noirish Los Angeles

[MichaelRyerson]

Bugsy at Rest, 1947


Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, Los Angeles County Morgue, June 20, 1947 It would appear one of the morgue-workers has misspelled Mr. Siegel's last name. A final indignity.

LAPL

[MichaelRyerson]

Bookie arrest (1669 North Main Street, Los Angeles), 1951

April 12, 1951. George's Service Station, up between the river and the 'cornfield' switching yard, seems to attract an unusual number of Oldsmobiles and a nice new Pontiac. Oldsmobile seemed to be the favorite of local wise guys, remember the two jitterbugs with the cracked windshield up on N. Ogden Drive?

USC digital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Collection, 1920-1961



Bookie arrest (1669 North Main Street, Los Angeles), 1951 (2)

April 12, 1951. Another shot of George's, just a sleepy little gas station in a tough part of town. Hey, who's that guy in the Foster Grants and the Italian shoes leaning against the Studebaker? Why I think that's our old friend Joey Sica, one time Jersey button man looking pretty relaxed on a warm spring day. I think this crème colored convertible with the black top over here on the left may be Joey's.

USC digital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Collection, 1920-1961



Bookie arrest (1669 North Main Street, Los Angeles), 1951 (3)

April 12, 1951. C'mon Joey, let's go inside with your pals for a look-see. Gee, everything seems pretty copasetic. What are all these numbers? And this seems like a lot of money for a little old gas station to have laying around. Aren't they afraid of some young punks coming in and boosting the place? Joey 'JS' Sica (arrested); officer James Lestelle; Joseph George Chaiken (bookie suspect); Robert Duff (bookie suspect); George Weisbart (bookie suspect).

USC digital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Collection, 1920-1961



Bookie arrest (1669 North Main Street, Los Angeles), 1951 (4)

April 12, 1951. Joey Sica in his favorite seat, next to the cash register.

USC digital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Collection, 1920-1961

[ethereal_reality]

Interesting photos MicharlRyerson. I especially like that last one.
__



originally posted by HunterK

photo by HunterK


This article ran in the Times a couple days ago.



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7036

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[Hobocat]

Originally Posted by Noircitydame

I'm new to the fuorum and have not yet learned how to post photots - but I think it's the old Armory, aka the Copeland Building (1908) at 8th & Spring?

Good eye Noircitydame, 800 block of S Spring Street is correct.

[malumot]

Yes.....Maybe a woman's touch is in order. Maybe this joint is looking like that campsite in the Sierra Madres.........I don't suppose Curtin, Dobbs and Howard were much for housekeeping.

On the other hand - that photo in your avatar (Bette Davis?) suggests to me that you could dish it out as well as take it......That certainly doesn't look like any shrinking violet.

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Welcome to the thread noircitydame. It'll be good for these rowdies to have another lady around. Hope you don't mind the rough language.

[ethereal_reality]

There is this rather impressive house where Oak Street dead ends at 23rd Street.


gsv

detail/small bay window -nice




The house actually faces Scarff Street at. W. 23rd Street. There is a wonderful house next door as well.


gsv



...as I turned the corner I noticed yet another interesting house (a Victorian, like the middle house).


gvs



..but as I ventured further down Scarff Street the third home is blanked out.


gsv



What the??





So I checked out an aerial. Yep, it's there alright.


google earth



Next I tried looking from the opposite direction on Scarff Street. Nope! -still blanked out.


gsv

Does anyone know why google has blanked out this house?
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[ethereal_reality]

The only information I have on this photograph is Echo Park.


found on ebay

Does anyone recognize this street...or the house?
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[DouglasUrantia]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

There is this rather impressive house where Oak Street dead ends at 23rd Street.
The house actually faces Scarff Street at. W. 23rd Street. There is a wonderful house next door as well.
What the??


So I checked out an aerial. Yep, it's there alright.


google earth
Next I tried looking from the opposite direction on Scarff Street. Nope! -still blanked out.


gsv

Does anyone know why google has blanked out this house?
__

For some reason this mystery house is very visible from the alley. The owner probably complained to GSView.

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The only information I has on this photograph is Echo Park.


found on ebay

Does anyone recognize this street...or the house?
__

My best guess is Echo Park Ave. at Morton Ave. The angles of the intersection look about right, and there is a short wall on a couple properties on the right side of Morton Ave., which may be the one seen on the right in the old photo.

