A challenge
 

To me, one of the great architectural mysteries of L.A. has always been Berkeley Square. Ever heard of it? The "10" took it out in the '60s. In some ways it's even more mysterious than old Bunker Hill--it too has physically vanished, but there seems to be little photographic evidence of it left. It was a gated private east-west street between Western Ave. and Gramercy Place. The houses were all big--Sam Watters features one in his Houses of Los Angeles 1885-1919, and here are some lesser-quality pics of some of the others, along with shots of the gates. Occasionally I'll run across references to the street in bios of early L.A. businessmen, lawyers, and judges. Can anyone find any more (and better) pics of Berkeley Square, any more information on it at all?

EDIT: I did it myself--for a full history of Berkeley Square, see berkeleysquarelosangeles.com

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d6dXbNg0aP...V61212revA.jpg

New High Street area.


http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/5...treetlooki.jpg
usc digital archive

Very interesting article, Beaudry. Where and when was it published?

Reading it made me wanna look up the Westminster Hotel. It looked like a great building indeed.

I wouldn't doubt these pics of the Westminster Hotel were posted before (I'm too lazy right now to look through this thread) but I'll post some pics anyway.

Westminster Hotel in all its glory. The caption on this photo reads ca. 1900 but judging by the women's fashions, it looks more like between 1908-1910.
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/3...tel19004th.jpg
USC Archive

Here's the Westminster Hotel on the northeast corner of 4th and Main, around 1888-1898.
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4...hotel18898.jpg
USC Archive

That same intersection some decades later in 1924, with the Westminster looking great surrounded by those other buildings from an obviously different later era but complementing each other nicely IMO. What a hustling and bustling part of downtown that was! Within a decade or so from when this picture was taken, this area would become a seedy rundown part of downtown.
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4...and4th1924.jpg
USC Archive

The Westminster Hotel being demolished, 1960. :( Another piece of LA Victoriana bites the dust.
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/5...ingtorndow.jpg

For years after the Westminster Hotel was demolished, it was a vacant lot/parking lot. However in the last few years, a structure was being built on the northeast corner of 4th and Main. It's nearly finished, a development called the Medallion. Here are some pics of it which I've ganked from another thread on these forums, courtesy of colemonkee, another SSP poster. These pics were taken March 28, 2010, according to him.

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/6...n201003283.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4...n201003281.jpg

While it's nice that something has been built here, it uh, still isn't the old Westminster Hotel.

Indeed! I remember when it looked like that; I honestly thought that the building wasn't salvageable, what with all that bracing on it, and thought it would be knocked down/dismantled. Later during the period when it was covered in scaffolding and tarp, I still wasn't sure if they were restoring it or getting it ready for demolition. Of course as it turned out, they were saving it. Looking at that photo, I didn't realize there were still remnants of the "Brunswig Drug Co." sign on it.

Here's another pic I took of it back in November of 2009. It sorta kinda matches the perspective of the photo above.

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9388/p1060919.jpg

I'll definitely try to take more recent photos of it. I'd like to see it without that temporary fencing.

Holy crap wow, thats an amazing restoration. Simply amazing. The building that replaced that Westminster Hotel is vastly inferior, albeit better than a parking lot but compared to what was previously there, well it doesnt even compare. People back in the day who tore those amazing buildings down should be punched in the face and then thrown in jail for life. But I cant believe that they were able to save those above buildings, really glad they did, they are beautiful.

Does anyone know of the company that did that restoration, Id love to see other buildings theyve restored.

R.I.P. Melrose
 

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026606.jpgLAPL

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics15/00007385.jpgLAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061879.jpgLAPL
The Hildreth house, 357 S. Hope--another Bunker Hill extravaganza, but this time, under construction rather than de-struction.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026477.jpgLAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026485.jpgLAPL

We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed. ...

:(

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/...20b182de_o.jpg
LAPL

sigh.............................

Rochester House
 

In my moving day photos, i posted an image of the Rochester house being relocated. I did a little bit of checking on it's ultimate fate, as i couldn't remember if it was saved after it was relocated..........................

