noirish Los Angeles

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

Last night I went looking for some of the places on e_r's recent "Los Angeles Life Fun Map".

That map has provided me with some new places I'd never heard of to check out! Richlor's "Planked Hamburger" doesn't sound too appetizing, lol!

Originally Posted by HossC

While I was looking through the videos, I came across a short black & white film called Hollywood Blvd / Glory Days. At about 50 seconds in, the camera passes Coffee Dan's (the neon arrows can be seen strobing):

[jg6544]

I was taken to dinner at the old Perino's on Wilshire by friends in 1971 - very grand. Never was in Romanoff's, although I wish I had been. Ditto, the Brown Derby and Chasen's.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Brown Derby Hollywood Blvd has depicted on this thread many times. Several of the images were linked to USC's older format and now a memory.

http://media.disneywebcontent.com/St...0Derby_700.jpg

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4112/5...94c6d476_o.jpg

This postcard reminded me that when I first came to Los Angeles and was talking about the Hollywood Brown Derby in some way, I remember my friend said if I went there I should eat in the coffee shop. I inquired about what that was and she said "The Brown Derby Coffee Shop." "It's right next door and they use the same kitchen so the food is just as good."

This postcard reminded me that photos of the Brown Derby often do not show what is to the left of the entrance to the Brown Derby. In fact, the book I have about the Brown Derby doesn't even mention that there were coffee shops.

This photo taken in 1938 shows the Eddie Cantor Gift Shop located next to the Hollywood Brown Derby.

MartinTurnbull/photoblog

Sometime after that photo the BROWN DERBY HOLLYWOOD SHOP opened there and they sold liquor and the like. (It seems to me I've seen photos of Brown Derby Beer cans.) I found some small postcard images showing this, but no good photograph this morning/afternoon, so far. The postcard above hints at this store though.

Sometime later (late 40's early 50's?) this location became The Brown Derby Coffee Shop.

1950's:

Panoramio

Postcard:

Ebay

I did eat there in the late 70's. The food was good, I recall, but I'm not exactly sure what I had. It seems to me it was either soup and a sandwhich or chili. I recall that across the street, at the Huntington Hartford Theatre, "California Suite" was being staged.

I also ate in the restaurant on my birthday in 1981. I had Chicken Curry. (?) I still have the gold and brown matches somewhere.

I was trying to find interior photos of the Coffee Shop, but no luck so far.

I did find this interesting item:

In 1950, a deck of Brown Derby playing cards was produced (by the restaurant) with the proceeds going to benefit the City of Hope Medical Center. All images and info below is from this link, which is a site devoted to all kinds of card decks:

http://www.dxpo-playingcards.com/xpo...deck-08-12.htm

Here's the back-design of the deck:


The box that contained the card deck:


The site says: "The Aces show the 4 Brown Derby restaurants of Los Angeles."
They do show three of them, but the 4th one is not the original Wilshire site which was still there in 1950, but rather one I've never heard of before: "The Brown Derby Coffee Shop, Crenshaw Center."



You can see all 52 cards, plus two jokers by visiting the link.
The Aces show the Restaurants.
The Kings and Jokers show the reason for the cards, the City of Hope facilities.
The number cards, Queens and Jacks show some of the famous caricatures displayed on the walls of the Hollywood Brown Derby, like "Queen of Clubs" Liberace...! It would be interesting to know, of the 40 caricatures on the cards, how those were chosen from the hundreds in the restaurant.

***

Here's a post from E_R showing a twilight neon noirly lit view of Vine Street, where you can see the Brown Derby Coffee Shop.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=5842

[Martin Pal]

And a search tells me that this photo from the Loz Feliz Brown Derby hadn't been posted previously:

(1941)

Hollywood Historic Photos

CAPTION:
Originally Willard's Chicken Inn Restaurant
which opened in 1929. The Los Feliz Derby
was located at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd. (Opened
in 1940.)

