex on Hill (i might be wrong) but it was another entrance and led to the balcony of the theatre? Ill try and find the book.

[Martin Pal]

That Bel-Air house for Mr. Blandings is not the house used in the film, to be clear. As the JH Graham link in GW's post points out: Someone got the bright idea of getting builders around the country to construct local Blandings “dream houses” as a publicity draw that could later be sold or raffled off for charity. In all there were 73, according to a Los Angeles Times report in 1948.

The house that was used for filming is actually located on what was the 20th Century Fox Ranch, between Malibu and Calabasas. It was built as an actual working house. This movie ranch is now known as Malibu Creek State Park, and has been open to the public since 1976, after the State of California bought the property from Fox in 1974.



The house is now used as the park's district offices. The Blandings house escaped the fires that ravaged the area in 2018.



The park is still used for filming, even the Blandings house, here seen in the 1986 film of Invaders from Mars:



All information above from the following links:

Hooked on Houses: The Story Behind “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” LINK

The Studio Tour: 20th Century Fox Ranch LINK

JH Graham: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House LINK

This American House: A VIsit to Mr. Blandings' Fictional Dream House LINK

Malibu Creek State Park: History & Movies LINK

Three Magical Miles LINK

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

This place is fantastic, and I'm very glad to be back!
_________________________________________________________________

Glad to see you back, Scott Charles!

[ethereal_reality]

.

I concur. WELCOME BACK Scott Charles!!!!




Thanks for the follow-ups to Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House house, GW and Martin Pal.

I appreciate it.

This is one of my favorite scenes. Myrna explains the color scheme she wants for the interior of the house.

• Video Link



.

[sopas ej]

I wonder if those apartments I circled:

Ganahl Lumber

Are these?
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1495...8192?entry=ttu

And of course here's the "ruins" of the old Pasadena Public Library:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1488...8192?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1493...8192?entry=ttu

...which used to look like this:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.15384/

[WS1911]

The apartments at the corner of Raymond and Walnut are the same ones. They were built in 1898. I've been going to the church a block north for 35 years and saw them deteriorating over the years and thinking any day they'd be torn down. Luckily they were renovated, keeping the same facade.

*************

[stanklem]

All very interesting. There are some differences in the houses.
1. Chimneys on the white house are larger in size than the current house. I have doubts this was ever rebuilt. Maybe it collapsed in an earthquake. If rebuilt it would have been on the walls below. Maybe the orignal masonry chimney was enclosed in some whitematerial and later removed.
2. There is a plumbing vent on the lower roof of the current house and not on the white house. Maybe they added a batrhroom.
3. The number of small panes in the windows on the second floor differs on each house. Retrofit?
4. Eaves on the current house above the dormers appear to extend further than those on the white house.
5. The masonry construction to the left of the houses differ.

Are any of the 73 homes in LA?
The architect in me cannot help me.

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

That Bel-Air house for Mr. Blandings is not the house used in the film, to be clear. As the JH Graham link in GW's post points out: Someone got the bright idea of getting builders around the country to construct local Blandings “dream houses” as a publicity draw that could later be sold or raffled off for charity. In all there were 73, according to a Los Angeles Times report in 1948.

The house that was used for filming is actually located on what was the 20th Century Fox Ranch, between Malibu and Calabasas. It was built as an actual working house. This movie ranch is now known as Malibu Creek State Park, and has been open to the public since 1976, after the State of California bought the property from Fox in 1974.



The house is now used as the park's district offices. The Blandings house escaped the fires that ravaged the area in 2018.



The park is still used for filming, even the Blandings house, here seen in the 1986 film of Invaders from Mars:



All information above from the following links:

Hooked on Houses: The Story Behind “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” LINK

The Studio Tour: 20th Century Fox Ranch LINK

JH Graham: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House LINK

This American House: A VIsit to Mr. Blandings' Fictional Dream House LINK

Malibu Creek State Park: History & Movies LINK

Three Magical Miles LINK

[Snix]

For Martin Pal
The Chop Suey restaurant is the Marigold Cafe.

(Menu from my personal collection)

Originally Posted by sopas ej

My apologies if this has been posted before... I just love this image.

6th and Hill, downtown LA, the demolished Paramount Theatre, 1947, showing the 1946 Christmas release "Cross My Heart" starring Betty Hutton and Sonny Tufts. The second feature was "Rolling Home," a 1946 western.

Metro Library and Archive

[odinthor]

Going by ads, the Marigold Cafe was in business by about 1925 (ad for New Year's December 31, 1925). Their only drama over the years appears to have been a couple of cash register robberies, of which here is one.


LA Times, 7/6/1928

The perps' home address, 811 S. Union (it's "Avenue," not "Street") is still there, the structure dating, at that location, from 1911, when it was moved there from Arlington Terrace, according to the building permit.

gsv

The palm tree in the distance appears to be old enough to have witnessed the move as well as the arrest and is at 810 Beacon.


gsv

A block farther is a nice pair of palms at 826 S. Burlington:


gsv

***

UPDATE!

