'mystery' building.



"1924 Orig. LOS ANGELES Photo STORYBOOK COTTAGE Amusement Park OFFICE California."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/908/Ngud22.jpg
eBay

If I remember correctly, the seller also had snapshots from 1924 and 1926 showing Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake,
so perhaps this 'storybook' cottage' was somewhere in that vacationland area.
(but the landscape in the photograph above appears flat...so I'm not sure)


reverse of photo
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...538/awwDzI.jpg

Thank you CBD

-----------------------------------------

Westwood Village is looking mighty civilized here. Thx, that was fun to see. I loved shopping at Chandlers:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...33628%2BPM.jpg
rafael

:previous: You shopped at Chandlers t2.... that's cool.
So was the 'French Room' a specific area reserved for French designers? -or was the whole store considered the 'French Room'?




And here's another 'mystery' location.


"1924 Original LOS ANGELES ROADSIDE Photo ESSMAN RESTAURANT Café CALIFORNIA."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/910/pnbjaH.jpg
eBay

Not sure what Essman means in the description; unless it's the name that appears above the word cafe on the sign.
The design reminds me of the Tam-O-Shanter on Los Feliz Blvd., as well as a couple other venues that we've seen on NLA.


reverse

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...911/6D1NfA.jpg

:previous: I just noticed it says 'Laurelwood'......I wonder why that wasn't included in the seller's description? It seems like a pretty important clue.
At the moment I can't think of where the Laurelwood 'subdivision' was located.

I agree NoirCityDame.

And here's another idyllic scene from the 1940s. (from the same group that included the Hollywood High School slide.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/DkDon3.jpg
eBay

Westlake Park....MacArthur Park after the war.

__

I found some references to an Essman Cafe on Ventura Boulevard just after the date of the photo. The first says it was near the entrance to Laurel Canyon. I don't know if this is the one from the picture above.

The Van Nuys News, July 17, 1925

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original
www.newspapers.com

Then things get confusing. Over a year later, Mr Essman anounces that he's building a new cafe on Ventura Boulevard, and it's to be called the Essman Cafe. Although the article says that Mr Essman formerly managed the California Country Club, no mention is made of a previous Essman Cafe.

The Van Nuys News, November 2, 1926

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
www.newspapers.com

True to his word, less than a month later there was an announcement of the opening of Mr Essman's new cafe at 12949 Ventura Boulevard.

The Van Nuys News, November 19, 1926

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original
www.newspapers.com

A year later the Essmans had their car stolen while attending a moving picture show.

The Van Nuys News, December 13, 1927

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original
www.newspapers.com


--------------


PS. Happy Birthday, tovangar2. :happybirthday:

:previous: Excellent sleuthing Hoss!
I looked for 'Essman' in the Los Angeles City Directories (two different directories from the 1920s) and only found one Essman, a carpenter,
but no mention of a café or restaurant.

The seller of the Essman Café snapshot, also has this March 1924 image of the Tam-O-Shanter on eBay. (I briefly mentioned the Tam-O-Shanter earlier today)


"1924 Original LOS ANGELES Photo TAM-O'SHANTER INN Los Feliz Blvd. CALIFORNIA."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/bcuB4u.jpg
eBay

:previous: I'd love to know who the three people are.
...I hope that car isn't leaking gasoline. :(




reverse
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...661/935yli.jpg

___________






below: this is from an earlier NLA post.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/g4DKx1.jpg
lapl

Tam-O-Shanter post
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=18805

If I remember correctly this fine looking 'neo-classical' bank with the six ionic columns was located in Santa Monica.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...538/ZvLzX6.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...910/1pgZTV.jpg
old file of mine / probably from the Huntington Collection.

:previous: I can't quite read the bank's name. -something O....ending in ark.





built in 1902.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...909/hyses6.jpg
detail





there was also an Edison Electric Co. store in the bank building.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/iNgBDY.jpg
detail







*did you notice the sleeping dog? ;)

:previous:

"Ocean Park Bank"

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...75540%2BPM.jpg
water and power

From a glass-plate negative, 19 May 1905:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...81330%2BPM.jpg
wikicommons/chs

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-M...82934%2BPM.jpg
11 July 1902 CDNC (san francisco call)


---------------------------------------------------

I think "French Room" referred to all of Chandler's e_r, not an actual room within the store. The Miracle Mile branch was bigger and also luxe.

--------------------------------------------------

Thank you HossC

:previous: Thanks for locating the Ocean Park Bank t2.
I should have figured out the writing on the bank window (O...ending in ark)
__





'mystery' girl.

Ione Murphy, age 16, Los Angeles 1928.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...673/UDrP8T.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1928-Press-P...item566717910f

reverse
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...912/L8q8Xt.jpg

I am curious why a 16 year old girl would be featured in a 1928 'press' photo.
HossC, can you find anything on newspaper.com? (I'm not a member)

__

from yesterday.


I'm curious about the billboard "Dance At Home" (is that a 'tunnel-like' opening in the center of the billboard?)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/9zCKY6.jpg

The sign between the bus and the billboard appears to be a Texaco Station.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/908/h1Msz4.jpg
ebay

News Flash from 1917
 

At the end of my very long post on the history of the Rand-Cone House (aka Baldwin Hills Oil Field House), there was some question as to whether the shotgun blast that inflicted the fatal, "frightful wound" to the head of Charles Wellington Rand was an accident, as his family claimed, or a suicide.

