noirish Los Angeles - Page 113

PHX31 · #**2241** Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 5:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The Jet Inn Motor Hotel at 4542 W. Slauson Ave.

postcard/ebay

Now renamed the Jet Inn Motel.

synthetrix.blogspot.com

At least they kept the original sign when they renamed it. It looks like they took the "Mo" from the original "Motor" letters, and the "tel" from the original "Motel" letters and scootched them together.

JeffDiego · #**2242** Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 2:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Amazing to think that the Jet evolved out of places like this not all that long in the past:

California State Library http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...YL7USJ8U5H.jpg

When I was a kid, I thought "motor hotel" was the last word in luxury on the road.

Jeff-- Just do a search "Oliver" above and you'll find the whole story here on the forum, with some great (even dramatic) pictures.

Gaylord: Thanks! And loved also the blog that Jansen refers to.

JeffDiego · #**2243** Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 2:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen

hey jeff!, save ya the search..............jes go here why don'cha.......http://www.onbunkerhill.org/georgemann#comment-350

it's the least i could do for a pal....................by the way....gotta light..................?

Thanks Jansen: That is fascinating - and what photos. Quite a story, and a sad one except for the huge profit Oliver made - but at what a cost.

ethereal_reality · #**2244** Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 9:12 PM**

The Occidential Life Building built in 1965.

ebay

ebay

I find it fascinating that in 1965 a 456 ft building was novel enough to have a restaurant on the 32nd floor called "The Tower".
Wouldn't you love to go back in time and have an elegant dinner there.

Below: I found this slightly earlier postcard. Notice the 3rd building of the Occidental Center hasn't been built yet.

ebay

So, my question is this:
What is that impressive building they tore down? It resembles the Biltmore Hotel.

Below: You can see the older building in this photo as well.

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note: The Occidental Center is now the AT&T Center.

GaylordWilshire · #**2245** Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 9:46 PM**

ethereal-- the building that looks like the Biltmore is the old Chamber of Commerce building. Here it is in 1968, getting ready to be torn down, the Occidental Center looming:

LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078700.jpg

And in better days--1939, 14 years from new:

LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064836.jpg

LAPL http://http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics25/00062255.jpg
Imagine a child, professional or not, being allowed to do this today--per the LAPL, this
is "...a young girl acrobat [standing] on her head on the roof of the Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce building near the Los Angeles Examiner."

ethereal_reality · #**2246** Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 10:09 PM**

So this is the same building but showing the back side......right?

usc digital archive

I can't remember all the different addresses of the Chamber of Commerce.
It seems like they moved all around the downtown area. (perhaps those moves were all prior to this location)

GaylordWilshire · #**2247** Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 10:42 PM**

Yes, that's the same building. You can see a wing of the Examiner building and one of its small domes just north of the C of C. This C of C building was built in 1925.

ethereal_reality · #**2248** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 12:45 AM**

The same general area showing the Case Hotel and Examiner Building in 1955.

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Below: The backside of the Case Hotel.

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Below: The rooftop Case Hotel sign is absolutely huge.
The Examiner Bldg. can be seen on the left in this photo.

usc digital archive

I believe this series was recently added to the USC Digital Archive. I don't remember seeing them before.

ethereal_reality · #**2249** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 1:39 AM**

I found a few more impressive photos of the Chamber of Commerce Building 1925.

usc digital archive

Above: The aerial walkway is very cool, but it seems a bit redundant.

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ethereal_reality · #**2250** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 1:54 AM**

The Chamber of Commerce Building under construction.

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Below: Dedicated in 1924.......the brand new Chamber of Commerce at 12th St. & Hill St.

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ethereal_reality · #**2251** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 2:22 AM**

An aerial of the Occidental Center with the Chamber of Commerce Building still intact.

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Below: Say goodbye to the Chamber of Commerce Building.

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Can you tell I had a lot of time on my hands today? lol
It was a snow day here in the midwest.

ethereal_reality · #**2252** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 2:42 AM**

OK I admit, my last posts have been a little dry.

