noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's how 'Two Boots Pizza' looked in 2009. -goodbye Pastrami Dip.


gsv

I hope their food was better than their "Exellent" spelling!


GSV

Thanks for the "now" shots of the old Comet's location, e_r. I've since found a picture of their 800 S Broadway store. This is from 1951 - the hotdogs have gone up to 20 cents! Can you guess where it was?


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

I'm sure you all got it - it's in the Newsreel (Tower) Theatre.


USC Digital Library

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Ticket to the 1933 National Air Races on July 4th (my birthday!)

I didn't realize you were born in 1933.

[ethereal_reality]

-just the July 4th part M_P...

Originally Posted by HossC

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

I finally found a postcard from the Wilton years. (with a view of the interior of the Skyroom)


ebay
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(I just found this one...three hours later)

ebay
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Pretty cool to see that Comet's Hot Dog stand in the Tower Theater building HossC. -good find!

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[ethereal_reality]

Here's an extremely rare postcard.


ebay

Los Angeles Times Camp, Catalina circa 1911

[fhammon]

I'll probably get flamed for this almost non sequitur to NLA post but this is something that has always interested me... more as a curiosity... and minor annoyance.
It's driving me mad, I tell you!

Actually I think the subject has come up before. Not too generally speaking, there's almost nothing we haven't touched on here that even only barely borders on the Noirish.... yet it keeps getting better all time often due to peoples real effort and talent. What a jewel NLA.

Oh, That Old-Timey Movie Accent!

The language that the narrator, one Gayne Whitman, uses is florid enough. But his accent! It's instantly familiar to anyone who's seen old movies and newsreels from the 1930s and 1940s. But you cannot imagine a present-day American using it with a straight face. It's not faux-British, but it's a particular kind of lah-dee-dah American diction that at one time was very familiar and now has vanished.

Video example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wFjyu3rD-o#t=144

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by sadykadie2

In the 1990's I did a home health internship. We used to visit the Breakers (now retirement housing)all the time. One elderly lady took us into the old ballroom. It was so beautiful and spacious. Definitely from a bygone era

I did get to go in the public rooms (lobby etc ) on the ground floor and peaked into the ballroom. It's still very pretty.

[fhammon]

The mystery of the Mesmer Flagpole.

"The first real civic flagpole - other than up on Fort Moore - which was erected in front of the US Hotel in support of the Union cause in 1864" - Brady Westwater

http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2014/10...-who-took.html

I'm sure that many here are aware of the more or less recent renovation of LA Hall of Justice.
In front the building there used to be two flagpoles. One was the very old wooden "Mesmer" flag pole with a bronze historic marker at its base. It has disappeared.

I have been informed unofficially, off-the-record that it was NOT on the historic resources list when Public Works did the renovation.

October 10, 1863, published (Star): "Near by [to the Lanfranco Block], Mr. Sansevaine is building a fine house for the U.S. Hotel. This is also a two story, with balcony, and will be a great improvement to the city, as well as affording additional hotel accommodation"; 1864, bought by Louis Mesmer, who also purchased from Juan Padilla the lot on which it stood; 1866, new flagpole, 109 feet tall, 14 inches wide at the base, 2 inches at the top, brought from Oregon by Phineas Banning, who gave it to Mesmer; February 1, 1869,

[Tetsu]

Don't think we've ever seen this photo on NLA. It's the parlor of Dona Arcadia de Baker's apartment in the Baker Block, and it was published in W.W. Robinson's book "Los Angeles From The Days Of The Pueblo."

my scan

[ethereal_reality]

I never thought I'd get to see inside the Baker Block. -thanks Tetsu
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Here's an interesting photograph of a LARy street-car turning a corner in front of the Hotel Houston and the Los Angeles Evening Herald Express.


ebay


I located the Hotel Houston on Georgia Street in the 1956 city directory.


http://rescarta.lapl.org/ResCarta-We...ollections.jsp


It's gone, as is almost everything else in this area.


google_earth
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[ethereal_reality]

Mary Poppin's boyfriend?



