NLA's own li'l odinthor was there at the premiere engagement of HtWWW in its first few weeks (my parental family did a lot of that in those days) . . . but I had forgotten what theater it was at (I knew it wasn't at the C-Dome). It was just a couple of weeks ago I was asking my (elder) brother what theater it was, and he couldn't remember either.

A neutral density filter is just a dark filter you put over the lens to allow for a longer exposure. They come in various levels of darkness.

I saw "This is Cinerama" at the Warner Hollywood in June 1954. I had just turned 7 years old. I still remember the roller coaster.

Mystery walls


Anyone recognize these walls?

From Chaplin's "The Count" (I feel like we've seen this wall on NLA not all that long ago...?):
https://i.postimg.cc/wvN6jh1b/chapli...ntwall-bmp.jpg


William Desmond Taylor posing with his car next to what may be the same wall...
https://i.postimg.cc/vTPSRKQR/Wm-Des...ndwall-bmp.jpg


from the Our Gang short “Baby Brother”"
https://i.postimg.cc/wB6JJjXV/ourgan...rother-bmp.jpg

http://tomellard.com/wp/wp-content/u...ama.1952a.jpeg
tome

It was a sensation at the time but many thought it was a bit quirky. It was also very costly to make a cinerama film.

http://incinerama.com/warnerhollywood2001.jpgIn Cinerama (Great link for Cinerama Info at the Warner Pacific Theatre.)
http://incinerama.com/2001addome.jpgIn Cinerama


To include the 50th Anniversary of the moon landing this week on NLA: Something you may not know?
The Hollywood Walk of Fame has this star:

https://live.staticflickr.com/8388/8...4b33561d_b.jpgWalk of Fame

Well, it's not a star, it's a moon! And there are 4 of them!

According to the Walk of Fame website:

On the four sidewalk corners at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, four similar commemorative dedications mark the Apollo XI Mission within moon-like circular plaques. Each plaque contains the names of Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Command Module Pilot Michael Collins – the astronauts who were aboard the spaceflight that landed the first two people who walked on the Moon. The circular plaques include the date of the first Moon landing 7/20/69, and name of the mission Apollo XI. On the plaques, the moons are in silver and grey terrazzo circles rimmed in brass on a square pink terrazzo background, with the television emblem inlaid at the top of each circle.

“The telecast from the moon was the single most-important live TV broadcast ever!” said Ana Martinez, Producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “The bronze markers were set in all four corners of the intersection within the terrazzo sidewalks to represent their reach to the four corners of the world,” Martinez said.

In looking up information, I found a discrepancy. The Official Walk of Fame website (HERE) says the star ceremony was held July 20, 1973. This Los Angeles Times article (HERE) seems to indicate it was January 14, 1993. The Walk of Fame website does have a star ceremony listed for Michael Collins, one of the astronauts of Apollo 11 on the 1993 date. (?) But they have no separate entries for Armstrong or Aldrin?

:shrug: So I'm confused.

Great to see a photo of the old Cinerama Theatre again.

Our neighbor on Grace Avenue was the manager and gave us tickets to all the original Cinerama movies. In the beginning, the movies were presented as travelogues, with introductions by Lowell Thomas.

The first film produced as a drama was How the West was Won in 1962. In those days, first run movies played at the Chinese, the Egyptian, Warner's and the Pantages.

West Side Story and Gold Finger played at the Chinese; Back Street and Imitation of Life played at Warner's; Spartacus, The Apartment, Cleopatra and Gypsy played at the Pantages; The Unsinkable Molly Brown and The Poseidon Adventure played at the Egyptian. I almost forgot the Paramount Theatre, which showed The Pleasure of His Company and The Young Philadelphians.

As a foot note, you can see William Stromberg's Jewelry Store and Mitchell's Men's Wear to the left of the theater. George, a salesman, later bought Mitchell's and changed the name to By George.

Mr. Stromberg, a true gentleman of his time, also had the Stromberg clock outside. It is still there, but has suffered the ravages of time. Mr. Stromberg gave cloisonné pins to every graduate of every class at Hollywood High School in those years as a graduation gift.

I just found this very interesting photograph on eBay


It's a rare look inside the Twin Barrels Drive In in Los Angeles.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/gguKFq.jpg
eBay


The Back
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/RGPk2V.jpg









As a reminder. (I believe this has been posted before)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...921/ZFrxrL.jpg
old file

Twin Barrels 1010 East Slauson





And here's an exterior view, that we might have already seen, from gettyimages

" The Twin Barrels drive-in restaurant near Los Angeles - 1939 - Photographer: Ewing Galloway."

