noirish Los Angeles

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Unlike most male movie people of that era, Joe E. Brown, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were in top physical condition.

Today in 2015 the ''buff'' look is ''in''. In 1930 it wasn't.

If they needed help in that area, there were people like Paramount’s fitness instructor to the stars Richard Kline!
Ebay (one of several)

According to a 1940 newspaper profile, he’d formerly been a strongman in a Chautauqua circus, then from 1925-1927 held open air beach fitness classes in Atlantic City. A “top movie executive” discovered him there and brought him out to Hollywood where he was Paramount’s physical director from 1927 to 1939.




In the late ‘30s he was also doing endorsements like these for Sportsways products (later Healthways Hollywood), like the Stretch to Health
box for a Stretch to Health.

Ebay

I used to come across these things at flea markets and antique shops fairly often- always looking suspiciously unused and new in the box.
Just think, fellows, if you stick with it and really apply yourself, after six weeks, you too could have a physique like Der Bingle.



This is what the dingus actually looks like.
(Like the Hollywood Wolf Whistle, another fine product no longer proudly made in L.A.)

By 1940, Kline had left the studio and was operating his own bodybuilding business, at 5750 Hollywood Blvd.

LAT 1-5-41. 1-18-42

The last ad I found for him at 5750 was 1942. Richard was still around though, and from 1945-48 at least still representing Hollywood Healthways.
1945.
Chart:
Ebay (one of several)

As for 5750 Hollywood Blvd., after Richard, it seems to have been everything from a real estate office to a blueprint supplier. In 1954 you could get your kid a burro there from “Prospector Jack” or “Ranger Mack.”
LAT 12-9-54

[ProphetM]

I don't know why I missed this post from back in April but I did. And there is a mystery to be solved.

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

1931 - More Route 66, (Santa Monica Blvd. at or near Virgil Ave.) and the Dybuk.



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../18668/rec/358



Route 66






http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../18668/rec/358

Every source that I am aware of says that Route 66 was not extended from downtown LA to Santa Monica until 1936, and yet here are photos dated 1931 showing Route 66 shields on Santa Monica Boulevard 5 years earlier. The USC link even has the receipt paperwork which clearly says 1931. I am perplexed.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

www.vimeo.com/14429162


Here it is today from pretty much the same angle.


I have no idea why they decided to cover up all the windows. One website said it was done in the 1960s. aargh!

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blogdowntown adds this:

"...In 1968 the Board of Education opened a new school in the building, calling it the Central City Occupational Center.

It was in renovations for this reopening that the building was stripped of its looks. A Times story from August of 1967 tells of a fatal accident at the building, where a scaffolding collapse left one worker dead, one severely injured, and a third dangling 100 feet above the ground before he was rescued by firemen. The men's task: removing ornamental bricks from the building."


P.S.

If anyone has any curiosity about Leo Katz, the muralist, his bio is here and the Leo Katz Foundation is here (I emailed them too re the "Youth Arisen" mural panels).

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Just a few blocks further north on Kenmore, at West Third Street (3702 W. Third St.) . . . (Building is still there, but the neighborhood has changed. Glimpses of surrounding residences suggest substance. Landscaping seems hard to ignore.)



1927



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/5705/rec/178
































Quaint store fronts. Notice the safety island.

I am intrigued by the close up of the tailor shop (or maybe it is the one to the right in the enlargement) where the sign in back of the clothing displayed says "circulating library". Seems odd for a tailor shop, or clothing store.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Source dates these images to 1929.






http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../14074/rec/150



Pioneer and Yelloway Stages




















Interiors are equally interesting.

The Motor Transit Company operated from April of 1920 to April of 1930. They were the parent company of the "El Dorado System" as seen in the pictures. The 5th and Los Angeles St. depot was one of 18 depots in the system, all in Southern California. The went as far north as Taft and Bakersfield and as far south as San Diego. There was also a Big Bear Depot and one in Lake Arrowhead. This info is from the ERHA site.

In April of 1930 Pacific Electric acquired the system and its 33 buses to expand the territory they could cover. This info is from Los Angeles Magazine, in an article called "CityDig, Pacific Electric's Los Angeles Legacy".

Also in the picture in the middle of the group, looking down at the counter and the benches in the waiting area there is a large picture of the "scenic Ridge Route". This was the way over the mountains, out of the Valley towards Bakersfield before the freeways were cut through. The Ridge Route started in Grapevine Canyon in the north end of the San Fernando Valley and ran along the tops of the ridges north to Bakersfield. I mostly noticed the picture because my aunt and uncle had a very similar painting that hung in their living room which, while smaller, was the same picture as on the poster except for the car in it.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Don't recall seeing this '39 image of Hollywood Blvd. Stagecoach Premier? C.C. Brown's (hot fudge sundae).


