noirish Los Angeles

[Blaster]

I feel like I need to walk through these rooms in Hush Puppies.

[ethereal_reality]

Here's a rare look at the interior of the Wilshire Bowl Nightclub (later Slapsy Maxie's)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIG-Vintage...wAAOSwLF1X2W0N

I'm somewhat surprised by the wooden bar...I thought it would be fancier (this looks like something my grandfather might have built)


Here's the photographer's stamp on the reverse.


detail



Luckily, "Wilshire Bowl" is written on the back. (I doubt that we could have figured out the location without this info)


reverse
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Here's a reminder of what the nightclub looked like in the 1930s when the above photograph was taken.


https://www.laconservancy.org/locati...ies-demolished






I believe this excellent night view from 1947 is new to NLA.


https://www.laconservancy.org/locati...ies-demolished



Here's a brief history for newcomers to NLA.

"The site originally housed the petite Art Deco tower of the Wilshire Bowl, a nightclub that offered dinner and dancing
to the big-band sounds of Phil Harris' orchestra for the flat rate of $1.50 ($2 on Saturdays).

The building later changed owners and became Slapsy Maxie's, then the Mardi Gras, both nightclubs.

It was eventually demolished to make way for the sleek lines of the modern Van de Kamp's coffee shop designed by Welton Becket and Associates,
whose offices were next door at 5657 Wilshire.

The large coffee shop was designed to serve 13,000 individuals a day and beckoned to Wilshire motorists with a bright canopy, glass walls, and pair of
huge Van de Kamp's windmills attached to an integrated sign pylon.

The structure was eventually demolished, and an office supply store now occupies the site."
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more images here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3770

a sepia photo here
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3772
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[ethereal_reality]

rare 'noirish' ephemera


Business card for private detective, Si Darling.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1930s-Busine...MAAOSwwpdW3jjw

The seller says this is probably from the 1930s, but the graphics make me think earlier, like the 1920s . (but that's just a guess mind you)
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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Blaster

I lived in this neighborhood from about 1980-1983.

The derelict Spanish Kitchen was there at the time. You could peer in through the dusty windows and still make out the abandoned tables complete with tablecloths, napkins, plates and silverware, set for customers who were never to come.

El Coyote was on the other side of Beverly, a block or two East. It hasn't changed much in all these years.

I remember gazing through the windows of the old Spanish Kitchen too.

Do you remember an old Chinese restaurant on the same side of the street as the Spanish kitchen?
We used to eat there when the lines at El Coyote were too long.

I remember once, the waiter brought out a stack of plates to a large table next to ours and when he got down to the fourth plate or so
two or three cockroaches were scurrying around on the plate. The whole table screamed and fled.

Oh, and I just remembered....

You could park in the back and walk through the kitchen!
(it was surreal, there were boiling pots with steam everywhere and chicken parts & men chopping vegetables with huge cleavers.

I hope someone remembers the name of this place. I'd love to find an old matchbook or something.
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One more thing:

Here's the link to a Los Angeles Times article from 1986 about the 'deserted' Spanish Kitchen.

http://articles.latimes.com/print/20...local/me-then1

(first posted back in 2011)

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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

rare 'noirish' ephemera

Business card for private detective, Si Darling.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1930s-Busine...MAAOSwwpdW3jjw

The seller says this is probably from the 1930s, but the graphics make me think earlier, like the 1920s . (but that's just a guess mind you)

Si Darling's detective agency is listed at 9406 S Main Street in the 1934 and 1939 CDs (it disappears between these dates). The 1934 CD lists his home address as 340 W 132nd Street. There's a Si Darling at 231 W 118th Street in the CDs from 1956 through to 1963, although it doesn't say whether this is a home or a business address. Maybe oldstuff can dig up some census info to narrow down the date of the card.

[Martin Pal]

HossC, thanks for the interior photos of the Bowler House!
I love looking at them, but I don't know if I could actually live in that house!

