noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Impressive post tovanger2.

To be honest, I thought the LA City Water Co scene looked like a backdrop. (but why go to the trouble of painting LA City Water Co?)


I thought this because of the odd raised area (see below).


detail / youtube



And then there's the case of the missing chimney.

real life


film


Even if you account for the slight difference in the camera angle, the chimney is obviously missing.


All that said t2, I think the left foreground could very well be the porch of the Olvera Adobe, but with a painted background......maybe.
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[rick m]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I'm confused rick m....which doorway would this be? Was it in the old hotel?


gsv


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Why "yes" in the Olive Hotel basement- so the #754 doorway is beneath that red awning to the right - where the gate covers it - a set of stairs just inside once led to the next floor down for making showy entrances for customers - A defunct juice stand had been here in the 70s-80s- Some great material on the seamy atty owner who preyed on his own customers is covered in the Gay L.A. book

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the clarification Rick_M.

God I'd love to go down in that basement and snoop around.
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[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I thought this because of the odd raised area (see below).


detail / youtube
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The "raised area" doesn't bother me. I took it for the fence-topped, stone retaining wall one can see in the 1888 photo.

The water company building itself seems problematic. I actually think the chimneys are there, just kinda ghostly-looking. But the signage now seems to be over the two northern-most windows and the windows have frames (plus the building, but not the chimneys, looks awfully dark, like it's been painted) unlike what we saw in 1888:


USC Digital Library"] (detail of image previously posted by HossC)


I guess this could be set-dressing, but why?


In this aerial detail from 1924 the signage matches the 1888 shot (and the 3 chimneys are still there too):

MR (detail)

[ethereal_reality]

You've made some excellent points tovanger2.

-now that you pointed it out, it's plain as day that the LA City Water Co. sign is above two different arched windows.
(of course this could have happened when the sign was repainted sometime between 1888 and 1917)

I don't think we'll ever know for sure; but you have to admit, this mixture of fantasy & reality is what makes Los Angeles (and Hollywood) so interesting.

You could even say that Los Angeles exists within it's own ethereal reality.
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[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

the LA City Water Co. sign is above two different arched windows.
(of course this could have happened when the sign was repainted sometime between 1888 and 1917)
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LOL, but, (I think) the signage is back where it's supposed to be in the 1924 aerial.

So, yeah, we can't know. If only those historic google street views went back a couple of hundred years instead of only starting in 2007 :-)

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxZcgpG1Gqg

The guy chasing Charlie Chaplin in the scene above is Eric Campbell. I remembered that Campbell had
died in an auto accident, but I never knew it was at Wilshire and Vermont:

December 21, 1917 Los Angeles Times @ LAPL

If he was eastbound on Wilshire in the westbound lanes, and the other car was going north on Vermont,
the accident must have happened right in front of this house:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The 23-room 'Villa Madama' built for Capt. Allan Hancock's widow, Ida, on the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Vermont Avenue in 1909.
Sadly, it was demolished in 1938.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294653@N07/2378140525/


below: The 'Villa Madama' fronting Wilshire Boulevard with Vermont Avenue in the foreground.
In the center of the photograph is the Villa Florist, a small flower shop.


http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/D...wdate=&hidate=

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[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxZcgpG1Gqg

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The guy chasing Charlie Chaplin in the scene above is Eric Campbell. I remembered that Campbell had
died in an auto accident, but I never knew it was at Wilshire and Vermont

Wow, thanks FW. There's a lovely bio of Eric Campbell (1879-1917) here

findagrave

I wasn't surprised that Campbell got roaring drunk at Baron Long's Vernon Country Club (Santa Fe and 49th) because everybody did:

boryanabooks

LA Herald, 24 Jan 1917:



Vernon, “Exclusively Industrial” (well, obviously not quite).
A river runs through it:

google maps

We've been down that way before:

Originally Posted by Noircitydame

LAT 1926

LA County was dry in the teens, except for Venice and Vernon. Baron Long had clubs both places, but his Vernon Country Club (opened May, 1912) was truly famous. Everybody went there. Long is credited with actually inventing the nightclub and also for bringing jazz to Southern California. He hired Valentino in 1917 to dance at the club, but then fired him because he couldn't sing. Long also hired a ukulele-player he found on Venice Boardwalk, Buddy de Sylva, who later wrote song lyrics: "Button-up Your Overcoat", "California Here I Come", "If You Knew Suzy", etc.

Baron Long had previously gone in with Jim Jefferies (also discussed on the thread) on the boxer's Athletic Club in Vernon. Another colleague was fight-promoter Jack Doyle who built the Central Saloon in Vernon (at Santa Fe and Joy) in 1910. It had a 100-foot bar and 37 bartenders.

All three seem to have gone in together to build the famous Vernon Arena, run by Doyle. Even Dempsey fought there:

boryanabooks

Prohibition didn't really slow Baron Long down, but, in 1929, the Vernon Country Club burned to the ground. Baron Long didn't seem to mind that much. He bought the Biltmore Hotel in 1933 (he'd run a speakeasy there during Prohibition).

