noirish Los Angeles

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by HossC

The aerial views don't really show anything, so you'll have to make do with this selection of pictures from Julius Shulman's "Job 3383: Museum of Motion Pictures and auditorium, 1962". This is the only exterior photo in the set - it looks like the Lytton Center was under the parking lot behind the bank.



Here are some of the exhibits - the full set has a few extra angles.









And the entrance to the auditorium.



There's also a color view similar to this one, but black & white shows it best.



All from Getty Research Institute

The sign in the video was across the back of the parking lot. There's also a small sign for the Lytton Center of the Visual Arts under the main Lytton Savings sign on the left. This image is one of four photos in "Job 3738: Lytton Savings and Loan Association, sculpture exhibition, 1964".


Getty Research Institute

Finally, here's a picture of Bart Lytton from "Job 3850: Bart Lytton portraits, 1965".


Getty Research Institute

Whoa! I'd hate to meet him in a dark alley

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by sadykadie2

Whoa! I'd hate to meet him in a dark alley

My thought exactly. That's as noirish-looking a guy as you could ask for. The cigar, the gold watch, the gold cufflinks, that face. He could order anything done to you.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

My thought exactly. That's as noirish-looking a guy as you could ask for. The cigar, the gold watch, the gold cufflinks, that face. He could order anything done to you.

Its people like him who created the mess the USA is in by 2016. White collar criminals who are above the law.

[GaylordWilshire]

Just a teeny bit simplistic, maybe? Although now a similar character--also a self-aggrandizing bankrupt--is coming close to RUNNING the country. Anyway, Bart Lytton has quite a colorful history--curiously, he was originally Bernard SHULMAN, apparently becoming "Bart Lytton" when he moved to California. In the 1942 CD he was living at 152½ S Westmoreland....

GSV



It looks like Shulman caught Shulman right before his fall... bankrupt and dead by 1969.

Originally Posted by HossC

The aerial views don't really show anything, so you'll have to make do with this selection of pictures from Julius Shulman's "Job 3383: Museum of Motion Pictures and auditorium, 1962". This is the only exterior photo in the set - it looks like the Lytton Center was under the parking lot behind the bank.

Getty Research Institute

[ethereal_reality]

re: The 'floating diamond' beneath the pavilion.

ethereal reality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mppPX8Qmr48




The pavilion with the 'floating diamond' is partially hidden in this photograph dated July 6, 1964.
In this view we're looking north across the Lytton plaza.


http://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150S...20Analysis.pdf

The abstract sculpture in front of the woman on the bench is Henry Moore's "Three Piece Reclining Figure".
Today it can be seen at the Los Angeles County Museum; a gift from Mr. & Mrs. Lytton and the Lytton Foundation.


*In the pdf (thanks for the link Martin Pal), the pavilion is mention numerous times, but not once does it describe what's being displayed beneath the dome. -quite frustrating.


One last thing:
The mystery shape appears opaque in this 1964 view (without the transparent plexiglass on the top half) -now I'm doubly confused.
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[HossC]

The PDF file has a description of alterations made to the bank and site about two thirds of the way through. Here's the section on the Lytton Center.



There are also some then/now comparisons.





All from http://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150S...tsAnalysis.pdf

This is the current view from Havenhurst Drive. Just to the left of the red flowers is the wall with the zigzag pattern that I mentioned in my original post, The vehicle ramp is just out-of-shot to the right. I wonder if the gated door in the middle leads to the remains of the Lytton Center.


GSV

Here's a reminder of how this entrance originally looked.


Getty Research Institute

[ethereal_reality]

So sad to see the Lytton Center turned into storage........long rows of cheap looking doors.

Originally Posted by HossC

I wonder if the gated door in the middle leads to the remains of the Lytton Center.


GSV

Hoss, yes, the doors in question were an additional entrance into the museum.


http://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150Sunset/pdf




Here's a great rear view of the Lytton Savings bank building before the Lytton Center of Visual Arts was built behind it.


http://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150S...20Analysis.pdf

It looks down-right pastoral.
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One of the most surprising items in the pdf was the 12 story office tower that was originally planned for the site but never built.


http://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150Sunset/pdf


This is what's planned for the site.


http://www.wehoville.com/2013/09/11/...rden-of-allah/

According to the pdf, the mid-Century Lytton Savings isn't worth being saved.

(you'd think a folded zig-zag roof could be placed atop the retail structure in homage to the Lytton Savings, but then again who am I to say?)

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[BifRayRock]

1926 - 701 S Maricopa. It's a survivor.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/26463







Contemporary
GooGooSV


GooGooSV



As is its neighbor, across the street at 702 S Mariposa.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/26463


Glimpse of Ambassador?




Contemporary



GooGooSV









Another survivor.



1926 - 4829 Lexington.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/26463


Contemporary (Utility pole age? )
GooGooSV

[BifRayRock]

Following the '24 plague scare, 1926 appears to have been a banner year for apartment construction. From the same composite http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/26463 as above:


1926 - 437 Ardmore (Corner of Rosewood and Ardmore)








Contemporary
GooGooSV




Apropros the Lytton-Garden of Allah discussion, here is an image of Allah construction, circa '26 part of the same image composite. Swimming pool in foreground.









Evidently, this pool had quite a history. Plenty of images out there.

Mr.Turnbull provides an overview: http://www.martinturnbull.com/2015/1...-1927-to-1959/ And then there are the allegations. http://firsttoknow.com/inside-the-re...ywood-history/



1927
http://www.allanazimova.com/wordpres...circa-1927.jpg






August 1959 - Source label's image: "Dick Stagg instructing Terry Miller, 7 at the Garden of Allah Hotel's pool." (?)
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...oll44/id/90797

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

*In the pdf (thanks for the link Martin Pal), the pavilion is mention numerous times, but not once does it describe what's being displayed beneath the dome. -quite frustrating.

