Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5005404)

I've got to turn this window off...I can't get anything else done. But of course I can't resist answering. That's the Beckett house at 2218 S. Harvard Blvd:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TK...o/beckett1.jpgBig Orange Landmarks


http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TK...0/beckett2.jpgBig Orange Landmarks

I'll let the erstwhile Mr. Floyd B. Bariscale take over from here:

http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.c...residence.html

I have to say that the interior looks great, or at least it does in the moody video lighting. The video is a must-see tour of what appears to be a seriously endangered house. If only its airy high-ceilinged spaces, with outside light coming in from all four sides, would inspire someone with a little cash to rescue it. (Hello Robert? Alison?) The scenes of exterior dilapidation are what tipped me off. Great video, and great song, btw.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5006517)

:previous:

Jeff-- I will have to take a look at Curse of the Cat People again--I couldn't find any movie stills of the house, but I see that the Waters house is listed as a location for the film on IMDB. It definitely fits a movie like Curse. Somewhere along the line I've seen the Capen house, which was at 818 West Adams just east of the Waters house, erroneously listed as Curses's locale. They're not dissimilar in massing. Here's a picture of that house, apparently demolished sometime in the early '40s:

Among the interesting things about the Waters house when it was filmed in 1943/44 was a wonderful massive stone wall topped with decorative iron fencing and an impressive entranceway that ran along the sidewalk in front of the house. The yard then was wildly overgrown with ferns (possibly added to increase the spooky atmosphere) and the set decorator (I presume) added stone griffons (sp?) flanking the entrance steps. There was a vine-covered collonade approaching the right of the house.
There was a shot of a tower where the old lady calls down, but this was clearly filmed at another house, probably because the fronds of the vast Ivy-covered Canary Palm Tree would probably had been visible in any shot taken above the second story (since the house was supposed to be in a small NY state town.)
Again, it just makes one heartsick to think that magnificent, atmospheric old houses and buildings like this were demolished by the hundreds, many at the same time that Bunker Hill was bulldozed.
The Capen house is indeed a beauty, and has some similarities to the Waters house

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061683.jpgLAPL
The Capen house, 818 West Adams: note the zanja in front. It ran on the south side of Adams
west from Figueroa and was decommissioned in 1901.


What is sort of interesting about the Capen house is that the porch entrance, with its elaborate scrolls, survives to the northeast in Sierra Madre, on the front of the Pinney House (architect: Joseph Cather Newsom). At least, that is my contention--some sources, including Gebhard and Winter, say that the entrance came from a house that once stood on Wilshire. There were, however, no high (by which I mean seriously turreted) Victorian houses built on the original westward-extending Wilshire--its development really didn't get going until the very end of the Victorian era. There were some on Orange Street, closer to downtown east of Westlake Park, which later became Wilshire in the '30s, but still I am of the opinion that the Capen porch entrance was the one installed on the Pinney house. (See what you think by comparing these pictures.) Producers of the 1942 Barbara Stanwyck movie The Great Man's Lady chose the Pinney house as a location, but wanted a fancier porch--apparently the Capen was being torn down and its entrance was recruited. (My guess is that other spindlework from the Capen was used to complete the new porch or else duplicated by studio carpenters to do the job.)


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061690.jpgLAPL
Closeup of the Capen--note the entrance and the spindles in the arch.


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061679.jpgLAPL
Another shot of the Capen. Note one of the six-globe streetlights that were installed in the West Adams
district beginning in 1903. The LAPL dates this photo 1941, so neither the house or the lamps have long
to live. Also note the post-zanja fire hydrant.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/...95c9966a_z.jpgKansas Sebastian
The Pinney house, Sierra Madre.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/...d2bbafaa_z.jpgBig Orange Landmarks
The Pinney entrance--a far-flung remnant of West Adams (IMHO).


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026485.jpgLAPL
Notice the similarity of balcony ironwork on the Hildreth house (above), which stood on Bunker Hill, and on the Capen. Both the On Bunker Hill website and Floyd B. Bariscale of Big Orange Landmarks cite J. C. Newsom as designer of the Hildreth--so I'm wondering if he also did the Capen. As I mentioned above, Newsom designed the Pinney house. Although the Pinney was originally of a plainer style (similar to the architect's San Dimas Hotel), and though I don't think the flamboyant Capen porch is an especially good architectural fit for it, I guess it's something that there is the possibility of Newsom having done both buildings.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5011257)

Below: Buena Vista St. from Bellevue Ave. (later Sunset Blvd. now Cesar Chavez Avenue) in 1887.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/575...stastfroms.jpg
usc digital archive

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 4998851)

Also, thanks for the history of the General Harrison Otis house. It is much appreciated 'GaylordWilshire'.
I didn't even know the address, let alone the connection to the Otis Art Institute.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5014948)

^^^ Very interesting GaylordWilshire. I always enjoy your posts.

Below: The intersection of Main, Spring & Ninth in 1917.
Notice the policeman's elevated post...stand?..I don't know what to call it.


http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/132...nmainsprin.jpg
usc digital archive


By the way....excellent before and after photograph Muji.
I look forward to exploring your blog. :)

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5015365)

GW, amazing west adams photos and commentary. also great images of the otis house! i wonder if the times building memorial sculpture still exists somewhere.......

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5016380)

ethereal--Your great downtown shots reminded me of the Braly Building.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019212.jpgLAPL

For some reason I just assumed that when the 150-foot height limit was imposed by the city council in 1906 (and which lasted until 1957), no building in Los Angeles exceeded that height at that time. But it turns out that the Parkinson-designed Continental Building at 408 S. Spring (se corner of 4th), finished not long before the council acted, is 175 feet tall, and was the highest building in town until the exempted City Hall was completed in 1928. It was originally called the Braly Building, later the Union Trust Building, and then the Hibernian Building before becoming the Continental.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-42130?v=hrUSC Digital Archive
From 4th and Main, showing the back of the Braly Building--and part of the I. W. Hellman house being
moved to make way for Mr. Hellman's new bank. The building going up at right still stands.


