noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

Great Noirish tale. I guess this 721 N Alpine Dr in Beverly Hills can't be the one in front of which the acid attack took place...I've looked for any sort of image of the original with no luck. (Two blocks over to the east, another notorious crime took place at the Menedez house, 722 N Elm.)


GSV

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

While looking for something else, I came across the photo below with the intriguing title "Bernice Day, acid bride". I think that the story is new to NLA.
Pictured are Bernice Day and deputy sheriff Jack King. The two are outdoors, King is wearing a suit and hat, and Day is wearing a dress and holding a purse. Photograph dated August 13, 1926.


LAPL

Bernice appears to be trimmed in monkey fur (a topic previously discussed on NLA).

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

_________________________

Cawston was clearly a big supplier to the fashion industry. Given the plethora of Monkey Farms in the Los Angeles area, which may be disturbing in itself, wonder if any supplied the Monkey Fur industry?

Gloria Swanson [sporting] monkey fur.
http://felixinhollywood.blogspot.com...onkey-fur.html

1915
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HpZaSVn9o...ollectible.png



1927
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_qHYj7_kEJ...ollectible.jpg



More Gloria Swanson clad in monkey fur
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...cef294a6e6.jpg



http://shewasabird.blogspot.com/2016/05/

[tovangar2]

I wandered off for a couple of days and returned to find such treasures! Thank you in particular FW for the post on Franklin lodgings and the church. Astounding. I've looked at photos of both for more time than I can count and never saw what was right in front of me. A lesson learned. Thanks also for answering odinthor (about the Hollenbeck) and e_r (about the Fort St cut).

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

a closer look.


It appears that particular lot was excavated 2/3rds of the way down.....so what stopped them from excavating down to street level?



(did the excavators hit a big ol' layer of solid rock?

I think e_r, as to your second query about why the lot wasn't graded to street level to begin with is, that, in the late 1870s, when the building in question was probably built, people just made use of the land in the state the city had left it after the cut. I don't think much of any grading was done by the house builders (except for that access slot, it looks like it's being held open by timbers). Grading the slope level with the street would have necessitated an expensive retaining wall, or the resulting cliff would have fallen on the house. Later development along Fort/Broadway, boxing in the subject house, left it looking very peculiar.

When the Law Building went in, it kept the lower slope, west of the retaining wall that was built, in place until the final, much more radical solution was applied.

Compare the ca late 1870s/early 1880s image below with the ca 1891 image above:

usc dl (detail)

Today:

gsv


.......................................................


Anyway, like I said, I wrote to the Old Mill Foundation to ask about that spring/fountain/mystery structure on the grounds of the Kewen residence. I sent them your enlargement and the stereoscopic view:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

link coming

Here's their reply:

"The image is very interesting and we're trying to identify that it really is the Old Mill in the background. Where did you find the picture?

Cathy Brown
Executive Director, The Old Mill"
oldmill@sbcglobal.net


Help.

Do you want to reply or tell me what to say? I seem to have gotten in over my head again.



.......................................................................................


Thank you too PM for the tour instructions. Do you know what the item is on the right?:


google maps

[ethereal_reality]

t2, sorry I didn't have the link up in my earlier post.

You can find the stereo-view with the mystery 'fountain' thingy HERE

The stereo-view with the Kewen family can be found HERE

both are from the california state library csl catalog

the links worked yesterday. not sure why it now says you need a library card #number

[ethereal_reality]

see the large photograph HERE

Originally Posted by odinthor

Hmm. Is it just me, or does the right third of that photo look suspiciously like a photo studio backdrop?

Originally Posted by HossC

The building certainly ends abruptly, as does the sidewalk. I think you may be onto something, odinthor.