Here's a Google Street View link.

There is also a house on the left side of the street which might match the one seen right next to the guy's head. It looks to be 5 properties back from the corner.

[Albany NY]

originally posted by Ethereal_Reality
What the??



Next I tried looking from the opposite direction on Scarff Street. Nope! -still blanked out.


gsv

Does anyone know why google has blanked out this house?
__[/QUOTE]

What Google Has Ignored, Bing Has Restored!

Bing.com/maps
I often forget about Bing Maps, but sometimes it comes in handy. The blurred out house on Scarff Street in in full focus on Bing. Not bad looking, either.

[ethereal_reality]

There it is! Thanks AlbanyNY. Look at that cute little blue man on the sidewalk...he even casts a blue shadow.




Torn negative found on ebay.









below Positive image. The Gamut Club? Never heard of it.












After a little research (very little) I found this photograph at http://www.lapl.org/


LAPL

The Gamut Club, 1044 S. Hope Street.
The former home of the Dobinson School of Expression and Dramatic Art, built in 1903. (architect Abram M. Edelman)

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[ethereal_reality]

ebay

Originally Posted by ProphetM

My best guess is Echo Park Ave. at Morton Ave. The angles of the intersection look about right, and there is a short wall on a couple properties on the right side of Morton Ave., which may be the one seen on the right in the old photo.

Here's a Google Street View link.

There is also a house on the left side of the street which might match the one seen right next to the guy's head. It looks to be 5 properties back from the corner.

I'm still a bit confused ProphetM...but I certainly think you're in the right area.


google aerial

That said, I find this area of Echo Park extremely interesting. I've saved a lot of images of the area on an old CD.
Time to post them I think.
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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by DouglasUrantia

For some reason this mystery house is very visible from the alley. The owner probably complained to GSView.

This is a good view DouglasUrantia. Thanks! I am surprised the 'google-mobile' drove up the alley.
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[FredH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Found on ebay today.


Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show parade, April 1914. ---> pan right


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item460cbd5ad7

The crenellated building at far right resembles the Los Angeles Times Building..but I think it's a different building.

Great billboards by the way.
__

When I looked at this photo, my eyes went directly to the billboards.

The first thing I noticed was the billboard for Jap Rose Soap. What!!?? I did a little research and found out that it was a very well known brand in the early 1900's.
It turns out that the Japanese were well regarded back then in the personal hygiene department. They actually bathed daily, while us grubby Americans considered
a weekly dip in the tub to be sufficient. I'm not sure if the term "Jap" was considered derogatory back in 1914, but World War II propaganda made sure it was by the 1940's.

Here is an ad:


http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf...s/japrose.html


The Arrowhead Hot Springs is also a pretty good story. David Smith went up there in 1864 and decided that it would make a great health spa. He built a hotel for his guests in 1868.
In 1885 the hotel burned down. The hotel was promptly rebuilt, but burned down again in 1896 during a Fourth of July celebration. Hotel #3 went up in 1905 and lasted until 1938,
when a forest fire took it out. The next year, hotel #4 was built and, amazingly, is still there. However, the hotel is now empty, having been abandoned by the owners, Campus
Crusade for Christ.

Here is #4:


http://www.sbcity.org/about/history/...ngs_hotels.asp


What I really found the most amazing about these billboards were the ads for Ghirardelli and Hart Schaffner & Marx. Almost 100 years later, they are both still around and
going strong. That is a real accomplishment.


Also, a small note on "Buffalo Bill" Cody. If you are not familiar with his life, check him out. This guy was a genuine character of the old West. By the time
he did this show in Los Angeles in 1914, he was up in his 60's and only a few years away from death.


http://www.buffalobill.org/PDFs/Buffalo_Bill_Visits.pdf

[90004]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

ebay



I'm still a bit confused ProphetM...but I certainly think you're in the right area.


google aerial

That said, I find this area of Echo Park extremely interesting. I've saved a lot of images of the area on an old CD.
Time to post them I think.
__

I think that the streetcar tracks in the picture provide us with a valuable clue. Looking at the 1921 Baist Map (plates 28 and 30), only 3 thoroughfares in the area had tracks- Glendale Blvd/Allesandro St., Sunset Blvd., and Echo Park Ave.

http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/...&c=-1&i=1&r=12

Looking at this 1923 aerial of the Mack Sennett Edendale studios (centered on Glendale Blvd.), I think that the street in our photo is too narrow to be Glendale. Also, the website below states that the Echo Park Ave. line had the quirk of being single tracked (as in our picture), while I'm assuming that the other streets, main PE trunk lines, would have been double tracked.

