noirish Los Angeles

[ersatz01]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

In one of the comments to the Blogdowntown post is this intriguing item:
"Have you ever seen the sculpted stair well at the back of the lobby?" Calling all cameras!

Here you go... Some photos I took today of the interior lobby of the Story Building on SEC 6th and Broadway. I'm using an iPhone 4S, Camera+ app, and adding clarity to lighten up the rather dark interior, but no flash.

BTW, I live and work in DTLA, so anytime you have a current picture request, feel free to let me know. I'm happy to contribute to the NOW, especially since this is one of my favorite pastimes, and I'm so impressed with the contribution levels of people on this board, especially those who don't even live in L.A., e_r for example.

Here's the sculpted staircase:


Above that, there's an incredible ceiling:


The lobby is small compared to today's Class A building standards, but you can tell this was a "Class A" building back in the day. The elevators are beautiful.


Details on one of the 4 elevator doors:

[ethereal_reality]

I am speechless ersatz01!
The curved marble staircase and skylight are amazing (not to mention the brass elevator doors).

There must be hundreds of these 'hidden' interiors waiting to be discovered.
This is so exciting....don't you think?

___

[ethereal_reality]

re: The Nancy Sinatra video at Ocean Park.
___

Neptune's Courtyard at Pacific Ocean Park in 1959.

gorillasdontblog




The 'Dali_esque' entrance to Pacific Ocean Park.


http://northhigh73.com/index.htm


_____

below: "These Boots are Made For Walkin" (1966)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnQcExGaEvk&feature=fvst

click on link_____

[SoCalPaul]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for posting your photographs ersatz01.



photo by ersatz01


below: The original 1908 design

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...ner-m3353.html

Where in the heck did those arches come from? I figured the 1934 makeover by Stile O. Clements was mostly cosmetic.
___

I'm neither an architect nor an engineer, so feel free to correct me, but looking at these two photos I believe the arches were the original underlying structure & the square blocks were just a facade. The top of the arch has a recess that probably held the terracotta keystone. When the streamline remodel was done, the first floor facade was removed which exposed the actual building structure & was then covered by the newer facade. I wish they would restore it.

[PHX31]

/\ I think you are right... You can see in the original design there was a bit of a ledge under the second story. The ground floor facade came out from the building at least a foot or two. In the current photo the ledge is totally gone as is the entire ground floor facade. Those arches are what have always/originally been there as the underlying structure.

[GaylordWilshire]

Not long ago, while checking out material on Marion Parker, I came across this shot of the house at 212 S. Wilton Place, which, since it's black & white, I took to be vintage at first glance. Then I noticed the old VW bug, so I knew the shot wasn't as vintage as I thought and decided not to do a "then and now" here. (The LAPL dates the shot as 1994.) Well, today in his brilliant blog Paradise Leased, Steve Vaught and his able and not-to-be trifled-with Gal Fridays, Nellie and Dora, have given the house a distinguished identity. For those of us who discovered the Los Angeles landscape in the movies and on TV and somehow conflated it with the American small-town myth, it is fitting that Judge Hardy once lived at 212 S. Wilton. Lewis Stone also lent his impressive judicial air to another house, a long-fabled one six blocks to the west. Check out the full story here: https://paradiseleased.wordpress.com...50000-mansion/.

Btw-- The block of Wilton Place between 2nd and 3rd is a Los Angeles street worth taking a look at--it is still composed almost entirely of its original 1920s houses. Although--I see I am going to have to take my chainsaw over there one night....


Pics: Paradise Leased; LAPL; Google SV

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL

A shot showing Ogden intact between 6th & Wilshire, as well as Genessee--the center of the three lower streets--before it was diverted to Ogden for the complex between Ogden & Spaulding.

GW's post brought to mind the fact that there were two streets that originally bisected the expansive area now claimed by the LACMA between Wilshire and Sixth Street. An older Thomas Guide might provide a more definitive answer, but whether it was Orange Grove or Ogden or Genesee, one road paralleled the Original May Co. complex. Another road, which is what I believe is depicted in GW's photo, eventually permitted access to what may have been called May Co's Annex store and a separate multi story parking complex. Look closely and you will notice two structures that were separated by a glorified alley "roughly" paralleling Wilshire.

http://jpg1.lapl.org

I recall visiting the parking structure when May Co. was conducting an "outdoor" sale "in" the structure. (This street closure causes me to recall another street closure - Genesee Avenue, which ran through CBS's Beverly-Fairfax facility and the Farmer's Mkt - now part of the Grove.)


