East Los Angeles noir
 

On July 20, 1946, the body of a pretty young mother named Angelina Loya was found in a vacant lot at 1026 E. Olympic Blvd. She had been severely beaten, stabbed and disembowled. Angelina had been out that night, with friends, dancing at the Avodon Ballroom.

Her friends testified that Angelina had left the club with a young man named Peter Hernandez, who had volunteered to escort her home.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4531/angelinaloya2.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2691/angelinaloya1.jpg
Angelina Loya

Police questioned Peter Hernandez who told them that he had started walking her home but when he stapped to talk to someone who had called his name, she disappeared. The police didn't buy it. Further investigation showed showed blood residue on his hands and clothes. They also found a necktie with blood spots soaking in solvent at his home.

Turns out Peter was a butcher by trade (and in other ways obviously).

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1997/peterlopez.jpg
Peter Jesus Hernandez

Peter was eventually charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. For details on the murder and investigation, see the attached.

http://forum.theblackdahliainhollywo...nt.php?aid=663

all photos credit LA Herald Examiner Archives/LAPL

Smile
 

Don't just lay there bruised and bleeding, SMILE for the camera dang it!!!

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1391/smile2j.jpg
Warren Craig talks to Frank Coudrey, 21, injured in accident at North Figueroa and Alpine. Photo dated: September 11, 1952.

photo credit LAPL

Ice burns
 

The Hollywood Polar Palace ice skating rink, at Melrose and Van Ness, burns down on May 16, 1963. Sound stages on a neighboring studio lot were also damaged.

Call me crazy, but I think the water hose would be more effective spraying the flames instead of the pavement.
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8972/polarpalace.jpg

LAPL

Jumpers
 

Since we haven't had any jumpers in awhile, here's a couple:

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8...cidescene2.jpg
Broken line marks course of George Yasbec's leap from the Municipal Courts Building. He was believed to have been despondent over his recent conviction in this building on a drunk driving charge. Photo dated: July 14, 1952.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1...icidescene.jpg
Arrow shows how retired business executive, Ogden S. Sells, leaped to his death at Park La Brea Towers, December 1, 1958.

LAPL

Happy Birthday, ethereal! Hope you enjoyed your birthday and your holiday as well. :)

Railroad strike
 

1951 Railroad Strike

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/9...ars1951str.jpg
Stranded by a labor strike, a freight train occupies the Southern Pacific Railroad mainline in Taylor Yard on San Fernando Road on Monday, February 5, 1951. 90% of SP's 400 available switchmen refused to report in during the crippling nationwide strike. However, Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroads reported switching operations were nearly normal despite the wage-hour dispute.

Dispute settled strike ends.

I love the noirish quality of this photo
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/7...strike1951.jpg
Switchman G. J. Gould signals one of the first trains leaving Southern Pacific's Taylor Yard on Wednesday, February 7, 1951, after workers voted not to stay "sick." In 2006, the former railroad yard became the Los Angeles State Historic Park.

LAPL

Something you guys might be interested in is the video game L.A. Noire.

It has a pretty accurate re-creation of 1947 Los Angeles. I have been playing it for the last month or so and have been able to be inside the old hall of records buildings, central library, etc.
Also, it is fun to see 3rd and Hill St as an actual HILL! I've walked past Angel's Flight, and even driven through Old Hollywood past Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

I have always been fascinated with Los Angeles and have lived here my entire life.

THANK YOU everyone for this amazing forum post. I've got about 27 pages into it so far.

Welcome to the thread pwrof3! I've been hearing great things about L.A. Noire.

___________

Poor poor Angelina Loya not only murdered but disemboweled as well. :(

House moving near the Wilshire Ebell Theater in 1939.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/493...earthewils.jpg
lapl

Great 'noirish' photos of the Hollywood Ranch Market at 1234-1248 Vine Street. Both photos are dated 1961.


http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2...chmarket12.jpg
lapl




http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/524...chmarket19.jpg
lapl

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5215/...fa353960_z.jpghttp://farm6.static.flickr.com/5215/...fa353960_z.jpg


BERT SEZ.............HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHEREAL!!!

"Follow Me Quietly" and more
 

Thanks to Fab Fifties Fan for his recent posts...fascinating real-life crime photos! And I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of The Marsden/Bethany Towers, which is indeed a gorgeous building. I really need to investigate the east side of Hollywood further.

MikeD asked about locations for "Follow Me Quietly." I managed to track down a DVD and watched it...not a bad little B picture...and I took the opportunity to grab frames of the location shoots. I hope some of the resident experts can identify some of these locations.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D.../Follow-01.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I.../Follow-02.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-f.../Follow-03.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J.../Follow-04.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-z.../Follow-05.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q.../Follow-06.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a.../Follow-07.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u.../Follow-08.jpg

And Happy Birthday to ethereal reality! I love those photos of the Hollywood Ranch Market. I didn't know it was still around in 1961.

Servicemen Welcome!!!
 

Somewhere in downtown Los Angeles there was...

