noirish Los Angeles

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by badrunner

I think you're off by one block that looks more like Alameda st.

https://goo.gl/maps/oBKEorWoGNueQXJJ7

___________________

Concur, badrunner. I should've noticed the lack of overhead wire supports on what I thought was the PE. So we're looking at the SP San Pedro Branch instead.My bad, thanks for the correction!

[ethereal_reality]

David, here's the link to the 1940 aerial of Burbank, courtesy of HossC. (the map will automatically download to your computer)

I am also intrigued by those fields. They look like they might be test plots. . .or perhaps a commercial flower grower. Do you know if there was a nursery nearby back then?

Originally Posted by HossC

mil.library.ucsb.edu

It was great to hear from you. I still go back and look at your past posts. They have withheld the test of time. (and all your photographs are still up and running)


.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

What caught my attention was. . ."Not a Motion Picture."


L.A. Herald Dec. 16, 1916

Whoa! 100 People...100 Horses, Camels, Arabs.
________________________________________________________________

Steep prices for the time, too, from 50 cents to $2. Considering you could get a whole dinner for 10 cents!

I base that on a scene from Easter Parade which takes place in 1912. Judy wants to know what her bill is and the waiter says, "Let's see...roast beef, pie, coffee...that'll be ten cents."

The Arabs get third billing after the horses and camels.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

ER, when I saw the aerial you posted I was looking for something else...my house on Niagara St., where I've live since '81. It was built in '29 and I think I spotted it after downloading and enlarging your image.

Where did you grab that from? I've seen old aerials of Burbank that showed my neighborhood before, but none this sharp. Maybe if I go to your source I can zoom in further and see it more clearly.

Niagara Street is lined with very large pine trees on both sides and even in this old image, they are quite obvious. My house is now the seventh one south where my block ends, on Verdugo. I believe that Niagara was one of the first residential streets to be developed in this part of Burbank.

You can see my link to the original image in e_r's post above.

The same site also has a view from January 2, 1928, which I believe is a year before your house was built. Here's a close-up of your block (lightened a little for clarity). I wonder when the pines were planted.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

[Mendotaman]

[QUOTE=Arch2000;8771237]If you think Disney is small, extend your aerial a bit (if you can), and look at Universal next to WB. Both WB and Disney would fit in their property a few times over.


[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;8772903]David, here's the link to the 1940 aerial of Burbank, courtesy of HossC. (the map will automatically download to your computer)

I am also intrigued by those fields. They look like they might be test plots. . .or perhaps a commercial flower grower. Do you know if there was a nursery nearby back then?


Just above (north?) of Disney’s is St. Joseph (Providence) hospital. Across Buena Vista.

[ethereal_reality]

.............................................................................................................................."Looking south on Alameda Street at Vernon Avenue."


EBAY

Thanks for figuring out the location of this mystery photo, HenryHuntington and badrunner. ..I appreciate it.


It appears that the large brick building down the street is still standing.


detail





gsv





Here's a closer look at the building.


gsv


Today it's the El Faro Plaza. It would be interesting to know what company owned it back in the 1940s when the vintage photograph was taken.



To be honest, I was hoping I'd find this thing.

detail

Since I grew up in the midwest, I'd bet money that it was a silo

. . .but this is in the middle of the city.

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[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

eBay

I believe the 1894 Sanborn Map at the Library of Congress proves this photo was taken from 429 Anderson Street and
looks up Anderson toward and beyond Macy Street/Cesar Chavez Avenue. The four homes across the street, the driveway
between the middle two homes, and the commercial building next door to 429 all match the map.

Today, it looks like N. Mission Road runs about where Anderson Street did, so I guess the area in the foreground of the
photo would be about here, just north of the freeway.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And here's a closer look at the tower (and two tall chimeys) in the distance....As you can see the tower appears to have an open-air cupola.


detail / top left corner



And here is that large house on the hill on the opposite side of the photograph.


detail / top right

The tower with the cupola might belong to the Charles Stern mansion at 535 Mission Road, also on the same
Sanborn Map (look north of Macy Street). The mansion appears impressive, but I couldn't find a close-up view.
The mansion seems to have been completed in early 1891, according to Los Angeles Herald articles on January 1
and January 4.

