noirish Los Angeles

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"View of Tom, the Hot Tamales Man, with his horse drawn refreshment wagon, USC [ca.1910]"


old file

note the large wooden bleachers behind him.

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Here's the full image from the USC website. The pointed tower near the upper right corner belongs to
USC's "Old College" building on Wesley Avenue (later University Avenue and now Trousdale Parkway).
The photo looks east at the vendor's cart, which is facing south on Hoover Street at 35th Street, next
to USC's Bovard Field:

uaic-tro-gal-046~1 @ USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll104/id/602

This part of a c. 1900 aerial view looks NW at the USC campus. The Old College's tower is at right,
just below the east end of the north bleacher. The angled bleacher section at the SW corner of the field
has got to be the bleacher right behind the vendor in the 1910 photo. Hoover Street (now Watt Way)
is on the west side of the field, 34th Street is on the north, 35th Place (now Hellman Way) is along the
bottom of the photo, and Wesley/University/Trousdale is in front of the Old College:

CHS-9923 @ USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...oll65/id/13911

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

re: The 'mystery' pole.



'New' Chinatown, 1940s. (first posted a few days ago)





Thanks oldstuff. I think you could be right.


tumblr.

While looking for further information on air raid sirens, I found an amazing interactive map that pinpoints the location of 225 air raid sirens in the Los Angeles area!

below: This is a screen-grab of the map. To use the map go to http://wirechief.com/sirens/map.htm


http://wirechief.com/sirens/map.htm



But the closest siren to Chinatown that I could find was at 800 N. Main Street.

screen-grab / detail

http://wirechief.com/sirens/map.htm

"Old fire station 4 at this address. May have been on the roof"




I dug up some photographs of #4 station from 1949. (no air raid siren...yet)


http://www.lafire.com/stations/PhotoGallery.htm


in 2009 (no siren or siren pole visible)
gsv




1949 (the station was brand new in 1949, so I'm not sure why it's so smudgy looking) -perhaps it's waiting for it's first paint job.

http://www.lafire.com/stations/PhotoGallery.htm




2009
gsv



Here's the same view in 2011 (the station has been torn down)


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Before I sign off, one more view from 2009.






http://www.lafire.com/stations/PhotoGallery.htm

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If someone could find an aerial of the fire station near Chinatown, look at the roof of the hose tower. There were probably some mountings remaining there . Perhaps the siren was located in Chinatown initially and when the new fire station was built in 1949, it was moved to the station instead, leaving the pole temporarily in place.

There is still a siren located on top of the hose tower at Fire Station 60 at 5320 Tujunga Avenue in North Hollywood. A Google view of the back of the station reveals the siren still in place, a "bird house" type. Station 60 was built in 1949.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAT
We've seen actual photos of the first part of this stretch on NLA before, beginning with ER's post 27752

from NLA post 27752
601 S Windsor is the second house in each illustration above...


Coincidentally, I got an email last night from a friend who knew something of 601 S Windsor Blvd in its heyday; I've also discovered that banker Milton Getz, who built it in 1913 (designed by Hunt & Burns), was moving on from grand upper-middle-class suburbia to a new estate he was building in Beverly Hills. Apparently, at the time of its sale in January 2015 the house had remained essentially unchanged for 100 years (building permits indicate that the only work of significance in all those years was the addition of a sleeping porch over the porte cochère in 1917, seismic retrofitting, and roof work).

It sounds like a time machine in the manner of the not dissimilar Winters house at 904 N Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills:

http://losangeleshistory.blogspot.co...histories.html


I'd like to think that 601 S Windsor will remain unchanged, but I'm not counting on it.




both LAT July 24, 1927



As of March 2015-- that dumpster worries me... / Great interior views of 601 here.


PS

LAT July 25, 1926
This would turn out to be where Jack Wolz found himself sleeping with his horse's head...


PSS


LA Herald May 14, 1919 / LAT Aug 1, 1920

Was Bob ever found?

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

re: The 'mystery' pole.





tumblr.

