noirish Los Angeles

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Lucky find: There seemed to be no J. A. Pitch in L.A. CDs... but I did find a reference to one in the Times of November 30, 1925, living at 5401 La Cresta Court. He was referred to as a landlord, apparently owning several or all of the little houses in the neighborhood...which appears to be somewhat of a hidden jewel. Anyway, below is the house which once had a practically new '36 Ford in one of its front rooms:




The driver's view moments before barrelling north on St. Andrews Place and climbing the steps of 5401...




I'd use my chainsaw on those annoying bushes, but then 5402 Monroe Avenue below gives you a good idea of what the little houses looked like before rampant, architecture-obscuring vegetation took hold in L.A....




Previous mayhem: The little noirish/James M. Cainish story that first led me to the neighborhood took place at 5402 Monroe...

LAT Nov 30, 1925






A blue shotgun streetsign from the past always suggests the noir era to me...

In a 1922 directory, there is listed a J. A. Pitch who apparently lived at 1237 S. Figueroa. This is now in the area of the Convention Center. I don't find him in the census, though. The directory does not list his occupation.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

In a 1922 directory, there is listed a J. A. Pitch who apparently lived at 1237 S. Figueroa. This is now in the area of the Convention Center. I don't find him in the census, though. The directory does not list his occupation.

I did an update search on the La Cresta Property. All but one of the houses are one bedroom and one is a two bedroom. They were built in 1923 and apparently have had no remodeling since. Maybe the one which the car hit is the two bedroom since it may be a little bit bigger. The larger one is 1350 square feet. All the others are less than 700 square feet. The assessor's office has five houses in the parcel but the aerial photo shows six, presuming the long rectangular building at the back is a garage. Maybe one was sold off separately at some point.

[Hollywood Graham]

The truck at the intersection is advertising Barbara Ann Double Flavor Bread - does anyone know what this was? The Barbara Ann Baking Co Ltd was at 3545 Pasadena Avenue. Also, what's the car on the right with the light-colored roof? My knowledge of cars from this era is limited.


Looks to me like a Chrysler, 32 or 3.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by rcarlton

English star Audrey Hepburn, wearing a dark blue jersey suit from Switzerland, and a "French twist" hairdo, today testified in court as defendant in the $50,000 suit brought against her by Actress Joan Lora, who is of Italian descent but played the part of a Spanish dancer in a TV film shown to the jury.

I object, your Honor. Relevance?

___________

Originally Posted by HossC

Also, what's the car on the right with the light-colored roof? My knowledge of cars from this era is limited.


Detail of picture above.

I enjoy all of you on this forum that can identify photos by the makes and models of the cars in the pictures. I don't have a lot of that knowledge, but this car looks a lot like the "1932 Cadillac V16 Sport Phaeton" model that I had displayed on a bookshelf. The one in the photo doesn't have white walls, but this one was a "sport" model! I don't recall the model I had having that trunk feature, but I could be mistaken.

[WS1911]

Originally Posted by HossC

USC Digital Library

The truck at the intersection is advertising Barbara Ann Double Flavor Bread - does anyone know what this was? The Barbara Ann Baking Co Ltd was at 3545 Pasadena Avenue. Also, what's the car on the right with the light-colored roof? My knowledge of cars from this era is limited.


Detail of picture above.

The car with the light colored top looks like a 1932 Nash convertible sedan, similar to this car.






____________
Nash Car Club of America images

[ethereal_reality]

ebay






I found the address in the 1938 City Directory

http://rescarta.lapl.org/ResCarta-We...00003/00000003




The house still stands despite it's noirishly seedy past.

GSV


The 'backyard' is basically a long swath of crumbling cement.

google_earth
__

[HossC]

1159 S Norton Avenue is still listed as a "Religious Facility" on loopnet.com. I've found references to the 'L.A. Chunsung Church' and the 'International Evangelism Crusades Incorporated, 1st Calif Mission Church Of I E C' at that address, but I'm not sure whether either organization still owns the property. homes.com says it was built in 1903, and last sold for £255,000 in 1999, although they estimate that it's worth nearly three times that figure today.

I also found a Wikipedia article about Otto Hanisch, better known as Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, the founder of the religious movement known as Mazdaznan. Although he died in 1936, four years before the Irma Weber case, he was no stranger to controversy:

Wikipedia link: Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by WS1911

The car with the light colored top looks like a 1932 Nash convertible sedan, similar to this car.






