noirish Los Angeles

[Tourmaline]

Vail airport formerly in Montebello.


Mayor Cryer completing oversized April 17, 1926 inaugural airmail to NY Mayor Jimmy Walker
https://jhgrahambooks.files.wordpres...etter-1926.jpg

Charles Lindbergh and an unidentified man stand next to a Lockheed Air Express at Vail Field in Montebello. This was the second aircraft designed and created by the Lockheed Aircraft Company after its founding in 1927. The design of the Air Express was based on the original fuselage of the Lockheed Vega, but the wing was raised to a parasol configuration above the fuselage and the cockpit was moved to behind the wing. Only seven Air Express planes were built. Photo dated: May, 1928.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics40/00069764.jpg



Source: The original Vail Field is said to have ceased being an airport when Western Air Express moved to Alhambra Airport in 1930; however, it was clearly active through WWII and probably saw use through mid-'50s. http://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_LA_C.htm



Vail field in Montebello
http://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Vail...CA_Western.jpg



http://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airf...m_34f48d4b.jpg


"An undated photo of a trimotor (model undetermined) in front of the Western Air Express hangars at Vail Field, from an LA Chamber of Commerce brochure 'Los Angeles County Spreads Her Wings, History of National Air Races, 1928'”
http://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airf..._m34afd2a2.jpg



https://jhgrahambooks.files.wordpres...08/4-18-26.jpg

Worth a look see: https://jhgraham.com/category/1926/; https://jhgraham.com/category/the-sunset-strip/



No obvious connection with the above, other than a quaint and amusing photo from Glendale site.

~1930

[Tourmaline]

There have been NLA references to an airport in or near Griffith Park. FredH had a nice post regarding the same as well as the Rodger Young Village. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6297 Unfortunately, the images are presently not posting.

Griffith Park Manor announcement (1929 (?))
http://grandcentralair.glendaleca.go...k_manor_01.gif


1925 LA area Airfields. No. 8 is Griffith Park
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/LA_Airfields_25.JPG

An April 1925 photo looking west at 4 men in front of the Griffith Park hangars. Several JN4 Jenny biplanes are visible inside the right hangar.

http://airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airf...m_41b2c05e.jpg

Griffith Park Aerodrome was located south of the LA River from Grand Central Air Terminal. According to K.O. Eckland, in 1912 Van Griffith donated 100 acres of land alongside what is now Griffith Park Drive with the request it be used to "do something to further aviation."

Once hangars were built, aviation pioneers like Glenn Martin & Silas Cristoffersen seized the opportunity to operate from such an ideal location. Martin's first fight school opened its doors that year & the name was unofficially changed. The Griffith Park property was eventually handed over to State for use by the National Guard Air Service's 40th Air Corps Division (115th Observation Squadron), who established a base & laid 2 runways: 3,600' northwest/southeast & 2,975' oil & gravel north/south strips.

The 115th Observation Squadron was initially equipped with the Curtiss JN-4H Jenny. The 115th was commanded by Maj. C.C. Moseley, who was also one of the founders of Western Air Lines and the Cal-Aero Technical Institute flying schools. Griffith Park consisted of a grass field with a hangar along the west side.

In September 1927, the 115th Observation Squadron held its summer camp at its home base, Griffith Park Airport .

Will Adams recalled, "I grew up on Glendale & was 10 years old in 1927. My stomping ground was the National Guard airport. Times were different then & it was safe for a 10-year-old to wander all over the place. I spent a lot of time at the National Guard Airport watching them fly in & out. A 10-year-old kid hanging around didn't seem to bother them, and I had almost free run of the airport. I clearly remember a movie scene they were shooting one time. I think it was for Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels."

A 1936 Commerce Department listing of airports & landing fields described Griffith Park as being a military airfield with a single north/south oiled runway (1,965' x 192'), and a single hangar with "40th Division Air Corps" on the roof. Training missions were flown from Griffith Park until 1939, at which time the city Planning Commission charged that a military airport violated conditions of the original land deed.

