noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

Neighborhood Church, Pasadena - part 2.

The Library of Congress has 13 images of the Neighborhood Church, which can be seen on the left of my first Shulman image posted above. Here are four of them to give you a flavor of what's available.









All from Library of Congress

The church stood at 535 South Pasadena Avenue. The reason it's not there now can be seen below. As it turned out, the freeway stopped just to the north. This extract is from "Outside In: The Architecture of Smith and Williams".


books.google.com

This appears to be the building from the first Shulman image. It now has the church's address of 535 South Pasadena Avenue.


GSV

I think this view from W California Boulevard shows the Children's Chapel behind the trees.


GSV

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by HossC

Neighborhood Church, Pasadena - part 2.

The Library of Congress has 13 images of the Neighborhood Church, which can be seen on the left of my first Shulman image posted above. Here are four of them to give you a flavor of what's available.



[...]

At the risk of triggering an uprising of those who have had enough of botany and trees, I can't resist noting the presence in the pic of one nearby and very fine-looking California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera), with another fine one in the distance beyond the church, at left. The palm of which a few of its fronds are in front of the steeple is either a slightly skimpy Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) or perhaps (unlikely) a Date Palm proper (Phoenix dactylifera--the kind we get commercial dates from) with delusions of grandeur. Now, um, heh . . .

[HossC]

Here's a better view of the trees that are on the site today. I believe the church was in the corner closest to the camera.


GSV

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's a better view of the trees that are on the site today. I believe the church was in the corner closest to the camera.


GSV

Yes, thanks, looks like all the date palms are the noble Canary Island Date Palms; the one in the older pic was evidently just having a "bad hair day." The California Fan Palms are all lookin' very good too in the current pic!

[ethereal_reality]

"Dairy Farm, Self Help Association, Burbank/Los Angeles, 1936"


http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/i...0-e00a18066c61

I've never heard of the 'Self Help Association'.

Was this a WPA program?

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[ethereal_reality]

The circus comes to Long Beach, 1962.


Citizens viewing the elephants outside Long Beach Arena.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Long-Beach-A...cAAOSwNRdX-vl1




Slide #2


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-Rare-SL...gAAOSwh2xX-a4B

I believe we're looking at E. Ocean Blvd. or E. Seaside Way.


note the Caldwell apartments at far right---->
(I thought we visited the Caldwell before on NLA, but I can't find a previous post)
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[ethereal_reality]

And while we're down Long Beach Way.

Here's a look at a typical modern kitchen from the early 1960s taken by Perry Griffith Photography in Long Beach.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Phot...QAAOSwbsdVKvct



stamp on the reverse





larger, because.....well just because


My family had that same make of refrigerator when I was a young'un. (I remember those handles well)

-of course I could only reach the bottom one.


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[ethereal_reality]

I believe this is the first time that we've seen an image of the Concordia Club (an exclusive Jewish club).


http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOS-ANGELES-...QAAOSwCGVX-uD-



Here's the reverse with a 1908 postmark. (no address given for the club)





The Concordia Club is mentioned in the middle paragraph of this post by HossC.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=23688


The other time it's been mentioned on NLA is here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19289

GW's post refers to the new Concordia Club location at 360 S. Westlake (later the Royal Palms Hotel)

The Royal Palms Hotel is still standing (as the Mary Lind Recovery Center)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19288



I don't know the fate of the downtown clubhouse featured in the 1908 postcard above.
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[FredH]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;7597225]And while we're down Long Beach Way.

Here's a look at a typical modern kitchen from the early 1960s taken by Perry Griffith Photography in Long Beach.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Phot...QAAOSwbsdVKvct



Kind of strange having the washer and dryer in the middle of the kitchen.


And is this the hot water heater inside this cabinet with the vented doors?

[ethereal_reality]

FredH, I didn't even notice the washer and dryer. They're only a couple feet from the kitchen table!

At least there's that 'accordion' divider (to keep the lint out of the soup )
_____________





'mystery' location


"Glass plate negative LOS ANGELES circa 1920 AMBULANCE THE WHITE COMPANY"


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glass-plate-...4AAOSwPCVYAW37

Porter-Brown Auto Body Co. Los Angeles



I'm hoping someone will recognize the large homes on the left.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glass-plate-...4AAOSwPCVYAW37




a closer look at the homes / W. Adams maybe?


detail

In the distance there appears to be a tall commercial building (maybe)

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*There are more negatives I'll post tomorrow.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And while we're down Long Beach Way.

