noirish Los Angeles

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I have an idea..everyone post some personal photos!! for the new year !

Here's myself up to my neck in the sand at Manhattan Beach during the Summer of Love. This view of the Strand is a thing of the past, nearly unrecognizable now. The simple and modest houses seen here have been replaced by multi-million dollar McMansions.

[Flyingwedge]

Great photo! I think the greenish/grayish/blueish building in your pic on the NE corner of the Strand and Marine Avenue is still there,
with added balconies but minus the four little windows in front.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by HossC

Exterior view of the Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church, showing gas station, ca.1925


USC Digital Library

The church is on the corner of W 53rd Street, and the address appears to be 5300 S Vermont Avenue. Early CDs list it as the Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church, but the 1960 CD calls it the United Presbyterian Church. The listings after that just say Presbyterian Church. I didn't find much in the building permits, although the later ones name Brotherhood Crusade Inc as owners.

The picture below was uploaded in 2009, but the church still looks pretty much the same.


Laurie Avocado on Flickr

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Nice enough building in its day but in 2017 its nothing but attractive nuisance and an eyesore in the neighbor.

LAT Sept 16, 1924




Sept 2017




Well, even as a derelict eyesore, the church is just about the only interesting thing in the neighborhood. There is, however, something just across Vermont-- a 1923 apartment building built by Ernest A. Brecht, who also ran a drugstore in it.... I feel as though we've been on this corner before and have seen this building--there was perhaps a similar building across 53rd from it (couldn't find any priors though)-- but maybe it was another another intersection in the 50s on another north-south street.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I have an idea..everyone post some personal photos!! for the new year !

OK so here's me at about age eight or so, in front of some dahlias.

There was an older, childless couple who lived next door to us, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, who were sort of like extra grandparents.
Mr. Nelson grew dahlias, so I did, too, although I did not dig up the tubers and put them in boxes of sand over the winter like
he did (probably not totally necessary in Los Angeles, but he was from Minnesota). He also grew what he called ground cherries,
which I remember were small, yellow, and tasty, but I don't think I've had or even seen them since.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

OK so here's me at about age eight or so, in front of some dahlias.

There was an older, childless couple who lived next door to us, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, who were sort of like extra grandparents.
Mr. Nelson grew dahlias, so I did, too, although I did not dig up the tubers and put them in boxes of sand over the winter like
he did (probably not totally necessary in Los Angeles, but he was from Minnesota). He also grew what he called ground cherries,
which I remember were small, yellow, and tasty, but I don't think I've had or even seen them since.

What tastes like a cherry tomato injected with mango and pineapple juice, and looks like an orange pearl encased in a miniature paper lantern?

No, I’m not just trying to cram as many fruit references into one sentence as possible. It’s a real plant: Physalis pruinosa, aka the “ground cherry. Never heard of them until today....they also make good preserves.

Enjoying seeing all the noirishers in bygone days.




https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/...Cherries-1.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Here's myself up to my neck in the sand at Manhattan Beach during the Summer of Love. This view of the Strand is a thing of the past, nearly unrecognizable now.
The simple and modest houses seen here have been replaced by multi-million dollar McMansions.

I hope you don't mind. I lightened the photograph to see your face a little better.



You're cute as a dickens Handsome_Stranger. (is that your Mom walking up behind you?)

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Great photo! I think the greenish/grayish/blueish building in your pic on the NE corner of the Strand and Marine Avenue is still there,
with added balconies but minus the four little windows in front.

Looking down Marine Ave. toward Strand from Manhattan Ave. [1917]

mb historical society

I believe the side street on the right is Ocean Drive. (unless there's another street closer to the house) it's hard to tell.


to get your bearings.

google_earth

[ethereal_reality]

I remember this one odinthor!

Originally Posted by sadykadie2

This picture is so cute, my eyelashes have become singed

Hands off Sady, he's mine!

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

You're a fine looking lad FW.

I had that exact same brown & orange striped shirt when I was a kid.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your photo and dahlia story.

(I didn't know what a ground cherry was either)

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the follow-ups on the Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church HossC and GW.
The person who contacted me appreciates your help..and so do I.

I've been looking everywhere for a photograph of the sanctuary but haven't had any luck at all.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Whoever it is, the pitcher appear to be extraordinarily tall.

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The ceremonial pitcher is standing on the mound, which was five inches higher back then, so he might have been normal-sized.

I thought the 'pitcher' was halfway between home plate and the mound. (now I see it's the photographers that are halfway)
You have to admit that mound is pretty hard to see.