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4918/theway.jpg
Exterior view of the Gayway Club. A tall neon sign with the word "Cocktails" hangs above the entrance to the club which also offers 2 bands, and dancing. Sign on the right reads, "Service men welcome." Photo dated: December 7, 1948.

So many one-liners coursing through my brain, I'll fix a hi-ball instead...

LAPL

Kid Noir
 

Some kids have no respect!

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/6979/goodbyepops.jpg
Highland police officer C.M. St. George and Det. Sgt. D.W. Frinch examine the body of James E. Carter Sr., who was shot and killed by his son, James E. Carter Jr., 15, at family home at 2736 West Ave. 32.

LAPL

Dusky Noir
 

I find this photo very daylight noir with the rundown homes against a backdrop of the gas tanks and faint skyline. I can't figure out the location that the shot was taken from.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/977...ndownhomes.jpg
A neighborhood of residences near downtown Los Angeles which need to be demolished or rehabilitated. Photo date: May 3, 1951

LAPL

Hollywood Inn
 

I came across this photo in the LA Herald Examiner archive. There was no description other than Hollywood Inn 1958. I don't recall seeing anything about this hotel on the thread and am really curious where it was (or is). I really like the building.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/8...oodinn1958.jpg

LA Herald Examiner/LAPL

Heh, I somehow doubt that this is a "gay" club in the sense the word is used today. (If you look closely, that's a scantily clad girl on the facade in back of the man with the black hat.) In fact, with the vice laws as they were in L.A. back then, a club that openly advertised for the patronage of homosexual men would doubtless have been busted and closed down immediately.

-Scott

the hollywood inn is the old hotel christie which has been a hollywood land mark at the sw corner of McCadden Place and Hollywood boulevard since the early 20's.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics16/00007814.jpg
Source: LAPL

the building is still with us :)

i believe this photograph is of the boyle hights area which was cleared to become the aliso village housing project

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics30/00034516.jpg
Source: LAPL

Aliso Village was leveled in 1999 to make way for the new housing authority project Pueblo del Sol. Aliso Village consisted mostly of apartment buildings, Pueblo del Sol's housing stock is largely detached and semi-detached single family houses. The project has been criticized for reducing the number of units at the site by 30%, at a time when Los Angeles suffers a severe shortage of affordable housing.

these two images are on figueroa between 12th and pico, which at the time was the used car dealership mega location in los angeles. (now it's the staples center)

Kelly Kar Co. was probably the most formidable used car dealer in the country. they developed the used car bible, the kelly blue book in 1926, (which is still how you get screwed today on your trade-in value), and got out of the actual business of selling used cars to focus entirely on the blue book in 1962.

here's a view from the 30's looking south on figueroa from 12th street. if you look closely, you can see the Kelly Kar sign up the street

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013929.jpg
Source: LAPL

hmmmmm
 

Thank you for your wealth of knowledge gsjansen! Very interesting. I noticed that the date on your pic of Aliso Village is 1947 and the date on the pic I posted is 1951. Was the Aliso Village project done in phases or was the date on the Boyle Heights pic wrong? (The latter wouldn't surprise me at all!)

I am chuckling about the Hollywood Inn. I have probably walked or driven by it a gazillion times and never bothered to look up. Typical.

Allow me to introduce myself
 

.

Hollywood in
 

Welcome so-cal-bear!

I too am fairly new here and am having a great time on this thread. Now that you posted the picture of the Scientology sign, I recognize the building. I guess I have just never looked up and studied the detail enough to have recognized it in that older picture.

~F3

Villa Carlotta
 

Now for my personal favorite building, the Villa Carlotta apartments at 5959 Franklin Ave. I lived there when I was a student at FIDM in 1975-76. I absolutely fell in love with the building and all of its historical charm which is still in tact because it has never been "modernized".

Villa Carlotta was built in 1926 as residences for the staff of the Chateau Elysee, which is catty corner from the Carlotta. It very quickly became a popular residence for Hollywood newbies when they first moved to the area. Former residents have included George Cukor, Adolphe Menjou, Louella Parsons (who lived there for many years), Edward G. Robinson, Marion Davies and David O. Selznick.

Many of the furnishings, currently in the lobby and public areas, are from 20th Century Fox movie sets.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/1...lacarlotta.jpg
Villa Carlotta 1945 (LA Herald Examiner)

A very close friend of mine recently moved in to the Villa Carlotta and took the following pictures of the building. Still as gorgeous as ever!!!

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7017/...lottatoday.jpg
Exterior 2011

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/8...taentrance.jpg
Entrance viewed from the lobby

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/899...lottalobby.jpg
Lobby 2011

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/394...amailboxes.jpg
Even the mailboxes are stylin'

Someday, when I finally retire, I'm going to move back to the Carlotta!!!:yes:

I could be wrong, but i don't think i had ever seen this 1964 william reagh image looking south on cinnabar towards 3rd street before.

