noirish Los Angeles

[Oviatt Building Fan]

Originally Posted by HossC

I've found the building, and the good news is that it's still standing at 8800 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills. A couple of the property websites agree on a build date of 1938, but there isn't much other information about it. I'm not sure what the letters on the roof say, and the sign has now gone. There may still be a glimmer of hope for e_r as loopnet.com claims "Rare building top signage negotiable".


GSV

This building was designed by Alvan Edward Norstrom, a partner in the architectural firm "Norstrom & Anderson".

More information on "Norstrom & Anderson" here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=15412

[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

-gone by 1925.


ebay
__

Bob Burdette (Robert J. Burdette) was a bit of an interesting individual having been a newspaper man, humorist, lecturer, and minister. One of the more interesting aspects of his life was the founding of the Temple Baptist Church in Los Angeles first occupying the old First Congregational Church building on Hope Street.



More on Burdette can be found at:

http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/03.07.html

Now to the photo posted from ebay. The caption associated with it is apparently incorrect. The house in the photo was constructed by one Col. Baker and his wife Clara on Sunny Crest in Pasadena. Col. Baker passed away before the house was finished and his widow Clara married widower Burdette, the couple resided in the house until his death in 1914. Clara occupied the home until she sold it in 1919 to one Thomas Nettle who had the home razed in 1926. More info on the Burdette house, including some great interior photos, can be found on "The looking back at Vintage Los Angeles" site at:

http://oldhomesoflosangeles.blogspot...-s-orange.html

[GaylordWilshire]

A few new pictures of BERKELEY SQUARE have surfaced via the LAPL. Dated April 1, 1962, they were
taken with the south side of the Square already demolished for the Santa Monica Freeway....



LAPL/BSLA
18 Berkeley Square: The 1908 McReynolds house by Robert Farquhar, not long for this world.
Full story: http://www.berkeleysquarelosangeles....lds-house.html




LAPL/BSLA
4 Berkeley Square: Hunt & Burns's 1913 design for Lee Allen Phillips would be the last Square house standing, all the way
to 1973. In 1962 the house was still owned by the heirs of Sweet Daddy Grace, who died in 1960--we've seen him here
before: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ce#post4824909. (Lee Phillips also built the house that became
Pickfair.)
Full story on #4: http://www.berkeleysquarelosangeles....ips-house.html




LAPL/BSLA
A fantastic view slightly northeast through the south Gramercy Place pedestrian gate. Seen
between the gateposts and across the path of the coming freeway is the tower of the Armenian
Gethsemene Congregational Church, which that year was purchased by the Church of Christian
Fellowship, still at 2085 South Hobart Boulevard.
Full story: http://www.berkeleysquarelosangeles....e-arrived.html

[HossC]

I don't think we've seen this intersection before - it's West 49th Place and South Figueroa Street in 1929.


USC Digital Library

The building on the corner and the house to its left both appear to be survivors, albeit with a few modifications to the storefront.


GSV

[GaylordWilshire]

Chandler Museum


I never knew of this 1902 Episcopal church at 846 Each Park Avenue--architect, Arthur B. Benton--which for some reason was replaced by the Diocese with this in the late '80s or '90s:

GSV

It looks like there was some vague attempt to echo (this being Echo Park) the Benton building, if not too successfully. Anyway, it turns out that St. Athanasius--the old church--replaced the congregation's old stomping ground familiar to us through prior posts of ER, Prophet, and FW:


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12565

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12567

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12573

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12711

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Great tour, FW...

I'd like to think that if you squint, you'd see Fox star Jane Withers on the balcony of 2166 W Live Oak... although movielanddirectory.com has her living there much later than the picture would have been taken. Anyway, Jane's star turn in Bright Eyes is worth remembering--the one in which Shirley's mother is a maid for Withers's family before she gets killed by a Pacific Electric bus in Pasadena or some swanky suburb:


davelandblog.blogspot.com


PS: Weird bit of trivia from the IMDB: "She delivered the eulogy at Rita Hayworth 's funeral."

When I was a kid, Jane Withers played "Josephine the Plumber" on a TV commercial. I don't remember what product she advertised. It may have been Ajax. Anyone else remember this commercial?