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/21347/rec/75

MMMMMMM! CC Brown's. Boy do I miss them!

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I'm really curious about the other two panels as well M_P.
Remember, the Wiggins School kept them in place four years longer than the controversial center panel. Surely there's a photograph of them somewhere.
__

Bloody hell, the web can be amazingly recalcitrant sometimes, but I finally shook this out:


california watercolor

I don't really know if it's the left or right panel of Leo Katz' "Youth Arisen", at the Frank Wiggins Trade School, plus it may only be a detail.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Noircitydame

If they needed help in that area, there were people like Paramount’s fitness instructor to the stars Richard Kline!


According to a 1940 newspaper profile, he’d formerly been a strongman in a Chautauqua circus, then from 1925-1927 held open air beach fitness classes in Atlantic City. A “top movie executive” discovered him there and brought him out to Hollywood where he was Paramount’s physical director from 1927 to 1939.

That list of barbell movie males from the 1945 Kline brochure is interesting for more than one reason.

Two fellows who are listed are Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. They lived together off and on for eleven years. It was common Hollywood gossip that they were boyfriends. When we look at the photos of them together there is really no other conclusion that you can arrive at.

Richard Blackwell , fashion critic, journalist, television and radio personality, former child actor sometimes known just as Mr. Blackwell , states in his autobiography that Grant and Scott were ''madly in love''. There are many photos of the duo on the internet.

Ref photos:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/34199278394165471/

Scott and Grant....at home.

theredlist

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Bloody hell, the web can be amazingly recalcitrant sometimes, but I finally shook this out:


california watercolor

I don't really know if it's the left or right panel of Leo Katz' "Youth Arisen", at the Frank Wiggins Trade School, plus it may only be a detail.

Most interesting find T2. Its still the ''content'' of these Katz mural panels than makes me wonder..."What was he thinking?".....

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Its still the ''content'' of these Katz mural panels than makes me wonder..."What was he thinking?".....

The Leo Katz Foundation states that Katz was involved in five murals. The three they reference were done during the years 1932-1935: "A Prayer for Light" at the Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago, "Youth Arisen" in Los Angeles and as Mexican muralist, José Clemente Orozco's assistant on "The Epic of American Civilization" at Dartmouth.

It was during his time with Orozco that Austrian-born Katz appeared to be heavily influenced by the Mexican artist's personal take on pre-Columbian imagery and sensibilities. The huge, multi-paneled "Epic of American Civilization" caused great consternation among Dartmouth alumni when it was unveiled (nudity, depictions of violence, general unpleasantness) , but is now on the National Register.

I don't disagree with your critique of "Youth Arisen". That mural has its own problems, I think, mostly to do with instances of poor draughtsmanship (Youth and its flanking figures), arrogant unpleasantness (the way female bodies are depicted in the central panel for example) and appropriated, secondhand cultural references. But, at this point, the mural is a just a cultural/social remnant from a time and situation now GWTW.

Post-war, Katz segued into soft, abstract works which seem to bear little relationship to his previous output. As far as I know, he got no further mural commissions.

P.S.

A very nice person from the GSA emailed just now to say that they had no previous record of "Youth Arisen" and have no idea where the panels are located.

I've also sent inquiries to the National Archives and the Smithsonian's Archive of American Art.


At this point I would much rather be listening to Wig-Wag talk about trains! Thx for your last post Wig-Wag. Perfect :-)

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Bloody hell, the web can be amazingly recalcitrant sometimes, but I finally shook this out:


california watercolor

Great find tovanger2!! Thanks for all your hard work with the Leo Katz Mural.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Most interesting find T2. Its still the ''content'' of these Katz mural panels than makes me wonder..."What was he thinking?".....

I can tell you what he wasn't thinking. He wasn't thinking that the Spanish and later American settlers were anything admirable or heroic.

[rbpjr]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Was it "Make Believe Ballroom" rbpjr?

Yes, thank you...

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

I can tell you what he wasn't thinking. He wasn't thinking that the Spanish and later American settlers were anything admirable or heroic.

I certainly agree John.

Also, to add to your comment, muralist-teacher Katz basically painted on the wall a huge overpowering nearly naked blond boy. That ''eye candy'' was very sly of him in my opinion.

The surrounding details are a mere noisy frame for his erotic Nordic God-youth.....his idol, so to speak. His depiction of women, natives and others are clearly negative, almost in the extreme.
All of that was to make his ''mural'' somehow look ''historically relevant'' which in reality was a mass of confusion.

The upshot of this venture was that the common people of that 1935 era immediately rejected his efforts and had the mural banished within less than a year.
I'm not saying that Mr. Katz was a reprobate person...he was oddly brave and ahead of his time. I'm only saying that he bit off way more than he could chew or that the public would tolerate in 1935 at that location.