Exterior view of the Rochester Apartments at 1012 West Temple Street 1890

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026817.jpg
LAPL

Rochester House 1956

http://dlproj.library.ucla.edu/deriv...0178655a_j.jpg
UCLA Library Digital Collections


The Rochester Apartments at 1012 West Temple Street 1960's

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026818.jpg
LAPL

Rochester house from the Harbor Freeway 1967

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046350.jpg
LAPL

The drive is on to move and save the Rochester House, currently 86 years old, and threatened with demolition in the Temple Urban Renewal Project. Photo date: October 17, 1967

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055382.jpg
LAPL

Rochester House being moved 1970

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055395.jpg
LAPL

A "Save Me" sign is still mounted on the Rochester House as it is being moved due to the Temple Urban Renewal Project. Photo date: October 1, 1970.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055394.jpg
LAPL

The large, historically important Rochester House as it sits at its temporary location in the 1100 block of North Alameda Street on October 1, 1970, after being moved from its former location on Temple Street.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055384.jpg
LAPL

Rochester House, stands in Alameda St. railroad yard awaiting restoration and relocation at Old Plaza historical site, as ordered by appeals court 1971

http://dlproj.library.ucla.edu/deriv...0012928a_j.jpg
UCLA Library Digital Collections

And the fate of this supposedly saved declared historic landmark.............(the text below is from Big Orange Landmarks....Exploring the Landmarks of Los Angeles, One Monument at a Time....... the web site is hosted by Floyd B. Bariscale http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/ )

In August 1967, the El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historical Monument Commission voted to move the Rochester from its West Temple home to Main and Republic Streets as part of the park being developed around the city’s Old Plaza (this Board – different than the Cultural Heritage Commission – had been overseeing the park project since 1965). The Commission also set up a solicitation fund for its relocation and restoration. Over the next few years, money was raised and a HUD grant of up to $100,000 was applied for and contracted. Then, in August of 1969, the Commission decided the Rochester wasn’t allowed in the park after all. Why? Well, the idea was always a matter of disagreement within the Board. Some of the Commission maintained the non-Spanish architecture of the Rochester would look out of place in Old Plaza. Also, they felt other things – like parking space – were more necessary.

In protest, a group made up of private contributors as well as three Board members (John Anson Ford, Dorothy A. Burnaby, and David A. Workman) sued the Commission, claiming the board had voted to move the Apartments, had raised public and private money, and had no right to renege. The plaintiffs won, and the Commission appealed the ruling. Jump to early fall, 1970, when, with verdict pending, the Rochester was moved temporarily to “railroad property just north of Union Station” (i.e. Alameda and Bruno Streets). In early 1971, California’s Court of Appeals upheld the original decision. Later that spring, following the State Supreme Court’s refusal to hear another appeal, the Commission unanimously consented to relocate and restore the Rochester.

After all this, however, that temporary move turned out to be permanent. For whatever reason, the Rochester was allowed to languish further at the Alameda/Bruno site until it was ultimately demolished in 1979.

now that's a noir tale of the darkest kind.............................................

Oops...usually the Proquest heading is at the top. I went back and fixed. It was in the Times, November 27 '53...

LA at Night
 

I was perusing past posts and there were some great night shots -- like this one

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3648/...76914d95_o.jpg

and this one

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/...3dca0b4f_o.jpg

-- and it struck me how sexy and evocative nighttime postcards are. There's even a book on the subject.

So I said well, time to fire up the scanner...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/...802e567a_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/...e7ec8254_o.jpg

Why wouldn't every light in Los Angeles be on? And no lights burn brighter than those of the LAAC.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/...69dc82c5_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/...2a934674_o.jpg

...that of course is the Westminster shrouded in the mist, the Van Nuys (later to be adorned with its big Barclay neon) across the street, and to the right, the Farmers & Merchants Bank.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/...1bd9d2fe_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/...8605babd_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3300/...63acba89_o.jpg

(I had no idea Broadway was so...psychedelic...)

I find these next two really interesting because it illuminates (not a bad choice of words) how different two versions of the same postcard can be...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...3498ea1d_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/...aea288c7_o.jpg

Did Otis really outfit his building with cute lights?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/...c03f9830_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/...832b95a5_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/...6e749039_o.jpg

I also like the fact that there was a perpetually full moon, once upon a time.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3237/...94ca8df3_o.jpg

Now, let's move on to other parts of town...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3462/...38c9fc33_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/...ff4e2ebb_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/...6f6f5f5f_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/...b3c93bb2_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/...a12835cf_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3450/...6002e9ab_o.jpg

More about Venice and Ocean Park pcards here

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/...909891ab_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3318/...f3beeeb6_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3300/...378b6ed8_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/...8a3703f3_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/...e7100315_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/...2fe70bbe_o.jpg

I don't know about you, but I don't altogether relish the concept of going into these parks in the middle of the night. Even with all that moonlight.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/...ec707e13_o.jpg

Argh! There's something noir about misty docks.

