noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by fhammon

Here's a still I captured from a Little Rascals episode. Spanky is running across an empty lot. You can make out the #57 on the hillside upper left.



Now! Isn't this interesting?
Sure it is.....

I found your '57' post extremely interesting and I'm not even fond of ketchup.

I wonder if anything was built on the site of the giant concrete numbers?
If not, it would be fun to traipse out there and snoop around.

[ethereal_reality]

I found this extremely interesting as well. I had no idea the original plans consisted of so many outlying buildings;
There was even a small lake...wow. Fantastic job Engineeral!

Originally Posted by Engineeral

By engineeral at 2012-04-04

So Hollyhock House and a fair bit of open space near it remains but many of the other proposed buildings and the observation platform were not built or have been lost. Considerable development has occurred on three of the four sides of the original site.

Does anyone remember what the name was before it became Barnsdall Park? I used to know but I can't think of it now.

____

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Does anyone remember what the name was before it became Barnsdall Park? I used to know but now I can't think of it.

Olive Hill, I think.

[3940dxer]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That's a great comparison chart....my money's still on Marilyn.



unknown

Looks like Marilyn bought a couple dollars worth of beans from Barney.

___

e_r, that's fantastic! Where in the world did you find it? This will be a wonderful addition to my collection of Barney's Beanery images.

[ethereal_reality]

G_W: Olive Hill! That rings a bell.

David: Sorry, I can't remember where I found the MM check...it was on a cd I made years ago (if I had to guess, it would be ebay).

___


below: Believe it or not, this is Stanley Kubrick filming a scene from 'Sparticus' above Cahuenga Pass in 1959.


found on ebay




Below: It doesn't mention Kubrick by name, but he was the director of Sparticus and it looks like the back of head.



Why film above a busy freeway?

___

[ethereal_reality]

Now this would have been an impressive place. A speedway slash aerodrome with stadium seating for 50,000 spectators!
...and that plateau on the horizon must be the artist's rendition of Baldwin Hills.




ebay

[ethereal_reality]

Glamorous Hollywood Boulevard circa 1966.


postcard found on ebay

Notice the blue Baker Brothers sign directly below the red Roosevelt Hotel sign. It looks like B.Bros. is located in the hotel
but it was actually in the El Capitan Theater building.

[fhammon]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I found your '57' post extremely interesting and I'm not even fond of ketchup.

I wonder if anything was built on the site of the giant concrete numbers?
If not, it would be fun to traipse out there and snoop around.

If anything exists there in the way of concrete fragments, it would be found among the trees dead center of this photo otherwise the sight is covered by houses now. The trail can be "legally" accessed through Kenneth Hahn Park, otherwise you'll be traipsing across private property.
Maybe from La Cienega Blvd...







If the house in the Little Rascals still exist it might be found in this area near Helms St., Culver City.

[fhammon]

Why the interest in this place? It's Madam Begón's corner store.
Three different photos of it at USC Digital Library taken at different times, years apart, judging by the condition of the building and the telegraph poll updates.

From Maj. Horace Bell's 'Reminiscence of a Ranger' 1881
http://archive.org/stream/reminiscen...lrich_djvu.txt

Of all that Frankish immigration I believe there are only two
survivors in our city, and one is Madame Begon, who is the
owner of a very pretty property on Castelar street, in the upper
part of the city, and the other is one of the prominent vignerons
of the Vineyard city. At the coining of the French Filibus-
ters the Madame was in the very prime of buxom womanhood,
and started a small restaurant at the place where the Ferguson
A; Rose stable now stands, and for a reasonable compensation
would give you, in addition to a well cooked dinner and bottle
of wine, a vigorous lesson in rapier exercise, for which purpose
she kept on hand a pair of gloves, foils and masks. The
Madame was a master in the use of the foil, and my ideal
hero, Bill, was the only one I knew who could stand up to her.
The Madame was emphatically a militaire, had served twenty
years in Algiers as a vivandiere, and as a natural consequence
took easily to filibustering. How the Madame came to Cali-
fornia I am unable to say, but should the reader be curious
to know, let him call on the fat old gray-haired dame who
reclines in her easy chair and lives easily off her rents, at her
residence on Castelar street. As far as the French Sonora
filibustering emigration to Los Angeles is concerned, Madame
Begon stands high.

"Photograph of Madam Begón's corner store in Sonora Town, 1905. A man in a dark suit and hat stands against a telephone pole with his hand on his hip in front of the corner building of Madam Begón's store." - USC Digital Library



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-5152?v=hr


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1333590412734


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1333590412734

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Glamorous Hollywood Boulevard circa 1966.


postcard found on ebay

Notice the blue Baker Brothers sign directly below the red Roosevelt Hotel sign. It looks like B.Bros. is located in the hotel
but it was actually in the El Capitan Theater building.

