noirish Los Angeles

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

FW-- I can't quite tell if you're suggesting that the Cuzner house was moved, but I don't believe it was. At first I thought the 1991/2091 confusion might have to do with the considerable house renumberings and street-name changes that occurred with various later city annexations--it appears to me that the Cuzner house stands today where it was built. There is considerable confusion among the Times and the Herald about the house's address:



A Times illustration published May 14, 1905; at right, the Herald's flopped photo of Nov 26, 1905



From the Times, May 14, 1905



From the Herald, Nov 26, 1905


To add to the confusion, this appeared in the Herald on July 19, 1903:




(Speaking of Wilshire Boulevard, which we weren't, Edelman would go on to become the Hellman's go-to architect when they built along that street:

3240: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...boulevard.html

3325: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...e-see-our.html

3350: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...e-see-our.html)


For those who think pre-razor-wire Los Angeles was so lovely and civilized--it seems that hardly a big house in the best sections of town wasn't burglarized at some point or other--here's a bit of Cuzner noir (in case architectural detail gets boring to anyone) from the Herald of Dec 19, 1908:




LA Times/CDNC

The maid, Daisy Iceton, was not working for the Cuzners two years later when she appears in the 1910 Census, working as a servant for a family in Pasadena. She was 21 years old at the time of the burglary, and had come here from England. She arrived in the US in November of 1908 on the SS Philadelphia, which sailed from Southampton. The ship manifest indicates that she was bound for Los Angeles having landed in New York. She had, therefore, only been in the US for about a month when she was attacked. Nice welcome to the US!

[GaylordWilshire]

While looking into the Sterrys of 2607 Wilshire Boulevard, I came across this noirish story...



The body being carried out...


At right, Norman Sterry, father of the victim, leaving the house (per USCDL caption). Judge Clinton N. Sterry, builder of 2607 Wilshire, was the victim's grandfather.


What I had not expected to find was this über-noir shot:



The bra on the doorknob is a nice touch...and it almost looks like she still has a Chesterfield between her fingers. Poor Louise... divorced... kids shipped
off to boarding school... all alone on New Year's Eve... she couldn't have been a happy gal.






I was surprised to find the house still standing and looking sweet:

GSV


All b&w pics: USCDL

LAT

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

While I don't have a picture, I drive by the area every day and currently, where the houses were and then the vacant lot outlined on your map is a giant hole and some shoring on the freeway side. They are building something big(judging from the size of the hole) It runs down that block quite a ways, along side the freeway. There is also another large structure taking shape opposite that, across Temple, next to the freeway which covers the entire block from the freeway to Figueroa. It is, according to the sign, Luxury Condos with retail spaces. The staircases, made of steel and craned in, are 4-6 stories high and are currently going nowhere above the ground level construction. Not a wonderful Victorian in sight!! The last one was bulldozed out of that area about seven years ago.

Yeah, those are the Da Vinci Apartments, supposedly to open this summer:

http://www.thedavinciapts.com/site_plan.htm

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

FW-- I can't quite tell if you're suggesting that the Cuzner house was moved, but I don't believe it was. At first I thought the 1991/2091 confusion might have to do with the considerable house renumberings and street-name changes that occurred with various later city annexations--it appears to me that the Cuzner house stands today where it was built.

I don't think it moved either. I should have written that "the address had changed" rather than writing where the house "is at." If you zoom in on the old photo, the address on the front of the house is 1991.

And thanks for the extra info GW! Thanks also to OS for the info on poor Daisy the Maid.

[FredH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

We've seen the art deco entrance to the Hollywood Bowl numerous times on NLA, but the Gruen Watch sign is more rare.
ebay

detail


Does anyone know how long this sign was there? -are those speakers on the utility pole?
__




Here is the entrance today.




-there's still a clock on it! Is it Gruen?

ER - The L.A. Times ran this photo today. They have it dated August 23, 1964. It looks as though the "Gruen Time" part of the sign had been eliminated by then.


http://framework.latimes.com/2014/02...os-angeles/#/4

[GaylordWilshire]

"The Human Orchid"

After Judge Clinton N. Sterry died in 1903, 2607 Wilshire was sold to Dan Murphy, a big LA name in his day, and in 1905 to Isaac Milbank (one "L" is correct), recently an executive of the Borden Milk company of which his uncle was a cofounder. Isaac's second cousin Eleanor Milbank Anderson Tanner of 671 Wilshire Place was one freaky mother, at least as she was portrayed by newspapers nationwide:






It seems that the baby was eventually sprung from her bubble and managed to survive to adulthood.