Baron Long:

boryanabooks

A fascinating bio of Baron Long is here.

Baron Long sounds like a noirisher at heart (only it was San Diego's past he was passionate about). His friend Damon Runyon recalled,

"If Baron Long has any hobby other than breeding and racing horses, it is San Diego. He will walk the innocent wayfarer quite bowlegged about the streets of the city, showing him the visible marks of the city’s growth, and he likes to direct the walking along about 3 o’clock in the morning, so that traffic will not impede his progress.

He has a mania for old types of architecture. I suppose I gazed upon fifty ancient structures in the old part of the beautiful town one early morning while Baron Long expatiated on their unique attractions, and sleepy cops viewed us with some suspicion."
boryanabooks

[ethereal_reality]

Ha! I was working on my own Vernon Country Club / Baron Long post.

You beat me to it t2!

One curious item I came across was that the interior of the country club was used in some early silent films, and that Anna May Wong's first acting gig was filmed there.

I don't know if this is true or not. At that point in time I was under the impression that almost all the interiors shots were filmed on sets at the studio.
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Ok, I just found where I read it.


http://boryanabooks.com/?p=1526





Vernon Country Club Dice*


eBay / SOLD

*I'm not 100% sure these are from the Vernon Country Club in Vernon CA.

The seller included a biography of Baron Long, but then states the dice are from Chicago.

[ethereal_reality]

Here are a couple photographs of silent film "villain" Eric Campbell I came across during my research.


https://alfredeaker.wordpress.com/20...mmigrant-1917/



https://davidnessle.wordpress.com/20...-forenen-eder/


I love this caption. lol



-it was 'translated' into English from this:




Thanks for bringing this actor to our attention Flyingwedge.
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[HossC]

Today's post is considerably shorter than yesterday's! It's another 1960s Bank of America with an external steel frame. Julius Shulman had to go all the way to the East Coast Highway in Newport Beach to photograph this one. It's "Job 3456: Blurock and Ellerbroek, Bank of America (Newport Beach, Calif.), 1962".



The index numbers of the photos suggest that Julius Shulman took at least five pictures of this location, but the Getty Collection only has two. The second photo shows these adjoining stores which were set at an angle. They included Neal's Sporting Goods and Virginia's "Snip 'n' Stitch" Fabrics.



Both from Getty Research Institute

In contrast to the Diamond Bar branch, this Bank of America is very much still there. I think only the paint scheme, signage and street furniture have changed.


GSV

The newer signage hides a little of the design of the neighboring stores, but, apart from the little brick wall, they're also relatively unaltered.


GSV

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

A lot of the street scenes in Easy Street look like movie sets to me.

This is the "street scene" you see over and over again in the film. (it gets a bit monotonous)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxZcgpG1Gqg


at the end it's all gussied up with new signs and lampposts.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxZcgpG1Gqg

I've read somewhere that this « Easy street » (which is a set) is a reconstruction by Chaplin of his boyhood London street. The « T » shape with its weighty closure impressed him very much...
So the action of the short takes place in a London/L.A. composite. The same for example in « City Lights » where we see the Beverly-Wilshire and Pershing Square but the grid of the parc before which the blind girl sells flowers is typically of London...

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the clarification AlvaroLegido.

I can definitely see London as an inspiration for that set piece.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

One curious item I came across was that the interior of the country club was used in some early silent films, and that Anna May Wong's first acting gig was filmed there.

I don't know if this is true or not. At that point in time I was under the impression that almost all the interiors shots were filmed on sets at the studio.

I dunno. "The Red Lantern" (1919) was Wong's first film experience, but she was uncredited. I think the story is set entirely in China, so I don't know how a nightclub would come into it (unless it was dressed as something else). Maybe they meant a later, credited role.


wiki

(Also, re those "Vernon CC" dice, there was a Mob-run Vernon Country Club outside Chicago in Lake County, so the dice may have been from there.)

[HossC]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

I've read somewhere that this « Easy street » (which is a set) is a reconstruction by Chaplin of his boyhood London street. The « T » shape with its weighty closure impressed him very much...

So the action of the short takes place in a London/L.A. composite.

You may have read it at charliechaplin.com:

The look and feel of Easy Street evoke the South London of [Chaplin's] childhood (the name “Easy Street” suggests “East Street,” the street of Chaplin’s birthplace).

From Wikipedia:

There is no official record of his birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at East Street, Walworth, in South London.

I've just taken the Googlemobile for a spin down East Street, and although several sections have been replaced by apartments of varying sizes, there are still plenty of buildings similar to those in 'Easy Street'.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Awhile back, when we were taking a look at the apartment buildings of North Rossmore (the Mauretania, El Royale, Ravenswood etc), I came across a few shots of a vanished hotel at #445 (on the site of something new called the Marlowe--whether named after Philip, I don't know). The library tags hint at some juicy, noirish goings-on at the Country Club Hotel (also sometimes referred to as the Country Club Villas), an interesting midcentury hacienda that apparently didn't last much past midcentury. I haven't found much about it online. (And what was there between the Country Club and the Marlowe?) Anyone?


