noirish Los Angeles

[FredH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

mystery location


We have seen a lot of parades, and a lot of parade floats, on NLA over the years. . .

but I am pretty sure this photograph is new [to NLA].


Ebay found about a month ago.

Written in white (above) ..... ELKS PARADE ..... L. A. 1921.....Then a word I can not read.



But the postmark is dated Nov. 13, 1926



I hope the seller didn't accidentally scan the back of a different postcard.


In all honesty, folks..I don't believe there are enough clues to figure out the location.

If the photographer had aimed a bit more to the right - we would have been able to see more of the sign on the brick commercial building.
(all we see now is PR)

.

Let me throw these into the mix:


http://www.tommyjones.org/salisburye...lksCon1921.jpg




https://csl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/...36891070005115



I think the Alhambra on the first photo may stand for the Alhambra loge float.
One of the other photo seems to say Orange.

Looks like the same handwriting on each photo

The Hollywood Blvd. address may be the photographer's address?

Found this note on one of the websites:"Elks held Convention in Los Angeles, July 1921. Festivities included several parades."

Will this help?


Los Angeles Herald, July 14, 1921

[Martin Pal]

Re the Donut sign:

Originally Posted by odinthor

"HOT-FRESH" looks uncomfortably like "NOT-FRESH" . . .
_________________________________________________________________

LOL!

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

But the postmark is dated Nov. 13, 1926
_________________________________________________________________

They're still selling postcards in Hollywood with photos from the 1980's...

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

_________________________________________________________________

Haven't had luck finding out about this play "Fabiola" from 1926.

There is still a little house on the corner of 4582 Fountain Ave. at Lyman Place. Maybe it's the same house where the postcard was sent.

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

Browsing through calisphere.org a while back I found this handsome moderne retail building:


calisphere.org

The caption was:

"Exterior view of El Rancho Building, housing various retail shops including El Rancho Hardware store in the foreground. The small stores include E.R. Paulsen, a knit shop, Rancho Shoe Repair, Streamliner Salon, and Davidson Sporting Goods."

No location was indicated. The date was given as "c. 1955"; those cars look older.

Couldn't find these businesses in the CDs. But a circuitous route led to:


gsv

...in Arcadia. Looks like a survivor.

{{waiting for HossC to point out this building was discussed in 2014 in 5....4....3....2....1..... }}

Rowland Crawford! I couldn't find the 2014 post so I hope I'm not repeating stuff. If I am, too bad!

Here's an image of the El Rancho Santa Anita Shopping Center looking the other way, with the 1955 addition of Crawford's Valley National Bank to the south:

old postcard


At least a bit of the rock facing on the '55 bank survives.

You'll note the El Rancho Market in the distance in the postcard image. That was there first. El Rancho Supermarket opened in mid-1948, near the Santa Anita Racetrack, which Crawford had worked on in the early-1930s. Crawford was a master of the Late Moderne—dig the large sign pylon. Said the San Marino Tribune on June 1, 1948, "The market has two walls almost entirely of glass so that customers have a view of the mountains while they shop."

Once the center had twenty stores and twenty-four offices, it was officially dedicated by Mayor Sullivan in May, 1950. These shots are by Shulman and the Getty says they're 1951 so LAPL's ca. 1955 date is off a few.

getty



The market is completely demolished; it's basically now the parking lot of a big ol' beige concrete thing with no glass.

[HossC]

Here's another photo of the 1921 Elks parade. Again, I think this has the same handwriting. Luckily, this location is easier to find with United Shoe Stores at 133 S Broadway in the background.


Ebay

[Lomara]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

One of Randy's lesser known relatives on Western Avenue at Compton Boulevard in Gardena. No exact date but from the gas prices at the Phillips 66 station probably early to mid 1970s.


Facebook
And today with Compton renamed Marine Avenue

GSV

The violent reputation of Compton in the mid-late 80's prompted several communities with Compton Blvd running through them to rename their stretch of that street. Mine included. In this first article, it was down to a vote. Folks quoted in the article thought the name Compton harmed the community's image. In my part of the county, it is now called Somerset Blvd.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...676-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...232-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...232-story.html

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

The market is completely demolished; it's basically now the parking lot of a big ol' beige concrete thing with no glass.

I'm glad you posted this. I've wondered about this shopping center. It's not far from where I live; I don't go into Arcadia often but when I do, I go by way of Huntington Drive, and driving by it, I've always thought this shopping center was oddly configured; it has a small parking lot in front of it, and a much larger one behind it. It makes sense to me that it dates from the late 1940s/early 1950s. It's that period when it seemed developers were straddling the fence between making the buildings flush with (had they put it in) the sidewalk and creating a more traditional storefront appearance, or making a more car/driver-oriented shopping center with parking all around the buildings. This seems like a compromise somehow.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by JimCraig

I much prefer the original view. The owner probably thought adding the brick pillars gave the building "Class." I think they just look tacky.

I always ponder whether something like the pillars were in response to some earthquake safety measures, though "brick" doesn't usually enter in to such equations.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by odinthor

"HOT-FRESH" looks uncomfortably like "NOT-FRESH" . . .

Good, it wasn't just me...this time.

[MartinTurnbull]

Originally Posted by HossC

That appears to be the Restaurante El Charro in Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Their website is here (I wish I could read Spanish).


www.ruizhealytimes.com

And today.


GSV

Thanks HossC. I thought it wasn't like that an LA joint that looked like this couldn't have popped up in these pages before.

[riichkay]

A few random photos out of the Life Magazine archives, apologies if any have been posted...





The queue outside the Union Rescue Mission, 1950's.




















Night driving in Hollywood, undated but likely mid-30's.





Identified as an L.A. suburb, 1949.






