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https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5321/3...93001ffd_o.jpgMystery location, Los Angeles, 1955

Banana House, Drive in? Wow, I'd really like to discover where this is/was.

:previous:

We're looking northeast across what is now W Cesar E Chavez Avenue from what is now N Hill Place. Below is the nearest aerial view I could find - 1952.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...HillPlace1.jpg
Historic Aerials

Sadly, the view now looks like this.

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

So Banana House was on the NE corner of Sunset and Castelar? That would make sense. I think we're seeing the back end of the Bozzani building over here on the right and the four story Sunset Hotel painted white and shorn of it's three striped turrets. Good call, thanks.


https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5321/3...93001ffd_o.jpgMystery location, Los Angeles, 1955


Also, from the same set, here is a sister of this bus on N Hill Street...


https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8140/3...ab8e8fc8_o.jpgLooking southeast from Fort Moore Hill, 1955

Bus is northbound on N Hill Street, camera is up on Fort Moore Place, above the Fort Moore Memorial (waterfall) with the cameraman's back to the LAUSD building.

Begging the indulgence of non-botanical readers: The appearance of the palm tree trunks in the photo suggests that they had endured a fire at some point! I'm afraid that I'm a creature of the coastal plain, so can't supply eyewitness data about the Palm Springs area; but, spurred by the question, I ran across a very interesting article (well, "interesting" to me...), which has a short passage which almost addresses the matter: "Washingtonia spp. are most abundant in large oases at the base of the mountains [...]. Washingtonia filifera and W. robusta seldom grow above 1000 m elevation [...]. In southern California, several W. filifera oases grow on perched water tables along geologic faults, including the San Andreas fault near Palm Springs. From Palm Springs southward to the southern Sierra Juarez, most oases occur in arroyos along the arid eastern escarpment" ("Distribution and Regional Ecology of Californian Palm Oases Interpreted from Google Earth Images," by Richard A. Minnich, Ernesto Franco-Vizcaino, and Mario Salazar-Ciseno, Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, v. 29 no. 1, p. 5, 2011). http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi...&context=aliso So the upshot is that there at least "several" such perched water table oases inclusive of one or ones near Palm Springs. I find that it's good to keep such information at hand for casual chit-chat when bar-hopping, and to break the ice at parties.

Today we have another S Charles Lee theater from Julius Shulman. This one is "Job Lee-LT: Laurel Theatre, 1941". Going by the date, I assume it was built before wartime shortages occurred.

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

The marquee's slightly different in this shot. Everything's coming together for the Gala Opening Nigh(t).

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

I read the "I just bailed out to see The New Laurel Theatre" sign when the image was small, but it was only when I zoomed in that I noticed the man in the middle was wearing a parachute. Now it all makes sense! The location is given away on the board behind.

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

Here are the girls again, this time spelling out the event in blocks.

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

I've omitted two images, one showing a band (presumably at the gala opening), and the other a similar interior shot to this one.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...5.jpg~original

Finally, here's the auditorium.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...6.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute

The theater's page at cinematreasures.org gives the address as 8056 Beverly Boulevard. A comment by Ralgev in 2004 says that the building still stands with a modified façade, and that back then the auditorium had been in use as a synagogue for around four decades. Current views suggest that it still is.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...7.jpg~original
GSV

Looking at the aerial and Streetview images, I think this is the auditorium on Laurel Avenue.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...8.jpg~original
GSV

Those fiberglass panels look like an invitation to disaster in a Santa Ana Wind. It's a wonder they are still there.

Did you notice, HossC, in the lobby image you omitted there were autographs of movie stars on the glass, written in wax or lipstick or what would it have been? Wonder if they were real or something else?

I was down the street a few blocks from this 8056 location on Monday night at 7290 Beverly Blvd. at Poinsettia, a place called MILK, which serves cookies, ice cream, yogurt and things like that.

It's in a nice art deco style building:

http://www.whereislosangeles.com/Yuk.../LOGO/milk.jpg
Vince Robbins/L.A. Travel Guide

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/54756195.jpg
Michael Jiroch

A couple nearby shops:

https://whatsgthatsg.files.wordpress...3/10016-1.jpeg


While we were there we wondered what might have been located there in the past. I didn't find out much about it, except the architect was J.R. Harris. It was built in 1931. When it was completed it was advertised as "a large and light prime location for Drug Store, Beauty and Barber Shop...Dress Shop, etc." Most recently there was a place called Cafe Creme located there and fashion designer Richard Tyler occupied the space for many years as "Richard Tyler Couture."

