noirish Los Angeles

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I found this old sepia photograph in a file of mine several days ago. (I've checked, and I'm pretty sure it's new to NLA)


personal file

I've been trying to figure out if the float is a facsimile of Mt. Lowe railroad?

Here's a closer look.


detail

And what about the location....is anyone familiar with that brass foundry?

__

I don't know about the brass foundry, e_r, but this is identified as probably the 1894 La Fiesta Parade, which had
a Mt. Lowe float. This photo looks north on Hill Street toward Fifth Street. Hazard's Pavilion is on the left, with the
Rose Mansion up behind it:



487143 @ HDL


Here's a close up. That's the same float from your photo, plus I think the guy on the horse at lower left,
with his hand on his hat, is the same guy in your photo wearing light-colored pants and hat and riding a
horse under the Brass Foundry sign:

[tovangar2]

Thank you FW.

One can see Mary Hazard Taft's & Harley Taft's second Pershing Sq home on the corner of 5th and Hill (they'd left for Hollywood in '92). Pershing Sq looks amazing, long before John Parkinson's redesign.


.........................................................

Originally Posted by ScottyB

....is that Margaret Thatcher with the scissors?

Nah, I think that's a generic, terrified spinster. Thatcher's the busybody with the rubber stamp.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a slide, dated 1952, showing an elaborate advertisement for the film Macao.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-195...item339a6fcea9

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

The following is a transcript from an episode of a 1987 BBC documentary series called The RKO Story: Tales from Hollywood, plus a couple of frame grabs showing BBC's recreation of the scene. The man telling the story is Mario Zamparelli, a painter and graphic artist who worked for Howard Hughes when Hughes was running RKO. Zamparelli relates an incident involving a painting he made to promote the 1951 RKO film His Kind of Woman, starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell.

"[Hughes] had the painting made. He liked it very very much. And then one day I was told that a brilliant idea had come up, and I asked what was this about. They said, 'Well, we're going to do something very special.' So at the RKO lot...I didn't see this being constructed, but I saw it being moved at two o'clock in the morning. And this was to a site at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire Boulevard, directly across from The May Company. There was a large parking lot there and a restaurant which no longer exists. And they put on that corner a huge gilded frame, like a masterpiece if you will. This was all framed, gold-leafed, and the center was going to house my painting, twenty, thirty times the size of the original, if not a hundred times the size. It was enormous! The painting was completed. But while that was going on, people were passing by, cars were going by and they were monitoring how many vehicles would pass the corner. Mr. Hughes had an idea that to emphasize the concept of the hottest combination ever to hit the screen, they would have two or three or four large gas jets throw flames up into the air about twenty or thirty feet high."

[Source: BBC]

Remember when we discussed this framed billboard in December 2014? For the record, we concluded that the BBC had misplaced the recreation in their documentary. Well, it looks like all six parts of the documentary, hosted by Ed Asner, are now on YouTube (they were in the recommendations when I watched the recently posted Hollywood videos). Here's the first part:

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 1: Birth of A Titan

• Video Link

The other episodes are:

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 2: Let’s Face The Music and Dance (edited)

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 3: A Woman’s Lot

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 4: It’s All True (edited)

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 5: Dark Victory

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 6: Howard’s Way

NB. Episodes 2 and 4 have been edited slightly for copyright reasons. Episode 2 is missing some Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers numbers, and episode 4 has had a clip of Citizen Kane removed.

[ozone]

Regarding the identity of the women with the scissors, I suspect she's a nun ready to cut out the naughty bits.

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The Huntington Digital Library dates this photo 1948, but that can't be right. At the right margin we see a bit of the Baker Block,
which was demolished in 1942. Also, the U.S. Hotel, which had been on the SE corner of N. Main and E. Market (opposite the NE
corner of City Hall) until it was torn down in 1939, has been replaced by a new building:



487987 at HDL

You have it about right. All the houses on N. Broadway on Fort Moore Hill, with the exception of Mary Hollister Banning's house, will be gone by '47. That low, modern looking building that has replaced the U.S. Hotel houses the Stakeout bar, favorite of L.A.'s finest.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a slide, dated 1952, showing an elaborate advertisement for the film Macao.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-195...item339a6fcea9
__

Again, "framing" reminiscent of the structure on top of the Virginia Apartments, Hollywood Blvd.

