noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Krell58

The tree trunk is painted with white clay or slow lime. The tree extends above the painted area if you look closely. Trees could be painted with the clay or lime for decoration or to protect the bark from sun scald or cracks. It's usually done to fruit trees, but some paint every tree in their yard. It was very common where I grew up (they had switched to white latex paint by then) and looks very nice in the summertime contrasting with the green grass and tree leaves.

Thanks for the information Krell58. I had no idea.

(and you're right, I didn't see the upper branches of that whitewashed tree)

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[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by Eddy87

When I posted that picture of the abandoned church...for sure I though y'all would be excited to see the inside..except I got no reaction,no feedback...wow tough crowd, think I'll stick to the urbex crowd..seems like everyone in this joint is more interested in deciphering turn of the century street scenes... p.s thanks hossc and ethereal_city for the tips ✌������️

Honestly, the pic was rendered so enormous that I couldn't see it all on my computer screen, so there wasn't much to comment upon. Reloading in another window to see it all might be something that not so many people did. Or maybe there's wasn't enough detail from which to spawn a discussion. You might call it a 'tough crowd' but it may be that the thread moves fast sometimes and things go unnoticed or left until later. We don't all just hang around here all the time - responses often come pages and days later.

When I post stuff, it's enough for me to know it was successfully posted and so people here have seen it. If no one has a comment, so be it. I don't post for reactions, I post to contribute.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Ah, the Triforium. The world's coolest color organ. I recall going to see one of my all-time favorite performers, Nick Lucas, perform under and connected to the Triforium in--oh, the late Seventies or early Eighties. Very early Eighties, at the latest.

It makes me feel old to remember the LA Mall as a vital concern. My wife, a LA County Deputy DA who has worked a significant portion of her career catacorner to the Triforium, calls the LA mall the "Ugly Mall," as she advises me it is popularly known, and has seen the Triforium in action exactly once.

It makes me feel sad, as one who generally detests public art installations, to know that the one public art installation I dearly love is so unused and disrespected.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by rcarlton

Thanks to WS1911 here are some pictures of the Alhambra Hotel shortly after it decided to move around LA.

USC Digital Library

USC Digital Library

Photograph of an birdseye view of the Alhambra Hotel after it was moved, 1924. The six-story hotel can be seen in the background and rests on a series of metal girders. In the foreground, workers can be seen near where the hotel used to be. Utility wires can be seen at right. A sign on the bottom story of the hotel reads: "This 6-story re-enforced concrete building 60 x 123 feet, weighing 11,000 tons - was moved 130 feet sideways by the Kress House Moving Company of Los Angeles."

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I came across this postcard dated 1913 on ebay last night.





I had forgotten (if I had ever known) that the Alhambra Hotel had an annex.
I was wondering where it was located, then I found this old post (below).

I believe you can see the annex in this photograph posted by rcarlton
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7193

ecarlton says the hotel was moved across the street. Was it, or was it just moved laterally?
So the hotel was on the same side of the street as the annex at one point? I'm confused.


I don't see the annex anywhere in this pic. (we've seen this pic on NLA before)


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si.../id/2122/rec/2
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Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Silent Locations


It wasn't moved across the street, but rather 122 feet north. The picture above, with amendments, comes from John Bengston's great work at Silent Locations. Full post here: http://silentlocations.wordpress.com...lent-comedies/


Possibly the source of confusion--card below is from a post by Beaudry in 2012:

And then there is this 1934-photo of the Alhambra Hotel in its new location, but the rooftop advertising suggests the Alhambra "Apartments" appeared at the old location. (Can't help noticing that the street lamp to the right evokes the shape of a mission bell, ready to be rung.)


http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/files/ori...86e4f020af.jpg

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Tally's New Broadway Theater at 6th ST. & Broadway.



usc digital archive


Can you imagine what this looked like at night with the exceptional electric signs (especially in 1905).




Below: Amazingly, the Elden Hotel building (1894) to the left of Tally's New Broadway is still there.


HomeE / you-are-here.com

More Tally's! (Thanks Beaudry! )

1915 Tally's to the left, Woodley to the right.
http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/files/ori...5a04567e9d.jpg

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Different angles make for better viewing?

As before these images are culled from an unsorted, undated group of LIFE photos.











Would be remiss not to credit NoirCityDame with this find!

Bob's Air Mail Service . . . once more, with gusto?

1935 - Bob Spencer's Mobile Gas Station, Cochran and Wilshire (Seems a shame that those quaint/understated street lamps have disappeared from the street. Could that be "Bob" fiddling with the aircraft's nose?) )
http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/files/ori...f25022493c.jpg

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ProphetM

Honestly, the pic was rendered so enormous that I couldn't see it all on my computer screen, so there wasn't much to comment upon. Reloading in another window to see it all might be something that not so many people did. Or maybe there's wasn't enough detail from which to spawn a discussion. You might call it a 'tough crowd' but it may be that the thread moves fast sometimes and things go unnoticed or left until later. We don't all just hang around here all the time - responses often come pages and days later.

