noirish Los Angeles

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

In the 40s, the urban hygiene movement targeted many other places than Bunker Hill. One such location was the Ann Street neighborhood, located in Dogtown (so named for the racket caused by the inmates of the nearby Ann Street Animal Shelter) adjacent to new Chinatown.

Old slum was replaced by a government built slum. That's what I see....of course it didn't happen overnight.

[GaylordWilshire]

In the tradition of ER's mystery locations...








These stills are from the 1934 Our Gang film 'Hi Neighbor'.... The establishing shot is down famously steep Fargo Street in Silver Lake, with the kids then seen racing along a less steep street with big Mediterraneans and some bungalows, and unusual streetlamps--machine-age, Deco, ???, maybe just in front of a particular house-- most likely Westside somewhere, nearer the Roach studio than Silver Lake. Anyone recognize the street, (most likely long-gone) lamps, houses, neighborhood(s)?

Here's a link to the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf0jXdbRVZA



EDIT: Apparently the oddball streetlamps were found in Venice... see the s/s below of Chaplin there in 'By the Sea' (1915)...

[CityBoyDoug]

Here is a scene from "Hi Neighbor". Have we seen this steep street before on NLA? [Is it Fargo Street?]


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...4d8395_b_d.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent post Lorendoc!

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

calisphere.org

In the distance next to a water tower is a large sign reading "Cudahy." This was a meat packing company on Macy Street.

"In 1904 a major fire destroyed much of the Cudahy plant, at which time residents protested against having the business resurrected.
The company re-built, and Cudahy was still listed in the 1956 street directory."


Here's an 1893 ad for hogs, hogs and more hogs




And one of their trucks in 1933.

originally posted by HossC
usc

plant #6
detail

I had forgotten all about OLEO!





And take a gander at this curious product.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/29069717@N02/10368445886/

Published in The Family Circle magazine, November 9, 1945, Vol. 27 No. 18.
_________


HossC: Cudahy truck and street address of the Los Angeles Cudahy plant.
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=27980


Cudahy ad from here:
https://losangelesrevisited.blogspot...ghborhood.html

[Earl Boebert]

Drumroll please, Professor:

Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Tang Spam Tang Spam Tang

(Sorry, couldn't resist. In a Monty Python mood most of the time. )

Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Earl, the only Tang I remember is the orange drink

because when I was a kid the astronauts took it into space...or something.

• Video Link



This one features Aliens.

• Video Link



never heard of Cudahy's pork concoction until I saw that ad.

[Earl Boebert]

Actually, I never heard of the Cudahy product until now either. Given the date of the ad, they must have been a second vendor of canned pork in WWII. An Ogden, UT newspaper from 1966 shows a grocery store ad that lists the stuff so it must have survived at least until then, overlapping the orange drink for several years.

Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

re: Hi-Neighbor [1934]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I vaguely remember discussing a street with a prominent hill between Culver City (site of Roach Studio) and Venice. Could this be the street used in Hi-Neighbor?
(there's one catch though. I don't believe Venice's oddball street lamps were ever that far east)

update:
The street I was referring to is Overland Ave. (in the area of the old Porter Sanitarium)
__



p.s. I like when the rascals hit the people on the sidewalk.

[ethereal_reality]

I found this nice looking business card a few days ago.


ebay

Avalina Cafe
622 East Fifth Street, Los Angeles Cal.

Mrs. Lena Hubbard, Manager
__

[ethereal_reality]

I don't believe the Oaklawn Bridge has made an appearance NLA.

It linked the South Pasadena Oaklawn housing development to the main thoroughfare, Fair Oaks Avenue. The graceful reinforced concrete structure
spanned the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail line, a cycleway (some say it was the elevated cycleway), and a private roadway. The bridge
consisted of five gently arcing shallow-radius spans totaling 340 feet.


http://greeneandgreene.usc.edu/251.html

Built in 1906, it is the only bridge designed by Greene & Greene.