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

That photo appears to have been retouched, with the area to the right of the house replaced with painted-in foliage. Just a thought.
Earl

To be honest, I don't necessarily see a "painted in" area.



so let's review:

810 S. Flower was built in 1902. The ad appeared in a 1907 periodical.

the date (circled below)

california medical and surgical reporter

I looked through the periodical and was unable to find a date on the actual document (it's missing the cover). so I don't know where they came up with 1907)

but even if the 1907 date is incorrect, it doesn't explain the area where the Pierce Bros. building should be. (unless, of course, the periodically is pre-1902... right?)


I didn't solve a damn thing!
_________________




update:

whoa, I just looked at the large photograph again and noticed the entire curb is also missing on the right side.

I change my vote to "painted in".

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

You can find the stereo-view with the mystery 'fountain' HERE

Thx. Done.

[ScottyB]

looking SW.

[ethereal_reality]

I thought I'd check one more time.....

I found a date on the actual document.



1907 is the correct date.

:jumps into bed and pulls cover over head:

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

This blurry photo I think shows a parking lot behind Schwab's.


http://davelandweb.com/chateaumarmon...40s50s2_d1.jpg

Was there a business in the Crescent Heights Shopping Center, facing the parking lot, which had signage to match the Scotty Bowers photo? I forget the dates now, when was the building remodeled? Didn't one enter the parking through a rather grand central entrance arch from Sunset?


hollywoodphotographs

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ScottyB

looking SW.

That's a lovely one. Thank you.

The Huntington DL has some good pix of the mill too (by CC Pierce and GW Hazard, among others), including this other one of the mill pond:

hdl cc pierce

There's also another family group taken on the balcony.

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thank you too PM for the tour instructions. Do you know what the item is on the right?:


google maps

I'm afraid not. I assumed it was some internal part to the mill, like the millstones. But as I don't know anything about the internal workings of grinding mills, I wouldn't actually know a mill part if it fell over and crushed my foot.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ScottyB

Does anyone know where this "disheveled" adobe was located (description per USCDL)?

That's the Morris Adobe (aka Gonzales Adobe and General Fremont's HQ) at the NW corner of Main and Carr Streets.
Gonzales might have built the place, but it was NOT Fremont's HQ, though it was widely advertised as such. At far left
in the photo above is a Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which is missing from the 1888 Sanborn Map but present on the
1894 Sanborn. Also, the two-story house behind the adobe's left/south side is not on the 1894 Sanborn, so my guess
is that photo was taken c. 1900.

Carr Street is now 14th Place, perhaps LA's only numbered place that's north of the identically numbered street. Twelfth
Street is north of Pico, which is the next street north of 14th Place; I guess when the city renamed Carr Street, no one
wanted 13th Street.


I think this undated photo (c. 1886?), with no phone line visible, was taken before the next photo:



SCWHR-P-002.2-0400R @ Seaver Center


Maybe 1888?:



P-010-0117 @ Seaver Center


On the 1888 Sanborn, the adobe is at lower right with the angled patio corner that matches the two photos above:



ProQuest via LAPL


This one might be c. 1903, after some trees were cut:



SCWHR-P-005-N0393 @ Seaver Center


The adobe is gone from the 1906 Sanborn, but we can see the apartments behind the adobe in the previous photo:



ProQuest via LAPL


I believe the flats on the Carr Street side, described in the last sentence below, are what we see at 109-119 Carr on
the map above and in the photo immediately above the map. I have no explanation for why the building described
below to be built facing Main Street is not on the 1906 Sanborn:



January 15, 1903, Los Angeles Times: @ ProQuest via LAPL


The myth that the adobe at Main and Carr was General Fremont's HQ during the Mexican War was dubunked in the
obituary of Morritz Morris, who gave his name to the adobe:



July 11, 1903, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL


(This is the only source I found that connects Gonzales to the adobe) "Photograph of exterior view of adobe
home of Esteban Gonzales, 1886. The structure was built in 1857 by Esteban Gonzales (or Rodriguez) who also
made the brick for the house. About 1871 the land was subdivided and known as the Morris Vineyard tract.":



