noirish Los Angeles

[jballou]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I see this building every time I am in LA to see a client of mine.



5th and Wilton

Photo snagged off of Google maps.

I have a few others that I am interested in finding the history of. Will post those later.

[ethereal_reality]

Welcome to the thread jballou.




Is anyone familiar with this contraption?

Beverly Hills

http://beverlyhills.patch.com/groups...ys-f510efa200f
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[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by Mstimc

I would agree with your assessment, BRR. What little knowledge of tire construction I picked up working at my old man's service station in high school taught me there's a reason tread patterns are asymmetrical. A symmetrical pattern across the tire's width makes an annoying whining noise because air is being compressed beneath the tire at the same time. So, the "vacuum cups", if they really worked, would have made one heck of a racket as well.

Aside from the potential of being quite noisy on concrete or asphalt paving suction cup tires would have been miserable performers on those same surfaces when wet as they promoted no wiping action to cast water away from the tire and road surface.

I can also imagine they were quite good at kicking up pebbles on gravel roads, taking out headlight lenses and windshields. Windshields at that time were not "Safety glass" with polyvinyl butyral laminated between two pieces of glass. 1919 Model T Fords had the first variation of laminated safety glass windshield, but it wasn't until the late 1920s that it was standard on many production vehicles.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Thanks for the follow-up and clearing up what I thought was an optical illusion!

Other "Associated" stations:

Circ '37-'38(?) Unknown location
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00102/00102226.jpg

1941 - Wilshire near Mansfield (Wonder about the sign to the right: "Norwalk."
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00104/00104585.jpg

The "Norwalk" sign appears to say "Norwalk Tires" While I have not figured out how to post pictures, I did find a picture of a Norwalk Tire sign in the Duke University photo collection found here:

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcolle...ellco_XXX1678/

Also, found here is a sign that may be like the one in the photo:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1235863

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Lwize

I didn't think people drank iced coffee in 1941. Starbucks grandfather must have been in the shadows...

I remember my mom and aunt drinking iced coffee in the 50's and them ordering it in restaurants in hot weather.

[ethereal_reality]

http://www.larchmontbuzz.com/larchmo...-googie-style/




a closer look

GSV
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[ethereal_reality]

Is there a reason why a small section of the original brick street was left exposed? I've never noticed this before.


1920s Little Toyko

pinterest

[revheavyg]

Originally Posted by jballou

First time poster, long time lurker.

I see this building every time I am in LA to see a client of mine.



5th and Wilton

Photo snagged off of Google maps.

I have a few others that I am interested in finding the history of. Will post those later.

(Photobucket)
I saw this building in these photos thought I'd share no history on the building but history of that intersection! i love this building one of my top favorites in that neighborhood!
Residents at the corner of 5th Street and Wilton Place are shown protesting the erection of poles to be put in the ground by the Los Angeles Transit Lines. The poles will be used for a trackless trolley “loop.” Caption and photo credit: 1947 Herald Examiner, from LAPL collection.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Is anyone familiar with this contraption?

Beverly Hills

http://beverlyhills.patch.com/groups...ys-f510efa200f

Looks like an early Elgin.


worldsweeper.com

This one has different wheels, but it's a much clearer picture.


Ebay

[ethereal_reality]

orange tree carving


1910
ebay



After a few brief searches, I was unable to find anything on a Jennie Hotel in Los Angeles.
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[CityBoyDoug]

Probably the best bio book [below] ever written about Howard Hughes. Howard lived most of his life smack dab in the middle of the LA noir era. The list of Hollywood males that Hughes played with is rather long. Most were up and coming young men that Hughes promised to make them a ''famous movie star''. One of his most interesting romantic affairs was with the actor he hired to play in his film "The Outlaw". Hughes' hopeless short lived affair with boyishly cute hetero Jack Buetel is detailed in this book [below].
If you've seen this kinky film, ''The Outlaw'', its very obvious that Buetel is the real star of the film. Jane Russell is a mere prop as far as Hughes was concerned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Buetel

Natl book networkRKO-Jack Buetel

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

The only previous post with an aerial shot that I could find is this one:
MichaelRyerson correctly identified the location in the following post.

Thanks HossC, that's what I was looking for!

(Search function peccadilloes--if you type in Ben-Hur it searches for you, but not Ben Hur, likewise M-G-M, but not MGM. I did not think to search for Culver City...anyway thank you!

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Very interesting MP. Kevin Brownlow had a slightly different take on that story in The Parade's Gone By . . . (University of California Press, 1968)

Thanks for the additional photos and information Flyingwedge!

The one reason that I think Kevin Brownlow’s information might be slightly incorrect is that M-G-M’s Lot #1 was situated on a triangle of land. (In fact, before the merger when it became M-G-M it was known as the Ince/Triangle Studios.)

