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Two slides of the Century City outdoor mall, 1968. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/vSJsdy.jpg eBay I'm fixated on the sculpture that is enclosed in a glass case......It's very cool. A closer look. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/Su95dk.jpg detail I can't decide what it is, exactly; I see a woman facing foreward with her hands behind her head (her elbows are out in front). .but I also see a vase of. . .umm. . . prairie grass(?) The substance that it's made out of is also interesting. It looks like it might have been carved out of ivory. (let's hope not) Here's the 2nd view. .also from 1968. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/dqNlsA.jpg I'm interested in the vaguely. . .umm. .'polynesian' looking place (restaurant?) in the foreground on the left. If you closely you can see the name is 'something' House. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/3vtYji.jpg detail I've looked for more information but I haven't found anything relevent. Hmm. . I guess it could also be a furniture showroom. . |
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The mall (in the pre-pandemic world) was a popular high-end Asian tourist shopping destination and for the local wealthy clientele. It has undergone multiple expensive "re-imaginings". I've lived within two miles of the mall for my entire life. One of my earliest memories is being there in a stroller circa 1967. |
Venice Beach
I've been cleaning out my late parents' garage, and in the process I'm finding a lot of their old photographs, slides, and negatives.
99.9% of their photographs are of people (i.e., no buildings) but I did stumble across these photos of Venice Beach: https://i.imgur.com/YGpIZ1b.jpg https://i.imgur.com/IKwCyAK.jpg The sign under the arch says BRIDGO. The blade sign on the side of the building says HOTEL, but I am unable to read the name of the hotel. I can't figure out which buildings these are today. Do these building still exist? (Judging by the other negatives found in the same group, these pictures were almost certainly taken between 1958 and 1960) |
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Here's the opposite view from 1955 with the Bridgo building roughly in the center. The hotel was the St Mark on the corner of Windward Avenue. https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...arkVenice1.jpg LAPL Here's a reminder of a KCET article from a previous post. It details how the Bridgo building became The Gas House, a center for Venice's beatnik community, around 1958/59. It was torn down in 1962. The hotel survived a few years longer, but was gone by 1972. |
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I judged the year of my photos to be 1958-1960 based on two factors with the rest of the negatives in the same envelope: One, my older brother (born 1960) is in none of the photos. Once he was born he was in pretty much all of my parents' photos. Two, my mom's cat Yuki (which she got in 1958) is in the photos. And she's just a kitten. The kitten aspect would seem to date my photos to 1958. Maybe they were shot in '58, and the building became The Gas House in '59... |
Century City Shopping Center...
...was apparently called Century Square Shopping Center at the start. Quote:
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ee&oe=5F4F9259 As Lwize posted, the building in question in E_R's post was a restaurant, the Century House. https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...a7&oe=5F4ECBB5 Here's looking at the restaurant, and the Broadway Dept. Store, from Santa Monica Blvd. https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...2a&oe=5F4EE092 In the 1967 film "Caprice", Doris Day runs up the side steps to the shopping center... https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...d2&oe=5F505441 ...and sits down at an outside table in front of the Century House. https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...4a&oe=5F526049 https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...09&oe=5F5027F9 In "The Guide for the Married Man," directed by Gene Kelly, released within two weeks of "Caprice" in 1967, Walter Matthau and Robert Morse also have a conversation in front of this restaurant: https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...6e&oe=5F508CEB In 1972, some apes invaded the shopping center: https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...b1&oe=5F4FB100 There was also a Clifton's Cafeteria in there. https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...59&oe=5F5032BB All photos, except one and I don't recall which one, are from Vintage Los Angeles |
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I dined at the CC Clifton's in the 1970's. The Mayfair Market became the high-end Gelson's shortly thereafter (owned by Arden-Mayfair), and my brother and sister worked there bagging groceries. The Gateway West office low-rise was demolished a few years ago for the latest mall expansion under Westfield. The mall was formerly 20th Century-Fox's back lot - so Planet of the Apes filming was well within the TMZ. ;) |
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The_Day_of_the_Locust_(film) thecrimson 1975/7/22 squandering-a-fortune/ courtyard apartments were the same location :shrug: |
Century Square Shopping Center
"Century City Shopping Center...