When I post stuff, it's enough for me to know it was successfully posted and so people here have seen it. If no one has a comment, so be it. I don't post for reactions, I post to contribute.

Well said, PM-- one of the things I've always liked about NLA is that there ARE no "like" buttons etc. And that contributors actually dig. I follow a Facebook page called SoCal Historic Architecture, probably 50% or more of the contents of which is what might be to us here "basic" LA history--pictures of city hall, say, or Crossroads of the World etc. Nothing indepth or involving research, but they get plenty of "likes." There is one rather shameless contributor who has clearly been culling NLA posts all the way back to the begining of NLA, including text, and posting it verbatim to the FB page...he gets plenty of likes, but it's all recycled--no original content. (The sort of desperate need of people for the empty "likes" on FB has been much written about, hasn't it?) Anyway...I suppose the more our finds find eyes, the better.

As for Eddy87's oversized picture of the church interior-- I couldn't make it out--thought it was the corner of some sort of art piece!--couldn't have been viewed on even the biggest desktop, it seemed, so I scrolled on....

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Eddy87

When I posted that picture of the abandoned church...for sure I though y'all would be excited to see the inside..except I got no reaction,no feedback...wow tough crowd, think I'll stick to the urbex crowd..seems like everyone in this joint is more interested in deciphering turn of the century street scenes... p.s thanks hossc and ethereal_city for the tips ✌🏽️

Personally, I thought it was a great photo and would like to see more. The discussion goes in many different directions here and some subjects interest me more than others. My opinion is that any photos of crumbling L.A. churches would add to the discussion and be appreciated.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I didn't see this photo until this evening, and I thought I would put in my two cents.

I grew up in Manhattan Beach. I lived and worked in Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo for most of my life. I know the Valley/Ardmore corridor where the railway tracks once were, and the surrounding topography, like I know the back of my own hand.

The one key feature in this photo that caught my attention is the fairly steep grade of the hillside in the upper left corner of the photo.

There simply is no hillside that steep anywhere near the corridor where the tracks once lay. The hills are all very gentle slopes.


"Circa 1927: Aerial photo of the Manhattan Beach from above Looking north from just south of First St." (The Standard Oil Refinery is in the upper right, and the rail lines leading to it are clear as day. No steep hillsides in sight.)
[source: Manhattan Beach Historical Society]

I have no doubt that the photo ER shared does not show Manhattan Beach.

I also grew up in Manhattan Beach and know the area well. I agree that most of the land surrounding "the tracks" as we used to call them is pretty flat but the hill directly east of the tracks at Longfellow/Gould is pretty steep. The Sea View Inn used to sit at the SW corner of Gould and PCH, about a 1/4 mile east of Valley/Ardmore and the view there is impressive. That area is out of frame in the 1927 aerial.
That said, I am still far from convinced either way. I'd say I'm 50/50 and I agree with unihikid that the street marker pole is one thing that keeps me thinking the photo may well be of Manhattan/Hermosa, CA.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

odinthor, it looks like the rich bankers up in Los Angeles might have pulled a reverse "Owens Valley" on the local farmers by flooding their peatland.

[...much of great interest...]

I am Team: Farmers

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Thanks for the info, e_r!

Celery, of all things, was a big crop in that area. A little further inland, out Los Alamitos way, it was Sugar Beets.

Right: Go sodbusters go! (I'm the first generation in my family since time immemorial not to have lived on a farm.)

[odinthor]

Speaking of which (Los Al and Sugar Beets):



The upper image is from http://ochistorical.blogspot.com/201...ficulties.html, where it is attributed to the Orange County Archives, and purports to show Reagan St. in Los Alamitos, and we would be looking north. I have reason to believe that it's actually Cherry St., the next parallel street east of Reagan.

What is that reason? The lower photo above, from GSV, shows the present state of the building which has always been understood to be "the old sugar beet factory" (you see, this is my home turf; my high school's just a block north), which factory is, in the upper photo, at center in the distance. Reagan St. does not line up with the building properly; Cherry St. does. Unfortunately, today's Cherry St. dead-ends at new buildings in such a way that I can't reproduce usefully what I think would be today's version of the upper shot, with no view of the big building in question (well, maybe a slight glimpse of the whitish roof). Here it (the Cherry view) is (from GSV):



Local lore is that the building also served as a factory for Dr. Ross Dog Food.