This is one of the most bizarre Los Angeles postcards I've ever come across.


ebay


below: a close_up of the bottom portion (via the seller)




...and here's the floating man descending on Los Angeles.


ebay

I was hoping one of you computer geniuses could place a tiny green apple in front of the man's face.

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[ethereal_reality]

By pure chance, I came across this photograph of the backside of the 'Westwood Tower'.


ebay


The seller mistakenly describes the photograph as a cop's lookout tower in Long Beach. (did they miss the visible portion of the sign?....WEstwood)


ebay

-here's our recent conversation on the Westwood Tower.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24553

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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

...and here's the floating man descending on Los Angeles.


ebay

I was hoping one of you computer geniuses could place a tiny green apple in front of the man's face.

How's this?

[ethereal_reality]

lol. That's perfect HossC. -thanks!
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[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I'm not going to tell you what I thought this was when I first saw it.

If you guessed Peter Putter's Plaster Pencil (try saying that three times real fast ) -you would be correct.


ebay








"batteries not included" (I'm kidding)

What do you mean putting up smut lie that?!

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Thanks Hoss and ER for this walk down memory lane.

The X marks the approx. spot where this photo of my brother, my mother and myself was taken in about 1946. There was a city park along Ocean Blvd. at that location in those days.



Historic Aerials ~ Originally posted by Hoss C

My brother, my mother and myself...Long Beach. I have no idea why we in Long Beach that day, as we lived in Glendale at that time.
My Mom's hair style was done by a new beautician girl who did a different style each week. That's the Villa Riviera in the background.
I'm sure this was a Sunday, as that was our going-out day. This was before my Mom was married to my stepfather who took this photo. [his previous wife Juanita
had committed suicide in the garage of their San Gabriel home a few months prior to this photo.]

Personal photo

That is a FABULOUS photo, Doug!

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by HossC

According to honestbuildings.com, the building currently at 1424 S Main dates from 1908, so that means it's the old Moran and McMenamy garage.


GSV

Well spotted Hoss!

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The House of Payne at 2015 W. Sixth Street.


ebay


I've never heard of the House of Payne before today.

...and the building still stands!

GSV More or less

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[austlar1]

[QUOTE=Beaudry;6816568]Wanted to follow up on this—many thanks to Lorendoc who made some incisive analysis in this reply!

It was noirisher Flyingwedge who PM'd to send this image—pointing out that my li'l building was, in fact, at 1133 S Hope. Zooming in to the left of the water tank atop Western Auto Supply, there she is!



1133 was known as the "Claron Del" apts. Built about 1913. Not in the 1910 Baist, but in the 1914 Baist, and here's an ad from September '13:



Adjusted for inflation those 2 and 3 room suites would be going for about $700 in 2014 dollars. Sounds about right, I guess.

[HossC]

I was actually looking for more northerly blocks of Flower Street when I came across the picture below. It shows the intersection of South Figueroa and South Flower Streets in 1936


USC Digital Library

I thought that the building in the foreground looked like a restaurant or club, and after a little digging, I found that it was Carl's. Below is a picture posted by Fab Fifties Fan - the full post including matchbooks can be found here.

Originally Posted by Fab Fifties Fan

Dick Whittington Collection/USC Digital Library

I've rotated this current image a little to get a bit closer to the first image above. The Harbor Freeway (just visible on the far left) came close to this neighborhood, and took out the east side of S Flower Drive. I think that the buildings on the west side of S Flower Drive are the only survivors from the original shot other than the hall of what is now the Aerospace Museum.


Google Maps

[Godzilla]

Domes in the background must belong to the Shrine Auditorium.

http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-c...A1939_2000.jpg



http://imageshack.com/a/img673/8971/sNW9e4.jpg http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=23703