(I cheated...just looked her up on Wikipedia. She was advertising Comet cleanser, not Ajax).

[Godzilla]

1931 - Normandie and 65th Street.

G.A. Kaiser's Drugstore has a stoic look. Hopperesque? Noticed the marker denoting a block number below the street sign. Was this common? Also notice the abbreviated utility poles in front of residences.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co.../1889/rec/2072
















Before you know it, the Helms truck has passed you . . . gone!





















Larger building on the left (6520 Normandie) is currently a church, but used to be known as the Dixie theater. Not clear whether the building started out as the Dixie or another enterprise.
















http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_2601.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_2597.jpg



Anyone eat "Log Cabin" Bread?









Does the rear tire cover say "Dick Whittington?" (Next to the "abbreviated" utility pole - bottom)

[Godzilla]

A potential traffic stopper!


Truth in advertising? World's Largest Cheese Loaf! Made exclusively for this store. (A time when consumers did not discriminate between styles and types of cheese - rather than size?)

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...51160/rec/2073




1933 - 1569 West Sunset Boulevard.

[Godzilla]

1929 - Melrose and Highland (Lee Drugs, before it became Emilio's!)


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...11839/rec/2074





Magnificently barren in '29! Highland looking south from Melrose.









Currently an "EZ Lube on SE Corner. 76 on NE Corner. Many a nasty accident has occurred here.


http://d2uaszwku8m8xd.cloudfront.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Highland-Avenue-e1371654043324.png




http://www.trbimg.com/img-5213c6d9/t...20/600/600x387



6602 Melrose

http://pics3.city-data.com/businesse.../3/7884083.JPG




















Melrose looking west.










But . . . careless with men's?

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/wolfslai.htm

Wow, that's an awesome castle er!

As far as castle-inspired buildings go, I've always been partial toward the Pacific Coast Club (PCC) in Long Beach. I know we've seen it here before, but I searched and only found one post with a couple photos that have the PCC in the distance: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=438

So here's a closer view from 1926, when it was completed, looking southwest:

USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/32299/rec/31

April 2011; the Pacific Coast Club is gone but, remarkably, the 1904-built house just to the east at 852 E. Ocean Blvd. is still there, though altered in '54:

GSV

I took the next five photos in, I think it was 1988, when I was working in downtown Long Beach and heard that the PCC would be torn down:

Looking across Ocean Blvd at the north side; the cornerstone is behind the big NO TRESPASSING sign.



Vnless my thinking is favlty, any elvcidation here wovld be vndve.



This poorly framed photo shows the east and north sides, the top of the Villa Riviera next door to the west, and part of the house immediately to the east of the PCC.



This is the west side.



The west and south sides.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I spy another Richfield racing car sculpture. The car looks darker than the plinth with this one.

[GaylordWilshire]

USCDL via Godzilla's 17751 above

Great to see a semaphore caught in action....

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Overlooked "Noirish" Catalina Island?

Tales of mining, moonshiners, gambling, real estate speculators, and secluded hideaways? 26 miles from the mainland.

1939 aerial viewhttp://www.voncoelln.com/catalina/19...santa-cata.jpg

In no particular order.

1925




Undated:
all from USC Digital


USC Digital
USC Digital

http://www.lifeinthepast.com/catalina.html

google

Norma Jeane circa 1944:
http://www.thisismarilyn.com/norma-j...44-42318.photo


http://www.avalonca.com/Custimages/Pc5.jpg

Undated but probably early '50s
http://federicodecalifornia.files.wo...irplane761.jpg
__________________________________

When did the beginning . . . get going?


Avalon, circa '05. Hotels, Grand View and Metropole. Reserve very early!

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...26063/rec/2017






Circa 1919
http://waterandpower.org/Historical_...nce_ca1919.jpg

[Godzilla]

Lee Drugs One stop shopping!


Los Angeles Fireworks. Beware of imitators!








Willson's. Sane. Nonexplosive. Can no bang = fun? What happened to the First, second and third series?