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/DGfwbg.jpg
gettyimages





BUT...and it's a big but ;), if you look closely...this doesn't appear to be the 1010 East Slauson location.

Take a look at this.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...921/SAZw8Z.jpg
DETAIL

To the right of the car you can clearly see that the street address is 1227*...and not 1010 East Slauson.


It's a mystery!
.........................Get busy minions! :superwhip


* The street number is 7227 not 1227. (thanks GW)

:previous:

Drink Triple XXX Creamy Root beer!

https://i.postimg.cc/260hYDNj/Capture.png


:cheers:

Oh it's "root" beer. Never mind.

Yeah, in the Valley XXX has a slightly different meaning.

Looks like a 1931 lic. plate on that Chev., obviously that was not a 1939 photo of the drive in.

Actually...the address is 7227...as in 7227 Beverly Boulevard. (The TB is listed there in the 34CD, perhaps others.) Looks like it was moved to 1630 La Cienega in 1948, where it lasted 40 more years....


https://i.postimg.cc/L6qp6Hfq/twinbarrelsmatch-bmp.jpg

I saw How the West was Won at the Warner's in about '63. They held the run longer than regular movies and I know it was '63 because of the girl I went with, we didn't meet until January of '63. I remember the film and the theater somewhat more fondly because of her. I wonder what ever became of her.

We've seen an earlier image of this 7227 Beverly structure before.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19240
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19243







http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...90/24/rudr.jpg

GW, what about this 1010 Slauson address?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...921/ZFrxrL.jpg

Would I be correct to say that this is the original location.

.

Beloved Infidel

I believe the following two slides were taken by the same person that took...

this slide.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...921/FftD4Y.jpg


The dates match up & they're from the same seller.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/as8iun.jpg
EBAY






https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/TV33H5.jpg
EBAY

odinthor, just be glad your parents didn't drag you to see Beloved Infidel.

.

GW's station wagon over here on the left?

:previous:
Beloved Infidel played at Grauman's from Friday, November 20, 1959 - Thursday, December 17, 1959 (4 Weeks).

That Coffee Dan's sign in the distance looks pretty big. I was wondering when the last year was that Hollywood Blvd. was decorated with these huge lighted Christmas tress. Was it 1959-60? Might've been.

:previous:


Beloved Infidel and Hollywood remind me that I recently uncovered an album I put together from a 1977 trip to LA. I drove around taking pictures inspired by Rayner Banham's Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies but also some others, including these two that were part of my high-school-into-college obsession with Fitzgerald. 1) His apartment at 1403 N. Laurel, where he lived from May 1940 until he died not there but at 2) Sheilah Graham's apartment around the corner at 1443 N. Hayworth on Dec 21, 1940 (so I noted on the back of the pic). I think both apartments were on the ground floor in the corner.


1
https://i.postimg.cc/s2gvf1YF/1403nlaurel-FSF.jpg


2
https://i.postimg.cc/430NJP4t/1443nhayworthgraham.jpg
(A little clumsy with the Instamatic there....)

:previous:

It was MichaelRyerson that spied your woody, not me.

Isn't that XXXXXXXXX Creamy Root Beer?

I went out of a photo adventure this afternoon and the train past an area of recent discussion here, Fletcher Field. Here's a photo from the train from Glendale to Union Station:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cb0889a2_b.jpg20190719_124528_A-Edit.jpg by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr.

One of the quests on my adventure was to find the newly installed plaque memorializing 'El Aliso'. I was unsuccessful, though when I got home I checked the internets and figured I probably stepped right over it(it's embedded in the sidewalk). Maybe on my next trip downtown...

It was a tradition in those days for the theater manager to park their Cadillac in front of the theater. In this case its a 1956 model.

Four mystery transparencies....Los Angeles



#1.........................................................................................................................................................Feb. 1974

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...921/9La6pE.jpg
eBay









#2.........................................................................................................................................................Feb. 1974

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/BPRPW2.jpg
eBay







#3.........................................................................................................................................................June 7 (?)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/5V8ebi.jpg
eBay











#4.........................................................................................................................................................Dec. 1976

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/zUndYU.jpg
eBay
.....................................................................................................................................If You Build It They Will Come.


.

