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malumot Dec 13, 2010 6:48 AM

Like so many large-formats, you just get lost in 'em...

Yes, you do Beaudry. Ain't it fun?

Anyway, what I noticed was the LACK OF HANDRAILS on the steps leading from just below Harold's right knee to his co-star's a.. uhhh... I mean....shoes.

Also noticed the same in Kiss Me Deadly. For those familiar with the movie, as I now am: Mike is on his way to get information from the opera singer, who lives in the Hillcrest. He drives north on Clay, under Angels Flight in that now-famous shot of the passing Sinai and Olivet, and parks at the foot of the stairs There are two sets of stairs, actually - one alongside the Sunshine Apts, to the left, and the other alongside the Astoria, on the right, with some sort of concrete drainage culvert between them. The camera shows Mike beginning to ascend the stairs and then cuts to the entrance of the Hillcrest, at top, Mike walking through the lobby doors and we overhear a cabbie in an adjacent phone booth.

Nary a handrail in sight. (While the "lobby-shot" does show handrails, it was established earlier that it's an entirely different set of stairs than we see at the beginning of Mike's hill-climbing adventure, as the actual Hillcrest was ABOVE the Sunshine, on Olive.)

How long would it be until somebody like Cal-OSHA was camped on your doorstep if you tried to pull that off today? Five minutes?

Perhaps life is safer now. Maybe less dangerous. Certainly less interesting.

http://www.americanfilmnoir.com/_wp_...wpd55fdf8d.jpg

[/QUOTE]

Los Angeles Past Dec 13, 2010 6:48 AM

Beaudry might get a kick out of this. About a year ago, he helped me locate the SRO hotel where my mother and her sister shared a room when they first moved out on their own in 1936. There were photos of the place in our family album, but I never knew exactly where it was. Beaudry looked it up in an old directory and found out that the Barker Hotel was located at... well, you can see for yourself on this linen postcard I found recently:

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/barkerhotelpc_lg.jpg


Here were the photos Mom had from her time at the Barker (1936-1938).

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/barkerhotel_sm.jpg


Mom was a secretarial student at Woodbury College at the time. (I still have those same art deco picture frames!)

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/momatb..._101637_sm.jpg


Isn't it neat how hotel residents used to socialize like this? My how times have changed!

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/barker...s2_1938_sm.jpg

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/barker...s1_1938_sm.jpg


Enlargements of these family album photos can be viewed in my blog post about the Barker.

-Scott

Los Angeles Past Dec 13, 2010 9:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaudry (Post 5088815)
You note on your site that you think it may be '04 because the Lankershim is under construction; I would second that in that the Moore Cliff, in the center of the right panel of the card, is covered in scaffolding. It TOO was constructed (and opened) in aught-four!

That's an amazing piece, congrats.

:D Wouldn't it be nice to know that, 100 years from now, some as-yet-unborn whippersnappers of the future will be able to nail down our present-day historical details like we're doing today for those of our past generations? You know it'll happen! Unfortunately, we just won't live to see it. ^^

By the way, I've been meaning to ask. Is anybody archiving this thread? This has become a very important online source on the subject of L.A. history, but unfortunately, websites like this tend not to endure for very long. I wouldn't even count on skyscraperpage.com being here next year, let alone 5, 10, 20, 50+ years from now...

-Scott

gsjansen Dec 13, 2010 1:04 PM

an amazing cloud shrouded sky looking west on wilshire boulevard from new hampshire street in the 30's

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...27-1-ISLA?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...27-1-ISLA?v=hr

gsjansen Dec 13, 2010 5:45 PM

some more harold lloyd fun!
 
In safety last, harold llloyd scales the von's department store facade to drum up business, (and to save his job to boot).

it's quite a challenging endeavor, but what makes it more nerve racking.....the dayum building keeps moving on him whilst he's scaling about like a human fly!

Here are a series of screen captures to demonstrate how this seemingly solid, well built immovable edifice gets around town more than a dishwater blond with a charge account at every downtown watering hole..............

we start off with an establishing long shot showing the building to be scaled . well lookee here, it appears to be the International Savings & Exchange Bank Building, (later known as the bank of italy building), at the corner of spring street and temple street. the old hall of records is peaking out on the left side of the building

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5284/...58ef94a2_z.jpg

the next shot is looking up the facade of the building showing the clock which will figure into some trouble for our hero later on

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5208/...e7635115_z.jpg


now wait just a dab blammit minute there........ howcome we didn't see a clock in the 1st establishing long shot????!!!???

oh... wait a minute, there it is, (must have had some prototype keebler elfs doing stagehand chores....ahhhhh the magic of hollywood). note the hall of records still peeking out on the left.....