Whatever the date on the building permit, the structure at 811 S. Union appears to have been included on the 1909 Bird's Eye Map:


LOC

I can't quite read the name. Is it "The Rajah"?

[Martin Pal]

Nice, thank you Snix and Odinthor!

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by unihikid

Isn't there still an annex of the Paramount building. I remember reading in a Charles S Lee bio, that there was an annex on Hill (i might be wrong) but it was another entrance and led to the balcony of the theatre? Ill try and find the book.

OK found it, it wasn't in "The Show Starts on the Sidewalk" by Maggie Valentine (an excellent book that I've owned since 1994) but in a thread on Cinema Treasure..

"Joe VogelJoe Vogel on August 8, 2016 at 3:16 am
There are a few errors in our description of the Paramount. First, though the foundations of the Metropolitan were designed to carry a 13-floor, height limit building, only five floors of offices were ever built above the ground floor.

Second, though the theater did open with two entrances, they were the main entrance on Sixth Street and a secondary entrance on Hill Street. The Broadway entrance added later and used only until 1929 was the third. The building the Broadway entrance ran through is still standing.".


https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/495 (info credit Cinema Treasures)

[ethereal_reality]

.
Southeast corner of Hill and 3rd Streets.

Originally Posted by odinthor

From his then & now post.


gsv

I have a question about the parking garage. Why is the corner cut-out?



And look at this - the cut-out goes all the way to the top.


gsv

Did the builders give up all that valuable interior space merely for aesthetics?



The doors at street level appear to be garage doors but it's not an entrance. The entrances are on 3rd St. (to the left) and Hill St. (to the right).



Can anyone think of an explanation?

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by WS1911

The apartments at the corner of Raymond and Walnut are the same ones. They were built in 1898. I've been going to the church a block north for 35 years and saw them deteriorating over the years and thinking any day they'd be torn down. Luckily they were renovated, keeping the same facade.

*************

Ah, St. Andrew Catholic Church, on the corner of Chestnut and Raymond. The current location, that is. Yeah, I've been to Masses there. That current church building dates from 1927.

But the original church building dates from 1899 and was demolished in 1928 or 1929, and was on the northeast corner of Walnut and Fair Oaks, which I circled:

Ganahl Lumber

Here are some other photos of it.


Calisphere

Here's a detailed closeup:

Calisphere


ebay


pasadenadigitalhistory.com

[stanklem]

The corner was not 'cut off.' Since parking is typically perpendicular to the drive aisles the space in the corner is not usable. The extent of exterior wall remains the same. The floor construction is not required, hence omitted, and saving the builder sizable change.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Southeast corner of Hill and 3rd Streets.

I have a question about the parking garage. Why is the corner cut-out?



And look at this - the cut-out goes all the way to the top.


gsv

Did the builders give up all that valuable interior space merely for aesthetics?



The doors at street level appear to be garage doors but it's not an entrance. The entrances are on 3rd St. (to the left) and Hill St. (to the right).



Can anyone think of an explanation?

[Snix]

Inverted Clock Tower
Tim Hawkinson, 1994

“…the clock at Grand Central Market challenges the purpose of a traditional form. Even the materials are not what they seem; the gray brickwork and masonry actually is graphite-reinforced concrete poured over foam. “Like a movie set,” Hawkinson explains. The façade ended up being the easiest way to construct the piece — a tribute to a fictional clock, evoking an extensive, imaginary history. “The clock tower this commemorates never actually existed,” Hawkinson explains in his Altadena studio… His idea at Grand Central Market? To explore what could have happened if a clock tower had been on the site — and the concrete for the parking garage was “poured right up against it, so what you're left with is this sort of cookie-cutter impression of it.”… Initially, the work wasn't intended as a reliable marker of time; the Roman numerals were reversed and the hands moved counterclockwise…”

https://www.laweekly.com/tim-hawkins...entral-market/

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Southeast corner of Hill and 3rd Streets.

I have a question about the parking garage. Why is the corner cut-out?



And look at this - the cut-out goes all the way to the top.


gsv

Did the builders give up all that valuable interior space merely for aesthetics?



The doors at street level appear to be garage doors but it's not an entrance. The entrances are on 3rd St. (to the left) and Hill St. (to the right).



Can anyone think of an explanation?

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Glad to see you back, Scott Charles!

Thank you, Martin!

[ethereal_reality]

.
Thanks for the answer and information to my parking garage question stanklem and Snix. ... As always I appreciate it.
Boy! That is some wacky description of the 'po-mo not-really-a-clock decorative element...I think it's hideous.


And guess what. I have another architectural question.


There's an article in today's NYtimes about saving Marilyn Monroe's last home in Brentwood from demolition. (a demolition permit was approved yesterday)


The photograph below appears at the top of the article and I can't make heads or tails of it - mostly because the swimming pool appears to be in front of the house.


NYtimes

Is the actual house out of view? (possibly at the top) ..Would the NYtimes be so clumsy?



P.S. ..They need some work done on the roof.
.