noirish Los Angeles - Page 1142

3940dxer · #**22821** Posted **Jul 26, 2014, 4:37 AM**

Like me, maybe you've wondered why the top of Mt. Lee is so flat?

This article from KCET explains that Mack Sennett almost built a mansion there...

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_fo...sign-fame.html

Before / after grading:

Martin Pal · #**22822** Posted **Jul 26, 2014, 4:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I didn't want to believe it when GW posted the demolition photograph. What a huge loss, this building was so beautiful.
-by the way, your photograph is amazing DistrictDirt.
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Agree, great photo. On the left side, above the lighted entryway, it looks like you can even see two people peering out the window. You mentioned it happened in the middle of the night; do you remember the time you took the photograph?

ethereal_reality · #**22823** Posted **Jul 26, 2014, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

Like me, maybe you've wondered why the top of Mt. Lee is so flat?

This article from KCET explains that Mack Sennett almost built a mansion there...

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_fo...sign-fame.html

Before / after grading:

That's an interesting read....thanks for the link David.

I never knew about Mack Sennett's plan to build atop what is now known as Mount Lee.

The article also mentions Mack Sennett's Bathing Beauties posing on steam shovels and various other equipment.
These amusing photos were posted on NLA in the first year of the thread (unable to find them at the moment)

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By coincidence, I came across this photograph of 'Mt. Hollywood' on ebay yesterday. Is this correct...is it Mt. Hollywood (aka Mt. Lee)?
The seller dates it 1900, but to me there appears to have been some grading done already.

ebay

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Lwize · #**22824** Posted **Jul 26, 2014, 9:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I never knew about Mack Sennett's plan to build atop what is now known as Mount Lee.

That's about the size of my guest villa in Tuscany.

ethereal_reality · #**22825** Posted **Jul 26, 2014, 9:39 PM**

lol
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Here's a wonderful looking cafe that we haven't seen yet on noirish Los Angeles.

ebay

reverse (it was stuck in an album, but you can still make out some of the details)

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ethereal_reality · #**22826** Posted **Jul 26, 2014, 9:43 PM**

Actually there were two negatives. (I turned them into positives 4you)

ebay

above: I'm curious about the tall stand-alone smokestack on the left.

below: notice the workmen putting in windows on the right.

ebay

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CityBoyDoug · #**22827** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 12:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

Like me, maybe you've wondered why the top of Mt. Lee is so flat?

This article from KCET explains that Mack Sennett almost built a mansion there...

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_fo...sign-fame.html

Before / after grading:

Early PR for the glamorous Los Angeles lifestyle: Live broadcast by the pool in 1939 at the Don Lee studios. The pool was on top of Mt. Lee. That's the TV studio in the background [left]. (courtesy of Steve Dichter)

CD files

HossC · #**22828** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 12:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

ebay

above: I'm curious about the tall stand-alone smokestack on the left.

I can't tell you what it was, but I can tell where it was. Here's a better view taken from the Lankershim building in 1917. When I first saw this angle I thought the smokestack was on top of the Pacific Telephone Company Building at 716 S Olive, but that didn't fit with e_r's picture. Then I realized that there just happens to be a small structure on the roof that looks like it's the base of the smokestack across the street.

USC Digital Library

It's hard to see, but the smokestack was still there in 1972. I can't see it on the 1980 image.

Historic Aerials

The Baist maps don't show the smokestack, but they do show the Hotel Gilpin between it and Olive. The space between the smokestack and Grand is labeled "Bouton's Sub". Between 1914 and 1921, the Coulter Dry Goods Store appeared on the corner of 7th and Olive - would this have needed a slightly detached smokestack?

Speaking of the Pacific Telephone Company Building at 716 S Olive, BifRayRock posted this picture last year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

716 s. Olive Street Built in 1916

http://www.losangelestelephone.com/i...16-s-olive.jpg

I found the reference below in 'An Arch Guidebook to Los Angeles by Robert Winter'.

books.google.com

HossC · #**22829** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 1:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

By coincidence, I came across this photograph of 'Mt. Hollywood' on ebay yesterday. Is this correct...is it Mt. Hollywood (aka Mt. Lee)?
The seller dates it 1900, but to me there appears to have been some grading done already.

ebay

Just to clarify: Mount Lee and Mount Hollywood are two separate peaks (labeled 'A' and 'B' respectively on the aerial below. The interesting KCET article posted by David is about the grading of Mount Hollywoodland, which became Mount Lee. The comments below the article seem to suggest that Mount Hollywoodland was never an official designation. Nathan Masters, the author of the article, writes the following reply: "The USGS might have never recognized the name, but I did find several references to 'Mount Hollywoodland' (which is confusing, considering its proximity to Mount Hollywood)." Mary Mallory, author of a book called 'Hollywoodland', suggests "it's just two writers calling it that since it was in Hollywoodland."

Google Maps

HossC · #**22830** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 1:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I never knew about Mack Sennett's plan to build atop what is now known as Mount Lee.

The article also mentions Mack Sennett's Bathing Beauties posing on steam shovels and various other equipment.
These amusing photos were posted on NLA in the first year of the thread (unable to find them at the moment)

These ladies are described as 'starlets' rather than 'bathing beauties', but I think they must be the ones you're remembering.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: Two starlets helping to publicize the Hollywoodland Real Estate venture (notice the Hollywoodland sign)

LAPL

LAPL

Does anyone recognize these two steam-shovel nymphs?