Illustrations from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct 23, 1910

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

We've seen the art deco entrance to the Hollywood Bowl numerous times on NLA, but the Gruen Watch sign is more rare.
ebay

I found this picture of the Hollywood Bowl sign, complete with Gruen Time clock, dated as 1954. FredH's picture shows the clock missing by 1964, so e_r's picture (above) must be from either 1950 or 1961 as they are the only years around that time when October 21 fell on a Saturday. By the growth of the trees behind the statue, I'd lean toward 1950.


waterandpower.org

[Tetsu]

Originally Posted by HossC

I think the panorama posted yesterday by Flyingwedge shows the Forthmann house and its environs in 1902. I know the quality isn't great at the maximum zoom level, but here's a close-up of what I believe to be the right part of 18th Street. The Forthmann house should be the first two-story house on the right of the street through the middle.


Detail of picture at Huntington Digital Library

Yeah, that's it, no doubt about it! It's almost disorienting to see that neighborhood without the 10 and 110 plowing through it. Almost forgot that I actually found another photo of the house a while back too, when I checked out a certain book from the library (something about historic houses in LA, but I can't remember the exact title for the life of me):

My photo

Anyway, it's an older book from the 70's so the photo must date from then, at the latest. And if anyone knows what book I'm talking about, please refresh my memory! It also has a pic of the Rochester House I've never seen before, from the rear looking out towards Temple Street:

My photo

And, sorry for taking pictures of pictures - I don't have a scanner.

[Lwize]

(latimes.com)

Huntington buys trove of 4,600 historic L.A. images

The library has acquired photos collected over 50 years by commercial artist Ernest Marquez, a descendant of the family that held a large Mexican land grant in the Santa Monica area.

By Martha Groves

February 4, 2014, 5:54 p.m.

The Huntington Library has purchased the extensive photographic trove of Ernest Marquez, a descendant of Mexican land grantees who owned what became known as Santa Monica and Rustic canyons and parts of Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica.

Amassed over 50 years, the 4,600-image compilation includes rare photos of 1870s Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

"The group of photographs is the best and most comprehensive collection of its kind in private hands," said Jennifer A. Watts, curator of photographs at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. Although she declined to reveal the price, she added that this was the Huntington's costliest purchase of photographs since the days of Henry E. Huntington.

Marquez, 89, said in an interview that he was relieved that his "obsession" had found a good home. Marquez was profiled in a story in The Times last August.

Marquez, a largely self-taught researcher and historian, said that, in retrospect, he wondered how he ever found the time to scour antique stores, postcard shows and flea markets for early Southern California images while working full time as a commercial artist for aerospace companies.

"It became an obsession," he said. "I just had to do it."

After Mexico won its independence from Spain, his forebears were granted 6,656 acres of the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica (mouth of the Santa Monica). Marquez said he felt compelled as a young man to learn about the connection of his Reyes and Marquez ancestors to the region.

Watts said she met Marquez in 1997 and, through the years, had the impression that he would sell off the collection piecemeal.

"I thought we probably couldn't afford to buy it outright," she said.

But last spring, Marquez and rare book dealer Michael Dawson approached her to say that Marquez thought the Huntington would be the best home for his legacy. Footing part of the bill is the Huntington Library's collectors council, which provides funds for special purchases too costly for the institution's regular acquisitions budget.

Marquez's unrivaled collection "records Santa Monica's transformation from rustic hamlet to international symbol of the California good life, with prints from the 1870s to the 1950s," the Huntington said in a statement.

After a thorough check of the Huntington's existing photo collections, Watts said, she was astonished to find "little to no overlap." In fact, Marquez's photos filled gaps in the museum's stocks of work by such noted photographers as Carleton E. Watkins and William M. Godfrey.

Watts said her favorites include photos by Watkins in 1877, during what the Santa Monica Evening Outlook called a "flying visit." They include a stereograph view of the Santa Monica Hotel, which Watkins photographed on the diagonal to frame some patrons taking their leisure on the veranda.

Watts said that the collection was "in fairly good order" and that the Huntington would begin digitizing a few highlights right away. She said she hoped that the institution could attract grant money to get the entire collection cataloged.

martha.groves@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0...0,587545.story

[Tourmaline]

If you like undulating roads.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9237

[rick m]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Another poster had asked that question recently, but no answer's been forthcoming as yet.

Carted up into construction site for Dodger Stadium was what I read some time back -

[GaylordWilshire]

I wasn't aware until recently that what started out as the Arcady--built in 1927 on the site of the Higgins-Verbeck house that was moved to Windsor Square four years before--had an interim name, with a rooftop sign for ER:



LAPL/LAT

LAPL

Notice too all the TV antennas...



you-are-here.com

emporis.com

[Lorendoc]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;6436027]mystery studio 1912
ebay

It's funny how visual memory works.