_

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

For you non-Angelenos, Stu Nahan was a sports reporter on local Los Angeles television for many, many years. I suspect the claim of him appearing as a nightclub act is in jest. But thanks, Martin Pal, for a very interesting read on The Losers!

I remember the Loser of the Week marquee very well. My father was an executive at Rexall in the Sixties, and we drove down La Cienega about once a week; that marquee was always one of the things I looked for. It was always a topical reference; for example, in the second week of November 1968, the Loser of The Week was almost certainly Hubert Humphrey.

So during whatever week the marquee referred to in that photo, Stu Nahan must've had an on-air flub that involved his computer. Old Silver-Tip Stu, as Jim Healy used to call him, was known in part for his occasional on-air flubs, such as when he called the Houston Astros the "Houston A**holes."

[MartinTurnbull]

Back in March 2017, BifRayRock posted a bunch of Life magazine photos, including this one.

Pool's was a new one on me, so I looked it up in the LA CD's and found a listing for 6290 Sunset, which sounded mighty familiar - it's at the corner of Sunset & Vine. According to the notes I've collected:

6290 Sunset Blvd SE corner at Vine Street
PIG STAND BBQ / CARPENTER’S / STAN’S
• 1931 the Pig Stand BBQ Sandwich restaurant goes up.
• 1937 Sept. Carpenter’s demolishes the existing building, builds a new drive-in opens here.
• 1951 Carpenter’s becomes a Stan’s Drive-in

Does anyone know if the Pig Stand became Pool's before it became Carpenter's? Or are we talking about a different corner?

Also, what would the "Special Dutch Lunch Sandwich" have been? (I live in LA but I grew up in Australia, where the delights of Dutch cuisine were not a daily indulgence.)

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

So during whatever week the marquee referred to in that photo, Stu Nahan must've had an on-air flub that involved his computer. Old Silver-Tip Stu, as Jim Healy used to call him, was known in part for his occasional on-air flubs, such as when he called the Houston Astros the "Houston A**holes."

Ah...that makes sense. Thanks for the follow-up!

[Eddy87]

Thanks for the help...I haven't had any luck with this particular church there's no info on the architect or construction firm no other photographs besides the usc b&w and a few google street view pictures from the early 2000s..I know it looks kinda rough ...but it's really sad that another part of la history will most likely be demolished pretty soon..the city posted a demolition date bill on the corner entrance last march but they haven't done anything yet....

[Martin Pal]

Handsome Stranger and Otis Criblecoblis



In the article that accompanies the photo referencing Stu Nahan, the author speculates: "I inferred it might have something to do with Stu having made a sports prediction (or predictions) with a computer, obviously novel at the time. The prediction(s) must have been wrong, and were likely regarding an LA team, as the proprietors saw fit to dub Stu their Loser of the Week.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

I remember the Loser of the Week marquee very well. My father was an executive at Rexall in the Sixties, and we drove down La Cienega about once a week; that marquee was always one of the things I looked for. It was always a topical reference; for example, in the second week of November 1968, the Loser of The Week was almost certainly Hubert Humphrey.
_______________________________________________________________

That's cool you remember seeing those marquees! Do you remember any one in particular for any reason?

Do you ever remember the place with the name Nude-A-Go-Go?

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

So during whatever week the marquee referred to in that photo, Stu Nahan must've had an on-air flub that involved his computer. Old Silver-Tip Stu, as Jim Healy used to call him, was known in part for his occasional on-air flubs, such as when he called the Houston Astros the "Houston A**holes."
_______________________________________________________________

In my disappointment last October, I may have said that myself a time or two.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I have an idea..everyone post some personal photos!! for the new year.

:crickets:

I love the idea. Heres me on Walnut Avenue in Manhattan Beach in 1969 about a mile away from where Handsome Stranger's beach photo was taken. It looks like this must have been just before I got my first Schwinn Stingray because I have definitely outgrown that Pixie.

[Martin Pal]

The one's who've posted personal photos so far are from L.A. and environs.
Is that what you had in mind, E_R?___

Nice photos so far, too!

[Martin Pal]

.

Happy New Year!



from
Sunset Blvd.


"Ring out the old, ring in the new
A midnight wish, I wish for you.
It's New Year's Eve and hopes are high,
Dance one year in, kiss one good-bye.
With this wine and with this music
How can anything be clear?
Let's wait and see, this might just be
The perfect year."


• Video Link

[Martin Pal]

Or a lovely instrumental version...

• Video Link

[Martin Pal]

P.S.: They say we're in for some dense fog tonight, so it'll be a Film Noir New Year's Eve.

Cheers!