Here's a detail view from one of the black & white images in the original Lytton photoset that I posted. I'm sure there's a model in the case, but the trees look much bigger than the ones in the Garden of Allah model posted by MartinTurnbull, and they're a different variety.


Getty Research Institute

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Hoss, yes, the doors in question were an additional entrance into the museum.

Thanks, e_r. I should've carried on reading!

[HossC]

We're back in DTLA for today's Julius Shulman post. This is "Job 2153: Lunden, Hayward and O'Connor, Public Health Building (Los Angeles, Calif.),1956". The sign over the door by the palm tree says "Clinic Entrance".



A View down E 1st Street.



Here's the ambulance entrance with The Times Building behind.



There was a good view of City Hall from this deck area.



I've left out a few of the exterior shots, but all four of the interior pictures are here.









All from Getty Research Institute

The building is now City Hall South.


GSV

[Martin Pal]

Thanks E_R and HossC for the additional Lytton posts. I can't believe that lovely Plaza area and Arts Center were all abandoned and
destroyed, especially in favor of what's there presently. Also interesting, in one of the report photos, it shows Martin Luther King with
a Lytton Center employee, a curator, though it's not clear whether he was at the Center or not when it was taken.
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Originally Posted by HossC

We're back in DTLA for today's Julius Shulman post. This is "Job 2153: Lunden, Hayward and O'Connor, Public Health Building (Los Angeles, Calif.),1956". The sign over the door by the palm tree says "Clinic Entrance".

I've left out a few of the exterior shots, but all four of the interior pictures are here.

I can't recall seeing another photo of an interior of a building where you can see a gasometer outside the window.

[LA Kitty Kat]

First time poster, but I've been working my way back through to the beginning for several months.
My sister works in the city hall south and she was amazed when I showed her these vintage pictures.
Thank you for the wonderful pictures and history.

[ethereal_reality]

Welcome to the thread LA Kitty Kat!
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I'm surprised the Public Health Building had an ambulance entrance. Wasn't it administrative offices for the Health Dept?

I thought patients would go to Central Receiving or County General.

1957

Patrick Mercy, flickr (we've probably seen this before on NLA)

Any idea what that large building under construction is?

(how many of you noticed the man on the ladder?)

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This evening's 'mystery' location.


eBay

I'm really hoping the building with the Midway Market is still standing. -fingers crossed.


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[ethereal_reality]

"LA City Central Receiving Ambulance"


https://www.flickr.com/photos/lafdhs/9163355805

The City of Los Angeles had a 3rd service for ambulance transportation. They operated out of Central Receiving Hospital just west of Downtown L.A. and out of police stations. The LAFD acquired the apparatus and personnel at the beginning of the Paramedic program in the late 60's early 70's. They were called the Brown Bombers by LAFD personnel. This rescue ambulance operated as Rescue 35 before it was painted red and white by the LAFD Shops.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Just a teeny bit simplistic, maybe? Although now a similar character--also a self-aggrandizing bankrupt--is coming close to RUNNING the country. Anyway, Bart Lytton has quite a colorful history--curiously, he was originally Bernard SHULMAN, apparently becoming "Bart Lytton" when he moved to California. In the 1942 CD he was living at 152½ S Westmoreland....

GSV



It looks like Shulman caught Shulman right before his fall... bankrupt and dead by 1969.

Okay, what's that mystic sigil embroidered on his left cuff? It's obviously a token of his membership in the Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission or one of the other secret cabals that control the world.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

Okay, what's that mystic sigil embroidered on his left cuff? It's obviously a token of his membership in the Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission or one of the other secret cabals that control the world.

I think it's more likely to be Bart Lytton's intials stylized into a monogram.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This evening's 'mystery' location.


eBay

I'm really hoping the building with the Midway Market is still standing. -fingers crossed.

The City Directories list a Midway Market at 2039 W Pico Boulevard from the mid-50s to the mid-60s. That would mean we're looking at the S Alvarado Street side of the building - the 1268 number on the left is consistent with that, and the destination sign on the bus says "Alvarado". There was also a service station at 1300 S Alvarado Street during this time. Here's a 1964 aerial with the square market building at the center.


Historic Aerials

I haven't found any other pictures of the intersection to confirm this location. The building records suggest that the Midway Market building was previously a branch of Western Auto Supplies. They also show a demo permit dated 1992 (not available online). Assuming that I've found the right location, this is the view now.


GSV

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I'm surprised the Public Health Building had an ambulance entrance. Wasn't it administrative offices for the Health Dept?

I thought patients would go to Central Receiving or County General.

1957

Patrick Mercy, flickr (we've probably seen this before on NLA)

Any idea what that large building under construction is?

The Central Receiving Hospital was at 1401 W 6th Street, so the building under construction in the background must be the Unocal Center/Union Oil Center. It opened in 1958, so the date fits.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks Hoss. I was confused because you don't see any buildings on the far (eastern) side of the Harbor Fwy behind it. (so i thought the photographer was facing south)

&....woe is me , the Midway Market building is now an empty lot. yet another disappointment.
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While re-visiting the Lane-Wells earlier this week, I happened across this interesting 'courtyard' apartment building across Soto St. on E. 57th St.


gsv



I'm curious about the Bell.


detail

Could this have been built as housing for California Bell employees?

The only other thing to come to mind was the community of Bell, but it's southeast of here.




....just for fun, here's the building in the vintage aerial and today.




gsv


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