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5042/...0a79ffef06.jpg

Harold begins his climb, and reaches the 1st ledge......wait a second.....what view is that? blackstones??? further up on the left the majestic theater?!!!?....well bless my soul, the building has developed wings and has flown to a new location at the intersection of 10th, (to be named olympic in a few years when the .......well olympics come to town). and broadway. broadway splits into broadway to the left, and broadway place which merges with main st. on the right.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5084/...8242451e_z.jpg

not seemingly being bothered by the buildings new address, 10 blocks to the south, and two blocks to the west of where he started.....(i say two blocks because new high street used to run between spring and broadway). view looking down showing that soon to be pesty clock.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5082/...c073e5ab_z.jpg

keep on climbing....keep on climbing....kee.....what in the sam hill balzes is going on here???!!!, this varmint building has moved again....it's back to where it originally was. we are now looking south up spring street from temple street. you can see the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California building (soon to become the million dollar theater building), off to the right in the distance, which is located at 3rd and broadway

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5087/...171fb79f_z.jpg

keep climbing....keep climbing....there's the roof of the old post office building on the right.....whew...the building seems to be staying put for now.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5168/...a906fd03_z.jpg

harold seems to be trying to grab the ledge to his left.........whoa nelly!!!! how in tarnation did we get back to 10th and broadway??!!? harold shoulda taken some Dramamine before this trip.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5163/...8de871b4_z.jpg


never mind, he reaches the ledge and........yoiks!!!!!! we're back to temple and spring fer cryin' out loud. i sure hope harold is gettin' frequent flyer mileage points for this trip!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5089/...cf6a30f0_z.jpg

never mind....just keep climbing.......he's almost up to the clock.....doh! the building has lept once again to broadway.....but wait a second, this ain't 10th and broadway......why it's ninth and broadway. the majestic theater which had loomed off in the distance, is now directly across the street, and there's the old hamburger's, (soon to be may co.) department store at 8th and braodway!!!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/...a1fb9813_z.jpg

i knew that clock was gonna give harold trouble....lets see if he can grab that rope to get him out of this jam........(thank goodness, the building once again is staying put.......

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5284/...fa3001ab_z.jpg

all right...good, he got the rope.........what the.....??!!?? the building has lept a block south back to 10th and broadway

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/...702a1b03_z.jpg

ok...almost at the roof.....whoa...whoa....wait just a cotton pickin' minute.......we're back on spring street, but it's 6th street and spring....??!!?? there's the alexandria hotel at the corner of spring and 5th

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5089/...56705756_z.jpg

whew! made it to the top, and the building is staying put again, that lanyard for the flag pole looks like trouble though...........

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5082/...405dc95d_z.jpg

wheeeeeee! a nice shot looking south on spring street....there's the stock exchange on the right between 6th and 7th

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5284/...a30397a9_z.jpg

ahhhhh finally! at the top, and in the arms of his true love............and once again, the building has moved three blocks south and one block west back to 9th and broadway, there's hamburgers once again with the white coast federal savings building across 8th street...i don't know about harold, but i sure am exhausted!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/...5580a587_z.jpg

so the next time i need a taxi, i'll just hail a building!

gsjansen Dec 13, 2010 7:32 PM

an interesting comparison of two views looking west on 6th street between main and spring street.

it appears that both images are taken from the roof of the central building located at the sw corner of main and 6th.

the 1st view is 1905

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-4-8-ISLA?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-4-8-ISLA?v=hr

the 2nd is from 1917

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-5721?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets.../CHS-5721?v=hr

it is simply amazing at how fast the downtown area grew in a short 12 years

GaylordWilshire Dec 13, 2010 11:30 PM

A & P Revisited
 
On this sad day for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, a brief tribute to its time in Los Angeles:


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Ei2Ik5quiI...lyshopping.jpg
Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1950


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-43866?v=hr
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...1346/CHS-43866
Larchmont Boulevard

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ei2Ik5quiI...lyshopping.jpg http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogsp...acific-in.html
Gayley & Lindbrook, Westwood. Demolished.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Ei2Ik5quiI...lyshopping.jpg http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogsp...acific-in.html
Wilshire & Cochran. This building's facade (if not the whole building) still stands, now incorporated into a Staples store that has a Guggenheimesque addition to its left.


http://jpg1.lapl.org/00082/00082758.jpgLAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/00082/00082758.jpg
East Foothill & Rosemead Blvd, Pasadena. Grand Opening, April 1959


http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...2V4U3VU4LH.jpg
California State Library http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...2V4U3VU4LH.jpg
Vernon


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Ei2Ik5quiI...2B1930%27s.jpg
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...1385/CHS-41356
One we've seen here before: Sunset & Fairfax


http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics27/00048175.jpgLAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics27/00048175.jpg
Per the LAPL: "A train of the L.A. Junction Railway Co. is stopped in front of the warehouse of the Great Atlantic
and Pacific Tea Co., importers of tea. Photo dated: January 7, 1932."


Read the complete L.A. A&P story here: http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogsp...acific-in.html

And here is all the rest you could possibly want to know about it:
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=494
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=872

ethereal_reality Dec 14, 2010 12:02 AM

gsjansen, your Harold Lloyd post was extremely FUNNY.
Do some more...please.

Scott,
I don't think anyone is archiving the thread. (is it possible?)
But I agree, it should be preserved one way or another.
There is more information in this thread than most books on Los Angeles history.

I like those A&P photos

ethereal_reality Dec 14, 2010 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5090393)
No shortage of neo-noir bedbug-and-clap traps remaining along Ventura in Studio City--here are a couple still standing. I thought at first that the Charles might be the Valley Springs, but now don't think so. And there's an even older tourist court next door. Can't make out the name on the sign, though.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...45444%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...45403%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...23841%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View


http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/6858/elroyale.jpg
originally posted by Beaudry









I found it! The tourist court on the right (in the above photo) is the El Royale Motel.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7...estudiocit.jpg
googiesque







http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/533...ebytimhoff.jpg
Tim Hoffarth






Below: I LOVE this decrepit sign. I wonder if it still lights up?