Now enough with all this protonoir of 1910...moving ahead in time...going to linens n' things, and I don't mean the store...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/...297431b1_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3443/...708f4647_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/...ec6fa481_o.jpg

What could be more noir than the Mullholland fountain? God bless the man who said "There it is. Take it." And since the image before was of Signal Hill...go here, download the pdf and go to page 7.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/...abbdbcf4_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/...27f3ee4e_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/...74afc7c6_o.jpg

And now we're in the chrome era. Looking up B'way from 8th.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/...57e18134_o.jpg

Below, the gala premier for Back Street -- 1961:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/...de974aff_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/...8f44beaf_o.jpg

Pine Ave -- note the Palace amid all the neon.

True noir: of the late 60s-on-up variety.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/...979c5e08_o.jpg

The Greyhound Station was built in 1966 and soon became one of the sketchiest places in town. It's now just a jumble of shops. The remains of the giant sign are still there, even. Sixth and Los Angeles.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/...b9e0d520_o.jpg

And downtown continues to be psychedelic!

^^^ Beautiful scans Beaudry!! Quite an enchanting journey through time.

John Buntin Event
 

Only recently put "L.A. Noir" by John Buntin on my to-read list at the recommendation of half the contributors to this thread; just got notice today that the L.A. City Historical Society is presenting a John Buntin lecture on Mayor Frank L. Shaw (where he'll also be selling/signing copies of L.A. Noir) as part of their Marie Northrop Lecture Series.

It's at the Mark Taper Auditorium of Central Library May 15, 2p; no website provided, but lists phone numbers 323-936-2912 and 213-228-7400.

The most impressive residence I've seen around here is Edward Doheny's Greystone Mansion (and even then, I only saw it from the street below). In fact, it's so vast that I'm having trouble finding contemporary photographs that properly impart the scale of this place:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019615.jpg
LAPL (not dated)

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019623.jpg
LAPL

It's in Beverly Hills, so it's not technically L.A., but it's still a hell of a building. The Tudor architecture belies the fact that it was completed (relatively) recently, in 1928.

Of course, Greystone had its own "noir" part to play in local history: In 1929, 36-year-old Edward "Ned" Doheny, Jr., married father of five, was the victim of a murder-suicide committed by his personal secretary (and suspected lover) Theodore Plunkett. Below is an illustration of the event overlaid on a crime scene photo:

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics50/00074554.jpg
LAPL

Below: Greystone Mansion today

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ne_Mansion.JPG
(Wikipedia)

I used to drive up to the Doheny Mansion for peace and quiet.
Are the grounds still open to the public?

A view of Figueroa & 7th Street in 1950.
I really like the building with the Studebaker sign.


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5...igueroa195.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: A better view of the building with the Studebaker sign.
Notice the billboard for the new Statler Hotel.


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7...dfigueroa1.jpg
usc digital archive

The Monarch Hotel at 5th & Figueroa, in 1928.


http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1...hhotel1928.jpg
usc digital archive


http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3...0monarchmb.gif
matchbook/ebay

The Asahi Building at Wilshire & La Brea.


http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3...eandlabrea.jpg
usc digital archive

The enduring Bradbury
 

http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?...MMIGRATION-USADavid McNew/Reuters/NYT

I was struck by this picture, taken on Saturday, on the front page of yesterday's NY Times --large, center, and above the fold in the early edition. I was struck by the mass of people, of course, but thrilled to my noir bones to see the Bradbury Bldg at left--witness to 117 years of Broadway history. And of course it's good to see the Million Dollar, the Grand Central Market, the old Broadway store, and on down to the Eastern Columbia.

Images then and now
 

There is a very talented photographer who posts his works on flickr. He goes by the name of BasicShape. He has photo retouched a couple of images from the past to show how the buildings look today in the same image.

here are the ones he has done so far

2nd street tunnel looking west from Hill Street

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2754/...88735d5f_b.jpg
Classic Photo Cushman Gallery, new photo and montage by BasicShape


Brunswig Building

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/...9a8b82dd_b.jpg
Classic photo USC Digital Archives, New photo and montage by BasicShape

Here is a link to his photo stream on flickr, he has very nice Los Angeles photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/basicshape/

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061807.jpgLAPL

Our druggist Brunswig, of the restored Brunswig Building on Main Street, lived in style, at 3528 West Adams. Lucien Napoleon Brunswig, born in France, was also a philanthropist, reportedly founding the French Red Cross (not sure what the difference was between the French and the 'merican) and a soup kitchen at the Plaza Mission church, near the office. His daughter, Marguerite Brunswig Staude, was, like her father, a devout Catholic. According to West Adams by Suzanne Cooper, "In 1932, inspired by her vision of a cross superimposed on the Empire State Building, [Marguerite] conceived the idea for a place of worship." The realization of her vision was, alas, not in Los Angeles--who could compete with Sister Aimee?--but rather in Sedona, Ariz.

