noirish Los Angeles

[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

This Royal Room photo may have solved a mystery of sorts...










So, the YAL we see in the b&w photo I posted matches the YAL design in the color photo. So I'd say it's definitely the Royal Room neon. And the different design in the permit that Flyingwedge mentions could be for one of the other two Royal Room signs on the building; the front sign and the blade sign.

However, that doesn't explain why it doesn't look right in the color photo. Is it possible that the neon sign was being dismantled? How long did the Royal Room last? The color photo is from 1959 (Some Like It Hot was playing.) If the sign was being dismantled, would it still be lit up if that truck is hauling it away on a steel frame of some sort? Or is it some kind of optical illusion?

I think the illusion is due to the arced baseline of the word "ROYAL" on the original sign. Very effective! It looks like "ROOM" became "SCOT" in the color photo.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Good eye, MP. The reason the sign looks different in the color photo may be because by that time the Royal Room had become
the Royal Scot. I think I can just barely see SCOT on the blade sign (to the right of the pink vertical line), and below the big orange
Y in YAL on Las Palmas we don't see ROOM as in your b/w photo, but three yellow letters, with the last one a T (as in SCOT ).
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The Royal Room, which opened April 6, 1948, appears to have gone out of business in 1958 or 1959, following at least two
tragedies (the fire was December 6, 1957):
March 28, 1958, Los Angeles Examiner @ Newspapers.com
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There's an interior photo of the fire in this post:
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ostcount=56838

Love the newspaper article mentioning Frankie Darro as the new bar manager. He moved on to work at the Raincheck Room on Santa Monica Blvd. in the same or similar capacity!

Thanks, Flyingwedge, first I've heard of The Royal Scot. Good use of the previous sign! Interesting that such a huge neon sign has not been seen in Hollywood Blvd. photos before.

Originally Posted by ScottyB

I think the illusion is due to the arced baseline of the word "ROYAL" on the original sign. Very effective! It looks like "ROOM" became "SCOT" in the color photo.
_________________________________________________________________

That had not occurred to me, thanks ScottyB!

[Martin Pal]

Since we're discussing 6700 Hollywood Blvd., here's what that corner looked like a few decades earlier:

HollywoodPhotographsSCMFT

1905 SW corner of Hollywood Blvd. & Las Palmas Ave.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Lastly here is an amazing panorama of a dinner dance at the Biltmore Hotel in 1940.


movieposters

Do any of you fine noirishers recognize anyone?






For search purposes - Warner Club - Sixth Annual Dinner Dance - Biltmore Bowl - Los Angeles - February 17, 1940

I don't recognize anyone but I can't look at photos like this without thinking of The Shining. Jack Torrance, are you in there somewhere?

[ethereal_reality]

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There's one in every crowd.



detail












Did you all know Jane Wyman was a blonde in the early days of her acting career?





I think this might be her. .. She would have been 23 years old in 1940.


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Ms. Wyman won the Academy Award (Best Actress) for Johnny Belinda in 1948.



Toby Wing's career was mostly during the 1930s. ..Her last film was Sweethearts in 1938.
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[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

I don't recognize anyone but I can't look at these type of photos without thinking of The Shining. Jack Torrance are you in there somewhere?

I thought the exact same thing!

[ethereal_reality]

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Awk! My birthday is July 4th. Should I consider this an ominous sign?




This is an interesting photograph of Eastside Park (now Lincoln) because it includes the rarely seen dam.



eBay

I wonder if there still remnants of the dam. (for all I know the whole dam might still be there)


The three pipes confuse me. Are they capped on the far side? I ask because they're obviously not capped on this side of the dam. (no doubt to avoid tempting a ne'er-do-well from draining the pond)
um. .so if water needs to be released someone's job is to go underwater and uncap (open) the pipes?..(I flunked out of dam school)






Oh, I almost forgot. I spy people enjoying the park.


detail

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[ethereal_reality]

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Here's another photograph recently found on eBay. I'm pretty sure it's new to NLA.








Let's take a closer look shall we.



That's some view!


Link
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[ethereal_reality]

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Here's another one from the same portfolio. (they're being sold separately)


ebay




And a closer look.


I wonder why there are no windows in the rounded turret thingy?




Link

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[Bristolian]

Here's something very noirish: The Metro C Line extension through the South Bay has been complicated by the discovery of possible grave sites in some Lawndale backyards.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...xtension-plans

Excerpt:
Jay Gould said for years there were graves in the backyards of his neighborhood in Lawndale, part of what his father told him was an old burial ground.
But people doubted it. These supposed graves just happened to be in the right-of-way of a proposed 4.5-mile Metro C Line extension route that Gould was a fierce critic of, and would take away a chunk of his yard. The discovery of human remains would certainly delay the agency’s plans, if not force Metro to reexamine the route.
This week, Gould, 70, asked his neighbors if he could look for tombstones. “I grabbed a shovel and I started digging,” he said.


LA Times

[ethereal_reality]

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oops

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[stanklem]

This is a very official looking headstone. Matches design of my dad's headstone in a national cemetery. Are there (were there) any missing cemeteries in Lawndale?

Originally Posted by Bristolian

Here's something very noirish: The Metro C Line extension through the South Bay has been complicated by the discovery of possible grave sites in some Lawndale backyards.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...xtension-plans

Excerpt:
Jay Gould said for years there were graves in the backyards of his neighborhood in Lawndale, part of what his father told him was an old burial ground.
But people doubted it. These supposed graves just happened to be in the right-of-way of a proposed 4.5-mile Metro C Line extension route that Gould was a fierce critic of, and would take away a chunk of his yard. The discovery of human remains would certainly delay the agency’s plans, if not force Metro to reexamine the route.
This week, Gould, 70, asked his neighbors if he could look for tombstones. “I grabbed a shovel and I started digging,” he said.


LA Times

[odinthor]

This (the yellowed area below) appears to be the area in question:


Details of two pages, joined together, from the Renie 1941 Atlas of Los Angeles

Note that there was (and still is) a cemetery a few blocks south. But checking the 1953 Renie atlas (the above is the 1941 edition), also in my collection, I see that there still is no cemetery in the specific area in question in 1953 (at least, going by the map). The deceased (Earle Hoffman) of the grave marker in the picture died December 14, 1951. In the LA Times article, the deceased's nephew states that the deceased was buried two days after death at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, and that he (nephew) has been visiting the grave "since I was a little kid" (also, nephew's 5-year-old son is buried adjacent).

The questions are: Do the records of Hillside show that Hoffman was disinterred? Is his marker still present at Hillside? Is there a body under the marker in Lawndale? Is there a body at present where the Hillside grave is/was located? When was the residence at the Lawndale location built? Does Lawndale allow burials in people's backyards? How many people can attest that there was at one time a cemetery there, or that they found gravestones there or in the vicinity?

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1952 Aerial. Residences present, no sign of a cemetery.:


HistoricAerials.com

[stanklem]

I live nearby and have been near the tracks and drove on those streets several times. Don't recall anything like a graveyard. Two story apartment buildings are on Inglewood and smallish single family homes are behind to the east. Lawndale was incorprated in 1959. Was County land before. My understandung is that County land in the South Bay in the 1950s was not well regulated. It may have been possible for someone to bury someone in their back yard.

Originally Posted by odinthor

This (the yellowed area below) appears to be the area in question:


Details of two pages, joined together, from the Renie 1941 Atlas of Los Angeles

Note that there was (and still is) a cemetery a few blocks south. But checking the 1953 Renie atlas (the above is the 1941 edition), also in my collection, I see that there still is no cemetery in the specific area in question in 1953 (at least, going by the map). The deceased (Earle Hoffman) of the grave marker in the picture died December 14, 1951. In the LA Times article, the deceased's nephew states that the deceased was buried two days after death at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, and that he (nephew) has been visiting the grave "since I was a little kid" (also, nephew's 5-year-old son is buried adjacent).

