'mystery' location.


Is this some sort of itinerant circus troupe?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/Cv4Tl5.jpg
http://www.icons21.com/htm/artist/mitch-epstein-169

"Santa Monica, California 1974." by Mitch Epstein


I can't quite figure out just where in Santa Monica this photograph was taken.

Is this a school ground...or somewhere closer to the beach?
(I see sand at far left)

-also note the prominent hill in the background (are those apartment buildings(?) on top:previous:


info. / details
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...921/AYOXnB.jpg
icons21

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The buildings in the distance on the right is the RAND Corporation complex on Pacific Ave. The buildings on the left was, if I remember correctly, part of a motel complex. This was a little park area on the beach. Behind the photographer would have been the bike path and beyond that a very wide stretch of sand. The Santa Monica Beach was VERY wide at this location, just south of the Santa Monica Pier.

:previous: Thanks Tracedogs LA! I certainly couldn't figure it out.




:previous: Very intriguing! I didn't know this either Martin.

a comparison
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/uxJb1G.jpg
gsv



And, as a reminder, in it's hey-day.(we've seen this image before on NLA)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/OY7kK8.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00007/00007090.jpg

That small 'za' at far right is a tiny portion of the Zanzibar sign.....................................................................................................:previous:



Here's the Zanzibar sign (this amateur snapshot is new to NLA) I can't remember if the Zanzibar was a separate club or part of F.G.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/oMYz9g.jpg
https://killerswithconscience.wordpr...orized/page/4/

I imagine the vertical Zanzibar sign revolved! -note the lady posing by the bush.
________________________________________________________________


Earlier posts on the Florentine Gardens.

When it was the Retail clerks Union/AFL-CIO, local 770.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9941

The Zanzibar (and Florentine Gardens) is mentioned in this earlier post (with photo)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9959

Birthday party at the Florentine Gardens / A look inside.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=30396

GW's information on N.T.G. Girl Revue with Ann Corio
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9947




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Lol. Id say flooded. Must have been REALLY high tides that day!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Hollywood reaction to the Korean War, 1950

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/9BFtqN.jpg
Photograph by Loomis Dean, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/511932682618871444/

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I see Francis Langford....what a dear woman she was. She later went on to own a fabulous tropical tiki style restaurant and piano bar in Florida...where she often did impromptu songs for the customers. She could sing like an angel.

In her later years she donated millions of dollars to local Jensen Beach charities.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psv4a5w9oh.jpg
google-images

Here's a higher view from two years earlier. The white Holiday Inn building can be seen at the center of the background in e_r's picture.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original
Detail of image at californiacoastline.org

The zig-zag building with the orange stripes survived until about 10 years ago. The site, including its parking lot, is now Tongva Park. Note where Hot Dog on a Sticks is labeled below. Their red and white sign, which just says "Hot Dog Stick", can be seen behind the head of the man with the red headband in e_r's picture. It still looks the same today.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
Google Maps

I'd love to have a CD of those Christmas recordings by these ladies!
(I collect Christmas/Holiday music! I have over 700 cd's, and a list of
that many more I'd like to get!)

P.S.: I remember Frances Langford being one of Bob Hope's favorites, and she often accompanied him on his U.S.O. shows.

I've been trying to figure it out. I have a call in to the person I went with back then, but haven't heard back yet. The Masquers sounded like that might have been it, but it wasn't downtown, so it's not. (Plus, lol, it was demolished in 1985!) Now I'm leading toward the Variety Arts Center which was on Figueroa. I'm reading that in the late 70's the building was purchased by an organization called The Society for the Preservation of the Variety Arts and they named it the Variety Arts Center. Programming in the theatre included a mix of shows intended as a tribute to variety and vaudeville entertainers. I was looking at interior photos of the theatre and it seemed way bigger than the space we saw her perform in, but then I read that there was a smaller upstairs theatre they called "The Masquers Theatre," which is perhaps why I thought it sounded right at first, I don't know. This organization also had a library focused on vaudeville and related topics.

However, I can't find any online source saying that Virginia O'Brien appeared there, so I didn't want to post any photos of that place as I'm not sure yet. I am also wondering if, perhaps, that is where she recorded the album as it was called "The Masquers Theatre." Online sources can often be confused about things.

Hey thanks Hoss! You made the 1974 Mitch Epstein photograph that much more interesting.

I'm still really curious about the people, but I doubt we'll ever have an answer.
To me, they seem Eastern European for some reason. lol the woman falling off the teeter-tooter thingy.
the men sure have muscular legs....which made me think of an acrobatic troupe.
____





Here's another by Mr. Epstein, titled: Los Angeles II, California 1974.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/cVlukg.jpg
http://www.icons21.com/htm/artist/mitch-epstein-169

I wonder if the x in the window has any significance?
(perhaps it's just masking tape holding the pane of glass together from a BB hole) -if I remember correctly, people used to do that.

as for clues; there's no street number, but there's a phone number. Could we decipher something from that?

