noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I'm pretty sure we've seen posts regarding Bishop & Company before but more on the company and the family is here.



LAPL

And if I remember correctly the building is still standing....I'll have to do some googlin'.

.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Need help in finding 1188 Lombard Street.



I just ran across this curious newspaper item on eBay


eBay

Seller's description:..ILLEGAL GAMBLING HOUSE 1188 LOMBARD ST LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA POLICE PHOTO





A better look.



When I typed the address (1188 Lombard St.) into google maps it takes me to a rather flat area out in Pacific Palisades. I thought this place was located off of Mulholland Drive.
Of course I could be thinking of an entirely different place.

[HossC]

I think that might be 1188 Lombard Street, San Francisco. The building has changed a bit, but the current one shares several features with the one in the photo. The hill is the same and the fire hydrants match.

www.google.com/maps

[Martin Pal]

Thanks for that link, HossC. I think you are correct! (What made you look there?) I looked at the link to see how far away from there the famous curvy part of Lombard St. was. Far enough!

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Thanks for that link, HossC. I think you are correct! (What made you look there?) I looked at the link to see how far away from there the famous curvy part of Lombard St. was. Far enough!

I thought of it precisely because the name Lombard Street instantly brings the famous curvy street in San Francisco to mind, maybe even more so because I watched the Dirty Harry movies again recently.

For anyone not familiar with the curvy part of Lombard Street, skip to 1:40 in the chase scene from Magnum Force:

• Video Link

[ethereal_reality]

.


Thanks for the clarification/correction guys.

um. . .sooooo I guess the place I was thinking off of Mulholland was. .
_________________________________________________________






Sorry. I was sidetracked by this. . .

google-books/66 handbook


Which takes me here. . . . .




A lookout.


............................... I love the two curlicue turn-arounds.





You might remember. . . .

Castillo de Lago is the estate most recently owned by Madonna.

"The Longans (Patrick Logan-geologist-Signal Hill oil) enjoyed the solitude and beauty of their $250,000 nine-level home for a few years before Mrs. Longan’s death prompted Mr. Longan to sell it. The next resident of Castillo Del Lago was, according to Crane, the gangster Bugsy Siegel. The mob leader found its wealth of rooms perfect for illicit activities. Gambling and night life followed and so did the police, who staked out the situation from another house on the hill. If you look hard enough, you can see holes in the woodwork of the entry hall which resulted from flying bullets."

from discover-hollywood



But this wasn't the place off of Mulholland I was thinking of so I'm still confused. (it happens)

.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Just listed on eBay.

An interesting snapshot of Angels Flights taken in July 0f 1949.


eBay



eBay

I think the person who wrote the information on the back was a bit confused. The car they're ridingon is coming into the station at the top of the hill. I don't see the other car.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Do you remember the old postcard of the Sea Specimens inside the Bishop & Co. Store?

.

After taking another look at that photo, I wondered if it may have been taken at the Chamber of Commerce -- a place where
Bishop food products and examples of sea creatures might be found together.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

STRANGE FISH.(and REPTILE)

"BISHOP & COMPANY 1907 INTERIOR Orig. Photo TURTLE & FISH Los Angeles CALIFORNIA"


eBay

The LAPL says this is a photo of the interior of the Chamber of Commerce building at 130 S. Broadway, to which the C of C
moved in 1906. I think the building layout, columns, and handrail spindles shown here compare reasonably well with what
we see in the ebay photo:



00078696 @ LA Public Library


Now let's take a closer look at that big fish in the ebay photo. I think the top line on the plaque says BLACK SEA BASS. The
underlined text looks like two single letters, then more letters together -- perhaps a name. Maybe A. W. and then something
ending in two Ts?:





This article says Mrs. A. W. Barrett (wife of the President of the Tuna Club) caught a 416-pound (Giant) Black Sea Bass off
Catalina Island and that the fish will be mounted and given to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. So that could be
Mrs. Barrett's mounted fish in the ebay photo:




July 29, 1901, Los Angeles Times @ Newspapers.com


Here, supposedly, is Mrs. Barrett with that very fish:



Reddit

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

I thought of it precisely because the name Lombard Street instantly brings the famous curvy street in San Francisco to mind, maybe even more so because I watched the Dirty Harry movies again recently.

For anyone not familiar with the curvy part of Lombard Street, skip to 1:40 in the chase scene from Magnum Force:

• Video Link
_________________________________________________________________

I'd forgotten about that! I wonder if the Bullitt chase scene goes anywhere near there?

