noirish Los Angeles

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Really!? I love you CityBoyDoug, but are you making this up to fit with the current discussion of the American-Bund?

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Well ER, I know this all sounds strange and unreal but I'm not making any of this up. Those were my wild youth days.

I lived in Hollywood at that time while I attended Art Center college. I knew many people then. I lived on Eleanor Street and Santa Monica Blvd...1970 -1976.

I forget the name of the Preview House MC. He was a handsome dark blond fellow who actually looked a lot like George Fenneman of Groucho fame. He was always concerned about his looks. After I attended his party he later invited later me to his home. He lived in a nice apartment north of 3rd St. east of the Farmer's Market area. Its a long story but as I left he handed me a stack of old Mizer's Athletic Guild magazines...Physique Pictorial.

I attended other Hollywood parties, a couple of which I'm embarrassed to remember.

The current discussion brought back all of those rather old memories. BTW, I thought that the Preview House evening was a bore. I attended with my friend and he won the rigged prize....not me...LOL.

[GaylordWilshire]

CBG, you're a regular Zelig.... I'm still trying to figure out the odds of you spotting your aunt in a photograph of a crowd decades later--whatever it was.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

....the 1934 La Crescenta-Montrose flood tragedy It's so sad that twelve people died inside this Legion Hall.(as well as the 33 deaths elsewhere)
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It seems extra sad that those twelve died after they thought they'd reached safety (and it seems kind of callous that the American Legion reused the building).

That is an outstanding map of the flood. Thx so much for that. In the small size it just looks like a minor spill:

adventuresofrustywaters

The force and speed must have been incredible. According to the LAT article, Homer Higley's body was swept through the Verdugo Hills and into the LA River. His remains were finally recovered from the ocean.

[ethereal_reality]

So far on NLA, we've seen, or have mentioned...

Bohemian Grill (Vine Street)
Stark's Bohemian Café (Santa Monica Blvd.)
Bohemian Tavern (Pasadena)
& La Boheme (Sunset)



Yet, this flood scene shows a 'Bohemian Grove' on a un-named street in Los Angeles.


eBay



newspaper version:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1934-Vintage...item19fefbca77

So where was 'Bohemian Grove' located? -is it the Victorian in the center, or the destroyed building on the left? (refer to the top photograph)
__________


The only 'Bohemian Grove' I am aware of, is the ultra-mysterious (and ultra-creepy) 'retreat' up near San Francisco.
If you haven't heard of this place, you're in for a real treat.
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[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Hindenburg Park was not a public park per se....it was owned by a German~American organization. The 15 acres [3 city blocks] was sold for $91,000 to the County of Los Angeles in 1956.

I'm telling you the way things were in the Sixties and Seventies. We knew that technically the area west of Dunsmore was part of Crescenta Valley Park, and it was not separately posted, but we all called it Hindenburg Park nonetheless.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Otis, do you remember any remnants of this stone gate? (I imagine the stone lions were long gone by the time you visited the park as a youth)


detail of postcard

I thought we might be able to figure out where the old gate was located by looking at the mountains in the background.

There may have been footings that remained, but that's it. The park as I remember it is very much like the current picture. It had a gravel parking lot that was separated from the park by a concrete-lined wash (debris channel). The park itself was fairly unimproved--no playground equipment, just some picnic benches and those metal barbecue things. A large expanse of grass, broken by some stands of trees, was bordered on the opposite side of the parking lot by residences; the park elided gracefully up into the undeveloped Verdugo Mountain wilds.

It was a marvelous place to play a huge game of Capture the Flag. We were entirely innocent of the knowledge of its unsavory past.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

CBG, you're a regular Zelig.... I'm still trying to figure out the odds of you spotting your aunt in a photograph of a crowd decades later--whatever it was.

I suppose its like winning the lottery, GW...there's always a slim chance that you'll win. I still remember the time that ER found the carpeted hallway of the apartment building of our family friend...Harry Stout.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Wow. I just found this photograph on flickr!

"Old stone gate at Crescenta Valley Park."


Scott Lowe at https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottlowe/6981540812/

Do you think there use to be stone lions at the top of this one as well? -notice the spikes

I'm going to see if I can find the stone arch in any of the vintage photographs, back when it was Hindenburg Park.

This gate is at the very bottom of New York Avenue. It and the surrounding area are very close to where I grew up, and I've always been fascinated by it.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for sharing this with us HG.
Kind of eerie that you were digging up the detritus of the 1934 flood so many years later.
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I've been trying to find information on the 'Van Deusen Estate', that was also noted on the 1934 flood map.
If you turn your head to the left and squint , you can see that it was located on 'Castle Road'.
That makes me wonder if the road was named after the estate? (that is, if the estate resembled a castle)



So far, I haven't come up with anything.
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This actually connects directly back to Noirdom. In the short story "Nevada Gas", Raymond Chandler sends the action up to Castle Road, right up to where it was taken out by the floodwaters. I don't recall offhand whether the Van Deusen estate is mentioned.