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7...estudiocit.jpg
googiesque







http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7...estudiocit.jpg
googiesque


It's AMAZING that this place still exist. It looks more like a movie set than a real place.
I would stay here for sure.

malumot Dec 14, 2010 12:41 AM

Crown Motel Redux
 
Great work on The Crown, Ethereal.....I know it, or know OF it, fairly well....

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...telisstill.jpg

I have a friend who works at Carl's Jr. HQ, which is a block or so away from The Crown, and just south of the eastbound 91. I saw it one day and went into "Motel Hunter Mode", which is basically when I ask myself "WTF is this old motel doing out here, on THIS street, in THIS neighborhood?" (I'm sure most of you can relate.) As it is now, The Crown is surrounded by mostly vacant lots, a tire store, a Salvation Army outlet. Lots of bums and homeless in La Palma Park across the street. It is in some sort of urban redevelopment zone, though as in many cases the emphasis is more on clearing of lots than "redevelopment".

Well, as with most things, there is a reason.....and a story.

Prior to the Freeway Age, the "Coast Route", U.S. Highway 101, took the motorist from Downtown through East LA, Whittier, and La Habra before turning south and hitting Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana and points south. Here's a 1941 map.

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...try-shrunk.jpg

Let's examine Orange County more closely......and what is that little 45 degree jog to the right, about halfway between Fullerton and Anaheim?

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...apalmazoom.jpg

THAT, my friend, is Los Angeles Street - now renamed La Palma Parkway, and was the main highway entering Anaheim back in the day. (Now the postcard makes sense!) The Crown is "1136" in the middle of the satellite photo.)


http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...loverfield.jpg

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...tel1136nla.jpg

La Palma Park has it own interesting history. Built in the mid-1930s it was soon washed away by the horrific floods of March, 1938 (I suggest a quick google of "Los Angeles flood 1938" to learn more.) You can clearly see the diagonal "Los Angeles Avenue" in the air photo.....and YES, that is a house, washed off its foundations and deposited in the middle of the road.

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...i-res-zoom.jpg

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...-res2-zoom.jpg



The park was rebuilt and for a few short years - from 1939 through 1941 - was the spring training home of the Philadelphia Athletics. Now named Glover Field, still in use for high school football games (see the grandstands across from The Crown)

ethereal_reality Dec 14, 2010 12:50 AM

The Copacabana Inn at 5304 S. Figueroa St.



http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/925...anafiguero.jpg
Joey Zanotti







http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/7...anebyjoeyz.jpg
Joey Zanotti


And it's still in business.
Phone 1-323-234-1844 for reservations.

ethereal_reality Dec 14, 2010 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malumot (Post 5091919)
Great work on The Crown, Ethereal.....I know it, or know OF it, fairly well....

I have a friend who works at Carl's Jr. HQ, which is a block or so away from The Crown, and just south of the eastbound 91. I saw it one day and went into "Motel Hunter Mode", which is basically when I ask myself "WTF is this old motel doing out here, on THIS street, in THIS neighborhood?" (I'm sure most of you can relate.) As it is now, The Crown is surrounded by mostly vacant lots, a tire store, a Salvation Army outlet. Lots of bums and homeless in La Palma Park across the street. It is in some sort of urban redevelopment zone, though as in many cases the emphasis is more on clearing of lots than "redevelopment".

Well, as with most things, there is a reason.....and a story.

Prior to the Freeway Age, the "Coast Route", U.S. Highway 101, took the motorist from Downtown through East LA, Whittier, and La Habra before turning south and hitting Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana and points south. Here's a 1941 map.


Let's examine Orange County more closely......and what is that little 45 degree jog to the right, about halfway between Fullerton and Anaheim?

THAT, my friend, is Los Angeles Street - now renamed La Palma Parkway, and was the main highway entering Anaheim back in the day. (Now the postcard makes sense!) The Crown is "1136" in the middle of the satellite photo.)

La Palma Park has it own interesting history. Built in the mid-1930s it was soon washed away by the horrific floods of March, 1938 (I suggest a quick google of "Los Angeles flood 1938" to learn more.)

The park was rebuilt and for a few short years - from 1939 through 1941 - was the spring training home of the Philadelphia Athletics. Now named Glover Field, still in use for high school football games (see the grandstands across from The Crown)

That is really interesting about Highway101.
Thanks for the information malumot.

Also those maps you posted are really great.

GaylordWilshire Dec 14, 2010 1:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5091901)
I finally found it! The tourist court on the right (in the above photo) is the El Royale Motel.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7...estudiocit.jpg
googiesque

It's AMAZING that this place still exist. It looks more like a movie set than a real place.
I would stay here for sure.

Ethereal-- In this pic, you can see faintly how the sign was once merely painted with the name--apparently it was redrawn when the neon was added. Incredible place. Incredible that it survives. (I wonder for how long?) And incredible shots--speaking of shots, is that a bullet hole to the left of the "M"?

GaylordWilshire Dec 14, 2010 1:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past (Post 5090939)
By the way, I've been meaning to ask. Is anybody archiving this thread? This has become a very important online source on the subject of L.A. history, but unfortunately, websites like this tend not to endure for very long. I wouldn't even count on skyscraperpage.com being here next year, let alone 5, 10, 20, 50+ years from now...

