noirish Los Angeles

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Holy Cow, you actually found it, Lorendoc!!

It may not look much like the same place today, but if you go back in time in Google street view...



... it's a PERFECT match!



Thanks, Lorendoc, for scratching an itch I couldn't scratch for over 30 years!

I was pretty sure I remembered it from Koreatown back in those days, Madame lived there(well, she's Korean) when we first met back in the late 80's.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

or we can finally discover what the heck it is on top of this building:



Cheers!

The box-like structure may look substantial, but was short lived, probably sometime in '36. Size alone suggests it would have been permitted (). However, a search does not reveal any docs that have been digitized. "6646 Hollywood" Could have made the papers, too.


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=21283


Before or after but not during.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=40990.

[riichkay]

CSUN Library has several online photo collections in their Tom & Ethel Bradley Center (Lorendoc has posted a few pictures out of the collection)...I browsed the work of two photographers employed by The California Eagle and Los Angeles Sentinel...accordingly, their focus is on the city's African-American community in the post-war years...most of the pictures are of the mundane: weddings, funerals, various social gatherings & some cheesecake stuff...even these are evocative of the Walter Mosley/"Devil In a Blue Dress" city...I culled out a few that I found interesting...as always, apologies for any re-posts.

The photogs in question are Charles Williams and Harry Adams...I could not find any reference to Williams in a search of the thread, so I don't think we have seen most of these...the photos Lorendoc posted were by Adams....the collections are here: http://digital-library.csun.edu/bradley-center/


Charles Williams photos:




S. Central Ave. & 42nd St...1940.


Two photos taken on VJ Day:











Dancers at the Million Dollar Club, 1948.




Clarence Moore's bar, 1948.




Lorenza Jordan Cole greets audience members following a recital at the Embassy Auditorium, 1948....Ms. Cole was a Juilliard-trained, Los Angeles-based concert pianist.




Jack's Basket Room, 3219 S. Central Ave., 1949...note the camera shy table at photo center.








Unidentified couple behind the bar at Jack's Basket Room.




Faint traces of Jacks's signage are visible on the building...the entire phrase reads "Chicken...ain't nothin' but a bird"...more on Jack's here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack%27s_Basket_Room




Unidentified clothing store, 1949...two-tone shoes were in fashion that year...

...as were, apparently, two-tone convertibles:



Jefferson Blvd. and Central Ave., 1949....I find this an interesting picture, as photographer Williams is somewhat elevated (I believe he may have been up in the framing of a small commercial building under construction)...I can count 3 or 4 houses of worship...another view:




This is from E. 35th St....the white church building on the left survives:







The flamboyant Bishop Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace leads his flock in what appears to be some sort of conga line, 1950...in the late '30's, Grace preached in Augusta GA., and his congregation included the family of 5 year old James Brown...Brown's biographers claim he borrowed much of his stage act (including the famous "Cape Routine") from the good Bishop...Daddy Grace died in Los Angeles in 1960, age 79.




Murder suspect at University Station, 1957...the officer in the foreground is holding a gentleman's hat, coat and shoes...these likely belonged to the deceased.




Zotar Building, Adams Blvd. and Cloverdale, 1955....E_R posted this photo at #42929.

I had a tangential connection to this building, as in the mid-'90's I knew the two young hipsters who had just bought the property, and were trying to make a go of the Fais Do Do club...they were living in the former theater space, in a loft/office area over the auditorium...the building was used (exterior only) as the location of Mia's one-woman show in "La La Land":







1960.




Watkins Apartments, 2022 W. Adams Blvd., 1960...operated as a hotel for the African-American community after 1945...it's still with us:





Harry Adams photos:



Unidentified woman in unidentified bar, 1955



5600 Fernview Ave., Hollywood...1964.




Bill Robinson Theater, 4319 S. Central Ave....1966.




Onion Field killers, 1963.




Undated photo...I would guess about 1964.




1965....no address provided....




1966...again, no address.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

You're welcome Scott Charles and that's exactly why I did it! Sometimes fresh eyes pick up something from earlier posts that may have been missed or just overlooked!

Just now when I read Lorendoc's "Maybe it was solved already?" above I thought perhaps I hadn't searched long enough and overlooked that it had been found earlier. And I came across your post which you had just updated, but I didn't know that and thought I may have been wrong, but then I noticed the update date!