I watched the What's Up, Doc? movie recently and the chase scene in that movie also travels down this section of Lombard Street. In this clip at 0:23 secs.

• Video Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igtTkeUo05U

Wonder what the curviest street in Los Angeles is?

[Martin Pal]

So...searching "curviest street in Los Angeles" only brings up lots of information on the steepest streets in Los Angeles, with articles like:


LA Has the Most Ridiculously Steep Streets of Any US City
https://la.curbed.com/maps/la-has-th...of-any-us-city

...and...

California Has Seven of the Ten Steepest Streets in America
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-dr...ts-in-america/

From that article:

According to fixr.com, here are the ten steepest streets in America:

Waipio Rd. in Honokaa, HI — 45% gradient
Canton Ave. in Pittsburgh, PA — 37% gradient
Eldred St. in Los Angeles, CA — 33.3% gradient
28th St. in Los Angeles, CA — 33% gradient
Baxter St. in Los Angeles, CA — 32% gradient
Fargo St. in Los Angeles, CA — 32% gradient
Maria Ave. in Spring Valley, CA — 32% gradient
Dornbush St. in Pittsburgh, PA — 31.98% gradient
22nd St. in San Francisco, CA — 31.5% gradient
Filbert St. in San Francisco, CA — 31.5% gradient
___

ETA: Fixr's list with info:



The steepest street in Los Angeles is Eldred Street. It was mentioned once on NLA by E_R on Valentine's Day in 2014, HERE, and then others commented on the post a few times. As discussed there, Baxter Street doesn't go anywhere and ends in a wooden staircase at the top end.

KCET


Baxter Street on the list above got lots of attention in the past few years, noted by the article above: In recent years, navigation apps have directed more drivers to Baxter Street to avoid traffic jams along nearby Glendale Boulevard. But the apps don’t tell drivers how treacherous the road can be, especially in rainy weather.

Herman Schultheis took several photos of Baxter Street in 1937.



L.A. ALMANAC -- some interesting information:

Longest/Shortest Streets & Steepest Grades in Los Angeles County
https://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr01r.php

The longest street in Los Angeles County is Sepulveda Boulevard which runs 42.8 miles between Mission Hills in the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach (26.4 miles through the City of Los Angeles).

I found this 1935 map of the entire route, showing some sections where improvements were to be made.



MetroPrimaryResources

The shortest street in Los Angeles is Powers Place, located in downtown Los Angeles. It extends a mere 13 feet between Alvarado Terrace and Bonnie Brae.

Noted at least once on NLA HERE by E_R in 2018 (also with a GSV link).

LAEG

The LA Explorers Guild link has some history of the street. THey say it was officially named in 1911 and that: "On the books, Powers Place is only 13 feet long. I’m not quite sure how this 13 feet was measured, but it’s actually a bit longer than that. This is quite apparent when you visit the street in person."

I'm 6'5" and x2 that would be 2 inches more than my height. Maybe, this image from Wikimapia shows one side longer than the other:



Well I went off on some tangents. And still no information on L.A.'s curviest street...but that's the long and short of it.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

You might remember. . . .

Castillo de Lago is the estate most recently owned by Madonna.

"The Longans (Patrick Logan-geologist-Signal Hill oil) enjoyed the solitude and beauty of their $250,000 nine-level home for a few years before Mrs. Longan’s death prompted Mr. Longan to sell it. The next resident of Castillo Del Lago was, according to Crane, the gangster Bugsy Siegel. The mob leader found its wealth of rooms perfect for illicit activities. Gambling and night life followed and so did the police, who staked out the situation from another house on the hill. If you look hard enough, you can see holes in the woodwork of the entry hall which resulted from flying bullets."

from discover-hollywood

Castillo de Lago was used for the interior scenes of Victor Maitland's mansion seen in the shoot-out at the end of Beverly Hills Cop. The exteriors were filmed at 609 E Channel Road, Santa Monica.

[odinthor]

In re: LA's steepest streets.

We had this at our posting #58644 (remember Academy St.?), adding a couple of streets:


LA Times. 2/27/1986

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

L.A. ALMANAC -- some interesting information:

Longest/Shortest Streets & Steepest Grades in Los Angeles County
https://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr01r.php

The longest street in Los Angeles County is Sepulveda Boulevard which runs 42.8 miles between Mission Hills in the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach (26.4 miles through the City of Los Angeles).

I found this 1935 map of the entire route, showing some sections where improvements were to be made.