While looking for further information on air raid sirens, I found an amazing interactive map that pinpoints the location of 225 air raid sirens in the Los Angeles area!

below: This is a screen-grab of the map. To use the map go to http://wirechief.com/sirens/map.htm


http://wirechief.com/sirens/map.htm

_

Curious about the history of these sirens-alarms. Some preceded WW2, to warn of tidal issues and fire alarms. Fire stations and other governmental structures were an obvious location. Anecdotally, the telephone company was responsible for determining street positions and installation in the '50s, but did that utility also play a role prior to or at the outset of WW2?


http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=19470



Undated - at the beach. Signal for applying lotion or they replaced Spade Cooley musak with L.Welk?
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics17/00028383.jpg

An air raid roundup occuring on February 25, 1941, in a blackout during World War II, during which lights were turned out and vehicles stopped. Numerous streetcars are parked on tracks on Georgia Street, near Hotel Houston, 1226 Georgia St., and Georgia Arms, 1260 Georgia St.

1941 (Certain we have seen this on NLA)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050978.jpg




~1945
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050983.jpg

Air raid roundups during the blackouts, at 1800 West Pico Boulevard at Burlington

Feb 25, 1941
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055041.jpg

Plans to make an underground city of air raid shelters out of the city's miles of storm drains were revealed today by City Engineer Lloyd Aldrich. The program, according to plans, will cost between $242,500 to $1,857,550, but will give shelter to 170,000 persons during air raids. Photo shows workmen inspecting one of the city's drains, which are from 8 to 12 feet high.

1942
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics45/00072025.jpg

Installation of initial of 216 two-tone street corner sirens at Weddington and Hazeltine avenues, Van Nuys, is witnessed by, from left, Walt L. Ellis, telephone company service engineer; Col. Richard F. Lynch, Civil Defense director; R. W. Graham, telephone company sales supervisor, and L. E. Bergstrom, representing contractors, Fischback and Moore.

1956
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00116/00116493.jpg






http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=3880

Actor Edward Arnold, left, honorary mayor of Tarzana, appoints Actress Cleo Moore 'Honorary City Siren' at installation of actor which was punctuated by gags of Comedian Hawthorne, right. Ed Cox, Tarzana Chamber of Commerce president, center, was chairman

1954 - Tarzana
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00108/00108780.jpg

This 5400-pound monster is one of three new type air raid sirens which will be tested at noon next Monday, the Office of Civil Defense announced today. Examining it is Jack Campbell, superintendent of the Federal Building, where it is now located. The siren has a range of from three to five miles. Current sirens have a range of about one mile. The two other sirens to be tested are near the Griffith Park Planetarium and above Avenue 43 in Highland Park

1954
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058226.jpg


An air raid drill or demonstration of dangers presented by habanero peppers?

Visitors to picturesque Olvera Street were surprised witnesses to a mock air raid drill staged by the Mexican Civil Defense Corps. of which Senora Consuelo de Bonzo is president. One scene is pictured as two women stretcher carriers carry away a 'casualty.'

1952
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics44/00041834.jpg

The former Fire Alarm Signal Station Building (the Signal Building), located at 2230 W. 6th Street in MacArthur Park, being remodeled to become the MacArthur Park Community Center.

The Signal Building, the oldest structure in MacArthur Park, housed fire department communications equipment and was used for fire department training. In addition, it served as an aerial observation post and air raid warning station during World War II.

1978 - MacArthur Park
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00110/00110557.jpg

[GaylordWilshire]

Surprised to read that blackouts were occurring before Pearl Harbor--

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Surprised to read that blackouts were occurring before Pearl Harbor--

According to source? One supposes historical accuracy and or ambiguity may depend upon when one marks the start of WWII versus US's official entry into the conflict.

There may not have been cause for imminent alarm prior to 12-7-41, but considering the news from Europe since Sept. '39, enactment of Selective Service Act in Sept '40, passage of Lend-Lease in March '41, coupled with the fact that the economy was shifting into war production mode . . . some things may have been anticipated - if not inevitable.

Evidently with the advent of ICBMs in the '50s, Federal Law required the system of sirens in major US areas - the legacy of which is mentioned on NLA.


Burbank trompe l'oeil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgFJKtznKMo

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Curious about the history of these sirens-alarms. Some preceded WW2, to warn of tidal issues and fire alarms. Fire stations and other governmental structures were an obvious location. Anecdotally, the telephone company was responsible for determining street positions and installation in the '50s, but did that utility also play a role prior to or at the outset of WW2?



Quote:
An air raid roundup occuring on February 25, 1941, in a blackout during World War II, during which lights were turned out and vehicles stopped. Numerous streetcars are parked on tracks on Georgia Street, near Hotel Houston, 1226 Georgia St., and Georgia Arms, 1260 Georgia St.





1941 (Certain we have seen this on NLA)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics32/00050978.jpg




Feb 25, 1941
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055041.jpg

re: the photos and discussion below, I'm certain the original text quoted and 1941 date is just an unfortunate typo - the air raid-blackout test was held in the wee hours of Feb 24-Feb 25, 1942.

Fort Mac has an event reenacting the "great Los Angeles Air Raid" in February. They have a nice collection of air raid sirens at the museum, including some from the Cold War era like this one.

[HossC]

I've got another Stiles Oliver Clements design for you today. This is the Western Mortgage Corporation, photographed by Julius Shulman in either 1947 or 1948. It's "Job 351: Stiles Oliver Clements, Western Mortgage Corporation (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1947, 1948".


Getty Research Institute

The street sign on the lamp post and street number over the entrance tell us we're looking at 1500 Wilshire Boulevard. Knowing the location, I found this photo at USC. It's simply titled "Tall building under construction, Wilshire & Valencia St., 1960". The end of the building above can be seen at the left.


USC Digital Library

Here's a building permit for 1500 Wilshire Bouelvard. It makes it very clear that the existing three buildings on the site have to be moved.


Online Building Records

By 1960, the Western Mortgage Corporation seems to have moved to 2700 Wilshire Boulevard. For some reason, 1500 Wilshire is missing from some of the City Directories, although the National Automobile Club appears there in a few of the later editions. Apart from that, I didn't find much about the building in the first photo. Maybe GW has some more information. The site is now part of the John H Liechty Middle School, and Valencia no longer runs between Wilshire and Ingraham.


GSV

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

I've got another Stiles Oliver Clements design for you today. This is the Western Mortgage Corporation, photographed by Julius Shulman in either 1947 or 1948. It's "Job 351: Stiles Oliver Clements, Western Mortgage Corporation (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1947, 1948".


Getty Research Institute

Something oddly familiar with some of your recent posts and the Gilmore Bank Building formerly at the Farmer's Market (6291 W Third Street.) (Unable to access permit site.)


http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=9180

[HossC]

Here's the new construction permit for the Gilmore Bank at 6291 W 3rd Street. It's dated 1955, and it looks like the architect's name is J E Delena.


Online Building Records

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

There is still a siren located on top of the hose tower at Fire Station 60 at 5320 Tujunga Avenue in North Hollywood. A Google view of the back of the station reveals the siren still in place, a "bird house" type. Station 60 was built in 1949.

gsv

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

1954

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058226.jpg

Some of the 3 ton Chrysler sirens even revolved! (read below)


http://www.victorysiren.com/x/index.htm

also...

"The Chrysler Air Raid Siren is so powerful that it can reportedly start fires with just the sound vibrations it produces. It can turn fog into rain, clearing the sky.
It can produce an effective 70dB air raid signal for a distance of two miles, and under proper conditions can 30 to 50 miles away!"

"Because of the extreme sound power of emitted by these sirens and the desire that their coverage be extended as far as possible, they were usually mounted high
on a steel tower or on top of a multi-story building. As a result these sirens were always heard, but rarely seen."

Tourmaline's photograph shows the roof of the Federal Building. It should be visible in some vintage aerials but I haven't been able to spot it yet.
(by Federal Building, they mean the Federal Courthouse, right?)


Go here to listen to the Chrysler Air Raid Siren in action: (I like when it's getting revved up)
http://www.victorysiren.com/x/wav/BigRed_Run4.wav


http://www.victorysiren.com/x/wav/BigRed_Run4.wav

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[ethereal_reality]

Inageshack has lost my photographs from several pages. I am working on replacing them. -sorry for the inconvenience.