-Scott

You're right, Scott--I agree that this really has become an incredible resource, random, entertaining, and comprehensive all at the same time. There really is more here than in most books on the city, and from so many angles. As I look around online for L.A.-related information, I'm amazed by the number of times I've seen reference to the forum. I really have no idea what archiving a website would mean, or how it could be done. Anybody? We must save our own L.A. artifact! To lose it would be like losing Bunker Hill all over again! Well, allright, that might be a teensy bit of an exaggeration. But not much!

malumot Dec 14, 2010 1:31 AM

You're welcome!

I first started looking into the "Los Angeles Street Diagonal" a couple of years ago actually. That was when I first downloaded the map and the flood pics.

The street is relatively wide (enough for two lanes of traffic in both directions) but rarely used. (Note there are no cars parked on the street in the current Crown photos.) Plus parts of the street still retain their original concrete surface - had not been asphalted over like most.

"There's something going on here!" I said to myself........

...sure enough..... piece of forgotten Anaheim history.


Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5091933)
That's really interesting about Highway101.
Thanks for the information malumot.


sopas ej Dec 14, 2010 1:37 AM

Wow, some really great posts! Great Harold Lloyd post, gsjansen. And malumot, great post on the Crown Motel. I love the maps you posted, too. I have a Renie Atlas of Los Angeles County from 1943, but it's only of LA County (with a California state highway map). It's cool seeing a map of pre-freeway Orange County. Gaylord, the post on the A&P Markets is also very interesting. Of course seeing the list of locations, I just had to Google map the Alhambra address, being that I live near Alhambra and I wanted to see where it was located/if the building still exists. Unfortunately it's gone. A strip mall circa 1980s is there now, in the heart of downtown Alhambra, even, the southeast corner of Main and Garfield. I'm wondering if the Pasadena location on Foothill and Rosemead is now the Whole Foods that's located there. There's a shopping center there that includes a Sears, but the center itself looks like it might've been remodeled many times over the years.

I know the Charles Motel and El Royale Motel well. Not because I ever stayed at either of them, but because across the street and a little west from that location was a great Hungarian restaurant called Lazlo's Hortobagy. It was very good, and the clientele was always an interesting bunch-- old loud San Fernando Valley Jews, young couples dressed up for dinner, and sometimes TV celebs. I remember seeing Eric McCormack from "Will & Grace" there (a show I never watched). But the Charles Motel always looked so seedy, especially at night, and it had these weird colored floodlights shining on the walls. And there were always a few cars in the lot, I assumed they were charge-by-the-hour illicit trysts. I haven't been there in a while because Lazlo's Hortobagy closed like 2 or 3 years ago; last I saw, it had become an Indian restaurant.

This is probably a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone might have any info on a place called the Wulpole Hotel, on or near Main and 5th in downtown Los Angeles? I ask because... well, it's kind of a long story, but on a birth certificate dated from 1946, for the address listed for the birth parents, all it says is "Wulpole Hotel, Main and 5th, Los Angeles." There's no exact street address given. I've looked up Wulpole Hotel online and can't find any info on it.

JeffDiego Dec 14, 2010 7:57 AM

What kind of a name for a motel (or any other kind of establishment) is WULPOLE? Ha!

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 9:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by esotouric (Post 5090164)
Such a shame about Stillwell's, but it reminds me of a wonderful little thicket of surviving older motor hotels just east on Ramona, a road not often traveled since it's uncomfortably freeway-close. You'll find them where Ramona turns into Garvey, around Montezuma and Carlos. (see crummy Google streetview image below)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5209/...823cbb1369.jpg

Cuter still, cruise south down Atlantic and look left to spy this gem at 438 El Mercado Avenue, tucked amidst much new development but still just as cute as the day it was hatched.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5248/...127af629eb.jpg

I love the Milla -- there are a lot of postcards of Monterey Park motels, never seen one of this'un. Of course, I've never been inside to ask for one, and for all I know, they've had the same postcards sitting out on their counter since 1956. http://www.flickr.com/photos/snakmagic/4280742158/

Here's a few images of The View (since we seem to be on the subject of Shows We Don't Watch lately) and the Midwick:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5207/...8c6f0769_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/...7322932c_b.jpg

Once 2436 W Garvey, now just 1901 Garvey. I really want to underscore what a sexy, successful piece of modern architecture this motel is. That roofline, that corner window, the tower-as-sign:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5203/...a73cc053_z.jpg

Of course the tower-as-sign was covered in neon; of course they recently stripped it of all of its neon. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7623944@N03/4029756630/ The tubing is gone from the letters, reversible, but the can for the drive-in-here is dumpstered, presumably. Note in the postcard image the sign was made up of horizontal boarding -- interesting choice -- which one can see more of in the avilon_music close-up.

As for The View up the street, once 2500 W Garvey, now 1851:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5288/...5428e91f_b.jpg

Blessedly as of this writing it remains pretty unchanged. The sign has lost where it read "Apts & Rooms" but otherwise, at least it's still neon.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5168/...ebdae530_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5009/...e002f403_o.jpg

(...I thought Midwick was an interesting name for a motel, and so learned some [I thought] interesting things about the Midwick Country Club while I was at it...go here http://www.cityofalhambra.org/commun...ing/index.html and scroll down to Midwick Tract... also http://www.cityofalhambra.org/community/midwick.html and http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...ub-alhambra-ca )

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 9:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5091942)
Ethereal-- In this pic, you can see faintly how the sign was once merely painted with the name--apparently it was redrawn when the neon was added. Incredible place. Incredible that it survives. (I wonder for how long?) And incredible shots--speaking of shots, is that a bullet hole to the left of the "M"?

