noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

2448 Gramercy Park

Originally Posted by riichkay

"This is the house my great grandfather, John Stirk, built in Gramercy Park, Los Angeles after he lost his business in San Francisco due to the 1906 earthquake. This house is still standing and looks just about the same as this! It's located a block north of the well known West Adams street.....photo is about 1912."

[GaylordWilshire]

GSV August 2022


So I was researching a rather obscure architect named Anne Coble Scott, who designed at least two houses in Hancock Park and nearby in the early-mid '20s.... At first I thought that the Crossroads of the World globe had been stolen, then the RKO globe at Melrose and Gower--even though I hear that that architectural icon is slated for--or has been--demolished, the one seen above at 8360 Marmont Lane in August 2022 would be too small ...and it seems that RKO's globe was still there in March 2023. Anyway, anyone happen to have have any ideas about this one?


This interesting blog had a post on the RKO globe in March:

https://davelandblog.blogspot.com/20...-personal.html

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by riichkay

"My great grandparents owned this glass emporium in San Francisco at 18 Sutter St. at the beginning of the 20th Century. It was destroyed in the earthquake of 1906, and they moved to Los Angeles.

All that glass in an earthquake !

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

2448 Gramercy Park

The siding looks like it could use a little TLC but I see they've managed to keep the scroll work on the facia above the porch entrance. Nice!

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by riichkay

A gentleman named Bill Greene, who grew up in Hermosa Beach in the '50's/'60's, posted a collection of family photos to flickr.com some years ago....I culled out a few of local interest....the captions in quotes are Mr. Greene's....












"Friends of my grandmother visiting when she, my father and aunt lived in Hermosa Beach, 1930's. Dottie and Leo Ward. Leo was also the family attorney."







"My great-grandmother's house at 916 Edgewood St. Inglewood, 1950's.....I remember this place when I was a kid in the 1960's. It had wonderful stonework done by her husband Monty."




gsv







"Hermosa Biltmore Hotel....1965.

This was taken from the roof of our house on Monterey Blvd, right off Pier Ave.

Last time I was in Hermosa Beach a few years ago it didn't look much the same!"






"This was taken from our house on Monterey Blvd, just a few houses south of Pier Ave., the end of the Hermosa Biltmore in 1969.

The building just left of the Mobil sign was the old Baptist church, now long gone too!

The rooftop below the Mobil sign is the top of the Alta Dena, which was still there last time I was in Hermosa Beach."

1636 Hermosa Ave and its neighbor are still standing surprisingly. The big clue was the back corner of the church in the background (the front is also pictured in color in another photo).

[unihikid]

I decided to trek the few blocks to see where exactly the family lawyer and female would be sitting. The lot where they would of been is a 50's era apartment, and is on a "Row Street" which seems to be built up by the 1940's so i don't know why the sand would be all the way to Hermosa Ave.



This is 17th and Hermosa Ave



it's the best that i could do with a line up. Also most of the houses on Palm (the street on the first hill) are mostly still standing.

[beachboyz2men]

What are the oldest still existing neon signs in greater LA? Whether illuminated or not, but excluding the ones in the Neon Museum. It doesn't seem like there's any authoritative list published anywhere!

[Martin Pal]

When I read that, I thought of the Frolic Room neon next to the Pantages, which itself has neon signs. I don't know if those signs are the originals, but they still look like the neon in photos of yesteryear.

Then there's the story, when Clifton's Cafeteria was being remodeled, of finding the neon light that had been burning for 77 years. From Allison Martino/Vintage Los Angeles: While updating the 47,000-square-foot space, Meieran’s team made an amazing discovery! While restoring a woman’s restroom, they noticed a neon bulb burning brightly behind a wall. Behind layers of plywood was a light panel that had been covered by plaster for 77 years. Someone forgot to turn it off during the Great Depression and today the light is the oldest existing neon bulb still working in the entire world. Meieran has said the lit bulb cost $17,000 in electrical bills over the years. It will be on display when Clifton’s officially reopens (so long as it doesn’t burn out before that).