Those bathtub Dodges parked in front definitely enhance the scene...
LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054908.jpg

Per the LAPL: "A rousing legal battle loomed today over the future of the swank $2,000,000 Country Club Hotel on Rossmore and Rosewood Avenues, which yesterday was ordered demolished or removed by Judge Vernon W. Hunt. Co-operator Maurice Miller, sentenced to jail on charge of violation of building codes, says he'll seek right to keep hotel open. Photo dated: February 25, 1950."




Penthouse dwellers at the El Royale apparently had quite the floor show across
Rossmore... well, maybe with binoculars.
AP/Examiner/USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...OS-ANG-MIS-008

Per USC: "Photograph of the pool courtyard of the Country Club Villa hotel. This is the swimming pool around which he saw 'drunken women fighting,' declared Municipal Judge Vernon W. Hunt as he yesterday ordered complete demolition of the $1,000,000 Country Club Villa at 445 North Rossmore avenue. The newly constructed hotel is an 'architectural monstrosity,' he added. Wrong type of permit has been charged. Dated February 25, 1950."
Also: "This is the luxurious Country Club Villa, completed in Los Angeles recently at a cost of $2,000,000, which an iratic [sic] judge ordered torn down or moved to another location. Two owners, Maurice and Zimmel Miller, were charged with building the place without a permit, failing to obtain a certificate of occupancy, maintaining a public nuisance, and operating a cafe, night club and swimming pool in violation of zoning ordinances. The judge, after a personal survey, termed the hotel a 'glorified quickie motel.'" So apparently no one noticed this huge place going up smack in the middle of Los Angeles without a permit....




LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054913.jpg

Was it a luxury hotel or a quickie motel?

It is presently unclear exactly what eventually occurred to the swimming pool and other areas that were evidently determined to have been unpermitted or wrongly permitted and/or illegal. Aerial views might be helpful. There are construction permits for most of the structure and a few of the 1949 permits and plans reference a pool. (Drawings are not particularly legible on my viewer and therefore not reproduced here.) Construction of the pool, was seemingly contemporaneous to the entire structure, and probably not seen as out of the ordinary.

Per the images below, the structure seems to have gone through name changes, i.e., Country Club Hotel and Hotel Casa Blanca. The '56CD has a listing for the Casa Blanca Hotel at 115 S Beaudry.







http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/90832/rec/1







https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ia_(80612).jpg





CardCow

Hotel Casa Blanca
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps4mpggplp.jpg

[HossC]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics40/00054913.jpg

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Was it a luxury hotel or a quickie motel?

It is presently unclear exactly what eventually occurred to the swimming pool and other areas that were evidently determined to have been unpermitted or wrongly permitted and/or illegal. Aerial views might be helpful. There are construction permits for most of the structure and a few of the 1949 permits and plans reference a pool. (Drawings are not particularly legible on my viewer and therefore not reproduced here.) Construction of the pool, was seemingly contemporaneous to the entire structure, and probably not seen as out of the ordinary.

Here's a selection of aerial views of the Country Club Villa hotel:

1948 - I can see the footprint of the hotel, although it looks like construction has only just started.
1952 - The hotel looks complete (it matches GW's LAPL image above), but the pool area appears larger than later images.
1980 - Not much change. I included it because it's the clearest view. The swimming pool looks like the color postcards above.
1994 - The last image showing the original hotel structure.
2003 - The current building under construction.
2004 - The current building complete.


Historic Aerials

[Matt Maxwell]

Here's the hotel marquee just a couple weeks ago. Definitely 'Olive' though I don't know any of it's in working order right now.

L1280552x.JPG by Matt Maxwell, on Flickr

Yes, from the giant photoset from my recent LA trip.

[Beaudry]

Just-digitized by LA City Archives, and posted on YT in glorious 1080p HD for your enjoyment, the Goofus and Gallant of LAPD traffic officers, 1946: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rooQKAUP3YE

up Hill from 5th



up Grand from Wilshire

Dig Tommy at 3:08—"On every corner, there are some things that bear watching."

[ethereal_reality]

"world's largest" -seating capacity 600!

http://www.lamag.com/longform/behold...-new-cliftons/


I knew Clifton's Brookdale had taxidermied mountain lions and faux redwood forests, but I didn't know it had 'Limeade Springs'!



Limeade flowing from the rocks! Kids must have loved this!
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As most of you know, Clifton's had it's grand-reopening earlier this week.


http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydis...001-story.html

I just noticed it doesn't say "Brookdale" above the marquee any longer. I definitely like the addition of "Cabinet of Curiosities".

I've read that the renovated interior is amazing.

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