Actually I think what you have here is a neon sign reinvented...above the E, next to the M, and I think a couple on the right side and down by the 'y' have been "filled in" -- these holes are where the original tube housings were. Neon once ran along the original paint job; electrodes ran 90degrees out from the tubing into P-K housings that ran to the transformer. What they've done here is re-do the sign by booting GTO wire. Electric code doesn't actually allow this type of "twisted wire" connection on these signs, but I guess no-one is bothering them about it. I wince at these crap jobs, but nevertheless thank the heavens it's still there!

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 9:48 AM

I figured a) if anybody'd appreciate this, all y'all would, and b) if anybody'd be able to find another angel...

http://www.laobserved.com/visiting/2...ing_richfi.php

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 9:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past (Post 5090872)
Beaudry might get a kick out of this. About a year ago, he helped me locate the SRO hotel where my mother and her sister shared a room when they first moved out on their own in 1936. There were photos of the place in our family album, but I never knew exactly where it was. Beaudry looked it up in an old directory and found out that the Barker Hotel was located at... well, you can see for yourself on this linen postcard I found recently:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...hotelpc_lg.jpg

Enlargements of these family album photos can be viewed in my blog post about the Barker.

-Scott

I like how on your blog you mention it was listed as the "Baker" -- that's part of the challenge, and fun, of eBay, is trying to second guess how people are going to list things. Los Angles is pretty common; and of course, if you want blank letterhead, you're looking for "stationary" ...congrats on your find!

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5091230)
In safety last, harold llloyd scales the von's department store facade to drum up business, (and to save his job to boot).

it's quite a challenging endeavor, but what makes it more nerve racking.....the dayum building keeps moving on him whilst he's scaling about like a human fly!

Here are a series of screen captures to demonstrate how this seemingly solid, well built immovable edifice gets around town more than a dishwater blond with a charge account at every downtown watering hole.......

so the next time i need a taxi, i'll just hail a building!

Seems like you need to be doing a play-for-play V-log, gsj!

You might want to mention that perhaps HL is engaging in some sort of time travel, because in time travel one must move not only through time but through space...hence the leaping buildings. Ok, so I haven't really thought that one through. Hmm.

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5091971)
Wow, some really great posts! Great Harold Lloyd post, gsjansen. And malumot, great post on the Crown Motel. I love the maps you posted, too.

This is probably a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone might have any info on a place called the Wulpole Hotel, on or near Main and 5th in downtown Los Angeles? I ask because... well, it's kind of a long story, but on a birth certificate dated from 1946, for the address listed for the birth parents, all it says is "Wulpole Hotel, Main and 5th, Los Angeles." There's no exact street address given. I've looked up Wulpole Hotel online and can't find any info on it.

I second all the great posts-toast!

As for the Wulpole -- nothing in the Yellow Pages, '40 or '47, under Apts or Hotel, for anything with a W ending in "pole"...nor is there anything in the '42 City directory. Was it typed or handwritten? I'm wondering now whether it may be an odd-looking M? (I tried Maypole, no luck there either.) I ask because I have famously poor handwriting and I could pen "platypus" and it would come out looking like "Wulpole."

Los Angeles Past Dec 14, 2010 1:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5091961)
You're right, Scott--I agree that this really has become an incredible resource, random, entertaining, and comprehensive all at the same time. There really is more here than in most books on the city, and from so many angles. As I look around online for L.A.-related information, I'm amazed by the number of times I've seen reference to the forum. I really have no idea what archiving a website would mean, or how it could be done. Anybody? We must save our own L.A. artifact! To lose it would be like losing Bunker Hill all over again! Well, allright, that might be a teensy bit of an exaggeration. But not much!

It could be archived by taking screen captures of each page, and then assembling those into a PDF file. It's over a hundred pages, but one person with a fast net connection could do it in only a few hours.

One problem in creating an archive now, though, is that a significant amount of content from earlier in the thread is already gone, mostly due to broken image hotlinks. In some posts, only the text and/or picture captions remain.

It might be worthwhile if some of us could go back and review our old posts and make sure everything that needs to be seen is actually still see-able.

After we get that content back, though, then it really wouldn't be too difficult to archive the thread as described previously.

-Scott

GaylordWilshire Dec 14, 2010 3:25 PM

Blue Book retreats, east and west
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaudry (Post 5092377)
...I thought Midwick was an interesting name for a motel, and so learned some [I thought] interesting things about the Midwick Country Club while I was at it...go here http://www.cityofalhambra.org/commun...ing/index.html and scroll down to Midwick Tract... also http://www.cityofalhambra.org/community/midwick.html and http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...ub-alhambra-ca )

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...idwickClub.jpg http://www.cityofalhambra.org
The Midwick Country Club


The Midwick was very popular with the West Adams/Hancock Park Blue Book set in the '20s, along with the more rustic Crags near Calabasas. Downtown businessmen including William May Garland bought 2,000 acres including part of Malibu Creek in 1900, built a clubhouse and private houses nearby, as well as a dam across the creek to form a lake to attract quarry for clubmembers. The lake later became Century Lake, as in 20th Century-Fox--yes, "Hollywood trash" took over before long, and all that remains of The Crags now, aside from the actual rocky crags it was named after, are some stone steps. Some of the property is now Malibu Creek State Park. (Exactly who owned what land when in this area is covered in some confusing detail here http://www.babcockancestry.com/books...hehinman.shtml and here http://www.malibucreekstatepark.org/CLIMBING.html.

