noirish Los Angeles

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The bank didn't open its offices until August 2, 1894:



August 2, 1894, Los Angeles Times @ Newspapers.com


Those were some fine-looking buildings, Beaudry. Thanks!

My pleasure! Thanks for all your help, FW!

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
I thought this mystery location would be fairly easy to solve but I've checked numerous city directories from the 1920s and 30s & came up with.. n o t h i n g.


The Adelle Apartments, Los Angeles


eBay


If you look closely the street number appears to be 744?

Originally Posted by Beaudry

From the Long Beach Press-Telegram, 18 July 1924.

PCH was once named State in this part of the world, so if it's 744 PCH you're looking at, it's been redeveloped with a massive Goodwill store.

That Goodwill store is on West PCH. The Adelle Court Apts. were located at 744 East PCH.



lbpl.contentdm.oclc.org - Long Beach City Polk Directory 1948



The Adelle arrowed red here on this fuzzy 1952 aerial. Adjacent at 802 E. PCH is the blue arrowed Colonial Motel which is still operating.



mil.library.ucsb.edu


The Adelle had a name change to the Olive Motel by 1951. It was demolished sometime between 1972 and 1976.


The Colonial Motel these days and the space where the Adelle once stood.



GSV

[ethereal_reality]

.
Thanks for solving the Adelle mystery location Noir Noir and Beaudry. I appreciate your help.

Here's the Colonial Motel back in the day.


eBay

It looked more colonial than it does now.

.

[Snix]

Spotted some nice street scenes in the film "A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed" (1958) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17irZTUvxcA
Nice shot of Henshey's department store, 402 Santa Monica Blvd. and some other downtown Santa Monica locations.

[Snix]

Cinerama Dome, Texaco Station, Sunset Vine Tower, RCA Building at Sunset Boulevard and Cahuenga, 1965

Leslie Sheraton Color Slides of California/San Francisco Public Library

[Beaudry]

Here's another one I don't get.

It's the J & B Wilson Block. 110-120 East First. According to Crandell's "Homage to Downtown" it's actually the JCB Wilson Block, 1884, B J Reeve.



But it can't be 1884, since it's clearly not there in the 1888 Sanborn, but IS there in the 1894 Sanborn:



Also, it quite CLEARLY says "J & B Wilson" on its facade.

Trouble is, not turning up anything about it. It gets confusing since there's an "Old Wilson Block" and a "New Wilson Block" and they're both on First, but the other side of Main.

Little help?

[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by Snix

Cinerama Dome, Texaco Station, Sunset Vine Tower, RCA Building at Sunset Boulevard and Cahuenga, 1965

Leslie Sheraton Color Slides of California/San Francisco Public Library

Great photo! Can someone identify the white car in the foreground?

[Mackerm]

1961 Dodge Polara 4-door hardtop.

The 1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix 4-Door hardtop is similar, but the antenna is in a different place.

[Martin Pal]

• Video Link

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Here's another one I don't get.

It's the J & B Wilson Block. 110-120 East First. According to Crandell's "Homage to Downtown" it's actually the JCB Wilson Block, 1884, B J Reeve.



But it can't be 1884, since it's clearly not there in the 1888 Sanborn, but IS there in the 1894 Sanborn:



Also, it quite CLEARLY says "J & B Wilson" on its facade.

Trouble is, not turning up anything about it. It gets confusing since there's an "Old Wilson Block" and a "New Wilson Block" and they're both on First, but the other side of Main.

Little help?

References to an old Wilson Block--implying that a new one is present or on its way--begin in July 1889:


LA Herald, 7/31/1889

and continue . . .


LA Times, 1/3/1890

With the architect R.B. Young moving into the new one in February, 1890, perhaps as soon as it was ready for occupancy:


LA Times, 2/5/1890

[Snix]

Longshire's restaurant (1946, Norstrom & Anderson) at 5601 Wilshire Blvd.
This great menu appeared on eBay and it took me a while to realize this was the building that later became the long-running Du-Par's coffee shop on Wilshire and Ridgeley.

eBay
Looks like Longshire's came and went in about a year, operating during 1947-1948

LAT 8.1.47
When it was replaced by KIRU Restaurant, which lasted about 3 years.

