noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

re: The injured aquaduct workers.

Originally Posted by HossC

Since the hospital where the workers were taken isn't named, I picked City Hall (admittedly not a hospital) as my arbitrary destination in Los Angeles.
It turned out to be an exactly 150 mile journey. Even today, the travel time is estimated at 2 hours 20 minutes.


Google Maps

All I can say is, I hope their injuries weren't serious.....that is one long trek.
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[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

This is the house where 6-year-old Rochelle Gluskoter was living when she was kidnapped on February 15th, 1946 (exactly 11 months before Elizabeth Short died). She had been playing in the yard of a neighbor at 1113 E 85th Street.


The Gluskoter's house at 1125 E 87th Street (as seen in the top picture) is still there. The street doesn't appear to be gated or private, yet neither the Googlemobile or the Bingmobile have ground-level images from there. This is as close as I could get.


Google Maps

More information on the case can be found on websleuths.com.

As we can see in my graphic, Google Street View will not let you get anywhere near the Gluskoter house....marked in Red. Even the S. Central Street is blacked at that intersection.
GSV

The blue lines on the map show where Street View is available....that block in question is blacked out in Street View. I wonder why and if this was deliberate?

When the mother identified the little girls clothes, she made this cryptic remark...“That’s my baby’s dress,” Miriam said, breaking down in sobs as she looked at the mildewed shreds of a small tweed coat and red print dress laid out on a table. And yet she remained puzzled: ''Rochelle was wearing nearly new shoes when she disappeared, but now they were badly worn. "

A sad case indeed.....

[ethereal_reality]

I finally found a matchbook from the 'often talked about' Waldorf Cellar.*




ebay

I'm surprised they used military imagery.....wasn't it eventually put on the 'OUT OF BOUNDS' list?


Here's a noirish view of the joint / originally posted by GaylordWilshire

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=22135



*The Waldorf Cellar matchbook is for sale with 49 other Los Angeles centric matchbooks. Go here if interested:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-LOS-ANGEL...item2c8b805634
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[BDiH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Did you know one of the most popular crooners of the 1940s was killed in a plane crash on Beverly Boulevard?


Buddy Clark died aged 37.

His first big smash hit was the song 'Linda' recorded in 1946....reaching number 1 in the Spring of 1947.
Actually, 'Linda' was more of a skit than a song and includes some spoken sections.


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The song Linda was the first hit recording written about Linda Eastman, later Linda McCartney. The next one was Lovely Linda, written by Paul.

[Andys]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

re: The injured aquaduct workers.



All I can say is, I hope their injuries weren't serious.....that is one long trek.
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I'm assuming the injuries to be serious, as the aqueduct had medical staff/facilities along it's construction route. I know there was a big distribution center at Cinco, and there was the town of Mojave, but apparently not adequate enough medical facilities (in those days).

Andys

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I haven't found any photographs of the elusive Toddle House ... It would have set directly on the west bank of Ballona Creek.


google_aerial

I'm sure I looked for aerial images of the Toddle House when I originally posted the phone book listing, and there isn't much to see. The image below is from 1948. Ballona Creek goes roughly straight down the middle, and I guess that's the Toddle House just to the left. There's definitely a small parking lot with buildings either side.


Historic Aerials

Here's the 1952 image. There have been a few small changes, but I still can't definitively identify the Toddle House.


Historic Aerials

While we're in the area, I thought I'd show how the road alignment changed when La Cienega was added to the intersection. This is a wider view from 1952. I've also marked Davis Bros Tires and King's Tropical Inn (discussed again recently in post #24513).


Historic Aerials

Here are the listings for the named businesses from the 1950 telephone directory.


archive.org

La Cienega appears on the 1964 aerial image, but I went for the 1972 image to show how long the old stub of Adams Boulevard survived. It looks like it's being used as a parking lot here. To the west of Ballona Creek, the Toddle House plot has been redeveloped. Fairfax Avenue just creeps onto the lower right corner of the image.


