noirish Los Angeles

[cjefferson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Excellent Hoss.

Like you, I am totally surprised the white building with the boarded up windows is still standing. It was an eyesore then and it's an eyesore now.

And yet that beautiful Eaton's on Ventura Blvd. is gone.
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the address of 2510 S. Central Avenue was at one time known as the Blodgett Building. In February 1962, it became the site of the very first law offices of attorney, and later to become Los Angeles Mayor, Tom Bradley when he entered into an association with attorney Charles H. Matthews who already had office space in that building.

[cjefferson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Excellent Hoss.

Like you, I am totally surprised the white building with the boarded up windows is still standing. It was an eyesore then and it's an eyesore now.

And yet that beautiful Eaton's on Ventura Blvd. is gone.
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This building was not only the original law office site for Attorney Tom Bradley, who later became Mayor of Los Angeles, but it was also the office site for the Los Angeles branch of the Urban League. In the California Eagle newspaper in Oct. 2, 1941, there is an article that recruited workers to come to this site to apply for mechanic jobs.
cjefferson

[cjefferson]

this building was the original law office space occupied by Attorney Tom Bradley in 1962. He was in association with attorney Charles Matthews. The Los Angeles office of the Urban League was also in this building. There is an article in the California Eagle Oct 2, 1941 urging workers with mechanic skills to come apply for jobs. This building was known as the Blodgett Building...and i am sure it did not originally look like this.

cjefferson

[tovangar2]

I don't think the building was actually boarded up before; it just had some unfortunate-looking louvered sunshades over the windows. They were cleared away in 2016 or so, so the building looks like this now:


gsv

[ethereal_reality]

Here's a look at those 'louvered sunshades' t2 just mentioned.


detail

See the complete slide HERE

Thanks for the information cjefferson. I didn't realize the building had such an interesting past.
I'm going to try and dig up some more info.

[ethereal_reality]

The Blodgett Building when it was, among other things, the home of the Urban League.


cwis.usc.edu

2150 South Central Avenue, 1940 and 1999.
The three-floor building with addresses beginning with 2150 was the home of many professional offices circa 1940.
Display advertisements from the Central Avenue Business Directory of 1940 are synthesized here with the 1999 fabric.
The Urban League, a leading civil rights organization, had its offices on the top floor in 1940.
Talent agents were busy signing neighborhood actors like Myrtle Anderson (side of building).
Real estate agents and physicians served a prosperous, mainly African American middle class.
In 1999 "Garcia's Tienda C[entavos] Noventa y Nueve" filled most of the first floor, catering to a primarily working-class Latino clientele.

Credit: Composition Philip J. Ethington © 2000.



here's a closer look at the top floor. (so you can read the information )


detail

Thanks for sparking my interest in this overlooked building cjefferson.
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Now for Myrtle.

[ethereal_reality]

Here's one of the damaged houses in the Portuguese Bend landslide.


https://books.google.com/books?id=5V...college&f=true

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location #1

I don't believe we have seen this fascinating depression era photograph on NLA.


ebay


reverse


Does anyone have an idea where this was taken?
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[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location #2

While trying to find more information on the above photograph, I came across a 2nd depression era photo taken from Los Angeles.

"Bread Line, 1933"


felix in hollywood

It looks as if the bread/soup kitchen is located in the building behind the 'The Champ' billboard.

so what is this building?

I thought one of you NLA'ers might be able to figure it out. (the sloped embankment in the distance look familiar but I can't pin it down)
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[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's one of the damaged houses in the Portuguese Bend landslide.


https://books.google.com/books?id=5V...college&f=true

In the 1980s I went to this place for the day. All day the cliff behind me was in motion....small rocks were falling on me all day. It was very strange....kinda fun.


https://web.csulb.edu/depts/geology/...pePortBendfarS

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The Dodger Stadium parking lots have 16,000 spaces. Are you suggesting two 8,000 capacity parking garages? No one would like that.