http://hollywoodphotographs.com/photos/lrg/RN-080-2.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=21278




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

[Blaster]

Originally Posted by ScottyB

Puritanism in hand with oppression I'd guess.....is that Margaret Thatcher with the scissors?




http://www.roncobb.net/cartoons.html

Cartoonist Ron Cobb went on to become a major contributor to films like STAR WARS, ALIEN and CONAN THE BARBARIAN thorugh his design concepts. He was also part of a project called NIGHT SKIES and was set to direct it. Producer Steven Spielberg later revised the concept and directed it himself as E.T.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by HossC

Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story - Episode 1: Birth of A Titan

• Video Link

Did someone say Gower Gultch?


Since you mentioned it. . .

Ever notice the address on the otherwise nondescript RKO steps?

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/3a40723f0625450f_large

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by HossC

This picture of Hollywood/Cherokee must've been taken around the same time as those posted by Martin Pal. USC dates it at circa 1936/1958. The same picture can be found at hollywoodphotographs.com where it's dated 1937.


USC Digital Library

Here's a close-up of the box on the roof. It appears to have a ladder and hatch at the rear, but otherwise I'm none the wiser. The sign on the corner of the building states that the "owner will erect new building".


Detail of picture above.

The Virginia, Hollywood Blvd. Sans Hat. most likely mid-'30s ('36)
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/6f77969465a286fe_large


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a5c6e83b2ace924b_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a949b588a36ca718_large






Speaking of art, [yet unknown location] burlesque shows had a lot of it. Suspect it was downtown, '36.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/ab3a91b35357f663_large


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/790c973b2e26cf50_large



When in town, look for a place with hot and cold water. "134"
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/07414ed9055ccbae_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a07914a9f65ad254_large



147 Main Street - Too good not to repost.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/e9bd47e3a2bcf7ed_large





WigWag recommends not going too far off the beaten [Beverly Hills] Bridle Path. You could get lost and end up on the wrong blog.

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/da8b514bf721b32b_large



Noah Cross giving directions to the Abacore Club?
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/c455d1f3fe0b59e6_large


Martin: Doubtful this has anything to do with MI., mostly because it predates it by 3-4 years.

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d1a2f415708063a4_large


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/8a607cce8adea2e9_large





"Ohh. WigWag!"


Max Factor employee.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/c4adb40b57a3ac16_large

[GaylordWilshire]

Judging by the vehicles--I think both have Packard chassis--I'd say the image without the rooftop box is more mid-to-late 20s rather than 30s...but then again, it might have been taken right before the box went up...

Maybe this has already been discovered..can't remember--but here's a BP for a rooftop sign dated July 1, 1936...not much of a description, but perhaps it refers to the box.

If so, it didn't last long... as indicated by the sign on the second-floor corner, the owner was going to erect a new building... demo BP dated August 9, 1937







As seen in post 33863 the neutered Sontag store by S. Charles Lee was the replacement. BP dated August 13, 1937...

[HossC]

OK, so this Malibu house isn't by John Lautner, but it is interesting. It's Julius Shulman's "Job 2168: Richard Spencer, Spencer House (Malibu, Calif.), 1956".



A shiny Thunderbird to go with the new house.



Looking up from the beach.



The barrier in the picture above marks where the PCH crosses.



Here's the bit that sticks out towards the ocean.



I should probably recognize the building on the beach which can be seen through the end panel - it's gone now.



A modern, 1950s living area.



The TV really dates this photo.



This is the kitchen, which is through the serving hatch in the image above.



Who'd want to sit with their back to that view? Note the rocks in the ocean on the right.



All from Getty Research Institute

The house was located above Castle Rock on Porto Marina Way in Pacific Palisades. If you have a spare $4,950, you can buy an unframed 20 x 24" color print of the house at juliusshulman.org. From the description of the print:

Also known as "The House on a Cliff", this house was later destroyed by the city after the hillside around the house collapsed in 1975. Although the home was still clinging to the cliff, the city declared the home unsafe as it could slip onto the highway below.

As far as I can tell, the Spencer House was where I've arrowed in the view below. The steps to the beach and rocks are still there. I also think that some of the wall from the first picture survives to the left of the houes with the blue awnings.


