noirish Los Angeles

[Flyingwedge]

This hotel (1904-66) was at 1800 W. 7th @ Burlington. er introduced us to it, and there were a couple other posts that I could find:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9986
from Muji, who also wrote this on the Pepper/Wesley Terrace: http://urbandiachrony.wordpress.com/...nue-1905-2011/

and

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12617
from Mr. Swink, who included some nice closeups from USC's 1905 photo: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/8256

But here's more . . . .

1906 Sanborn Map:

LAPL

January 30, 1912:

Huntington Digital Library -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../12554/rec/880

Let's take a closer look:



1929; on the inside it looked a little more conventional. With so many light bulbs missing (removed just for the photo?), that room seems like it would be a little dark without the
flash from the camera. Perhaps that's why the woman at front left apparently has a flashlight:

USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/13772/rec/3

1958:

CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...HYXT25E6BJ.jpg

1958:

CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...LKLQGAYA9T.jpg

1963:

LAPL -- http://jpg2.lapl.org/spnb1/00017410.jpg

1964 (larger version than previously posted):

CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...65YIXR35AU.jpg

1964:

CA State Library -- http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...RPF4VHR3MJ.jpg

[GaylordWilshire]

LA Times, Nov 13, 1904/July 20, 1913


The Pepper seems to have had many changes of ownership over the years, including within a couple of years of opening. It was some time after the transaction mentioned below that it became the Wesley Terrace... not sure of exactly when, but it appears to have been before the end of 1918.



LA Herald, Sept 6, 1903/LA Times, Dec 3, 1916




LA Herald, Jan 8, 1905

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=8428

This is one photo from a great series of photos posted by kznyc2k in the above link detailing Pershing Square through the 30's & 40's. It is Carole Landis doing her part for the War Bond drive. My question is, does anyone know what those numerous things are stacked on the shelves on either side of her legs? They look like lunch boxes. Perhaps they were (war bond lunches?), but I am curious if anyone has the scoop?

They look like glass blocks with a label around them, although why they would be sitting by themselves on shelves is a mystery

[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LA Times, Nov 13, 1904/July 20, 1913


The Pepper seems to have had many changes of ownership over the years, including within a couple of years of opening. It was some time after the transaction mentioned below that it became the Wesley Terrace... not sure of exactly when, but it appears to have been before the end of 1918.



LA Times, Dec 3, 1916



LA Herald, Jan 8, 1905/Sept 6, 1903

I know that all you affectionados of early 20th Century Los Angeles architecture are not going to appreciate this, but I have to say the Hotel Pepper has to rank right up there with the ugliest buildings I have ever seen or of which I have seen a photo image. Also ranking up there in the most "ugly" category was that architectural mishmash someone posted recently where each floor had a different exterior than the others.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

1929; on the inside it looked a little more conventional. With so many light bulbs missing (removed just for the photo?), that rooms seems like it would be a little dark without the
flash from the camera. Perhaps that's why the woman at front left apparently has a flashlight:

I was wondering who are these well dressed middle age people sitting in this impromptu classroom at the Hotel.

This is a ''law'' class of some kind according to the photo ID. My guess is they're studying so they can take the CA Real Estate License Exam. Any other ideas?

[nostalgie]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Thank you Martin for this post. Most interesting.

My mother used to tell me about the days when she lived at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Orphanage next door to the church and Cross Roads of the World. This was around 1930, after her mother had died of cancer.

I outlined the building with blue. I doubt that its still an orphanage. Her job was to prepare breakfast for the little ones each morning. One day she burnt the toast and the nuns were not happy. She was there for a year or so and then her father shipped her off to our relatives in Kansas. This was the Great Depression era and money was very tight. When she arrived in KS she gave the black Pullman Porter a 10 cent tip....after buying meals and such on the train, all she had left was 15 cents.


Sky F.

Never knew there was an orphanage at Blessed Sacrament. The building you've marked is the parish school; always assumed that's what it was built for. Always something new to learn here - thanks!

[HossC]

I've really enjoyed all the color pictures of Bunker Hill that have been posted here recently.
Here's three more from the Huntington Digital Library which are all dated September 1970.
I'm not sure if any/all have been posted before, but bear with me.