Bartlett (Adelbert) Papers/UCLA
Du-Par's took over this spot in 1951.

NASS via YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fL8n_aAisQ
Here's how it looked in 1978

Annie and Marlene Laskey collection/Los Angeles Public Library

Demolished in 1988 for an expanded Ralphs supermarket, which had been on the adjacent parcel since the 1920s.
GSV

Info on the architectural firm of Anderon & Norstrom:
Milton Anderson and Alvan Edward Norstrom formed the partnership of Norstrom & Anderson in Los Angeles in 1928. The Norstrom & Anderson practice included residential, commercial, and industrial commissions. Their client list included the Eastern-Columbia Syndicate; J. C. Penney; F. W. Woolworth Company; Thrifty Drug Stores, Inc.; Allied Properties (in Huntington Park and San Bernardino); the Holmes Estate; Aero Industries Technical Institute, San Fernando; Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, Los Angeles; Security-First National Bank; Bank of America; White Taverns Cafe; J. J. Newberry Company; 0. & F. Thom Properties; the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company; Greenfields Grocery Company; Harold G. Ferguson Corporation; Belvedere Bowling Center Corporation; and the Peter Nolan Company. Norstrom & Anderson completed a number of high-profile commercial projects in Westwood Village, developed by Janss Investment Company adjacent to UCLA, and Spanish Revival-style hillside homes in Los Feliz Glen for the Peter Nolan Company. Following Norstrom's death in 1946, at age 49, Milton Anderson continued that practice for clients J.C. Penney, F. W. Woolworth, Comet Stores, Carpenter Paper Company, and the Azusa Foothill Citrus Company (for the Foothill Park Shopping Center, with pioneer general contractor C. L. Peck of Los Angeles). By 1969, Milton Lawrence Anderson, AIA, a resident of San Marino, had retired from the practice of architecture. He died on 14 February 1987.
https://images.app.goo.gl/N6fxUtxLYJtvcy737

[Scott Charles]

I recently rewatched the 1990 Sam Raimi film, Darkman.



The movie is chock-full of downtown LA locations, as well as Chinatown.

Most interesting to me is this shot. Does anyone know what street this is, or the buildings that line it?



The building in the background is 119 N. Central Ave/367 First Street. The Japanese American National Museum would normally block our view of the background building from this angle, but the museum wasn't built until 1992.

Back in the late '80s, this region was one of my late night driving haunts:



Virtually everything there has been razed since the '80s, streets have been removed or reshaped, but that part of town was extremely industrial, filled with manufacturing(?) buildings of some kind.

I always felt it had an odd beauty about it, like the woodcuts of Frans Masereel.

Here are some exterior shots from the movie. The other outdoor scenes all look identical to this one, so I'm 99.9% certain they were all filmed on location:





From the reverse angle, you can see the City of Los Angeles Personnel Department on the left, and the Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple on the right... all of the other buildings are gone:



I meant to go back and photograph the area extensively, but by the time I returned the whole area was blocked-off/being condemned.

This is the only photograph I took in those blocks. The address is 652, but it is certainly not Mission Road... Mission Road is a thoroughfare, and looks entirely different. If I recall correctly (this is over 25 years ago), the camera was facing east in this photo:



Have we ever examined the area bordered by Alameda, 1st, Vignes, and Ducommun before? I'd love to know more about this little forgotten region I once found so oddly picturesque.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Here's another one I don't get.

It's the J & B Wilson Block. 110-120 East First.



Also, it quite CLEARLY says "J & B Wilson" on its facade.

Little help?

I'm afraid a little help is all I can offer.

Here's a notice about a building permit for Mrs. J. Wilson on First between Main and Los Angeles:



September 13, 1891, Los Angeles Herald @ Newspapers.com


This particular "new Wilson Block" seems to have opened around March 1892. Its upstairs hotel, "Blewett House,"
was at 116 East First:



March 4, 1892, Los Angeles Herald @ Newspapers.com


Hoegee, the maker of tents and awnings, was one door west in the same building at 114 E. First:



March 9, 1892, Los Angeles Evening Express @ Newspapers.com


The end of this article refers to "J. and B. Wilson, wife and husband, who own the fine block on the south
side of First Street, between Main and Los Angeles." That matches with the Mrs. J. Wilson of the building
permit and the "J & B Wilson" on the front of the building:



June 4, 1892, Los Angeles Evening Express @ Newspapers.com


But for some reason, the LA City Directory referred to the building again and again as the "L. B. Wilson Block."