Permits indicate the 8056 Beverly Blvd.-structure was "pre-war construction," since it was in use as of late '41. If the structure's footprint seems odd, there was a variance granted concerning loading space near the alley. The structure was converted to current use in 1953. Wonder what considerations were made for parking in '41. One supposes that back then, there was adequate street parking and adjacent lots, as there is today.;)


http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...w.jpg~originalGSV


A block west would have been the Beverly Von's previously mentioned on NLA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzilla (Post 5844393) 8108 Piggly Wiggly; and 8110 an A&P! Both 8108 and 8110 may now be occupied by a Linen Store (below). http://img1.nelso.us/9a21b2f863d0f76...fd_640x478.jpghttp://images1.citysearch.net/assets...5/JCsSjgMv.jpggoogle According to the source, only the Von's was listed as a grocery market by 1936 so either the others moved or were occupied by non-chain merchants. http://www.groceteria.com/place/cali...ons-1932-1942/ "Compiled from city directory listings"

8100 Beverly Blvd. (1940's per source)
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...g.jpg~original http://waterandpower.org/2%20Histori...verly_Vons.jpg


http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o...k.jpg~originalhttp://waterandpower.org/Historical%...Kamps_1941.jpg


2014 still retained some of the original features. (Compare window openings on left.)
http://x.lnimg.com/photo/poster_1920...8f7a75e8a5.jpghttp://x.lnimg.com/photo/poster_1920...8f7a75e8a5.jpg


Apparently, the structure (8104 Beverly Blvd.) is currently occupied by Lawrence of La Brea.

Although not the past that you want, when i was a kid (early 90's)our pharmacy was in what is now Insomnia , once a week my mom would go there and i'd stay in the car on Beverly. I never liked it if my dad would take us there..he would always point out that the building across the street was haunted and that it was once a restaurant until the owner passed away and when he did they left everything the way it was..from coffee in the pots to dirty dishes in the sink. Years later i found it was sorta true..the place is now a spa but was once called the spanish cafe.

I'm thinking you're referring to The Spanish Kitchen...

you are correct,the name slipped me.:worship:

For a peak at the current inside, head over to CBS.com - Lawrence of La Brea just made an appearance on NCIS: Los Angeles in this season's second episode, broadcast on 10/02 ("The Queen's Gambit"). In fact the screen shot of the episode on the video player is from that very scene.

I lived in this neighborhood from about 1980-1983.

The derelict Spanish Kitchen was there at the time. You could peer in through the dusty windows and still make out the abandoned tables complete with tableclothes, napkins, plates and silverware, set for customers who were never to come.

El Coyote was on the other side of Bevelry, a block or two East. It hasn't changed much in all these years.

The New Beverly Cinema was (and still is) a few blocks further East, one of LA's many revival theaters of that era.

West toward Fairfax was the Pan Pacific.

The big auditorium was no longer in operation, rotting behind chainlink fences but the movie theatre in the foreground was still operating, showing second run double features. The floors of the theater were so sticky with the spilled pop and candy of decades past that when you stood up, it took some effort to pull your feet free to get out of the place.

I had to look up the film "She Knew All the Answers," because I'd not heard of it and it's a great title! The plot synopsis I read on a movie blog from someone who'd watched it on TV said, "This film is about a chorus girl, Joan Bennett, who wants to elope with Franchot Tone, a rich playboy (are there any other kind?). His guardian, John Hubbard, tries to stop the marriage and falls in love with him himself."

Huh? In 1941? Well, in looking it up on imdb where I should've started, it should have been written "in love with her himself." Regardless, the film also has Eve Arden in the cast, always a plus and William Benedict as a singing telelgraph boy. He was best known as one of the Bowery Boys in that series of films, but was in dozens of movies over the years, including Funny Girl and The Sting!

By the way, in that above photo, notice some of the people on the right look like apparitions. And what's up on the left with that melange of strewn about bicycles in front of a car with a very narrow front and beady headlights.

I have to admit that yesterday's post was a little rushed, and I missed the autographs on the mirror. To me, they look a little too even to have been real. Here's the full image.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...9.jpg~original

And here's an enlargement which I've tried to straighten out.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...0.jpg~original

Getty Research Institute

Thanks for all the follow-ups on the Laurel Theatre.

Those look like they were written with an acid pen, which would have etched the glass.

Cheers,

Earl

Edit: For those who haven't seen one, an acid pen looks like a magic marker but dispenses acid instead of ink.

Thanks to e_r for posting the interior picture. If I'd kept searching, I'd have found these images from Julius Shulman's return visit in 1977. It's "Job 5496: Bowler House (Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.), 1977". This set is also a mixture of color and black & white, but they're very similar, so I've gone with color. The only color photo I've left out is like the first one but from a slightly different angle.
NB. There are color variations between the pictures - this time I haven't altered the originals.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...5.jpg~original

This is the same room from the other side.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...6.jpg~original

The geometric shapes continue in what I assume is the dining room.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...7.jpg~original

Can you have too much green velvet? Here's one of the bedrooms.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...8.jpg~original

Looking out from the bedroom.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...9.jpg~original

Finally, I don't think I'd want to use this bathroom with a hangover - all those reflected angles!

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...0.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute