noirish Los Angeles

[esotouric]

The wonderful Tudor pile at Wilshire and Fairfax was the original 1940s Tom Bergin's, The Horseshoe Tavern. It tends to get lost in the bar's lore, maybe because the address was often given as Wilshire and Fairfax (which the new one is close enough to) or perhaps because the signage was so low profile. Has anyone seen a photo of the old building with a readable Horseshoe Tavern sign?

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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This interesting slide from the 1950s just turned up on eBay


Does anyone recognize this intersection?


eBay

Are we looking at the back of the Carthay Apartments or was that one-story retail building with the small shops built IN FRONT of the apartment building?

I'd also like to know more about the Tudoresque building and the modern market on the left.

I love the orange truck.
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[Snix]

Some great documentary photos of 1980s Melrose Avenue are on eBay from a seller called Zap Vintage.

Retail Slut 7517 Melrose Ave. with customers

ebay
...and without

ebay

Flash Feet of London 7423 Melrose Ave.
Time After Time 7425 Melrose Ave.

ebay

Hama
Warbabies 7457 Melrose Ave.
Le Duc Restaurant 7455 Melrose Ave.

7500 Block Melrose Ave.
A selective look at the 1987 CD includes:
Hollywood Neon Inc. 7553 Melrose Ave.
Z Gallerie 7555 Melrose Ave.
Hobson's Fine Blended Ice Creams 7555 1/2 Melrose Ave.
Industrial Revolution 7560 Melrose Ave.
Queen's Cafe 7561 Melrose Ave.
Twist 7565 Melrose Ave
Billie Jean 7565 Melrose Ave
Roppongi 7574 Melrose Ave
Aaardvark's Odd Ark 7579 Melrose Ave

ebay

[Snix]

Originally Posted by citywatch

When that bldg, not far from skid row, several yrs ago was converted to apts, I thought the owners would end up with plenty of unleased units. I think it actually filled up rather quickly. Never underestimate human tenacity.

• Video Link

I hate to think of the condition of the PE bldg's roof before this contractor entered the picture....never say never ....

https://youtu.be/A2nVJwYoV58

Pacific Electric Building
Photo by Stephen Austin Welch
Los Angeles magazine
June, 2004

[ethereal_reality]

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You guys have been busy since the last time I checked in. ... Good to see!


Here's a sister slide to the Carthay Apartments slide I posted a few days ago.


eBay

I should definitely recognize the interesting apartment building across the street but there are several somewhat similar apartments & I can't decide which one this is. . .
. . .and -as you can plainly see- the photograph was taken from a Mobil Gas station. (I take it the round thing is an air compressor)


Thanks for the additional photographs of the Carthay Apartments, Godzilla. I appreciate it.


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[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by Snix

Pacific Electric Building
Photo by Stephen Austin Welch
Los Angeles magazine
June, 2004

I had a part time job as Security/Night Watchman at the Pacific Stock Exchange just down the street from the P.E. but on Spring St. years ago. One night about 3AM I apparently hallucinated (maybe) and seen a crowd of men in suits wearing hats walking down the marble hallway going to the elevator. From then on I believed the place was haunted. I bet he has seen things too but won't say.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

I had a part time job as Security/Night Watchman at the Pacific Stock Exchange just down the street from the P.E. but on Spring St. years ago. One night about 3AM I apparently hallucinated (maybe) and seen a crowd of men in suits wearing hats walking down the marble hallway going to the elevator. From then on I believed the place was haunted. I bet he has seen things too but won't say.

Haunted or not, the venerated Pacific Stock Exchange Building (618 Spring), remains. The trading floor has also served as a dance floor.




https://www.theclio.com/entry/42885
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ostcount=48513


https://calisphere.org/clip/500x500/...17e758791465ca






https://live.staticflickr.com/3410/3...0378dfca_b.jpg



http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...terior_155.jpg



https://www.discotech.me/wp-content/...change_la3.jpg

The actual Exchange, before a 2006-merger, eventually relocated to a structure at 233 S. Beaudry.





https://reaumerichardson.com/wp-cont...Richardson.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by esotouric

The wonderful Tudor pile at Wilshire and Fairfax was the original 1940s Tom Bergin's, The Horseshoe Tavern. It tends to get lost in the bar's lore, maybe because the address was often given as Wilshire and Fairfax (which the new one is close enough to) or perhaps because the signage was so low profile. Has anyone seen a photo of the old building with a readable Horseshoe Tavern sign?

esotouric . . .

I'm sorry to say but, no, I haven't seen a photograph with the sign clearly in view.




Hmmm. .I see that there were two different 'full' names and two different phone numbers. (see below)

#1

no date

#2

no date

Matchbook covers courtesy of jericl cat





This is probably a simple typo but Bergin is listed as Berglin in a few of the old city directories.




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[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
You guys have been busy since the last time I checked in. ... Good to see!


Here's a sister slide to the Carthay Apartments slide I posted a few days ago.


eBay

I should definitely recognize the interesting apartment building across the street but there are several somewhat similar apartments & I can't decide which one this is. . .
. . .and -as you can plainly see- the photograph was taken from a Mobil Gas station. (I take it the round thing is an air compressor)


Thanks for the additional photographs of the Carthay Apartments, Godzilla. I appreciate it.


.

That's the Heather, which I wrote a bit about here.

It did not end well for the beloved Heather. Esotouric did a nifty post, and I did a short video about her, but now, there's just an empty lot.

And yes, I was the one who bought that slide! (That *and* the Carthay slide.)

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

I had a part time job as Security/Night Watchman at the Pacific Stock Exchange just down the street from the P.E. but on Spring St. years ago. One night about 3AM I apparently hallucinated (maybe) and seen a crowd of men in suits wearing hats walking down the marble hallway going to the elevator. From then on I believed the place was haunted. I bet he has seen things too but won't say.

I don't want to sidetrack ethereal's & others thread on the subj of old LA, but your post reminds me why truth is stranger than reality. If you go to this youtube page, https://www.youtube.com/@LMN, & watch its many vids, you'll realize that the supernatural isn't just the stuff of bad Hollywood movies or goofy ghost stories. This one in particular makes me think of your experience, although it involves an old bldg in Canada instead of one in LA. But many of the stories do involve old time sites in Calif too.


• Video Link

^ Since the hollywood theme & a variety of places in LA built decades ago are the topic, some of those locations very easily may be so-called haunted. It appears to be a way more common phenomenon than ppl may believe. I used to be a skeptic, but not anymore. I recall this story from yrs ago, about an actress & her writer-agent husband. I originally thought it possibly was a PR stunt, but it actually likely is based on a very authentic phenomenon. The husband of the celebrity did an article that appeared in a major magazine of the 1960s, which I recall seeing a copy of about 20 yrs ago.



ebay.com


https://lisawallerrogers.com/tag/elke-sommer/

^ FWIW, the house built in the 1950s apparently was torn down over the past 10-20 yrs & was an empty lot for awhile. Not sure if the current owner has since built a new house on the land.

[JeffDiego]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I don't want to sidetrack ethereal's & others thread on the subj of old LA, but your post reminds me why truth is stranger than reality. If you go to this youtube page, https://www.youtube.com/@LMN, & watch its many vids, you'll realize that the supernatural isn't just the stuff of bad Hollywood movies or goofy ghost stories. This one in particular makes me think of your experience, although it involves an old bldg in Canada instead of one in LA. But many of the stories do involve old time sites in Calif too.


• Video Link

^ Since the hollywood theme & a variety of places in LA built decades ago are the topic, some of those locations very easily may be so-called haunted. It appears to be a way more common phenomenon than ppl may believe. I used to be a skeptic, but not anymore. I recall this story from yrs ago, about an actress & her writer-agent husband. I originally thought it possibly was a PR stunt, but it actually likely is based on a very authentic phenomenon. The husband of the celebrity did an article that appeared in a major magazine of the 1960s, which I recall seeing a copy of about 20 yrs ago.



ebay.com


https://lisawallerrogers.com/tag/elke-sommer/

^ FWIW, the house built in the 1950s apparently was torn down over the past 10-20 yrs & was an empty lot for awhile. Not sure if the current owner has since built a new house on the land.

Very interesting, citywatch. Thank you. I well-remember as a teenager reading the article about actress Elke Sommer's haunted house, which she and her husband fled after a mysterious fire.

[ethereal_reality]

.
A mystery location found earlier today on eBay.


Seller's description:...Vtg 1918 Cabinet Card Los Angeles Police Dept Graduating Class Koessler LA.



eBay


And here's the writing on the back.






My specialty: A closer look.


eBay





And lastly, here's a better view of the photographer's stamp.



Any ideas where this 1918 graduation ceremony took place?


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[ethereal_reality]

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And now for something more modern. (also a mini-mystery location)


eBay



A Kodachrome slide taken somewhere in Hollywood. (1966)


eBay

If I were to guess I would say the Gulfstream(?) trailer is being used as a star's dressing room during location shooting.

