noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

That's a great color picture of the Angel's Flight Café, Beaudry.


------------------

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Here he is in '25 shooting golf at an unknown So Cal water hazard, possibly Huntington Beach. Wonder if he brought his board to the golf course.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051393.jpg

Suddenly, the skeet surfing scene in 'Top Secret' doesn't seem so far-fetched .


Paramount

I thought they might have filmed this scene somewhere near LA, but, according to the directors' commentary, this is a popular misconception. It was actually filmed in Cornwall, England, on what they described as "the one sunny day in Newquay!"


Paramount

[HossC]

We're back on Vermont for this Bank of America. It was at 3021 S Vermont Avenue. The Julius Shulman photoset is "Job 1557: Bank of America (Los Angeles, Calif.),1953".

Now's the time for JELL-O!



I thought I remembered a previous mention of Alexander's Market, but the only reference I could find was about the one in Glendale. On the right of the store is a Van de Kamp's Bakery windmill. The market and bakery are both listed at 3029 S Vermont in the 1956 CD. I like the sign, but that frontage doesn't look very inviting at street level.



La Tosca Theatre and La Tosca Cleaners were at 2930 and 2924 S Vermont respectively. Just past Alexander's Market is another Thrifty - there nearly always seems to be one about four stores to the left of Bank of America!



All from Getty Research Institute

The Safeway building, the Bank of America building and the little building in between are all still standing, but Alexander's has gone.


GSV

Going back to the first Shulman picture, I wondered what was on the medallion over the door. A close-up in GSV shows a sailing ship.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Gary Cooper http://duuplex.com/work/book-design/...in-kodachrome/

Hoss, I came across this colorful image of Gary Cooper last night. When I saw your 'medallion' this morning, I was like "Hmmmm...that looks familiar.

__

[ethereal_reality]

...and speaking of colorful.

originally posted by Beaudry


Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this with us Beaudry.




After careful study , I'd say the padded doors were Claret


https://www.flickr.com/photos/41929062@N04/3919874405

__

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

Going back to the first Shulman picture, I wondered what was on the medallion over the door. A close-up in GSV shows a sailing ship.


GSV

That ship was Bank of America's logo for many years. It was on the front of my BofA passbook when I was a kid.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Well of course! I wish Palmer Conner had shot some of the café, those slides would have been something to behold, all that aluminum and glass glinting in the sunlight.

I have seen one bit of color, which I'm attaching here. Just about a year ago someone put up for auction on eBay a roll of film, which I only discovered later as a "sold" while doing an Angels Flight search. Normally I'm not too hip to posting other people's eBay wins because Lord knows I spend tons of cash on slides that end up on NLA or Facebook "old LA" sites—but I guess that's part of the game, you run the risk of losing control of your image when it's already been "part of the internet." That said, here's a small bit of a roll of amateur '50s 8 or 16mm, mostly shots of folks indoors whooping it up, but with the attached film of the outside as an establishing shot. (Perhaps it was shot by A. F. Peters, prop., as mentioned on the matchbook I posted?) My message to whomever now owns this film: I will pay you Very Good Money for it! Heck, I'll pay you money to license it. Plus I'd just like to see it!

Aaaaanyway so a couple stitched-together shots from the eBay auction, and a close-up of the door—looks red to me! Well, sort of, that call box looks red, the doors look on the red side of brown...so, maroon? Chestnut?





The blue of the neon can always gets me. Note of course the Lovejoy, Nugent, and Alta Vista down Third.

So apparently the story from what I can muster, you've got the large house that is 257 S Olive. In 1911, the Estate of Sarah F. Morse hires architect Alfred F. Priest to build the wrap-around store (257-63 S Olive, 501-513 W 3rd) at which point the house has its address changed to 255. Let's check it out—the 1910 and 1914 Baist maps, top, and below, the 1906 and 1951 Sanborns give you an idea as to how the wrap-around store went.