[fhammon]

"The orginal menu owner was having dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby in 1951 and was able to get the menu autographed by George Burns and Edgar Bergen... "



http://ep.yimg.com/ay/scripophily/br...r-bergen-3.gif

http://scripophily.net/brdemehasiby.html

[GaylordWilshire]

NLA





More on the corner of Los Feliz and Hillhurst...


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1786

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1787

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1788

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=13587

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

ebay
__

More of the reading area?

http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14704.jpg

http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14702.jpg

[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Sometime after that photo the BROWN DERBY HOLLYWOOD SHOP opened there and they sold liquor and the like. (It seems to me I've seen photos of Brown Derby Beer cans.)

ebeercans.com macmedadestruction.com therustybunch.com

Brown Derby was the store brand for Safeway stores starting about 1937.
Bottling beer had begun on a wide scale in about 1910, and in early 1936 canning beer began, adding a new way to package for home use. Cans and bottles were easy to carry and could be sold individually as well as by the case (or the six pack starting in the late '30s). More groceries then began to add packaged beer to their shelves and so the distributing companies that supplied grocers began carrying it as well. --rustycans.com

both images macmedadestruction.com

In the 1930s the West Coast Grocery company in California supplied Safeway stores as well as another chain called MacMarr. They contracted with the tiny Humboldt Brewing Company in Eureka, California to make a new store brand called "Brown Derby." The West Coast Grocery Company probably hoped the famous Brown Derby name would strike a chord with consumers. In 1933 the brewery started bottling the beer with a green and brown label and the hat and cane logo. In 1935 they started canning the beer. However, the restaurant's owners sued for copyright infringement. The beer could still be produced, but only with a redesigned label. So in 1936 the beer was produced in a silver can. (The original brown and green cans are now insanely rare.) Humboldt Brewing apparently could not keep up with demand, however, and so in 1938 West Coast contracted with other breweries in the region to produce their beer in cans and bottles with the same label (see list below). Humboldt was closed and its equipment was sold in 1940. --rustycans.com

macmedadestruction.com etsy.com etsy.com

The other breweries continued to make the beer and eventually it became exclusively Safeway's brand. The can was redesigned after World War II and in the mid 1950s it was expanded beyond the west coast and sold in Safeway stores around the country. At that time the can was again redesigned. For a time there was even a Brown Derby Light Beer. In 1988 Safeway sold many of its stores to Vons and the new owners decided not to keep the brand. Brown Derby was still sold in Safeway stores in the west, where the brand had been born. Some Brown Derby cans are very common, some are hard to find, and a few are rare. The rarest ones are probably the original brown and green cans mentioned above, and the 1940s quart produced by the Salem Brewing Association. --rustycans.com

Breweries that canned Brown Derby throughout the years:
Atlantic, Spokane, WA
Atlas, Chicago
Best, Chicago
Century, Norfolk, VA
Columbia, Tacoma, WA
Eastern Brewing, Hammonton, NJ
Empire, Chicago
Grace Bros LTD. Los Angeles
Grace Brothers, Santa Rosa
Humboldt Eureka, CA
K.C. Best, Spokane
Los Angeles Brewing, Los Angeles
Maier, Los Angeles
Rainier, San Francisco
Salem Brewing Assn., Salem, OR
Silver Spring, Tacoma, WA
United States, Chicago

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

A Queen-Anne style house on the corner of Prospect Avenue (now Hollywood Boulevard) and Wilcox.


http://la.remap.ucla.edu/remappingla...g2_itemId=8044



Also seen is a Pacific Electric 'Red Car' and an early two-seat electric car. There is also a nice barn behind the house.


http://la.remap.ucla.edu/remappingla...g2_itemId=8044



___


I couldn't resist including a close-up of this marvelous Queen-Anne House. Notice the highly unusual porte cochere on the left side of the house.
I don't think I've ever seen an open-air 'room' built atop a porte cochere before.

_______________________________


Your photo appears to be a slightly cropped CC Pierce & Co. product.

Another source has this as the E.C. Hurd residence at Cahuenga and Hollywood, circa 1910. Dates and attributions are from source and, in some instances, suspect.

http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14822.jpg


A few other purported CCPierce photos, some of which may have escaped posting on this thread Again, dates and attributions are from source and, in some instances, suspect.



