E_R, the second photo above makes me think this location is where the Clover Club was on Sunset Blvd.

The first below looking down to Sunset looks like the "Officer's Club" photo.


And this souvenir photo cover looks like the streamline building's design.

https://petermoruzzi.files.wordpress...pg?w=640&h=498VintageLV


I don't recall reading anything about it being an offcier's club, though.

____________________________________

In some further research, J.H. Graham's website has all the ins & outs of this address with it's gambling raids, trouble with the law, going in and out of business and name changes and such. The last line of the article says, "On October 27, 1950, it was announced that it would become the new home of the Army & Navy Officer’s Club, which still occupied the building when it burned down, January 28, 1952."

So the scrapbook photos were taken less than a year before the place burned down.

L.A. Times, January, 1952.
https://jhgrahambooks.files.wordpres...pg?w=615&h=588J.H. Graham

https://jhgrahambooks.files.wordpres...nset-strip.jpgJ.H. Graham

It's probably familiar because you posted the picture below about eight years ago, e_r. The full post is here.

It's a shame that this complex had to be destroyed, and is buried under the concrete highway. How nice it must have been to drive through the pass and finally hit Hollywood and some nice themed architecture!

I wonder if the complex could have been a little more south, or a part of it was, or relocated down highland. I've always been curious about 2000 N. Highland, it's set farther back from the street, and while it's normally hard to see due to overgrown ficus trees, when they are trimmed you can see tile roofs and even a tower, although more reminiscent of an Italian village than merry old England.

Anyone know what the story is of this property?

Can't figure out how to post the streetview (?) but here's a link to the subject property:

Google Streetview

And here's a better view from the rear, Las Palmas is a bit higher, and in breaks through the shrubs you can see the tower:
Google Streetview (Las Palmas)

.

Here's the Las Palmas view Arch2000 is talking about.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/jEHQqd.jpg
Google Streetview (Las Palmas)

I remember that whimsical tower! I'd forgotten all about it.

We discussed the property years ago but now I can't remember what we found out.



Equally intriguing, as Arch2000 pointed out, is the front view on Highland Ave.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/i7bzgV.jpg
Google Streetview

That wall is begging for a cat burgler.






Here's the location of the whimsical tower property. (red rectangle below)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/hE7C4v.jpg

I guess it's possible it was once located on the French Village property but it does seem too far south on Highland Ave.







Back to the French Village. (for the people who don't click on links)


Here's a rather bucolic view.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/n02Qgd.jpg
link at bottom.

Charming, isn't it.







Oh, what the heck. Here's one more.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/DYn4NW.jpg

All that's missing is seven little dwarves milling about.




One more!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/VqVYa7.jpg

So there were two Tower Houses?...What did the second Tower House look like? :shrug:



Thanks to vintage_everyday....via....Paradise Leased
.

.
Oh, wait.




We can't overlook Minnie Muchmore's Monkey House.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/P4Dhj9.jpg


I imagine there's an interesting story behind this house. ..:)







.

Hi everybody :cheers:

While not an american , nore do i live in the states (yet) , i am a huge vintage americana lover.

Here's an interesting RPC from 1920s

https://i.imgur.com/8rKaLOp.jpg

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:previous: Welcome to NLA Mister Vintage!

That's a terrific postcard of the "House of Davis" apartment building. We saw it once before years ago & HossC located the building & it's still standing!


The building was constructed in 1928.


And I believe it was called the "House Of Davis" because of the gentleman mentioned in a previous post. Go Here

The back of the post card looks like this

https://i.imgur.com/HQszRv6.jpg

.
mystery location


I just happened upon the following two slides.

"1969 kodachrome photo slide King's Auto dealer Los Angeles Hollywood CA #1"

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/tGHwGx.jpg
Link

Okay, you car hounds. Name those cars!




The location of this second slide is especially interesting. I'm intrigued by the ramp.