CHS-67 @ USCDL


The Morris Vineyard Tract, referenced above, can be seen on Stephenson's 1884 Los Angeles Map. Up by the
M in Morris is the corner of Pico and Charity (Grand). Pine Street will become Venice Blvd. The two streets
with dotted lines are Main (at right) and Washington (lower left). I don't know when Mr. J. Carr entered the
picture, but that's where Carr Street came from:



BigMapBlog


Perhaps Carr bought the property from Mr. Morris, who is last at his Main Street adobe in the 1873 LACD:



fold3.com


Originally, Morris' property stretched from Main to Charity/Grand and from Pico to Washington. The adobe is in the
lower right corner on this 1870 Morris Vineyard map:



314768 @ Huntington Digital Library


Here's the NW corner of Main and 14th Place (ex-Carr Street) in June 2017.

I'd seen photos of this adobe before, but I never knew it was the Morris Adobe, so thanks for asking about it ScottyB!

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

see the large photograph HERE


update:

whoa, I just looked at the large photograph again and noticed the entire curb is also missing on the right side.

I change my vote to "painted in".

Good eye by those who noticed the doctored photo! Now that you've pointed that out, I realize that the Abbotsford Inn,
behind the 1st English Lutheran Church on the east, was built before the church and would have been seen to the right
of the church in the advertisement if it had not been replaced with trees.

I can understand, since Pierce Bros. was advertising an ambulance for the living, why it would be undesirable to have their
mortuary in the photo. It must have been cheaper to doctor the photo than take another with a more pleasing background.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Do you know what the item is on the right?:


google maps

A giant lug nut?

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

That's the Morris Adobe (aka Gonzales Adobe and General Fremont's HQ) [...]

July 11, 1903, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL

(This is the only source I found that connects Gonzales to the adobe) "Photograph of exterior view of adobe
home of Esteban Gonzales, 1886. The structure was built in 1857 by Esteban Gonzales (or Rodriguez) who also
made the brick for the house. About 1871 the land was subdivided and known as the Morris Vineyard tract.":

[...]

To shed some light, or--more like it--some darkness on Estebans of the Gonzales, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez variety:

From my notes (L.A. stuff up to about 1870 or 1875):

Gonzales, E. February 5, 1859, published (Los Angeles Star): from the Delinquent Tax List of properties threatened with being sold at public auction: “agent—35 acres of land in cultivation on the west side of road to San Pedro, joins on the south with Shaw, and on the north, Washington street."

Gonzales, Estevan ca. 1827, born in Texas; 1860, present in L.A. as a farm laborer.

Gonzalez, Estefan ca. 1826, born in Texas; 1870, present in L.A. as a farm worker with savings of $300.

Rodriguez, Esteban 1853: father or custodian of an unnamed Rodriguez baptized at Mission San Gabriel.

Rodriguez, Jose Esteban Trinidad December 26, 1855, born; December 27, 1855, baptized at Plaza church; father, Julian Rodriguez.

___

Estevan Gonzales and Estefan Gonzalez are undoubtedly the same person, and likely are also E. Gonzales.

I have no further data on Esteban Rodriguez beyond the above fatherhood or custodianship. He of course can't be the same as Jose Esteban Trinidad Rodriguez, unless the latter was very forward indeed in his development, fathering or custodying children two years before his birth.

Sigh, best I can do.

[ethereal_reality]

originally posted by CityBoyDoug

http://davelandweb.com/chateaumarmon...40s50s2_d1.jpg[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Was there a business in the Crescent Heights Shopping Center, facing the parking lot, which had signage to match the Scotty Bowers photo?
I forget the dates now, when was the building remodeled? Didn't one enter the parking through a rather grand central entrance arch from Sunset?