Here's a look at a typical modern kitchen from the early 1960s taken by Perry Griffith Photography in Long Beach.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Phot...QAAOSwbsdVKvct

My family had that same make of refrigerator when I was a young'un. (I remember those handles well)

-of course I could only reach the bottom one.


__

Hi ER. This may not be an actual home but part of a showroom installation. That's my guess anyway. Why are there two ladies in the kitchen? The one on the left that strikes chic pose...kind of amusing. My mother never did that in the kitchen...she was too busy making dinner.

From his Hollywood connections my dad obtained a used fridge from the '' I Love Lucy'' TV stage set. It had been used for a month or so in filming ....so it was really new. But the handle spring broke and we had to have it fixed [twice].
One of his old girl friends made the figurines you see on the wall in the " Lucy" stage set....kind of faux oriental items. You guessed it...we also had them featured around our house. I didn't find out about his girl friends until many decades later. My parents never spoke of such things when we were young.

[unihikid]

[QUOTE=FredH;7597359]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And while we're down Long Beach Way.

Here's a look at a typical modern kitchen from the early 1960s taken by Perry Griffith Photography in Long Beach.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Phot...QAAOSwbsdVKvct



Kind of strange having the washer and dryer in the middle of the kitchen.


And is this the hot water heater inside this cabinet with the vented doors?

The house i grew up in had a fullsize basement,the house i moved to in DeSoto had a laundry room...now that im back in LA proper (Lawndale) the house i live in has a washer/ dryer hook up in the kitchen..still weird to me but sorta convenient.



the house was most likely built in the late 40's and i guess walking to the garage was too much of a chore in the eyes of the designer?

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

a closer look at the homes / W. Adams maybe?


detail

In the distance there appears to be a tall commercial building (maybe)

The White Company-- undertakers--were at 664 W Washington in the '20s--how under the 110. Seems likely that the picture was taken in that neighborhood, where, in the larger area, there are plenty of surviving houses of this Vintage, Victorian to Craftsman, in University Park & Pico-Union. Patriotic Hall is a rare tall building in the general area (built 1926)--but it looks like the biggish structure may be one of the smallish apartment houses in the area....

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The circus comes to Long Beach, 1962.


Citizens viewing the elephants outside Long Beach Arena.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Long-Beach-A...cAAOSwNRdX-vl1




Slide #2


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-Rare-SL...gAAOSwh2xX-a4B

I believe we're looking at E. Ocean Blvd. or E. Seaside Way.


note the Caldwell apartments at far right---->
(I thought we visited the Caldwell before on NLA, but I can't find a previous post)
__

As a tyke, I very likely attended the circus there that year. Two things in particular stick in my memory: (a) During breaks in the performance, vendors wandering the aisles would be hawking odd things, such as live chameleons in little cellophane packets; and (b) The sailors in attendance--of whom there were many, Long Beach being Long Beach--would go up and down the multitudinous steps in the Arena with a striking and rapid graceful fluidity--I remember thinking, "Wow--just like flowing water!"

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

The vendors wandering the aisles hawked live chameleons in little cellophane packet.

This is the first that I've heard about chameleons as souvenirs odinthor. -very intriguing!


I found this...

"Carnivals, Rodeos and Fairs in the late 1950s and early 1960s would sell these fantastic, gorgeous little creatures.
The little lizards came equipped with a tiny red string around their necks that were attached to a tiny little gold safety pin.
This enabled us to pin it to our shirts and thus, thwart their otherwise inevitable escape. As I recall, they were only about 2" to 2-1/2" in length
and maybe 1/2" wide." -from http://snootyprimadona.blogspot.com/...as-kid-in.html

My closest memory is winning goldfish by throwing ping pong balls in little goldfish bowls at traveling carnivals.

My sister and I won two.

We put them in our aquarium at home and the next day all our fish were dead.
I guess they had some kind of carny disease.

