noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by vjp81955

Stone wasn't the only actor of note with connections to Wilton Place. Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters in 1908) lived for much of the 1920s and as late as 1930 with her mother and two older brothers at 138 North Wilton Place; we know this from U.S. Census records (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/81610.html). She left by 1931 to marry William Powell.

Hollywoodland
138 N Wilton Place, rented by Lombard's mother in the '20s, presumably after moving from 154 S Manhattan Place and the appearance of the ad below in the Times of Feb 24, 1924:

LAT

According to the LA County assessor, it was built in 1953; the assessor's records aren't always accurate, though. I'd be surprised if this wasn't the original house, built before 1921 per real-estate atlases (in one of several Westminster Terrace tracts marketed by the Holmes-Walton Co), perhaps rebuilt after a fire. At any rate, there were hundreds of middle-class Colonials just this size and shape built in L.A. in the 'teens ans '20s.


A little larceny by a later tenant of the Lombard house, or at least of the house in the picture:
LAT Aug 22, 1962

[ethereal_reality]

These two ladies look like a fun duo.


ebay

[ethereal_reality]

1885 Los Angeles



chronicling_america




Kohler & Frohling Tract, also 1885
ca

complete ad
ca




The Alexander Weill Tract, 1885
ca

complete ad
ca

All from http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
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[ethereal_reality]

This is such an amazing photograph / it's practically surreal.
Interior of a passenger rail car on it's way to California. 1880s


ebay

back

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by HossC

I found this 1927 picture of the Hotel Hayward (complete with hanging globes and extra floor), but what's that in the background on the right?


USC Digital Library

I can't find any previous mentions of the Bedell Department Store at 6th and broadway - how could we have missed that roof sign?


USC Digital Library

A different angle, this time looking along Broadway.


USC Digital Library

Close-up of the roof sign.


Detail of picture above.


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Regarding large images from USC, I'm lucky enough to have a high resolution screen, so I always screengrab my images. Most of the time I can grab them in one go, and often slightly reduce them in size before posting, but occasionally they need to be pieced together, e.g. the panorama of Vermont and 4th as seen in post #20570.

Cool! These USC images you post are terrific. I have in my notes that Bedell's was in the building at 6th & Broadway that formerly housed the H. Jevene grocery (John Parkinson, 1906, featured on NLA before but not as Bedell’s I don’t think). They were a small east coast chain, and opened there Sept 27, 1920. The façade got a modern makeover in April 1931 and Beldell’s went bankrupt later that year. Jacoby Brother’s store moved in here 1936, ‘til 1938 at least. Then it was remodeled again, probably for a store called Zukor’s in February 1940, and is still there, with those 1940+ renovations.

LAT 9-26-20

https://www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/2697794679/

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

Yes! It was the top floor of the Capitol Building. Here are a few other shots from that visit.

I like the current picture which shows the freeway and in the middle there is a bougainvillea plant which looks like a giant heart over the freeway. Not very noir but it caught my eye.

[3940dxer]

Here's another from that session, though the view is a bit depressing. I believe that the two nearby projects and their resident cranes are apartment towers that will be Capitol's new neighbors, and the one a block or two away will be a large shopping complex.

Everyone I know hates these projects and wishes they had never been approved but as we all know, in the world of L.A. real estate, money talks loud while thoughts of neighborhood and historical preservation are but a muted whisper in comparison.

[ethereal_reality]

Labor Strike 1937

ebay
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[ethereal_reality]

postmarked 1908

ebay



1409 Georgia Street today

google_earth

[Sonny☼LA]

New life for Teed Street in Chinatown!

A Chinatown hillside will soon be home to a vertical park within walking distance of the Alpine Recreation Center thanks to $1 million in funding that was announced Tuesday by Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina.

The acre of park land, created by chunks of existing hillside, will be located near the Chinatown Library at Ord and Yale Streets.

Molina Secures $1 million for Vertical Chinatown Park/


Photo: Diandra Jay

And, by the way, I finagled myself into the press conference last weekend where they hoisted up the section of the Zanja Madre beneath Little Joe's - pictures soon!