MetroPrimaryResources

Until 1977, the Guinness Book of Records deemed Figueroa to be the longest street in the world. At the request of writer Jay Myers, it was supplanted by Yonge Street in Toronto.[6]

Good ol' Wikipedia

I devoured Guinness as a kid. (The book, not the....) I assume the Figueroa measurement was made before the Pasadena Freeway took over the route through the tunnels.




Guinness Book of World Records, 1974, (Google Books)

Hmmm. Yonge Street has its own issues.

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

So...searching "curviest street in Los Angeles" only brings up lots of information on the steepest streets in Los Angeles, with articles like:


LA Has the Most Ridiculously Steep Streets of Any US City
https://la.curbed.com/maps/la-has-th...of-any-us-city

...and...

California Has Seven of the Ten Steepest Streets in America
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-dr...ts-in-america/

From that article:

According to fixr.com, here are the ten steepest streets in America:

Waipio Rd. in Honokaa, HI — 45% gradient
Canton Ave. in Pittsburgh, PA — 37% gradient
Eldred St. in Los Angeles, CA — 33.3% gradient
28th St. in Los Angeles, CA — 33% gradient
Baxter St. in Los Angeles, CA — 32% gradient
Fargo St. in Los Angeles, CA — 32% gradient
Maria Ave. in Spring Valley, CA — 32% gradient
Dornbush St. in Pittsburgh, PA — 31.98% gradient
22nd St. in San Francisco, CA — 31.5% gradient
Filbert St. in San Francisco, CA — 31.5% gradient
___

ETA: Fixr's list with info:



The steepest street in Los Angeles is Eldred Street. It was mentioned once on NLA by E_R on Valentine's Day in 2014, HERE, and then others commented on the post a few times. As discussed there, Baxter Street doesn't go anywhere and ends in a wooden staircase at the top end.

KCET


Baxter Street on the list above got lots of attention in the past few years, noted by the article above: In recent years, navigation apps have directed more drivers to Baxter Street to avoid traffic jams along nearby Glendale Boulevard. But the apps don’t tell drivers how treacherous the road can be, especially in rainy weather.

Herman Schultheis took several photos of Baxter Street in 1937.



L.A. ALMANAC -- some interesting information:

Longest/Shortest Streets & Steepest Grades in Los Angeles County
https://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr01r.php

The longest street in Los Angeles County is Sepulveda Boulevard which runs 42.8 miles between Mission Hills in the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach (26.4 miles through the City of Los Angeles).

I found this 1935 map of the entire route, showing some sections where improvements were to be made.



MetroPrimaryResources

The shortest street in Los Angeles is Powers Place, located in downtown Los Angeles. It extends a mere 13 feet between Alvarado Terrace and Bonnie Brae.

Noted at least once on NLA HERE by E_R in 2018 (also with a GSV link).

LAEG

The LA Explorers Guild link has some history of the street. THey say it was officially named in 1911 and that: "On the books, Powers Place is only 13 feet long. I’m not quite sure how this 13 feet was measured, but it’s actually a bit longer than that. This is quite apparent when you visit the street in person."

I'm 6'5" and x2 that would be 2 inches more than my height. Maybe, this image from Wikimapia shows one side longer than the other:



Well I went off on some tangents. And still no information on L.A.'s curviest street...but that's the long and short of it.

In my teenage years my friends and I went down Baxter St. in a Studebaker. We thought we would rollercoaster up but found that the street was crowned at the bottom. Stude hit the road, engine broke from motor mounts, 4 guys hit the roof and all walked home....

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The shortest street in Los Angeles is Powers Place, located in downtown Los Angeles. It extends a mere 13 feet between Alvarado Terrace and Bonnie Brae.

Noted at least once on NLA HERE by E_R in 2018 (also with a GSV link).

LAEG

The LA Explorers Guild link has some history of the street. THey say it was officially named in 1911 and that: "On the books, Powers Place is only 13 feet long. I’m not quite sure how this 13 feet was measured, but it’s actually a bit longer than that. This is quite apparent when you visit the street in person."

I'm 6'5" and x2 that would be 2 inches more than my height. Maybe, this image from Wikimapia shows one side longer than the other:

The only way it even comes close to being just 13 feet is if the measurement is taken on the shorter N-NE side and between the return radii on Powers Pl. I'm measuring that as 15 feet on google earth. Still, it's pretty cool and unique that it's an actual named road, when it's really almost just a median break for vehicles to turn around. Is there no other "Powers Place" in Los Angeles?

Also, I seem to remember the house at 1345 Alvarado Terrace mentioned on NLA years ago. Its mission-style look is very striking to me. I seem to remember really wanting to see inside.