I hope you can figure out the rest of the building's story!

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

This is the only photograph I took in those blocks. The address is 652, but it is certainly not Mission Road... Mission Road is a thoroughfare, and looks entirely different. If I recall correctly (this is over 25 years ago), the camera was facing east in this photo:



Have we ever examined the area bordered by Alameda, 1st, Vignes, and Ducommun before? I'd love to know more about this little forgotten region I once found so oddly picturesque.

The Mission Furniture Manufacturing Co. was at 673 Mateo in the 1987 CD,

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Most interesting to me is this shot. Does anyone know what street this is, or the buildings that line it?

LAPL


Banning Street

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

This is the only photograph I took in those blocks. The address is 652, but it is certainly not Mission Road... Mission Road is a thoroughfare, and looks entirely different. If I recall correctly (this is over 25 years ago), the camera was facing east in this photo:

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

The Mission Furniture Manufacturing Co. was at 673 Mateo in the 1987 CD,

Mission Furniture were also located on Imperial Street from the mid-1950s into the late 1980s.



rescarta.lapl.org


Here's the location on a 1958 aerial.



mil.library.ucsb.edu


Demolished in 1993.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Mackerm

LAPL


Banning Street

BANNING street! Yes, of course, that's it! I remembered the name the second I saw it! Thank you, Mackerm!

Your webpage linked to another photo of Banning Street, taken from about a half-block further east:



This is exactly the way I remember it.

It looks like there's still a bit of Banning Street remaining, the loose end of the street which once ran all the way over to Alameda...

[Scott Charles]

Thank you, Lorendoc and Noir_Noir!

I think you must have the correct location, Noir_Noir, as yours also gives an address of 652. I would have sworn that I took the picture in the Alameda, 1st, Vignes, and Ducommun region, but then again, it was a single, quick snapshot taken over 25 years ago - and heaven knows, my memory is far from perfect!

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

Mission Furniture were also located on Imperial Street from the mid-1950s into the late 1980s.



rescarta.lapl.org


Here's the location on a 1958 aerial.



mil.library.ucsb.edu


Demolished in 1993.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Snix

Demolished in 1988 for an expanded Ralphs supermarket, which had been on the adjacent parcel since the 1920s.
GSV

FWIW, the Ralphs depicted above was initially an Alpha Beta store.

In 1994, Yucaipa Companies, then owner of the Alpha Beta chain in southern California, purchased the Ralphs Grocery Company. All existing Alpha Beta stores in Southern California were rebranded as Ralphs or Food 4 Less,[3] and the Alpha Beta name ceased to be used by September 1995.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Beta

https://miraclemilela.com/the-miracl...-carousel-1116

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

I'm afraid a little help is all I can offer.



I hope you can figure out the rest of the building's story!

This is great help! It sent me in the right direction, wherein I found a couple more (lightly) smoking guns that both clarify and confuse matters, if that's possible.


Los Angeles Evening Express, 12 Sep 1891, says it's "B. Wilson", so I guess she's the B in J&B (newspapers.com)



Evening Express, 11 Jan 1892, there's a "Juan Wilson" taking out a $500 permit, I presume this is the "J" of J&B, who's Juan/John, taking out a supplementary permit to the big one four months previous (newspapers.com)



Then I see according to the '91 Directory there's a Wilson in business with a Blewett out near Brooklyn Ave (lapl.org)



And while there's a Wilson in bed with a Blewett, which is interesting indeed since T H Blewett moves his lodging business into Wilson's block (116 East First) in March '92, "Wilson and Blewett" (horseshoe fellows) they move into 318 East First, in November '91... (Los Angeles Herald, 17 Nov 91, newspapers.com)

See what I mean? Clarification only offers more confusion!