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

HossC, thanks for the interior photos of the Bowler House!
I love looking at them, but I don't know if I could actually live in that house!

The interior is so visually stimulating I wonder if one could ever find a calm spot to sit and relax.

[BifRayRock]

"Hey what are you, a retired bootlegger?"

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Mike D-- Here's a screen capture of the Stephenson's "Boone City" building, and another street view:



Samuel Goldwyn Company/RKO Radio Pictures




Google Street View

308 N. Sycamore

The March '28 building permit says: "1000 buckets of Portland Cement and 5.5 tons of reinforced steel."






http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pbAEJxA3Y2...0/DSCN4111.JPG






October 10, 1932 (Looking NE)
http://digitallibrary.californiahistoricalsociety.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A1305?solr_nav[id]=5204aad2fa8f40ca574c&solr_nav[page]=0&solr_nav[offset]=10





1932






GStreetView






GStreetView







GStreetView

[HossC]

The Hawaii Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard isn't new to NLA (see links below), but we haven't seen these Julius Shulman pictures before. This is "Job Lee-H: Hawaii Theatre, undated". As you can see, the set is undated. According to cinematreasures.org, the Hawaii Theatre opened on 6th May 1940. The information with this photoset credits S Charles Lee as architect, but Cinema Treasures and the online building records say the architect was Clarence J Smale. 'The Mill on the Floss' was released in 1936.



I've omitted half of the pictures in this set so you don't get overloaded. I hope Martin Pal will spot anything I've missed .



This is the first view of the auditorium that the audience would have had, but it's usual for it to be photographed.



Here's a view of the back from near the screen.



The Hawaiian theme went all the way down the walls.



Did the theaters have a child minding service? There are two pictures of this room.



All from Getty Research Institute

As I said above, we've seen the Hawaii Theatre before, including color shots showing off its neon - see post #9959, post #29399 and post #29814. The theater has been in the hands of one religious organization or another since the mid-60s. Here's a reminder of how 5941 Hollywood Boulevard looks today.


GSV

[BifRayRock]

Northeast view of Hollywood Boulevard from St. Andrews Place



5533 Hollywood Blvd. and the former St. Francis Hotel/Apartments




http://digitallibrary.californiahist...landora%3A1314




GStreetView








Let's not forget the Apollo Theater!




1945 - Apollo
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014449.jpg




1932 - Blondie of the Follies
http://aolx.tmsimg.com/movieposters/...44_p_v7_aa.jpg

[BifRayRock]

Granville Towers - Voltaire Apts.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

https://www.hollywoodphotographs.com...?c=20&i=1&r=48








Fire today at Granville Towers on Crescent Heights Blvd.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

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Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Never quite understood why this building's address has been listed as both odd and even, e.g., 1421 and 1424. Reasonably sure that Joseph Schenk and his wife, Norma Talmadge had something to do with the construction and/or ownership of the building, formerly known as the Voltaire Apts. Apparently, it is no stranger to fires.






February, 1935
http://www.lafire.com/stations/archi...ltaireFire.htm

December, 1932, Crescent Heights, Garden of Allah . . .
http://digitallibrary.californiahist...landora%3A1325

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Did you notice, HossC, in the lobby image you omitted there were autographs of movie stars on the glass, written in wax or lipstick or what would it have been? Wonder if they were real or something else?

I was down the street a few blocks from this 8056 location on Monday night at 7290 Beverly Blvd. at Poinsettia, a place called MILK, which serves cookies, ice cream, yogurt and things like that.

It's in a nice art deco style building:


Vince Robbins/L.A. Travel Guide


Michael Jiroch

A couple nearby shops:




While we were there we wondered what might have been located there in the past. I didn't find out much about it, except the architect was J.R. Harris. It was built in 1931. When it was completed it was advertised as "a large and light prime location for Drug Store, Beauty and Barber Shop...Dress Shop, etc." Most recently there was a place called Cafe Creme located there and fashion designer Richard Tyler occupied the space for many years as "Richard Tyler Couture."