I've never seen gold propane tanks before... Tre Chic


,

[ethereal_reality]

.

Oh my, this is most interesting!


Seller's description:..Photo Negative Rex Stuart Western Film Production Hollywood CA Trailer Vintage.


eBay

I hurriedly look through several city directories but found nothing on the Rex Stuart Film Production Co.

Go forth, minions! ..
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[odinthor]

Not Production Company; but here's a start:


LA Times, 3/29/1962, slightly edited


LA Times, 6/17/1962

[ronev760]

This thread is a go to for me. To have all this in one spot! woohoo Thank you er

This is a link to a compilation of old pics of Los Angeles on Jarid Booster's YT page. My hat is tingling... ;-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGTrD2GUm5Q&t=3s

noirish. Moorish. I hope this is ok

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Not Production Company; but here's a start:


LA Times, 3/29/1962, slightly edited

Same or different Rex Stuart? Operating in Texas around 1939 to 1942.



archive.org - Boxoffice, March 25, 1939



Working on a Buffalo Bill project in 1939.



archive.org - Boxoffice, Sept 16, 1939


He turns up in Palm Springs making western music in 1943.



cdnc.ucr.edu - Desert Sun, 30 July 1943


He's still working on Buffalo Bill.



cdnc.ucr.edu - Desert Sun, 30 April 1943


He turns out with his horse King Gold at various parades. Here in Santa Rosa in 1947.



cdnc.ucr.edu - Press Democrat, 17 May 1947


The publicity for these events laud him as the famous Lone Ranger from Movieland and the star of other western films.


In court in 1954 looking for compensation for the death of King Gold, Rex downgrades his movie career somewhat.



cdnc.ucr.edu - Napa Valley Register, 11 November 1954

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

Oh my, this is most interesting!


Seller's description:..Photo Negative Rex Stuart Western Film Production Hollywood CA Trailer Vintage.


eBay

I hurriedly look through several city directories but found nothing on the Rex Stuart Film Production Co.

Go forth, minions! ..
.

Reversing the negative doesn't tell us much more...





Rex seems to have had a short career as a cowboy crooner. Nothing in city directories and apparently only a mention or two in the press. Then it looks like he opened a western-wear store in Pacoima, which an item in the Valley Times on Feb 23, 1950, covering a break-in referred to as a "second-hand store." The store seems to have had a longer life than the owner's entertainment career--the ad below is from June 1, 1961.




A sheet music cover:

[ethereal_reality]

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Thanks for turning the Rex Stuart negative into a positive image, Noir Noir and Gaylordwilshite. I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by odinthor

I wonder if Chief Knothead survived... If he did (survive), I'd like to know where it is.


Chief Knothead reminded me of a childhood memory I have of an Indian sculpture on Rt. 1 north of Danville, Illinois. It stood for years in front of a heating and plumbing store.

see it here


A Tin Man was added later but it was atrocious.
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[riichkay]

A familiar intersection, Sunset Bl. at Highland Ave. looking east....undated but I found a reference to the Datsun "How's this for openers?" campaign in the spring of '72, and I believe that's a yellow Ford Pinto facing us, the Pinto debuted in Sept. '71.....so we are in that time frame....


Now, as to this....





At first glance I thought "Druscilla" was possibly a forerunner to Angelyne, someone who was promoted for the sake of being promoted....or maybe she fronted a band called Lakewood Pipe (recall these were the days of The 1910 Fruitgum Co., Pacific Gas & Electric, Chicago Transit Authority etc)....wrong and wrong, turns out there was a Lakewood Pipe....










Karen and Richard Carpenter released the single "Sing" in Jan. '73 ("Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong", that record)....the tune peaked at Billboard #3.....on the flip side was a song about a rock groupie called "Druscilla Penny" (the tune initially appeared on a Carpenters album released in '71)....





The Carpenters recorded in the studios located on the lot of their label, A&M Records, as often noted in the thread A&M was housed in the former Chaplin studios property at Sunset/La Brea.....so just a few blocks west of Sunset/Highland....

....to me that's too much of a coincidence, I have to think Richard Carpenter and/or his co-composer John Bettis copped the "Druscilla" name from the subject billboard.

[Beaudry]

Anyone recognize this place?



It's terribly familiar and I seem to thing it was up around New High Street or thereabouts. (I think there was a post a couple years ago and we talked about how it used to have a more prominent tower?)

Thanks in advance!