If you want to look back at the story, it's here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19217

Well, as it turns out, it was suicide:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...d.jpg~original
The Daily Gate City and Constitution Democrat (Keokuk, IA), November 5, 1917 @ Library of Congress -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lc...rRange&page=23

Who were the bean fisheries of the other will(s)? Rand's ex-wife, Madeline? His older brother, Elbridge? His business partner, Ralph Chandler? Was the last will actually contested? I guess there's still a little more to this story to run down . . . .

It looks like 16-year-old Ione Gail Murphy, aka Patsy Gail, was the alleged victim of an assault by Arthur Hudkins at a "wild party".

The Times (San Mateo, California), July 30, 1928

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...oneMurphy1.jpg
www.newspapers.com

Her name is also given as Gale Murphy.

Woodland Daily Democrat, July 31, 1928

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...oneMurphy2.jpg
www.newspapers.com

Less than two weeks later, the charges were dismissed. Note that the accuser's name has changed slightly to Iona Gale Murphy.

The San Bernardino County Sun, August 10, 1928

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...oneMurphy3.jpg
www.newspapers.com

Arthur Hudkins hit the headlines again in 1941 when he was convicted on battery charges after a "saloon brawl".

Santa Ana Register, October 9, 1941

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...oneMurphy4.jpg
www.newspapers.com

Driving by a week or so ago, I saw that The Tam has a new (well, relatively new) sign out front and it has the same lightning bolt on it now

:previous:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...907/53MKSF.jpg
gsv

Thanks for pointing out the sign oldstuff. I wonder what the significance is with the lightning bolt?


__

There was a Harry William Essman who was born in Indiana in 1880 and appears in Los Angeles in 1917, working as a bartender. He then appears in Seattle, Washington as a steward for a construction company. The 1920 Census still has him in Seattle. By 1930 he and his wife are in Pasadena, and he is listed in a Pasadena Directory as being the manager of the "Pasadena Athletic and Country Club". They were living on Green street at that time on property that is now the parking structure for Paseo Pasadena.

There is a 1934 directory which lists him at the Ventura Blvd. address along with his wife and their son, also called Harry. The younger Harry was born in 1908. He may have been the one who had the Café, but it does not seem likely since he was in the Navy in 1930 and then lived in San Diego.

The younger Harry Essman was eventually a sound effects man on radio and did some effects for Orson Welles in the film "Citizen Kane" as well as a number of Welles other radio dramas.

I see that there is a variation in the description of the buildings where the café was located. there is the picture which shows a Tudor sort of half timbering and the description of the "New" café as being "Spanish". Either way, it does not appear that Harry Essman did anything for very long. He died in 1935.

None of this really helps with any concrete info about the café. Just some background.

Thanks for the information on 16 year old Ione Murphy, Hoss.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...673/UDrP8T.jpg
eBay
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...661/HEOpcH.jpg
newspapers.com



I spent the morning looking for more information on Arthur Hudkins, and reading about his famous brother, boxer Art Hudkins.

"Fighting from lightweight to light-heavyweight Ace Hudkins won several California State Heavyweight Titles
and was Southern California's biggest boxing drawing-card in the 1920s."

excerpt
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...661/s0XbzO.jpg
https://movieland.wordpress.com/2007...gger/#comments

:previous: a mistake, 'Forest Lawn Glendale' should be 'Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills'.
Now I want to learn more about Hudkins Brothers Movie Ranch.

To read all about Ace's numerous arrests read the entire story here:
https://movieland.wordpress.com/2007...gger/#comments




I found this rather odd photograph of Ace Hudkins.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...901/aSKpIq.jpg


:previous: January 19, 1928, Ace Hudkins demonstrating the art of shadow boxing to interpretive dancer Tamaris.

Tamaris, who dat?


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/SmCcMx.jpg
http://artblart.com/

"Tamaris with a large Art Deco scarf." -photographed by Edward Steichen in 1925.






below: Tamaris by Man Ray, 1930.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...911/DaiZGF.jpg
http://theeyeoffaith.com/2013/01/15/...nuary-15-2012/






below: Tamaris by Soichi Sunami (no date)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/k2tP5T.jpg
https://www.tumblr.com/search/helen%20tamaris





below: Tamaris by Berenice Abbot (no date)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...540/96sev8.jpg
https://www.tumblr.com/search/helen%20tamaris

Who didn't photograph Helen Tamaris?

-Anyone else notice that Ione Murphy looks like a young Tamaris?

__

At first I thought that the Amusement park office might have been at "Santa's Village" at Lake Arrowhead (Skyforest) but I can't find a picture of it. Maybe it was behind the scenes, (or backstage, as Disneyland calls it) It seems unlikely, though, since there is a eucalyptus tree in the background and they don't grow at that elevation. Also, I don't think it dated back that far.

A little more about Ace 'Wildcat' Hudkins and his siblings. "The Hudkins brothers, Ace, Art, Ab and Clyde, drove a rickety old Ford with no doors 3000 miles across the country".

Santa Ana Register, October 15, 1929

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ceHudkins1.jpg
www.newspapers.com

The Tam O'Shanter Inn sign "bolt" references some lines in Robert Burns' 1790 poem "Tam O'Shanter":

"Before him Doon pours all his floods;
The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;
The lightnings flash from pole to pole;
Near and more near the thunders roll"


There's a copy here including a translation into everyday English:
http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets...amoshanter.htm

The story of Tam O'Shanter and Nannie (in her "cutty sark") and Tam's faithful horse Maggie is thrilling stuff. A great favorite at our house around Halloween.

Here's all three characters:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9...03733%2BPM.jpg
robertburns.org

The beautiful but deadly Nannie, AKA "Cutty-sark", brandishing Maggie's tail:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...02313%2BAM.jpg
londonist