This is where artist Katz lovingly lavished most of his attention. Not that there's anything intrinsically wrong...its just obvious. [detail from ''Youth Arisen'' mural by Katz.]


All of this is what makes LA Noir...and a lovely hypocritical city of eternal intrigue and contrasts.

[ethereal_reality]

I found this in an old file of mine.



I thought perhaps Wig_Wag or Henry_Huntington could shed some light on what's going on with the streetcars in the center of the photograph.
there appears to be a smaller square car (with two port-hole windows) and what looks like a white fire-engine type vehicle.

Also, is that truck (emerging from the shadowed side-street) for transporting plate glass windows?

[ethereal_reality]

1940s Kodachrome slide of the pool area at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica.


eBay









1950s brochure.


http://collectibles.bidstart.com/Mir...6604190/a.html






below: I really like the aerial view.


http://collectibles.bidstart.com/Mir...6604190/a.html







1940s postcard view showing some of the bungalows.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Damaged-1940...item56780c0976

This image reminds me of the Chapman Park Hotel and Bungalows.






The pool area in the 1950s.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Santa-...item2803532002






I could be mistaken, but I don't believe this entry/walkway exists any longer.


eBay

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[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

That list of barbell movie males from the 1945 Kline brochure is interesting for more than one reason.

Two fellows who are listed are Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. They lived together off and on for eleven years. It was common Hollywood gossip that they were boyfriends. When we look at the photos of them together there is really no other conclusion that you can arrive at.

Richard Blackwell , fashion critic, journalist, television and radio personality, former child actor sometimes known just as Mr. Blackwell , states in his autobiography that Grant and Scott were ''madly in love''. There are many photos of the duo on the internet.

Ref photos:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/34199278394165471/

Scott and Grant....at home.

theredlist

...home in Santa Monica, at the beach house built for Norma Talmadge 1928-29.
Here's an image of the room as it looked in Norma's time there, from the April 1996 Architectural Digest:



Obviously some redecorating has taken place but I notice the coffee table is the same one. Imagine an interior designer sweeping in with: "My dear, this 1920s dreck has simply GOT to go, except for-- that!"

The famous postcard view of the house and Cary's very green car:


I walked past it last November, looking pretty well cared for and fairly unaltered, and spotted this little call box at the street entrance. No longer used (that's what the note says) but originally if you dropped in on Norma/Cary/Randy, you'd pick up an intercom telephone inside the box and let the butler know.

[ethereal_reality]

1940's kodachrome slide showing a swimming pool beneath the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena.


eBay

I believe this the swimming pool at the Hotel Vista Del Arroyo.
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[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I found this in an old file of mine.



I thought perhaps Wig_Wag or Henry_Huntington could shed some light on what's going on with the streetcars in the center of the photograph.
there appears to be a smaller square car (with two port-hole windows) and what looks like a white fire-engine type vehicle.

Also, is that truck (emerging from the shadowed side-street) for transporting plate glass windows?

Under high magnification (with correspondingly low resolution), here's what I see, ER:

- The streetcar nearest to us is waiting for a couple of pedestrians (man and boy?) standing in the track. The man appears to be looking at the rear end of the streetcar ahead. I've no idea why they're in that spot or why he's looking in that direction.

- The vehicle immediately behind the streetcar is a truck whose porthole windows flank the (blind) rear doors.

- Bringing up the rear is another truck with an open bed, and the white material that seems to resemble firehose might be padding for whatever dark object they're carrying in the center of the bed. Also, there's stylized lettering on the side, so it looks like this is a commercial vehicle.

- The truck emerging from the alley appears to be empty, or at least I couldn't pick up any reflection from a glass load. Those high stakes on the sides certainly are curious, though.

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

1940s Kodachrome slide of the pool area at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica.


eBay

__

Lovely color image!
Since the Hwd USO was discussed recently in connection with another of these great color shots, I’ll note that the Miramar served as the Santa Monica USO HQ, opening in April 1942 with a pool party (also ping pong and billiards)

On January 18, 1944 the hotel was taken over by the Army Air Forces for use as AAF’s Distribution Center No. 3, where veterans returning from overseas combat could stay and enjoy R&R. The Shangri-La (1301 Ocean) and the Ocean Palms (1215 Ocean) were taken over at the same time; down on the beach, the AAF had already been using The Grand Hotel and the Edgewater and Casa Del Mar beach clubs since November. The Miramar re-opened to the public around Thanksgiving time 1945.

A sailor and a soldier and a bathing beauty at the Miramar pool, 11-9-1946.

SM Digital Image Archives