noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

Most of Ed Asner's 1987 six-part documentary Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story is on YouTube.
Going by the shot of the tower at around the 50 second mark in the first episode (below), it doesn't look like the spikey ball rotated.

Thanks for answering my question Hoss....but I really wanted it to rotate.


YOUTUBE

I think the person that design the (non-rotating) spiked orb

also designed this costume.


PRETTYCLEVERFILMS

from Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan [1930]
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[ethereal_reality]

Meanwhile....a few hundred feet east on Melrose.


IMDB

"Clark Gable with William Pearlberg on the Paramount Studios Lot, c.1957."

As most of you no doubt know...the caption is incorrect.

Clark is signing his autograph on the northwest corner of Melrose and Irving Blvd.
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p.s. Paramount has closed this section of Irving. (so it is part of the studio now...but it wasn't in 1957)


The curved building behind Clark is still standing...as is the white bldg with the peaked roof down the street. (it looks like two buildings, but it's actually one)


GSV

The clipper ship = Bank of America
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[Lomara]

Originally Posted by odinthor

I was a habitué of the Wallichs Music City across from Lakewood Center, and well remember the sound booths there, very much like those in the last photo. It seemed to me then that, though they weren't used very often, those who did use them were very intense in doing so, and completely oblivious to the rest of the world. I never used one, because I was a very shy li'l odinthor, and it would have been necessary to actually talk to another human being to request to use a booth. Or could one just stroll in and use them? I dunno: I was too scared to ask and find out.

Edit Add:

I can't seem to lay my hands or any other part of my body on a pic of Wallichs Lakewood in its heyday; here's the same building now:


gsv

We're looking west on Candlewood St. at its corner with Lakewood Blvd.

The listening booths stretched along the length of the building to the left of the entrance.

I included the building across the street, built as a branch of Great Western Savings, because somehow I've always liked the design of the freestanding sign's support structure . . . meant to suggest . . . ? . . . something about the Old West . . . ? . . . a Hanging Tree? . . . a totally misimagined Saguaro Cactus? . . . ? . . . an Old West ancestor of L.A.'s Triforium? . . . . . . Still, whatever it is, I like it.

I remember that building when it was a Big Ben records, and wasn't it also a Wherehouse later on? Or maybe the Wherehouse was further south on Lakewood. The years make my memory fuzzy.

[ethereal_reality]

I was going to sign off for the night but I have one more a question.

Does anyone know what's hidden within this cluster of trees? [southwest corner of Melrose and Irving Blvd.]



I've noticed this corner several times before...but can't remember if I ever got around to asking the question.


It's directly across the street from the building Clark Gable was standing in front of in the 1957 photograph. (lower right corner in the pic below)




My kingdom for an old photograph of this corner before all the trees





update: I found a street number...it looks like 5426.


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[acorn8332]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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as a friendly reminder to newbies...here's the tower of which I speak.


i.pinimg

I forgot about that spikey ball on top. Does anyone know if it rotated?

(surely there's an old travelogue or 8mm film somewhere on the internet) I'll go look.

__

The twin street lights along Melrose were the Marbelite 1900 model, distinguished by its squarish base. The Melrose lights were removed around 1950, but there are a few survivors fairly close by.

Two can be found on the West side of Highland between West 4th and Wilshire. This one is between West 4th & West 6th.



My photo: January 15, 2018.

A few more are scattered along West 3rd Street in Hancock Park. This one is on the North side of West 3rd, between Las Palmas & McCadden.



And the close-up ...



My photos: July 27, 2015

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The rooftop boxing photograph was one of my mystery posts a long long time ago. I described it as "Women boxing on a Los Angeles rooftop, 1933."

of course I followed up with a question.

"Where would you find a group of young ladies on a rooftop?" Could it possibly be a Y.W.C.A?

If I remember correctly, we eventually figured out the location...but not in nearly as much detail as you did in your post.
I am especially impressed that you pointed out the ladder and the vantage point of the photographer. That's so awesome Scott!



I didn't know the girls were members of a specific 'troupe'. I thought they were probably studio contract players.....or women from a casting agency.

& since there are nine women on the roof-top and nine in the photograph below... I think these lovely ladies might be the "Radio Pictures Chorus Girls".


flickr

It's pretty clear this pic was taken at a movie studio. I wonder if it's RKO?

(& just so you all know...I'm also curious about that odd 'flue'-like thingy that looks like a giant matchstick)
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p.s. if you feel the need to count the ladies on the roof (like I just did ) you can see it HERE

I just did a forum search, and you are correct, ER - CityBoyDoug recognized the buildings as being Paramount - tovangar2 located the right spot on Paramount - neither, however, located the exact building.