I looked at e_r's picture of the mystery movie studio, and thought there was something familiar about it. I looked up from my computer screen out my office window and realized the old skyline is the same as what I see every day at work:



Apologies for the quality of the picture (cellphone camera, dark gloomy day, window could stand some cleaning), but I think you'll agree that the skyline is the same. In my picture, you can just barely see Griffith Park Observatory directly above the most easterly tower at Park La Brea. The high point is Mt. Hollywood, 6 miles as the crow flies from here.

So the studio was south of Griffith Park in/near Hollywood - not exactly a brilliant deduction. We are looking north, from a point NE of where I am (Olympic & Fairfax). That doesn't narrow it down much, but when I get some time, I'll take a closer look and see if I can do anything more with it. (If somebody doesn't beat me to it!)

[MartinTurnbull]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

This is not a lot of information about that USO, but it’s from someone who was there.

I’ve read a lot of things concerning Hollywood and the Canteens and such during WWII over the years. I remember reading about a canteen in the Beverly Hills Hotel somewhere once and wondered about that, but never looked into it any further. I recalled that it was on a blog where a woman who had found boxes of letters her father had written had posted one he’d written about when he arrived in Southern California.

(I love that the internet has provided a place for people to share these kinds of personal letters, stories and such that otherwise would have remained with the families or lost entirely. Pictures, from the WWII era, say, that may have been only seen by a dozen people for decades are now posted online and available to be seen by millions!)

Anyway, I thought I’d try to find that link again if it wasn’t going to be too time consuming and I happened to find it quickly!

Here is part of some correspondence mentioning this USO, from a letter dated Jan. 9, 1943 and written by a man who was known as “Lad”. Link follows.

"Wednesday morning it was nearly noon and I went to the Y and cleaned up and then went into LA for lunch. I wandered around a little but it is too big to get very far on foot so I went back to the car and was just driving aimlessly toward camp went four soldiers asked me if I was going to Hollywood. I had not thought of that, so I said “Sure” and off we went.

At the USO there I talked with some of the hostesses and found out what I could about the town and then decided to go out to the Beverly Hills Hotel where there was another USO. I tried to get someone to go out with me and show me some of the prettier places and views, but was unsuccessful.

I went back to Hollywood to the Hollywood canteen and stayed there the rest of the night dancing and snacking (new word here in LA and vicinity) until the place closed at 12. With a fellow I met there, I went to the Palladium and did some more dancing to Tommy Dorsey, he really is very good.

That night I drove way up above the Beverly Hills residence section and again spent the night in the car. The view was gorgeous and I spent quite some time just sitting in the sun and looking. Then back to the Beverly Hills Hotel USO to clean up and eat. I spent the early afternoon there reading and talking with various women and soldiers and then went back to Hollywood and saw “Random Harvest” which I enjoyed just as much as the book.

Then I went back to the Hollywood canteen until 12 and then to Florentine Gardens for more dancing. After a cup of coffee at about 2:30 I drove back to Arcadia. I had to report here on Friday but at that hour of the morning there was nothing doing so I slept, again in the car."

http://greatestgenerationlessons.wor...beverly-hills/

Thanks for all that - and you too GaylordWilshire - I wasn't having any luck. And I love the note that "snacking" was a new word. I'd have thought it went back earlier than WWII

[MartinTurnbull]

I hadn't come across either this photo before, nor had I heard of the theater. This is Sid Grauman's Metropolitan Theater, opened 1923 at the corner of 6th and Hill and with 3387 seats, was the largest movie theatre ever built in Los Angeles. In the 50s it got a makeover and was renamed The Paramount, which lasted until 1962.

More photos and info can be found here:
http://cruiselinehistory.com/cruisin...-metropolitan/

[GaylordWilshire]

A couple of additional shots--




(This one seen on NLA before in post 2449)




From an article on the Metropolitan at Cinema Treasures

[rlrdrken]

Seems she may have had a Quicky Wedding in Vegas.


http://interactive.ancestry.com/1100...l=ReturnRecord

[rlrdrken]

[rlrdrken]

CAn any one help with this Imagae??

http://interactive.ancestry.com/1100...l=ReturnRecord

[GaylordWilshire]

Sometimes it's just easier to do a screenshot and post that--


As seen in prior post #12022:




See also #12039 and #12043.


I don't know whatever happened to Ashley Judd, but maybe she could play Flo....


PS rlrdrken: Not sure what you meant by posting just the marriage record, but you might want to link a new post to the prior one you're referring to... I just happened to pick up on "Florence Coberly" and remembered the shoplifting policewoman...