A fashion show at a Bullock's store, about 1950...what's of interest here is the major construction in the background...my initial thought was that this could be the Westwood store (completed 1951), and this room is on the Le Conte Ave. side of the building....which would place the construction on the UCLA campus.






A party at Schwab's hosted by the columnist Sidney Skolsky (who filed his dispatches from a loft office in the building), 1946.






Just for fun....bottom left, there's a redhead at the counter with a black scarf tacked to the back of her hair....Lucille Ball?

Midway up the counter a group of folks standing, including an attractive brunette....the 20 year-old Norma Jean Baker?

To the left of Marilyn, a woman in profile seated at the counter, in a light colored suit...June Lockhart?

At the near end of the 2nd center counter from bottom is a fair-haired fellow in profile, looking upward at something behind the counter....Dan Duryea?

To the left and just below Duryea is a dark-haired woman with a smudge across her eyes, obscuring her features....now, that could be a random error in the photo processing, but it's placement is awfully strategic...and this was 1946, arguably the summit of the Noir city....so I want to believe that woman was celebrated, and did not want a certain someone aware that she had been at this affair (or, that she was having one)...so post-party she appeals to Life, requesting anonymity.






No guesswork required here...Sidney Skolsky, Alan Ladd, and John Garfield.






Undated, likely 1940's.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by riichkay

No guesswork required here...Sidney Skolsky, Alan Ladd, and John Garfield.

And Will Wright behind Garfield. Wright and Ladd were together in the film The Blue Dahlia, written by Raymond Chandler, which was released that same year.

[Martin Pal]

And on the right side, the man is wearing an interesting jacket, buttoned in a diamond shape. (Any one know what the medal pinned to it signifies?)

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by riichkay

A few random photos out of the Life Magazine archives, apologies if any have been posted...







A fashion show at a Bullock's store, about 1950...what's of interest here is the major construction in the background...my initial thought was that this could be the Westwood store (completed 1951), and this room is on the Le Conte Ave. side of the building....which would place the construction on the UCLA campus.

Given the location and size, that's the old UCLA Medical Center(now the Geffen Medical School).

ETA: Looking at a campus map, I believe the finished building at the right is the Life Sciences Building.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by riichkay

A few random photos out of the Life Magazine archives, apologies if any have been posted...

Just for fun....bottom left, there's a redhead at the counter with a black scarf tacked to the back of her hair....Lucille Ball?

I was thinking it was Greer Garson.

Now I'm reminded of that "I Love Lucy" episode where they're at the Brown Derby and Ethel taps a lady's shoulder and asks if one of the caricatures is either Shelley Winters or Judy Holliday, and the lady (who happens to be Eve Arden) turns around and says "Neither, it's uh, Eve Arden."

[riichkay]

Greer Garson is an excellent guess...whoever it is, she's being stared down by that handsome fellow with the cigarette in his mouth.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by riichkay

A fashion show at a Bullock's store, about 1950...what's of interest here is the major construction in the background...my initial thought was that this could be the Westwood store (completed 1951), and this room is on the Le Conte Ave. side of the building....which would place the construction on the UCLA campus.

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

Given the location and size, that's the old UCLA Medical Center (now the Geffen Medical School).

ETA: Looking at a campus map, I believe the finished building at the right is the Life Sciences Building.

Here's a 1957 view of UCLA. Bullock's is in the lower-right corner. I think all the campus buildings line up if one was looking out of the rear window of Bullock's.



Here's the full image.


USC Digital Library

[Lorendoc]

The LAT of 7/15/21 had pages and pages of Elks Parade coverage. In addition to the main parade, there were 3 others, including a night parade with special effects attributed to the movie studios.

The main parade kicked off from Pico and Hill, went north on Hill to make a right turn on Tenth, and then a left onto Broadway; the end was near the old city hall.

The difficult to read word was indeed "Alhambra":

ALHAMBRA PRAISED - Alhambra Elks did themselves proud in the turnout. Hundreds of the Alhambra Bills were in line, comprising an entire division. No.23, having their own band, and with the members in purple and white dress. A float, depicting an old mission scene also was entered in this division.

- LAT 7/15/21

I can't unsee a Taco Bell on that float...

The 1921 CD lists a dozen or more print shops along the parade route, but if I had to guess, I'd vote for the southern end as there seems to be residential housing visible in the distance.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

The LAT of 7/15/21 had pages and pages of Elks Parade coverage. In addition to the main parade, there were 3 others, including a night parade with special effects attributed to the movie studios.

The main parade kicked off from Pico and Hill, went north on Hill to make a right turn on Tenth, and then a left onto Broadway; the end was near the old city hall.

The difficult to read word was indeed "Alhambra":

ALHAMBRA PRAISED - Alhambra Elks did themselves proud in the turnout. Hundreds of the Alhambra Bills were in line, comprising an entire division. No.23, having their own band, and with the members in purple and white dress. A float, depicting an old mission scene also was entered in this division.

- LAT 7/15/21

I can't unsee a Taco Bell on that float...

The 1921 CD lists a dozen or more print shops along the parade route, but if I had to guess, I'd vote for the southern end as there seems to be residential housing visible in the distance.

Looking at the 1921 CD, there's Central Press at 1111 S. Hill and per the 1921 Baists it's in a brick building with wood frame houses to it's south.

[acorn8332]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

Looking at the 1921 CD, there's Central Press at 1111 S. Hill and per the 1921 Baists it's in a brick building with wood frame houses to it's south.

The street light we see on the left side of the photo is a Llewellyn "Winslow." That model was pretty much limited to Hill Street--which adds further credence to this shot being taken while the parade was moving North on Hill before turning-off at 10th Street.

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent sleuthing, everyone.

The Elks Parade mystery appears to have been SOLVED!






now..about that man's umbrella.


DETAIL

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