noirish Los Angeles

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

One can only conclude that the YELLOW light was a great invention in traffic control lights. The concept boggles the mind. Who was that genius?

[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Thanks Bif for the post. That store was surely a palace of elegant merchandising. I like the uniformed elevator men. Today, its all automated and DIY. Its very hard to find any class these days. My local Target store has a men's room but no marble fixtures.

HLSan Marino

Sadly, you are 100% correct. There is no "class" or "elegance" to be found. Both died in the 1970s when the motion picture industry shifted from portraying almost bigger than life "elegance" to films that depended upon outlandish special effects to produce box office results. When the "Star" system in Hollywood died so did motion pictures that motivated society to seek what was portrayed in the films, and with that death the country became a wasteland of "Blah."

Your local Target can only be considered "elegant" if compared to a resale shop! One doesn't really see any elegance today even if walking along the fabled Rodeo Drive and it is for certain there is today no elegance to be found in building design, home design, and automobile styling.

[GaylordWilshire]

For one of millions of examples--elegance as seen in films like Cry Danger?




It is sad that Magnin's is gone, hard to believe that all that could have been destroyed. But would someone who shopped at Magnin's have shopped at Target if Target had existed then? I doubt it. There are still plenty of incredibly lavish and beautifully designed places to shop if you have the $$, in NY and LA at least. As for the "star system"--didn't it actually die in the '50s? If Americans were once dumb enough to depend upon movies to give them a real idea of "elegance"--something very subjective, what's tacky to one man being elegant to another--they still are. There may be more special effects now, but movies then were as phony in their depiction of real life, of the rich or otherwise, as they are now, and there are still plenty of "real estate porn" movies being made. The U.S. is nothing if not aspirational and materialistic. It's a deep hunger. And honestly, I couldn't disagree with you more about their being no style in interior or automotive design. Style just isn't--and never was--in Wichita.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm

The LACC was and is located on either side of Wilshire about a mile west the intersection with Santa Monica, so it really was out in the country at one time.

I seem to remember having read there was some other country club at one time located near Pico and Western; if memory serves this club still exists but not at that location.

Images of the earlier LACC, which started out as the Los Angeles Golf Club in 1897 at Pico and Alvarado--the curving streets of Alvarado Heights are there now--moved less than a year later to Hobart and 16th, and in 1899 yet again, 2/10 of a mile west to the northeast corner of Pico and Western. Apparently the clubhouse seen here was built at the middle site and moved the short distance to Pico and Western, a site that later gave way to the "Country Club District." The fourth pic shows the search party out at the new site and current on the other side of Beverly Hills. Five-foot-five "Little Joe" Sartori, an original club founder and a big man in L.A.'s rise, is sitting at right.

All pics LAPL

[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

One can only conclude that the YELLOW light was a great invention in traffic control lights. The concept boggles the mind. Who was that genius?

According to Wikipedia it was the 1920 invention of a Detroit police officer named William Potts.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

Historic Aerials

HossC, thanks so much for these aerial photos! I appreciate it! I know now exactly where "Mom Lehr's" (aka the Farnum/Farnham house) was located!
In fact, I caught the Pick-Up Bus right in front of it last night! Thanks again!

Incidentally, the (1985) apartment complex, The Crescent, currently occupying that location, boasts an amenity I don't recall being offered anywhere else before, plus a "new" one!

http://www.thecrescentapts.com/

Exclusive Amenities in West Hollywood

Fitness center overlooking the resort-style swimming pool.
Poolside wet bar, BBQ grills, and outdoor movie theater.
Outdoor Wi-Fi cafe and fire pit lounge. We are making the
transition to a Smoke-Free community. Please see the lease
policy for details on our newest amenity...fresh air.

[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Images of the earlier LACC, which started out as the Los Angeles Golf Club in 1897 at Pico and Alvarado--the curving streets of Alvarado Heights are there now--moved less than a year later to Hobart and 16th, and in 1899 yet again, 2/10 of a mile west to the northeast corner of Pico and Western. Apparently the clubhouse seen here was built at the middle site and moved the short distance to Pico and Western, a site that later gave way to the "Country Club District." The fourth pic shows the search party out at the new site and current on the other side of Beverly Hills. Five-foot-five "Little Joe" Sartori, an original club founder and a big man in L.A.'s rise, is sitting at right.

All pics LAPL

cancelled!

[Retired_in_Texas]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

For one of millions of examples--elegance as seen in films like Cry Danger?