"1969 photo slide King's Auto dealer Los Angeles Hollywood CA #2 classic cars"


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/pgwSva.jpg
Link

I searched old directories for "King's Auto" but the result was "No Results".
Then I tried just "King's", and Holey Moley, there are hundreds of King's this and hundred's of King's that . .from artifical limbs to plumbing!





I just noticed a very good clue in the second slide. I'll see if anyone catches it. :)



.

From right to left, I think we have two MGs flanking a red Morgan. The fourth could be a Morris, and then there's a Jaguar XK-E (E-Type), an AC Cobra and a Maserati 3500 GT. Not sure after that other than a beach buggy at the back which is more than likely based on a VW Beetle.

I'm not so sure of the cars in this one (the red one for $3950 looks like another Maserati 3500 GT and there's a Rolls Royce behind it), but the location appears to be on Sunset Boulevard looking west across Londonderry Place (the ramp) to Mel's Drive-In (behind the "Service" canopy on the left. Shoreham Towers are in the background to the right of center.

Japanese Children Los Angeles CA 1910

https://i.imgur.com/HO8exie.jpg

Oh man those cars........at those prices I'll take the whole lot!

:previous:

I think the silver car on the right is a TVR Griffith 200.

https://i.imgur.com/tGNAfpe.jpg?1

Tvr
 

I wanted one of those so badly. Griffith had a 289 engine in them. there was also a Vixen with a six cylinder engine.

Stately Home- only a memory now
 

Here is a long-gone home, probably considered middle-class for its time but today (if in good shape) would be worth million(s). 1244 Fourth Avenue, in the Country Club park area north of Pico:

http://pastvu.com/_p/a/9/p/y/9pyrv9vr96yj74wha3.jpeg
Pastvu.com

Taken in 1928, as noted on the picture.

The site is currently the 'Concord House' apartment building, a pretty crummy looking mid-century apartment complex, although there appears to be older, nicer multi-family building 'Delphene Manor' to the north, and the building to the south, 1250 4th street, may be a survivor (although since converted to apartments).

A few more car IDs:

The blue car at the front is very reminiscent of a Bugatti Type 35, especially the grille and the color, but the wheels and lights look more "hot rod", so maybe a replica.

The red car next to it (for $3000) is a 1954/55 Ferrari 250 Europa GT. $3000 in 1969 is around $22,000 in 2021, but good ones now sell for well into seven figures.

The light-colored car behind them is a circa 1960 Mercedes-Benz 220 with an attractive 2-tone paint job. Not such a good investment as the Ferrari, but probably still worth at least 10 times the asking price in real terms.

Like a couple of the cars in the other photo, the car on the far left appears to have a British black & silver license plate. My guess would be a Bentley.

I think you're right, the cream colored car on the far left is a Bentley R Type, ca. 1953-54. Looks to be a convertible, excuse me, drophead coupe. They appear to go for around $125K these days.

Cheers,

Earl

Using the data on the property websites (it's quicker than going through the building permits!), it looks like Concord House was built in 1956. While it may not be as attractive as the house above, it seems to be well maintained and not a bad example of its style. Delphene Manor was built in 1928, so may be just out of view in the image above. I can't see a build date for 1230/1232, but 1222 4th Street was built in 1921, and 1214 4th Street was built in 1916. It also looks like you're right about 1250 4th Avenue being a survivor - it has a build date of 1922. The single dwellings I've mentioned above have estimated values of $1-2million.

Location is Londonderry Pl. at Sunset.

Here's the aerial from UCSB:
https://i.postimg.cc/153yt1Rn/Screen...-24-193431.jpg

"Three Billboards Not Outside Los Angeles, California"


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

At the May Co. building, 1950....an Ida Wyman photo (we just saw her work in the San Antonio, TX. "Transette" picture).....Cresta Blanca was one of the first California mass-market wines.




https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

4100 block of W. Olympic Blvd., 1950.


