noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

Here's a rather unusual building from Julius Shulman. It's "Job 2759: Smith and Williams Office Building (Pasadena, Calif.), 1959".



Now a side view.



I think this must the back of the building. It gives us a good look at the hanging globe lights.



All from Getty Research Institute

Unusually, the description includes an address - 1414 Fair Oaks Avenue. There's an article about the building at laconservancy.org. It says that Whitney Smith and Wayne Williams designed it as their own offices, with landscape design by Garrett Eckbo. The building is still standing, but it's set back from Fair Oaks Avenue, so I got this shot from Bank Street. As far as I can tell, it's pretty well preserved.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

That's a really interesting design. I'd like to go inside and check it out.



One more look at 'College'.

Originally Posted by HossC

The Buster Keaton movie 'College'

This building looks familiar. Could it be on the USC campus?

Here's another mystery building from the film that's similar to Hoss's building above.


https://aurorasginjoint.com/2016/06/...-college-1927/

I'd say this is USC, but I can't place this building. (I hope it has survived)



Again, here's the location list from IMDB. (we could now add the Urban Military Academy on Wilcox)

1) Los Angeles City College - 855 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

2) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - 3911 S. Figueroa Street, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

3) University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
________________________



I'm also curious about this baseball diamond.


https://aurorasginjoint.com/2016/06/...-college-1927/

This doesn't look like any of the campuses.



below: Filming the rowing/regatta scene.


Getty images

I wonder if this was down by Long Beach?
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Lastly, just for fun, another graphic from the film.


http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Po...0(1927)_02.jpg

This makes me think Buster was majoring in Astronomy.
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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

The tower looks like Christ Church on the corner 12th and Flower Streets.

I think the streetcar is on the J line heading for Huntington Park, and that the sign at the intersection is for Grand Avenue.
Looking around the area at Historic Aerials, I found a gas station at 11th and Grand.

Excellent sleuthing Hoss.

Here's another 'mystery' location, this time by 'Mr. Slide' on eBay.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Duplicate-Sl...MAAOSwH3NXnaNp

One thing that caught my eye is the building with the 'turret' at extreme left. (and what's that next to it....scaffolding?) -detail below



below: Here's an enlargement that I lightened a bit.


detail

I'm as intrigued by the leaning 'scaffolding' as I am by the turret.


_

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

3359 Wilshire Blvd. (next to the Gaylord, across the street from the Ambassador Hotel which is your listing of 3400 Wilshire.)

I wonder if they had a small shop inside the Hotel itself?

I recall seeing a photo or two of the London Shop in the Ambassador but have been unsuccessful, thus far, at locating one.


I can't say for certain, but I suspect it was in one of the spaces pictured here, Notice the street light outside the entry way on the right.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085079.jpg


Another shopping area.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085077.jpg

[HossC]

More interior photos of the Ambassador, including the two above.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=25163

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

What a night! The CUBS win 9 to 2....and this.
______________________________________________________

Originally Posted by odinthor

And: Go Cubs! (My father was from Chicago, and lived within walking distance of Wrigley Field.)
______________________________________________________

Although Los Angeles' Wrigley Field has been mentioned several times, and Wrigley's mansion on Catalina,
I found no mention of the Cubs connection to Los Angeles. (Although I thought maybe it had been.)

The Chicago Cubs regularly held spring training on Catalina Island from 1921 to 1951.

You can find dozens of photos about the Cubs excursions here for Spring Training; here's a select few:


In this undated photo they arrive for their first practice of the season.





The 1928 Cubs on the beach.


Baseball Hall of Fame



Chicago Cubs at the Hamilton Cove Airport, Santa Catalina Island, c. 1931.
(The airplane is referred to as a Douglas Dolphin Model 1.)

Islapedia



Arriving at Catalina, March 11, 1937.

Exploregram



For the birds? Cubs players with ostriches at the Avalon Bird Park on Catalina Island.

NYT



Chicago Cubs and mascots on Catalina Island for spring training, February, 1939.

Calumet412 Blog



A 1930's aerial of Avalon, you can see the Cubs Spring Training baseball field in the foreground.

