noirish Los Angeles - Page 2708

Noir_Noir · #**54141** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 8:20 AM**

Nice work Lorendoc.

The block in the picture is a little east of your GSV.

The Gourmets Pantry, Dr. Komm's and Lou's Jewelers building has been replaced by one dating from 1978.

All the other buildings from 2401 to 2465 including the old Valley Theatre one are survivors from the 1912-15 period.

GSV

Mstimc · #**54142** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 11:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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A mystery location.

Here's a c.1950 car accident photograph that I don't believe we have seen on NLA.

from losangelestheaters, but they don't know the location.

CAPTION:

"This c.1950 shot is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection Note the theatre signage beyond the car.
The Library's caption for the photo is not helpful in identitying the location."....LOS ANGELES THEATRES

And here's the description over at LAPL.

"Automobile in the street after an accident coming out of a driveway, 1950's."....LAPL

Does anyone recognized the location?

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History repeats itself:

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...wn-on-speeding

ethereal_reality · #**54143** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 7:39 PM**

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Another mystery location.

Chicago Cafe, Los Angeles 1937

yesterdaysprints.tumblr

The "Chicago Cafe" is mentioned in only one directory. (shown below)

LAPL / 1930

But it's one of those circumstances where it's listed simply as a person's place of employment. .... . .so frustrating.

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HossC · #**54144** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 8:45 PM**

Although it doesn't show up in the search, the Chicago Cafe in the 1930 CD was at 517 E 10th Street (it's under Restaurants and Lunch Rooms at the back). I also found a Chicago Chop Suey Cafe at 1733 N Highland Avenue in the mid-1930s. The one in the picture above seems to have the number 209½ to the right of the door, and I can find any likely candidates at that address.

Lorendoc · #**54145** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 8:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Another mystery location.

Chicago Cafe, Los Angeles 1937

yesterdaysprints.tumblr

The "Chicago Cafe" is mentioned in only one directory. (shown below)

LAPL / 1930

But it's one of those circumstances where it's listed simply as a person's place of employment. .... . .so frustrating.

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He didn't have far to walk to work. The Chicago Cafe, at 209 1/2 E. 5th street was one of many bars denied liquor licenses due to B girls, according to the LAT of 2/4/38.

HossC · #**54146** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 9:23 PM**

The 1937 CD just lists the restaurant at 209½ E 5th Street under the name Alex Cushner, and the 1938 CD lists it under the name Norman Ness. No wonder we couldn't find the Chicago Cafe in the CDs.

odinthor · #**54147** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 9:32 PM**

Who should get into this but--mirabile dictu--Victor Ponet, whom NLA has discussed before ("Ponet Door," etc.)?

He obtained a license to build the structure the Chicago Cafe was at length in:

LA Times, 10/9/1904

In due course, he died and willed it:

LA Times 2/19/1914

Totally honest and upstanding transactions could take place at that address:

LA Herald, 8/6/1917

The address of the Chicago Cafe was, at least temporarily, a residence:

LA Times, 11/9/1917

Is part of Ponet's building still standing, masked by this? Maybe . . .

gsv

Bristolian · #**54148** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 10:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Another ugly car bites the dust. Oh well.

Lowered, chopped and channeled and that thing could be pretty cool. As a salvage in 1950, it probably could have been had for pennies. I believe it's a 1949 Nash. At least it's a 2 door.

CityBoyDoug · #**54149** Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 11:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bristolian

Lowered, chopped and channeled and that thing could be pretty cool. As a salvage in 1950, it probably could have been had for pennies. I believe it's a 1949 Nash. At least it's a 2 door.

I'm searching the used cars lists right now. As a customized car it might be worth several hundred thousand dollars or much more!. I want to get one before people catch on and beat me to it.....wow. Thanks for the tip Bristolian....I will keep everyone informed with photos.

''Ernie'' at a local junk yard says he thinks he has several '49 Nash cars in his back lot in San Pedro [2000+ cars and old buses].

sadykadie2 · #**54150** Posted **Apr 8, 2020, 5:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Magritte's Pick of the Day.

Fish on Pole.......................................................................................................................

lapl

LAPL isn't 100% sure of the location.

"A dead fish lies on top of a post on a downtown sidewalk, as three men stand by. This may be the corner of 5th and Spring Strets, at the entrance to the Alexandria Hotel, looking south."

I just had to make sure it was a fish.

It's a fish.

I'm curious about the plaque. It looks like Benjamin Franklin raising a beer.

Does anyone know what it means?

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From Quora: Many years ago, like the 1940s, it was a thing the Sicillian mafia allegedly did to warn someone that if they did not stop what they were doing or leave town they would “sleep with the fishes”… as in they would be kidnapped, tortured, murdered, and their body would we weighted down and tossed off a boat. They have not done that in a VERY long time. Maybe they never did it and it was just a silly urban legend. But that is what some people *think* it means.

Valentino · #**54151** Posted **Apr 8, 2020, 9:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

The sign in this picture is identical to the one in e_r's post. Unfortunately, there's no info with it.

Hope that this isn't straying too far from this forum's mission, but have narrowed my search down to one location for this photo.

I believe that the insignia on the "WELCOME" sign represent, in their respective order: Military Police Corps; Corps of Engineers; Signal Corps; Quartermaster Corps (?); and the Ordnance Corps.

While some of these units were also present at the Tokorozawa Ordnance Depot at Saitama (site of Japan's first air base, and where Mitsubishi built the Zero), they all were based at the US Army General Depot in Sagamihara, Japan (where Mitsubishi built tanks). (In 1966, all technical units and functions at Tokorozawa were transferred to Sagami Depot.)

