noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

You funny! My guess is that it was shot in the area east of Dark Canyon(quite a bit of rocky peaks there),
there's not enough in the picture to provide enough context to get any closer.

just found this clipping....

July 28, 1921

Los Angeles Herald

note Idyllwild Camp. (I'd bet money that there was also an Edenwild camp back in the 1920s.)


hmmm....so why the strict traffic control? NARROW ROADS?

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[CaliNative]

USC dates the above photo as 1931, so the answer to your question, e_r, is author, editor, and publisher Samuel T. Clover,
shown here at his desk in Los Angeles in 1925. He's in the LA City Directories at 240 S. Bixel from 1926 to 1934:



ps_mss_cd13_183 at New York Public Library


I see these old pics with men in rolled up long sleave shirts sweating away in summer before widespread home/office air conditioning. When were short sleave formal dress shirts invented? 1940s? I do know that Arrow dress shirts with attached collars came in the mid to late 1920s (although attached collars were widespread in the military long before that, early 1900s, and also in informal wear like polo shirts). Detachable starched collars were a pain. Some old fashioned men wore starched detachable collars well into the 1930s though. I think by the early/mid 1930s, business attire for men looked pretty much like today, although hats were worn almost universally. Hats as part of business attire didn't start to go away until the 1960s.

[ethereal_reality]

'The Case of the Half Buried Safe'


There appears to have been more than one Dark Canyon.

May 12, 1920

Los Angeles Herald




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[Martin Pal]

Barham Blvd. at one time was known as Dark Canyon Rd. See below:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

FYI: Here are two NLA posts relating that Dark Canyon Road, mentioned in the above ad, is now known as Barham Blvd.
When or why that name change occurred has not been mentioned yet.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17887

From the above post:

Developer Earl L. White [...] first developed the area centered around Magnolia Blvd. Earl White graded the road between
Burbank to the Cahuenga pass through what was then called Dark Canyon. It is now Barham Blvd.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17996

From this post:

[From an] entry on a Yahoo group dedicated to the Pacific Electric Railway. [...] Raphel Long posted this [...]:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/P...ns/topics/4410

Monkey Island was located on the north side of Cahuenga Boulevard just west of Dark Canyon Road. The Cahuenga
Parkway ended just west of the [Barham] Dark Canyon Bridge where it crossed the Pacific Electric at grade.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I also appreciate all the feedback on the mystery X.
There were alot of theories...but no consensus, right?

___________________________________________________________________

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Why the large X? .......... I thought it had something to do with the rail line but there aren't any rails.


skyscraperpage

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I think HossC was agreeing that they are to indicate watching out for streetcar traffic from Godzilla's post of this area that show the rails that HossC linked to a couple days ago. Makes sense to me, especially on that hill. (I added another shot below that HossC didn't.)

Originally Posted by Godzilla

Watch for street car traffic.




_________________________________________________________________

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I love this very outdated style of tiny apartments, with all entrances facing a narrow central courtyard. There's something very noirish about them. So few remain, although there is one on the 1300 block of N La Brea. (Not quite Nino Zachetti's address, but it's close.)

I would probably have a very different opinion of them if I had to live in one.
___________________________________________________________________

This is one of those apartment complexes you are referring to located at 1238 Havenhurst Dr. in West Hollywood.

apartments.com

I had a couple friends who lived in the 2nd apartment in from the street on the right side. The apartments are two-story. Maybe I should have known or guessed this, but one of the first times I was there, and it was dark, I was sitting down facing the front window and I was shocked to see a car drive by. There is a rather large garage area at the end of the rows of apartments on the other side. You can see there's some steps in the middle of the two sides of the drive area. It had never occurred to me anyone would drive through there when I was first visiting the place.

To name drop a bit, Keanu Reeves used to visit someone he knew in one of the apartments and Estelle Harris, who played George's mother on Seinfeld, lives in one of the apartments with her husband.

The apartments.com website says that this apartment complex was built in 1924.

[ethereal_reality]

I had forgotten all about the Dark Canyon near Universal City / Warner Bros. *hides face in shame*

Thanks for reminding me Martin Pal.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

[...] I see these old pics with men in rolled up long sleave shirts sweating away in summer before widespread home/office air conditioning. When were short sleave formal dress shirts invented? 1940s? I do know that Arrow dress shirts with attached collars came in the mid to late 1920s (although attached collars were widespread in the military long before that, early 1900s, and also in informal wear like polo shirts). Detachable starched collars were a pain. Some old fashioned men wore starched detachable collars well into the 1930s though. I think by the early/mid 1930s, business attire for men looked pretty much like today, although hats were worn almost universally. Hats as part of business attire didn't start to go away until the 1960s.

There's a gag in one of the Laurel & Hardy shorts in which they're both in shirtsleeves (Ollie long, Stan short), and Ollie rolls up his long sleeves, and Stan thoughtlessly makes rolling-up sleeves motions on his own arms as if he had long sleeves too . . . but alas it's such a short bit I can't quite remember which of the shorts it happened in. But this would be late 20s or early 30s.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by HossC

The 1906 Sanborn map shows a single building in the area marked "Tract 321" on the Baist map.