Altadena Home early 1900s
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14833.jpg




Singleton Court, West Adams - late 1880s[/B]
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_15787.jpg


http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...-singleton.jpg


http://s87308817.onlinehome.us/danie...etPostcard.jpg
(See Longstreet Palms coverage here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2011 Excellent coverage by JScott in his blog: http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/






Jose Mascarel Rancho - Above Hollywood Blvd. near Gower. (Valley of the Cahuenga (?) early 1900s
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_15674.jpg





Unidentified Pasadena Home - late 1880s
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14408.jpg




First School in Pasadena - late 1880s.
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14424.jpg






Early 1900s - Lowe Observatory and San Gabriel Valley from Mt. Lowe resort.
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_13655.jpg






More Mt Lowe
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_13992.jpghttp://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_13976.jpg







Paul de Longpre and his daughter, near (or at) their residence.
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_36443.jpg






First Hollywood store, circa 1871 - Sunset and Cahuenga
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_14825.jpg





Henry Clausen home, circa '05, Beachwood Canyon
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_15673.jpg






Early - mid 1900s. City Gardens. San Pedro and Eight Streets, First stop out of town on Santa Monica RR. Bowling alleys in back yard.
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_15642.jpg






1902 - Chinese Dragon, Chinatown
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_34701.jpg





Palm and Olive trees at San Fernando Mission (early 1900s)
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_19077.jpg







Early 1900s - Wheat threshing, San Fernando Valley
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_15150.jpg





Wagon Train! date and location unk
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_12970.jpg








Summerland Oil Derricks, early 1900s
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_13510.jpghttp://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_13509.jpg

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I know we've discussed the Friday Morning Club in the past but I don't remember this particular building.


ebay


My initial search led me to this note card.


http://lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollec.../projectindex/

N.E. corner of Adams and Hoover Streets?



http://hdl.huntington.org/

Discovered an interesting compilation of buildings designed by Architect Arthur Burnette Benton, the above included. http://www.chandlerpedia.org/Exhibit...Burnett_Benton

More about Benton and Echo Park: http://historicechopark.org/id106.html

Benton is mentioned in GW's Berkeley SQ Blog: http://www.berkeleysquarelosangeles....ner-house.html



A small sampling of Benton's LA handiwork:

Benton designed Westlake Bandshell
http://www.chandlerpedia.org/@api/de...band_shell.jpg


1908 YWCA Building - downtown LA
http://www.chandlerpedia.org/@api/de...%25252C_CA.jpg

http://www.chandlerpedia.org/@api/de...5252C_CA_2.gif


Harvard Boy's School - 1900
http://www.chandlerpedia.org/@api/de...os_Angeles.jpg
http://www.chandlerpedia.org/@api/de...rvard-Hall.jpg

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Albany NY

Brown Derby was the store brand for Safeway stores starting about 1937.

Thanks for that history, Albany NY! Who knew? Talk about learning something new every day!

P.S.: I grew up near Utica.

[Wenders]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

NLA


More on the corner of Los Feliz and Hillhurst...


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1786

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1787

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1788

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=13587

In a case this wasn't already mentioned in NLA:
This building was supposedly also the "Arnold's Diner" in 70's TV-show "Happy Days," but only for the establishing shot. They just put the "Arnold's" neon sign up and parked 50's cars in front of it. I've been visiting the building since mid-90's and just between that time and today it's been remodeled many, many times.
My source is an old magazine article (LA Weekly, maybe) and my ex-girlfriend who worked at the Paramount Pictures.