Unfortunately, all the searching in the DBS records doesn't tell us when they put in all that cool glass brick! I've been searching in vain, mostly in panoramas, for an image of the stores in their pre-glassbrick version, or of the house on its own, to no avail.*

There's an interesting historical tidbit on the matchbook, though. Note that it's Angel's Flight Cafe "since 1933." In 1933, the cafe was run by one Robert Allen. Whose buddy T. Bruce Moore was in love with his wife. So Moore showed up at Allen's pad at the Alta Vista one night in 1933 and blew her brains out, then did himself. So with that kind of bad juju on the Hill, no wonder Allen got out of the business. Read about it here.

*Another shot of a bit of the La Loma & Cumberland, tho, here.

I think the color may have actually been called by the un-appetizing name of "oxblood". Right up there with the kidneys and brains of the other previous post

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by HossC

We're back on Vermont for this Bank of America. It was at 3021 S Vermont Avenue. The Julius Shulman photoset is "Job 1557: Bank of America (Los Angeles, Calif.),1953".

Now's the time for JELL-O!



I thought I remembered a previous mention of Alexander's Market, but the only reference I could find was about the one in Glendale. On the right of the store is a Van de Kamp's Bakery windmill. The market and bakery are both listed at 3029 S Vermont in the 1956 CD. I like the sign, but that frontage doesn't look very inviting at street level.



La Tosca Theatre and La Tosca Cleaners were at 2930 and 2924 S Vermont respectively. Just past Alexander's Market is another Thrifty - there nearly always seems to be one about four stores to the left of Bank of America!



All from Getty Research Institute

The Safeway building, the Bank of America building and the little building in between are all still standing, but Alexander's has gone.


GSV

Going back to the first Shulman picture, I wondered what was on the medallion over the door. A close-up in GSV shows a sailing ship.


GSV

We had Alexander's Markets in Burbank. One was at Magnolia and Third (It alas, turned into a Pic n' Save. The other was in what is called in Burbank the "Rancho" area on Alameda, south east of Main.

[ethereal_reality]

mystery location.

Child star Tommy Rettig playing with Lassie.


old file of mind / possibly eBay

I've been trying to figure out where this was taken. The grassy area appears to be lower (sunken) than the surrounding area.



Here's the rooftop sign enlarged....and I still can't read it. I tried flipping the image (since this was originally a slide)...but that didn't help either.


<--original / flipped-->

It kinda' looks like a face. lol

__

[ethereal_reality]

We've seen a lot of crashes on NLA, but I don't believe we've seen this one. (I double checked)


Tow Truck Web Site http://tow411.yuku.com/forums/92/Vin...t#.VdytBPZVhBc

"A-1 Garage pulling one out of a storefront, Normandie Ave. at Fountain in Hollywood on June 29th 1951. Located at 38th and Broadway. and operating about 20 trucks, A-1 Garage was the King of heavy duty towing in L.A. before Continental Towing opened shop in 1958. The mechanics at A-1 were union, but when the drivers wanted to unionize as well, the owner decided to quit the towing business."





and today / the building still stands

gsv

I'm outta' town for a few days. Have fun everyone!
__

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

mystery location.

Child star Tommy Rettig playing with Lassie.


old file of mind / possibly eBay

I've been trying to figure out where this was taken. The grassy area appears to be lower (sunken) than the surrounding area.

The sign in the background is from the Fairfax Theatre, and the garden was to the left of the entrance to CBS Television City. It became a parking lot some time during the 1970s.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

...here's a small bit of a roll of amateur '50s 8 or 16mm, mostly shots of folks indoors whooping it up, but with the attached film of the outside as an establishing shot.

Wait, what? You have shots of the Angels Flight Cafe interior?

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

mystery location.

Child star Tommy Rettig playing with Lassie.


old file of mind / possibly eBay

I've been trying to figure out where this was taken. The grassy area appears to be lower (sunken) than the surrounding area.


__

Here's an interesting article about Tom Rettig not long before his untimely death. When his days as a child actor were over, his life was rocky to say the least. His last years were more settled and he did well.

http://www.people.com/people/archive...100400,00.html

Once I saw Tommy on the street where I used to live. He was sitting in a shiny convertible car waiting for a street parade to begin. This was approx. 1955. As I rode by on my bike I noticed he was a good looking 13 year old.
There was only an older woman with him...she may have been his mother.


pdxretro

Hey Hoss C....you found that sign..!!!!

[Graybeard]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

mystery location.