The website Rare Historical Photographs dates the photo as being from 1938, but I have serious doubts about that date - as well as the alleged "troupe" itself.

This photo was brought to my attention years ago as being a photo of the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties. Clearly, they are not the MSBBs, but the photo piqued my interest so I did some research on it (I can't find my research now!).

What I found was as follows: due to the popularity of the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties, other studios tried to copy Sennett's success. Fox created their own “Sunshine Girls”; there were the “Christie Studio’s Bathing Beauties”; Sennett rival Hal Roach created the “Hal Roach Bathing Girls”; even tiny Balshofer Studios had their own troupe of bathing beauties:

LINK

According to various online sources, the photo was originally captioned "RKO Pictures Chorus Girls". They were alleged to have been RKO's entry into the bathing beauty fray. And that's where things go astray.

In short, 1938 seems awfully late for a troupe of studio beauties. After all, the Mack Sennett beauties had taken their final bow in 1928, ten years earlier.

In addition, the photo just doesn't look like 1938. Virtually all of the girls are sporting 1920s finger wave hair styles, a decidedly antiquated style for any woman to wear in 1938 - let alone such fashion-conscious professional models as the ladies in the rooftop photo:



In addition, virtually all of the girls are wearing Mary Jane style shoes, which saw their heyday in the 1920s:



Lastly, these cars appear to be 1920s vehicles:



All of these clues lead me to believe that this photo is from the 1920s, not 1938.

On the other hand, the girls' outfits are surprisingly short (i.e., high cut) for the 1920s. After all, women were getting arrested for wearing much less-revealing clothing in the 1920s, as a 1922 law mandated that women's clothing could reveal nothing higher than six inches above the knee:

LINK

These laws prohibiting short skirts/shorts/bathing suits were generally abolished by 1930. Seeing as how the outfits of professional bathing beauties would generally be more risqué than the outfits of the public at large, I would estimate the rooftop photo as being shot circa 1928/1929.



But as I said, I have my doubts. RKO Studios was formed in October 1928, at which time they moved into the Robert Brunton studio, which is the same location as the modern day Paramount Studios. This means that the photo could not have been taken before 1928, which is fine. But a Google search for “Radio Pictures Chorus Girls” reveals exactly ZERO results, other than in captions for this photo - and ALL of them appear to be quoting the same source, the “Rare Historical Photographs” website.

This leads me to believe that the girls did not constitute a troupe, and were in fact simply what the caption reads: chorus girls who worked for Radio Pictures.

[Scott Charles]

Paramount before it was Paramount - Brunton Studios, 1918:


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/4373




http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/4375



And here is Billy Clune's Studio, the same building the arrow points at in the photo above:


http://hollywoodphotographs.com/blog...movie-studios/

Billy Clune is known to LA Noirishers as the namesake of Clune's Auditorium, on the north side of Pershing Square.

LINK

LINK

Billy Clune was the man behind many famous Los Angeles theaters:

LINK

More about Billy Clune here: https://sites.google.com/site/downto...theatres/cameo

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I was going to sign off for the night but I have one more a question.

Does anyone know what's hidden within this cluster of trees? [southwest corner of Melrose and Irving Blvd.]



I've noticed this corner several times before...but can't remember if I ever got around to asking the question.


It's directly across the street from the building Clark Gable was standing in front of in the 1957 photograph. (lower right corner in the pic below)




My kingdom for an old photograph of this corner before all the trees





update: I found a street number...it looks like 5426.


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________


Best I can do (so far!), e_r:


LA Times 11/25/57 via ProQuest via CSULB Library

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

update: I found a street number...it looks like 5426.


_

Googling that address takes you to...

[HossC]

The website homeyou.com says that Rustiques Design And Construction was established in 1983, and implies that they've been in business for 35 years. The company is certainly listed at 5426 Melrose in the 1987 CD.