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thanks for the update on the Parkinson house. I'll stop looking for it.

P.S. Could the N Curson house have been German Counsel George Gyssling's residence? How did you associate it with the German government of the time?

In the 1938 city directory, I found that the business address of the consulate was 117 West 9th, and that entry also gave his name as Georg Gyssling.
From there it was simple to check the same volume for an entry on Georg Gyssling, which I did find thereby learning that his residential address was the Curson Street house. Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.

I posted the same information last night but "never-minded" my post when I learned that the Curson house was not the same as the one pictured in the original post upthread.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

So far on NLA, we've seen, or have mentioned...

Bohemian Grill (Vine Street)
Stark's Bohemian Café (Santa Monica Blvd.)
Bohemian Tavern (Pasadena)
& La Boheme (Sunset)

Yet, this flood scene shows a 'Bohemian Grove' on a un-named street in Los Angeles.
__

How extensive were the 1934 New Year's Day floods? The SF Examiner could have erred in calling a location in one of the LA Crescenta Valley communities "Los Angeles". Still couldn't find it though.


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Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

This gate is at the very bottom of New York Avenue.

And there it is. Thx:

gsv

[Those Who Squirm!]

I can read German, and will provide a complete translation of this in a day or two, provided nobody else beats me to it. (Or has already done so.)

Having glanced at the first paragraph, this says essentially that the Hollywood movie industry, in the early years of Nazi Germany, was more interested in avoiding "controversial" political themes, as Europe was the largest foreign market for American films.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

lapl


I just found this:


http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/35/35067/1.html

Does anyone know who Elly Beihorn is? The site I found this on is in German (I couldn't get it to translate)

[Graybeard]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

lapl


I just found this:


http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/35/35067/1.html

Does anyone know who Elly Beihorn is? The site I found this on is in German (I couldn't get it to translate)

http://translate.google.com/translat...ml&prev=search

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I've been trying to find information on the 'Van Deusen Estate', that was also noted on the 1934 flood map.
If you turn your head to the left and squint , you can see that it was located on 'Castle Road'.
That makes me wonder if the road was named after the estate? (that is, if the estate resembled a castle)



So far, I haven't come up with anything.

I found the paragraphs below in a book called 'The Great Crescenta Valley Flood: New Year's Day 1934' by Art Cobery. They tell us that Mrs Ward Van Deusen of Castle Road was president of the La Cresenta Woman's Club. If I were Mrs Van Deusen, I'm not sure I'd want my initials engraved on my silverwear!


books.google.com

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

How extensive were the 1934 New Year's Day floods? The SF Examiner could have erred in calling a location in one of the LA Crescenta Valley communities "Los Angeles". Still couldn't find it though.


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And there it is. Thx:

gsv

That arch, I believe, was the entrance to a picnic area where at one time the L.A. Sheriff's had their annual BBQ fund raisers. I have seen photos of the picnic but can't remember in what book.

[ethereal_reality]

I just took the google-mobile over to see the arch.

I almost missed it altogether, it's partially hidden by shrubs at the end of dead end road (New York Avenue)
It made me appreciate it all the more. The location makes it all the more mysterious.

can u spot it?

GSV

Did you have trouble finding it t2? I don't think we would have ever found it without Otis's directions. -So thanks Otis!

[ethereal_reality]

ephemera, dated 1926.

eBay


The old Steam Corp. building is still there...painted black with green and tan stars.


gsv


I couldn't help but notice the attractive building down the street a bit. Here's a closer look.


GSV

It's really impressive; let's try to dig up some information on it.

[GaylordWilshire]

I wonder what the purpose of the remailings was...


The other building (3430 S Hill) was built to be occupied by the Miller Tire Co--architect John De Lario--according to the Times of June 23, 1929.... Goodrich took it over the next year.

[HossC]

I'm sure we've discussed this block of W 7th Street before, but my quick search only yielded a post by e_r about the Wilshire Place Hotel & Apartments. This slide, dated January 1963, shows 7th Street at Magnolia Avenue. The photography sign above the streetcar belonged to the Alfred & Fabris Studio at 2901 W 7th Street.


eBay

It looks like the building on the right has given way to a parking lot. The Wilshire Place Hotel & Apartments building is just visible on the far left of both images.


GSV

[GaylordWilshire]

Looks like the roof of the Ambassador in the distance...


unknown


Have had this '56 Chevrolet in my files for a while...thought maybe there'd been a post on Courtesy Chevrolet here before, but nothing turned up.


GSV

This building seems familiar


Found it...




We've seen it recently here in post 21317