Child star Tommy Rettig playing with Lassie.


old file of mind / possibly eBay

I've been trying to figure out where this was taken. The grassy area appears to be lower (sunken) than the surrounding area.



Here's the rooftop sign enlarged....and I still can't read it. I tried flipping the image (since this was originally a slide)...but that didn't help either.


<--original / flipped-->

It kinda' looks like a face. lol

__

More pictures of the same location. http://www.richardcmiller.com/galleries/celebrities/l-celebrities/

[HossC]

Thanks for the link, Graybeard. Here are a couple of the other images from the set. The trainer is Rudd Weatherwax.


www.richardcmiller.com


www.richardcmiller.com

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Here he is in '25 shooting golf at an unknown So Cal water hazard, possibly Huntington Beach. Wonder if he brought his board to the golf course.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051393.jpg

Fun! It's Long Beach. That's the old municipal auditorium on Pine & Seaside, built in 1905. The building at the end of the pier wa a sort of sun parlor.
c. 1925. old files.

1911-ish

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

That ship was Bank of America's logo for many years. It was on the front of my BofA passbook when I was a kid.

I took this on a Route 66 walking tour in Highland Park last March:



It's on the front of the Bank of America on Figueroa at Roselawn Place (between avenues 55 and 56). The ship is the USS Portsmouth. According to Wikipedia, the founder of Bank of Italy (which became B of A) chose it as an emblem of the company in recognition of the ship's role in securing San Francisco (where Bank of Italy was founded) during the Mexican-American war in 1846.

[tovangar2]

Thx ProphetM! I have been searching the web for a history of BofA's (or BA, as they call it now) logo to no avail. I cannot now even remember when they instituted the latest one, the stylized flag.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by Graybeard

More pictures of the same location. http://www.richardcmiller.com/galleries/celebrities/l-celebrities/

Thank you so much for that link Graybeard. Great galleries. The ones of Dean taken during the "Giant" shoot are priceless


richard c miller

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thx ProphetM! I have been searching the web for a history of BofA's (or BA, as they call it now) logo to no avail. I cannot now even remember when they instituted the latest one, the stylized flag.

---------------------------------------------------------------



Thank you so much for that link Graybeard. Great galleries. The ones of Dean taken during the "Giant" shoot are priceless

Most of the Miller photos are new to me. Its great to see even a brief glimpse of his life.


miller

Dean and Sal Mineo...on the set of Rebel Without A Cause.

CD file

[Noircitydame]

lapl


If anyone is interested and in LA, on September 10 , the California Preservation Foundation is sponsoring a tour of the 1927 United Artists
Theater Building, now the Ace Hotel, 5:30-7:00pm, led by one of the people who worked on the recent restoration.
It's free if you're a CPF member, or $10 otherwise. There's full info here, or direct link to the on-line registration here. You can also call them up @ 415-495-0349 (based in San Francisco).

[Tourmaline]

A puzzlement?

I am curious about the address 5454 Wilshire Blvd., before it was part of what we now call Miracle Mile.

Numerous sources hold that this was Marilyn Monroe's first known address - as an infant in 1926. See e.g., http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/?showtopic=11779 and http://www.cursumperficio.net/FicheAB3.html We are told that "in the early 1920s, Wilshire Boulevard west of Western Avenue was an unpaved farm road, extending through dairy farms and bean fields." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mile,_Los_Angeles The below images seem to bear this out. The earliest recorded building permit for 5454 W seems to have been obtained in 1936. (In 1939, the address was used by Nisley Shoe Co.) The 1923 CD lists a J.J. Vallicella at 5454 Wilshire, confirming that a structure existed there, but what kind of structure was it? In 1926 or earlier, was 5454 Wilshire a glorified farm house or home for oil roughnecks?

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

USC Digital Library

(1920s) - Aerial view of the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue looking north during an aviation fair. Automobiles are parked off the roads at the fringes of the open fields that skirt them. Oil fields are visible along with mountains in the background, while at center, people crowd around a collection of airplanes that are situated next to small vendor booths. In a field in the left background, a building shows a sign which reads "Mercury Aviation Company".