I feel a sense of relief, too, and it's only been approximately 4 months for me!

....or we can finally discover what the heck it is on top of this building:



Cheers!

Thanks again for your assist, Martin - I'm really glad to have that mystery solved!

As to that structure on top of your building... of course, the obvious answer is that it looks like a computer monitor... but I don't think there were many of those in 1936! Heck, there weren't any consumer televisions, either!

Nobody knows what the structure is? I remember seeing it earlier in the thread, but did not know that the mystery remained unsolved.

[ethereal_reality]

"J-Line southbound on Seville Avenue somewhere in Walnut Park"

Originally Posted by Cyndihdz

Good afternoon. I may be soooo wrong here, but driving around Walnut Park i came across this building, https://www.flickr.com/photos/vidaya...posted-public/
Which looks a little like this picture posted here. I looked at the edges and the slope of the roof and am thinking "maybe"? So few old buildings remain on this part of Long Beach Blvd. Although it says Seville Ave it could be that in those days it was configured differently?
Anyway, enough of me chatting away, like the old lady that i am..goodnight.

Here's Cyndi's photograph a bit larger.


flickr

You're quite correct that there are similarities Cyndihdz.
The first thing I noticed was the building with the peaked roof(s), to the left of the bldg in question, is missing in the top photograph.
I'd guess both buildings are around the same age. (I could be waaay wrong)


Also, it appears your building on Long Beach Blvd. is much wider than the Seville Ave. building [top photo]


GSV

________




While snooping around in the area I couldn't help but notice the large building a few doors down. (red arrow below)


google_earth


The shape of the building makes me think it might have been built as a fraternal hall.


GSV

I like the unique dormers with round windows....all five of them!




Here's the back....showing the multiple exit strategies.


GSV

What do you all think...old fraternal hall?

__

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Scratching an itch I couldn't scratch for over 30 years!

EWWW

giphy

[Scott Charles]

I was just speaking to my uncle Gary, the 20-years-younger brother of my late father. As what he told me pertains to an old, LA business, I figured I'd mention it here...

Apparently, my late uncle Jack...



... owned and personally bartended a bar in the mid or late 1950s. It was called The Can-Can, and my uncle Gary thinks it was on Vanowen.

The story, as I understand it, is as follows: the Can-Can was doing poorly, and was in danger of closing. Jack swooped in and bought it for a really good price, started serving food (or perhaps, much better food..? Whatever the case, uncle Gary says the food was really good), and turned the place around. The bar became successful, and home to many regulars. My uncle thinks that Jack owned the Can-Can for around eight or ten years.

At some point, a man offered to buy the bar from Jack, making him a very generous offer. Jack, growing a bit tired of the long hours, sold the Can-Can, and after the new owner took over, it went out of business not long thereafter.

Anyone here ever heard of the place?

[Lorendoc]

Wow thank you riichkay for that wonderful post! A lot to study for sure.

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by riichkay

1965....no address provided....




1966...again, no address.

These are all so great! I can't believe I haven't pored through this collection. I love Buckets o' Chittlins! This was at 4400 W Adams, the SW corner of Crenshaw. It's a service station now, since 1988. Used to be a VDK bakery:

(not this one specifically, but I think I can find the Adams/Crenshaw VDK if I really look) dwp

Here's the 1924 4139 S Fig:



...which is now seriously lacking some Mel Williams.

[HenryHuntington]

riichkay, thanks for that great string of photos! Looks like CSUN slipped a digit captioning the first photo, though. Trolley coach service didn't begin on Central Ave. until August 3, 1947, so I'd guess we're looking at a 1950 scene, FWIW.

[Beaudry]

Wellllll as long as we're on the subject—



Here's some shots from the scrapbook of the production designer. I shot these when Bob Ziembicki (Production Design) and Kevin Hughes (Property Master) were taking us to places like Wanda's apartment during an Esotouric tour in the summer of '17. They were thrilled that people were seeing these images so I imagine it's ok to share them here with other interested and appreciative folk.

I think it adds an interesting extra dimension to see bars that could have, but didn't, make it into the opening sequence.

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

The box-like structure may look substantial, but was short lived, probably sometime in '36. Size alone suggests it would have been permitted ().

I tried to construct a time line for this corner.