It is sad that Magnin's is gone, hard to believe that all that could have been destroyed. But would someone who shopped at Magnin's have shopped at Target if Target had existed then? I doubt it. There are still plenty of incredibly lavish and beautifully designed places to shop if you have the $$, in NY and LA at least. As for the "star system"--didn't it actually die in the '50s? If Americans were once dumb enough to depend upon movies to give them a real idea of "elegance"--something very subjective, what's tacky to one man being elegant to another--they still are. There may be more special effects now, but movies then were as phony in their depiction of real life, of the rich or otherwise, as they are now, and there are still plenty of "real estate porn" movies being made. The U.S. is nothing if not aspirational and materialistic. It's a deep hunger. And honestly, I couldn't disagree with you more about their being no style in interior or automotive design. Style just isn't--and never was--in Wichita.

Though I didn't specifically mention a year or decade in which the star system died, it is generally recognized to have continued into the 1960s and was officially dead in the 1970s. And most certainly many of the films of the 1920s through the 1960s depicted social circumstances that simply were fantasies, even "B" movies. Fantasies that drove people to seek greater than they had with the hope of reaching that fantasy. Since the inception of this country the aspirations of emulating the status of old European Royalty has been in the back of the minds of many. And yes I castigated designers of just about everything since the 1970s of basically having no imagination or desire to pursue elegance. There is no elegance or imagination expressed in a slab sided steel skeletal buildings skinned with mirrored glass. There is no elegance of design in automobiles when today's vehicles all look far more alike than the industry was accused of producing in the 1960s and are functionally far less useful. There is no elegance and little imagination expressed in the cookie cutter houses we see everywhere. Today's neighborhoods look Levitown gone wild because the most of them are developed by and homes built by the same four or five corporations with multiple trade names. Isn't it exciting that one can look at a new home in Orange County and then buy the same or nearly identical home in Atlanta or the suburbs of Miami from a division of the same corporation.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Unusual traffic sign "GO"



Previous mention:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=4403
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=4405

The intersecting streets appear raised to curb level, rather than the curb being beveled downward to meet the street. This may have been a comfort to curb-clipping drivers. It may also have increased steel toe shoe sales and the demand for orthopedic specialists.

Assume the rectangular grate in picture 2 is for drainage and sewer access. Looks capable of increasing tire sales for those who stopped short.


Curious that there were no mirrors above the Magnin's sinks. The "washroom" was probably staffed by an attendant who was likely unconcerned with disappearing fixtures or graffiti.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas

There is no elegance of design in automobiles when today's vehicles all look far more alike than the industry was accused of producing in the 1960s and are functionally far less useful.

I guess I'm just not ready to throw in the towel on the state of the world, of design and luxury. It's all out there, preserved in some places if not all, and in incredible new things, cars, houses, public building etc etc. Seek it out. (Like one's youth, the old stuff ain't ever coming back.) As far as today's cars go--functionally far less useful? More practical, safer, lower-maintenance, and more durable cars are less useful than a 1962 Cadillac, say? Now this is novel. But I'll stick to architecture...

Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas

Isn't it exciting that one can look at a new home in Orange County and then buy the same or nearly identical home in Atlanta or the suburbs of Miami from a division of the same corporation.

Like these century-old-examples?


New Orleans/Florida/Washington State


Atlanta/New Hampshire/Minneapolis


Dallas/Phoenix x2/Colorado Springs

[Blaster]

[QUOTE=unihikid;5955798]a few pages ago we were talking about the culver city/ivy sub station.I dont think this photo has been posted before but its a nice color shot.Im surprised that a park is at a substation.
photo by pehs

Is anybody disturbed by the miniature passenger in the blue shirt in the left front window? Compare his head size to that of the people around and behind him. A trick caused by sun reflection on the glass of the window? Or perhaps captured on film at last, an actual leprechaun.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas

Sadly, you are 100% correct. There is no "class" or "elegance" to be found. Both died in the 1970s when the motion picture industry shifted from portraying almost bigger than life "elegance" to films that depended upon outlandish special effects to produce box office results. When the "Star" system in Hollywood died so did motion pictures that motivated society to seek what was portrayed in the films, and with that death the country became a wasteland of "Blah."

Your local Target can only be considered "elegant" if compared to a resale shop! One doesn't really see any elegance today even if walking along the fabled Rodeo Drive and it is for certain there is today no elegance to be found in building design, home design, and automobile styling.

In addition to the design, the fixtures, and the staff, what made stores of this era (and into the 1950s) so elegant was the minimalist approach to merchandise display on the sales floor. In stores of the caliber of I. Magnin, Bullocks Wilshire, or Neiman-Marcus in Dallas, very little was actually on display - only a selection of the merchandise. To find something in the correct size, the customer had to ask a sales associate, whose job it was to "sell" the customer on what he or she was seeking and more. On the really elegant floors of these stores, there was no merchandise on display at all. it was modeled for the customer under the supervision of a sales associate who, ideally, knew the customer, her tastes, her size, and what her price range was. Now, everything is just slapped out on racks or, worse yet, on tables for people to paw over. I'd rather shop on the internet.