And 105 years later:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TL...n04%5B1%5D.jpgYelpie Images

P.S.
Another great read is Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California by Frances Dinkelspiel (proud great-great granddaughter if Isaias).

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5022638)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TL...o/s640/900.jpgCooper, Lynch and Kurtz: West Adams/Bison Archives
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TL...12/900door.jpgCooper, Lynch and Kurtz: West Adams/Bison Archives
900 West Adams, ca. 1940. The pictures above were taken a
few years before The Curse of the Cat People was filmed.


I finally had the chance to watch The Curse of the Cat People again. When I've seen it before I didn't know that Mrs. Farren's house once stood at 900 West Adams, which gsjansen, JeffDiego, myself and maybe others have written of here previously. The film is actually much more interesting than I remembered it, and not just because of the house. But for the purposes of this forum I'll talk about the spooky old Waters/Farren place... here are a couple of obsessive observations. As Amy is following her friends around the Adams/Portland corner of the house in one particularly evocative scene, there is a terrific sense if Victorian West Adams--the great stone and iron fence that JeffDiego mentioned, the brooding turretted house, the lush vegetation. In the movie, trailing potted plants cover the "900" inscribed on each gatepost (probably on purpose--although the street number is seen above the door; see pics here), and you can see the adjacent Christian Science church's balustrade in these scenes, still there today. There are other quick exterior establishing shots of the house that look more like a painting that is only a close approximation of the real house. Closeups of the real front door are seen, with characters entering the actual house, though interiors are apparently studio sets--decorators did a good job of replicating most of the details of the actual house's front doors on these sets. JeffDiego mentioned that he thought the scenes of the unseen Mrs. Farren talking to Amy from a high window appear to have been filmed at another location-- this definitely looks to me to have been the carriage house (which still stands) right behind the main house. What you can see of the carriage house and its small tower in the movie match what is visible from the street--at least in Google Street View shots, that is (see prior posts of the carriage house, which also show remnants of the stone-and-iron fence). OK--this is probably way more detail than you ever wanted to know about The Curse of the Cat People, but I think its 1944 release date and mysterious look and feel, and the starring role of a great old L.A. house (even if it's supposed to be in Tarrytown, N.Y.), make it part of noir-era Los Angeles if not really noir is the usual sense. Btw--I wonder if the producers of The Addams Family remembered Curse when they were searching for a "haunted" house for the '60s tv series, but, finding 900 West Adams gone, then discovered 21 Chester Place?

http://www.afi.com/wise/films/curse_...t_people01.jpgAmerican Film Institute
Mrs. Farren entertaining Amy at home. Notice the cat eating the canary.

Originally Posted by JeffDiego (Post 5027419)

Savored every word of your musings on "The Curse of the Cat People," GW.
And...your talent for finding these amazing photos.
Very interesting that you are familiar enough with the remaining carriage house at 900 West Adams to identify it as the likely location of the mysterious tower window in the movie.
Incidentally, I meant to ask if anyone knows the identity/location of the Victorian mansion with massive twin Palm Trees in the original William Castle movie "13 Ghosts?"
I checked out the trailer on youtube, and there is close-up panning shot of the front of the Waters house! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smki4...eature=related If this link doesn't work, go to youtube and type in 13 ghosts (1960) trailer.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5027929)

Do either of you know any details of a castle-like house above Sunset somewhere in the vicinity of Sweetzer?
I believe it's still there although hidden by trees and bushes.



OK....I just found some information.

I just googled sweetzer and castle and found this link.
http://movieland.wordpress.com/2007/...aculas-castle/

The photos are terrible. :(
Do you have any photos of this house GW?

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5027851)

:previous:

Jeff: I will have to check out 13 Ghosts to see if we can find the other house in the movie--but that is indeed the Waters house in the Youtube clip. Another spooky appearance in the clip is none other than the Wicked Witch herself, Margaret Hamilton. She appears for a second--wasn't sure at first, but I checked the cast and yep, she's one of the stars. In fact, she may be the biggest, though also starring are Martin Milner, who was doing Route 66 on tv that same year, and Rosemary DeCamp--who I was familiar enough with growing up but have no idea now if she was in movies or was a singer or what. Anyway, quite a mixed bag of players in 13 Ghosts! As for the Waters carriage house--the vents in the tower are a big clue--I think it was filmed in Curse with the camera low to the ground to give it some height, since the rear building was quite a bit shorter than the main house.

PS Now you've got me wondering when the Waters house was demolished--for some reason I assumed it was in the '40s, when so many Victorians went, but if 13 Ghosts was shot in '59 or '60... of course maybe the footage in the Youtube clip was old...

Originally Posted by JeffDiego (Post 5028075)

Richard Lamparski, author of the famous "Whatever Became of?" books and super-authority on old Hollywood, devotes a page in his book "Lamparski's Hidden Hollywood" to "The Castle of the Fairy Lady," which was the name given to the house (originally called Mount Kalmia) by its owner, Mrs. Hersee Moody Carson. She was a devout Christian who held large parties at her house for children, mostly orphans and cripples, and they referred to her as The Fairy Lady. The dessert at these parties was always a huge angel-food cake shaped and decorated as the Holy Bible.
There is an excellent photo of the house in 1940 in Lamparski's book.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5029097)

Yesterday, I came across these three photos for sale on ebay.
The first one is especially great.



http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6...noldhylen2.jpg
ebay


http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7...noldhylen1.jpg
ebay



http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7...noldhylen3.jpg
ebay