By 1942, the 115th Observation Squadron had been mobilized and sent toe Sherwood Field near Paso Robles and the Griffith Park Aerodrome was evidently closed. There is photographic evidence that the California State Guard's 7th Observation Squadron operated from the field.
http://www.militarymuseum.org/Griffi...Aerodrome.html

Griffith Park Aerodrome 1927 (University of California Calisphere)
http://www.militarymuseum.org/Resour...1927%20(2).jpg




http://www.militarymuseum.org/Resour...%2C%201927.jpg




From: http://www.militarymuseum.org/Griffi...Aerodrome.html

Built on the site of Griffith Park Aerodrome, in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, the Village consisted of 750 Quonset huts, temporary buildings made of corrugated steel, which were intended to house 1,500 families. At peak residence, over 5,000 persons lived there.

Built in approximately two months (and over the objections of the Griffith family, who had donated the park to the city), the Village was dedicated on 27 April 1946 and closed in the mid-1950s. The Quonset camp met a desperate need for living space. Thousands of Californians had left the area for military duty. When these men and women returned from the war, they found that housing had been taken by the thousands who had come to work in plants producing war matériel.

Rodger Young Village was a public housing project, established to provide temporary housing for veterans returning to the Southern California area following the end of World War II. The village was named for Rodger Wilton Young, an American infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was killed on the island of New Georgia while helping his platoon withdraw under enemy fire. For his actions, he posthumously received the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

Rodger Young Village undated
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051082.jpg



Rodger Young Village on the site of the former Griffith Park Aerodrome. (Source dates this apparently completed image of RYV as "1940." Probably meant "1950.")
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00003/00003986.jpg



March 1946 - "Main Street" Roger Young Village
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics48/00043798.jpg



http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051124.jpg




Roger Young Village Commemorative Ceremony, 1949
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051107.jpg

[HossC]

To go with yesterday's lock manufacturer, I found some Julius Shulman pictures of a door manufacturer. This is "Job 1563: Bel Air Door Company Factory, 1953".



The company wasn't in Bel-Air, it was at 314 Date Avenue, Alhambra. Here's a closer view of the building on the right.



One of the pictures I've omitted shows a reverse of this shot which has a close-up of the sign by the forklift on the left. It gives an address of 317 Palm Avenue, which means this is the back of the buildings in the pictures above.



This is another large set (21 images), so I've just picked a selection again. The company had an interesting uniform.



This guy obviously didn't get the white T-shirt memo .



All from Getty Research Institute

The buildings, large utility poles and railroad tracks have all gone from Palm Avenue, but the buildings on Date Avenue are still there.


GSV

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Rodger Young Village on the site of the former Griffith Park Aerodrome. (Source dates this apparently completed image of RYV as "1940." Probably meant "1950.")
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00003/00003986.jpg

I'd agree with your 1950 dating. The earliest view at Historic Aerials is 1952, and it looks pretty similar.


Historic Aerials

Only just over half of the 1954 image is available. The bit which can be seen shows the remains of the roads, but all the huts are gone. To put the village in context, here's the 2010 image of the same area.


Historic Aerials

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

To go with yesterday's lock manufacturer, I found some Julius Shulman pictures of a door manufacturer. This is "Job 1563: Bel Air Door Company Factory, 1953".

Just another noir day in the life at Bel Air Door factory.....1953.

JS


Is Marlon Brando nearby or maybe James Dean?

[Tourmaline]

Thanks, HossC.




November 11, 1918 - Armistice celebration, Boos Brothers Style?

Nov. 11, 1918: Workers from Boos Brothers cafeterias ride through Los Angeles waving flags and singing war songs after Germany’s surrender ended World War 1.

http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/wp-c.../armistice.jpg


Sure enough, the vehicle in the above image bears a "Boos Brothers' banner." But where is the location? (The answer may lie within the City Directories, but my admittedly cursory search has yielded zed.)

One potential giveaway is the name over the transom to the left "Sterling." (Neither the immediate source for the above image nor what may be the original source (LATimes) identifies location. However, there may be more info available since the LATimes version ID's the image as "boosbrotherscropped", suggesting there may be a larger, more inclusive, version of this negative. https://latimesphoto.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/fa_467_boosbrotherscropped970.jpg)

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Per 1930CD 635 W. Colorado Blvd., Glendale


http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargra...ner_01_750.jpg



http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargra...arge_1_500.jpg


http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargra...arge_2_500.jpg

Source does not identify this location. Caption reads "Timm plane and Chrysler, Southern California, 1940."