Have been unable to locate a photo, circa 1960, to confirm my suspicions.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/milit...gami-depot.htm

Lorendoc · #**54152** Posted **Apr 8, 2020, 11:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

He didn't have far to walk to work. The Chicago Cafe, at 209 1/2 E. 5th street was one of many bars denied liquor licenses due to B girls, according to the LAT of 2/4/38.

We have seen the location of the Chicago Cafe at NLA years ago in a mystery location post by e_r with a response by me and by HossC. Here is the location 25 years before the first photo (at bottom left):

Per the LADBS, the Ponet building was demolished in 1970. The current crud structures date from 1989 according to the county assessor.

ethereal_reality · #**54153** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 1:10 AM**

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'Mystery' saloon.

"Craps game inside a saloon, Los Angeles, 1898."

yesterdayprint

I love the sign: ..."These Dice Guaranteed To Be Square."

There are a few clues in this photograph. If you look beneath the 'dice' sign there is another, larger, sign that says Lemp's.

I was hoping Lemp's was the name of the bar but that would have been too easy.

Lemp's is a beer made in St. Louis.

According to past directories, there was only one bar that mentions Lemp's in their ad.

In 1883 - 1884 directory it was the Teutonia Saloon at 108 W. 1st St.

LAPL

In 1886 - 1887 it was a bar / saloon at 24 N. Main St. owned by Jacob Adloff.

LAPL

A stab in the dark:

I thought the owner of the mystery saloon might have also been a taxidermist. . .
so I checked to see if Jack Adloff was also a taxidermist. ...as far as I could tell, he wasn't.

Here's a closer look.

I'm puzzled by the taxidermied animals. To me they look like dogs with little heads but the long tail makes me think mountain lion.

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odinthor · #**54154** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 4:10 AM**

How about the New Vienna Buffet, e_r?

LA Herald, October 10, 1893

from p. 33 of book Eternal Spring Street: Los Angeles Architectural Reincarnation

ethereal_reality · #**54155** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 3:49 PM**

Excellent find(s) odinthor.

The name 'New Vienna Buffet' connotes a more wholesome environment (than say a bar or saloon) when in fact that is not the case.

The place was huge. If I'm comprehending the articles correctly the space was once a 1,200 seat theater. The room shown in the mystery photo
was probably one of the 'back rooms' (as mentioned in odinthor's article) hidden from the general public.
On the left in the photo you can see a transom or a window hidden behind a wooden partition. The built up area on the right, with the taxidermied animals,
is a complete mystery to me. Is the dark area behind the animals a window?

From 1888.

los angeles herald dec. 17, 1888

A "family resort"

. . .or a front for illicit activities. (?)

Of course it's still just a theory that the room in the photo was at the Vienna Buffet.
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GaylordWilshire · #**54156** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 4:03 PM**

The Herald of April 11, 1914, considered it attractive. I'm not so sure. But could it still stand? Hoss? FW?

jg6544 · #**54157** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 6:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The Herald of April 11, 1914, considered it attractive. I'm not so sure. But could it still stand? Hoss? FW?

Not that I'm aware and I live nearby.

odinthor · #**54158** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 7:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Excellent find(s) odinthor.

The name 'New Vienna Buffet' connotes a more wholesome environment (than say a bar or saloon) when in fact that is not the case.

The place was huge. If I'm comprehending the articles correctly the space was once a 1,200 seat theater. The room shown in the mystery photo
was probably one of the 'back rooms' (as mentioned in odinthor's article) hidden from the general public.
On the left in the photo you can see a transom or a window hidden behind a wooden partition. The built up area on the right, with the taxidermied animals,
is a complete mystery to me. Is the dark area behind the animals a window?

From 1888.

los angeles herald dec. 17, 1888

A "FAMILY RESORT" ?

. . .and a front for illicit activities.

Of course it's still just a theory that the room in the photo was at the Vienna Buffet.
.

Here's an exterior:

Detail from LAPL #00068498, southeast corner of Court and Spring, dated 1896.

jtown · #**54159** Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 9:11 PM**

Fascinating insight into the challenges faced by Marion Davies, due in large part to her relationship with William Randolph Hearst, and the insinuation that her role in "Citizen Kane" was not portrayal, but reality.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/marion-davies

ethereal_reality · #**54160** Posted **Apr 10, 2020, 3:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtown

Fascinating insight into the challenges faced by Marion Davies, due in large part to her relationship with William Randolph Hearst, and the insinuation that her role in "Citizen Kane" was not portrayal, but reality.

Hi jtown. Thanks for the post.

"and the insinuation that her role in "Citizen Kane" was not portrayal, but reality."

I'm a bit confused by how this is worded, jtown.

Ms. Davies wasn't in Citizen Kane. Dorothy Comingore played the part that was supposedly based on Marion Davies.

Citizen Kane spoiler below:

One of the more salacious rumors was that 'Rosebud', the name of young Mr. Kane's sled, was a pet name Hearst used to describe Marion's. . ummm. . This

____________________________________________________________________________

Does anyone know why Marion is wearing a uniform?

She was famous for her elaborate costume parties at San Simeon but in jtown's photo she's the only person dressed up
& it appears she and Mr. Hearst are entering a hotel or theater lobby.

And this is curious:

Ms. Davies also had studio portraits taken of her(self) in this uniform.

historyforsale

By the way. . this photograph, with her signature, is for sale. Asking price: $595.00 dollars.

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