Hey All,

New Member here!… Searching for pics of a place from my childhood in LA ...(Ridgewood Military Academy in Woodland Hills) a few weeks ago brought me here and... I have been hooked ever since! ... I have made my way through a few hundred pages of this awesome thread and have become hopelessly addicted to the historical detective work and general appreciation of what was... time marches on but, the past is never as far as we imagine! My father’s mother rode on a horse drawn wagon all day as a young girl to go see what an electric lightbulb looked like...

Many thanks to all of you and Ethereal Reality for stewarding all the good efforts here!

Quick background on myself... I was born in Burbank in 1961...I lived my first 10 years on the hill across the Hollywood Freeway from Universal City and watched the Sheraton Universal being built from our living room and... I find it a bit sad that is now dwarfed by the surrounding buildings!… I lived in North Hollywood (near Victory and Vineland) for 4 years after that until we moved away... i still get down that way once or twice a year to visit my aunt... My years down there are always with me and I still visit those long gone places in my dreams...

I was happy to run across the RCA building in Hollywood where my father worked and Sy Devore, where I had my first haircut amongst the pages here... I attended Campbell Hall on Laurel Canyon, played ice hockey in the GLAMHA league for the North Hollywood Bruins, judo at the Hollywood and North Hollywood YMCAs, riding dirt bikes at Indian Dunes and under the power lines of the Whitnall Highway, Cottonwood day camp in the summer in Brentwood Canyon and summer science classes at The Armory Building next to The Old California Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park... If any of those are touchstones for others here, I would love to here from you!

I will do some digging on some LA Noir pics to post in days to come... For my first one, I will just go with one that is handy... A picture of the Roy Rogers tour about to embark from Republic Picture Studio in Studio City (You can see a bit of the name on the soundstage in the upper right) My parents are in the group here and this is where they met so... in a very real way, I owe the success of Roy Rogers’ career for my very existence.. All things are connected and I am glad I connected with this wonderful thread!

Thanks again and onward we go!

hookster

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8a7f9506_c.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr

PS... GO DODGERS!!!! :)

Welcome Hookster.

From your first post here I can see that you have many things to write about and to show us some of your photos.

What was that Roy Rogers Tour all about? I know that he worked at Republic Studio but was this some other excursion?

Rest assured we're always interested in new material.

CBD

Hi CBD!

Thank you for the welcome!

Roy Rogers was quite the marketing juggernaut in those days... They did nationwide tours that were a bit like the Wild West shows of days gone by... there would be trick riding and gun play, music and dancing.... Roy’s image sold everything from comic books, cap pistols, lunch boxes and everything else short of possibly only his own line of aquarium gravel!!!

My father was in his band, The Riders of the Purple Sage and appeared in about 30 of Roy’s films around the late 40s to early 50s era... He was also in a few Republic films with Rex Allen, known as “The Arizona Cowboy” as a member of “The Republic Rythm Riders” ... My mother had just finished a tour with Gene Autry in a dance act and they got picked up to go on the Roy Rogers tour.... Yadda, yadda yadda... I was born about 11 years later!!!

I have a lot of pics from the era... more noir than architectural but, You’ll be seeing more from me in days to come!

Onward we go!!!

Hookster :)

PS... Here are a few pics I just snapped from a program from one of the RR tours... it gives a glimpse of the size stadiums they were filling (LA Colosseum in this case)...and a hint of the amount of merchandising as well! :) My dad was part of the weekly radio show advertised with the Quaker Oats ad... :)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...911de9a5_c.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...16b4fa64_c.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...152efa01_c.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...54446628_c.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr

Onward!!!

Wow, I would have to say that Roy Rogers was an ''Industry'' all to itself.
I was too young at that time to be aware of it.....but I do remember a lot of interest in it.

Yes, onward.!

That's brilliant! I can barely draw a stick figure right-side up! He was proof talent and intelligence can't be suppressed forver.