And I can add that, in doing a landscaping project at the nearby HS during the summer after my graduation, I dug up a horseshoe. Yes, my life is full of excitement!

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

...Looking at your picture more closely, it looks like there is a gap between the Aida and its neighbor on the left...

Maybe the picture was taken looking north on 3rd St? the gap lines up, but it doesn't explain the street number.

Originally Posted by Beaudry

What also bothers me is the side of the Aida shown in Beaudry's slide looks like it's covered in siding, yet the Aida on 3rd and Flower was brick:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Demolition of a brick building on Beaudry Avenue near Third Street, Los Angeles, ca.1963"


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/25458/rec/1


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[jumbo0]

I have some more before / after aerial photos, but resized a bit to fit better in this forum. Also, I have on my website some juxtapose's which is a nice script to slide over the photo to compare then with now. Since I can't post such codes here I give the link to my page where you can see them. Updates on the way!

http://weerfotos.be/la.html


1928/2017: North East Los Angeles


1928/2017: Santa Monica


1928/2017: East Los Angeles


1928/2017: Long Beach


1932/2017: Huntington Beach


1934/2017: Pasadena


1937/2017: Valhalla Memorial, North Hollywood


1928/2017: El Monte


1940/2017: Pershing Square, DTLA

Source: http://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_indexes/FrameFinder/

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

And then there is this 1934-photo of the Alhambra Hotel in its new location, but the rooftop advertising suggests the Alhambra "Apartments" appeared at the old location. (Can't help noticing that the street lamp to the right evokes the shape of a mission bell, ready to be rung.)


http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/files/ori...86e4f020af.jpg

Dandy shot looking south on Broadway but not 1934. The Alhambra hasn't been moved yet. In 1934 the Hall of Justice would be looming over the Alhambra and
those two little apartment buildings down on the corner of Temple, just beyond the Alhambra, which comprise the Aberdeen, would have been torn down.
The slope of undeveloped scrub to the left over here will be graded out of existence before the Alhambra is moved. I'm going to guess the pic dates from about 1920-22

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by jumbo0

I have some more before / after aerial photos, but resized a bit to fit better in this forum. Also, I have on my website some juxtapose's which is a nice script to slide over the photo to compare then with now. Since I can't post such codes here I give the link to my page where you can see them. Updates on the way!
[/URL]

Nice. Thanks. You wouldn't have a nice, clear, high-res aerial of the Cahuenga Pass (especially near the Barham overpass) from about 1938-1941ish, would you?

[jumbo0]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Nice. Thanks. You wouldn't have a nice, clear, high-res aerial of the Cahuenga Pass (especially near the Barham overpass) from about 1938-1941ish, would you?

Not those exact years unfortunately. What I have:

1928:
http://www.weerfotos.be/LA/ch1928.jpg

1944:
http://www.weerfotos.be/LA/ch1944.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

mystery roof top, downtown

saw this original snapshot the other day on ebay

"Young Women on a roof, Los Angeles CA 1920s"


ebay

My only quibble...

I'm fairly certain the two on the right are men.




a closer look


Does anyone recognize the two buildings in the background?

(there is writing in the window across the street but it's way too blurry to read)

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[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by jumbo0

Not those exact years unfortunately. What I have:

1928:
http://www.weerfotos.be/LA/ch1928.jpg

1944:
http://www.weerfotos.be/LA/ch1944.jpg

Yowza, Jumbo! Your '44 image gives us a really superior aerial shot of...wait for it...Monkey Island! Thanks so much. Post the image. I'd never presume to short stop you. (I would really appreciate your permission to load a copy into my Flickr photo-stream, though.)

Boy those are both really nice images.

[ethereal_reality]

this is such an amazing photograph!

"Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth after a hard day at the Bolsa Chica Gun Club, circa 1925."


bolsa chica land trust

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust describes this photo as being “a gift from Huntington Beach lifeguard, Wade Womack.
Wade, in turn, had received it from Grace Bixby more than 25 years ago."
The photo was taken at the Gun Club ‘about the year 1925.

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[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

this is such an amazing photograph!

"Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth after a hard day at the Bolsa Chica Gun Club, circa 1925."


bolsa chica land trust

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust describes this photo as being “a gift from Huntington Beach lifeguard, Wade Womack.
Wade, in turn, had received it from Grace Bixby more than 25 years ago."
The photo was taken at the Gun Club ‘about the year 1925.

_

WOW! Stunning find, e_r! My eyes are not worthy to look upon the same ground as Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (but somehow I'll manage)!

Grace Bixby is surely one of the Bixbys (lattermost owners of Rancho Los Alamitos and Rancho Los Cerritos).

And I forgot to mention, the Banning listed as one of the originating members of the gun club was one of the Bannings, of old L.A. fame.