noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Johnny Socko

Great find! THANK YOU for posting this. In case anyone is not familiar with the area, the Lafayette is located on the north side of Beverly, roughly between Lafayette Park Place (which terminates at Beverly), and Occidental Boulevard -- which happens to be the street on which I reside.

The south end of Lafayette Park Place terminates at Lafayette Park. Lafayette Park was originally called Sunset Park, and thus the street was originally called Sunset Place. The neighborhood was developed roughly around the turn of the 20th Century, concurrent with the development of Wilshire Blvd west of Westlake Park. I have not determined exactly when Sunset Park and its street were re-named, but obviously it provided an opportunity for that "other" street to be named Sunset.

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAzMVgxNj...sVg~~60_57.JPG

A great shot, Chuck--taken not long after the Bryson (behind the middle palm) went up in 1913. The Rampart Apts at the sw corner of 6th and Rampart peek out at left. The streetcar tracks come south down Commonwealth, jog east on Wilshire (in brief violation of G. Wilshire's no railways-on-Wilshire edict) and then turn south on Hoover. Starting at the corner inside the curve of those tracks is this row of house parsed individually here, starting with 2902 Wilshire.

HDL


More on the south side of Sunset/Lafayette Park in recent posts of Tourmaline (posts 19460 and 19461) and HossC (19462).


I'm not sure where Johnny got the info about Lafayette Pk Pl north of the park originally being called Sunset Place--it was Andrews Boulevard, a named changed to the current one when the park was renamed in 1919 (and which also helped avoid confusion with St. Andrews Place in development to the west). Anyway, there is a Sunset Place nearby--see prior post #15811.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

1939 LA city directory has: Wedding Manor 675 S Vmont av Rev Dorothea Du Bose pastor h do

Modern parking lot there now.

Only thing is... what appears to be the address on the house doesn't seems to match "675"-- There are quite a few references in the Times to couples having been married ca. 1938 "in the Wedding Manor," with a couple referring to the "Wedding Manor of Hollywood"--though none with an actual address and nothing coming up in CD listings other than Lorendoc's find.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by HossC

USC dates this picture of the Farmers Market and Gilmore Stadium at 1938/39. Ground-breaking on Gilmore Field began in 1938. Maybe the dark patch on the right is the remains of the "little stadium" in Chuckaluck's picture above.


USC Digital Library

This picture gives a better view of the drive-in restaurant at the northwest corner of the stadium. The Water and Power site names it as Herberts, seen here in 1949.


waterandpower.org

Water and Power also have a 1940 close-up of Herberts, previously posted by BifRayRock.

The location(s) of the well-lit Gilmore Gas Station at Farmer's Mkt was recently resolved by photos and Gilmore's post. An overlooked ER post was also on point.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...92#post6068792

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/Njk3WDEwOT...TNwm4/$_57.JPG

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

ER....I note the year of that photo...11/10/42. I've heard that steel was being used for battleships and tanks at that time. One could assume that steel for manhole covers was a low priority.....very low....lol

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMj...pJw~~60_57.JPG

[Chuckaluck]

Pre-fab construction. Fortune Mag. June 1949

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTI4MFg5NT...TNv0l/$_57.JPG




Of course you can drift or be alive - but don't expect more that 50% financing.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjEzWDEyOD...d2g~~60_57.JPG


Culver City set building. Valuable skills for all of the above.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjcwWDEwMj...S8qkE/$_57.JPG

[Chuckaluck]

Why do you build such large department stores?
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTE4OVgxMD...TMISg/$_57.JPG


Could you tell?

Ahead of the pack? Baker. (Sorry, probably not looking for the nearest Gilmore Station, except for a battery top up)
http://www.ece.msstate.edu/~jwbruce/EVads/Baker2.jpg



Chicken or Egg?

Sport Model, Streamlined for vertical travel and influenced by Western Electric Design Team? Or vice versa?
http://www.rubbertherightway.com/blo...ectric-car.jpg

Later prototype? Propulsion means unknown.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00095/00095984.jpg


But will the public warm to such a radical design?