_______________________________

For what its worth, motion pictures were taken of the May Co. ground breaking. Even a Goodyear blimp was on hand. Video is found on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqbeebckw7M

_______________________________

This wonderful thread has touched on many "noirish" gas stations. Combining gas stations with Miracle Mile May Company, causes me to recall a station adjacent to the May Co., - on the corner of Fairfax and Sixth Street. I vaguely remember the station from the early 80's. It may have been self-service, in that the gas pumps required the use of silver-dollar sized tokens. "Power"-something?

*This photo evidently pre-dates the gas station, but I do not believe it has been posted here before. In the center of the picture is a white rectangle. I am guessing it was a loading dock, but I suppose it could have been an access to a subterranean area. Note the road bisecting the property between Wilshire and Sixth Street.



*Look closely and you can see the image of that station near the May Co. "M" in this photo (3:30 O'clock, far right hand side.) The picture indicates the presence of a spire - that I do not remember.



*In the quest to locate a photo of the subject gas station, I noticed the third photo (ca '51). It appears to have been taken from the NE corner of 6th and Fairfax looking SW. I believe the Whelan Drugs is currently occupied by a Dollar Store.




http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/whit-m1428.html?x=1335382897948

[GaylordWilshire]

It seems that both Orange Grove (red bullets) and Ogden (yellow bullets) at some point ran between Wilshire and 6th. The
map is from a 1943 pocket atlas; at right is a fragment from a 1965 aerial.



Illustrations: Historic Map Works; LAPL

[GaylordWilshire]

LAPL


A great 1924 map I don't remember seeing here before....

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

GW's post brought to mind the fact that there were two streets that originally bisected the expansive area now claimed by the LACMA between Wilshire and Sixth Street. An older Thomas Guide might provide a more definitive answer, but whether it was Orange Grove or Ogden or Genesee, one road paralleled the Original May Co. complex. Another road, which is what I believe is depicted in GW's photo, eventually permitted access to what may have been called May Co's Annex store and a separate multi story parking complex. Look closely and you will notice two structures that were separated by a glorified alley "roughly" paralleling Wilshire.

I recall visiting the parking structure when May Co. was conducting an "outdoor" sale "in" the structure. (This street closure causes me to recall another street closure that ran through CBS's Beverly-Fairfax facility and the Farmer's Mkt now part of the Grove.)


_______________________________

For what its worth, motion pictures were taken of the May Co. ground breaking. Even a Goodyear blimp was on hand. Video is found on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqbeebckw7M

_______________________________

This wonderful thread has touched on many "noorish" gas stations. Combining gas stations with Miracle Mile May Company, causes me to recall a station adjacent to the May Co., - on the corner of Fairfax and Sixth Street. I vaguely remember the station from the early 80's. It may have been self-service, in that the gas pumps required the use of silver-dollar sized tokens. "Power"-something?

*This photo evidently pre-dates the gas station, but I do not believe it has been posted here before. In the center of the picture is a white rectangle. I am guessing it was a loading dock, but I suppose it could have been an access to a subterranean area. Note the road bisecting the property between Wilshire and Sixth Street.



*Look closely and you can see the image of that station near the May Co. "M" in this photo (3:30 O'clock, far right hand side.) The picture indicates the presence of a spire - that I do not remember.



*In the quest to locate a photo of the subject gas station, I noticed the third photo (ca '51). It appears to have been taken from the NE corner of 6th and Fairfax looking SW. I believe the Whelan Drugs is currently occupied by a Dollar Store.




http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/whit-m1428.html?x=1335382897948

there was indeed a 76 gas station there til at least the late 90s,i use to fill my bike tires up there.it was a very mid century station,i want to say it had a garage,but what i remember most is that there was no boarderline for the may company and gas station.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I briefly lived on Cochran as well sopas_ej!
My apartment was just north of Wilshire on the west side of Cochran behind the 5455 Tower.
google street view

There is an interesting series of photos depicting Bob's Air Mail Service Station at 5453 Wilshire - next door to your former residence. The quad-engined ("4" propellers/12 blades) and twin-boomed aircraft "The Happy Landing" memorably forms the center piece of a Mobil gas station. (Notice the Neon at the leading edge of the wings: "It's Faster - It's Better") (Some of the photos may be attributable to LIFE, others seem to be part of Pomona Pub Library's collection. All of the photos are circa '36. One or two have been posted here before, but am presently unable to locate them using the search function.) At least one of the photos depicts a painted advertisement for "Wilshire Cochran Apartments." The second photo is also noteworthy because under its nose is "A&P Parking" which was the subject of other posts on this forum.