I think that's a good possibility t2. I hadn't thought of that.
_________________________________________________



The style of lettering in the Scotty Bowers photo also reminded me of the shops along the Crescent Heights curve. .
I thought Scotty's group might have been parked behind one of those shops. (the shops are visible in CBD's photo....although they're a bit hard to see)

The mystery G

detail


I checked a video to compare signs.

starting at 1:39



at 1:44


But this vid is probably a decade removed from the Bower's photo.

______________________________




If anyone feels like it, you can watch the short video here. (it's been on nla a few times before)

• Video Link

[Flyingwedge]

In the last few days I've noticed that random photos in many of my posts are not displaying. Sometimes they're missing one
day but back the next, while others stay gone. I've just contacted Photobucket Support about this issue, and I hope they get it
straightened out soon.

[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

(This is the only source I found that connects Gonzales to the adobe) "Photograph of exterior view of adobe
home of Esteban Gonzales, 1886. The structure was built in 1857 by Esteban Gonzales (or Rodriguez) who also
made the brick for the house. About 1871 the land was subdivided and known as the Morris Vineyard tract.":



CHS-67 @ USCDL



I'd seen photos of this adobe before, but I never knew it was the Morris Adobe, so thanks for asking about it ScottyB!

Fantastic Flyingwedge! Thank you! I dig the inner courtyard of the original floor plan.

[GaylordWilshire]

Fine Art America/Bizarre Los Angeles
Before the muffdiving began...who's waiting up those stairs?



It seems that the 700 blocks of the Beverly Hills flats hosted all sorts of interesting noirish goings-on--the acid attack at the Day house on Alpine, the Menendez mayhem on Elm...and now I've come across, courtesy of our friends at Bizarre Los Angeles, the story of an actress I can't say I remember ever hearing of... and I find no prior NLA posts. To quote BLA's caption of the picture above:

"Movie star Lilyan Tashman inside her Beverly Hills home at 718 Linden Drive. Tashman and her star husband, Edmund Lowe, threw many wild parties here...and if Hollywood legend is correct, these parties occasionally became orgies for closeted film players. Although Tashman nor Lowe ever came out as being gay, numerous stars have outed them in later years. Tashman, in particular, was said to have been quite a womanizer. She died in 1934 from cancer and, sadly, the house no longer exists."



Well, her press seems to allude only obliquely to her proclivities (and, I assume, innocently):



The Boston Globe March 30, 1934



The Jewish Advocate April 3, 1934 (next to an article titled "Halt the Nazi Invasion!")

[HossC]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Great Noirish tale. I guess this 721 N Alpine Dr in Beverly Hills can't be the one in front of which the acid attack took place...I've looked for any sort of image of the original with no luck. (Two blocks over to the east, another notorious crime took place at the Menedez house, 722 N Elm.)

Thanks for looking, GW.

I didn't find anything on the Beverly Hills house(s), although I did check out the S Manhattan Place addresses in the derangedlacrimes.com link which I posted. The first is from this sentence:

Bernice regained consciousness, and because she was no longer welcome at the Beverly Hills home she stayed with her mother and sisters in their apartment at 529 South Manhattan.

There doesn't seem to be a 529 South Manhattan when I looked on GSV. I also failed to find anybody listed at that address in the CDs or any building permits.

The other address is here:

Bernice and her sister Carlyn stopped in at the Baldridge Drug Store at Sixth and Western and asked a clerk, W.J. Bowman, for a chemical that would remove warts.
...
Bernice gave her name as Mrs. K. Lane, 514 Manhattan Place, which Bowman dutifully entered into the poison register.

There's a new construction building permit for that address issued on the day after Christmas Day in 1912, and very little since. There aren't even many listings in the CDs. The building facing S Manhattan place is 512, but there appears to be an older wooden building behind, although it's hard to see from the road. Of course, Mrs K Lane probably never existed, and the address may have made up on the spot.

For the record, the Baldridge Drug Co is listed at 601 S Western Avenue in the 1923 CD. While USC has images which are very close to that location and date, I couldn't find a picture of the drug store.