Google Maps

[Blaster]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

When in town, look for a place with hot and cold water. "134"
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/07414ed9055ccbae_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a07914a9f65ad254_large



[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

I believe the WC Fields-looking guy in the above left full-length poster is Joe Yule, Burlesque comic and father of Mickey Rooney. Yule was a mainstay of the Main Street Follies for many years.

http://images.google.com/url?q=http:...gCnQhSZjeDH86w

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Martin Pal, such excellent news about the Sailor/Winogrand photograph!

Thanks for letting us know.
------

Mon plaisir.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Is anyone familiar with 'World Wide Pictures'?


http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum....othic-Westerns

I thought I had seen all the old-timey picture logos but I don't remember this one!
_______________________________________________________________

To quote a certain German soldier, "Verry interesting..."
I wonder if the HFPA got their award idea from this!

As for World Wide Pictures, the answer has a lot to do with names and locations being established, bought, sold and altered. Info below from various sites.

The 1932 film you linked said it was produced at the California Tiffany Studio.

This studio started as the Reliance-Majestic Studios, an early American movie studio in Hollywood, originally built around 1914 at 4516 Sunset Boulevard.

Within a few years, it became the home of D. W. Griffith and Mutual Film Corporation. Later the studio's name was changed to Fine Arts Studios, and was sometimes known as the Griffith Studio and as the Griffith Artcraft Studio. The studio was formed by Mutual as a partnership between D. W. Griffith and Majestic Studio owner Harry Aitken.

The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Broken Blossoms (1919) were partially or fully lensed at the studio. The sets for Intolerance (1916) were erected across the street where the Vista Theatre stands.

Thomas Ince's Kay-Bee Pictures, Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, and D. W. Griffith's Reliance-Majestic Studio were combined to form the Triangle Film Corporation, which was headed by Harry and Roy Aitken.

In 1927, Tiffany Pictures acquired the lot. Upon Tiffany's bankruptcy in 1932, the stages were renamed Talisman Studios, used as a rental studio by a variety of studios such as Monogram Pictures.

About Tiffany itself: Tiffany Productions was a movie-making venture founded in 1921 by star Mae Murray, her then-husband, director Robert Z. Leonard, and Maurice H. Hoffman, who made eight films, all released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Murray and Leonard divorced in 1925 and almost simultaneously the downward spiral of Tiffany began.

Starting in 1925, Tiffany released 70 features, both silent and sound, twenty of which were Westerns. To produce their films, Tiffany acquired the former Reliance-Majestic Studios lot at 4516 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles in 1927.

From 1927 to 1930, John M. Stahl was the director of Tiffany and renamed the company Tiffany-Stahl Productions. Head of Tiffany was Phil Goldstone with his vice president Maurice H. Hoffman. Leonard A. Young, who simultaneously ran the L. A. Young Spring and Wire Company, bought into Tiffany from Hoffman in 1929. In 1930, it became simply the Tiffany Studios and in 1932, it became the California Tiffany Studios.

Some of Tiffany's later movies were released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures. Sono Art-World Wide Pictures was an American film distribution company that existed from 1927 to 1933.

This is the 4516 Sunset Blvd. area when it was Tiffany-Stahl.
Movie Locations

Not sure what the streets here are...the Vista Theatre opened in 1923, is it pictured here, I can't tell.

An early 1960's fire destroyed virtually all of the buildings except for one sound stage which remained until 1975. The former studio site is now a Von's with a large parking lot.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

OK, so this Malibu house isn't by John Lautner, but it is interesting. It's Julius Shulman's "Job 2168: Richard Spencer, Spencer House (Malibu, Calif.), 1956".


All from Getty Research Institute

The house was located above Castle Rock on Porto Marina Way in Pacific Palisades. If you have a spare $4,950, you can buy an unframed 20 x 24" color print of the house at juliusshulman.org. From the description of the print:

Also known as "The House on a Cliff", this house was later destroyed by the city after the hillside around the house collapsed in 1975. Although the home was still clinging to the cliff, the city declared the home unsafe as it could slip onto the highway below.

As far as I can tell, the Spencer House was where I've arrowed in the view below. The steps to the beach and rocks are still there. I also think that some of the wall from the first picture survives to the left of the houes with the blue awnings.


Google Maps

Here's a Shulman photo for the budget minded noirisher.


JS

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

It's Julius Shulman's "Job 2168: Richard Spencer, Spencer House (Malibu, Calif.), 1956".