Catalina Island Scrapbook: voncoelln.com via DWP



Field of Dreams...1940.


Pomona Public Library via DWP



Recently the Catalina Museum opened, detailing a lot of the island's rich history, including a Cubs exhibit:





Spring practice in paradise?
Hmm...the guy looking up into the air at left, closest to the camera, looks suspiciously like current Cubs first
baseman Anthony Rizzo. Is he a time traveler? He had cancer and beat it into "remission." (Came to the future
to cure it?) He predicted the Cubs would win the NL pennant over a year ago and that teammate Kris Bryant
would become a star player (which he certainly was last night). Maybe not predictions? Heh!

Vineline



Speaking of predictions: In 1993, a student named Michael Lee at Mission Viejo High School in California, had this
written under his photo in his High School Yearbook:

WGN-TV

BeLEEve it!



Game Seven! Go Cubs! - by way of Catalina!

[ethereal_reality]

Awesome Cubbies post Martin.

Originally Posted by odinthor

The Ferguson in Ferguson Café attracted my attention. This surely is not just by chance: The Ferguson in question was presumably William Ferguson, the sometime City Councilman, who lived on this site by about 1880, who was opposed to Angels Flight enough that, in 1905, he was building himself a new home at 8th and Rampart, doubtless retaining ownership of his lot on Hill and using it for commercial purposes. He also is the Ferguson of the notorious Ferguson's Alley in Chinatown, being the owner/landlord of property in that area (it having become an embarrassment due to the vices of the alley, he sold out in 1892--indeed, to the city for $10). Having become rich in the gold diggings up north, he came to L.A. in 1868, started a livery stable on N. Main in '69, etc. etc. etc.

I always wondered why it was called the Ferguson Cafe. Thanks for the explanation odinthor.

& while I have your attention odinthor.....

This slide is from the Huntington Gardens in 1957!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-R...EAAOSwSv1XknpG

What, pray-tel, is this beautiful cactus plant? (a Martian landscape comes to mind...via 1950s science-fiction)
___________


There's a second slide from further away here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-R...4AAOSw4s9Xknn5

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another 'mystery' location, this time by 'Mr. Slide' on eBay.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Duplicate-Sl...MAAOSwH3NXnaNp

One thing that caught my eye is the building with the 'turret' at extreme left.

I found Sinclair Paint at 4635 W Pico, with the Kahn Sewing Center at 4625. That places it near Rimpau Boulevard. We visited the Pico & Rimpau Loop and surrounding area in April 2014 - my first post on the subject, including a scene-setting aerial, can be found here. That means we're probably looking at the tower on the Plaza Market. There's a similar picture to the one below (which just clips the tower) in e_r's post #19202.

"Semi-circular Spanish-style building of the Plaza Market, complete food center, at Rimpau and Pico boulevards. Designed in Spanish Colonial style by Morgan, Walls and Clements, this drive-in market is no longer extant. It was built in 1928."


LAPL

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Awesome Cubbies post Martin.








I always wondered why it was called the Ferguson Cafe. Thanks for the explanation odinthor.

& while I have your attention odinthor.....

Here's a slide of the Huntington Gardens in 1957!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-R...EAAOSwSv1XknpG

What, pray-tel, is this beautiful cactus plant? (it looks like a martian landscape via 1950s science-fiction movies)

There's a second slide from further away here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-R...4AAOSw4s9Xknn5

__

It's a very pretty species of Mammillaria; and though cacti and succulents have been a specialty of mine since the 1960s, I'd unfortunately have trouble sorting out just which species this one was, as many of the about 200 species are similar to each other, and I'd have to do some botanical examination of details with a hand-lens. You can see a few of its pink flowers a little above the "N" in SciFiMan in the pic--typical Mammillaria flowers. I have a few in my collection very much like the shown one, except not with whitish spines.