...was apparently called Century Square Shopping Center at the start." was there a supermarket on the lower level? Prudential Shopping Center in Boston had many similar architectural details. Rendering_of_Prudential_Center_(18887707812) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R...887707812).jpg |
Going through my late father's stuff recently, I found this letter:
https://i.imgur.com/zAo7yKf.jpg My dad always told me he was friends with Frank Sinatra back in his days as a reporter, so I admit I was thrilled to find this! I wish I found a photo of them together, but I'll take what I can get! Though the letter is not dated, Sinatra mentions “High Hopes”, which is a song he released on June 5th, 1959. And June 9th was a Tuesday in 1959, so I think it's reasonable to assume this letter is from 1959. At first glance I thought the letter mentioned the Garden of Allah, but on closer inspection it's actually the Garden of Eden. Anyone familiar with this place? I looked up the address for “Puccini” (224 South Beverly Drive) on Google Maps. It's now “Ruth's Chris Steak House”, which seems to have gone out of business. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ru...!4d-118.398768 PS: My mom (also a reporter) liked to tell the story of how she first met Sinatra. She was down at the Police Station, following up on a story in the mid-1940s, when in march two police officers with a “skinny kid” in handcuffs. Of course, it was Frank Sinatra. He'd gotten arrested for getting in a fistfight. Despite this violent infraction, my mom said that Sinatra was the picture of charm, was very friendly, and spoke with her at length. Being that this was right after WWII, and my mother was Japanese, not every person was so friendly to her. A few phone calls were made, and Sinatra was released without being charged. Of course, my mom never reported this story; back then, reporters routinely covered up celebrity high jinks. |
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From Wikipedia: "The actual hotel used for the exterior shots was the Cardozo Hotel, located on Miami Beach's Ocean Drive." The only Garden of Eden I found in the 1960 CD was a rest home on W Olympic. |
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I wonder where the actual “Garden of Eden” was? I can't imagine Ol' Blue Eyes having a get-together at a rest home! :haha: It can't be a typo, the name is right there on the letterhead... |
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Here's a glimpse of the Jetsonish interior of the Century Square Mayfair, Century City. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/SSG2ic.jpg malloffameblogspot And a rather dismal pic of the exterior. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/ja0UKZ.jpg malloffameblogspot note that he lamp-posts are decorated for Christmas. (my dad made large candles like that out of coffee cans and vinyl). . .he made two of them; one for each end of our front porch. . |
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Aha! . .so my mystery 'polynesian' building was the Century House Restaurant. I'd never heard of it before. It was, unsurprisingly, included in the original plans. [1963] https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/atJIvn.jpg "A circa-1963 rendering of the prospective CENTURY SQUARE mall. The shopping center itself would be implemented precisely as shown. However, two office towers in the right center area of the image would not be built.".........mall hall of fame I also didn't know the Century City Mall was original named Century Square Shopping Center. Note the rather uninspired sign in the pic below. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/lnFYV3.jpg martinotimemachine And here's a wonderful color view taken by renowned photographer, Julius Shulman. (early 1970s) https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/Orctr8.jpg I'm not entirely sure what we're looking at here. I thought the building with all the skylights might be 'The Marketplace'. . but according to the diagram (shown below) 'The Marketplace' (the former site of the Century House) isn't anywhere near Bullock's. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/PuJLUN.jpg Thanks for your amazing follow-up post on Century Square, Martin Pal. . |
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:tup: Let's see, the skylight building isn't The Marketplace which most patrons just called the food court when it was there. If you look at the very top left of the Shulman photo, that is the 1901 Avenue of the Stars building, labeled on the 1988 map above, so the "skylight" building must be the square in between the Broadway (not in Shulman photo) and the Bullocks. In the Shulman photo it's hard to decipher what's in between the skylight building and Bullocks, there's an abundance of shadows there, and the skylights almost look like they connect to the Bullocks building or overlap the building they're on. The map has the skylight building in a white walkway area between the two buildings and that's what I believe it to be despite the way the photo may look. I used to frequent the place from 1987 and the next 15 plus years afterwards. It was always a friendly and welcoming place to hang out, eat, shop, see movies, people watch. There was a lot of greenery in the shopping center that made a nice atmosphere and little of the extra advertising along the walkways. Their two remodels during the last fifteen years have made it a chore to visit, if you ask me. One, there's simply too much there for a casual shopper and they've gotten rid of the greenery. The food court, which used to be great was transferred to a top floor area where the sun beats down on you with no shade for relief, all stone and granite and music blaring at you. The food is all specialty high-end stuff. I don't like the atmosphere there now, generally, as compared to what it once was. The last time I was over there was early December last year and I, and two others, had brunch in one of the restaurants in Eataly (on the corner, see the above map-1801 Ave. of the Stars) where one of the twin buildings was located on Ave. of the Stars. It was quite nice, but the shopping center has gotten way out of hand, if you ask me. For example, I think the three floors of Eataly itself encompass as much area as the original Century Square did in it's entirety. The shopping center's spread has made the place a lot less amiable. |
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