[Sonny☼LA]

Originally Posted by Sonny☼LA

And finally, an awesome Schindler find down on Compton & 49th that I don't think has been mentioned on Noirish yet - the Bethlehem Baptist Church, commissioned by an African American congregation in 1944, now vacant for more than a decade. The LA Times recently did a piece about a photographer re-discovering the building, about the same time I heard about it and had to drive down and see it: Found: R.M. Schindler's hidden church


My Flickr


My Flickr


My Flickr


Source: LA Times

Here's another surprise - Rudolph Schindler's beautiful but forlorn South LA Bethlehem Baptist Church has been restored and is (or will soon be) open for services! I, like everyone the owner talked to, assumed it was beyond repair when I stopped by to take the above photos. Hooray for Southern California's mild and naturally preservationist climate!

http://www.stevewallet.com/blog/2014...ch-open-house/


Photo: Curbed LA

[MartinTurnbull]

I am currently reading a biography of the Westmore family of Hollywood studio make up artists - each son ran the makeup and wigs department of each of the studios (think Rothschilds but with lipstick) - and the author (the youngest Westmore son) talks about how his father, George, got his start.

He rented an apartment above a brothel in Beverly Hills. He used to practice his makeup techniques on the prostitutes. His big break came when he was asked to fashion long sausage curls for Mary Pickford and he used hair he obtained from the gals downstairs.

According to Frank Westmore, the brothel was known as Big Suzy's French Whorehouse and was in Beverly Hills. This is in the 1910s. I've been looking for it without much luck. I don't suppose anyone here has heard of this place. I can't imagine there was a big sign out front saying BIG SUZY'S FRENCH WHOREHOUSE so that may be one of the reason why there may be no photographs or City Director listings. But I thought I'd post here in case someone has come across it.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

I can't imagine there was a big sign out front saying BIG SUZY'S FRENCH WHOREHOUSE.

lol. I had to laugh out loud at that one.
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That's terrific news about Schindler's south L.A. church being renovated Sonny_LA.
Like you, I thought the church was too far gone to be saved.
So this is great news!
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[HossC]

The line that amused me was:

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

... the brothel was known as Big Suzy's French Whorehouse ... I've been looking for it without much luck.

According to George Westmore's Wiki page, he reportedly cut Winston Churchill's hair before he emigrated from England. The family have their own star on the Walk of Fame.


wikipedia


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Noircitydame, thanks for the extra information about Bedell's. I had a feeling that the building at 6th & Broadway was a remodeled version of the old department store, but hadn't got around to following it up.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Hi David. It was fun seeing your pics from the top of the Capitol Records Building.
That's a pretty rare vantage point.
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Agree!

The Capitol Records Building made an appearance in last week's MAD MEN episode, dressed for the Spring of 1969.

Tom&Lorenzo

Not sure what street this would've been on.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Labor Strike 1937

ebay
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Here are two shots of the Southern Pacific Automobile Station at Alameda and Eighth...





All USCDL

At first I thought the building in your pic, ER, might be a remodel of the building the pics above, maybe a rehab after the Long Beach quake... but after a little googling I found that the California Packing Corp was being struck in April 1937...in the Bay Area. I'm thinking your shot may be of a SP Auto Station up there, although I haven't seen any other pics of it. Anyway, here is the L.A. edition...

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Agree!

The Capitol Records Building made an appearance in last week's MAD MEN episode, dressed for the Spring of 1969.



Not sure what street this would've been on.

Looks like Yucca Street looking west...



Asperger moment: Reminiscent of a certain shot in Chinatown once discussed here, I don't think that building next to her left arm was there in 1969...

[ethereal_reality]

postmarked 1918
ebay
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[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

I am currently reading a biography of the Westmore family of Hollywood studio make up artists - each son ran the makeup and wigs department of each of the studios (think Rothschilds but with lipstick) - and the author (the youngest Westmore son) talks about how his father, George, got his start.

He rented an apartment above a brothel in Beverly Hills. He used to practice his makeup techniques on the prostitutes. His big break came when he was asked to fashion long sausage curls for Mary Pickford and he used hair he obtained from the gals downstairs.

According to Frank Westmore, the brothel was known as Big Suzy's French Whorehouse and was in Beverly Hills. This is in the 1910s. I've been looking for it without much luck. I don't suppose anyone here has heard of this place. I can't imagine there was a big sign out front saying BIG SUZY'S FRENCH WHOREHOUSE so that may be one of the reason why there may be no photographs or City Director listings. But I thought I'd post here in case someone has come across it.

You might want to consider the Villa Rosa apartments at 7850 Sunset Boulevard (SW corner N. Orange Grove). Although, I don't think the building is quite old enough to have been Big Suzy's.

[ethereal_reality]

oops!

ebay
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