I have wondered how the aircraft came to be placed there. Was it flown to one of the nearby airstrips (at Wilshire and Fairfax) and taxied to the Cochran site, or was it moved a la the "Spruce Goose" and "Big Rock," and later assembled. I also wonder how long it lasted. Until the Lee Tower construction?
______________________

Long gone former residents of that neighborhood in the '40s(?) (who remembered the Ritz Theater and also described another "art" theater ("Fox La Brea" 857 South LaBrea http://sites.google.com/site/wilshir...es/fox-la-brea ) have also mentioned that there was another gas station on the SW corner of Cochran and Third Street (Chevron?). Evidently, it was replaced by a mini-mall in the 80's. The A&P was replaced by "Roman Foods." But is it possible that the A&P moved west to larger quarters? Could it have moved to the location eventually occupied by an appliance store called "Adray's"? Or, was it Adray's that occupied Van DeKamps, or was that DuPars?

Then there is another topic peripherally mentioned in this forum (what topic hasn't been touched upon?), the Three Stooges. I mention this because they shot some sequences of a '36 short entitled "False Alarms" at Station 61. Locations on Larchmont have been documented elsewhere on this forum. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show....php?p=5080555 (Thanks gsjansen!) Likewise, Moe and Curly had homes on Highland; although, it is strongly believed that Moe also had another nearby residence on Vista or Martel between Beverly and Third Street - possibly when he shot False Alarms.

http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Fullscreen....nd=calisphere#



http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogsp...acific-in.html






http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Three...,r:13,s:0,i:96

http://www.lafire.com/stations/FS061/FS061.htm




http://www.lafire.com/stations/FS061..._1929-1984.htm

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by unihikid

there was indeed a 76 gas station there till at least the late 90s, i used to fill my bike tires up there. It was a very mid century station, I want to say it had a garage, but what I remember most is that there was no borderline for the may company and gas station.

Thanks for the reply.

I did not frequent that station except for a few times in '79 or '80. In keeping with the character of LA, the station probably started out as one brand and morphed into the Powerine-Powerline-Powersomething I am trying to remember. Thus, it would not be surprising to learn that it changed into a Union/76, as you mention. I distinctly recall the inconvenience of exchanging cash for tokens. In fact, I vaguely remember some patrons using "Ike" Dollars in place of the tokens since they carried the same value as the tokens. And now that I think about it, there may have been one or two other similar stations in or near Westwood or Santa Monica, because the tokens were practically worthless at any place other than one of these stations.

From my extremely vague memory, the station I remember shared a common blacktop with the May Co's parking lot, but the station was barely demarcated by a chain link fence. The station's motif did not stand out in my mind other than it was white and basically set up for selling petrol and smokes. I could be wrong, but remember the air being available from its own island near the NE corner of the station plot. As noted in the earlier post, I do not recall a tall spire. Nor do I recall any covered garage or lift. (A picture sure would be nice to establish how much I have forgotten.)

Since that post I have been reminded that the Chevon station catacorner from Fire Station 61 (on Third Street) did have a small garage with a lift. It was apparently a magnet for parking the wrecks that resulted from accidents at that intersection. West on Third Street - before reaching the Farmer's Market on Fairfax, one would pass the Gilmore Drive In which later was occupied by a nursery (Mordigans?) On the South side of the street, after passing Park La Brea (Tav sign?), you might pass a former Restaurant that later became Lohmans? Then there was the Town and Country Market, with BRITTS Department Store - part of the JJ Newberry chain (Now KMart) and the Mayfair Market (or was it a Safeway?). In the other direction (East) there were car dealerships on La Brea (Irv White Buick) Pontiac, Ford, Chrysler Plymouth and a Ralphs grocery store on Third and LaBrea.