Also, greenery and foliage would be lovely, and there are many such islands around the stadium, but because of our recent long period of drought, with everyone in Los Angeles letting their greenery and foliage lay waste because there's no water to feed it, I doubt that kind of thing would be feasible now.

Cargo Collective

I don't know why a lot of people think a place needs to always be developed, either. Aerials of a hot stadium parking lot might look as appetizing as those bountiful postcards of the Los Angeles freeways, but you know what? Driving (or walking...yes walking) around the parking lots of Dodger stadium provide some of the most beautiful open air vistas of the city you can find.

• Video Link

Also, money always comes into the picture. General parking costs at Dodger Stadium are $20 a car at the gate or $10 prepaid. Reserved parking close to the stadium is a lot more. (For the World Series the close lots were $70 to park (!) and the general parking was $40!) The parking lots make a ton of money for the place, which is one reason Frank McCourt, who made his money in the parking lot business, bought the team a few years ago and almost ran the organization into the ground before he was gotten rid of.

Of course, Dodger Stadium has Uber lots for drop-off and pickup or one can always walk to Dodger Stadium, too, from some locations, and save the parking fees!

• Video Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k6CA90Vpx8

I agree the area around the stadium could benefit from some things that would draw people there throughout the year. There was a plan a few years ago to almost make it a mall of sorts around there. Most people who go there for baseball, though, don't want the place obstructed by all these distractions. They like the openness and the, to quote the Andrews Sisters song, "Don't fence me in" quality you feel up there.

Also, the same complaint about the land around Dodger Stadium can be made about many other places, too: Angel Stadium for example.

O.C. Register



I tried to find information about that postcard, but only found the info written on the backside:

Dodger Stadium is surrounded by terraced parking for 16,000 cars and has 56,000 unobstructed-view seats with seven front rows, no posts and multi-colored levels which make it baseball's most beautiful park.

It may not have been a game of any significance. Dodger Stadium regularly sells out many times during any given year.

I've made the trek from Union Station to Dodger Stadium to get some city skyline shots. Another good place for shots of the city is above the Stadium, I was there last Sunday.

_B050252.jpg by me, on Flickr

[Martin Pal]

Bill, I checked out the other photos you have on your Flickr link. Very nice!
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A couple posters recently referred to the Dodger Stadium parking lot and what a "heat island" it is. There's a whole lot of places like that now in Los Angeles. Yesterday I was reading about some actions to try and curb this problem.

From October 6:

Los Angeles is Painting Their Roads White to Cool the City Down and Improve Air Quality
In a first step towards tackling overheating, the city of Los Angeles is painting black asphalt roads with a white reflecting coating. It has been proven to reduce temperatures significantly.

Link HERE.
___

This article HERE, from May, talks about testing this out in Canoga Park.

Some of the articles call the sealant white and others refer to it as gray.


Another article HERE mentions a downside:

Of course, Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist Bill Patzert tells the Daily News that, while the “cool pavement” could help reverse the Heat Island Effect, it won’t be enough to offset the loss of urban forestland, should drought conditions cause vegetation to continue drying up in coming years.

Trial roads in all 15 council districts were coated with the reflective surfacing this past June.

• Video Link


Dodger Stadium should do this in their parking lot.
Anyone else heard of this or seen it?

[jumbo0]

I've been reading this topic for years but still didn't succeed in picking up on the large amount of posts passing here. I'm somewhere halfway I guess lol. I've posted some then/now's before but now -about a year later- I have a few more I'd like to share with you, especially some aerials. If they are posted before I apologize.


1927 vs 2017. LAX and surroundings


1928 vs 2017. Santa Clarita. The intersection of Lyons and Newhall hasn't changed a bit!


1929 vs 2017. West L.A. Santa Monica Blvd in the middle going from left to right. W. Pico Blvd in the bottom right.


1928 vs 2017. Santa Monica Airport and surroundings. Pico Blvd in the top left with just south of it Pearl St and one more south Ocean Park Blvd.


1928 vs 2017. Culver City. The biggest Blvd is Venice in the top left with Washington Blvd south of it. In about the middle we see National Blvd from left to right. Note the Hal Roach Studios on the intersection with National and Washington. They were famous for the Laurel and Hardy productions.