(I just spotted a dog)


details
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...923/EWftCp.jpg
icons21

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Here's another by Mr. Epstein, titled: Los Angeles II, California 1974.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/cVlukg.jpg
http://www.icons21.com/htm/artist/mitch-epstein-169

I wonder if the x in the window has any significance?
(perhaps it's just masking tape holding the pane of glass together from a BB hole)

as for clues; there's no street number, but there's a phone number. Could we decipher something from that?

(I just spotted a dog)


details
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...923/EWftCp.jpg
icons21

__[/QUOTE]
It looks like a yard sale. The sign says house for rent, so maybe the landlord is disposing of stuff left behind by the last tenants, though that saddle on the right seems an odd thing to leave. That's a classic 50s sunburst clock.

:previous: I noticed the sawhorse, but I didn't see the saddle! Good eye JMR.

_

Today's Julius Shulman post from the Getty Research Institute shows a building which was once owned by the Getty family. This is "Job 2766: Shaw, Metz, and Dolio, Tide Water Associated Oil Company Building (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1959". It's not mentioned in the description, but this is a Claud Beelman design.

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

The first floor housed the Bank of America on the left side...

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

... while the right was home to the Security First National Bank and E F Hutton & Company

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

All from Getty Research Institute

Today, it's the Harbor Building. Here it is from Crenshaw Boulevard.

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

I'm sure that most of you are aware of the history of this building and its predecessor, so I won't go into it again. For a reminder, here's a selection of previous posts:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3550
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3551
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3554
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=15647

For the full story, check out GW's Wilshire Boulevard blog post about 641 South Irving Boulevard:

http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...lease-see.html

This photograph is so amazing.

"An early Gilmore station named the ANNANDALE & ROCKDALE SERVICE STATION, date would be 1923-24."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...924/KzbpZN.jpg
http://oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...&Number=448403

A forumer at oldgas has been trying to figure out the location.

"Does anyone have a 1923 street map of Los Angeles?""

"Was wondering if there was once a road named Annandale, possibly in the area where Figueroa is?
The Annandale community is in this area and Rockdale Ave looks to run into Figueroa."

"I document Gilmore stations and would like to add an exact address to my data."
_____________

:previous:

Annandale Boulevard in Pasadena can be seen on the 1928 street map on the left below. It's now part of N Figueroa Boulevard. The Google Maps view on the right is at a different scale, but it shows Rockdale Avenue intersecting with N Figueroa just above the center, so I'd guess that the Gilmore station was in this area.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...d.jpg~original
www.bigmapblog.com/Google Maps

Maybe there was an outbreak of the plague in 1974 and the "X" meant there were dead bodies inside that needed to get picked up. I saw something like that in a movie once. It would be strange to have a yard sale at a time like that though.

:previous: lol, I like your thinking Bristolian........much more exciting than my BB hole theory.
__

aerials provided by HossC. 1972 & 2015 respectively
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/yTQUhk.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/cR8d7E.jpg
google_earth

Yep, I see the sign now that you pointed it out Hoss.

detail / 1974
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...921/OzrtpU.jpg
see the complete photo here: http://www.icons21.com/htm/artist/mitch-epstein-169



I thought this was interesting.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/iRfLvU.jpg
http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hot-dog-stick-now/

"Hot Dog on a Stick, Then and Now"

"See how the seaside snack stop has changed since 1953"

"In 1946, Dave Barham bought a tiny concession stand across from the original Muscle Beach. An astute observer of beach culture, he saw the need for snacks that were ideal for strolling. Using his mother’s corn bread recipe, he created the batter-blanketed Hot Dog on a Stick, and the fried treat quickly became a hit. Barham expanded into county fairs and retail malls well before the advent of food courts. He died in 1991. The first site, shown here in 1953, was scheduled to be modernized but was spared when the demolition permit expired."

http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hot-dog-stick now/#sthash.Kstzdw7t.dpuf

*If you've been wondering what's written above lemonade in the 1953 photo, it's Party Puffs, (the original name)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/dsQ8eD.jpg
http://hotdogonastickuae.com/aboutus.html




....and I'll leave you with this fun view.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/kl8OGe.jpg
Jonathan Nafarrete, http://lameekly.tumblr.com/post/1229...tick-files-for

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Thanks for your help Hoss. I'm surprised Rockdale Ave. doesn't appear on the 1928 map.

Would it have been just above Kull St.?

Stylized night shot of Simon's Drive-In, corner of Wilshire & Fairfax
 

I could find nothing on this rather amazing photo of Simon's.

Something tells me the photographer has had one too many double-shot espressos!

http://www.martinturnbull.com/wp-con...os-angeles.jpg

I don't think the 1928 map has every street on it. Rockdale Avenue definitely appears on this 1943 map, although Annandale Boulevard had already been renamed N Figueroa Boulevard by the time it was printed. I also checked the 1921 Baist map, but, annoyingly, it stops a few streets south of Rockdale Avenue.

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


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


Thanks for your research about Hot Dog on a Stick, e_r. I only pointed it out for continuity purposes - I never guessed it had such an interesting history.