Historic Aerials

The reason I named Davis Bros Tires on the aerials is that they're still trading at that site today. Their building has several signs proclaiming they've been in business since 1937, although the first telephone directory listing I can find is 1948, so maybe they started at a different location. Wherever the business began, it's been at this site for at least 66 years, and must have seen a lot of comings and goings in that time.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for your fine research HossC. Your annotated/labeled aerials are really interesting.
I had no idea King's Tropical Inn was so close to the Toddle House.
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[ethereal_reality]

I found this 1958 photograph of the Hollywood Park Racetrack last night on ebay.


Inglewood CA




I was amazed at the size of the parking lot.....that is, until I found this view from 1938


http://colinsghost.org/2013/07/holly...-day-1938.html

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[ethereal_reality]

Here's a fun map from a 1940 Farmer's Market brochure that labels the area 'Gilmore Island'.


ebay

I like the nude sunbather on her roof.

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[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a fun map from a 1940 Farmer's Market brochure that labels the area 'Gilmore Island'.
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Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

It has to be 1952 or later if CBS Television City is on the map!

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I like the nude sunbather on her roof.
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[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I finally found a matchbook from the 'often talked about' Waldorf Cellar.*



ebay

I'm surprised they used military imagery.....wasn't it eventually put on the 'OUT OF BOUNDS' list?
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I would've thought so, too, though some souvenir photos of this place show military men and their dates in them and the advertising of "big bands" which would mean alot of dancing. (The place doesn't look "that" big from the street, though!)

A poster recently said they had a list of the places that were considered off limits and was going to post that list. I wonder if there's an online source for that?

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

*The Waldorf Cellar matchbook is for sale with 49 other Los Angeles centric matchbooks. Go here if interested:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-LOS-ANGEL...item2c8b805634
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Love this matchbook find E_R. I'm going to look at the others on your link later on.

Since you brought up the Waldorf Cellar, has anyone heard of this book or the author before?



Los Angeles 1939 . . . Street People And Friend
by William Carroll

I happened to see this listed on both Amazon, which has one copy for sale, and Barnes and Noble, which
lists it, but says it's not available to buy on their site. I cannot find anything else about it, or the author,
online, yet. A search of NLA doesn't bring up William Carroll, either.

The book description:

People and places of Los Angeles are shown at their best in this pictorial retrospective from historic files of photographer William Carroll.

The street preacher precedes a Salvation Army band playing on Spring Street and the slightly mad street musician shows his five-gallon tin drum, a wonderful hermit strides past and a lucky pedestrian reaches for a sidewalk cigarette near the horse and buggy parked on Main Street, job hunters inspect $20 a week wage offerings, new shoes sell for 57 cents a pair, caged kids are on the second floor, there's wine bar life and the famous Waldorf Cellar, inside an all-nite theatre and outside the "A R Hotel Beds 15 Cents", Pershing Square society, backstage of the Paramount Theatre, stag party nudes, Palomar Gardens for dancing, a beauty contest not to be missed, exercising by the roller coaster and a seaside day . . . from family to friend.

Publisher: Coda Publications
Publication date: 10/1/2006
Pages: 116

___________________________________

Sounds like some intriguing pictures in this book--caged kids are on the second floor--?

There is one comment on the book on the Amazon site. He wasn't too thrilled with the quality
of the photos in it and apparent lack of identification of many of them.

[ethereal_reality]

That book sounds really interesting M_P.

I wasn't real clear about the matchbooks. They're all being sold as a group of 50 (which includes the Waldorf Cellar).
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BELOW:

"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

Does anyone know what building this is? -or have a vintage photo of this area?
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[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Since you brought up the Waldorf Cellar, has anyone heard of this book or the author before?



Los Angeles 1939 . . . Street People And Friend
by William Carroll

I happened to see this listed on both Amazon, which has one copy for sale, and Barnes and Noble, which
lists it, but says it's not available to buy on their site. I cannot find anything else about it, or the author,
online, yet. A search of NLA doesn't bring up William Carroll, either.

The book description:

People and places of Los Angeles are shown at their best in this pictorial retrospective from historic files of photographer William Carroll.