The first structures date from 1912 and consist of mixed two story stores and residences. Here is the 1919 Sanborn:


LAPL

As you can see the ne corner building is two stories high and that corresponds to the photos. In 1936 we get another permit, this time to put a big steel sign on the roof. Whether this sign is actually our box is not known. It's pretty expensive for just a sign, though: $2K.


LADBS

Then in 1937 we see 2 articles in the LAT about the property changing hands:


LAT via newspapers.com

..and a few months later we have:

LAT via newspapers.com

The 1912 property was indeed demolished as can be seen from this permit:


LADSB

The new property, designed by Charles S. Lee, often mentioned in this thread, was completed 1938 per the county assessor, presumably without the giant box on the new building's roof. Perhaps inspection of the non-digitized permits might find the box's purpose. I will continue to look in the LAT to see if i can find anything.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Wellllll as long as we're on the subject—



Here's some shots from the scrapbook of the production designer. I shot these when Bob Ziembicki (Production Design) and Kevin Hughes (Property Master) were taking us to places like Wanda's apartment during an Esotouric tour in the summer of '17. They were thrilled that people were seeing these images so I imagine it's ok to share them here with other interested and appreciative folk.

I think it adds an interesting extra dimension to see bars that could have, but didn't, make it into the opening sequence.

Wow, thanks for sharing those, Beaudry!

These are the ones that don't appear in Barfly (I've darkened the pics a bit to reduce the glare):



1. RECESS ROOM. Wow, I have no recollection of this place at all. Sure looks like a genuine old-fashioned dive, though! I wonder where it was?

2. BOB'IN INN TAVERN. Another place I have NO recollection of! I searched the City Directory for both this one and the RECESS ROOM, but came up with nothing. Then again, I'm not so great with the City Directories...

3. LOU'S? LEO'S? I don't remember this place at all. I wish the signs were legible!

4. WHITE HORSE INN. WOW, I remember this place! I never went inside, though. Apparently it's still standing (the 1987 CD lists the same address), but the building has been “renovated” to such a degree that it's no longer recognizable...

Google

Honestly, does anyone think that the NEW White Horse looks better than the OLD one? Is cheap, new CRAP automatically assumed to be better than than old, worn, but beautiful design? Look at some of the buildings downtown where they have ripped off every bit of corbel and ledge, then smothered the whole thing in stucco. Like the photo above, they look terrible!

Why can't we be like Europe, where the old, dilapidated buildings are appreciated for their beauty? Americans like only two things to look old, electric guitars and blue jeans. Everything else, throw it in the trash!



If the Acropolis were in LA, it would have been turned into a parking lot decades ago.

(sorry for the rant, folks!)

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by riichkay

CSUN Library has several online photo collections in their Tom & Ethel Bradley Center (Lorendoc has posted a few pictures out of the collection)...I browsed the work of two photographers employed by The California Eagle and Los Angeles Sentinel...accordingly, their focus is on the city's African-American community in the post-war years...most of the pictures are of the mundane: weddings, funerals, various social gatherings & some cheesecake stuff...even these are evocative of the Walter Mosley/"Devil In a Blue Dress" city...I culled out a few that I found interesting...as always, apologies for any re-posts.




The flamboyant Bishop Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace leads his flock in what appears to be some sort of conga line, 1950...in the late '30's, Grace preached in Augusta GA., and his congregation included the family of 5 year old James Brown...Brown's biographers claim he borrowed much of his stage act (including the famous "Cape Routine") from the good Bishop...Daddy Grace died in Los Angeles in 1960, age 79.

Phew-- 28 images is a lot for one post.... Anyway, re Sweet Daddy Grace and his attractive five-inch red, white, and blue fingernails--more of his story and his flamboyant times in LA are in the story of his house at 4 Berkeley Square.



www.berkeleysquarelosangeles.com

[HossC]

Originally Posted by riichkay

Zotar Building, Adams Blvd. and Cloverdale, 1955....E_R posted this photo at #42929.

I had a tangential connection to this building, as in the mid-'90's I knew the two young hipsters who had just bought the property, and were trying to make a go of the Fais Do Do club...they were living in the former theater space, in a loft/office area over the auditorium.