_________________________________________________________________

I like this photo because the beam looks like part of the guy on the left's body, like he's a genie or something!

Originally Posted by HossC

The house was located above Castle Rock on Porto Marina Way in Pacific Palisades. If you have a spare $4,950, you can buy an unframed 20 x 24" color print of the house at juliusshulman.org. From the description of the print:

Also known as "The House on a Cliff", this house was later destroyed by the city after the hillside around the house collapsed in 1975. Although the home was still clinging to the cliff, the city declared the home unsafe as it could slip onto the highway below.

_________________________________________________________________

$4950.00. Pricey!
[Even at $875.00]



"...and your little dog, too."

[Martin Pal]

In the color Getty images of this house that HossC linked, there are several of the above color photo and they're decidedly different in color/tone as well.
(They're all in reverse, too.)

Also, you can see a wire (power line?) connecting to the corner of the roof. Also in the b&w photos if you look for it.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Judging by the vehicles--I think both have Packard chassis--I'd say the image without the rooftop box is more mid-to-late 20s rather than 30s...but then again, it might have been taken right before the box went up...

Maybe this has already been discovered..can't remember--but here's a BP for a rooftop sign dated July 1, 1936...not much of a description, but perhaps it refers to the box.

If so, it didn't last long... as indicated by the sign on the second-floor corner, the owner was going to erect a new building... demo BP dated August 9, 1937







As seen in post 33863 the neutered Sontag store by S. Charles Lee was the replacement. BP dated August 13, 1937...

If I understand your point, I tend to think the date is later than the '20s and, as you suggest, a date possibly prior to the box, or maybe after the box was folded up and put in the closet.

These images are, as you know, from the LIFE archives. This version of the publication only started with a first issue in November 1936. Anecdotally, the credited photog, Alfred Eisenstaedt, seems to have taken most of his (unused) images (found in this collection) in '36 or later. Note the offices of United Air Lines or an agency advertising that entity in images with and without the box. United Air Lines was not a going concern until the '30s and beyond. Kebow's Gift Shop has a '32 listing at 6635 Hollywood. (Maddux Air Lines, a precursor to some of the other carriers, did have an office at 6407 Hollywood Blvd. in '32.) United has a listing at 6635 in '36 through '38. FWIW, there is a '36 listing for both United Air Lines and Western Air Express, albeit at 508 W. Sixth Street.

http://hollywoodphotographs.com/photos/lrg/RN-080-2.jpg

Couple of other thoughts. Eisenstaedt probably did not reach his stride as a commercial picture taker until the early '30s. And, it would not have been that surprising for a Packard chassis and running gear to be in use well beyond it's sell date considering the company's well known reputation for quality and durability. Just ask the man who owns one.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

Also known as "The House on a Cliff", this house was later destroyed by the city after the hillside around the house collapsed in 1975. Although the home was still clinging to the cliff, the city declared the home unsafe as it could slip onto the highway below.

There's a 1993 LAT article, "Trouble in Paradise: Dream Homes Slip Away", on the problems up at Porto Marina Way and Castellammare. The Spencer isn't the only home that's gone missing.

The Spenser's doomed home is mentioned in passing in the article:

"Longtime residents remember the last big slide, in 1969. It prompted Los Angeles to bury pilings to bolster streets and spelled the doom of three homes plus a cliff-side house that threatened to tumble down onto Pacific Coast Highway. Neighbors were kept awake at night as crews struggled to cut that house free of its anchoring posts and take it down."

Those do look like the Spenser's stone walls, with some less-attractive additions by Cal-Trans on the left:

gsv

The ongoing work trying to prevent PCH from falling onto the beach has been mentioned before on the thread (partially pictured on the left in your last photo).

[Martin Pal]

FYI, concerning Garry Winogrand. In my recent correspondence with SFMOMA and the Fraenkel Gallery, I was told there is a Winogrand documentary, an independent, crowd-funded documentary project that's in production now and the trailer can be viewed at this link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...photographable

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Not sure what the streets here are...the Vista Theatre opened in 1923, is it pictured here, I can't tell.

We've been here before.

Here's the streets (we're looking southeast):

movielocationsplus

The Vista doesn't appear. It's off the left margin in the shot above.

Current, with the Von's and it's parking lot at center, on the old studio site (north at the top):

google maps

More pix here and here