noirish Los Angeles

[FredH]

On a couple of occasions, there have been comments on the thread about how
the painted on passenger waiting zones for streetcars did not seem particularly safe:


http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_la_2011-02a.htm


Well, no less than Howard Hughes himself proved our fears justified.

Here he is being booked on suspicion of negligent homicide.


http://selvedgeyard.com/2009/03/10/h...-odd-behavior/

Wikipedia has the whole story:

On July 11, 1936, Hughes struck and killed a pedestrian named Gabriel S. Meyer with his car,
at the corner of 3rd Street and Lorraine in Los Angeles. Although Hughes was certified as sober
at the hospital to which he was taken after the accident, an attending doctor made a note that
Hughes had been drinking. A witness to the accident told police that Hughes was driving erratically
and too fast, and that Meyer had been standing in the safety zone of a streetcar stop. Hughes was
booked on suspicion of negligent homicide and held overnight in jail until his attorney, Neil McCarthy,
obtained a writ of habeas corpus for his release pending a coroner's inquest. By the time of the
coroner's inquiry, however, the witness had changed his story and claimed that Meyer had moved
directly in front of Hughes's car. Nancy Bayly (Watts), who was in the car with Hughes at the time
of the accident, corroborates this version. On July 16, 1936, Hughes was held blameless by a coroner's
jury at the inquest into Meyer's death. Hughes told reporters outside the inquiry, "I was driving slowly
and a man stepped out of the darkness in front of me."

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here are two parade photographs I came across this afternoon on ebay.

In the background is the impressive Ralph's on Wilshire (at Hauser I believe) that included, among other things, a violin shop!!
ebay





I posted this way back on page 15....Sept. of 2009. I thought it would be fun to view it again. (I've highlighted the Wilshire store in red)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=278
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The Lincoln Continental Mk I would likely date the first image to the late '40s, possibly early '50s. Toward the left one can catch a glimpse of was the beautiful but ever changing Western Auto Store Building. It now houses flap jacks.

Any info on the celebrity waving to the crowd and the nature of the parade?



http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=6845

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=11856


Before the parade.
http://miraclemilela.files.wordpress...s-clements.jpg http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16383


http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Lin...6-cinci-02.jpg

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

ebay

Image seems chronologically compatible with the above scene.
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/...5jj/hi-res.jpg




The Little Mending Shop seems to have survived through the late '80s. Maybe longer. Page 0411 in:
http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...00002/00000002

[ethereal_reality]

...more parade photos, mostly showing the spectators.


can you spot the cowboy?
ebay

It's odd that the large billboard is whited out. Why I wonder?


love the cat balloons on sticks/ not sure what the dice-like boxes with holes are.





is that Louella O. Parsons and her sister?
ebay





someone bought the little girl a chocolate ice cream cone.
ebay




these kids are dressed adorably.
ebay

-two of the girls must be sisters, they have matching coats. (and matching hair-dos)

[ethereal_reality]

I wasn't aware of this place.


ebay

[ethereal_reality]

I was pretty excited when I came across this photograph today.

Moon Festival 1938, Los Angeles Chinatown
ebay





I'm not sure if this is the same year, or same festival for that matter. It was labeled 'China-Nite'.
ebay

This might be the 1940s/ there's a warplane on the billboard at far right.

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[ethereal_reality]

I also came across this impressive image of The Plaza with the Lugo House and Chinatown in the background. (no date was given)

ebay

We've seen this view numerous times over the years on NLA, but the details are superb in this scan. (notice that there's already a gas-o-meter)
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[ethereal_reality]

R.I.P. Shirley Temple.

ebay

[Matthew]

The art deco moon and typeface are awesome!

Originally Posted by Graybeard

When we went to the library, I would head to the National Geographic section. Though I was too young to understand much of what was written, the pictures were excellent. A picture is indeed worth a 1000 words.

I was at a store with used books last summer and noticed a 1979 National Geographic with Los Angeles in it. I quickly looked through it, as Lauren gave me the "you're not buying another book, are you?" look. I only read a small part of the story and it didn't seem to be a good review of the city, but was interesting. If she wasn't with me, I would've bought it and posted from it here. Someone may want to find it and share it.

Ellis, William S. and Jodi Cobb. “Los Angeles: City in Search of Itself.” National Geographic, Jan. 1979, 26-59.

I did find one of the photographs from the story:



Source: http://photography.nationalgeographi...pod_image.html

[ethereal_reality]

I found this rare photograph for sale on ebay today.

Judge Silent's residence West Adams Street.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EARLY-ALBUME...item5661969242




walk your horses




If interested, go to gsjansen's epic post from 2010 on Judge Silent and the origins of Chester Place.
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=2037


GSJ included this photo from LAPL.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Silent
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[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by rlrdrken

Florence Coberly Stanton-She is still Rocking a Skirt and Blouse in 1958
1958-May 3rd Is arrested with her Mother for Shoplifting $2.22 worth of Groceries from Bond's Market located at 12160 Ventura Blvd, North Hollywood.