I read an article recently about the American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood (it's having issues) and the beginning of the article said, "A historic original neon sign glows outside the Hollywood Post 43 American Legion..." So I tried looking up when it was installed. The building is said to have been built in 1929.

In a Google search one of the results was this:

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
Hollywood Post 43 - American Legion · Media. Original Neon Sign 1936

But I went to that site and found the image, but there was no info I could find about the date it was installed.

Hollywood CHamber of Commerce

I looked at older b&w photos and didn't see the sign in them, where the sign is now anyway, it could have been moved. I did see this 1938 photo which shows a sign, bottom left, that could be the neon sign, but if it is, it had another section added underneath it (see above) that says Hollywood | Post 43.

Mary Mallory

[mrfredmertz]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

All that glass in an earthquake !

Same problem with my Etch-a-Sketch Museum. One 3.6 and it's a total loss.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I read an article recently about the American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood (it's having issues) and the beginning of the article said, "A historic original neon sign glows outside the Hollywood Post 43 American Legion..." So I tried looking up when it was installed. The building is said to have been built in 1929.

In a Google search one of the results was this:

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
Hollywood Post 43 - American Legion · Media. Original Neon Sign 1936

But I went to that site and found the image, but there was no info I could find about the date it was installed.

Hollywood CHamber of Commerce

I looked at older b&w photos and didn't see the sign in them, where the sign is now anyway, it could have been moved. I did see this 1938 photo which shows a sign, bottom left, that could be the neon sign, but if it is, it had another section added underneath it (see above) that says Hollywood | Post 43.

Mary Mallory

Tangentially related is an article discussing Earle Anthony's neon Packard sign which mentions a billboard permit. Whether this was required for Post 43's signage is unknown. https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-...htmlstory.html

DeLyser was able to track that part of the story. But as she combed through city records, a different timeline emerged for when the Los Angeles sign went up. She found a Los Angeles Building Department billboard permit application submitted by billboard company Foster & Kleiser seeking to enlarge a sign at the northwest corner of 7th and Flower streets. It would be electrified, the application specified. The permit was signed in December 1924.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Happy Halloween noirishers!



This interesting photograph just popped up on eBay.


eBay

reverse


Does anyone know the location?

Find out . .or no treats for you.




for search purposes:..Dustin-Roman Auto Top Co....Los Angeles Cal...1918.......I believe the street numbers on the building are 1047-1041.

[HossC]

According to the 1924 Directory of California Manufacturers, the Dustin Roman Auto Top Co was at 1041 S Figueroa Street. I found a build date of 1918 and a demo permit for 1969. It would've stood opposite 11th Street until the realignment of what is now Chick Hearn Court.


archive.org

[odinthor]

Is this true, that the rigid top on cars, the "California Top," is "a creation of Los Angeles craftsmen"?


LA Times, 4/9/1922

[ethereal_reality]

.
Thanks Hoss and odinthor....I appreciate the help.



Mystery location.

I wasn't aware of Los Nietos until I happened upon this fine photograph on eBay.

"A house in Los Nietos, California. Blind stamp of photographer "Allen W Ramsey, Whittier, Cal.".
Handwritten note on back reads, "W. C. Moore, Mary L. Moore, Angeline Isbell, Glen A. Moore, Los Nietos Calif."


Link

It turns out Los Nietos is West Whittier.







Let's take a closer look.



Wouldn't it be something if this house still stood somewhere in West Whittier.


Lastly, here's a close-up of the photographer's stamp.


.

[Flyingwedge]

How about a couple undated graveyard photos for Halloween?