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
gsv




It seems to me we may have seen this one before, but I searched every which way and nothing came up....apologies if it has been posted.....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
artsy.net

The photo was taken in 1981 by Grant Rusk, it's titled "4th St., Los Angeles".....clearly the billboard had not survived from 1936 when the picture was released (it's not a location where a billboard would have been feasible anyway) so I figured it had to be for a film shoot...I ran "Love Before Breakfast" on IMDB, scrolled down to the "movie connections" tab, found this:

Pennies from Heaven (1981)
Billboard shown. 


To get the shot Rusk would have been standing right around the street light.... 

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds



500 Mateo St.....the building now houses the trendy Bavel restaurant and Verve Coffee.....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

^^^

I watched Pennies from Heaven recently and knew that billboard was from that before I scrolled down to see that you (riichkay and BDiH) did, too. You could see that billboard in the background when they had a scene under that bridge that the photographer took the photo from.

.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/XtFxf4.jpg




That's what I spotted too Hoss but I remember it as Ben Frank's.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/JTXDkW.jpg
charles phoenix

Late at night he place was packed with the famous and the infamous.

An exemplary example of mid-century googie architecture. We're lucky it has survived.

.
mystery location SOLVED


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/7xSuDS.jpg
OFFICERS CLUB OF LOS ANGELES / PHOTO ALBUM / EBAY
Fantastic sleuthing Martin Pal! I thought the entrance looked vaguely familiar but I wouldn't have guessed the old Clover Club on Sunset Blvd.

Thanks for your help. :)

.

.

Here is a very interesting photograph available on eBay



It shows the southeast corner of Sunset and Vine in 1930.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/vR9fON.jpg
Link


We know this because it's written on the reverse.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/FfeDwL.jpg






The sleuth in me has been trying to decipher the large billboard.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/Zf7ABV.jpg
detail

What I see (what I think I see) is. . .umm. . .Clara Bow(?) in a clown outfit and the word "SWEETIE". What I don't see is the title of the movie.:shrug:








And lastly let's examine the left side of the photograph.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/M1i8S9.jpg

As you can see there are still private homes along Sunset (I'm not sure how long they'll last after 1930). There's a "For Lease" sign in front of the narrow white building next to the house.


.

.
This next photograph is a rare snapshot of Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevards taken in 1901. It's a bit blurry because the photographer might be dangling from a tree. (where else could he be?)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/sI9px6.jpg
Link

The location doesn't include which corner. If I were to wager a guess I'd say the hills we see in the distance are the Baldwin Hills
which would make this the. . .*thinks real hard*. . .the southeast umm. . .no. . .the southwest . . .the southeast corner. ...(hell I don't know which corner this is)




Here's what is written on the reverse.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/EgsbAT.jpg










I'm intrigued by something that is going on in the lower left corner.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/mN4Yd2.jpg
detail

It's obviously a man digging a mass grave.


I'm kidding. Your guess is as good as mine.






Oh, and one last thing.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/XfHlfA.jpg

What type of utility is this?...I've never seen anything quite like it.

It reminds me of something you might use to dry your clothes. (if you were really tall.





.

I think it's a Beckman Furs billboard.

Here's another one on Wilshire Boulevard circa 1937.

https://i.imgur.com/MTU8qK2.jpg
tessa.lapl.org

Here is the same billboard on Vermont near Wilshire
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bcd74b9c_b.jpg
Order Number 00009303
Title Rail lines on Vermont near Wilshire
Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

And thanks for finding all the wonderful treasures you locate on eBay!!! How many fascinating things have we gotten to discover! I really am quite serious about that, E_R!

Including that photo above of the 1930 southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine!!!

Good job, Noir Noir and Snix, of deciphering that billboard!!! Amazing!

E_R, you had written: What I see (what I think I see) is. . .umm. . .Clara Bow(?) in a clown outfit and the word "SWEETIE". What I don't see is the title of the movie.

