noirish Los Angeles - Page 528

tovangar2 · #**10541** Posted **Nov 29, 2012, 8:33 PM**

Thank you so much Beaudry for posting the two pix of the old Bunker Hill steps, retaining wall and the Engstrum. The streetscape still looked exactly like the second photo in the 1970's (as the Sunkist Building was then gone) when I walked past it every weekday on my way from my bus stop at 5th and Hill to work at 5th and Flower. The steps look as dank and forbidding as I remember.

As to Mom's/The Curb/Molly's DouglasUrantia, based on your 1938 photo of the site, I can only imagine that the burger stand was maybe originally located elsewhere on the gas station lot, just out of the range of the photo, on the Selma Ave side (?)

tovangar2 · #**10542** Posted **Nov 29, 2012, 9:58 PM**

Couldn't resist a couple of more pix of the Spring St entrance of Mercantile Place (replaced by the 1924 Arcade Building, covered by Lwize and GaylordWilshire on page 527), both pre and post the 1905 Alexandria Hotel:

csulb.com

csulb.com

And a 1915 night-time shot of the Broadway end of Mercantile Place:

Huntington Library
Notice the Pantages Theater (later Dalton's, then the Arcade) next door and tiny 1910 Clune's Broadway/Cameo Theater beyond that (see below) with it's famous time sign, and then Quinn's Superba (now the Roxie).

Huntington Library

Mojeda101 · #**10543** Posted **Nov 29, 2012, 11:34 PM**

Anyone have shots of buildings back then that are now parking lots? There's bound to be a few. Excluding the ones next to City Hall for Grand Park.

ethereal_reality · #**10544** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 1:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

There's a link in this prior post about the ASC building with more pictures...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6446

My apologies for not remembering our earlier conversation on the 'American Society of Cinematographers' photograph.
I have no excuse..it simply slipped my mind GW.

Here is the photograph again, this time focusing on the large home southeast of the beloved ASC building.

below: Here is the same home from a different vantage point. The ASC building is visible at far ----> right.

ebay

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FredH · #**10545** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 1:09 AM**

I find the pedestrian bridge over the Taylor Railroad Yards (now the "Cornfield" Park) fascinating.
We have had many posts on this structure including screen shots from noir classics This Gun For Hire (1942)
and Roadblock (1951). Recently, I made this screen shot from 1985's To Live and Die in L.A. I didn't
know the bridge survived that long, but here it is:

To Live and Die in L.A.,MGM

That's a young William Peterson (from C.S.I. fame) chasing the bad guy over the bridge.
Notice that the bridge is now covered with a wood frame and enclosed with chain link fencing.

I guess those were installed to keep guys like Alan Ladd from climbing over the top railing...

This Gun for Hire, Paramount Pictures

...and jumping onto freight trains.

This Gun for Hire, Paramount Pictures

tovangar2 · #**10546** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 1:15 AM**

Another shot of the old Bunker Hill Steps first posted by DonRayMedia on page 408 of this thread. (I cannot believe it took me this long to find it.)

eBay

He also remembered Hope Place being called Upper 5th St, which is correct. At any rate, it's called Hope Place now, in it's new right-of-way behind One Bunker Hill and Library Tower. The "Hope Street" street sign in the photo must have confused many a new-to-LA motorist.

The steps were pretty creepy by the 70's, but in the 50's they were in constant use and seemed to me, as a child, quite glamorous.

And one last shot of the Engstrum, previously posted by ethereal_reality on pg 237 of this thread

I cannot remember if this has come up before, but does any one know when the Angels' Flight Ticket Office lost it's original four-bay pavilion? It was sometime between when it was built in 1910 and the 1940's, maybe as early as the 1920's. I cannot find a digital pic of it, but it's shown on page 36 of Jim Dawson's "Los Angeles' Angels Flight" (2008).