First, here's the east-facing front side of the 1891 Los Angeles High School building, with a bit of the Fort Hill cemetery, which
originally surrounded the school, at right:



Catalog Number P-034-146 @ Seaver Center


Now we're looking east from the Fort Hill cemetery, with the west-facing rear side of the 1891 LAHS in the background:






Hazard-Dyson Los Angeles Photograph Album @ UCLA (both on p. 123)


High school students walked through the cemetery daily while going to class in adjacent buildings like the Sand Street School
(the relocated old 1873 LAHS building) and, apparently, one-room "shacks" in the graveyard:



March 14, 1900, Los Angeles Evening Express @ Newspapers.com




February 19, 1907, Los Angeles Herald @ CDNC/UC Riverside

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The upgrading of some streets to Boulevard status came out of the 1924 Major Traffic Street Plan. It seems to have been primarily east-west thoroughfares that were designated as these major routes because of the expansion of the city, westwardly in particular--with their widenings anticipating the freeways to come. Washington, Adams, and Jefferson streets became Boulevards; 16th Street became Venice Boulevard and 10th Street became Olympic Boulevard (with some alignment variations). Major north-south streets and avenues such as Figueroa, Hoover, Western, and Vermont weren't redesignated. My impression is that the new "Boulevards" were in emulation of Wilshire and Sunset, the term having grand connotations considered more suitable for the higher-end residential expansion west while being considered unnecessary going south into the mix of less expensive housing tracts and industry toward the harbor.

The 1924 plan was produced by the Major Highways Committee of the Traffic Commission after studies and recommendations by Frederick Law Olmsted, Harland Bartholemew, Charles Henry Cheney.

Thank you for the explanation

[ethereal_reality]

.

Flyingwedge, there's nothing more eerie than atmospheric photographs of old cemeteries. Perfect for Halloween!


I'm going to repost this from waaay back in 2008. (it's hard to believe that is 15 years ago!)

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I found these photographs on an old cd of mine. Most of the images on the disk were from calisphere so I'm guessing these were too.

"The Workmen Monument in the old Catholic Cemetery of the Pueblo Los Angeles on North Broadway." Shown in 1925 shortly before the cemetery's desecration.


http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/

Note that someone has built a makeshift wood & chicken-wire fence around the perimeter. (also note the severe ground erosion at right)





below: The overgrown old Calvary Cemetery on North Broadway in 1920.


http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/

I'm pretty sure there's a house (or hut) on top of the hill at upper-left. I wonder what direction we're looking.



below: The Pico Family Tomb in the old Calvary Cemetery on North Broadway.


http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/

So. .um. . where are the Picos now?



below: The old Calvary Cemetery in complete disrepair, date unknown.


http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/

I can easily visualize the three boys desecrating the tomb of Capt. Bell in 1921. ...< - - - I'm not sure what I was talking about.

__

I wish I had thought of doing this yesterday on Halloween. :pumpkin:



P.S....None of the links work but at the least the photographs are still visible.

[jhuxld]

Originally Posted by BDiH

I remember being in the basement about 60 years ago when there was still a dressing room from the early days. It must have been left over from the Carter DeHaven Music Box when live revues were presented on stage.

Err... Sorry, I mis-understood previously about the "basement" there at The Fonda. So, you were talking about the dressing rooms. Yes the dressing rooms are of course still in service. The "basement", as I mentioned before, is under the front of the building

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by riichkay

"Friends of my grandmother visiting when she, my father and aunt lived in Hermosa Beach, 1930's. Dottie and Leo Ward. Leo was also the family attorney."

Originally Posted by unihikid

This is 17th and Hermosa Ave



it's the best that i could do with a line up. Also most of the houses on Palm (the street on the first hill) are mostly still standing.

I just wanted to say this was a really cool find! Thanks, Unihikid.

[JimCraig]

So. .um. . where are the Picos now?

Originally buried at Old Calvary Cemetery in downtown Los Angeles, his remains were reinterred in the private mausoleum of a friend when the city dismantled Old Calvary in the 1920s.

Pio Pico and his wife are interred in the Walter Temple Memorial Mausoleum in the El Campo Santo Cemetery located on the grounds of the old Workman-Temple family homestead in the City of Industry, California.