Clara Bow's last film release, Hoopla, did take place in a carnival! But it was released in 1933. She didn't like her voice, but, really, she's quite appealing in her sound films, and Hoopla is excellent. Her voice wasn't all that different than, say, Jean Harlow's.

Streetcar Wires Support
 

It's a support for two lines of streetcar wires. Presumably one track per direction. The rails are faintly visible on the street.

Yes, definitely. Very "arty" lettering shows up when you put it in an image processing app and reduce the gamma.

Earl

Beckman Furs was at 521 W. 7th.

Its building began as the Bronson Block/Bronson Bldg.:

https://i.postimg.cc/sg0TnPLX/Bronson-Block.jpg
credit contained in image

In 1915, E.R. Brackett entered into a twenty-year lease of the building ("The structure had been empty from the day of its completion," quoth the LA Times on April 23, 1916), and made some alterations to create shopping space on the upper floors to create the "Brack Shops."

https://i.postimg.cc/5tYnDYcm/Bronso...AT-16-4-23.jpg
LA Times, April 23, 1916

:previous:

I found this picture of Beckman Furs at 521/523 W 7th Street which I think is new to NLA. It's dated 1933.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
USC Digital Library

The building's still recognizable, even if some of the details have been lost/covered - see Google Maps.

I love this shot and had nothing better to do than see how close I could get using GSV. This is the best I could do and it's from 2011. Apologies for the lack of focus but that's what happens when you mess around with everything else. It always seems impossible to get the same perspective and I was unable to frame it with the May Co canopy cutting off at the top and also show the building across the street, which was leveled in 2016.
Some things I noticed that were present in both 1950 and 2011 are school kids, bus stop, shotgun style Fairfax Ave sign and the newspaper rack. The Wilshire Special street lamps are gone as is the mail drop box and May Co, obviously, although the building remains.

https://i.imgur.com/RHMsASC.png?1GSV

I was curious about the two paintings of the tiger and lion. They seem a bit odd. I mean, surely they're not advertising tiger and lion fur coats, right?
I also wondered if it was a good idea to have the paintings outside on the exterior of the building. (they wouldn't last long in a harsher climate / one Chicago winter would be the end of them)

So I decided to take a closer look at them.. .. .. ..


If you look closely there is neon encircling the paintings.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/n0jk66.jpg
detail





same with the tiger painting.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/zt1qXT.jpg


The neon would give the paintings a somewhat surreal, glowing effect at night.


And then I had an epiphany.


Considering the irregular shape of the panels I believe the paintings are from an old. . .drum roll please . . .Merry-Go-Round. ...:ahhh:


Whaddya think?

Did Mr. Beckman scavenge the paintings from a circus?



.

:previous:

The paintings appear to be flush with the rest of the sign panel, so while they may have been inspired by merry-go-round artwork, I don't think they were actually taken from one.

I found an advert for Beckman Furs in a Mayan Theatre booklet from the 1930s. Mink coats were on sale for $880, reduced from a regular price of $1200-1300. I knew fur coats were luxury items for the wealthy, but assuming that the advert is from 1935, $880 would be around $17,000 in 2021 and $1300 would be around $25,000!

The boys in these two photos (1950 & 1951) have similar stances. Don't know why I felt the need to point that out. :shrug:

Right, frequently they are curved along with the curved frame of the merry-go-round; but sometimes carousel artwork along the edges of the main structure (and decorating the inner core/axle) can be flat rather than curved:

https://i.postimg.cc/85sP3p3R/carousel.jpg
pinterest

Yes Odinthor, sometimes things can be so confusing and strange. The other day I was looking at the cloudy sky over Hollywood and one of the clouds looked like a bunny rabbit and another one looked like a lion. Can you imagine that?

I usually don't talk about it on NLA....I just keep it to myself.

I guess we have a new topic on NLA...carousel artwork.

Beckman's cousin was a circus painter.

.
Whoa

Do tell.