So far, my searches for an exterior shot without trees have come to nothing.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

More about Billy Clune here: https://sites.google.com/site/downto...theatres/cameo

And here>> http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24507
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24517



http://68.media.tumblr.com/ed74a44ba...muoo1_1280.jpg


From James Ellroy's 2015 LA crime scenes book, "LAPD '53"
http://images.asos-media.com/product...&fit=constrain



https://dudo6el28sqqp.cloudfront.net...5b6e137e1.jpeg





Paul M Kennedy was killed following an argument with a friend at this gas station
https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incom.../s810/LAPD.png



Fear of heights: Jesus Fernandez Munoz fell 50ft to his death onto the concrete bottom of the Los Angeles river bed in February 1953. His death was not treated as suspicous (Image: James Ellroy and Glynn Martin/Los Angeles Police Museum)
https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incom...1227b/LAPD.png




https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incom...1227b/LAPD.png





Police records say this man, wearing a women's swimsuit, deliberately prolonged the death process by creating an elaborate system of candles, cords and weights
https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incom...1227b/LAPD.png

The dead robber lying under the sheet in the Roost Cafe is part of the scenery at the crime scene on June 26
https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incom...1227b/LAPD.png


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/2b...a4fd0766aa.jpg

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Another "type" of railroad and the Arcadia

http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/...hotel-arcadia/

We've seen the Arcadia Roller Ride before, but maybe not with such detail. Also do not recall it called the "Thompson Gravity Switchback" or"pleasure coaster".
https://78.media.tumblr.com/e2316a8f...muoo1_1280.jpg


https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...oaster_big.jpg





http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compou...coll2/id/19483


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...coll2/id/16656

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

These laws prohibiting short skirts/shorts/bathing suits were generally abolished by 1930. Seeing as how the outfits of professional bathing beauties would generally be more risqué than the outfits of the public at large, I would estimate the rooftop photo as being shot circa 1928/1929.



But as I said, I have my doubts. RKO Studios was formed in October 1928, at which time they moved into the Robert Brunton studio, which is the same location as the modern day Paramount Studios. This means that the photo could not have been taken before 1928, which is fine. But a Google search for “Radio Pictures Chorus Girls” reveals exactly ZERO results, other than in captions for this photo - and ALL of them appear to be quoting the same source, the “Rare Historical Photographs” website.

This leads me to believe that the girls did not constitute a troupe, and were in fact simply what the caption reads: chorus girls who worked for Radio Pictures.

The apartments at the top left have a build date of 1929, so that sets a lower boundary. I found it amusing, given their proximity to Paramount, that at least some of the units are described as "studio apartments".

The aerial below is from August 2, 1927, and shows the area just before RKO came into being.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

There don't seem to be any UCSB aerials from the 1930s, so here's one from December 22, 1941. The curved building from e_r's Clark Gable photo is already present, but the site of the mystery building opposite looks like a gas station here.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I came across this photograph while we were discussing the 70s/80s punk scene. (unless I'm mistaken this isn't too far from where I used to live)

1977


L.A. Line-up, (from L-R): unknown, Hellin Killer, Trudi, Pleasant Gehman, Bobby Pin, Nickey Beat, Alice Bag, Delphina, Lorna Doom, Pat Smear, Jena.

Back to those LA Punks . . . and the places some of them lived at the time the picture was taken in 1977. After gravitating to Hollywood as the scene took hold, feasible accommodation options were limited - cheap run down apartments or squats. The surprisingly welcoming down at heel cockroach infested Canterbury Apartments at 1746 N. Cherokee Ave was a godsend. It was soon home to a whole slew of notables from the scene. Alice Bag and Lorna Doom, from the picture, were among those who moved in, as did Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Go's. The Canterbury had the added bonus of being a short hop and pogo down Cherokee from the focal point club of LA Punk at that time, The Masque.


Calisphere


Alice Bag on the roof of the Canterbury in 1977 -


Red Bull Music Academy

Life at The Canterbury -

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com...erbury-feature

Built in 1929 and nowadays under the moniker of the Alexa Artiste Apartments -



GSV


Pleasant Gehman found her perfect punk flophouse at 1553 Cassil Place. It came to be known as Disgraceland.

I lived there until 1988, along with various roommates including Go-Go Belinda Carlisle, Ward Dotson of the Gun Club, writer Iris Berry (who was my longest-running roomie), and literally, a changing cast of thousands. Almost everyone involved in the punk scene partied there, touring bands crashed there (sometimes for months!)

Our landlord was Jayne Mansfield’s ex-husband, body builder Mickey Hargitay, and the previous owner, mentalist Criswell of Criswell Predicts built a Cold War-era bomb shelter underground in the front yard. After the cops would come calling, ordering us to “keep it down”, we'd climb down into the shelter and “get bombed.” - Pleasant Gehman

Disgraceland in the 1980's -



Pleasant Gehman Blog

Disgraceland made a brief appearance in the 1988 film The Boost starring James Wood and Sean Young. SCREENSHOT

Behind a hedge these days -


GSV



Trudie Arguelles and Helen Killer, also in the picture, pitched up at 1053 N La Jolla Ave at the corner with Santa Monica Blvd and close to the Starwood concert venue.
Their apartment dubbed the Plunger Pit also became a hangout and party spot for local and visiting bands and fans. John Doe and Exene from the band X also had an apartment in the building.