[unihikid]

Saw this is my facebook feed,a great story and project.

http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/co...la.html?utm=fb

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

1929

I think this is the first photo I've seen, or perhaps noticed, that has a traffic sign for SHERMAN, which was subsequently renamed West Hollywood. Although, this article says it was named West Hollywood in 1925, so would the photo above be from 1929?

From this article "How the Town of Sherman Became WeHo":

[The town of] Sherman may have valued its independence, but it was less attached to its name. As motion picture stars moved into the adjacent Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills communities, some Sherman residents sought to soften the rough edges of its image by changing the community's name and stressing its association with its affluent neighbors. Others, however, preferred to keep the town's original name out of respect for Moses Sherman, still alive at the time.

The August 23, 1925 Los Angeles Times reported on the controversy: "Like a healthy, outdoor child, Sherman has suddenly burst all her old dresses and thinks while she is getting a wardrobe, suitable for a fully grown girl, she might as well discard plain 'Mary' and become up-to-date 'Marie.'"

"Mary" eventually lost out to "Marie." Residents mooted several alternatives, including Beverly Park, East Beverly, and Magnetic Springs, but in 1925 the town renamed itself West Hollywood, a moniker pioneered earlier in the decade by the West Hollywood Realty Board.

linked here:
http://www.kcet.org/socal_focus/history.html

Magnetic Springs?

[fhammon]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Magnetic Springs?

Bottled mineral water from Ohio:

It was found that a knife blade dipped in the water could pick up small metal objects like a magnet. The spring became known for its curative powers and was advertised as a treatment for ailments including rheumatism, gout, insomnia, and diseases of the kidneys, bladder, and nerves.
To share the health-giving water, Mr. Newhouse opened the Magnetic Bath House, which became famous for its water cures. To reach a larger market, the magnetic water was sterilized and bottled and sold under the Magnetic Springs label.

http://www.remarkableohio.org/Histor...alMarkerId=728

[GaylordWilshire]

A couple of screenshots from this brief clip from 1960: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/20..._copter_at.php

[Johnny Socko]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I realize that we've 'visited' Ms. Bow's It Cafe several times on the thread, but I believe these photographs are new to NLA.


Who is Phil Selznick?


ebay




ebay





Chilled Ozone!!


ebay




It Noir.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=5144515
__

I had somehow never heard of this place -- meaning it must've been discussed in NLA during one of those periods wherein I was shamefully away from the thread for a while. I only just found out about it a short time ago.

The reason this hits so close to home is that my mother-in-law has lived in the Hollywood Plaza for about 20 years -- the building is now apartments for seniors. I've always been fascinated by the building, yet somehow never knew that one of my all-time favorite Hollywood stars had once opened a restaurant there.

One thing that the photos posted by ER and Martin Pal do not show is where on the street level the cafe was located: The building has two large retail spaces bracketing the main entrance (only one of which has been very occasionally occupied in the years I've been visiting).

A quick Google search turned up a historic photo showing the "IT" Cafe taking up the entire south retail space:


martinturnbull.com

That space is currently occupied by a coffeehouse called Ten Forward (well done, guys). See Google Street View image below:


Google Street View

Here's a closer view:


Google Street View

Before Ten Forward it was a Korean-owned patisserie, and before that it was vacant for as long as I'm aware. What's interesting to me is that the original building details were obviously not destroyed by the deco frontage of the "IT" Cafe. In other words, I believe the present-day 2nd floor windows (seen above) to be original, and not the product of any modern-day restoration.

[GaylordWilshire]

Before the It

LAPL

This appears to be a shot close to the time of completion, before what seem to be many façade alterations.


LAPL

The LAPL photo caption reads that the Cinnabar was open from 1924 (although it seems the hotel's didn't open until October 1925) to 1937 (it seems the It opened in October 1937). Which makes the 1936 article below confusing...

LAT Dec 17, 1936

It seems what may have actually opened in the space in 1925 was Klemtner's (address: 1633 N Vine)...

LAT Oct 15, 1925



LAT Sept 20, 1925

There were a number of articles about the difficulties the builder had with the excavation and foundation--reminds me of the issues arising now with the Millenium project up the street.