noirish Los Angeles - Page 373

alanlutz · #**7441** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 2:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanlutz

I have made few contributions lately after my Apr 9 visit to downtown and trying to capture what LA looks like today. I have enjoyed this site so much in the last month and a half and now up to page 150. I come here to the present day pages to see what is happening, to post, and share new stuff. I was visiting my Flickr account today searched on LA. I came across an account called "Metro Transportation Library and Archive". They have 100s of pix there if you're interested. I know at least one guy who joined here claimed to be quite an authority on the Red Car line. Here's one to get you started on Flickr and you can follow for more if you like. Does anyone happen to know if the Bus station here is the same one that became the "grand" and now former one at 6th and Los Angeles Street?

023 - MTA 1515 San Pedro Line Main St. Sta. 19581206 AKW
Photographer: Alan Weeks From Flickr Account: Metro Transportation Library and Archive

Thanks for the comparison, Gaylord. It is now obvious that two of the Bus Depots which are no longer Bus Depots are across the street from each other. It seems the first depot which is today the same building on the right, and the 1965 Bus Depot which is now a "Mart" and also a huge parking garage, is in the same spot where the Red Cars were in 1958.

ethereal_reality · #**7442** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 2:42 AM**

Looking west on Hollywood Blvd. toward Ivar Avenue & the Guaranty Building.

http://life.time.com/

I want to point out the building on the southeast corner of Hollywood & Ivar (circled in red).

Many people forget that nitty-gritty Hollywood Boulevard used to be a fairly high class shopping district.
Believe it or not, I. Magnin once had a store directly across from the Guaranty Building (as seen below).

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=61625

below: A contemporary view of the building on the southeast corner of Hollywood & Ivar.

google street view

below: At first I thought this was an entirely new building, until I looked at this aerial that shows the center 'peaked' roof
still intact. The tacked on facade is simply a ruse....the I. Magnin era building is still there!

google aerial

below: There is another impressive building just east of the I. Magnin Store.

This once dignified building still stands with mediocre venues. The entire second story is covered up and painted tan.

google street view

_____

Now lets venture past Ivar Avenue to the building with the 'Schwabs' advertisement.

I wasn't aware of a Schwab's on Hollywood Blvd.
The iconic Schwab's Drug Store was located on the southeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights.

Well it turns out this Schwabs on Hollywood Boulevard was a fine men's store.

advertisement

The ornate facade was covered up by stucco as early as the late 1930s or early 40s.
Only recently has the once elaborate facade been restored to it's original splendor.

google street view

google street view

....and that ends my examination of the area around Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Avenue.

____

unihikid · #**7443** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 2:52 AM**

i was about to say schwabs right next to what looks like a thriftys? great post though.

ethereal_reality · #**7444** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 2:56 AM**

I believe that is a Thrifty's on the southwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. & Ivar Ave unihikid. Good eye.

ersatz01 · #**7445** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 8:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Note the disgustingly dirty red awning over the garage entrance.

That awning encompasses the whole building and hides the entire 2nd floor. Who in the sam hell thought this was a good idea?

google street view

Just want to mention that the "modern" awnings and coverings were recently taken down - like last week!

GaylordWilshire · #**7446** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 11:21 AM**

Quick--somebody get down there with a camera. David?

GaylordWilshire · #**7447** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 12:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: Details of the W.P. Story Building show 'zigzag' art deco ornament.
This makes me think the building had undergone a remodeling sometime in the distant past.
(1908 is way too early for art deco...and the decoration doesn't seem organic enough to be art nouveau, an earlier art movement)

Notice the 'Stop' and 'Slow' brass lettering embedded in the sidewalk/driveway.

http://decoarchitecture.tumblr.com/p...alifornia-from LAPL
___

According to the PCAD, in 1934, "Stiles O. Clements added a Streamlined Moderne entrance to the parking garage" to the Story building. Well, Zigzag Moderne and Streamline Moderne are two different things, but now we have the architect of the remodeling, and it turns out that he was (famously) associated with the Story Building's original design firm, Morgan & Walls. They designed the W.P. Story Building we have today, but apparently they also designed for Mr. Story this one-story predecessor on the site:

The LAPL's caption: "Southeast corner of Broadway and 6th in 1910. This corner was occupied by a saloon as late as 1908. This was the later site of the Walter P. Story building."

The PCAD's description: "Nelson Story retained Los Angeles, CA, architects Octavius Morgan, Sr., and John A. Walls to design a one-story building at 6th Street between Spring Street and Broadway in 1900. Morgan and Walls subsequently designed [a] ten-story building for Nelson and W.P. Story for the same site."

GaylordWilshire · #**7448** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 12:24 PM**

A then-and-now of the Story's front door...

PICS: LAPL/GoogleSV

Moxie · #**7449** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 1:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Quick--somebody get down there with a camera. David?

My first thought exactly! Hopefully they aren't planning to cover it up again, and will do any needed restoration, but you never know.

3940dxer · #**7450** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 6:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Quick--somebody get down there with a camera. David?