__________________________________________

The sign reads "Barker Brothers," which was a first class furniture store next to the Paramount Theatre (now, once again, the El Capitan Theatre). On the right, near the Stromberg clock (in front of Stromberg's Jewelry), is Mitchell's, a well known mens store from times past. Across the street, on the northwest corner, you can see part of another menswear institution, Matson's. Karl's Shoes, owned by Harry Karl, former husband of Debbie Reynolds, is on the southwest corner. On the southeast corner is See's Candy. In the distance is the Hollywood Inn, a restaurant in the old Drake Hotel (formerly the Christie Hotel and now owned by Scientology). The Coca Cola sign is sadly missing today, but the Kress sign has been returned to its former glory.

[RudyJK]

Originally Posted by BDiH

__________________________________________

The sign reads "Barker Brothers," which was a first class furniture store next to the Paramount Theatre (now, once again, the El Capitan Theatre). On the right, near the Stromberg clock (in front of Stromberg's Jewelry), is Mitchell's, a well known mens store from times past. Across the street, on the northwest corner, you can see part of another menswear institution, Matson's. Karl's Shoes, owned by Harry Karl, former husband of Debbie Reynolds, is on the southwest corner. On the southeast corner is See's Candy. In the distance is the Hollywood Inn, a restaurant in the old Drake Hotel (formerly the Christie Hotel and now owned by Scientology). The Coca Cola sign is sadly missing today, but the Kress sign has been returned to its former glory.

I love this postcard; all of the neon and the bustle...I wish someone would hurry up with a time travel machine.

So the Pacific Theater on the right (I assume the Cinerama sign is covering the sign on the marquee) is a church now. Any of you Angelenos been in it? What shape is it in?

Thanks all and keep up the great work.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

G_W: Olive Hill! That rings a bell.

David: Sorry, I can't remember where I found the MM check...it was on a cd I made years ago (if I had to guess, it would be ebay).

___


below: Believe it or not, this is Stanley Kubrick filming a scene from 'Sparticus' above Cahuenga Pass in 1959.


found on ebay




Below: It doesn't mention Kubrick by name, but he was the director of Sparticus and it looks like the back of head.



Why film above a busy freeway?

___

Probably because it was cheaper than filming in Italy and this scene may have been a last-minute addition to the script. It comes after the climactic battle and in the scene, Crassus (Olivier) is telling Batiatus (Ustinov) that there will be no survivors to sell as slaves. I'll have to go look at my DVD of the movie again to see who well they cut the freeway out of the frame.

[GaylordWilshire]

1931
1938
1951
2011


It looks like architect Carl Boller was doing his own version of Bullocks-Wilshire here... 8906 West Pico....

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by BDiH

The sign reads "Barker Brothers," which was a first class furniture store next to the Paramount Theatre (now, once again, the El Capitan Theatre).

oops....I meant to type Barker Bros.

below: Barker Brothers in the El Capitan Theater building. You can actually see the showroom windows. Pretty cool huh.
The entrance to the El Capitan Theater is on the opposite end of the building.


http://www.lapl.org/




below: You can barely make out the 'Barker Bros. Hollywood' sign on the El Capitan Theater Building.
This view was probably taken from the top of the Roosevelt Hotel.


http://www.lapl.org/




below: Here is a better view of the 'Barker Bros. Hollywood' sign on the west side of the El Capitan Theater building.
There is also another sign facing east that I hadn't noticed before. If you look closely you can see the metal tower atop the building.



found on ebay



below: In 1942 the spanish revival style theater entrance was modernized and reopened as the Hollywood Paramount.


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...rolNumber=3478


There was also an El Capitan Theater at 1735 Vine Street. Today it is known as the 'Avalon Hollywood' Theater.
The El Capitan on Hollywood Bvld. is once again the El Capitan. It can all get a little confusing.

____

[Handsome Stranger]

Bunker Hill serves as an unlikely backdrop for a 1965 fashion shoot:



[source: Los Angeles Times]

[ethereal_reality]

This was for sale on ebay.



I should know, but what is the almost windowless building to the right of the Hall of Justice and Hall of Records?

[KevinW]

Here's the view from City Hall. Kind of blocked by the Hall of Justice but isn't that the building at the top of that hill?


1951 Ellis R. Bosworth / Associated Press

[GaylordWilshire]

KevinW/e_r: That's the old Central Junior High School--


Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1936


e_r: What you're seeing to the right of the Hall of Justice is the north wall of the school's auditorium.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks guys, that explains it. I was confused by the lack of windows.
___

[ethereal_reality]

Here is an impressive photograph of the Hall of Justice I found while searching for the identity of the Central Junior High School (thx again G_W).



http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/

above: The sheer size of this building tells me that there must have been a light court in the center. Does anyone know?
I'm going to dig up some aerials and see what I can find out.







below: I've never noticed this building 'squeezed' between the Hall of Justice and the tunnel.


calisphere detail