____________
Nash Car Club of America images

Good eye, Nash has my vote now too. Notice there are some differences but the Nash has parking lights on the top of the fenders as does the original photo, Suicide front doors where as the Cadillac does not. The Nash has a trunk, the Cad has a separate trunk on a rack. The photo shows a wind wing but your example does not but that is probably an accessory item. I would take either one, nice cars.

[rcarlton]

LAPL
Photograph caption dated June 22, 1960 reads, "This hand made "Golden Sahara II," built on a Ford chassis at a cost of $100,000, is on display at Valley Ford showrooms, 811 S. San Fernando Blvd., Burbank. Featuring a 525 horsepower Lincoln motor, the 'Car of Tomorrow' incorporates one of most complex electrical systems ever devised for automobiles. It sports a 'pearl' finish of imported pulverized fish scales, 24-karat gold plate trim, white mink floor mats, TV set, voice control steering mechanism and gold-studded chest containing cocktail bar and ice cube unit."

imcdb


We last saw this car here.

[rcarlton]

Photo of six fashionably-dressed patrons arrested by vice squad officers in a raid at a plush gambling house high in the Hollywood Hills. The house was regarded as "almost raid-proof," but raiders using a policewoman driving a new Cadillac as a decoy gained entry to the place in a "Trojan horse" maneuver. Standing, left to right: John Kelly, Gordon Oakley and Herbert Redlick. Seated: Ford Meyer, Mel Walter and Vernon Bryant, the butler who was not arrested. Photo dated: September 8, 1951.

LAPL

LAPL

Vice squad officers using a Cadillac as a decoy, arrested two women and six men in a raid on a plush gambling house high in the Hollywood Hills. The women were: (center) Mrs. Gabe Green, 51, and Dorene Martin (right). They are pictured with an unidentified man. Photo dated: September 7, 1951.

[rcarlton]

Photo of the $50,000 mansion at 4063 Tujunga Avenue that vice squadders 'knocked over' as a gambling den.

LAPL

LAPL

Officers stand next to gambling tables seized in a raid on a North Hollywood mansion. Beautiful girls lured elite suckers to swank spot at 4063 Tujunga Avenue, say police. Three men were arrested. Photo dated: March 30, 1958.

[rcarlton]

Exterior view of Hollywood mansion where police raided a dice game. Six men were arrested in a soundproofed, heavily draped gaming room of this home. Photo dated: May 18, 1951.

LAPL

LAPL

Vice squad officers broke into a seemingly vacant 14-room Hollywood mansion and arrested six men who were gathered at a crap table in a sound-proofed, black-out gaming room, the only furnished room in the house. Sgt. W.F. Bornhoeft of the administrative vice squad said officers had staked out on the house at 7089 Hawthorne Avenue for a week, learning that a blue light on the front porch was a signal that a game was in progress. They barged in after the light went on. Roy Sansom, 42, tenant of the house and George Routa, 40, licensed Las Vegas dealer, were booked at City Jail on charges of conducting a gambling game. Also arrested were: Don Parker, Ralph T. Worne, Benton J. Nelson and Edward Yoekel (sp. ?). Photo dated: May 13, 1951.

[rcarlton]

LAPL

Detectives inspect 'Las Vegas type' equipment seized at 'Grand Opening' at Hollywood mansion, 7620 Willow Glen Road. Six persons were arrested. Photo dated: February 19, 1955.

[rcarlton]

LAPL
This diagram shows how a group of mystery men assertively spied from a "hide-out" house on the home of Harry Raymond from last September until three days after he was bombed. Neighbors of Raymond have identified the mystery occupants as Capt. Earl Kynette of the police "trouble shooting" squad and certain of his officers. The man tapped Raymond's telephone. Photo date: January 20, 1938.

LAPL

It was just a little "acorn," that $2,990 political debt suit filed by Ralph Gray. And yet in a short time it has grown into the Harry Raymond bombing case, the mightiest "oak tree" of political sensations that Los Angeles has known in years, a case in which thousands upon thousands of dollars are being spent upon investigations and prosecutions and in which all sorts of dark charges are being hinted. The "acorn" was the $2,990 judgment won by Ralph Gray from Harry Munson, Mayor Shaw-appointed former Police Commissioner, for whom Gray worked in the first Shaw campaign. Harry Raymond became interested in helping Gray collect the money and seeing where Munson got asserted funds in the Shaw campaign. The prosecution charges the police secret "spy squad" was told to watch Raymond because of the Munson case and it further charges that Earle Kynette, chief of the squad, bombed Raymond to keep him quiet about Munson's asserted political collections. Photo date: April 29, 1938.