[transitfan]

All these posts about hilly streets in L. A. (and San Francisco) is making me nostalgic for the over 20 years I lived in Southern California (and my 11 visits to the SF Bay Area). I am now in South Florida (Broward County) which is famously flat. The only place that has something approaching a hill is to the north in West Palm Beach

https://goo.gl/maps/8zm6nG3yinPRUeGUA

[Martin Pal]

Hi, transitfan, glad you can visit via NLA!

[Martin Pal]

While searching for something else I happened to see this photo in the results.

L.A.Curbed

The source of it came from a 2016 L. A. Curbed "House Calls" article. (House Calls, in which Curbed tours the lovely, offbeat, or otherwise awesome homes of regular Angelenos.)

It's a view of the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection I'd not seen before, I don't think, but what struck me was the left side of the photo with the wrought iron railing and the column. I don't ever remember seeing anything like that when I've looked at the Broadway building.

I guess I should've looked up and closer more often.

The Listing Group

There are indeed columns and some rounded wrought iron railings there. I just always thought those "columns" were like the ones you see at the top of the Taft building in the top photo.

The article about someone's loft apartment in the Broadway asks the tenant this question: Any interesting stories about your place? And the reply:

One thing that seems to wow a lot of guests is the car elevator that they use to park the cars underground. There is a lot of history in the building, and many stories of Old Hollywood. It's well known that Howard Hughes lived here. [...] Another interesting fact is that there is (or was) an underground tunnel between our building and the Pantages Theater across the street. This tunnel was used by performers back in the day, who also lived in the building.

A tunnel? E_R, I know you've mentioned that you like information/stories about underground tunnels in L.A., have you ever heard of this before? Anything's possible, but it seems unlikely. Yes, movies used to sometimes have some kind of stage attractions before a film, but I don't know how prevalent that was at the Pantages. Also, the fact the buildings are diagonally across from each other is another reason, though a tunnel could be a right angled one, I suppose. Curious.

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

While searching for something else I happened to see this photo in the results.

L.A.Curbed

The source of it came from a 2016 L. A. Curbed "House Calls" article. (House Calls, in which Curbed tours the lovely, offbeat, or otherwise awesome homes of regular Angelenos.)

It's a view of the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection I'd not seen before, I don't think, but what struck me was the left side of the photo with the wrought iron railing and the column. I don't ever remember seeing anything like that when I've looked at the Broadway building.

I guess I should've looked up and closer more often.

The Listing Group

There are indeed columns and some rounded wrought iron railings there. I just always thought those "columns" were like the ones you see at the top of the Taft building in the top photo.

The article about someone's loft apartment in the Broadway asks the tenant this question: Any interesting stories about your place? And the reply:

One thing that seems to wow a lot of guests is the car elevator that they use to park the cars underground. There is a lot of history in the building, and many stories of Old Hollywood. It's well known that Howard Hughes lived here. [...] Another interesting fact is that there is (or was) an underground tunnel between our building and the Pantages Theater across the street. This tunnel was used by performers back in the day, who also lived in the building.

A tunnel? E_R, I know you've mentioned that you like information/stories about underground tunnels in L.A., have you ever heard of this before? Anything's possible, but it seems unlikely. Yes, movies used to sometimes have some kind of stage attractions before a film, but I don't know how prevalent that was at the Pantages. Also, the fact the buildings are diagonally across from each other is another reason, though a tunnel could be a right angled one, I suppose. Curious.

The excavation for the Red Line would have stumbled across a tunnel.

[ethereal_reality]

.

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

One thing that seems to wow a lot of guests is the car elevator that they use to park the cars underground. There is a lot of history in the building, and many stories of Old Hollywood. It's well known that Howard Hughes lived here. [...] Another interesting fact is that there is (or was) an underground tunnel between our building and the Pantages Theater across the street. This tunnel was used by performers back in the day, who also lived in the building.

A tunnel? E_R, I know you've mentioned that you like information/stories about underground tunnels in L.A., have you ever heard of this before? Anything's possible, but it seems unlikely. Yes, movies used to sometimes have some kind of stage attractions before a film, but I don't know how prevalent that was at the Pantages. Also, the fact the buildings are diagonally across from each other is another reason, though a tunnel could be a right angled one, I suppose. Curious.

You're right, Martin, I do love tunnels... In fact I'm in one now.


The only tunnel I've heard about that is in the immediately area is/was between the Knickbocker Hotel and the El Capitan Theater on Vine Street.


Huntington-Digital-Archives

Find me that tunnel, plebes!








P.S. I'm not really in a tunnel.