Back in Black
 

Getting back to some Noir images

Rudolph Schindler's great Sardi's restaurant at 6313 Hollywood Blvd

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/...4225dfc3_o.jpg
California State Library

Opening night gala premier of City Lights at the Los Angeles Theatre

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/...a4a2c867_o.jpg
California State Library

Hollywood and vine from the Hollywood Broadway 1956

http://helios.library.ca.gov/soca/laci/2003-0382.jpg
California State Library

Sweet Daddy Grace
 

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061706.jpgLAPL

It turns out that this Berkeley Square house had quite a colorful end. I've now got a name (but still few pictures) for just about every house built on Berkeley Square--some are of original builders, most are from the early-to-mid-20s, and some are of later tenants, such as Bishop C. M. ("Sweet Daddy") Grace. It seems that the bishop, the East Coast's answer to Sister Aimee, bought this house in 1958 and died in it less than two years later. And did Mr. Haig unload it on him knowing that the "10" was about to come through?

Jet magazine, March 20, 1958:

"Daddy Grace Pays $450,000 for Calif. Mansion"

"Plunking down $450,000 in cash, Bishop C. M. (Sweet) Daddy Grace bought a million-dollar, 85-room mansion in the swank Berkeley Square section of Los Angeles as a West coast haven for his flock. In Southern California's biggest residential deal in 25 years, the 74-year-old cult leader handed former owner Haig M. Prince "more than $300,000 in cash" plus approximately $150,000 in currency for the 42-year-old English Tudor estate. The showplace has a swimming pool, a grand ballroom with a $17,000 piano and $230,000 in Oriental rugs, Ming vases and artwork. At week's end, Grace's followers were busy painting the mansion red, white and blue."

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dgNPxBlFp4...GRACEDADDY.JPGJet

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/6...B/NA012170.jpgJet


Btw, I'm not sure who Mr. Haig was, but he built this building on the nw corner of Broadway and 2nd St.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013737.jpgLAPL

^^^Very interesting story.
I'm surprised at the size of his mansion in Berkeley Square.....85 rooms!!


Love the night photos also.
Especially the one of SARDI'S.

Last week I watched 'Sunset Boulevard' on TCM.
In the scene where Norma Desmond takes Joe Gillis to a haberdasher for new clothes, you can clearly see SARDI'S across the street.

I've heard the building is still there (I think it's a porn shop now).


Here are a couple more photos.


http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/7...315hollywo.jpg
usc digital archive




http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6...936uclalar.jpg
ucla archive

Indeed it is, last I remember. I think it's called "Cave." The building next door to it burned down in a fire 2 or 3 years ago, it had housed a very trendy club, of which the name escapes me at the moment. So that much storied intersection of Hollywood and Vine currently has a huge vacant lot at the northwest corner.

The Hotel Bristol, located in downtown LA at 423 W. 8th Street, 1953
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/980...ristol1953.jpg
USC Archive

This building still exists. And the area, being run-down, totally makes for a great film noir vibe, even when walking through the block in the middle of the day. Looking up the history of this building, from what I've gathered, it was built in 1906 and was originally the Hotel Woodward. Some time in the 1920s it became the Hotel Bristol. It later became an SRO-hotel housing transients. There were recent plans to turn the Hotel Bristol into a boutique hotel before the recession hit; I believe there are plans to turn it into low-income housing, but currently the building sits vacant. The bar next door to it, the Golden Gopher, has been there since the early 20th Century as well. I took some pics of the Hotel Bristol and the Golden Gopher/Lindy Hotel last month:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1176/p1120479.jpg
Photo by me

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5153/p1120484m.jpg
Photo by me

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/8158/p1120477.jpg
Photo by me

I have to be sure to go into the Golden Gopher the next time I'm in the area.

I altered this image to make it look a little "noir." If only there were a '38 Mercury parked at the curb or something.
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5306/p1120479a.jpg
Photo by me

^^^Great photos sopas_ej!