The top of the college building is visible between Bixel House and the nurses' dormitory on the image I posted earlier.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

Thanks for the tip regarding the SE corner of 6th and Lucas, Hoss. The old house seen in your photo above, between
the Nurses' Dormitory and the Bixel House, is definitely the same one I arrowed below:



CHS-9069 @ USCDL


How about a closer look at that house? The Sanborn Map above suggests these are the south (on the left) and east (on the right)
sides of the house on the SEC of 6th and Lucas. Comparing this photo to those above, it appears a window was added next to the
chimney on the east side of the third floor:



LissaG @ Ancestry.com


The house on the SEC of 6th Street and Lucas Avenue was 632 Lucas, home to Lyman Stewart, founder of the Pacific Gospel Union
(now the Union Rescue Mission), and co-founder of the Union Oil Company and the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University).
The 1902 LA City Directory is the first to show Stewart at 632 Lucas (he was at 919 S. Union in 1901):



fold3.com (also LAPL)


Here is Stewart with his first wife and their three children:



LissaG @ Ancestry.com


The first Mrs. Stewart died in 1912:



February 5, 1912, Los Angeles Herald @ CDNC


In 1916 Lyman Stewart married his long-time private secretary, Miss Lulu Crowell. In 1922 he sold his home to Good Samaritan Hospital:



March 5, 1922, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL


After leaving 632 Lucas Avenue, Lyman Stewart moved to 353 Lafayette Park Place. He died on September 28, 1923.


The demolition permit for Stewart's old home at 632 Lucas is dated January 16, 1962.

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by BDiH

The "Hitchhiking Sergeant," Gordon Aadland, passed away at 92 awhile back. He was the last person known to have seen Georgette before she was murdered.

http://www.georgettebauerdorf.com/

Several years ago, I read a book named "Severed" about the Black Dahlia case. The author linked Georgette's murder to Elizabeth Short's given the similarities in MO's. As I recall, the author said Georgette and Elizabeth moved in some of the same circles and knew the same people, including the perp, whom he claimed was a deranged veteran; he even said he interviewed the man once or twice.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by odinthor

There's a gag in one of the Laurel & Hardy shorts in which they're both in shirtsleeves (Ollie long, Stan short), and Ollie rolls up his long sleeves, and Stan thoughtlessly makes rolling-up sleeves motions on his own arms as if he had long sleeves too . . . but alas it's such a short bit I can't quite remember which of the shorts it happened in. But this would be late 20s or early 30s.

Any Old Port, 1932.

[odinthor]

Well done, HS!

[ethereal_reality]

Does anyone know where the old YMCA in Long Beach / San Pedro was located?


Seller's description: "Original Color 35mm Slide Los Angeles Long Beach San Pedro BEACH YMCA 1950s."


EBAY

It appears to have been near a medium-size slope.

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[ethereal_reality]

The same seller also has this slide for sale.


"Original RED BORDER Kodachrome 35mm Slide LOS ANGELES Freeway Downtown OLD! 1958."


EBAY

Would anyone like to pinpoint the location of the slide?
____________________________________________


I just noticed the Pioneer Memorial (with the waterfall turned on) so this should be pretty easy.

You can check out the waterfall HERE.

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[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

When were short sleeve formal dress shirts invented? 1940s?

One imagines that catalogs might provide some answers, and that is somewhat dependent upon the notion of shirts for dress and/or sport. Short of that, here is a suggestion that bare forearms reached the mainstream post WW2.
https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/1920...llars-history/

When the short sleeve dress shirt hit the market around 1953, retailers, feared they would look too much like sport shirts. Educating the salesmen to show off the new style as a cooler alternative to long sleeves was required. Fortunately most male shoppers picked up the trendy short sleeved style with enthusiasm. Now they could relax in their offices in casual comfort and still look respectable when the need came to put their suit jackets back on. https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950...-shirt-styles/

[ethereal_reality]

This location, no doubt, will be much more difficult.

Same seller: "Original RED BORDER Kodachrome 35mm Slide LOS ANGELES Church Downtown OLD! 1958"


EBAY

At least there's a partial street sign. (very partial )

_

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Does anyone know where the old YMCA in Long Beach / San Pedro was located?


Seller's description: "Original Color 35mm Slide Los Angeles Long Beach San Pedro BEACH YMCA 1950s."


EBAY

It appears to have been near a medium-size slope.

The building's still there at 921 South Beacon Street, San Pedro.


GSV

[odinthor]

Another view:


GSV

It looks down on what had been the parking lot for Ports o' Call.

[Handsome Stranger]

[source: LAPL]

Erected in 1925 as the Army and Navy YMCA, at a cost of $750,000. Prior to 1925 there was this:


[source: digitalcommonwealth.org]

It's unclear whether the Navy YMCA was at the same site/address.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The same seller also has this slide for sale.


"Original RED BORDER Kodachrome 35mm Slide LOS ANGELES Freeway Downtown OLD! 1958."


EBAY

Would anyone like to pinpoint the location of the slide?
____________________________________________


I just noticed the Pioneer Memorial (with the waterfall turned on) so this should be pretty easy.

You can check out the waterfall HERE.

_

I remember the old Brew 102 brewery near this "slot" freeway location, a few blocks east of City Hall. Possibly one of the worst beers in the west, but very cheap and not bad with a sandwich. Its heyday was probably the 1950s, but I vaguely recall seeing the brewery still there into the 1960s or even 1970s. Anybody know how they came up with the "Brew 102" name? And whatever became of Ripple and Thunderbird wines?

One beer I miss is Olympia. Brewed in Tumwater, near Olympia WA. Used to be commonly available in SoCal. Rainier wasn't bad either.

In 1980, there was a brief Lonestar beer craze, right after "Urban Cowboy" came out. There even were Lonestar steakhouses. Maybe there still are. In the late 1970s, "Billy Beer" was issued, using the name of Pres. Carter's colorful brother. For a time, Billy Beer 6 packs were bought as collectors items.

Ahh...the old days, when "Nineteen Eighty Four" was still in the future, and L.A. had just a few buildings taller than City Hall (aka "The Daily Planet"), and Venice Beach was still rundown & affordable, and homeless people weren't everywhere, and there were still LOTS of smog alerts.....OK, we can do without those.