[revheavyg]

With the great success of IM Hattem's Grand Central Market stalls and his supermarket, he broke ground for a second market and a shopping center at the corner of 81st Street and Vermont Avenue. Opening in 1931, Hattem's Shopping Center was actually two buildings that shared a common parking lot.
The first building housed the market itself, while the second was rented to various tenants, including a dress shop, cigar shop, and florist. Hattem's second market had stunning interiors and luxurious offices in its tower. During the construction, IM invited city officials including Mayor of Los Angeles John C. Porter, to sign their names in the wet cement at the entrance, mimicking the brainstorm of Hollywood theater mogul (and fellow Jewish Angeleno) Sid Grauman. In order to pursue a career in real estate, IM sold both of his grocery stores in 1936 to Allen & Huck, who ran a small grocery chain.
The first market was converted into a BBQ restaurant and bowling alley until it was demolished to make room for Security Pacific National Bank.
The second building is still standing today at the corner of 81st and Vermont. It was abandoned for many years, but recently was fully restored by the Church of Scientology. On November 5, 2011
A 16mm film created during the grand opening, which coincided with Mayor Porter's birthday, was used to produce a theatrical commercial that played the local movie houses of the city.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n072K3eBkvc

[GaylordWilshire]

Mayor John C. Porter (at left) with a birthday cake presented to him at the opening by I. M. Hattem (next to the man in the hat). Mayor Porter pronounces the city's name in the video as it was once commonly heard... "Los Ang-liss"...


Many more Hattem's pics here in Vintage NLA posts:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2948

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3521

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3522

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by DouglasUrantia

I first visited this crazy dive [The Spotlite] when it was on Vine...the original location. Guys were buying me drinks and I was just a kid then. I may have been in the Navy at that time. It was kind of classy then. The next time I looked for it they had moved west over to Selma St. and Cahuenga. I was in school then and liked to hang out there on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. There were a few guys there who were 'models' for AMG Studio. Jack Renio was one I knew and there were others. A cool guy named Pineapple was the table-bartender. Occasionally at night I would see some minor star from old TV shows. A lot of wealthy older guys would stop by for a drink. I met many people there. Once a fight broke out amongst the competitive 'hustlers'...I went for cover and hid from the bar stools being bounced around. That was a different era for sure.

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Great stories! The Spotlight used to be on Vine?? When? Where?

These posts from a year ago mentioned THE SPOTLITE was originally on Vine Street. D.U. had subsequently posted a photo with an arrow where it was originally located, but the photo link is gone now. (And, apparently at some point it was re-spelled The Spotlight.)

Sorry, I don't remember where this photo came from...anyway, I stumbled across this postcard yesterday, notice the "Spotlite" signage at far left.

[GaylordWilshire]

We've probably seen this similar 1953 view here before--it's all over the web--but there's the Spotlight near center--






Vintage LA

[HossC]

Here's one for Lorendoc and 3940dxer that I found last night while looking for restaurant photos. It claims to be Lookout Mountain in 1916. I did a pretty thorough search of NLA earlier and didn't find this picture in any of the previous Lookout Mountain posts.


www.hollywoodhistoricphotos.com

[Chuckaluck]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's one for Lorendoc and 3940dxer that I found last night while looking for restaurant photos. It claims to be Lookout Mountain in 1916. I did a pretty thorough search of NLA earlier and didn't find this picture in any of the previous Lookout Mountain posts.


www.hollywoodhistoricphotos.com

Likely duplication, but maybe not.


1911-14 (Per source)
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB.../A_184_334.jpg


1911-14 (Per source)
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB.../A_184_332.jpg


Related: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17063


1916
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB...ll/P_13788.jpg

Related: http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=6558


Entrance to Laurel Canyon (?) 1911-14 per source (Southern side(?))
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB.../A_184_331.jpg


1911-14 per source
http://collections.theautry.org/MWEB.../A_184_330.jpg

[GaylordWilshire]

A little more Hattem's...



Looks like I. M. had a stall at Grand Central Market:
LAT July 26, 1927



A blip:
LAT Nov 18, 1929



Plans for the Vermont and 81st store:
LAT March 30, 1930
Has anyone ever heard of the Vermont Avenue Knoll neighborhood designation before?



And later, space at the Town & Country market:
LAT Nov 28,1948



Walter R. Hagedohm, architect of the Vermont store, also designed the Balboa Inn in Newport Beach:
LAPL



LAT

[ethereal_reality]

4427 Sunset Blvd. Silverlake, circa 1985

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=82497

-almost 30 years later!

GSV

Like a time warp.
__