The Hotel Bristol building looks in remarkable shape.
The Golden Gopher looks like it jumped off a page in a pulp novel.
I wonder what it looks like inside?

Look, there's the Hotel Lindy squeezed in there too.
Damn I love those old signs.





Below: You can see the Hotel Bristol building during it's Hotel Woodward days in this 1913 photograph.


http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/431...dhotel1913.jpg
usc digital archive

Here is the same view, extending northward (I think). 'The Woodward' is extreme right.


http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/698...ard2in1913.jpg
usc digital archive

Here is another photo showing the Hotel Woodward/Hotel Bristol building.
This is quite interesting.




http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6...stlookingw.jpg
usc digital archive

:previous:

Very cool photos, ethereal! I particularly like the view of this:

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/698...ard2in1913.jpg
usc digital archive

I'm amazed at the few single-family homes that still existed and that were were being encroached upon by commercial buildings at that point in time; at mid-left you can also see Pershing Square and the Philharmonic Auditorium before its 1930s Moderne remodel (and eventual demolition, of course), and the area where the Biltmore Hotel would be built.

Looking it up on Google Earth, the Hotel Bristol was dirty-looking until fairly recently; I assume it got cleaned up when it was being fixed up to become a boutique hotel before those plans fell through. I neglected to say that when I walked by it last month, it looked there were plans for a burger bar to go into one of the commercial spaces at street level, and I guess there were also remnants of the Club El Gaucho, too. Here's the pic from Google Earth:
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1...oogleearth.jpg

Also, I was kinda hoping the Golden Gopher would be a total dive, but apparently it's been turned into a hip-looking bar-- perfect for maybe one day an SSP noirish LA thread fan get-together? Hehe!

http://www.goldengopherbar.com/

Great shots, etheral & sopas. "The Golden Gopher" is a great name for a bar. I was hoping that inside it might resemble Edie's over on Figueroa, you know, the one run by Edie Phillips, who killed her twin, the very rich Mrs. de Lorca, years and years ago? Remember that case? Very juicy, late noir.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HJrGkCIwYO...eadringer1.jpgWarner Bros.
End of the line for Mrs. High-and-Mighty de Lorca

P.S.
I just noticed that Paul Henreid directed Dead Ringer. "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." ...

Oh yes, I do remember Edie's, over on Figueroa and Temple, old de Lorca territory, apparently. ;) Hehe I love "Dead Ringer." And "Now, Voyager"!

Funny you should bring up "Dead Ringer," after all, it was filmed at the Doheny Mansion, brought up some posts back. It's been years since I've been to the grounds, which I believe are still open to the public, I think it's officially a City of Beverly Hills park. I wish the mansion were open for tours; instead, I just peeked through the windows...

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061812.jpgLAPL

Being on a corner lot on a main drag, this pretty little house is long gone, of course. But the stone gatepost isn't:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...84.12,,1,-0.37

Last night when I was looking at this pic:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5...igueroa195.jpg
usc digital archive

I realized that that is the same intersection (7th and Figueroa) as the one in this pic:

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7...n1949ssilb.jpg
ssliberman

I realized that the building on the right with the fire escape is what I call the "reclining men building," being that the facade of it at about the 3rd floor has huge statues of 2 reclining half-naked men. It's really called the Fine Arts Building, built in 1925. I've been in the lobby and it is BEAUTIFUL.

Here's a contemporary photo of it from photobucket/fawnskinpics:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...neArtsBldg.jpg

Here's a 1933 photo of it from travelinlocal.com
http://www.travelinlocal.com/wp-cont...10/tl10-22.jpg

Oh, apparently it housed the Signal Oil Company, and a Pig 'n Whistle restaurant!

Oh that's amazing, Gaylord! And I see it's in the area of the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, where Margaret and Edie met at Mr. de Lorca's funeral. Incidentally, that's a great cemetery, filled with the graves of old celebs and notable early LA pioneers/developers. Hattie McDaniel is buried there...

Golden Gopher? Must be run by a wayward Minnesota grad.

Thanks to Johnny Socko for the link to this thread. I've been perusing through for at least a week, now, and I signed up for an account just so I could contribute.