Here are a couple 'mystery' locations.



eBay

I think that's a small barber shop on the corner -also, there's a nicely shaped hill in the background.





I am pretty sure I haven't posted this one before.


eBay

Somewhere in Silver Lake?....or Los Feliz?
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[ethereal_reality]

"Knocked down to the highest bidder for $21,500."

"The $200,000 Hollywood mansion of Mr. & Mrs. Langhanke, parents of Mary Astor, film star, was auctioned off on April 24th. The house was bought by Mrs. Lillie Coyler.
After the auction Mr. Langhanke refused to sign the bill of sale, saying he would rather see the property go to a bank to satisfy a $21,000 mortgage. The photo below shows spectators inspecting the pool of the mansion which is said to have cost $18,000."

4/26/1934


eBay

Does anyone know where the Langhanke mansion was located?



reverse



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[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by HossC

I've got another Stiles Oliver Clements design for you today. This is the Western Mortgage Corporation, photographed by Julius Shulman in either 1947 or 1948. It's "Job 351: Stiles Oliver Clements, Western Mortgage Corporation (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1947, 1948".


Getty Research Institute

The street sign on the lamp post and street number over the entrance tell us we're looking at 1500 Wilshire Boulevard. Knowing the location, I found this photo at USC. It's simply titled "Tall building under construction, Wilshire & Valencia St., 1960". The end of the building above can be seen at the left.


USC Digital Library

By 1960, the Western Mortgage Corporation seems to have moved to 2700 Wilshire Boulevard. For some reason, 1500 Wilshire is missing from some of the City Directories, although the National Automobile Club appears there in a few of the later editions. Apart from that, I didn't find much about the building in the first photo. Maybe GW has some more information. The site is now part of the John H Liechty Middle School, and Valencia no longer runs between Wilshire and Ingraham.

LAT Feb 19, 1962


The building permits aren't all that clear, at least from a cursory review, but it appears that 1500 became part of the American Fore Loyalty Building, AFL being a large group of insurance companies. Stiles Clements & co seem to have basically enlarged the original building ca. 1960.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's the new construction permit for the Gilmore Bank at 6291 W 3rd Street. It's dated 1955, and it looks like the architect's name is J E Delena.

Thanks for the follow-up.

Although I am not particularly enamored with the primarily brick exterior with the white surrounds, it is still far superior to some of the modern commercial - residential designs that are sprouting up in their place. I recently saw photos from the Western Ave - Sunset Blvd. intersection and much of it appears to be tweaked Soviet-bloc industrial and plastic styles with more emphasis on maximized use of space at reduced cost rather than something with eye appeal. Concrete, glass, concrete, glass, repeat, repeat.



Which leads to an unrelated topic that appears to have escaped NLA attention, "The White Flame Murder case." All the elements of noir and then some, including Clara Bow's "It! Cafe", homicide, x-rated testimony, a voluntary vascectomy and a Lunacy commission. (Somewhat reminiscent of the Sanford White-Evelyn Nesbit-Harry Thaw-scenario that was fodder for a few films, namely "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" and "Ragtime." Lest anyone be annoyed with a reference to a NY crime and punishment scenario, the centerpiece of that story, Evelyn Nesbit, lived out her final days in a Santa Monica nursing home and is buried in Culver City. But I digress.)

Evelyn Nesbit
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...bit_12056u.jpg

Paul Wright, an aviation company executive, and his friend, John Kimmel, attended a private club meeting on the evening of November 9, 1937. After the meeting they went out for a nightcap at Clara Bow's "It Cafe" in Hollywood. It was getting very late so Paul suggested that John accompany him home, ostensibly to provide back-up when his wife Evelyn questioned him about where, and with whom, he had spent the evening. It was after 2 a.m. when they pulled up to Paul's hilltop home in Glendale. Once inside Paul said he felt fatigued and went to the bedroom for a nap--leaving Evelyn to entertain John. Paul later recalled the events of that night, "I was awakened by some sort of sound--like a piano. It started me out of my sleep. I went to the living room door and saw that the lights were still on. Johnny was sitting at the piano. I could just see his head. He was looking downward. I couldn't see Evelyn and I wondered where she was." It didn't take him long to figure out where his wife was. At that moment everything inside of Paul exploded in what he later described as a "white flame." He got his gun and shot John and Evelyn to death. Paul was put on trial for the slayings. His attorney, Jerry Giesler, had conceived of a creative defense for his client. He said that Paul's WWI service (during which he was gassed), a post-war tuberculosis attack, and a voluntary vasectomy combined to make him emotionally unstable--capable of more violent reactions to shock than normal men. At the time of his arrest Paul had confessed to the murders, but when he got to trial his story changed and his memory conveniently began to fail him. How would the jury view his shifting story? The jury of eight men and four women listened to the x-rated testimony and contemplated Giesler's vasectomy defense. In the end, they found Paul Wright guilty on two counts of manslaughter. But there was a twist--the jury also found that he had been insane at the time of the murders so he was not guilty. When the Lunacy Commission examined Wright they concurred with the jury that Paul Wright was no longer insane. He was freed and would never serve a single day in prison.

Life Magazine's coverage: https://books.google.com/books?id=zE...20case&f=false

These are the cozy home in Glendale and the auto left behind by John B. Kimmel, young and handsome air line official, when he was shot and killed with Mrs. Evelyn Wright...

1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00128/00128359.jpg



Scene of the crime

It was just inside the large window at right that Mrs. Wright and Kimmel were slain.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00128/00128355.jpg

Photo shows the corner of the living room where Mrs. Wright and Kimmel fell. They were seated on the piano bench when Wright saw them in each other's arms and went for his gun and shot them. Still standing on the piano are highball glasses, two of them drained, one of them full, evidence of the gaiety that turned so quickly to tragedy

Nov 10, 1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00127/00127991.jpg

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Knocked down to the highest bidder for $21,500."

"The $200,000 Hollywood mansion of Mr. & Mrs. Langhanke, parents of Mary Astor, film star, was auctioned off on April 24th. The house was bought by Mrs. Lillie Coyler.
After the auction Mr. Langhanke refused to sign the bill of sale, saying he would rather see the property go to a bank to satisfy a $21,000 mortgage. The photo below shows spectators inspecting the pool of the mansion which is said to have cost $18,000."

4/26/1934


eBay

Does anyone know where the Langhanke mansion was located?



reverse



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It was 6147 Temple Hill Dr.

The auction ad:

4-22-1934 lat

The most PICTURESQUE and LUXURIOUS SWIMMING POOL in Los Angeles. 2 sandy beaches? Some pool.

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Some of the 3 ton Chrysler sirens even revolved! (read below)


http://www.victorysiren.com/x/index.htm

Go here to listen to the Chrysler Air Raid Siren in action: (I like when it's getting revved up)
http://www.victorysiren.com/x/wav/BigRed_Run4.wav


http://www.victorysiren.com/x/wav/BigRed_Run4.wav

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I remember growing up in the 60's and early 70's in Anaheim, they'd test the sirens once a month on Fridays. And I remember the tinge of anxiety when they accidentally went off when I was home alone on a non-test day. They weren't always the good ole days...

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by Mstimc

I remember growing up in the 60's and early 70's in Anaheim, they'd test the sirens once a month on Fridays. And I remember the tinge of anxiety when they accidentally went off when I was home alone on a non-test day. They weren't always the good ole days...

As a young man I worked briefly for a dismal little car rental company near LAX, on Imperial Highway east of Aviation Blvd. There was an old air raid siren almost directly across the street, and even in the early 1980s it was still being tested once a month. I find it difficult to adequately communicate just how terrifyingly loud those things were.

[MartinTurnbull]

This is more along the lines of "LA reality meets Hollywood fantasy."

Last night I was watching MGM’s "Johnny Eager" (1941) starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner (who has never looked more gorgeous.) Taylor plays a gangster who opens a dog-racing park. Cut to an establishing shot of his Algonquin Dog Park...aka the Pan Pacific Auditorium on Beverly Blvd next to what back then would have been Gilmore Field baseball park.