CityBoyDoug · #**22831** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 3:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Just to clarify: Mount Lee and Mount Hollywood are two separate peaks (labeled 'A' and 'B' respectively on the aerial below. The interesting KCET article posted by David is about the grading of Mount Hollywoodland, which became Mount Lee. The comments below the article seem to suggest that Mount Hollywoodland was never an official designation. Nathan Masters, the author of the article, writes the following reply: "The USGS might have never recognized the name, but I did find several references to 'Mount Hollywoodland' (which is confusing, considering its proximity to Mount Hollywood)." Mary Mallory, author of a book called 'Hollywoodland', suggests "it's just two writers calling it that since it was in Hollywoodland."

Google Maps

Colored blue is the pool on Mt. Lee...still there in 1948. To the right is the Don Lee TV studio...now gone and replaced by a new building.

Historic Aerials

CityBoyDoug · #**22832** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 3:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Just to clarify: Mount Lee and Mount Hollywood are two separate peaks (labeled 'A' and 'B' respectively on the aerial below. The interesting KCET article posted by David is about the grading of Mount Hollywoodland, which became Mount Lee. The comments below the article seem to suggest that Mount Hollywoodland was never an official designation. Nathan Masters, the author of the article, writes the following reply: "The USGS might have never recognized the name, but I did find several references to 'Mount Hollywoodland' (which is confusing, considering its proximity to Mount Hollywood)." Mary Mallory, author of a book called 'Hollywoodland', suggests "it's just two writers calling it that since it was in Hollywoodland."

Google Maps

Hoss: Why was your ''B'' location called ''Mt. Hollywood''? The Hollywood sign has always been on Mt. Lee. As you know, the "LAND" part of the sign was removed in later years. I suppose a few writers were being ''creative''?

HossC · #**22833** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 10:44 AM**

I haven't found a definitive answer, although Harvey H Wilcox filed a deed naming "Hollywood, California" in 1887, some 36 years before the "Hollywoodland" sign was erected, so the name "Hollywood" would have already been in common usage by 1923. I guess the sign was put up in the most prominent location above the new real estate development. From what I've read, Mount Lee was an "unnamed peak" (Wikipedia) until the transmitter was built. To add to the confusion, the book 'Hollywood, 1940-2008' by Marc Wanamaker has the following misleading caption.

books.google.com

Some further reading on Mount Hollywood:

Small Mountain, Big Dreams

A History Of Griffith Observatory

GaylordWilshire · #**22834** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 12:35 PM**

LAT Sept 20, 1925

LAT Dec 27, 1925/Apr 11, 1926

Tourmaline · #**22835** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 2:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAT Sept 20, 1925

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics16/00007567.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics04/00011571.jpg

Cue the shovel nymphs. And, action!

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics04/00011573.jpg

1924
Western Construction

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics16/00007576.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics04/00011577.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics04/00011558.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics04/00011565.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics04/00011553.jpg

??? Dana Point and Hollywoodland?

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics16/00007573.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/spnb01/00007120.jpg

_______________________________

And the confusion continues. . . . . .

Quote:

Built in 1923 by Harry Chandler as billboard for his Hollywoodland real estate development, the Hollywood Sign located on the top of Mount Lee was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #111 in 1973. http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=5083978

1937 - "Panoramic view of Mount Lee and the Hollywoodland sign from the peak of Mount Hollywood."

http://jpg1.la
pl.org/00098/00098470.jpg

Quote:

In 1923 Harry Chandler's real estate development Hollywoodland was loosely bounded by Mullholand to the west, Hollyridge Drive to the east and Belden Drive to the south. The Hollywood Sign located on the top of Mount Lee was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #111 in 1973.

The Hollywoodland sign can barely be seen on the left side of Mount Lee in this view taken on a Hollywoodland hike. http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=5092980

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00098/00098990.jpg

Quote:

Aerial photograph capturing the Hollywood Hills, Mt. Lee, and the Hollywood Sign; various homes are seen throughout the image.

1992

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00102/00102565.jpg

ethereal_reality · #**22836** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 5:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

USC Digital Library

That's a terrific view of the 'mystery' smokestack HossC. Now I am even more intrigued.
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a group of snapshots/1905 and 1906.

ebay

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ethereal_reality · #**22837** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 5:31 PM**

Have you ever had the urge to wear your apron on your head? -well here's your chance.

old file of mine

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Martin Pal · #**22838** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 5:37 PM**

Mount Hollyw

H.P./Torrence

What might be the purpose of the triangle shape?

Martin Pal · #**22839** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 5:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

I can't help with the Oleander Arms, but here's an aerial from 1948 which shows the Dustin Farnum/Farnham house on the southeast corner of the intersection.

Historic Aerials

The house had already gone by 1952, but that aerial image is pretty blurry. This 1972 aerial shows the same replacement building(s).

Historic Aerials

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20398

I haven't found any photos of the Oleander Arms apartment building, in front of the pool in the aerials I would imagine, nor any articles about the building being relocated in 1983 or so...but I found this screen capture, from A Star is Born, of the Oleander Arms.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XRrU8-3Nmi...h/DSCN2540.JPG

Martin Pal · #**22840** Posted **Jul 27, 2014, 5:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I never knew about Mack Sennett's plan to build atop what is now known as Mount Lee.
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photos of the scale model of the proposed Mack Sennet home.

Below, Architect John Delario pointing at his never to be built creation.

H.P./Torrence