Page 1306 had a discussion of this area and some of the structures visible. The house on the hill near the light mast
belonged to carriagemaker Richard Molony.

Thanks for finding this cool old pic, e_r.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.............................................................................................................................."Looking south on Alameda Street at Vernon Avenue."


.

Inside the El Faro Plaza

google

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Any old pics of Marineland & Pacific Ocean Park ("POP")? Went to those places a lot as a kid, especially POP. Going over the hill from the sweltering Valley where I lived to the cool, sometimes cold Santa Monica/Venice summer air was my initiation into the microclimates of the L.A. area. POP had a really old fashioned Coney Island feel. I liked POP better than Marineland. The porpoise & whale shows got tiresome after a while. The rides and arcade games at POP were more fun to a kid under 10. I also remember riding in a bubble tram ride over to an "island" they built a fair distance from the pier. Once after going to POP we made the fairly short walk over to "Muscle Beach" where the male & female athletes put on quite a show of strength & acrobatics. Another time we walked over to the Venice canals which back in the early 1960s were pretty run down but still kind of fun to walk.

I am so bad about tech stuff and don't know how to upload pics on NLA, but I have a Facebook page called "Vintage Southern California" and have tons of pictures of Marineland and some of POP on it. Just look through the pictures and you'll find them

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a closer look at the building.


gsv


Today it's the El Faro Plaza. It would be interesting to know what company owned it back in the 1940s when the vintage photograph was taken.

From the late 1920's into the 1970's, it was home to the Morris Furniture Manufacturing Company.


Layout in the 1950's -



ladbsdoc.lacity.org

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by sadykadie2

I am so bad about tech stuff and don't know how to upload pics on NLA, but I have a Facebook page called "Vintage Southern California" and have tons of pictures of Marineland and some of POP on it. Just look through the pictures and you'll find them

Hi Sady, I understand your situation. Go to YouTube and type "how to upload photos to a website" in the Search Field at the top of the YT page. It will show dozens of short videos that will teach you how to upload to a website. Its actually easy.
Somewhere on this site there's also instructions. Maybe someone can post the NLA link.

[ethereal_reality]

Noir Noir, thanks for tracking down the three addresses of Du Brock's Riding Academy.



So, thanks to Noir Noir, we have. . .

10851 Ventura Blvd. (1924 directory)

4101 Whitsett, North Hollywood (1937-38 directories)

3224 Riverside Drive. (1940s)

See his post, HERE.
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The history of Du Brock's goes waaaay back. It has been around since, at least, 1912!

This item in The Moving Picture News mentions Du Brock stables and its close association with the American Film Mfg. Company


Moving Picture News 1912.

Does anyone have information on the American Film Mfg. Company?






More on the photographer, Lucille Stewart, this afternoon.


From the back of the Du Brock's photograph.

.

[ethereal_reality]

It's me again. Ummm. . .I think Philby's funeral might have taken place in Chicago. ......(Clark St. and Rosehill Cemetery are on the northside)

If that is correct, the Du Brock stables might have moved west to Los Angeles along with other movie-related businesses.




Speaking of Chicago; I used to live a few blocks from the old Essanay Studios in Chicago

If you're interested: Silent Film Industry in Chicago

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[Noir_Noir]

In 1912 Walter Du Brock set up a film company alongside the riding academies he had in Chicago.



Moving Picture World -1912


The family moved to Los Angeles around 1923/4 but seemed to have concentrated on the riding academy rather than movie making.

Walt Disney, big into polo in the 1930's, kept his ponies at Du Brock's stables. He was taught how to play polo by a Du Brock employee Gil Proctor.


sasakitime.com


Ruthie Thompson, who also worked at the stables at the time, went on to have a long successful career at Disney Studios.

I'm guessing that's Walter Du Brock on the left in your picture e_r ... with maybe his daughter Melba who was also a mainstay of the riding academy.

[ethereal_reality]

As promised. . .