I've never heard that before, CBD. Thanks for pointing that out to us.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/sSBJGt.jpg
DETAIL

I just noticed the curb is painted white and there are two cones marking his parking place.



.

:previous:

In that Chinese Theatre slide, taken Nov.-Dec. 1959, we see the First Federal Building looking completed. At least the exterior. I saw this photo recently captioned: (1959)- FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS (Hollywood & Highland) Under Construction. Love the pine tree on the left. When did the First Federal Bldg. officially open?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6n6DQjUIAAO5ha.jpgClassic LA/Hollywood Facebook

And someone's snapshot of Highland and Hollywood taken November 3, 1978:

https://live.staticflickr.com/6175/6...3a15a6ae_b.jpgFaitos/Flickr

I think this is new to the thread, although the photo archive in question, and the associated book, were discussed way back in 2009/2010 - see post #224, post #225 and post #1664.

The House of Lucie at ROW DTLA is currently (July 10th through August 11th) hosting an exhibition called “The Art of the Archive”. It features crime scene photos taken for the LAPD between 1925 and the 1970s. You can read more at fstoppers.com. Fototeka founder Merrick Morton talks about the noirish archive in a short video at www.bbc.com.

Here's a small selection:

https://i809.photobucket.com/albums/...heArchive1.jpg

LA mob hit (previously seen much smaller).

https://i809.photobucket.com/albums/...heArchive2.jpg

Some "marihuana".

https://i809.photobucket.com/albums/...heArchive3.jpg

And finally, a hole has appeared in the park. Police are looking into it! (Sorry, I couldn't resist the old joke)

https://i809.photobucket.com/albums/...heArchive4.jpg

All www.instagram.com/lapdarchive/LAPD/Fototeka

They usually parked their car in front of the theater on Sunday before they left for lunch. By the traffic in your other photos this appears to be Sunday morning.....typical.

GW, i feel strange asking you this but didn't you mention on your excellent blog that Hal Roach had a mansion in Berkeley Square where he either filmed or used it as a location for some scenes in Our Gang?

:previous:


unihikid: Yes, Hal Roach lived at 22 Berkeley Square...and while I wanted the view through the door to be of one of the houses across the street from his, it isn't. Or any of the other Square houses...though there are two that are visually unaccounted for.

Hal's house:
https://www.berkeleysquarelosangeles...ach-house.html


EDIT-- I might have found the house seen through the doorway in "Ten Years Old"-- I think it's a backdrop photo of 650 Muirfield Road, built by Leo Bergin in 1923...no house was ever directly across from it. Bergin was a partner in the LA Soap Company, and we've seen various items about him before...although maybe not the bit of noir under the pics below.

https://i.postimg.cc/1RFcmbVS/650mui...ch2014-bmp.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/cJ9yJrjv/650mui...2018-2-bmp.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/v8njJqQg/650-Mu...T32209-bmp.jpg
From a March 2009 ad in the LAT



From the LAT Sept 18, 1931 (not sure I got all the pieces of the story in sequence, but frankly I got tired of all the work. I'm sure you'll get the gist).
https://i.postimg.cc/8PCjt0QW/bergin1-bmp.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/nhtNn6F9/bergin20-bmp.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/jdrrjWvj/bergin9-bmp.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/dt7ngnGk/bergin50-bmp.jpg

Slide #3 is Ramona Gardens, the building behind the Wells Fargo billboard is gone as is the freeway entrance/exit they're working on. You can see the scene in the 1971 aerial from FrameFinder:

https://i.postimg.cc/bNFrPyVj/Annota...-21-175026.jpgvia FrameFinder.

I think #4 is in Ascot Hills Park, but I'm not sure about that. #1 and #2 are probably from City Terrace(just a guess).

Excellent Bill. Thank you.

:)

Got another one for ya...Slide #1 is Evergreen Ave and Ganahl St..

https://i.postimg.cc/XqG63bDs/Annota...-21-185830.jpgvia Google Maps.

My guess was correct.

:previous: Yes!...I didn't expect anyone to find that one.



GW & unihikid.

RE: Hal Roach.

The following two photographs are from an aviation blog post honoring corporate pilot, James B. Dickson.

Did you all know that Hal Roach Studios had a studio airplane named the 'Spirit of Fun'?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/UrSYMk.jpg
dmairfield

"Roach is standing between the two men wearing the Laurel & Hardy cartoon heads. Dickson is the man in knickers and the white cap. He wears aviator sunglasses in the bottom photo,
and carries them in his left hand in the one above. The others in both images are unidentified. Can you help identify them?"