_______________________________


Speaking of the Kiddie Park where the Beverly Center now plots, I vaguely remember at the corner of Beverly and La Cienega an impediment in the middle of the road that was a vestige of oil well that was supposedly removed 30-40 years earlier(?) See: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug...-then-20100821
Feb 16, '31:
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...chs-m8531.html

___________________________________

Dupars on Wilshire (mentioned in earlier post)
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/D...Search&index=w

Another interesting shot of Park LaBrea.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045566.jpg

[3940dxer]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

...A great 1924 map I don't remember seeing here before....

That is a great map, and it reveals a lot of things about early road system in the SF Valley - thanks! My only disappointment is that, like nearly every other old street map I've seen of the L.A. area, it omits Lookout Mountain and Laurel Canyon. It's weird but all the Valley maps seem to use Mulholland as a southern boundary, and the L.A. city maps cut off at around Laurel Canyon and Sunset...they never show the Canyon itself, or more particularly the little roads in the Canyon. Oh well...still very glad you posted this, GW. Love the old town names...Girard, Zelzah...and Wahoo!

[BifRayRock]

Gary Leonard '85

Beverly and LaCienega March '50 (from the Rexall Drug Parking Lot looking NW? Before Cedars and the Beverly Center)

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067276.jpg

From same Rexall parking lot ca.'50?

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/P...seID=968&index

Ansel Adams ca. '40 LaCienega
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=4780957







and a little further south on La Cienega where it intersects with Wilshire: (Source indicates 1930?)
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=70820

[3940dxer]

BifRayRock, welcome to the thread and thanks for the excellent posts! I'm loving all the photos you added, especially the Bob's Airmail shots (much better than the ones I had seen before).

I wonder exactly where that oil pump was, on La Cienega? It would be fun to see a "now" image of that spot.

[unihikid]

Bifray,growing up in the 80s and 90s i remember the car dealership on labrea and 3rd very well,at that time it was a "OK" dealership,they went out of business in about 95,i was getting into cameras by then and i had to past this lot on my way to pan pacific camera.anyways the building was white and it had a bunch of "OK" neon signs and i asked the guy who was "working" there if i could have one of the signs and he said sure,so the next day i go by to pick it up and all of them are gone,the guy said some other guy picked them up.the dealership is now a trader joes.

But i love the pictures of that area,i didnt know dupars was on wilshire! and the old 61,i remember them building the new 61 but this is my first time seeing the mission 61.that whole area has changed so much,the tennis courts for park labrea are now town homes,the nursery that was just past pan pacific park is now nordstroms,and the grove.

[alanlutz]

I'm only up to page 155 of this thread so far but found this great picture from 1948 of Barclay Hotel back on that page that I love.



Compare with my shots of the neighborhood recently: The "Henley Apartments" is really the Barclay Marquee replaced on one side for shooting the TV Show "Touch".



Here is the other side of the marquee. Looks original:



And on the corner is the Bank Building. Not nearly as good a perspective as the 1948 shot but i recognized the intersection right away after visiting.

[BifRayRock]

Here are a few additional fleeting glimpses of the Gas Station located North of the May Company.

Apropos of GW's most recent post, the no-longer-existent "Orange Grove" is plainly visible in the middle aerial shot. I submit the photo is probably from the 60's since it depicts the adjacent Annex and Parking structure. Interestingly, the bottom most photo indicates the existence of a structure on Fairfax directly behind the May Co. Notice the cars driving between the two structures? Was it temporary or just short-lived?

The sourced notes indicate the bottom most picture was taken in '55. It includes a bit of the gas station's "spire" (an homage to Zeppelin masts or a misplaced Chimney?) In any event, that would tend to indicate the Station existed in the 50's.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater

and



http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater

Pomona Pb Lbhttp://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt9d5nc791/

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

BifRayRock, welcome to the thread and thanks for the excellent posts! I'm loving all the photos you added, especially the Bob's Airmail shots (much better than the ones I had seen before).

I wonder exactly where that oil pump was, on La Cienega? It would be fun to see a "now" image of that spot.

Thank you! I stumbled upon this thread some months ago and every time I tried to Register the board was overloaded. Tried it again and got lucky.

I have always been fascinated with the Miracle M and West Hollywood areas because of stories I heard from folks who grew up there. There are more shots of Bob's Airmail gas station, but they don't appear to be easily discovered. I would love to find a shot of the neon on the wings lit up - even if its only sepia toned!