LAPL

Convicting Earle Kynette of the police "spy squad" of bombing Harry Raymond, the jury in the sensational case on June 16, 1938, brought in its verdict. The photo shows the three defendants. Left to right, Roy Allen, who was convicted of the malicious use of explosives; Captain Kynette, who was convicted of attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and malicious use of explosives; and Fred Browne, acquitted of all charges.

May 18, 1942: Former Police Officer Roy J. Allen, who was convicted with Earle Kynette in the 1938 Harry Raymond bombing, dies in the hospital at San Quentin. He was 38. Kynette was paroled in 1948 despite Raymond's protests. His wife had divorced him while he was in prison. He was sent back to San Quentin in 1951 for violating his parole after he was convicted of being drunk. He was freed again in 1952. His pharmacist's license was restored and he was working in a drugstore in Twain Harte, Calif., when he was charged with drunk driving in a car accident that killed two people. He was later cleared.

In 1963, Kynette was stabbed in the abdomen and left arm during a drunken fight in a skid row hotel in Oakland. He died June 3, 1970 in West Hollywood. He was born June 18, 1893 in Iowa.

Officer Fred A. Browne, who was cleared in the case, died of a heart attack the next year in a Vermont Avenue bowling alley.

LAPL

Detective Lieutenant L. G. White is shown investigating the damage to Harry Raymond's car, caused by the bombing. Photo taken January 14, 1938.

LA Times Blog

LAPL

"Whether I'm in the hospital or in court, I'll be at that trial, with plenty of spirit, too (and a cigarette)," Harry Raymond, bombing victim and vice investigator said on April 12, 1938, as Earle Kynette and two aides of the police "spy squad" went to trial charged with bombing Raymond. Raymond is shown in California Hospital. He had to have several operations. Harry died April 1, 1957. He was born in Kansas June 13, 1881.

Additional information can be found here.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

1159 S Norton Avenue is still listed as a "Religious Facility" on loopnet.com. I've found references to the 'L.A. Chunsung Church' and the 'International Evangelism Crusades Incorporated, 1st Calif Mission Church Of I E C' at that address, but I'm not sure whether either organization still owns the property. homes.com says it was built in 1903, and last sold for £255,000 in 1999, although they estimate that it's worth nearly three times that figure today.

I also found a Wikipedia article about Otto Hanisch, better known as Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, the founder of the religious movement known as Mazdaznan. Although he died in 1936, four years before the Irma Weber case, he was no stranger to controversy:

Wikipedia link: Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish

Excellent research HossC! I'm utterly surprised that 1159 S. Norton Avenue is still listed as a "religious facility" after all these years.
You would think after the intense scrutiny in 1940, it would have been sold off to legitimate buyers. ('legitimate' meaning..... no pseudo-religious cults)

__

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's an interesting interior I don't think we've seen before on NLA.


ebay


The address on the postcard places the cafeteria in the green terra-cotta tiled Sun Realty Building, designed by Claude Beelman in 1930.


GSV

but as I look again at the interior of the cafeteria, I believe it's a distinct possibility the postcard predates Beelman's 1930 building.
__

Nice to see this interior view. I have a little information on it- Colonial opened here in August 1918. It was a colonial style 2-story building with little dormers. Sun bought the lease to the property in January 1925 but had to wait for the tenants' leases to expire. Colonial opened the new cafe on S. Flower in May 1928 and for a while both locations were operating. The Sun building construction began around October 1929 (great timing!).

(sorry- can't find my original, just this tiny, cropped one).

LAT 1-29-1925. They were unusual for the time in that all the bakers and cooks were women.

LAT 5-8-28

The 2nd Colonial's roof sign can be seen on the right in this 1934 photo showing where Wilshire was extended (http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si.../id/5252/rec/1)

[ethereal_reality]

That's great information Noircitydame. (it's always fun to 're-discover' a rooftop sign)

[ethereal_reality]

ebay

Interesting observation-"all purple, white and gold." -sounds about right.
__

[FredH]

8/10/56 - Looking east on 1st Street from Flower Street toward Hope Street. At left foreground, small house, 709 West 1st Street, and the adjacent
large apartment, 703 West 1st Street.


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/co...d/8860/rec/208

[FredH]

11/15/60 - Center building is the Hoegee Sporting Goods Store at 138-142 South Main Street. The modernist City Health Building (1952, Lunden Hayward
and O'Connor) at 1st and Main Streets in the distance.


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/8923/rec/372


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/8923/rec/372

Does anyone know what - Buy The Light Running Domestic - means?