noirish Los Angeles

[sopas ej]

More San Gabriel Valley "noir."

Here's a view looking east along Huntington Drive at San Gabriel Boulevard, where the Rose Station of the Pacific Electric Car line was, just outside the San Marino city limits, in 1951.

pacificelectric.org

Woody & Eddy's no longer exists; that site is now occupied by a strip mall that includes a Starbucks. In 1957, Woody & Eddy's was the site of a holdup and shootout that resulted in the deaths a deputy and one of the bandits.

Read the story here, from the LA Times: Deputy Slain With Bandit, 2 Shot in Holdup Battle


LA Times

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by HossC

It looks like ancestry.com has some Pomona City Directories, but I don't have a subscription.

Is it just my impression, or has Ancestry.com been gobbling up online resources that used to be free? I do know they've acquired Findagrave.com, but AFAIK that's still free. We tried Ancestry and it seemed an obscenely expensive "service" when we couldn't find any of my recent ancestors and surviving family members. We have an unusual name and a definite paper trail of military service in the case of my parents' and grandparents' generations, but there was nothing.

Some of the larger public libraries have historic directories online.

[HossC]

I've been looking at some more of Doug White's photographs in the Huntington Digital Library. Many of them are undated, and locations are often no more accurate than "California". The one below is simply described as "Street lighting on a commercial street at night." Luckily, a sign for "King Av 5900" is just visible on the right. That puts us at the intersection of King Avenue and E Slauson Avenue in Maywood. The 1956 CD lists the Veterans of Foreign Wars No 2830 Foxhole Maywood (on the left) at 4621 E Slauson and the Casey Bearing Co Inc (on the right) at 4610 E Slauson. Looking at the cars, I'm guessing the picture dates from around a decade earlier.


Huntington Digital Library

Looking east on Slauson today. I can't see any buildings that survive from the picture above.


GSV

If Doug White had turned around, he would have seen the building in the center of the picture below on the south side of Slauson. The property sites give a build date of 1928. The motel, currently the Casa Linda, was apparently built in 1947, so it may have been there when Doug visited.


GSV

[HossC]

Another piece of Doug White's work. Again, there's no date or location. I see that the Shopping Bag in Alhambra was one of the stores robbed by The Man From Mars - does anyone know where this store was located?


Huntington Digital Library

[Wig-Wag]

Here is another image from my recent acquisition of LARY/LATL photos. We have LATL 1429 on the S-Line. I dove the route on Google but was unable to pinpoint the location. I think it is on the Hollywood end of the line as I seem to recall more undulation in the streets on that side of town.

The S-Line route for anyone who wants to do some sleuthing is: Watts to East Hollywood; by way of Central Avenue, Florence Avenue, Avalon Boulevard, Vernon Avenue, Vermont Street, 3rd Street, and Western Avenue.

Cheers,
Jack

[HossC]

Here's streetcar #1427 near the southern end of the S-Line. The seller dates the slide at April 9, 1958. The white building on the right is 777 E Gage Avenue, as identified by Lorendoc in post #23760. That post was a follow-up to a picture e_r posted of car #1428 slightly east of the one below. Lorendoc's post includes e_r's picture as well as a Sanborn map and an overhead view of the area.


eBay

I'd already found the location and taken this GSV image before I discovered Lorendoc's post, so I thought I might as well include it.


GSV

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Rear of buildings on First Street. Goodbye.

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/7939/rec/56

I really like this March 1958 photo and have gone back to look at it several times. The State of California Building, City Hall and City Hall South look like a misty Utopian dream of the 20th century compared to the darker, smaller, older brick building, which the Huntington identifies as the "Seattle Rms".

I'm particularly taken with the painted sign, revealed by the demolition, and was trying to figure out its vintage. Joseph Maier and George Zoebelein were in partnership since at least 1882. Maier died in 1904. Zoebelein had a disagreement with the Maier heirs and left to start Eastside beer (at the Los Angeles Brewery across the river, hence the beer's name) in 1907, so the sign's at least before that date. I remain mystified by "The 2 Johns Sample Rooms" text. I was hoping someone could explain it to me.

There's a rooftop sign too, "3 Palms....."(?) and the back of a complex billboard, on the left in the photo above..


(detail) http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/7939/rec/56

Today:

gsv

The Hilton DoubleTree Caltrans District 7 Headquarters eventually took the place of the brick buildings on the south side of East 1st:

gsv

Thx HossC for the correction :-) I remember various places on that block from the turn of the century. Bail bonds businesses, the Latino Art Musem (in a rehabbed Bank of America branch), etc.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's Elza Avenue on the 1910 Baist map. At the time, it looks like it didn't connect with Sunset.


www.historicmapworks.com

Four years later, and two years after e_r's picture, Elza Avenue loops its way down to Sunset


www.historicmapworks.com

Thank you for locating Elza Avenue for me Hoss.
It's very interesting to compare the two Baist maps. I didn't realize there was an area named "Maybery Heights".
Oh and look at Hamilton Way, and how it just ends at A. B. Chapman's parcel.