I recall my father had a wealthy female client who had been caught shoplifting coat hangers from a swanky Wilshire Blvd. department store. I guess he kept her out of jail until the next arrest. She needed psychological help.


Google image

[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

...more parade photos, mostly showing the spectators.

can you spot the cowboy?

WOW, ethereal reality, there's a LOT to look at in these fascinating pictures. In this pic, why does the woman look so frightened (A)? Is that Mayberry's Aunt B with a diminutive admirer (B)? And there's our cowboy, with an oddly-proportioned friend imitating his walk (C).
ebay

I immediately noticed a very sad-looking black youth in this shot. Was he not allowed to sit in the stands because of his race? Why does he look so unhappy during an otherwise happy event? Does this simple photo show the reality of race relations in our country at that point in history? The look on his face is heartbreaking to me. He looks like a good man, to me. Someone I would have been proud to be friends with (racial etiquette be damned!)
ebay

And, finally, the money-shot. There seems to be so much going on here. As you said, ethereal reality, "What is in those boxes?" Seems like it might have been a small animal (like a parakeet awarded as a prize at a carnival). The older woman (Grandma?) is obviously berating the boy with great vigor, but why? Does the open box indicate he accidentally let loose a prize animal? Maybe the poor boy just wanted to take a peek at the little animal, and it ran off. He looks totally depressed with the chastising. The other girls (sisters?) don't look too supportive of his plight, either.
ebay

[FredH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I was pretty excited when I came across this photograph today.

Moon Festival 1938, Los Angeles Chinatown
ebay





I'm not sure if this is the same year, or same festival for that matter. It was labeled 'China-Nite'.
ebay

This might be the 1940s/ there's a warplane on the billboard at far right.

__

ER - 1938 for the first photo seems like a good date. The full moon that year was on October 9th, so the Moon Day festival starting on October 8th makes sense.
Also, the Koldee ice cream the kid with the cart was selling was out about then.

On the second photo, the L.A. Library has this...


LAPL

...which was obviously taken at the same festival. They have their photo dated 1940. The girls in the photo all are wearing ribbons,
which would lead me to believe that they may have been Miss. Chinatown contestants, or some such. I'm thinking maybe it was Chinese New Year??

The plane on the billboard looks like a Lockheed P-38


Wikipedia

The P-38's were being built at the Lockheed plant in Burbank, starting in the late 1930's. The billboard may have been an advertisement for workers.

If the date on the L.A. Library's photo is off a couple years (not out of the question) it is possible both photos could be from the 1938 Moon festival.

[alanlutz]

We are nearly at 1000 pages!!! In honor of that and all the fantastic work that has gone into this NLA Forum, I propose a meetup in L.A. for any who can make it. I plan to be downtown on Feb 23 and I know the LA Central Library is now open 1-5 on Sundays. Anyone know the digital archivist there and maybe we can plan something fun with viewing some sources or just chat and share. There is a small restaurant with a back room that also might be a great place for a meetup. I do realize that many of the greatest fans of this site are spread all over the U.S. (World) but if any are local, it might be quite the treat to match some faces with monikers. So as to save the chatter on this forum for discussing the photos de jour, email me if you're interested. If this is too short notice maybe suggest another date. alutz51@hotmail.com. but also please feel free to respond here if appropriate. Alan

[FredH]

Sorry if we have seen these before.

The 101 Freeway going through old Chinatown - 1949.


LAPL


LAPL

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Albany NY

[B]WOW, ethereal reality, there's a LOT to look at in these fascinating pictures.

The money-shot. There seems to be so much going on here. As you said, ethereal reality, "What is in those boxes?" Seems like it might have been a small animal (like a parakeet awarded as a prize at a carnival). The older woman (Grandma?) is obviously berating the boy with great vigor, but why? Does the open box indicate he accidentally let loose a prize animal? Maybe the poor boy just wanted to take a peek at the little animal, and it ran off. He looks totally depressed with the chastising. The other girls (sisters?) don't look too supportive of his plight, either.
ebay

Excellent job in fleshing out these parade photographs Albany_NY.


I was also disconcerted with this young girl yelling directly into the poor child's ear.
At first glance I thought she was going to bite it off.



Proof positive that even a parade has it's fair share of stressful situations.

[ethereal_reality]

I'm unsure where this open space is located that's large enough to host this giant flag.


Does anyone recognize this INN and Garage?
ebay
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[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Ellis, William S. and Jodi Cobb. “Los Angeles: City in Search of Itself.” National Geographic, Jan. 1979, 26-59.

To put it with this one, here's another NGM article about Los Angeles:

de Roos, Robert and Thomas Nebbia. “Los Angeles, City of the Angels.” National Geographic, Oct. 1962, 451-501

[Martin Pal]

Speaking of NGM, an article from about a year ago about Christie’s auction house selling a group of N.G. photos, included this one:



People chatting near a field of oil rigs on Signal Hill, Los Angeles, California, 1941

[ethereal_reality]

House falls into air raid shelter.

ebay