Here's the second photograph.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/7nITX2.jpg
dmairfield

Note- the Laurel & Hardy heads have been placed next to the propeller.

The Washington Post of June 17th reported Dickson's arrival at Santa Monica in 14 hours, 49 minutes (from Newerk, NJ). He carried three passengers.
They were Arthur Loew, theater magnate, Henry Ginsberg, general manager of the Roach Studios and William Melnicker, South American manager for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

"Alas, the world tour was not to be. "The Spirit of Fun" crashed in Africa killing Dickson and injuring passenger Loew."

Info. from dmairfield

I skipped over some of the details.
.

A question for all in attendance:

What do you call this hobby of ours? That is, the research and appreciation of the old buildings of Los Angeles.

Whenever someone asks about my hobbies, and I try to explain what we do here, it takes me an entire paragraph to give any kind of reasonable explanation... and I still don't feel I explain it well. Then they look at me like I'm nuts.

Is there a term or phrase you folks use to describe what we do in this thread here? Or am I doomed to sound like a crazy person??

THANKS!

Slide #2 across the 10 from slide #3. The street along the left side is Marengo St. that runs along side the 10(just out of frame). Here's the current view from Google Maps:

https://i.postimg.cc/QtdNvVG5/Annota...-21-194218.jpgshell gas nearbyvia Google Maps.

There's quite a few new houses and apartments, but there are a few survivors. The house with the red roof at the bottom left is a survivor, you can see it's garage when you tilt the view to look straight down. There's a house with a pitched roof just above it that's also a survivor.

OK, Slide #4 has me a bit perplexed...I think it may be in Rose Hill Park, just north of Rose Hill Court and south of Debs Park; it's got a large and a small baseball field in a canyon, but there's a parking lot in the March 1976 aerial(as there is now) and not on in the slide.

LA History buff, maybe?

Yes, join the club.:)

Inquisitor imagine ad urbem Los Angeles (which includes enquiring into all things Angeleno, not just buildings), though in casual conversation I personally settle for Grand Inquisitor. One doesn't want to put on airs.

We are lovers of Los Angeles. Insanity is what we do. :cheers:

Chickens?
 

Snooping the CC Pierce catalog...Figueroa is at the right, LA river at left looking NW from Elysian park, and what looks to be a chicken/egg (egg/chicken?) farm center foreground.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...02dbdf94_h.jpg
HDC

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...27533586_h.jpg

That's a lot of chickens. Guess they'd be considered free-range.

That's a great question! I think what is done here is something along the lines of "built-environment archaeology."

... or perhaps "architectural archaeology."

That chicken farm could be the Pigeon Farm.

Noirtitude.

If you use the phrases to others that most have replied with so far, YES! :yes:

Scott's hobby ?
 

Quoting odinthor [#45796] (when serious)...
"We're experiencing not only the buildings but also the emotional and social environment of the streetscape and the landscape, the city as a whole".

Say nothing ... just hand them your calling card.


https://i.imgur.com/VuaLBxs.jpg


:tup:

I think we should just call ourselves Etherealists.

Cheers,

Earl

:)

Great answers so far, you guys! And I love the business card, Noir_Noir - I've always wanted one of those old telephone “exchange” numbers, they are so cool!

I've thought of using the phrase urban archeologist before - but that kind of makes you sound like Indiana Jones or something, and it may be a bit pretentious.

If you say something like Los Angeles historian, I dunno - it makes it sound like you have a master's degree in the subject, which I certainly don't! I don't want someone to react by saying “Oh! Where did you graduate from?”

I guess I'm overthinking this a bit. Probably should just stick with “crazy person”. At least I know that's accurate! :D

---

I only started thinking about this because I was filling out a job application that asked for a brief listing of your hobbies... and I discovered that I could not summarize this hobby of ours briefly. I guess I'll just stick to putting down musician. :thrasher:

When did exchange numbers cease to be a thing? I remember as a very young child the exchange at our house was Richfield...but if memory serves, by the time I was 12 or so they weren't in use any longer.

I used to mange the phone system for a city government before I retired. I was curious about exchanges too. They finally went out of service around 1981. From what my AT&T friend told me, the exchange names were chosen based on how easy they were to understand when you placed a call through a long distance operator.