Originally Posted by HossC

I found a clock manufacturer named Sidney Lewis listed at 4922 Santa Monica Boulevard in the 1938 CD - could he be the maker of the clock above? He's listed as S A Lewis in the 1939 CD, and again in the 1942 CD, where his address has moved to 7274 Beverly Boulevard.

Here's the building on Beverly Boulevard - 7274 is directly under the "Poinsettia" sign. According to propertyshark.com, it was built in 1931.


GSV

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=28503

[BifRayRock]

Related?


Ebay

[ethereal_reality]

Here's an interesting slide from the 1950s that shows the wide median strip of the Hollywood Freeway near Vermont Ave. (so says the seller on eBay)


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOOKING-TO...AAAOSwpLNX9Xyi


They're a bit difficult to see, but could one of the buildings in the distance be the recently discussed Jewish Federation Bldg?


this one (with the gold key)

eBay
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Here's a closer look at the buildings in the distance.

detail

I don't recognized that 'tower' apartment building on the hill over on the right------>

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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

Si Darling's detective agency is listed at 9406 S Main Street in the 1934 and 1939 CDs (it disappears between these dates). The 1934 CD lists his home address as 340 W 132nd Street. There's a Si Darling at 231 W 118th Street in the CDs from 1956 through to 1963, although it doesn't say whether this is a home or a business address.

Thanks for the information on Si Darling Hoss.



Here's his 'office' that's printed on the card.

gsv

ebay



And his residence.

gsv

ebay
I think 'Si Darling' is a perfect name for a noirish private eye.

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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's an interesting slide from the 1950s that shows the wide median strip of the Hollywood Freeway near Vermont Ave. (so says the seller on eBay)

...

They're a bit difficult to see, but could one of the buildings in the distance be the recently discussed Jewish Federation Bldg?

...

Here's a closer look at the buildings in the distance.

detail

I don't recognized that 'tower' apartment building on the hill over on the right------>

The tower is the end of the old Osteopathic Sanitarium Hospital. As GW's post pointed out, the building's still there, although it now has an addition on the Temple Street side.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL

The LAPL caption: "An aerial view of the Osteopathic Sanitarium Hospital, located at 235 N. Hoover Street. The photograph shows a long, 5-story brick building with numerous windows throughout, a large rooftop patio, and lush gardens in front. On its left, the sloping hill has building debris scattered about, and the right and rear show numerous homes and streets. The hospital is now known as Temple Community Hospital."

The white houses below the tower in the original picture are still standing on Oakwood Avenue.


GSV

To answer the original question, the Jewish Federation Building would have been behind the camera to the left.

[ethereal_reality]

I should have waited a few minutes.

Here's a second Hollywood Freeway slide from the same photographer.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-CARS-Los...EAAOSwpLNX9Xzp

What's flowering odinthor?

Be sure to pan right to see the large building at the edge of the photo-----> I believe it's the old Bekins Bldg on Beverly Blvd, right?



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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Be sure to pan right to see the large building at the edge of the photo-----> I believe it's the old Bekins Bldg on Beverly Blvd, right?

GW's showed us that one too. It's the former American Storage Company building on Beverly Boulevard. See post #7809. Here's a current view.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

One of my favorite buildings! It's the one that used to have a nightclub at the top in the 1920s/30s. I forget club's name. I think it was a number.

Originally Posted by HossC

To answer the original question, the Jewish Federation Building would have been behind the camera to the left.

oops. I thought we were looking west.

[ethereal_reality]

Here's another slide I just found on eBay.

It shows the Spring Street entrance to City Hall with a Shelter sign out front.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOS-ANGELES-...EAAOSwLnBX5keI


Does anyone know when the Shelter signs were taken down and replaced with the nuclear fallout signs?





http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/signs/


Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing any Fallout Shelter signs on City Hall. I'm sure they were there somewhere, right?

(or was the Hall of Records building the designated fallout shelter for government employees)


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