I'll do it some day this week, hope it remains exposed for at least a few more days!

ethereal_reality · #**7451** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 7:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

A then-and-now of the Story's front door...

PICS: LAPL/GoogleSV

This is especially sad.

It looks as if they destroyed the ornament from the entire first floor, probably from one end of the building to the other.
A last glimmer of hope is the garage entrance....remember, KevinW spotted remnants of it's zigzag metal ornament still in place.
-fingers crossed-

3940dxer · #**7452** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 9:36 PM**

All from personal collection.

jg6544 · #**7453** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 9:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Looking west on Hollywood Blvd. toward Ivar Avenue & the Guaranty Building.

http://life.time.com/

I want to point out the building on the southeast corner of Hollywood & Ivar (circled in red).

Many people forget that nitty-gritty Hollywood Boulevard used to be a fairly high class shopping district.
Believe it or not, I. Magnin once had a store directly across from the Guaranty Building (as seen below).

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=61625

It was, I believe, the first actual I. Magnin branch outside of the Bay Area. The store had "shops" in a couple of hotels in southern California, but this was a real store. I. Magnin left it to move to its Wilshire Boulevard store in the 1930s. Subsequent owners have really trashed it, although the "bones" are still there.

fhammon · #**7454** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 10:40 PM**

Nick's Cafe

Located at 1300 N. Spring St. right across from the "not a cornfield" Cornfield.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2..._breakfast.php

I ate there for the first time Sunday with my wife. Home-style coffee-shop fare with huge portions. Way more than I could eat.
They claim having been open since 1948. I can't seem to find any old photos of it at all.
There must be some out there. I have a feeling that the building is older than '48. It could have operated as a cafe under a different name previously.

ethereal_reality · #**7455** Posted **Apr 23, 2012, 11:58 PM**

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the 'Hollywood Historic Review' newsletter you posted 3940dxer/David.

This 1963 residence by Lloyd Wright (Frank's son) intrigued me so I thought I'd take a closer look.

from David's personal collection

below: Here is a 'google street view' of the house at7017 Senalda Road.

below: A detail showing the attractive triangular ornamentation (too bad about the location of the gas meter).

google street view

below: From this view it appears that a new pool house has been built behind the 1963 house. Notice how the angles of the pool house mimic
the angles of the main house. I would say this looks like a job well done.

google aerial

____

The rest of this post can be filed under "how one thing leads to another".

In this broader aerial I noticed that above 7017 Senalda Road (the red A teardrop) there is a Hollywood Bowl overlook on MulHolland Drive.
I thought perhaps I could get a better view of the new pool house at 7017 Senalda from this overlook area.

google aerial

I traveled up to MulHolland via the 'Google-mobile' and quickly found the overlook. I wasn't able to find a good view of 7017 or it's pool house,
but I was impressed by this overlook that I previously didn't know existed.

google street view

There was a parking area, complete with a drinking fountain and even a telescope.

google street view

But now for the BIG SURPRISE. As I pulled the camera back there was even more to this Hollywood Bowl Overlook than I thought.

google aerial

This place looks phenomenal! Can you imagine going up there at night during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl....talk about romantic.

____

GaylordWilshire · #**7456** Posted **Apr 24, 2012, 12:18 AM**

fhammon: There are a couple of shots at the LAPL of Nick's, but nothing very interesting (well, seven years ago there was razor wire strung along the cornice).

I did find the pic at top, though--a great noir-era shot with the P.O. Terminal Annex, a Dodge (or other Chrysler product) business coupe, chop suey, and the Vera Cruz Café at N. Spring and Chavez.

Pics: LAPL/Google SV

ethereal_reality · #**7457** Posted **Apr 24, 2012, 12:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fhammon

Nick's Cafe

Located at 1300 N. Spring St. right across from the "not a cornfield" Cornfield.

This place is quite cute. Notice the 'open' sign shaped like a pig.

google street view

GaylordWilshire · #**7458** Posted **Apr 24, 2012, 12:38 AM**

LAPL

Lots of interesting L.A. history in this house. Fruit grower and oil refiner Harrington Brown found the land barren except for one pepper tree. He built a grand house and planted lots of vegetation. Seventy-two years later, it was barren land again (a parking lot still there today, enhanced by a Little Caesars). For more: http://losangeleshistory.blogspot.co...histories.html

ethereal_reality · #**7459** Posted **Apr 24, 2012, 1:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaylordwilshire

(a parking lot still there today, enhanced by a little caesars).

lol

GaylordWilshire · #**7460** Posted **Apr 24, 2012, 2:12 AM**

LAPL

Now that I've got you in a good mood, e_r, I've got a question.... I don't keep kosher and, being Episcopalian, I'm not entirely sure what it entails, but is it kosher to offer a link here to one's own website? Not that I haven't been cheeky enough to do it before, justifying it because my site is, after all, completely non-commercial... just L.A. history, pure as the driven snow.

Charging ahead... I have a couple of updates to my history of Berkeley Square:

A few more maps are here.

A new post with my ideas on the demise of Berkeley Square and the changing fortunes of West Adams are here.

Main page and index are here.