The questions are: Do the records of Hillside show that Hoffman was disinterred? Is his marker still present at Hillside? Is there a body under the marker in Lawndale? Is there a body at present where the Hillside grave is/was located? When was the residence at the Lawndale location built? Does Lawndale allow burials in people's backyards? How many people can attest that there was at one time a cemetery there, or that they found gravestones there or in the vicinity?

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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This is an interesting photograph of Eastside Park (now Lincoln) because it includes the rarely seen dam.



eBay

I wonder if there still remnants of the dam. (for all I know the whole dam might still be there)


The three pipes confuse me. Are they capped on the far side? I ask because they're obviously not capped on this side of the dam. (no doubt to avoid tempting a ne'er-do-well from draining the pond)
um. .so if water needs to be released someone's job is to go underwater and uncap (open) the pipes?..(I flunked out of dam school)

The odd thing is that Eastlake Park lake is more-or-less round, so there's no place for bridges like that. The 1928 USGS topo (at Historicaerials.com) shows a small pond just north of the lake, but it still seems too flat. My guess is that this is the wooded streambed beside Hazard Park, not too far away. Note the reservoir at the bottom of this map:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

LAPL

Note the streams continue south through the park land (Eastside/Lincoln Park) and onward to the Los Angeles River.
(what tha? I just noticed that other reservoir )

Map of the City of Los Angeles, California, 1884

When Lincoln Park Was Eastlake. KCET

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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[...]

eBay

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Just for the record, the image's "Öffentlicher Garten" means "Public Garden."

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Just for the record, the image's "Öffentlicher Garten" means "Public Garden."

I appreciate the correction, odinthor.

Originally Posted by Mackerm

The odd thing is that Eastlake Park lake is more-or-less round, so there's no place for bridges like that. The 1928 USGS topo (at Historicaerials.com) shows a small pond just north of the lake, but it still seems too flat. My guess is that this is the wooded streambed beside Hazard Park, not too far away.

Thanks for the suggestion, Mackerm. I will have to look into it.


From WIKI

"Named after Henry T. Hazard A 2000-seat terraced grandstand opened in 1911 in the park, as did "the largest and best fitted playgrounds", divided into sections for boys and for girls."



The park is 26.5-acres.
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[ethereal_reality]

Hubba Hubba Hub Hub

I think this is quite the photograph!


"LOS ANGELES - 100 BLOCK, E 5TH STREET - LOAN SHOPS, ALLEYWAY"



Alternate title: ..Va Va Voom!

I've been looking for the HUB bar/cocktail lounge in the old city directories but haven't found it listed. (I'm still looking) . . .and could use some help.


Here's the whole photo/neg.





eBay Link
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[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Hubba Hubba Hub Hub

I think this is quite the photograph!


"LOS ANGELES - 100 BLOCK, E 5TH STREET - LOAN SHOPS, ALLEYWAY"



Alternate title: ..Va Va Voom!

I've been looking for the HUB bar/cocktail lounge in the old city directories but haven't found it listed. (I'm still looking) . . .and could use some help.


Here's the whole photo/neg.





eBay Link
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Great photo! Perhaps it's just my own florid imagination, but is that a drag queen?

[ethereal_reality]

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That thought hadn't occurred to me. I'm pretty sure she's a real woman...Um. .perhaps she worked at one of the 24 hr. burlesque halls downtown and she's out grabbing some lunch.



Meanwhile over on Main Street.

Here's another image (from the same eBay seller) that we might not have seen before. I say that because I don't recall the Club 49er on NLA.



(I tweaked the lighting a bit)





Pre-tweaked and with the damn writing on it.





eBay Link


For search purposes: Banner Theater - Club 49er - 400 Block S. Main St. - East Side - Los Angeles
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