Below: Abbe Lane posing in front of Ciro's in 1954.

unknown/usc possibly

Below: The Follies at 337 S. Main Street in 1946.

mazooma1 on j_journal

Below: Mr. Muscle Beach 1957, Venice CA.

unknown

Sex sells.

GaylordWilshire · #**2253** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 3:17 AM**

You sold me. And I was about to post something fascinating about Occidental apparently utilizing the C & C building before tearing it down-- the rooftop and cornice signs... anyway, I certainly don't mind having my attention diverted to another structure... Also love that in one of the other pics we see that Xavier Cugat was also at Ciro's...

sopas ej · #**2254** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 3:18 AM**

Ah, a bit of cheesecake and beefcake. Something for everyone.

Those are great photos of the Chamber of Commerce building too, ethereal. I didn't know that that building even existed. I'm wondering what else was torn down to build what is now called the AT&T Center (I've always known it as the Transamerica Center). I'm wondering how that area evolved.

sopas ej · #**2255** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 4:43 AM**

A bit of scholastica.

USC, 1940. Trousdale Parkway. This is back when USC wasn't an enclosed campus, but had actual streets with through traffic running through it.

USC Archive

USC, circa 1946. The Bovard Auditorium, on the corner of Trousdale Parkway and Childs Way.

USC Archive

This was captioned as "Student examining catalog card in Doheny Memorial Library, on the campus of the University of Southern California, ca. 1950s." Judging by his crew cut and the cut of his jacket, I would think this was the very late 1950s, maybe even 1960.

USC Archive

transitfan · #**2256** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 5:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej

A bit of scholastica.

USC, 1940. Trousdale Parkway. This is back when USC wasn't an enclosed campus, but had actual streets with through traffic running through it.

USC Archive

Wow! I don't recognize any of those buildings (and I am very familiar w/ USC, having graduated from there in 1981 and worked there until 1998). Guess that is looking north toward Jefferson/Hoover?

USC, circa 1946. The Bovard Auditorium, on the corner of Trousdale Parkway and Childs Way.

USC Archive

Now this I recognize. On the left is the old Student Union, my very first job ever was in the bookstore, which was in that building (it has had it's own building further down Childs Way since 1989)

When I started at USC in the fall of 1976, they pretty much had the same sidewalks and street set up as in the above pictures, although by then, Trousdale Parkway had been sealed off from the outside, and access was pretty much limited to official University vehicles who used a key card to pass a gate set up at (I think) W. 34th St. Sometime later, they redid the streets and got rid of the sidewalks so that it was a continuous mall type deal (though vehicles could still drive on the street). I forget when it was done, but I know it was before the 1984 Summer Olympics. You can get an idea of what it looked like after that (and today) on Tommy Cam

ethereal_reality · #**2257** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 6:59 PM**

sopas_ej, your photos of USC with streets running through it are great.
I just figured it was always a street free "campus"....I should have known better. duh

GylordWilshire, tell us your story of how Occidental Life utilized the old Chamber of Commerce building.
You mentioned something about the rooftop.

GaylordWilshire · #**2258** Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 7:56 PM**

Well, no story-- I just noticed that in a couple of your pics of the Chamber of Commerce that Oxy Life seems to have once occupied the old building--there is a painted OCCIDENTAL sign on the rear (ne) corner above the Examiner bldg (post #2248, third pic down), and a script rooftop sign (post #2251). The script sign replaced the WESTERN STATES LIFE sign seen in the second pic of post #2249. It seems logical that a company named Western States might have become Occidental, but a cursory Google doesn't bear that out.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/...568b51a2_b.jpg

Another photo looking south showing an Occidental sign on the C of C on 12th Street.

ethereal_reality · #**2259** Posted **Dec 18, 2010, 12:45 AM**

OK, I see it now. I had completely missed it in this aerial photo. You have a good eye GW.

usc archive

ethereal_reality · #**2260** Posted **Dec 18, 2010, 2:03 AM**

The YWCA at 251-255 Hill Street.

usc

Above: Notice Angels Flight in the lower left corner, next to the vegetarian cafeteria.

usc digital archive