Sony Pictures

This 1933 photo shows Lot #1 and the triangular nature of it. The road on the left border is Washington Blvd., the angular road toward the right is Culver Blvd. and the street running along the bottom of the photo is Overland. I mention all this because there was no “large vacant lot behind the M-G-M Studio” at that time. Mostly residential tracts, public buildings or schools surrounded it. (I’m taking “behind M-G-M” to mean relatively close by.) Besides, the “City of Los Angeles” as Brownlow writes, wouldn’t have had any jurisdiction to do any of that in all these areas, as it was located in “Culver City”.

The County of Los Angeles would, I suppose, but it makes more sense to me that they started construction on the Ben-Hur sets at the Venice/La Cienega location, in Los Angeles, the county started dismantling them for the “storm drain” or “county construction project” mentioned in these writings and then arranged to lease the property for the duration. (That 1940 photo definitely looks like a storm drainage system there in place.) They wouldn’t have started a second set-construction or moved what they had built it seems to me, to a new location. (Although it doesn’t make sense the county would just start dismantling something (the sets) without some questioning about it first, either.)

This “project” would probably be connected to the Ballona Creek watershed which runs from near downtown through Culver City and west to Marina Del Rey, and involves projects that were constructed over the years, like tributaries, storm drains and waterways, to empty into it. There are definitely areas near La Cienega Blvd. connecting to this and Bollona creek runs alongside Jefferson Blvd. bordering M-G-M’s eventual Lot #4 used for housing it’s animals seen in its films as well as parking for the immense Lot #3 which was across the street (Jefferson Blvd.). Since these areas were eventually purchased by M-G-M it doesn’t make sense any construction project by the county would have interfered in those places. If the county project was related to the Lot #4 area that wouldn’t have been large enough to build the Ben-Hur sets in that location in any case and that’s where the “project” would have been initiated.

USGS

It’s also listed that major crossings and tributaries built or reinforced related to the watershed area concerning La Cienega, Washington and Culver Blvd.’s were done in 1937 & 1938. We can recall posts about extensive flooding in 1938, so that would make sense.

P.S.: Kevin Brownlow is one of the people who recommends the M-G-M Backlot book on their promotional site, which is worth a look in and of itself!

http://www.mgmbacklot.info/

[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

1042 traffic deaths in 1936!

ebay

That's an incredible number of deaths in one year. But look at the photo. Look at all the people standing in the middle of traffic waiting for the streetcar. Multiply that by the number of streetcar loading areas throughout the city. I wonder what percentage of those deaths were little old ladies waiting for a streetcar.

[JScott]

.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The one reason that I think Kevin Brownlow’s information might be slightly incorrect is that M-G-M’s Lot #1 was situated on a triangle of land. (In fact, before the merger when it became M-G-M it was known as the Ince/Triangle Studios.)

Sony Pictures

I found this collage of MGM lots in the USC library. They date it as ca. 1925, which would tie in nicely with the filming of Ben Hur, but the presence of the 1938 Thalberg Building in Lot 1 means the date is way off.


USC Digital Library

I've enlarged and rotated lots 2 and 3 to make them easier to see.



Details of picture above.

[ethereal_reality]

Here are two parade photographs I came across this afternoon on ebay.

In the background is the impressive Ralph's on Wilshire (at Hauser I believe) that included, among other things, a violin shop!!
ebay




This is the second photo of the set (I had to flip the negative). Is this across from the Ralph's?
ebay




I posted this way back on page 15....Sept. of 2009. I thought it would be fun to view it again. (I've highlighted the Wilshire store in red)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=278
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[MichaelRyerson]

Looking east from 4th and Grand, 1913


Appears to have been taken from the roof of the Zelda. Ornate roof in the immediate right foreground is the private residence of businessman, horse-breeder and noted vintner Leonard J. Rose on the SE corner of Grand and 4th (400 S. Grand), beyond it is the distinctive multi-turreted (all three turrets are distinct from each other) roof of the Fremont on the SW corner of 4th and Olive. Just peeking over the top of the Fremont we have the top two floors of the Wright & Callender Building at SW 4th and Hill Street and to the left of that we have the Black Building (ironically the big white building) NW 4th and Hill. Behind the Black Building (nearer the camera) is the red brick Antlers and then at the corner of 4th and Olive a vacant lot which will soon be occupied by the Hotel Clark parking garage (The Hotel Clark, still under construction, appears above and to the right of the Fremont roof line and seems to be three or four floors short of topping out). Going to the left (north) on Olive we find a smallish three story rooming house with wrap-around balconies and called, appropriately enough, The Porches and next to that a more substantial blockish four story building that has been variously identified as the Wales (1909 Birdseye map) or the Bailey (1910 Baist insurance maps). The front of the Wales/Bailey is partially obscured by the back of the flat roofed Van Winkle (the front right corner of the Van Winkle splits the arched main entrance of the Wales/Bailey), and then to the left the pitched roof of the Hotel Ogden (which has a small turret out front but it's hard to pick out) and finally the flat roof with the little railing on the Olive Inn. I suppose I should point out the City Hall tower on Broadway and out there on the horizon line, just slightly right of center, is the silhouette of the L.A. County Orphanage. I stitched together two C.C. Pierce images from the USC digital archive. I believe E-R has posted both images separately.