Regarding the location of the Oil Well, I distinctly recall there being an island in the middle of LaCienega just a few yard before LaC intersected with Beverly. This was probably before the Beverly Center was built, but it could have been there even after the construction. It was covered with tire carcasses much the way some docks are covered. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of other middle of the road wonders in that area. I also am pretty sure I have seen aerial photos of the same derrick with the hills clearly in the background.

From the LA Times:"An oil well on La Cienega?" http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug...-then-20100821

When the wooden derrick was constructed in 1907, it was in the middle of a bean field. After the boulevard was extended in 1930, motorists had to zigzag around the well.
August 21, 2010|By Steve Harvey, Special to The Times

Driving around Southern California, you never know where you'll find oil.
Drilling platforms, for example, can be seen on the Coyote Hills golf course in Fullerton, in the parking lot of Huntington Beach's City Hall and outside Curley's Cafe in Signal Hill. There's even a derrick tucked inside the Beverly Center, near the parking area for Bloomingdale's. But one of the area's most unusual drilling sites is just a memory now. It was a well that stood in the middle of La Cienega Boulevard from 1930 to 1946, forcing drivers to zigzag around it. "Pictures and stories about it have been sent all over the globe," The Times noted in 1945.
The oil island, between Beverly Boulevard and 3rd Street, became a running gag. Times columnist Fred Beck quipped in 1944 that it was "squeaking badly and needs oil." Originally part of the Rancho La Brea land grant, the well helped "give Los Angeles a reputation for eccentricity," The Times noted. Of course, when the wooden derrick was constructed in 1907, it wasn't in the middle of La Cienega Boulevard. It was in the middle of a bean field. La Cienega didn't run that far north. Then, in 1930, the city extended the roadway from Santa Monica Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard. Who knew? There was always a chance that it might be needed if traffic on the Westside ever increased.
But "there was much discussion and controversy over the fate of the well," The Times said. "The city refused to pay what the owners believed the well to be worth. The owners refused to accept less." So the well stayed. In later years it was given a bit of ornamentation: whiskey billboards on the north and south sides. "The well is fenced and parked as if it were an ornamental fountain or statue," The Times wrote in 1938.
Eventually the owners decided it would be more profitable to operate a drugstore in the area, so the land was rezoned and the oil well dismantled.
Of course, the well wasn't the only petroleum-producing road obstacle in the nation. Barnsdall, Okla. (population: 1,325) put up a derrick in the middle of Main Street in 1914. It's still there as a landmark, but it no longer pumps oil. No one can remember it ever causing an accident — that's how light traffic is on Main Street. "We don't have any stoplights in town," said Joe Williams, president of the local Bigheart Historical Society.
On La Cienega Boulevard, of course, there are plenty of stoplights and no traces of the old bean fields (unless you count the nearby Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet). The Beverly Center stands a few feet from the old well site.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by unihikid

Bifray,growing up in the 80s and 90s i remember the car dealership on labrea and 3rd very well,at that time it was a "OK" dealership,they went out of business in about 95, . . . the dealership is now a trader joes.

I'm wondering if the Trader Joes was a Chevrolet dealership.

While Ralphs Supermarket has been at the same location for years, it has not always been on the same footprint. If I am not mistaken, Ralph's took over the land formerly occupied by Irv White Buick. Further North on La Brea may have been a Pontiac dealership and maybe a Ford of Mercury dealer on the West side of the Street.

In the other direction, South on La Brea, there had been a host of Chrysler affiliated dealerships. Indeed, GaylordWilshire previously posted a picture of the building at 611 S. LaBrea that started out as a DeSoto dealership (maybe he can use some magic and find some more). Stills from the Three Stooges "False Alarms" short have previously appeared in this forum and they have included a few pictures of what is probably the same Third and La Brea intersection looking South. Notice in one shot what appears to be a huge neon Chevy bowtie logo on the left, the "Dodge" signs on the right, and the ubiquitous Skyscraper in the background found at the intersection of LaBrea and Wilshire.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozfan22...n/photostream/

and now:http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TO...12346%20AM.jpg

http://www.bradhallart.com/bradflix/wilshire.html


http://www.ebay.com/itm/West-Los-Ang...-/120853554943