The original pavilion continued the arches of the ticket office and, more importantly, the roof line, the arches being picked out with lights. The blocky porch that replaced it seems both awful and awkward:

losangelespast

It's a pity they didn't restore it to the 1910 version.

ethereal_reality · #**10547** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 1:19 AM**

Can anyone decipher this simple snapshot found on ebay?

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Hollywood Graham · #**10548** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 1:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DouglasUrantia

Here's how the charbroiled burger place The CURB looked in 1958.
It was on Vine St. just south of Hollywood Blvd.

The original little building that later housed Molly's restaurant [The Curb] appears to also be an automobile rental company called U-Drive...'75 cents per day'. It has U-Drive written on both sides of the building in vertical lettering..with all of their 15 shiny rental cars parked along both sides of the building.

Evidently the car rental building operated simultaneously with the lunch counter and then much later changed name again to Molly's "The Curb".

From the LA Times:"According to some, Molly's has history on its side. Originally opened in 1929 as part of a Richfield gas station, the stand was initially called Mom's Place. In the 1950s, its name was changed to the Curb Charbroiler. The Molly's name dates from the 1960s."

I hope we're closing in on the history of this location. The Forum members who posted before have done a great job in researching this...which has inspired me to continue here.

The automobile rental company was Grant U Drive. Grant went on to run many parking lots in Hollywood as Grant Auto Parks and still does. I worked for them in the mid 60's.

FredH · #**10549** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 2:02 AM**

ethereal_reality: I think it says "A stretch between Los Angeles and San Diego"

Well, that would narrow it down to 150 miles, or so.

tovangar2 · #**10550** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 2:02 AM**

The little Spainish-Moorish (although it almost looks Dutch) house on Orchid Ave you're focused on e_r, was an early one built before the Hollywood Hotel addition:

DWP

I think it got got by the twisting alley that now connects Orchid with Orange behind the new Hollywood Blvd development. Drive it sometime in your Googlemobile, its fun.

FredH · #**10551** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 3:06 AM**

We have seen the photos taken by the L.A. Times photographers from the top of City Hall several times here (and these are wonderful photos). The first series of photos were from 1951 and the second series (matching the 1951 photos exactly) were taken in 2009. Here is what really bothers me:

In the 1949 movie Criss Cross, Burt Lancaster's family lived at 215 N. Hill Street.

Here, Lancaster is getting off a street car at Hill and Temple. His house is directly above the street car.

Criss Cross (1949), Universal International Pictures

In the 1951 photo from the top of City Hall, the house is still there, circled in red.

Los Angeles Times

Now in 2009, Kenny Hahn has dropped his Hall of Administration Building right on top of Burt's house. (The red circle is the same location).

Los Angeles Times

Somehow, this doesn't register with me. It can't possibly be the same place! I keep looking, but...it just does't seem possible.

If you have never seen this series of photos, take a look here: They are great.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...4618.htmlstory

DouglasUrantia · #**10552** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 3:19 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

The automobile rental company was Grant U Drive. Grant went on to run many parking lots in Hollywood as Grant Auto Parks and still does. I worked for them in the mid 60's.

Hey thanks Graham for your info on this location. Your input certainly makes sense. When I lived in Hollywood, I used to walk by this location on my way up to the Blvd. for my Saturday walk.

tovangar2 · #**10553** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 4:11 AM**

I still can't see Molly's in these 1930's pix (unless it's under the white umbrella on the corner in the second photo). (?)

ProphetM · #**10554** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 4:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Can anyone decipher this simple snapshot found on ebay?

__

Your wish is my command.

/me fires up Google Earth.

Here we are:

This is about as close as I can get with Google Street View:

Here is the location in Google Maps. It's just south of San Clemente, and just north of the San Onofre nuclear plant. There is a double-track rail line, just as in the photo, though it appears the inland track has been abandoned. Just inland of the railroad is the old Pacific Coast Highway, and just inland of that is I-5. I assume the dirt road in the old photo is whatever passed for PCH at the time.

ethereal_reality · #**10555** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 4:11 PM**

Wow ProphetM! Amazing job buddy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH

ethereal_reality: I think it says "A stretch between Los Angeles and San Diego"

Well, that would narrow it down to 150 miles, or so.