USC digital archive/Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960

[rlrdrken]

Originally Posted by rlrdrken

None of my photo posts seem to go through, cant figure it out. Any way heres the link to the marriage record

[IMG]http://interactive.ancestry.com/1100...l=ReturnRecord[/IMG]

Florence Coberly Stanton-She is still Rocking a Skirt and Blouse in 1958

Here's what else I found:

1935-The 1940 Census has the Klearman Family listed as Living in New York, sometime between 1935 & 1940 they moved to Los Angeles

1940-The Klearman Family is listed as living at 5840 Satsuma Ave, Los Angeles David Klearman 35, Gertrude 33, Florence 14, Irwin 10

1948-At 23 Joins the L. A. P. D., a gutsy move considering the attitudes towards Women in the late 40's early 50's in Post WWII America with G.I.'s still returning home

1952-She Marries her first Husband Jack Coberly on Feb 11th in Los Angeles she is 26, he is 33. July 30th takes part in the Infamous Wolf Hunt for a serial rapist. She is named Policewomen of the Year for 1952

1957- June 18 she Marries her second Husband David V. Stanton, a Police Sergeant in Nevada
1958-May 3rd Is arrested with her Mother for Shoplifting $2.22 worth of Groceries from Bond's Market located at 12160 Ventura Blvd, North Hollywood. Her address is listed as 4216 Stern Ave and her Mothers address is listed as 11895 Laurelwood Dr. both of Sherman Oaks. In July her Mother is fined $200.00 Dollars for shoplifting. The case against her is dismissed by the Municipal Court Judge, but she is still dismissed from the L.A.P.D the end of July by a three man Board Rights Hearing. She said she would appeal the ruling.

1965-Her Father, David Klearman passes away on May 10, He was 62

1970-Marries her 3rd Husband, Thomas Alfred Gast on Valentines Day Feb 14

1980-Listed as living at 3130 N Clybourn Ave, Burbank, C.A.

1995-her address is listed as 4421 or 4921 Matula DR. Tarzana, C.A. Husbands address is listed as 218 W 29th Ave Spokane, W.A. apparently they were estranged at this point

1996-Florence passed away April 18, 1996 she was 71, her address is listed as Tarzana, Los Angeles

2005-Her Mother passes away Nov 11, 2005 she was 99, her address is listed as Tarzana, Los Angeles

2008-Her Brother Erwin "Bud" Klearman passes away Oct 19, 2008 he was 78. Seems he has his own tail of noir. Married twice the 1st was to Elizabeth Smith on Mar 21, 1949 He was 19, She was 17. The Marriage lasted less then 2 years She remarried in April of 1951 when she was 19. The second Marriage was to Carolyn Berman Aug 27, 1966 He was 37 she was 24 Divorced June 1971 Divorce Record says she was 13 years younger, The marriage record says she was Six years younger. Seems after he passed away his body went unclaimed at the L.A. Coroners office, I guess being the last Family member, however the Ancientfaces site lists lists 8 birth records, 4 death records & 2 marriage records. His burial record says:

Served in Korea PV2 US Army

Buried Riverside National Cemetery Riverside County
California, USA
Plot: SECTION 61-SITE 726

Address listed for the years 1993 thru 2008: 12017 Albers St Apt 7, Valley Village, Los Angeles. I willing to bet a weeks pay there's a news paper article out there somewhere that goes like. "The Police were alerted after neighbors noticed a foul odor.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

-they even pay homage to Duke's Coffee Shop (destroyed along with the Tropicana)
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It is weird that the Ramada cashes in on the place it destroyed for publicity. Duke’s Coffee Shop did relocate to Sunset Blvd., but without it’s history, is an entirely different entity up there.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by jballou

I see this building every time I am in LA to see a client of mine.


5th and Wilton
Photo snagged off of Google maps.

That building reminds me of the one at Harper & Fountain Avenues in West Hollywood.

Dear Old Hollywood

Here’s Bogart at the same intersection in the 1950 noir film IN A LONELY PLACE.

Dear Old Hollywood