.
We have seen Santa Monica's enormous Arcadia Hotel on NLA but I believe this might be a view that we haven't seen before.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/xKchy7.jpg
eBay


I'm curious about the large barn-like building on the far right. I'm quite sure we haven't seen it before.





Here's a closer look at the structures to the south of the hotel including the structure in question. - - - - - - ->

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/HbefGu.jpg
detail





Oh, and one last thing.

I believe this is a photographer's wagon. (you can see it at far left in the detail immediately above)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/HlMnAe.jpg

I don't believe it's a portable dressing room because the bathhouse, no doubt with changing rooms, is right there.


.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

What was going on in the city on this apparently chilly 1950 afternoon?....let's check the Her-Ex headline.....


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

"Dorsey Says City Can Be Ordered To Ban All Autos Blocking Streets" (I think).....seems rather draconian, but without the context it's hard to say what was being proposed.


The "Dorsey" in question appears to be Ralph T. Dorsey, city traffic chief....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
1920's


He gave us the world's greatest pacifier, otherwise known as the pedestrian push-button signal.....a mini-bio from here:  https://ladot.lacity.org/sites/defau...fornia.pdf  ......


Ralph T. Dorsey was the first Traffic Engineer for the City of Los Angeles and a colorful and remarkable person. He was born in Downtown Los Angeles and received a high school education. He was the nephew of Susan Miller Dorsey after whom the high school in Los Angeles is named. He was a short, wiry man who became a semi-pro baseball player, a flyweight boxer, a miner and finally, an electrician, a trade that he learned from correspondence school. He was employed as an electrician with the City of Los Angeles when the first experiments with automated traffic signals were underway. 

He was the inspector of the initial signal system of 31 intersections in Downtown Los Angeles. In this capacity he not only became an expert in the operation of traffic signals, but more importantly in the operation of traffic through signal timing techniques. The roots of traffic engineering lie in the art of safe and efficient intersectional traffic operation. Dorsey epitomized that art by being the first person to successfully control pedestrians, operate an interconnected signal system (with a control center), develop optimum signal system offsets, and develop 16 daily timing plans all by 1926. In 1928 he pioneered reverse lane operation, and in one case, 12th Street was operated as a reversible one-way street. Also, in1928 he applied the first known railroad pre-emption features. He installed the first known pedestrian push button signal in January 1929.

He had the longest tenure as the City’s top transportation official. From June 1930 until his retirement in 1954 he headed the Bureau of Street Traffic Engineering, the Department of Street Traffic Engineering, the Department of Traffic Engineering and the Department of Traffic. He indeed was a pioneer, an innovator, a character and one who invented ways to keep traffic flowing long before there were standard practices.   

Greetings all! I've been away for a spell so it's taken me a while to write and say thank you for the nice words said about the book here and here. BHLA has certainly been well received!

So, speaking of Bunker Hill, I thought it might be of interest to the assembled that there's been something of a discovery...where once there were no extant surviving houses from the Hill, it seems there is one, and a good one at that...

https://bunkerhilllosangelescom.file...2.00.22-am.png

https://bunkerhilllosangelescom.file...2-am.png?w=519

Read all about it here https://bunkerhilllosangeles.com/2021/02/27/a-survivor/

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Two slides take in "1967, Venice". (per the seller)


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/79dMiM.jpg
eBay

This is my face..:stunned:..when I noticed the two young boys riding in front.







This kid said 'Hold my beer'.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/4dX7Vs.jpg
eBay

The blonde boy :previous: in the white t-shirt might be the kid on the right in the first slide.



Has anyone heard of the advertisers. . . Royal Star Apartments or Ron's Restaurant?



.

Dorsey !
 

Fascinating subject ! Thanks. His glasses are very 1920s...

Its a relief to have a post about a person rather than the usual building!

Those end-riders probably didn't have the coins for the ride.

I hope nobody ever attempted to dive off of the pier in the foreground.