And thanks, Martin Pal, for the Catalina Cubbie pix! For many years, my parental family would vacation on Catalina at a collection of bungalows at the back of Avalon called Las Casitas which was immediately adjacent to the playing field where the Cubs had trained previously (and built post-Cubs, I believe; in the aerial pic of the Spring Training field, the parcel where Las Casitas would be built appears to be empty); and it gave my father great pleasure to be there where they had been, and to dine at the Country Club across the road where the Cubs would have eaten. The Las Casitas bungalow structures are still there (as of course is the Country Club), but they've been being used--if I understand correctly--as housing for either Island Company employees or Avalon municipal employees. Now, I could go on forever and ever about personal experiences and observations at Las Casitas and Catalina; but I'll end on a Noir note and mention that, in one of the bungalows just steps from the one my family would take, a bachelor went to sleep in an easy chair watching TV one cold night (evidently he had rented the bungalow for a lengthy period of time), with a space heater next to him . . . and his mummified body was found months later, nicely dried and preserved by the heater...

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

More interior photos of the Ambassador, including the two above.

I was remiss in not linking the interior shots to the prior NLA post. They do not show the "operational" London Shop in the Ambassador, with distinctive signage, which is what I had hoped to find. Those replica street lamps may have adorned the exterior of the store and the wood paneled facade seems to fit.

I think there may be some stock advertisements in one of those typical visitor's guides/periodicals from the '60s-'70s, e.g. "Key" or perhaps even in a "Los Angeles Magazine." The shop may have been included as background for a TV show, or two.

FWIW, the GoGo's notebook site says the following:

In 1979 til 1983 Larchmont Hall became a clothing warehouse for the The London Shop. At the time there were six London Shops in Los Angeles. One was inside the Roosevelt Hotel. They Featured British imports in men's clothing and accessories. http://gogonotes.blogspot.com/2008/1...mont-hall.html

http://gogonotes.blogspot.com/2008/1...mont-hall.html


The London Shop spurred recollections of several other clothiers/haberdasheries, some of which received fleeting NLA mention and most of which were in Beverly Hills. Monte Factor (270 N Beverly Drive), Jerry Rothschild (710 and later 270 N. Beverly Drive), Mr. Guy (Rodeo) and Carroll & Co. (Rodeo). Brussell's University Store for Men (114 S. Beverly Drive Adjacent to Hamburger Hamlet at 122 So. Beverly Dr.).

To be sure, most of these stores moved around, e.g., the '56CD lists Mr. Guy at the Town & Country Stores across from the Farmers' Mkt at Third and Fairfax.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Los Angeles Times January 3, 1938

1941 - Tom Preissman's Clothing Store, 325 N. Rodeo Drive
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics31/00065287.jpg



1947 - Bugsy Siegel's clothing hanging in closet 810 N. Linden Drive in Beverly Hills.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00010/00010136.jpg





1950 - Carroll & Co. on Charleville, BH
https://www.carrollandco.com/image/c...re-368x275.png

A different era?

[1953] Carroll & Co. moves to the top of sleepy Rodeo Drive, surrounded by hair salons, hardware stores, a gas station, private homes and a bridle path, a long way from the international shopping destination it is today. https://www.carrollandco.com/history

Beverly Drive
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...8311a44343.jpg

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/...ostcount=35806



Ah Fong's at 466 Beverly Drive.

rice in the pipes?

Hardware? Hokum Plumbing, 400 N. Beverly Drive (Celebrity plumbing emergencies, "call my service."?)




Beverly Drive and Charleville

Wil Wright's
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...fb457fac22.jpg






Undated Wilshire and Beverly Drive
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058478.jpg



Late '30s - Wilshire and Rodeo Drive
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00098/00098569.jpg



Late '30s (1937) - Cord on Rodeo
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00098/00098578.jpg








1934 - Beverly Hills Post Office
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078393.jpg

Originally Posted by rcarlton

Intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, looking toward the Brown Derby Restaurant (no longer standing) on May 23, 1960. Photo taken from the Union Bank Building.:
LAPL

LA SHopping, Then and Now >> http://la.racked.com/2015/12/31/1068...e-after-photos

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

NLA posts about the London Shops:

7010 Hollywood Blvd. (next to the Roosevelt Hotel)

The London Shop on Hollywood Boulevard was not next to the Hollywood Roosevelt; it was part of the hotel, as was Irene's dress shop for ladies. 25 Degrees now occupies the site of the old London Shop.