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/91208


"Crosby Aircraft" (Other larger structure would seem to be easy to identify.)



Barbara Stanwyck or look-a-like?



From Aerofiles.com

c.1922: O W (Otto William) Timm Aircraft Corp, 901 N San Fernando Rd, Glendale CA. 1928: Timm Airplane Co. 1935: Timm Aircraft Co. 1937: Acquired Kinner Aircraft; 1939: Metropolitan Airport, Van Nuys CA. 1941: Sold to Aetna Aircraft Corp, Los Angeles. Charles Lindbergh's first airplane ride was with barnstormer Timm.

http://www.aerofiles.com/_timm.html


Glendale (and other So Cal areas, e.g., Van Nuys and Metropolitan a.k.a Mines Field) was an obvious hotbed for early aviation activities. Could Glendale have also included "Crosby Aircraft"? Several sources mention "Harry Crosby" as designing racing aircraft in or around Glendale in the late '30s. (E.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby_CR-4 and https://books.google.com/books?id=_a...endale&f=false) However, in the case of the "CR-4" that was constructed by Curtiss-Wright Tech students in Glendale.




More on Timm and Juanita Burns:

Information on Juanita Burns and her solo round-the-world flight intentions are very sketchy. She was an accomplished pilot who wanted to join in on the round-the-world flight accomplishments being made by other male pilots. She first made altitude record attempts (above article) and then flying the Timm Collegiate, "City of Los Angeles" participated in endurance flights.
The "Roaring Twenties" ended in October 1929 with the onset of the stock-market collapse in New York. This crash set off a chain of events that plunged North America and the world into a decade-long depression. Prosperity came to a halt around the world and marked the beginning of the "Dirty Thirties." These hard times impacted on many of the small firms that were in their infancy. Before the crash, O.W. Timm had formed the O.W. Timm Airplane Corporation in Glendale, CA., initially an aircraft repair and modification shop.
With the profits of his shop, Timm decided to build an open cockpit high parasol wing aircraft that he named the "Timm Collegiate." He build six "Collegiate" planes that were fitted with several different engines. The 5th plane was named the "City of Los Angeles." Amongst other things, it was used for the endurance craze of the times. Rather than the continuous flying with in-flight re-fuelings, it underwent continuous engine-on operation making 97 landings and take-offs over 378H 48M without being switched-off or receiving any maintenance. Fouled spark plugs ended this endurance demonstration and the hard times of the depression ended Timm Airplane Corp.
Juanita Burns wanted to fly the "City of Los Angeles" round the world but to do so meant raising money. To this end, she sold Air Labels (see above) but her dream of soloing round-the-world never came true. http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/RTW002DD.HTM

Juanita Burns







(All from http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/RTW002DD.HTM)

[BifRayRock]

Then, then and now. Awnings, enclosure, porch.


1925 - 6621 Emmet Terrace
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/74995


2011 - same address
GoogleStreetView




2016 - same address
https://ssl.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40/...6-983465_4.jpg

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The rather unusual Mode O' Day Building at Washington & Hill.


usc digital archive





usc digital archive


Can anyone explain this strange architectural style?
There is a neo-classical cartouche above the doorway on the extreme right....and an art deco 'design' on the corner pillar at the left.
The obelisks along the roof-line are oddly extravagant (as well as dangerous during an earthquake).

Suspect this is another view of the imposing Mode O Day, circa '28.http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...coll59/id/1085

1928 - Southern view from Hill near Pico

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

They were a band called "The Beverly Hillbillies", hence the notation about the "original Beverly Hillbillies" . They were formed by John McIntyre and Glen Rice who were at KMPC in Los Angeles They worked in San Francisco in about 1930. Various other people were also in the group which called itself Glen Rice and his Beverly Hillbillies. They then moved to Los Angeles in about 1935 and were recording, on the radio and in some movies. The group, in some form or another, lasted until 1944. King Outfitters was apparently their sponsor at the time the picture was taken. Information obtained by Googling the Beverly Hill Billies.

Wonder if the 1930's Beverly Hillbillies played the Fox Palace, downtown.