__

[HossC]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I'm particularly taken with the painted sign, revealed by the demolition, and was trying to figure out its vintage. Joseph Maier and George Zoebelein were in partnership since at least 1882. Maier died in 1904. Zoebelein had a disagreement with the Maier heirs and left to start Eastside beer (at the Los Angeles Brewery across the river, hence the beer's name) in 1907, so the sign's at least before that date. I remain mystified by "The 2 Johns Sample Rooms" text. I was hoping someone could explain it to me.

There's a rooftop sign too, "3 Palms....."(?) and the back of a complex billboard, on the left in the photo above..


(detail) http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/7939/rec/56

Here's an earlier view of the same block which shows the top of the ghost signs. The description says this picture is from June 1954. I think the rooftop sign mentioned by tovangar2 reads "3 PALMS PHARMACY", but it's still blurry at maximum zoom. The 1956 CD lists the Valez Pharmacy at 100 S Main, but I couldn't find the 3 Palms.


Huntington Digital Library

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

For a 1916 poster it's remarkable how much more recent the "typical one-story home" looks, as if it were a 1950s stucco tract house.

It's interesting how some districts like Palms and Hollywood were Dry as independent communities, then became Wet on being annexed to the City of L.A., and then went Dry again with the advent of national Prohibition.

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compou...id/56491/rec/8



In 1916, the year of the image, a Victorian/Queen Anne style home may have struck the wrong cord with the majority of prospective working class voters in the South Central District. Craftsman - Bungalow style was probably chic. No reason to depict multi-story structures since there probably weren't too many in rural South Central, and apartment dwellers were unlikely voters for going dry. (Unfairly or not) low rent apartment dwellers were probably stereotyped as transient riffraff unionists - who favored free-flowing libations.



(How astute were 1916 temperance propagandists? Could that chimney have been deliberately shaped like a beer/booze bottle neck? Choose a scary skull or the security and comfort of a nice home with a chimney - to burn garbage? )


1911 - "Main Street" Gardena Womens Christian Temperance Union "watering" hole?
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...CE3K9SYFX7.jpg








From where did most of LA Sportsmen obtain their ammo?

1930 - Tufts-Lyon Arms Co. (514 W 6th and 611 S Olive)
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...J3PYX9BVKC.jpg



Oviatt Bldg and neighbor, Tufts-Lyon (Source indicates '30s, cars may suggest earlier)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019153.jpg

[C. King]

Originally Posted by HossC

Another piece of Doug White's work. Again, there's no date or location. I see that the Shopping Bag in Alhambra was one of the stores robbed by The Man From Mars - does anyone know where this store was located?


Huntington Digital Library

Found a mention of the market in a thread about another market in Alhambra.
Check out the next to last reply on the first page in the link below. Says the market was at the corner of Valley and Almansor St in the SE corner of the city.

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=249

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's an earlier view of the same block which shows the top of the ghost signs. The description says this picture is from June 1954. I think the rooftop sign mentioned by tovangar2 reads "3 PALMS PHARMACY", but it's still blurry at maximum zoom. The 1956 CD lists the Valez Pharmacy at 100 S Main, but I couldn't find the 3 Palms.


Huntington Digital Library

Thank you, but I'm still confused by "The 2 Johns Sample Rooms" bit as it boxed within a common border with the beer advert. Were/are "sample rooms" a thing?

Did you notice that the "3 Palms Pharmacy" lettering appears to be on the back of the rooftop sign? I wonder if it said something else entirely on the front? Maybe 3 Palms was on 2nd St (?)

[C. King]

Originally Posted by HossC

I fixed the code.

The description says it was taken on June 30, 1991. Both Google Earth and Historic Aerials have images for 1994, but neither has enough clarity to exactly identify the location. The image below is taken from the service road that now runs parallel to Metrolink station. The building in the foreground is the same as the one above.


GSV

Spinning around 180 degrees you get this view. Looking at the distance between the camera and the foreground building in the original image, I'd say the camera was roughly where the Metrolink platform or tracks are now.


GSV

Thanks Hoss,

Apparently, while they were getting ready for Metrolink Service and the Red Line built, they had opened up, as in daylighted, the tunnel that ran from the waiting room to the platforms to upgrade it, then filled it in again. From the pics you posted, it looks like newer than 75 year old pavement.