http://www.babcockancestry.com/books...ountryclub.jpg http://www.babcockancestry.com

http://www.malibucreekstatepark.org/...op_800x574.jpg http://www.malibucreekstatepark.org

Beaudry Dec 14, 2010 6:36 PM

Motel images generally fall into three camps: the early motor courts with, say, a collection of pitched-roof cottages and its sign across an arch; the low-slung utilitarian U or L perhaps fashioned into some sort of vernacular (Southwest? Bavarian?); and of course the fabled Googie motels of the postwar period.

But I was flipping through my Hollywood cards and came up with three, all within spitting distance of the other, that were more...Modernistic. Not exactly of the monolithic Streamline variety of the Town or the Tick Tock I posted earlier.

The 1952 Hollywood La Brea says "I am Late Moderne, and I am green!"

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/...305c9dc6_o.jpg

The 1949 Sunset Manor may be older and more reserved, but still goes for green.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5287/...cfe048be_b.jpg

The 1950 Palm Motel soundly abjures both fins and green paint. (Flagcrete and, could that be Roman brick? Could our architect have been influenced by Clements' Mullen & Bluett?)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/...cbd99298_o.jpg

Nowadays, Hollywood LaBrea (7110 H'wood Blvd) has been tarted up like a schoolgirl's lunchbox. And it has lost its awesome porte-cochère.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/...c0b5cba9_z.jpg

But that it retains it original windows, and that glass brick, is a miracle in itself.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5248/...59d32cda_b.jpg

The Sunset 8 (née Sunset Manor) (Eight what? The Sunset 8 is the number of blacklisted writers living there? They couldn't afford 13 ghosts?) is still looking manorial, with what may be its original paint job --

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5090/...0a3cf4a3_b.jpg

-- most of it, anyway. Won't even talk about the windows.

And of the noble Palm...

...hey, wait, what th --

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/...978ccf23_z.jpg

WHAT??!!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5044/...f57d5243_b.jpg

Oh, come on. I mean cultural terrorism is funny and all, but that's just rude. I'm reminded of the Vincent Vega quip about how it's worth them doing it just to catch them doing it.

ethereal_reality Dec 14, 2010 6:59 PM

Man, those before and after motel postcard/photos are amazing.
I find it surprising that all three are still in business.

And "tarted up like a schoolgirl's lunchbox" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. :)

GaylordWilshire Dec 14, 2010 7:19 PM

The Hollywood LaBrea and the Sunset Manor etc put me in mind of our old friend the Stuart K. Oliver house, Bunker Hill's contribution to "Late Moderne"...

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046384.jpgLAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046384.jpg

JeffDiego Dec 14, 2010 9:53 PM

More wonderful motel postcard scans, (Thanks!) but I know I'm far from the only one here who almost doesn't want to see the "after" shots of these places having been modernized. Amazing (and utterly depressing) what spray-on stucco, ugly cement add-ons, tacky-looking Tijuana-style signs and cheap window frames with requisite iron bars or plastic veneer can do to desecrate these once-charming (in their own way) places.
That Stuart K. Oliver (he looks pretty dashing) house on Bunker Hill is an interesting oddity. Looks as though he might've incorporated the original stone wall and steps of one of the old houses. Any info. about it on this thread?

malumot Dec 14, 2010 11:48 PM

Dang.....you beat me to it.

That line was just short of "milk snorting out your nose" funny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5092789)
Man, those before and after motel postcard/photos are amazing.
I find it surprising that all three are still in business.

And "tarted up like a schoolgirl's lunchbox" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. :)


ethereal_reality Dec 14, 2010 11:55 PM

The Jet Inn Motor Hotel at 4542 W. Slauson Ave.


http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/8...nnpcw2huge.jpg
postcard/ebay






Now renamed the Jet Inn Motel.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/4784/jetinn2002a.jpg
synthetrix.blogspot.com






Below: What in the world would you call this strange ornamentation.......chinoiserie modern?

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5527/jetinn2002b.jpg
synthetrix>blogspot.com






http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/1655/jetinn2002c.jpg
synthetrix.blogspot.com







Below: It has seen better days that's for sure. :(

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9045/jetinndecay2002.jpg
synthetrix.blogspot.com

GaylordWilshire Dec 15, 2010 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5093219)
The Jet Inn Motor Hotel at 4542 W. Slauson Ave.

http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/8...nnpcw2huge.jpg
postcard/ebay


Amazing to think that the Jet evolved out of places like this not all that long in the past:

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...YL7USJ8U5H.jpg
California State Library http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...YL7USJ8U5H.jpg

When I was a kid, I thought "motor hotel" was the last word in luxury on the road.


Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffDiego (Post 5093027)
That Stuart K. Oliver (he looks pretty dashing) house on Bunker Hill is an interesting oddity. Looks as though he might've incorporated the original stone wall and steps of one of the old houses. Any info. about it on this thread?

Jeff-- Just do a search "Oliver" above and you'll find the whole story here on the forum, with some great (even dramatic) pictures.