1931 - 644 S Broadway

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...ll170/id/46235

[Earl Boebert]

I don't know if this site has been linked to here before; apologies if it has. For lovers of Richard Neutra and all things Midcentury Modern:

http://www.ncmodernist.org/neutra.htm

Many locations for virtual exploration there :-)

Cheers,

Earl

[Flyingwedge]

Not too long ago I posted this c. late 1860s photo looking south on New High Street toward Temple (where the oxen are).
Please note the chimney at the left edge of the photo:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

UCLA

I think someone climbed up on that chimney in about 1875 and took the photo below. Again we're looking south
on New High Street toward Temple, where there's a gas lamp on the NW corner. On the right is St. Athanasius,
the Fort St. Synagogue is in the distance just above center, and there are some homes on Bunker Hill:



487339 @ Huntington Digital Library, Henry Marquez Collection

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location

I've had this for quite some time in an old file of mine.


personal collection/file_2014

I'd say it's late-1960s or early 1970s, and there appears to be highway construction going on in the middle distance.

__

[HossC]

I found your picture on a forum thread called Hidden Hills, Calabasas, West SFV historical photos. A poster named Charles identifies it as:

"Intersection of the 23 (under construction) and the 101 in Thousand Oaks looking north 1968. The 101 is two lanes in both directions. At the time it went through Camarillo in between those two rows of Eucalyptus trees on the north side of the existing freeway."

This is how the area looked a year earlier in 1967.


Historic Aerials

The next image is 1980, and it looks fairly similar to the current layout, so I just went for a Google Maps view.


Google Maps

[Andys]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location

I've had this for quite some time in an old file of mine.


personal collection/file_2014

I'd say it's late-1960s or early 1970s, and there appears to be highway construction going on in the middle distance.

__

The Du-Par's sign and the Sunset Hills sign made me think the same; 101 near the 23. Drove past there many times in the late 60's, ergo I recognized the signage right off. Anyone ever eat at Du-Par's?

Andys

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for locating my pic Hoss and Andys.
__




Do you think the Du-Par's billboard was advertising the one in Studio City.....or was there a Du-Par's in Thousand Oaks as well?


detail




Here's the Du-Par's in Studio City in 1948. (of course this is twenty years before the highway billboard pic)


http://waterandpower.org/museum/Earl...ey_Page_4.html




And here's how the 1948 building looks today, at 12036 Ventura Blvd.


gsv

_

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location #2


"Lawrence Welk and his cast with a fleet of '57 Dodges."


https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCo...a_fleet_of_57/




Here's a closer look at the homes in the distance.


detail


Also intriguing is that raised area at lower left. (is there a road on top?)
__

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Do you think the Du-Par's billboard was advertising the one in Studio City.....or was there a Du-Par's in Thousand Oaks as well?

The Du-Par's in Thousand Oaks was near the intersection of Moorpark Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Here it is on the left of a 1962 aerial (it opened in 1961).


ConejoThruTheLens on Flickr

Here's a 1970 view looking east.


ConejoThruTheLens on Flickr

Both links have more information, and larger versions of the images. The original building was knocked down in 1991, and the restaurant moved to a new location. It eventually closed in 2008/9. There's a good history of the restaurant at toacorn.com.

[Blaster]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location #2


"Lawrence Welk and his cast with a fleet of '57 Dodges."


https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCo...a_fleet_of_57/


__

Cool. The Lennon Sisters get a station wagon ('Cause there's more of them!)

[HossC]

I think this Julius Shulman photoset may be incorrectly labeled. The title is "Job 2088: The Broadway (Department Store), (Anaheim, Calif.), 1955".



The reason for my doubt is the signage that says "the BROADWAY Valley". I think that means we're actually looking at the store in Panorama City.



I've left out a couple of interior and exterior images. To give a feeling of the interior, here's the men's clothing department ...



... and the ladies' clothing department.



All from Getty Research Institute

Assuming I'm right about the location, here's the former Broadway store which has become a Walmart.


GSV

For comparison, here's the Anaheim store in 1959. It was part of Anaheim Plaza, and looks very similar to Panorama City Store, although there's no main road running past the entrance. This one was bulldozed in the early-90s.


Calisphere