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[HossC]

Here's a simple "then and now" from Julius Shulman. The "then" image is "Job 3123: William Allen, Alhambra City Hall (Alhambra, Calif.), 1961".



Getty Research Institute

Alhambra City Hall at 111 S 1st Street, Alhambra looks pretty much the same today. I think that all that I can spot is the addition of a small fence on the wall, an information board by the entrance and some greenery.


GSV

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I believe this is the first time that we've seen an image of the Concordia Club (an exclusive Jewish club).


http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOS-ANGELES-...QAAOSwCGVX-uD-

I don't know the fate of the downtown clubhouse featured in the 1908 postcard above.

It looks like the Concordia Club moved around a bit in its early days. Here's where it was listed in the CDs around the date of the postmark.

1900-1901 542 S Main
1906/1909 1545 S Figueroa
1910 W 16th near Figueroa
1911/1912 meets every Friday night at 542 S Main
1913/1914 meets every 2d and 4th Tuesday of month in Blanchard Hall.

The 1545 S Figueroa address shows up on the 1910 and 1914 Baist maps, and appears to be the most likely location of the postcard image. The configuration of the buildings seems to have changed by 1914 (below, right). Notice that the club has acquired a new neighbor - the Manchester Apartments.


www.historicmapworks.com/www.historicmapworks.com

The building at the rear of the lot is shown as the Pacific Cigar Co by 1921.


USC Digital Library

The building doesn't show up in the 1958 Harbor Freeway bypass picture I posted in post #36245, and I can't find any building records for 1545 S Figueroa, so I don't know how long it lasted.

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent sleuthing Hoss! Thanks for your research.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The White Company-- undertakers--were at 664 W Washington in the '20s--how under the 110. Seems likely that the picture was taken in that neighborhood, where, in the larger area, there are plenty of surviving houses of this Vintage, Victorian to Craftsman, in University Park & Pico-Union. Patriotic Hall is a rare tall building in the general area (built 1926)--but it looks like the biggish structure may be one of the smallish apartment houses in the area....

Thanks for the information GW

but I could only find the White Company undertakers at 1137 S. Grand Ave. in numerous 1920s directories (see below)

1920 directory

lapl

This would have been several blocks due east of where today's Stables Center is located.
_____


In the same directory I found Wallace White's home address as 1209 3rd Avenue.

I thought, hmmmm...maybe they took the photograph in front of his house!


lapl


Here's 1209 3rd Avenue and neighbors.


gsv

I thought I had struck gold!




Alas....it was close but no cigar.


detail
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One more tidbit.

Porter-Brown Auto Body Company was located at 1410-1426 Santa Fe Avenue.

google_aerial



Here's the complete photograph one last time.


eBay
_

[KevinW]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Begging the indulgence of non-botanical readers: The appearance of the palm tree trunks in the photo suggests that they had endured a fire at some point! I'm afraid that I'm a creature of the coastal plain, so can't supply eyewitness data about the Palm Springs area; but, spurred by the question, I ran across a very interesting article (well, "interesting" to me...), which has a short passage which almost addresses the matter: "Washingtonia spp. are most abundant in large oases at the base of the mountains [...]. Washingtonia filifera and W. robusta seldom grow above 1000 m elevation [...]. In southern California, several W. filifera oases grow on perched water tables along geologic faults, including the San Andreas fault near Palm Springs. From Palm Springs southward to the southern Sierra Juarez, most oases occur in arroyos along the arid eastern escarpment" ("Distribution and Regional Ecology of Californian Palm Oases Interpreted from Google Earth Images," by Richard A. Minnich, Ernesto Franco-Vizcaino, and Mario Salazar-Ciseno, Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, v. 29 no. 1, p. 5, 2011). http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi...&context=aliso So the upshot is that there at least "several" such perched water table oases inclusive of one or ones near Palm Springs. I find that it's good to keep such information at hand for casual chit-chat when bar-hopping, and to break the ice at parties.

I was there about ten years ago and it looks exactly the same.

[ethereal_reality]

Hoss, I couldn't help but notice the rather large Mary Mitchell property at the top of your baist map section.



1914 baist, Originally posted by HossC

Do we know anything about her?

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