GaylordWilshire Dec 15, 2010 12:35 AM

P.s.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5093219)
Now renamed the Jet Inn Motel.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/4784/jetinn2002a.jpg
synthetrix.blogspot.com

In downgrading from motor hotel to motel, the Jet Inn seems to have acquired a new sign... which looks suspiciously as though it might have once graced a hostelry that had "crown" in its name....

gsjansen Dec 15, 2010 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5093237)

Jeff-- Just do a search "Oliver" above and you'll find the whole story here on the forum, with some great (even dramatic) pictures.


hey jeff!, save ya the search..............jes go here why don'cha.......http://www.onbunkerhill.org/georgemann#comment-350

it's the least i could do for a pal....................by the way....gotta light..................?

MikeD Dec 15, 2010 1:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5092506)
The Midwick was very popular with the West Adams/Hancock Park Blue Book set in the '20s, along with the more rustic Crags near Calabasas. Downtown businessmen including William May Garland bought 2,000 acres including part of Malibu Creek in 1900, built a clubhouse and private houses nearby, as well as a dam across the creek to form a lake to attract quarry for clubmembers. The lake later became Century Lake, as in 20th Century-Fox--yes, "Hollywood trash" took over before long, and all that remains of The Crags now, aside from the actual rocky crags it was named after, are some stone steps. Some of the property is now Malibu Creek State Park. (Exactly who owned what land when in this area is covered in some confusing detail here

So are these "crags" the rock formations you see during the opening credits of the TV show "Mash"? The helicopter pad and some rusted vehicles are still up at Malibu Creek State Park.

Love those old motel pictures. Even in their altered state, it's kinda neat that some of them still survive.

sopas ej Dec 15, 2010 1:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5093219)
The Jet Inn Motor Hotel at 4542 W. Slauson Ave.


http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/8...nnpcw2huge.jpg
postcard/ebay

Great images, though to paraphrase an "I Love Lucy" episode, that lobby looks like a bad dream you'd have from eating too much Chinese food.

Beaudry, thanks for the effort on looking up the Wulpole. It was typed onto the birth certificate; I just find it very odd that they didn't put in a street address. I wonder why that would be.

sopas ej Dec 15, 2010 2:10 AM

This from the LA Times:

On Location: New book presents a photographic history of filming in Los Angeles
December 14, 2010 | 2:57 pm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6...d95a970b-500wi

For nearly four decades Hollywood historian Marc Wanamaker has indulged his passion: collecting photographs from location film shoots in Los Angeles dating back to the early 1900s.

Now, he hopes his new book featuring more than 200 vintage images, including Harold Lloyd dangling off the side of a building above 8th and Spring streets in the 1930 film “Feet First,” will remind the film industry of the city’s rich heritage at a time when much of production is migrating elsewhere.

Wanamaker, a film history consultant and former curator of the Hollywood Heritage Museum, has collected about 250,000 still photographs that document the countless hotels, ranches, parks and beaches across Los Angeles that supplied the backdrop for some of Hollywood’s greatest films.

He has published his choicest photographs in the newly released “Location Filming in Los Angeles,” highlighting the diversity of locations that drew filmmakers to Los Angeles as early as 1907, when director Francis Boggs was assigned by a Chicago studio to film some beach scenes for “Monte Cristo."

There are also pictures of Laurel and Hardy clinging to a beam atop the downtown Western Costume Building on South Broadway in the 1929 movie “Downtown” (and another shot revealing scaffolding just beneath them that shows how the perilous-looking effect was created), Mary Pickford boating on Venice Canal in D.W. Griffith’s 1910 film “Never Again,” Marlon Brando readying for a battle scene in Bronson Canyon in MGM’s “Julius Caesar” (1953), and Judy Garland taking an order at the Top Deck Drive-In at Sunset and Cahuenga boulevards in “A Star is Born” (1954).

Read the rest by clicking on this.

GaylordWilshire Dec 15, 2010 2:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5093219)
Below: What in the world would you call this strange ornamentation.......chinoiserie modern?

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5527/jetinn2002b.jpg
synthetrix>blogspot.com

I am mesermized by the Jet--can't get enough of that "bad dream after eating too much Chinese food," as sopas remembers, referring to the very funny Lucy episode in which she vows to tell the truth about everything on a bet. (I think it was Carolyn Appleby's new furniture that was the Chinese nightmare.) Anyway, rather than "chinoiserie modern," ethereal, the Jet's exterior looks to me like a good example of Dingbat, that great L.A. style I first read about in Banham. I think it was his colleague at UCLA, an architect named Francis Ventre (sp?), who coined the term for stucco boxes (usually small apartment buildings) with odd bits of applied onamentation (the "dingbats"). I like the squares concealing the Jet's a/c units, but they can't have helped their efficiency!

ethereal_reality Dec 15, 2010 3:55 AM

^^^I think you are absolutely correct GaylordWilshire.
I had forgotten all about "Dingbat". The term seems to have taken a backseat to "Googie".

There was an apartment called "The Golden Mermaid" across from where I lived on Hancock Ave.
It had the coolest mermaid adorning the facade. I recently took a trip down Hancock using google street view.
Much to my dismay, the mermaid is gone. It was probably thrown on a trash heap.