Huntington Digital Library


Huntington Digital Library


Huntington Digital Library

They all seem to be taken from the same location at the same time, so I couldn't resist stitching them together. I've also tweaked the colors.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

They look like glass blocks with a label around them, although why they would be sitting by themselves on shelves is a mystery

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Square glass "piggy" bank to put your change in until you had enough to buy a bond.
Cheers,
Earl

THANKS OLDSTUFF & EARL!
____________

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Here is another coin bank below.

Doug, enjoyed hearing about your mother and the Blessed Sacrament orphanage. I don't exactly know what they do there now.
___________

Great work on the Bunker Hill photos HossC.!
___________

I agree with your opinion of that building, too, Retired in Texas!
___________

Originally Posted by sopas ej

A Burbank drugstore, 1940.

LAPL

I wonder where exactly this was.

Lockheed newsstand, 1941

LAPL

Lol @ Lockheed employees reading comic books!
(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Did Otis really outfit his building with cute lights?

Indeed, very much so:

Huntington Digital Library -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../15036/rec/607

P.S. I hold no brief for the design of the Hotel Pepper! But I think we can all agree that it was unique, anyway.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by nostalgie

Never knew there was an orphanage at Blessed Sacrament. The building you've marked is the parish school; always assumed that's what it was built for. Always something new to learn here - thanks!

I heard this story many times from my mother. Her father was supposed to pay for her upkeep at the orphanage on Sunset Blvd., but he was hit hard by the Depression of the 1930s and had a difficult time taking care of himself.

The nuns finally asked him to remove her and she transferred to the Church Home for Children. [I've been there but I do not know if it is still operating.] She once told me about when a wealthy lady would drive up in a big black car and give the Home for Children a box of oranges. [circa 1932]

She was always trying to impress on me how good I had it as a child...[.after she married a successful professional man]. My life from age one to five was noir to the max. At one point we had to flee LA in the middle of the night to hide out in an attempt to avoid her first husband and his violent temper [he had burned all of her clothes-photos, smashed all of my toys and broke all the furniture.]. There was a warrant for his arrest for attempted murder of her father [pictured below] which I witnessed as a child. There was blood everywhere on the living room floor.

Here is my grandfather...[maternal], taken in front of his apartment on 1006 North El Centro Ave., Hollywood. The building is still there. He worked as a bookkeeper, stenographer, real estate sales but his favorite work was as a Spiritualist Lecturer.

[Ninja55]

[IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG][/IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

My Dad, Lawrence Rovere was the manager of his uncle's place Lucca. It was robbed on Mother's Day of 1955 of all the day's receipts. Mother's Day was one of if not the busiest day of the year. The criminals got away with aprox. $ 40,000 so my dad use to tell me. The place didn't have insurance and Uncle Bert was ready for retirement anyway, so they closed the place up. Bert died a couple of years later and our family made its way to Vegas where we've been since.

[Ninja55]

[Ninja55]

[Ninja55]

[Ninja55]

[Ninja55]

My dad says they use to do around 10,000 covers a day. Pretty impressive.

[GaylordWilshire]

Vintage Los Angeles


LAPL


Before the Vincent Thomas bridge was built, there was the LA's municipal ferry Islander between San Pedro and Terminal Island. The photo might look older than it is, given the '49 Buick...looks like a '55 or '56 Chrysler--maybe a DeSoto?--this side of it.

The Islander made her last run on November 14, 1963.

[MichaelRyerson]

Great panorama HossC. I'm always surprised to see how long the L.A. Gas & Electric Building held on. I poached a copy (with attribution of course) for my photo-stream. I hope you don't mind. Let me know if it's a problem.

What a story CityBoyDoug, noir indeed. Life isn't always a bed of roses.

[Wig-Wag]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Vintage Los Angeles


LAPL


Before the Vincent Thomas bridge was built, there was the LA's municipal ferry Islander between San Pedro and Terminal Island. The photo might look older than it is, given the '49 Buick...looks like a '55 or '56 Chrysler--maybe a DeSoto?--this side of it.

The Islander made her last run on November 14, 1963.

Wonderful photos, GW. Based on the size and angle of the windshield plus the shape of the hood, I would argue that the car in the foreground is a 1953-55 Studebaker.

Cheers,
Jack

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL

The ferry building had the good fortune of becoming the LA Maritime Museum. And right outside is the only place (so far as I'm aware) that you can ride a red car on an actual former PE line:


Photo by me, 2007

They have 2 replica cars for daily service, and one genuine restored PE car (pictured above) used mostly on special occasions, on a short line which uses part of the former PE line as clearly illustrated by the older pic!