1970 (Paul Williams endorsement?)
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzIwWDUyMQ...pnLw~~60_3.JPG


http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/Nzg1WDEwMD...-PQ~~60_57.JPG

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Turkish Parlor, Angelus Hotel, Los Angeles Cal


ebay


I didn't realize the hotel used to be named the Angelus de Anza Hotel.



mb/ebay





ebay





Here it's just the Angelus Hotel minus the de Anza.


ebay



"The House of Comfort."


mb/ebay
__

An improved view. (Ample balcony space from which to hang laundry or practice balancing act. Prior management approval appreciated?)
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAzMVgxNj...8VQ~~60_57.JPG

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The information on this was "Looking north on Main Street from post office."


ebay

below: Here is a fantastic closer view of the buildings. Down the block is the oft-mentioned Westminster Hotel (sign on roof line).


detail

below: Mid-range view..showing more of the building at far right.


detail

Details, details.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwN1gxNT...TF-j-/$_57.JPG

[nostalgie]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I believe at some point there was a discussion of another sign (like Hollywoodland) that was erected and used to sell real estate properties and it was located in the Hollywood Hills in the area above Hollywood Blvd. somewhere. At night it was also lighted. I cannot recall what the name of this sign was, but I believe if you look along the top of the hills in the above photo you can see this sign along the horizon. Does anyone remember what the name of it was?

If memory serves, Huell Howser did a story on that other sign, which was an advert for Outpost Estates. When the show was shot, there were still large pieces of the sign & its supports scattered along a ridge of the Hollywood Hills.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This is intriguing, a craftsman style house being used as a wedding chapel.



ebay


detail



reverse


Everything but the street address.
__

a 1948 directory has the address at 3201 W. Pico. The numbers on the porch post seem to be four numbers but are not very legible

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

a 1948 directory has the address at 3201 W. Pico. The numbers on the porch post seem to be four numbers but are not very legible

If you were to encounter long lines, you could always head over to the next Manor. Plenty of parking for motorhomes and Electric cars (bring your own charger).

Circa 1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00105/00105162.jpg

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Perhaps common knowledge to all, but when did JC reside in (or own) the McCadden address? (Assuming Hancock Park was discussed in "Dearest.") Are we aware of her first residential purchase, or where she lived before the big salary increases in the late '20s?

G-W answered the McCadden question, but if you want to know all about all of Joan's residences, here is a link:

http://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com/joanhomes.html

[Martin Pal]

Any way to decipher the movie marquee?

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Studio City
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTA3NVgxNj...TLaR6/$_57.JPG

Chuckaluck, you're bringing back memories. When I arrived in California, the first film I ever saw here was in this Studio City theater.

And my first day here (which was April 1st) I ate in this Du-Pars in Studio City which was down the street a block:

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjMwWDEwMD...TJSfo/$_57.JPG

In the two years Twin Peaks was popular, they made and served Twin Peaks official cherry pies. With damn fine coffee, too! (I wish I still had one of those boxes.)

And I stayed a few blocks from there with a friend who lived on Arch Drive, a street which “arched” from Ventura Blvd. at Vineland around to Ventura Blvd. again to the west. The street had no houses on it, only mid-century or later apartment buildings, so I was surprised to see this street on the bottom part of this 1924 map that G-W previously posted.

LAPL

It’s a bit hard to read “Arch Dr.”, but you can see Vineland Ave. near Universal City on the right. Arch Dr. is between Ventura Blvd. and the Los Angeles River, which probably was not paved in 1924. (?)
The entire San Fernando Valley 1924 map is on G-W’s post here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7491

In between Arch Drive and Du-Par’s on Ventura Blvd. is the Topper Motel, previously mentioned here:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2185
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2186
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2188

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

And I stayed a few blocks from there with a friend who lived on Arch Drive, a street which “arched” from Ventura Blvd. at Vineland around to Ventura Blvd. again to the west. The street had no houses on it, only mid-century or later apartment buildings, so I was surprised to see this street on the bottom part of this 1924 map that G-W previously posted.