I thought this building looked familiar. I posted the following excerpt as part of my round-up of Citizens Trust and Savings Bank branches back in 2014:

Originally Posted by HossC

It's difficult to see much detail in the West Adams & Cloverdale picture, but the box on the roof made me think that the current building was the old bank. I found an undated Time Out review which named the current business as Café Club Fais Do-Do, and contained a link to their website. The "About" page of the website includes the following quote:

"Originally a branch office of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, the architecturally historic landmark that now houses Fais Do Do was constructed in 1930 at the height of the Art Deco period in Los Angeles. As Los Angeles spread west, eastern industrialists, silent filmmakers, and other early hipsters took over the tiny Mid-City area which soon became known as the Sugar Hill District.

Later in the 60's, the bank was converted into a neighborhood bar and underground club frequented by such legendary musicians as Sam Cooke, Billy Preston, and John Coltrane."

So now we know!


GSV

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

These are the ones that don't appear in Barfly (I've darkened the pics a bit to reduce the glare):



1. RECESS ROOM. Wow, I have no recollection of this place at all. Sure looks like a genuine old-fashioned dive, though! I wonder where it was?

2. BOB'IN INN TAVERN. Another place I have NO recollection of! I searched the City Directory for both this one and the RECESS ROOM, but came up with nothing. Then again, I'm not so great with the City Directories...

3. LOU'S? LEO'S? I don't remember this place at all. I wish the signs were legible!

4. WHITE HORSE INN. WOW, I remember this place! I never went inside, though. Apparently it's still standing (the 1987 CD lists the same address), but the building has been “renovated” to such a degree that it's no longer recognizable...

Unable to make out much detail on No. 3 , but I can discern what appears to be a structure at 6122 Wilshire Blvd., which, coincidentally, was the location of Bill Lane's. I am confident this has been mentioned on NLA before.

Circa '78


http://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem...otos/id/121856





http://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem...otos/id/121855

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

I tried to construct a time line for this corner.

As you can see the ne corner building is two stories high and that corresponds to the photos. In 1936 we get another permit, this time to put a big steel sign on the roof. Whether this sign is actually our box is not known. It's pretty expensive for just a sign, though: $2K.

Then in 1937 we see 2 articles in the LAT about the property changing hands.
The 1912 property was indeed demolished as can be seen from this permit:


LADSB

The new property, designed by Charles S. Lee, often mentioned in this thread, was completed 1938 per the county assessor, presumably without the giant box on the new building's roof. Perhaps inspection of the non-digitized permits might find the box's purpose. I will continue to look in the LAT to see if i can find anything.

Nice followup. Pictures with the "for sale" sign suggests the property was in a state of transition. The box project may not have been fully materialized because of the transition. The project does not appear to have any obvious exterior illumination for night use. Maybe, its just not obvious or perhaps the project was never intended to night viewing.

Or maybe the project was stopped before completion and stored for later use as a trash bin by the Amazing Colossal Man.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Unable to make out much detail on No. 3 , but I can discern what appears to be a structure at 6122 Wilshire Blvd., which, coincidentally, was the location of Bill Lane's. I am confident this has been mentioned on NLA before.

Circa '78



http://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem...otos/id/121855

More on the swc of Wilshire & Fairfax in this post 6275 from 2012

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

GSV

What do you all think...old fraternal hall?

__

Here's a 1950 Sanborn for the corner of Long Beach Blvd and Santa Ana:


LAPL

The county assessor gives 8101 Long Beach Boulevard a build date of 1930/1970.

This is from the 1955 South Gate city directory:


ancestry.com

1955 - 25 years in business (at that location?) = 1930, which agrees with the assessor. It's a funny looking building.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Unable to make out much detail on No. 3 , but I can discern what appears to be a structure at 6122 Wilshire Blvd., which, coincidentally, was the location of Bill Lane's. I am confident this has been mentioned on NLA before.

Circa '78


http://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem...otos/id/121856





http://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem...otos/id/121855

Wow, really good eye, Tourmaline!

For the record, I think that's a really beautiful storefront on Lane's. I positively love it! The building is still there, but really has no indication of its former glory.

I find the building quite similar to the former Darkroom, also on Wilshire.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

More on the swc of Wilshire & Fairfax in this post 6275 from 2012

Thank you for that link, GaylordWilshire! I have always LOVED the look of the buildings above, but until reading your post I never knew that the black material was known as Vitrolite. Thanks! Yours is the only post in this entire thread to mention the stuff.

I grew up not far from the Dutton's Books in Burbank (Google street view), and I always loved the look of the stuff. A notable example of Vitrolite is 1932's Daily Express Building, in London.