The street preacher precedes a Salvation Army band playing on Spring Street and the slightly mad street musician shows his five-gallon tin drum, a wonderful hermit strides past and a lucky pedestrian reaches for a sidewalk cigarette near the horse and buggy parked on Main Street, job hunters inspect $20 a week wage offerings, new shoes sell for 57 cents a pair, caged kids are on the second floor, there's wine bar life and the famous Waldorf Cellar, inside an all-nite theatre and outside the "A R Hotel Beds 15 Cents", Pershing Square society, backstage of the Paramount Theatre, stag party nudes, Palomar Gardens for dancing, a beauty contest not to be missed, exercising by the roller coaster and a seaside day . . . from family to friend.

Publisher: Coda Publications
Publication date: 10/1/2006
Pages: 116

___________________________________

Sounds like some intriguing pictures in this book--caged kids are on the second floor--?

There is one comment on the book on the Amazon site. He wasn't too thrilled with the quality of the photos in it and apparent lack of identification of many of them.

You can preview about 30 pages of the book here. If the preview is an accurate representation, the photo quality doesn't look great, and they are accompanied by short, throw-away captions. Here is the "Second floor kid cage" ...


books.google.com

... and a couple of men in uniform contemplating entry to the Waldorf Cellar.


books.google.com

[HossC]

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

Does anyone know what building this is? -or have a vintage photo of this area?

The USC location is incorrect. The relatively new-at-the-time Unocal Building in the top right corner is on Boylston, so we're too far away for this to be Beaudry. The building is actually the Aida Apartment Hotel at 247 S Flower Street. Close-up pictures of the Aida are thin on the ground (you can see it in aerials if you know where to look), although I posted about its predecessor, the Rollin, in post #21803. The screengrab below is from the ever-popular video "A Drive Through Bunker Hill and Downtown Los Angeles, ca. 1940s". The Richfield Building can be seen in the background haze.


archive.org

[ethereal_reality]

I never would have found that building. Thanks for I.D.ing it as the Aida Apartments. -fun little discovery.
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I recently found two souvenir foto-folders from the 'The Skyroom' in Long Beach. One has it atop the Hilton Hotel (correct) while other says Wilton Hotel (incorrect?).

June 28, 1944


ebay




Here's the Willton one.



ebay



The hotel opened in 1926 as the Breakers Hotel.


http://avagabonde.blogspot.com/2010/...alifornia.html





Hilton purchased the hotel (his eighth at the time) in 1938 and added The Skyroom.


ebay

info.


During my brief google search I found nothing on it being the Wilton Hotel, yet I find it hard to believe it was simply a typo on the souvenir folder
so I'm going back and do some more research.


Today the old hotel is an assisted living facility

But guess what...the Skyroom is still in business!
http://www.theskyroom.com/


www.noweddingdebt.com

[HossC]

From Wikipedia:

"In 1947, Hilton sold the hotel to Frank Fishman, who renamed it the Wilton Hotel. The hotel remained the "Wilton" for 14 years."

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

Y

... and a couple of men in uniform contemplating entry to the Waldorf Cellar.


books.google.com

I have read that the Cellar was a popular venue for gay performers.

Yes, I'm sure that eventually Waldorf's and the Cellar were on the Off-Limits lists.

During my days in the military I was caught in a Off-limits saloon. The Shore Patrol looked at my ID and let me go because I worked for the Admiral of the local fleet.

[ethereal_reality]

I really like that photograph of the two sailors contemplating going into the Waldorf Cellar.
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This is pretty rare.

May 1916 issue of the monthly magazine for the employees of the Broadway Department Store.


ebay







sorry the right column is cut off.






There were more pages obviously, but the seller only included these four examples.

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[ethereal_reality]

"Spanish bungalows line Cummings Street in this view looking north towards Sheridan Place. General Hospital is visible in the background."
-Henry Briceno


pinterest/Boyle Heights



I believe this is pretty close to the same view. (Bing Maps didn't have Sheridan Place, only Sheridan Street.


Bing Maps

Google Maps had Sheridan Place as well as Sheridan Street, but the key house is blotted out.
(check it out if you want)
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[ethereal_reality]

"So. Indiana St. east of 1st Street in Boyle Heights side of So. Indiana."
-Henry Briceno


pinterest/Boyle Heights



The same view today / the curved tracks are still in place.

GSV
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