But the bridge developed cracks almost immediately after completion. The railroads demanded that another pillar be added to ensure structural integrity.
The Greenes insisted that the structure was sound exactly the way it was, but the railroads prevailed and a very inelegant pillar was installed." -J. Jakobson


I believe this photograph from 1974 might show the added pillar. (update: it doesn't)


http://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt7c6030cn/?brand=oac4


The Greene brothers also designed a waiting station adjacent to the bridge. (also shown in 1974)


J. Jakobson https://www.flickr.com/photos/308113...in/dateposted/


The Greene & Greene waiting station and bridge today.


gsv


and the other end of the bridge on Oaklawn Avenue.


gsv



Oh, and one last thing, it turns out the Greene & Greene brothers were correct about the bridge's structural integrity.

In 2002, when the City of South Pasadena undertook the painstaking task of repairing and restoring the historic bridge, engineers finally vindicated
what the Greenes had known all along: the unsightly pillar had been unnecessary. In fact, when engineers examined the construction, they found
that the support had been installed with a full inch of space between it and the actual bridge. In 90 years, the pillar had been an eyesore,
but never actually supported the structure at all."
-South Pasadena Patch

Thanks to J. Jakobson

__

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I don't believe the Oaklawn Bridge has made an appearance NLA.



__

Sorry but I don't see any added pillar? Where is it?

[ethereal_reality]

I went back and looked again.

I thought we were looking at the central span here.




Now I see it's one of the shorter spans (perhaps this span is over the 'private roadway' that was mentioned earlier)

so NO this isn't the added pillar. -sorry 'bout that CBD.



Here's an early illustration of the Oaklawn Bridge. [dated 1904]


http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt0k40242m/?order=1

I don't know where the extra pillar was added, but I bet there's a photo somewhere on the internet that shows it [the extra pillar]

I just haven't found it yet.

_

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I went back and looked again.

I thought we were looking at the central span here.






Here's an early illustration of the Oaklawn Bridge. [dated 1904]


http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt0k40242m/?order=1

I don't know where the extra pillar was added, but I bet there's a photo somewhere on the internet that shows it [the extra pillar]

I just haven't found it yet.

_

ER, thanks for your reply but I don't think there is an added pillar. Is it possible that the 5 arch bridge stands as it was built over 100 years ago?

[ethereal_reality]

One more post before I call it a night.

'mystery' mansion model

"Model of residence, Southern California, 1933"


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/36105/rec/57

Does anyone recognize this estate? It looks familiar but at the moment I can't place it.

clues from usc:

Photograph of the model of the exterior of a house, Southern California, 1933. "Subject: Model of residence; Agency: Burtnett; Client: Charles B. Hopper; Original Print Order: 1 each; Size: 8x10; Finish: glossy; Re-order: 2 each, 1-#1; Job: 7-31-192; Year: 1933" -- on envelope front. "Operator's Report (Name): Dean; Original Photographs-Size: 2-8x10; Amount: 4.50" -- on envelope back.



The only info I could find on Charles B Hopper is that there's a park named after him in Lawndale CA.
_

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

ER, thanks for your reply but I don't think there is an added pillar. Is it possible that the 5 arch bridge stands as it was built over 100 years ago?

from the earlier post.

"In 2002, when the City of South Pasadena undertook the painstaking task of repairing and restoring the historic bridge, engineers finally vindicated
what the Greenes had known all along: the unsightly pillar had been unnecessary. In fact, when engineers examined the construction, they found
that the support had been installed with a full inch of space between it and the actual bridge. In 90 years, the pillar had been an eyesore,
but never actually supported the structure at all."
-South Pasadena Patch

I assume the additional pillar was removed when the bridge was restored in 2002.




google_earth

I believe there are four pillars now. (one is hidden near where it says LDLA)

That number matches the 1904 illustration & B/W photo. (although the B/W photo is deceptive)

So it's 3 pillars on one side of the track and 1 pillar on the other side. = 5 spans

[JeffDiego]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

One more post before I call it a night.

'mystery' mansion model

"Model of residence, Southern California, 1933"


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/36105/rec/57

Does anyone recognize this estate? It looks familiar but at the moment I can't place it.

clues from usc:

Photograph of the model of the exterior of a house, Southern California, 1933. "Subject: Model of residence; Agency: Burtnett; Client: Charles B. Hopper; Original Print Order: 1 each; Size: 8x10; Finish: glossy; Re-order: 2 each, 1-#1; Job: 7-31-192; Year: 1933" -- on envelope front. "Operator's Report (Name): Dean; Original Photographs-Size: 2-8x10; Amount: 4.50" -- on envelope back.