The history of Venice is very interesting, especially all the old canals that were filled and turned into streets. Jeffery Stanton came to one of my architecture classes and talked to us about Venice and talked about his book and showed us a number of great photographs. His book has a lot of great information that he's dug up.:
http://www.westland.net/venice/stanton.htm
http://www.westland.net/venicehistor...acificBook.htm

http://www.westland.net/venicehistor...nice25-map.gif
(Jeffery Stanton)

And this website about former airfields is also amazing. I am especially keen on the former Howard Hughes Airport (now "Playa Vista") because I used to live across the street for a couple years and subjected my wife many times to pointing out the "location where the Spruce Goose was built":
http://members.tripod.com/airfields_...ds_CA_LA_W.htm

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_...dg15Spruce.jpg
(USGS)

And what talk of LA wouldn't be complete without Campo de Cahuenga, the location of the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga (wish i could find some old pictures of that adobe) :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...a_pavement.jpg
(wikipedia)

I've been gone from LA for 2 years and haven't missed it at all until I started looking at all these pictures. This thread is incredible. I can't wait to see more great old photographs! :tup:

I've seen some photos from the 1960's that actually showed yellow smog thick enough to be rolling INTO some downtown office buildings through open windows. If anybody can find those photos, I'd love to see them, too.

Well, if life meant having to sleep with Karl Malden, I'd have tried for the brass ring of the de Lorca/Doheny house in B.H. too, just like Edie. Shute, even Chowchilla or death row at San Quentin (alongside Babs Graham) might have been preferable!

I understand that Hattie wanted to be buried in what is now Hollywood Forever cemetery, but they wouldn't have her. So she wound up in Rosedale...which is really closer to home anyway--2203 S. Harvard, then and now:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics04/00001880.jpgLAPL

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2331/...d6b658eb84.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2331/...d6b658eb84.jpg

Today is Rudolph Valentino's birthday, who was born May 6, 1895.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6722589_n.jpg
unknown

His house in the Whitley Heights area of Hollywood was torn down in the early 1950s for the Hollywood Freeway, but until very recently, his last home, Falcon Lair, off of Benedict Canyon (on Bella Drive), still existed. He had purchased it in 1925, the year before he died. In the late 1980s I drove up there myself and took a picture of it (back when Doris Duke still lived there, I believe); the print is somewhere in my bedroom at my parents' house. I recently looked it up online and I was saddened to learn that the house had been drastically stripped some years ago, though the outer gate and garage still exist, or something like that. Incidentally, this property is near the Cielo Drive property that Sharon Tate and company were slaughtered at by the Manson Family.

According to the rudolph-valentino.com website:

Falcon Lair has changed hands once again. The gentleman who purchased Falcon Lair from the Doris Duke Estate in 1998 and began reconstruction and restoration in 2003, put the house and the surrounding property up for sale in late 2005. Apparently, as of August, 2006, the Falcon Lair and surrounding acreage have been sold.

In the 80 years since Rudolph Valentino last drove his car through the gates of Falcon Lair, very little from his time survived him. The stained glass windows, the flag, the beams in the dining room, the gorgeous oaken doors. Almost everything else inside had been remodeled so as to be unrecognizable. The floor plan remained virtually the same, but the home was forever changed.

The future of Falcon Lair is uncertain, but it is likely to be razed completely. Even if the house were not razed, Falcon Lair as Valentino knew it, will exist no more.



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_o4AsJVhvpn...alcon+lair.jpg
bongoshouse.blogspot.com

Falcon Lair in 1998:
http://www.rudolph-valentino.com/images/falcon/fl-3.jpg
rudolph-valentino.com

Falcon Lair in 2005
http://www.rudolph-valentino.com/ima...on/FL-2005.jpg
rudolph-valentino.com

Welcome, tykxboy! Thanks so much for posting that map; since about the time I posted those old pics of Venice on this thread, I've been trying to look for old maps of Venice to see where the original canals were and how much more extensive they were than they are now. Now I know! :)

Welcome to the thread tykxboy!

The illustration you posted showing the layout of the canals in Venice was very helpful.
I've always been a bit confused about their size and configuration.


Very interesting post about Rudolph Valentino, sopas_ej.

I ventured up to Falcon Lair when I first moved to L.A. back in the 1980s.
It was already in disrepair even then. I have a piece of wrought-iron from the gate.

Flooding around Sister Aimee's Angelus Temple.


http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5...4pooraimee.jpg
usc digital archive







Below: A deluge in 1952.


http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8...eealaterfl.jpg
usc digital archive

Another 'act of God'.




http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/7...snowrepeat.jpg
postcard/ebay

Drunk man arrested in woman's dress, 1948.


http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7067/sclothes1948.jpg
usc digital archive