1933 vs 2017. Union Station. Main St just west of the fontain, Los Angeles st east of it (not sure if the names were the same back then) and Alameda St east of that. Note that the bend where the tracks used to be still is visible in the new buildings. That's sort of nice.. I guess.


1940 vs 2016. Bonvue Ave, Hollywood.


1930 vs 2016. Mines Field, now know as LAX.


1930 vs 2016. Southern Glass Company, Vernon.


1925 vs 2016. Warner Brothers Studios.


1931 vs 2016. Wilshire Blvd and Bronson Ave. Not too much has changed.


1945 vs 2016. Surv-all Market, Slauson Ave and Angeles Vista Blvd.

More to come!

Sources:
The Regents Of The University of California.
USC.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

Just below all of this in the surf is the wreck of the Greek freighter "Dominator" which ran aground in 1961. Parts of it can still be seen at low tide and some dive on the wreck

Here's what it looked like in 1965, about half of the ship still above water

Wikipedia
And what's left today

https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/201...-palos-verdes/

What may be nothing more than urban legend is the thinking that the massive wheat cargo the ship was carrying spilled into the ocean and helped the local lobster population thrive for decades.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

Here's what it looked like in 1965, about half of the ship still above water

Wikipedia
And what's left today

https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/201...-palos-verdes/

What may be nothing more than urban legend is the thinking that the massive wheat cargo the ship was carrying fell into the ocean and helped the local lobster population thrive for decades.

I used to see this wreck flying up the coast from LA to Santa Barbara. It always fascinated me, though I knew nothing of its story, lying on its side n the surf.

[Handsome Stranger]

Here's the Dominator just a day or three after it ran aground. That's my mom on the left, expecting a little Handsome Stranger to emerge about eleven weeks later. (Not from the shipwreck.)

[ethereal_reality]

You and I are about the same age Handsome Stranger.

Originally Posted by jumbo0

I've been reading this topic for years but still didn't succeed in picking up on the large amount of posts passing here.
I'm somewhere halfway I guess . I've posted some then/now's before but now -about a year later-
I have a few more I'd like to share with you, especially some aerials.

Excellent post jumbo0! -I really enjoyed looking at all your before & afters.



1927 vs 2017. LAX and surroundings

This is Surfridge that I mentioned yesterday. (courtesy of FW)

LAX ghost town a home to memories and rare butterflies

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[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Here's the Dominator just a day or three after it ran aground. That's my mom on the left, expecting a little Handsome Stranger to emerge about eleven weeks later.

SS Dominator, a freighter, ran ashore on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the South Bay area of California in 1961 due to a navigational error while lost in fog. Its remains can still be seen today, and serves as a point of interest for hikers and kayakers.

Wrecked, 13 March 1961


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/94/80...bb59d53efb.jpg

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Los Angeles is Painting Their Roads White to Cool the City Down and Improve Air Quality
In a first step towards tackling overheating, the city of Los Angeles is painting black asphalt roads with a white reflecting coating. It has been proven to reduce temperatures significantly.

Link HERE.
___

This article HERE, from May, talks about testing this out in Canoga Park.

Some of the articles call the sealant white and others refer to it as gray.


Another article HERE mentions a downside:

Of course, Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist Bill Patzert tells the Daily News that, while the “cool pavement” could help reverse the Heat Island Effect, it won’t be enough to offset the loss of urban forestland, should drought conditions cause vegetation to continue drying up in coming years.

Trial roads in all 15 council districts were coated with the reflective surfacing this past June.

• Video Link


Dodger Stadium should do this in their parking lot.
Anyone else heard of this or seen it?

In Westchester, the short block of 77th Street between Cowan and Beland, next to Cowan Avenue School,
was covered with the heat-reducing coating:



FW photo

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

In Westchester, the short block of 77th Street between Cowan and Beland, next to Cowan Avenue School,
was covered with the heat-reducing coating:

Odd as this seems, it may actually work.