The only info I could find on Charles B Hopper is that there's a park named after him in Lawndale CA.
_

Hi Ethereal:

Could it be the "Beverly Hillbillies" mansion in Bel-Air? Also known a the Kirkeby Mansion. Recent articles about the house being for sale for 350 million dollars mention that it was built in 1933. There are definite similarities.

[HossC]

Assuming that we're looking at the rear of the house, there are definite similarities with the Clampett/Kirkeby Mansion, although I can't match the geography of the surroudings. Here's a quick circa 1962/63 helicopter spin around the house which might help us decide:

• Video Link


-------------------


Re: Oaklawn Bridge

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I don't know where the extra pillar was added, but I bet there's a photo somewhere on the internet that shows it [the extra pillar]

I'm also sure that there's picture out there somewhere, but I couldn't find it either. Instead, here's the design of the strengthening support. The link below has other plan views of the bridge.


www.columbia.edu

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

...The graceful reinforced concrete structure spanned the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail line, a cycleway (some say it was the elevated cycleway), and a private roadway.

There's an article about the Cycleway at www.arroyoseco.org. It implies that the Cycleway right-of-way passed through the arch on the west side of the railroad, although I don't think it was elevated at this location. There's also a link to Google Maps with an overlay of the Cycleway route.

If anyone's interested, there are some restoration photos at www.cgipreservation.com. Although none of them show the extra pillar, the caption on one says, "The black surface on the left underside of the bridge is the result of coal smoke and exhaust from the steam engins [sic] that ran under this span for years before the line was shut down." There's an obviously white section in the center, which is where I'm assuming they removed the support.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

One more post before I call it a night.

'mystery' mansion model

"Model of residence, Southern California, 1933"



Does anyone recognize this estate? It looks familiar but at the moment I can't place it.

clues from usc:

Photograph of the model of the exterior of a house, Southern California, 1933. "Subject: Model of residence; Agency: Burtnett; Client: Charles B. Hopper; Original Print Order: 1 each; Size: 8x10; Finish: glossy; Re-order: 2 each, 1-#1; Job: 7-31-192; Year: 1933" -- on envelope front. "Operator's Report (Name): Dean; Original Photographs-Size: 2-8x10; Amount: 4.50" -- on envelope back.

The only info I could find on Charles B Hopper is that there's a park named after him in Lawndale CA.

LAT


Charles B. Hopper was a developer--the general sales agent for, and promoter of, Bel-Air in the '30s. The house in the photo does somewhat resemble to the Clampett house, at least the back of it (among prior NLA posts on it is #9689). It was probably one of many proposals for the tract. (If it is a real house and it is on a corner as it appears, then maybe an aerial search of BA will turn it up.) Anyway, Hopper himself lived at 1220 Benedict Canyon in Beverly Hills--that house doesn't appear to be the one in the pic, but there is a similar garden feature close to it--the long allee (or whatever you want to call it) with a round end.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the info on Hopper GW.
_


Hoss, I really liked the blueprint of the strengthening pillar. It seems odd the restorer's website doesn't mention it's removal.
Now I'm not so sure when it was removed (the pillar was removed, right?) -or have I been counting wrong



Stress test on the Oaklawn Bridge. [n.d.]


http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/gg...C-Oaklawn-7014

Do you think this was after the cracks were found or is this a standard test
that would have been performed anyway?



http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/gg...C-Oaklawn-7134

"Deflection 1/8", I wonder what that means?

_

[ethereal_reality]

One more thing...


I find this a little hard to believe.

Originally Posted by "ethereal_reality"

In 2002, the engineers found that the extra support had been installed with a full inch of space between it and the actual bridge.
For 90 years, the pillar never actually supported the structure at all." -South Pasadena Patch

The quote seems to imply the one inch gap was planned.

If it was planned, did the designers expect the bridge to settle onto the extra pillar?
Did the extra pillar settle instead?
Were the bridge and pillar touching when the pillar was first installed?