[GaylordWilshire]

These sorts of stores with minimal display and individualized service still exists, if not on department store scale, then within those stores and available for a price. (It's like today's private banking branches--not for people with $500 in their checking accounts.) There were plenty of department stores in Los Angeles 60-70-100 years ago where everything was "just slapped out on racks or, worse yet, on tables for people to paw over."

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Blaster

Is anybody disturbed by the miniature passenger in the blue shirt in the left front window? Compare his head size to that of the people around and behind him. A trick caused by sun reflection on the glass of the window? Or perhaps captured on film at last, an actual leprechaun.

Looks like a kid wearing clothes with room for him to grow.

Speaking of proportionality, here is a photo identified as somewhere in Los Angeles and labeled: "Y[ou].C[hung]. Hong and his new car." http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...12/id/34/rec/1 Looks like a Hupmobile. Plate may be a giveaway ('30).

[Tetsu]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

While I was in the area I couldn't help but notice how this one street divides into two.

google aerial


and a bit further south another street does a squiggly-like maneuver.

google aerial


but I got a bigger surprise when I zoomed out.

Further east there's some truly elaborate street planning going on.

google_earth

Does anyone know the history of this particular area and when it was initially laid out? (maybe we've talked about it, but I don't think so)
The layout is really impressive.

__

Hey e_r, I realized I do have a little info on this area. Couldn't find a single thing on it online, but according to Winter & Gebhard's "An Architectural Guidebook To Los Angeles," the area was called Montebello Park and was laid out by New York-based landscape architects Cook & Hill in 1925. According to the 70's edition of the book, only the streets were laid out at the time, explaining why the area is filled with mostly nondescript post-WWII homes. For some reason they took that bit of info out of the later editions of the book:

[GaylordWilshire]

LAPL

We've seen the Barlow Medical Library at 742 N Broadway here before (see post #1782).

What is identified as an interior shot was recently on ebay...

[Tetsu]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Just wanted to throw in a quick observation on this photo - Judging by the cars, the fact that they still seem to be doing work on the street, and the fact that there are already Art Deco facades on a few of the buildings (basically every building in this block is still intact today), I'd guess this photo was taken not long after Colorado was widened in 1929. All of the buildings in this stretch of Colorado were trimmed back by about 15-20 feet and, in some cases, had new facades put on at this time.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Speaking of proportionality, here is a photo identified as somewhere in Los Angeles and labeled: "Y[ou].C[hung]. Hong and his new car." http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...12/id/34/rec/1 Looks like a Hupmobile. Plate may be a giveaway ('30).

Stellar Restorations/LAT


Looks like Y. C. Hong was a lawyer who in 1932 lived at 1045 S Gramercy in the Country Club District (as in the former LACC). The houses in the background don't match that address, however. Neither do any of the houses in the background match what appears to be his 1927-30 address, 533 East 33rd St. He was working as an interpreter for the US Immigration Service in 1927.

Turns out he was a civic leader with a very impressive résumé, including work as a developer of the new Chinatown:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Chung_Hong

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/landin...n/p16003coll12


In a shot similar to the one of his father with Hupmobile, here's Y.C.'s son Nowland with his '49 Ford and his brother Roger:

HDL



Mabel Hong--Mrs. Y. C.--in the back yard of 1045 S Gramercy, which is the not the house in the background... 1045 is at left in the GSV. (No indication which of the three ladies is Mrs. Hong.)


HDL/GSV

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Had you bought your car a few decades earlier from Maurice J. Sopp in Huntington Park, say Sept 26, '30, you might have saved $40.00! and been able to appreciate the beautiful architecture. A ++?






http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=60631

But what about the haloed lighting? http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/31795/rec/5


5753 Pacific Blvd. January 27, 1938








http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzgyWDYwMA...NL6g~~60_3.JPG


Fred Fudge's DeSoto-Plymouth-Willys dealership seems well lit too. (5932 Pacific Blvd., Huntington Park (?)) http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/31793/rec/8 (Can a used car be new? Can a new car ever be used?)
Also, January 27, 1938




"Auto Row" (?) may not be as well lit.
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/nashpart...gelesCA300.jpg

[Tourmaline]

Rush Hour and traffic jams do not always apply to automobile traffic. - http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/5489/rec/15



1914 Trolleys on East Seventh Street, waiting to cross Main Street.