Photographer Lucille Stewart, the person who took the Du Brock Academy photo, opened a stationery and camera shop on Pico Boulevard in 1957.


lapl We have seen this photograph on NLA back in 2012

Description:.... A crowd has gathered outside the Lucille Stewart Stationery & Camera Shop, located at 8838 W. Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, to celebrate the store's grand opening. Neighboring businesses include Selma's Smart Clothes and Florsheim (right). An empty storefront is seen on the left. Photograph taken on April 18, 1957."



I believe this second photograph is new to NLA.


lapl

"Neighboring businesses include Selma's Smart Clothes, Pico Washrite and "Ma" Gordons." (at first glance I thought it said Ma Condoms)





This color image (also new to NLA) shows the window at Lucille's Pico store. The photograph was taken around Christmas-time in 1961.


lapl

note 'Lucille Stewart' written in gold . . .her name also appears on the Kodak sign.



___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




Folks, this last image is a mystery location.


lapl

Description at LAPL...."Exterior view of the Lucille Stewart Stationery & Camera Shop, located at "1413" on an unidentified street in Los Angeles."

Does anyone recognize this building? It looks familiar but I can't quite place it.


.

[3940dxer]

Originally Posted by HossC

You can see my link to the original image in e_r's post above.

The same site also has a view from January 2, 1928, which I believe is a year before your house was built. Here's a close-up of your block (lightened a little for clarity). I wonder when the pines were planted.

mil.library.ucsb.edu

That's fantastic, thanks so much! Years ago I came across some older aerials of Burbank, but they weren't very clear and I couldn't pick out many details of my neighborhood.

I've long wondered about the history of the big pine trees, which line nearly the while length of Niagara Street in Burbank. They were one reason I bought my house back in '85...they reminded me of my home town in northern California. I've inquired with the city and asked a few local historians, but no one seems to have any idea why they were planted here. They keep our street nice and shady in the summer time but drip sap onto everyone's cars, so they're a mixed blessing. 25 or 30 years ago a big one fell down, right across the roof of a neighbor's cherished vintage car. Though terrible for him, it was kind of amusing to see. I took a photo before the city came out to remove the tree. Maybe I'll dig it up and post it here. (The photo, not the tree.)

It's been a great neighborhood. We used to have a restaurant / club called Chadney's at Niagara and Olive. It had a jazz room in the basement where some great musicians would show up to play. It burned down many years ago. Dick Clark Productions was across the street from Chadneys and of course NBC was just two blocks away. Sometimes I'd walk over there in the late afternoon to catch a taping of the Tonight Show.

I used to be one of the youngest homeowners on my block. But that was a long ago, and since then most of my older neighbors have passed away. Now, I'm one of the old timers here!

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Folks, this last image is a mystery location.



Description at LAPL...."Exterior view of the Lucille Stewart Stationery & Camera Shop,

located at "1413" on an unidentified street in Los Angeles."

Does anyone recognize this building?

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

So were looking at the corner of Pico and Robertson, which means the Spanish style two story is what i knew as "David's Pharmacy". It survived the Northridge quake with stucco damage but after the many after shocks, it was damaged beyond repair. David's rebuilt the current building, but i want to say it took a long while.From my memory, that was the only building in the area that got hit pretty bad. Miller Outpost was across the street (now Walgreen's).

[ethereal_reality]

Thank you so much for solving my mystery photograph, Flyingwedge.

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The tower with the cupola might belong to the Charles Stern mansion at 535 Mission Road, also on the same
Sanborn Map (look north of Macy Street). The mansion appears impressive, but I couldn't find a close-up view.
The mansion seems to have been completed in early 1891, according to Los Angeles Herald articles on January 1
and January 4.

I haven't been able to find a good photograph of the Stern Mansion either, FW.

I found this tidbit about a levee in the April 24, 1887 issue of the Los Angeles Herald.


Found HERE

I like that the covered bridge is mentioned.






I wasn't going to post this next article because of its size, but after I read it I decided to go ahead.
It's highly informative with lots of interesting facts!

........................................Los Angeles Herald, February 26, 1887.





So slow down...and take the time and read the article.






Now, wasn't that interesting!

Article found HERE


Hmmm. . .I wonder if the 'large' wine cellar mentioned was beneath the mansion?

or perhaps it was beneath one of the other buildings on property.
.

[Mstimc]

Interesting article on one of Noirsh's favorite subjects:

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...gn-competition