I think you're right, ER. The vents on the structure's side and roof make me think its for a water heater. Maybe its there for ease of access for servicing and to keep the interior open. The door is too small to make the shed useful for bulky storage.

I suppose one could say architecture reflects the ethos if its times, and the streamline look of mid-century appealed to 50's and 60's sensibilities. We're temporarily living in Porto, Portugal so we can travel in Europe. Many of the medieval churches here underwent Rococo "renovations" in the 1700's and they can be overwhelming. Individual elements can be gorgeous, but taken as a whole it's almost anxiety-inducing; there's nowhere for your eyes or mind to rest.

Water heater, house heater and air conditioner.

Roy began his career as a merchandise power house when Herbert Yates (founder and president of Republic) wouldn't give Roy a raise, but said he could put his name on products and keep the profits. The King of the Cowboys put one over on old man Yates!

:tup:
:cheers:

I think this is going to be the Dodgers season!!!! :cheers:

Hey Doug,

Admittedly Roy's heyday was over before I came along as well but, his TV show from '51-'57 was still being aired in reruns when I was little...

Here is a bit more Hollywood Cowboy stuff from 1948... Souvenir Program from a Western Hall of Fame event, at The Olympic Auditorium, with lots of local sponsorship advertising...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9ca89172ee.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d4bff35ff5.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...213a920a65.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...873e63f02d.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr


BDiH..

This page mentions Herbert Yates... :)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1c1c58f5d0.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5fdde601d0.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr

Onward we go!!

Hookster :)

Hey All,

I also wanted to post this link with great pics and tribute to the old California Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park... It was totally redone and renamed The California Science Center so all the exhibits of old live on only in memory...

http://whmsicl.cnc.net/CMSI.html

Additionally, This site goes into mysterious goings on beneath the adjacent old armory building... I was in that building often when I was young and can attest to there being very dark and foreboding underground tunnels and rooms that were only partially covered with loose plywood at the time...

https://www.brotherhoodofthepurplefez.com/

Onward Marches Time...

That second link is a hoot. Congratulations to all involved in its production.

Cheers,

Earl

I like the sound of this opera. ;)

They were obviously singing your praises Hoss!!! :)

If by chance your user name is Bonanza related, My father also did some work with them when he produced this album by the cast...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6762cc50_o.jpgUntitled by l, on Flickr

It is still available on Amazon and YouTube in it's entirety... I remember he said he took Lorne Greene to lunch at The Brown Derby during one of the days they were recording and they were mobbed... Bonanza was in it's peak then!

Onward we go!

Hookster :)

.
These two slides are on eBay and they're goin' like gangbusters.


We've seen this corner of Sunset and Vine a million times it seems but in this view the photographer is standing a bit farther back from the street corner.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/qgzegs.jpg
Link


Note the red pole with white 'icicles'. I remember seeing one next to Angels Flight. (I said it was decorated for Christmas and, if I remember correctly, someone had the audacity to disagree with me ;))

And what, pray tell, is the small box on the thin pole? Literature for tourists?

16 bids so far. It's up to $99.00






This next slide is a dandy too!

As you can see it shows the Hollywood Radio & Television Institute.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/snbhb8.jpg
Link

Off to the side, and somewhat hidden in the trees, you can see a small theater (Music Box). The current production is 'Teahouse of the August Moon'.

I wonder if the man in the blue shirt with the yellow umbrella is selling Maps to the Stars. At first I thought the sidewalk was a broadwalk but now I see that's it's some kind of raised porch.

hmmm, but it's not a porch because the man is standing behind it.




8 bids so far. Up to $21.50.



.

I absolutely love this shot... Nice angle to view the Sy Devore sign as well as the rest of the signage!

Could they be bus schedules?

https://i1381.photobucket.com/albums...pslpgloqs9.jpg

You can play the spot-the-differences game in these two images....this pic was posted back on page 2403.

Is that a Rover P4 behind the pale blue Buick hardtop? If so, a pretty rara avis even for Los Angeles.

Cheers,

Earl