I would have paid a hundred dollars for this piece of "dingbat" ornament.
I can still see it when I close my eyes.

malumot Dec 15, 2010 1:09 PM

And to think it just might rival what's already been posted here......:)

This quote:

“It’s really disconcerting with all these films and TV shows leaving Hollywood," said Wanamaker, who has served as a history consultant on such films as “Chaplin” and “The Aviator” and most recently the TV series “NCIS: Los Angeles.” “This book is kind of a reminder that location filming really helped build Los Angeles.”

Most porn is still shot here, however.

".......According to the HBO series Porn Valley, nearly 90% of all legally distributed pornographic films made in the United States are either filmed in or produced by studios based in the San Fernando Valley."

Just sayin'. LOL


Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5093365)
This from the LA Times:


On Location: New book presents a photographic history of filming in Los Angeles
December 14, 2010 | 2:57 pm


For nearly four decades Hollywood historian Marc Wanamaker has indulged his passion: collecting photographs from location film shoots in Los Angeles dating back to the early 1900s.


Read the rest by clicking on this.


PHX31 Dec 15, 2010 5:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5093219)
The Jet Inn Motor Hotel at 4542 W. Slauson Ave.
http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/8...nnpcw2huge.jpg
postcard/ebay

Now renamed the Jet Inn Motel.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/4784/jetinn2002a.jpg
synthetrix.blogspot.com

At least they kept the original sign when they renamed it. It looks like they took the "Mo" from the original "Motor" letters, and the "tel" from the original "Motel" letters and scootched them together.

JeffDiego Dec 16, 2010 2:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5093237)
Amazing to think that the Jet evolved out of places like this not all that long in the past:

http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...YL7USJ8U5H.jpg
California State Library http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...YL7USJ8U5H.jpg

When I was a kid, I thought "motor hotel" was the last word in luxury on the road.




Jeff-- Just do a search "Oliver" above and you'll find the whole story here on the forum, with some great (even dramatic) pictures.

Gaylord: Thanks! And loved also the blog that Jansen refers to.

JeffDiego Dec 16, 2010 2:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5093280)
hey jeff!, save ya the search..............jes go here why don'cha.......http://www.onbunkerhill.org/georgemann#comment-350

it's the least i could do for a pal....................by the way....gotta light..................?

Thanks Jansen: That is fascinating - and what photos. Quite a story, and a sad one except for the huge profit Oliver made - but at what a cost.

ethereal_reality Dec 16, 2010 9:12 PM

The Occidential Life Building built in 1965.


http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/1...ntalbldgpc.jpg
ebay


http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/8...talbldgpc2.jpg
ebay

I find it fascinating that in 1965 a 456 ft building was novel enough to have a restaurant on the 32nd floor called "The Tower".
Wouldn't you love to go back in time and have an elegant dinner there.




Below: I found this slightly earlier postcard. Notice the 3rd building of the Occidental Center hasn't been built yet.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/632...cidentalpc.jpg
ebay


So, my question is this:
What is that impressive building they tore down? It resembles the Biltmore Hotel.


Below: You can see the older building in this photo as well.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/738...taljunctio.jpg
usc digital archive


note: The Occidental Center is now the AT&T Center.

GaylordWilshire Dec 16, 2010 9:46 PM

:previous:

ethereal-- the building that looks like the Biltmore is the old Chamber of Commerce building. Here it is in 1968, getting ready to be torn down, the Occidental Center looming:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078700.jpgLAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078700.jpg


And in better days--1939, 14 years from new:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064836.jpgLAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064836.jpg


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics25/00062255.jpgLAPL http://http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics25/00062255.jpg
Imagine a child, professional or not, being allowed to do this today--per the LAPL, this
is "...a young girl acrobat [standing] on her head on the roof of the Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce building near the Los Angeles Examiner."

ethereal_reality Dec 16, 2010 10:09 PM

So this is the same building but showing the back side......right?


http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1...ween11th12.jpg
usc digital archive

I can't remember all the different addresses of the Chamber of Commerce.
It seems like they moved all around the downtown area. (perhaps those moves were all prior to this location)

GaylordWilshire Dec 16, 2010 10:42 PM

:previous:

Yes, that's the same building. You can see a wing of the Examiner building and one of its small domes just north of the C of C. This C of C building was built in 1925.

ethereal_reality Dec 17, 2010 12:45 AM

The same general area showing the Case Hotel and Examiner Building in 1955.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/3...elexaminer.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: The backside of the Case Hotel.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/306...elexaminer.jpg
usc digital archive




http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9...elexaminer.jpg
usc ditial archive




http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3...elexaminer.jpg
usc digital archive





Below: The rooftop Case Hotel sign is absolutely huge.
The Examiner Bldg. can be seen on the left in this photo.


http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/306...elexaminer.jpg
usc digital archive


I believe this series was recently added to the USC Digital Archive. I don't remember seeing them before.

ethereal_reality Dec 17, 2010 1:39 AM

I found a few more impressive photos of the Chamber of Commerce Building 1925.


http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/6...ofcommerce.jpg
usc digital archive


Above: The aerial walkway is very cool, but it seems a bit redundant.






http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/6...ofcommerce.jpg
usc digital archive

ethereal_reality Dec 17, 2010 1:54 AM

The Chamber of Commerce Building under construction.


http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6...ofcommerce.jpg
usc digital archive






http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/139...underconst.jpg
usc digital archive








Below: Dedicated in 1924.......the brand new Chamber of Commerce at 12th St. & Hill St.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/1...brandnew19.jpg
usc digital archive


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