Casey

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by C. King

Found a mention of the market in a thread about another market in Alhambra.
Check out the next to last reply on the first page in the link below. Says the market was at the corner of Valley and Almansor St in the SE corner of the city.

http://http/www.groceteria.com/board...opic.php?t=249

I see at least four other CD listings: 2203 Colorado Blvd., 1566 Colorado Blvd., Eaglerock, 2716 San Fernando Rd. and 3208 Florence Ave. The second and third addresses are currently occupied by markets that do not resemble the Shopping Bag, so it is possible the structure no longer exists or it has been significantly altered.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thank you, but I'm still confused by "The 2 Johns Sample Rooms" bit as it boxed within a common border with the beer advert. Were/are "sample rooms" a thing?

I strongly suspect that this was another way of describing a show room or a display area for wares. There are many CD listings for sample rooms. For example, in 1909, LA Fireworks Co. advertised an office and sample room at 410 E Third Street. http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...00007/00000002

[tovangar2]

Reading up again on nice George Zobelein (1845-1936), I noticed these sentences:

"In 1869, 24-year-old George Zobelein arrived in Los Angeles from Bavaria and opened a grocery store at 6th and Spring streets. A year later, he married Brigida Alvarez Graf, a 23-year-old widow with two children who lived on a 350-acre ranch at 38th and Figueroa streets".
http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/07/local/me-29791

I wish I new what kind of ranch.

The quote, of course, reminded me of e_r's and HossC's previous posts:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: Do we know anything about this impressive house and grounds? For a brief second I thought it might be my
mystery' house.http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24733

originally posted by HossC

usc
__

Originally Posted by HossC

The house belonged to George Zobelein (of Maier & Zobelein's Brewery fame). The picture below dates from 1925 (11 years before the aerial above), and its description says "Exterior view of the Zobelein residence on Figueroa, opposite Exposition Park." As far as I can tell from the 1921 Baist map, the grounds used to extend to Figueroa, hence the difference in addresses. It's right on the corner of four different maps, so I'll see if I can stitch something together. The inset is from the 1936 CD (the same date as the aerial). The house had already been replaced by the current building by 1948 (looking at Historic Aerials).


LAPL

I'm assuming the ranch was north and east of Figueroa & 38th (going by the placement of the house), just across from the then-future site of Agricultural Park (later Exposition Park). In the beginning, the ranch was seriously out in the boonies, beyond the city limits. The trolley line wasn't even in yet. But from 1913 on, Mr Zobelein (but not Brigida, she died in 1912) would have had a ringside view of the replanted Arcade Palm and may have witnessed the replanting itself (I do wish there was a photo of that).


google maps

Some might recall that it was Mr Zobelein who tried to save El Aliso, but Joseph Maier wouldn't listen.

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's streetcar #1427 near the southern end of the S-Line. The seller dates the slide at April 9, 1958. The white building on the right is 777 E Gage Avenue, as identified by Lorendoc in post #23760.

HossC, your photo made me doubt my original identification of e_r's large white building. I saw the bend in the main rail line and thought I was wrong. The maps and street views all seemed to show that the S-line on Gage was straight, without bends.

But I looked at the 1952 aerial view:


HistoricaAerials.com

and saw that there were curves in the train tracks after all. "1" is where the car 1428 picture was taken from, and "2" is the point where car 1427 was photographed.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Reading up again on nice George Zobelein (1845-1936), I noticed these sentences:

"In 1869, 24-year-old George Zobelein arrived in Los Angeles from Bavaria and opened a grocery store at 6th and Spring streets. A year later, he married Brigida Alvarez Graf, a 23-year-old widow with two children who lived on a 350-acre ranch at 38th and Figueroa streets".
http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/07/local/me-29791

I wish I new what kind of ranch.

I'm assuming the ranch was north and east of Figueroa & 38th (going by the placement of the house), just across from Agricultural Park (later Exposition Park). Mr Zobelein (but not Brigda, she died in 1912) would have had a ringside view of the replanted Arcade Palm and may have witnessed the replanting itself (I do wish there was a photo of that).

My follow-up post included this stitching together of four Baist maps to show the extent of the Zobelein property in 1921, along with a few other details. The property is also labeled with George Zobelein's name on the 1914 Baist map, but there's no name there on the 1910 map, and the area below 38th Street is just labeled "Grand Ave & Figueroa Tract" (no "Zobelein's").

[ethereal_reality]

I think I found another image of the tiny building on the northeast corner of 7th & Figueroa that housed the Optimo Cigar/luncheon counter & Union Rent-a-Car.

Am I looking at this view correctly? Is the Paramount Café the same building?


http://izismile.com/2013/10/26/dated...3_pics-31.html

optimo-union rent-a-car-luncheonette
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=26854

One other question:

What's up with the pole painted LARy yellow? -with nothing on top.

__

[HossC]

You have the right building, e_r. Here's yet another picture of a streetcar at 7th and Figueroa. The yellow pole once had a traffic signal on top.


eBay

PS. What's the model of the station wagon below the "Rent A Car" sign on the far left?