Quote:
Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm
I think you're onto something here. I went back today and got this shot:
The track for the aluminum door actually goes a couple of feet below the present level of the sidewalk, so at the time of construction it was probably level with the street and intended for cars.
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For anyone interested in this neighborhood, a true treasure trove fell into my lap through a comment on my old blog post; to wit, the 1924 Our Gang comedy
Sun Down Limited, in which the Rascals build their own miniature railroad across the street from this building. P.E. was still running passenger cars to Santa Monica at this time, and in one scene I'm pretty sure you can see one of the kids riding in the operator's cab with the motorman. It's supposed to be a locomotive in the story but I'm pretty sure it's merely one of the larger P.E. cars. I don't know any of the child actors here as this is years before the Spanky and Darla era which so many of us know from after school TV back in the day. (Curiously, in the 1924 film there's even a Mickey who does look like the young Robert Blake, who wouldn't even be born for nine years yet.)
Near the end, the Rascals drive their ramshackle train right into the Norm's Fabric building, right through that door on the north side. The blacksmith shop is still there in 1924, prominently signed. I wonder what people went to blacksmiths for at that time? Maybe the local farmers still needed their horses shod.
The person who left the comment also gave me this
summary of shooting locations, also from Youtube.
I intend to cut some stills and add them here, as soon as I verify that it won't be a copyright violation. Or does the filming date of 1924 automatically mean it's public domain? Does anyone know? I think it may well be since you can easily find and watch full length movies from this period on Youtube, for free.
ETA: For anyone interested, here are a couple of URLs to specific points in the film. Judging from the film, the building had two vehicle doors at that time rather than just the one as I had thought. This was pointed out to me in another web community where I'd asked about the raising of the pavement and sidewalk along National. At
16:30 the building is seen from a vacant lot opposite on the north side of National. This shows the existing door, in 1924 clearly accessible to vehicles unlike today. At
18:06, when the kids' train runs inside the building, it does so by the other door which no longer exists, and must have been at the back end of the building. This would have been still on National, but east of where changes direction to parallel the Expo line. A particularly obvious clue is that the large BLACKSMITH SHOP sign is seen over the door where the train goes in, but absent when the existing door appears earlier in the film.
Additionally, a couple of very large houses, long since gone, are intriguing--could one of them be the lost Palm Villa hotel?