LOL. I thought it was something like..AstreCeh or AstrePeh (my imagination was conjuring up images of a pre-Columbian Indian Tribe)
again lol.
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unihikid · #**10556** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 4:29 PM**

Last week "Tough Guys" was on AMC, it stars Burt Lancaster,Dana Carvey,and Kirk Douglas,from about 1986 or 87.the bridge and train yard are very visible.As far as the movie goes,its a good and bad movie at the same time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH

I find the pedestrian bridge over the Taylor Railroad Yards (now the "Cornfield" Park) fascinating.
We have had many posts on this structure including screen shots from noir classics This Gun For Hire (1942)
and Roadblock (1951). Recently, I made this screen shot from 1985's To Live and Die in L.A. I didn't
know the bridge survived that long, but here it is:

To Live and Die in L.A.,MGM

That's a young William Peterson (from C.S.I. fame) chasing the bad guy over the bridge.
Notice that the bridge is now covered with a wood frame and enclosed with chain link fencing.

I guess those were installed to keep guys like Alan Ladd from climbing over the top railing...

This Gun for Hire, Paramount Pictures

...and jumping onto freight trains.

This Gun for Hire, Paramount Pictures

ethereal_reality · #**10557** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 5:57 PM**

Thanks to rcarlton for his post on Thomas Ince's mysterious death on Hearst's yacht Oneida.

additional information posted by tovanger2

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There was also the lesser known Inceville located in the Santa Ynez Canyon.

http://www.palisadespost.com/

ebay

....more information on this amazing movie 'settlement'.

http://www.palisadespost.com/

wikimapia

below: I was a bit surprised by this photograph. I had always pictured Inceville sequestered deep in Santa Ynez Canyon.
I didn't know, until a few days ago (when I found the above information) that it stretched all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
I was also surprised to see this section of Inceville called 'Triangle Ranch'.

wikipedia

Mr. Thomas Ince

newvulgate.blogspot.com

ethereal_reality · #**10558** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 6:10 PM**

There was also Ince Field.

p_post
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DouglasUrantia · #**10559** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 6:39 PM**

I have to agree with Tovangar. All I see here is the little building with the Spanish tiled roof. The added lunch counter, which faced the sidewalk, is nowhere in sight. The 'lunch counter' must have been added on to the building at a later date.

All I see here is Wards U-Drive car rental.

The only other possibility is that the original 'lunch counter' was inside tile roof building.

We need to see 1930s close-up photos of that building and the signs. So far, I have been unable to find them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I still can't see Molly's in these 1930's pix (unless it's under the white umbrella on the corner in the second photo). Am I blind?

Molly's fb page

Here is a somewhat cleaned up pix that noir man Tovangar posted. Lots of nice rental cars parked around our little tile roof building.

malumot · #**10560** Posted **Nov 30, 2012, 7:13 PM**

It's the same sh*t everywhere.

A short drive from me in Laguna Beach, several old-time, locally-owned restaurants and cafes have closed - all to be replaced by chains.

Here's the marketing pablum on one of the websites:

Sit back and enjoy the island lifestyle at our Laguna Beach Bar & Grill, scenically situated along the majestic Pacific Ocean. Serving contemporary American cuisine and delicious hand-crafted cocktails, our Laguna Beach location is perfect for lunch, dinner and pick-me-ups all day long.

Which one is is? Does it matter? Throw in words like "bistro", "artisan", perhaps reference to "Baja" and "Hawaiian"......

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDiH

We can thank Eric Garcetti for closing down Molly's. Garcetti, who wants to be the next mayor of Los Angeles, is bent on razing landmarks and building high-rises. He's known for his comment that Los Angeles needs more office space. Los Angeles needs more office space because Garcetti promoted turning office space into condos. Look for a new, bland office building to replace Molly's. Developers have found a friend in the city councilman.