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...TU6P4MYM28.jpg
Source: California State Library

the same exact view taken by william reagh in 1988

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...P7VVG63Q1K.jpg
Source: California State Library

1955 arnold hylen photograph looking south east towards the intersection of 1st and hill

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...KHXK2LJY9Q.jpg
Source: California State Library

Group of rookie county firemen demonstrate the use of a fire net with Miss Nan Peterson, Queen of the 10th Annual Los Angeles County Firemen's Ball. 1958

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...350-003~1?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive

July 23, 1951. Russell Summers leaps from 7th floor of Good Samaritan Hospital

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...227-006~2?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archive

i was gonna grab something to nosh on at leonard's, hill street between 3rd and 4th......but i seem to have lost my appetite.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics31/00065262.jpg
Source: LAPL

lol! That is too funny gsjansen.

Welcome to 'noirish los angeles' so-cal-bear :)

a great vintage color image of the arcade building, looking north on broadway between 5th and 6th

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7373571_n.jpg
Source: Vintage Los Angeles

Love this photo gsjansen! If you ever come across a picture of 736 S. Broadway from the war years I would love to see it as that is where my mom worked and I grew up hearing stories!

Dang, talk about tootin' your own horn! Them skin people didn't want any mystery about what they were there for. Poor Leonard.

Jump!!
 

[QUOTE=gsjansen;5340912]July 23, 1951. Russell Summers leaps from 7th floor of Good Samaritan Hospital

I bow to you gsjansen. Your one jumper trumped my two, hands down! :worship:

Hey Al, welcome! It's about time you joined us here. Glad to have you aboard! ^^

Looking east towards downtown from LAX 1980.......(a freakin' incredibly clear day i might add!)

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00090/00090938.jpg
Source: LAPL

ok, this is a structure i am not familiar with. anyone have any information on this wonderful whimsical building? Raymond Hotel Station, in South Pasadena, photograph is dated 1944

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics24/00046625.jpg
Source: LAPL

A really bad girl
 

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby....tsk tsk

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/5810/rubyt.jpg
Sobriety test, woman driver in traffic death of pedestrian, 29 February 1952. Ruby M. Reed -- 39 years (of 951 Upland Street, San Pedro, taking sobriety test by desk Sergeant at Long Beach Police Station after her car assertedly struck and killed woman pedestrian at Junipero Avenue and East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach. She failed test and was booked on felony drunk driving and manslaughter)

USC Digital Archives

Bad Grandma
 

Aren't you a little old for this? You shoulda been home crocheting cozies for your cocktail glasses.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/5460/badgrandmadui.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6681/badgrandmadui2.jpg
Drunk driving accident, April 24, 1951. Edna Benton (failed sobriety test); Officer M. G. Gaskell.

USC Digital Archives

Scenic Leaper
 

Woman leaps bluff, May 14, 1951. Ethel Sorkowsky (lies at base of Palisades Park cliff).

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1328/bluff.jpg
and lives to talk about it!
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7875/bluffleaper.jpg

USC Digital Archive

The Raymond Hotel Station circa 1944. Originally posted by gsjansen.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/881...stationlap.jpg
LAPL

The Raymond Hotel Station is new to me as well gsjansen. What a great little building!




Below is the original Raymond Hotel that burnt down in 1896.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/820...otelwithle.png
ebay






Below: A black and white version of the original Raymond Hotel in South Pasadena.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7...burntin189.png
unknown

There's drunk and then there's way too drunk!!!
 

Drunk Trapped in Phone Booth (1st and Mott Streets), 28 October 1951. Alfred Ulibarri 27 years
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/6571/drunkh.jpg

USC Digital Arcives

The second version of the Raymond Hotel in South Pasadena. Photo dated 1906

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3...tel1906usc.jpg
usc digital archive




below: Another view of the previous Raymond Hotel circa 1887.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/6...ond1887usc.jpg
usc digital archive

Hotel Raymond 1901-1934
 

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/9...mondhotel2.jpg

Just found this on wikipedia:
Guests invariably arrived by train, the mainline Santa Fe which stopped at Raymond Station at the bottom of the hill. Many had private cars that would park on the side spur near the station. All guests were ferried by a horse-drawn bus to the hotel at the top of the hill. Much to the dismay of many guests, the old station closed down in deference to a newer station built up the tracks closer to downtown Pasadena. Guests were then forced to take an auto bus the extra distance to the hotel.

Source Wikipedia

oops
 

Sorry etheral_reality! We must have been posting at the same time.:cheers:

~F3

Now THAT is funny! :)

No need to apologize...the photos you posted are great.

A 1926 aerial view of South Pasadena showing the Raymond Hotel in the distance to the left.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8...aerial1926.jpg
usc digital archive

From Larry Harnisch's Daily Mirror blog:

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...617_1938-1.png
Originally published in the June 17, 1938, edition of the L.A. Times, and in "Nuestro Pueblo," by Charles H. Owens and Joseph Seewerker, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA, 1940.

-Scott

Crash
 

Car accident Central Avenue and Firestone Boulevard, 24 September 1951
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1207/souptonuts.jpg

Notice that store carried everything from "soup to nuts"!

USC Digital Archives