It's a tenuous guess based on assumptions, but Echo Park Ave. seems to make sense as the setting of this photo. The 3 structures at the corner of Echo Park and Morton on the 1921 Baist map seem to fit with the houses in our photo, but I can't make a positive match.

http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/echopark.htm

I found this website about the Echo Park streetcar line- some rather interesting stories!

As an aside, I'm sure that this has been covered on this thread earlier, but one of the main studio buildings in that 1923 aerial, with "Mack Sennett studios" on the roof, still graces Glendale Blvd. as a Public Storage building. Many Keystone Kops comedies were filmed on Glendale Blvd and in the general Edendale/Echo Park/Silver Lake area.

http://www.silverlake.org/about_silv...tt_studios.htm

A little more history about that building.

Sorry about the lack of pictures- I'm new to posting, and as I figure it all out, I'll try to make my posts more elaborate. I found this thread a month ago and have been very awed and impressed by all of your strong work and by all the amazing research behind the posts! This is the kind of forum I had been seeking for so long, and I'm so glad that I found it! It may take a while to get through the 600+ pages, maybe a few all-nighters may do the trick =)

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I'm still a bit confused ProphetM...but I certainly think you're in the right area.


google aerial

That said, I find this area of Echo Park extremely interesting. I've saved a lot of images of the area on an old CD.
Time to post them I think.
__

OK, here's what I'm talking about.

The original with the two parts I was describing - the house, and the concrete wall. By my count of eaves, the house seen next to the guy's head is 5 houses from the corner.



The Google Street View showing the angle of streets - the one coming down the hill is straight and then takes a kick to the right just before it gets to the corner. You can't see the house or much of the wall; we will need other views for those.



Street View was useless because of trees, so here's an overhead view showing the corner of the house that I circled in the old pic:



It's a two-story house, 5th property from the corner (after gas station, two apartments and one single-story house). It has a separate roof over the porch, which seems to me to match what little is visible in the old pic - where the eave of the main roof seemingly hangs out over another, smaller roof at the front of the house.

Next, the wall - going up Morton Ave. in Google Street View shows several properties in the right area with a low wall like the old pic:



So, it seems to fit I think, but is by no means conclusive. Oh, and as per the old pic, there was a streetcar line running down Echo Park Ave. from before 1900.

[gus37]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

gsv

Does anyone know why google has blanked out this house?
__

Apparently anyone can have their place blurred:
http://www.google.com/help/maps/streetview/privacy.html

You can request further blurring of a specific image

We provide easily accessible tools allowing users to request further blurring of any image that features the user, their family, their car or their home. In addition to the automatic blurring of faces and license plates, we will blur the entire car, house, or person when a user makes this request for additional blurring. Users can also request the removal of images that feature inappropriate content (for example: nudity or violence).

[DouglasUrantia]

Originally Posted by gus37

Apparently anyone can have their place blurred:
http://www.google.com/help/maps/streetview/privacy.html

All this blurring is ultimately pointless. One can drive by any location on the street and take photos. If you live in a distant location its not that hard to call a friend or local photo person and have them take current photos. I always try to have at least a cap on when I'm outside on the sidewalk. Decorum as it were.

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by 90004

Sorry about the lack of pictures- I'm new to posting, and as I figure it all out, I'll try to make my posts more elaborate. I found this thread a month ago and have been very awed and impressed by all of your strong work and by all the amazing research behind the posts! This is the kind of forum I had been seeking for so long, and I'm so glad that I found it! It may take a while to get through the 600+ pages, maybe a few all-nighters may do the trick =)

Welcome to the thread 90004, always nice to have a new, mysterious pseudonym show up. Good luck with the posting thing, it can be frustrating.

[Lwize]

The blurred house must be a crack house.