Trudie with The Zeros outside the Plunger Pit in 1978 -


Punk Globe - Photobucket


Forty years on -


GSV


Another noted punk rendevous and party place was a then ramshakle 1915 build Craftsman duplex at 1845 N Wilton Place. Soon to be dubbed the Wilton Hilton, it was home to Tomata Du Plenty and Tommy Gear of The Screamers. Another resident for a period was Kid Congo Powers who lived in one of the closets.


Pleasant Gehman recalling one of the parties at the Wilton Hilton -

That night was also first time I laid eyes on Danger House star the infamous Black Randy, of “Trouble At The Cup” fame. Paper cups in hand, Lisa, Exene Cervenka and I ventured into the kitchen to get more Sangria, when all of a sudden, an extremely tall and portly man with a bullet-shaped shaved head and preternaturally blue beady eyes eyes uttered a huge shriek that sounded like an elephant about to go rogue. With that, he picked up the gigantic pot of spaghetti and marinara sauce that was bubbling on the stove and hefted it skywards with both hands before dumping the entire thing over his head. Everyone in the kitchen shrank in horror against the walls, trying to avoid the tomato sauce carnage. Black Randy wailed again and ran from the room and down the back steps, the spaghetti pot still on his head, blinding him. There was sauce splattered on the ceiling like a Manson murder scene, and worms of cooked pasta everywhere; on the walls, hanging from the gay streamers, and all over everyone’s leather jackets. The entire room was silent with shock. We could hear him bellowing all the way down the street.

Screamers Tomata and Tommy with The Damned at the Wilton Hilton in 1977 -


Getty Images


The well spruced up place is now a Bed and Breakfast -


GSV

[Beaudry]

Ok, I'm putting out a call for help—

So they're tearing down this 1921 Walker & Eisen at 1303 W 7th today:



—thus I'm looking for a vintage shot that shows the NW corner of 7th & Witmer.

Anybody find one? Thanks in advance!

[HossC]

Like these? Here's 7th and Witmer in 1929.

Exterior:



Interior:



Both from USC Digital Library

Here's an even earlier shot. It also comes with an interior view similar to the one above.

7th & Witmer branch, Pacific-Southwest Bank, West 7th Street & Witmer Street, Los Angeles, CA, 1926


USC Digital Library

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by HossC

Like these? Here's 7th and Witmer in 1929.






Both from USC Digital Library

Ha! What took you so long! I don't know how those eluded my grasp. Thanks again!

[Handsome Stranger]

I did some snooping at 5426 Melrose Avenue today. There's a very interesting and mysterious building hidden behind those badly overgrown trees.

At the Melrose entrance, the globes of the lamps on either side of the door appear to have been broken for quite a long time. There is no doorknob or handle on the door.



Peering upward from the Melrose entrance:



There are multiple nails sticking out of some of the boarded-up windows.



The trees are so overgrown that they're slowly destroying the wall around the property.



The view from Irving Blvd:



The entrance on Irving Blvd is badly rusted.



Peering upward from the sidewalk on Irving Blvd:





Toward the rear of the building there's a two-car garage. Could this have been a residence at some point?



The back of the property as seen from the alleyway.



There are no signs anywhere indicating that a business exists inside. No signs of life at all, in fact.

"The whole place seemed to have been stricken with a kind of creeping paralysis, out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion..."

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I did some snooping at 5426 Melrose Avenue today. There's a very interesting and mysterious building hidden behind those badly overgrown trees.

[...]

The trees are so overgrown that they're slowly destroying the wall around the property.



[...]

Ficus! F. benjamina, I think, typical florists' stock-in-trade, so likely planted when the place was a florist's. The street trees look like Ficus nitida.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I don't believe I've ever seen a place with so many loosey-goosey additions stacked on top of each other. It boggles the mind.
From the looks of it, I think the owners did a good portion of the work themselves.
It makes me wonder if they bothered with building permits.

[sidenote: none of the building permits for 5426 have been digitalized]





Thanks for the follow-ups odinthor, Scott Charles and Hoss.

Originally Posted by odinthor

Best I can do (so far!), e_r:


LA Times 11/25/57 via ProQuest via CSULB Library

re: the Cosmos Florist ad

If you use your imagination, part of the building vaguely resembles a green house. (if you squint, real hard)


google_earth

from this angle it's like peering down into a Escher print.
__________________________________________



That was some serious SNOOPING Handsome Stranger. I owe you big time.

even though it was broad daylight, did you get a little spooked? That place is creepy as hell.