(1922) - Aerial view looking north of Wilshire at La Brea. Oil wells may be seen in the area and residential homes in the distance.

http://waterandpower.org/Historical_..._View_1922.jpg

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Miracle Mile, 1929 [Three years after Marilyn's birth]


[source: eBay]

Since Marilyn moved within a year, it is doubtful that any of the below images were actually of the Wilshire address. Maybe someone will see something that alters this conclusion.

A purported image taken at 5454 Wilshire around 1926. Another source is probably far more accurate dating the image to 1933. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...72f37f35dc.jpg




1926 - "A rare visit of[sic] Gladys"
http://www.thisismarilyn.com/artwork...2-original.jpg






More here: http://sugarkane.canalblog.com/album...ant/index.html





http://p4.storage.canalblog.com/45/1...5/17220505.jpg





Per source: "Norma Jeane with her mother Gladys, her aunt Ida Monroe and Ida's daughter, 1928"
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...656563c429.jpg




15 year old Norma Jean, circa 1941
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/73...5c378bde03.jpg




I suppose Marilyn fans may find this list of her residences interesting. I offer no opinion as to authenticity, accuracy or completeness.

5454 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 1926
459 E Rhode Island St Hawthorne, CA 1926-32
Los Angeles Orphans Home 815 N El Centro Ave Hollywood, CA 1935-37
6707 Odessa Ave Van Nuys, CA 1937
14743 Archwoods St Van Nuys, CA 1937
6707 Odessa Ave Van Nuys, CA 1938
11348 Nebraska Ave. Sawtelle, CA 1938-41
6707 Odessa Ave. Van Nuys, CA 1941-42
11348 Nebraska Ave. Sawtelle, CA 1942
4524 Vista Del Monte St. Sherman Oaks, CA 1942
14747 Archwood St. Van Nuys, CA 1943
11348 Nebraska Ave. Sawtelle, CA 1945-46
Studio Club 1215 N Lodi St Hollywood, CA 1946-47
131 South Avon St. Burbank, CA 1947
El Palaccio Apts. 8491-8499 Fountain Ave West Hollywood, CA 1947-48
Bel Air Hotel 701 Stone Canyon Rd Beverly Hills, CA 1948
Beverly Carlton Hotel 9400 W Olympic Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 1948
Studio Club 1215 N Lodi St Hollywood, CA 1948-49
141 South Carolwood Dr. Holmby Hills, CA 1949
718 North Palm Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 1950
1309 Harper Ave. West Hollywood, CA 1950-51
Beverly Carlton Hotel 9400 W Olympic Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 1951
3539 Kelton Way West Los Angeles, CA 1951
611 North Crescent Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 1951-52
1121 Hilldale Ave. West Hollywood, CA 1952
Beverly Carlton Hotel 9400 W Olympic Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 1952
Bel Air Hotel 701 Stone Canyon Rd Beverly Hills, CA 1952
Outpost Estates 2393 Castilian Dr Hollywood Hills, CA 1952
Beverly Hills Hotel 9641 W Sunset Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 1952-53
882 North Doheny Dr Beverly Hills, CA 1953-54
2150 Beach St San Francisco, CA 1954
508 North Palm Dr Beverly Hills, CA 1954
8336 Delongpre Ave Hollywood, CA 1954
Voltaire Apartments 1424 N Crescent Heights West Hollywood, CA 1954
The Milton Greene Home Fanton Hill Rd Weston, CT 1954-55
Waldorf Astoria Hotel 301 Park Ave New York, NY 1955
Sutton Place Apartment 2 Sutton Pl New York, NY 1955-56
Roxbury Farm Home Roxbury, CT 1956-1960
Parkside House Estate Egham, England 1956
Amagansett Retreat Amagansett, Long Island, NY 1957-58
Fifty Seventh St. Apt. 444 E 57 St New York, NY 1957-62
Beverly Hills Hotel 9641 W Sunset Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 1958-60
The Mapes Hotel 30 N Virginia St Reno, NV 1960
The Holiday Hotel 111 Mill St Reno, NV 1960
Beverly Hills Hotel 9641 W Sunset Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 1961
882 North Doheny Dr Beverly Hills, CA 1961-62
12305 Fifth Helena Dr Brentwood, CA 1962

http://marilynmonroepages.com/facts.html