By the way, the late Carl Ferraro, owner of the Dresden Room, had a restaurant in the Roosevelt and also at the Lido Hotel on Wilcox Avenue. He popularized the Blood and Sand cocktail at the Westerner (formerly the It Cafe) on Vine Street and at the Dresden Room.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That's a really interesting design. I'd like to go inside and check it out.


Here's another mystery building from the film that's similar to Hoss's building above.


https://aurorasginjoint.com/2016/06/...-college-1927/

I'd say this is USC, but I can't place this building. (I hope it has survived)

__

My guess is those buildings are on the old UCLA(Vermont campus) quad, it looks like some of the photos I've seen from that time and the trees look similar(I visited a few months ago). It could be U$C, but I try to keep blissfully ignorant of that place.

As noted in previous comments, if it's UCLA(LACC), all the buildings are gone from that time. In fact California Hall(the Chemistry building) burned down shortly before UCLA moved to Westwood(the Chemistry students had to move early).

[ethereal_reality]

Remember the glass negative from several weeks ago that showed the White Company ambulance with this placard leaning against the rear wheel?


detail

Well, much to my surprise, I just found a glass negative of the Porter-Brown Co. at 1410-1426 Santa Fe Avenue. (I posted the address earlier, but I didn't have a photograph)




And today

1920 and Today

Do you think this is the same building? (it has the same dimensions but the garage doors are in the wrong place)

__




Here are some close-ups from the 1920 glass negative.

Left side

detail


Right side

detail

note the Commercial Engine Co. sign at right----> (now see my next post)
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[ethereal_reality]

Well here's a 1920 glass negative of the Commercial Motor Co. (so was this next door to Porter-Brown....or is this Motor Co. a different company/location than the Engine Co?)


eBay



Here's a close-up of the executives and automobile dealers.






Row of trucks and a quite impressive looking administration building.


detail


I didn't notice the dome in the distance until I enlarged the photo below.



Could that be the Museum of Natural History in Exposition Park?
__


more glass negatives coming tomorrow.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And today

1920 and Today

Do you think this is the same building? (it has the same dimensions but the garage doors are in the wrong place)

__




Here are some close-ups from the 1920 glass negative.

Left side

detail


__

Yes, ER, it appears to be the same old building. Later owners have redone the exterior walls with rough plaster and remodeled windows. The far end garage doors seem to be in the same place. Its a brick building because we can see earthquake reinforcements at the top of the wall. Old building...very old.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another mystery building from the film that's similar to Hoss's building above.


https://aurorasginjoint.com/2016/06/...-college-1927/

I'd say this is USC, but I can't place this building. (I hope it has survived)

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

My guess is those buildings are on the old UCLA(Vermont campus) quad, it looks like some of the photos I've seen from that time and the trees look similar(I visited a few months ago). It could be U$C, but I try to keep blissfully ignorant of that place.

As noted in previous comments, if it's UCLA(LACC), all the buildings are gone from that time.

This building was indeed at the Vermont campus. It was to the north of Millspaugh Hall, and can be seen in the background of the image below. You've probably guessed that that means it's now gone .


LAPL

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

[...]

& while I have your attention odinthor.....

This slide is from the Huntington Gardens in 1957!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-R...EAAOSwSv1XknpG

What, pray-tel, is this beautiful cactus plant? (a Martian landscape comes to mind...via 1950s science-fiction)
___________


There's a second slide from further away here:http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODACHROME-R...4AAOSw4s9Xknn5

OK, I'll go out on a limb--or a spine--and guess it's a form of Mammillaria geminispina!

[Lomara]

Today I saw this article about the El Dorado Bar at 416 S.Spring.

http://www.ladowntowner.com/el-dorado-bar/

The thread search function wasn't helpful, and returned every single post with Spring in it. Has anyone been to this bar? What's the history on the building?

Google street view:


El Dorado by Kimberly, on Flickr

[HossC]

There's a 2012 post by rcarlton about the Hotel Stowell/El Dorado which contains quite a few pictures and some history. You can find it here.

[Blaster]

I believe the bar is located in the basement.