LAPL

It’s a bit hard to read “Arch Dr.”, but you can see Vineland Ave. near Universal City on the right. Arch Dr. is between Ventura Blvd. and the Los Angeles River, which probably was not paved in 1924. (?)
The entire San Fernando Valley 1924 map is on G-W’s post here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7491

Historic Aerials only goes back as far as 1952, but it appears to show that Arch Drive was mainly houses with a few empty lots.


Historic Aerials

Many of the apartment buildings that Martin Pal mentioned have appeared by 1972 (the next available date), although it looks like there are a few houses holding out on the north side. Additionally, the 1972 image shows that the area across the river has also filled in with apartments and that Vineland has been widened.


Historic Aerials

The buildings on Ventura which remain the same between the aerials include the Charles and El Royale motels. Both are still there today. Sometime in the mid-70s, the DWP substation was built to the left of the motels - I previously posted a couple of pictures here. That post also includes the links below for previous posts about the El Royale:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2192

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2209

[Andys]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

bringing water to the masses..

1914

ebay

I don't know the exact location of this particular intake valve(s).

__

Those are the intake gates of the LA Aqueduct just past the diversion gates on the Owens River; about 10 miles north of Independence.

Andys

[sopas ej]

Ah, the Pacific Electric Building. I'm sure this has already been posted. Circa 1910.

waterandpower.org

I love going to Cole's, which of course, is in the P.E. Building. I've been going to their Sunday brunches, with the bottomless mimosas. Dangerous, I must say--- I've left piss drunk a number of times. At least I walked and took the train there.

And, in Cole's men's room, I can say, if these signs are really true, that I've pissed where Charles Bukowski and Mickey Cohen have pissed.

Urinal photos by me

Probably not the original urinals, but the ones they pissed in were probably in those spaces.

Speaking of Bukowski, he lived the later years of his life in San Pedro, and is buried not too far from there, at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes. I took these photos of his grave back in 2011. I didn't put the beer and ciggies on his grave, they were already there when I arrived.


You can see the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the distance.


And, the Joan Crawford pictures from some posts back, brings me to this photo; also on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, is the Chadwick School. "I should've known you'd know where to find the boys, AND the booze."

Photo by me

I drove up to the school but there were teen girls and shirtless teen boys jogging around the grounds, so I felt funny taking photos. So I took a picture of the sign instead.

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Only thing is... what appears to be the address on the house doesn't seems to match "675"-- There are quite a few references in the Times to couples having been married ca. 1938 "in the Wedding Manor," with a couple referring to the "Wedding Manor of Hollywood"--though none with an actual address and nothing coming up in CD listings other than Lorendoc's find.

Agree there are 4 numbers on the street address. They were "2821" and this was (and unbelievably still is) S. Western Avenue:

GoogleSV

[GaylordWilshire]

LA Sentinel Apr 20, 1950

Great sleuthing, Lorendoc. I thought maybe with the full address I might find more on the Wedding Manor in the picture, but only this ad turned up...

[unihikid]

i never noticed that a coles ...thanks Sopas

[CityBoyDoug]

King of the stride, Fats Waller was a colorful comedic personality and jazz legend in the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s. Waller was an influential pianist, composer, singer and comedic entertainer, whose innovations to the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. His best-known compositions, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and 'Honeysuckle Rose' were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

One of his tunes at the link below [the same song was used as the theme for "This Old House" 1979..Home Improvement, TV show, you might recognize it:

Link:....http://youtu.be/2yuD0QptJW0


CD file

The Famous Door nightclub stood on Vine Street, Hollywood, some time in the 1930s. Apparently, they were very proud of the fact that Fats Waller came to play there. This may have appeared before on NOIR LA.

M. Turnbull