five, four, three, two, one......
 

Ann Miller dancing on the can for Great American Soups 1970's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jU2pl7bqKg

Love her makin a production out of everything :D

~Jon Paul

Hi everybody,

I have been enjoying this site for the past few months. At this
point, I don’t even remember how I first found it. Other sites on
old Los Angeles were o.k. but I was always left only partially
satisfied. Noirish Los Angeles has everything; fabulous old pictures,
lessons on architecture, great stories (and pictures) of family
members living in Southern California, bar fights, gangsters,
punk rock concerts, murders, suicides, and Hollywood intrigue.
It’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates; you never know what
you are going to get.

I worked for over 20 years for a printing and photography company
in the Little Tokyo area. I have a few things I’d like to post, so I
might as well give it a shot. Thank you all for sharing your great
photos and vast knowledge with the rest of us.



Way back on page 65, gsjansen posted the following photo, which
I recognized immediately. This photo was taken by my old boss
Earl Witscher, who owned the company I worked for. The second
photo was taken on the same flight and shows a different angle. They
both from about 1965, I believe.

Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7325/downtown2.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service, Inc.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5896/downtown1.jpg

City Produce Market
 

On page 96, etheral reality posted this picture of the City Produce Market from back around 1900:

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2...ducemarket.jpg
USC

This is my old neighborhood. Take a look at these two buildings in the picture:

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/233...ducemarket.jpg
USC

The building in front (the one under construction) was the Produce Exchange Building and the one in the back has a sign which I believe says Towne Produce Co.

These two buildings are still there and look like this today:

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4052/333scentral.jpg
Google Street View

Here is the neighborhood today:

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/603/market6.jpg
Bing Maps

Number 1 is the area where the wagons were parked. This building is now the Little Tokyo Shopping Center (better known as the Yaohan Plaza).

Number 2 is the old Produce Exchange Building, which was constructed about 1908.

Number 3 is the old Town Produce Co., built around 1906.

Number 4 is where I worked for 20 years when it was Modernage Photo Service. An interesting fact is that the description on the property tax records for the building is Wolfskill Orchard Tract. I believe that Third Street was the northern boundary of the tract.

Ann Miller Milner
 

:previous:

FredH: Welcome to the thread--might I say, you've made quite an auspicious debut. I don't think it would have occurred to me that anything in those produce market shots would still be standing.


And speaking of
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...illerstill.jpg,

the scion of the family behind the
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...2520AM.bmp.jpg,

pictured with his wife here
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-y...4%252520PM.jpg,

gave her and quickly took away our Ann's only child in a particularly brutal way:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5...7%252520PM.jpg.


Read all about this little-known noir-era episode in which Hollywood clashed with the Los Angeles establishment in the story of #7 Berkeley Square:

http://berkeleysquarelosangeles.blog...ner-house.html

In it, you will see Ann dance in Easter Parade while wearing a back brace as a result of the treatment given her by Reese Llewellyn Milner.


Photo credits from top: LAPL, MGM, Fanpix, Findagrave

Little Tokyo
 

This shot was taken sometime before the 1971 earthquake:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9...ttletokyo3.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.

Little Tokyo today:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5...ttletokyo1.jpg
Google Maps

Interesting note: Sometime , I believe in the late 1980's, the building shown below was stripped down to the steel frame...

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/558/littletokyo2.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.

...and this was built up around it. I have no idea how they pulled it off.

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5...ttletokyo4.jpg
Google Maps


Some Little Tokyo noire (neo-noire actually)

This screen grab is from the 1975 movie Farewell My Lovely with Robert Mitchum playing Philip Marlowe. That is Jack O'Halloran playing Moose Malloy

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/8...llmylovely.jpg
Farewell My Lovely (1975) - E.K. Corp.

The scene was shot inside the Far East Cafe on First Street. The Far East Cafe was closed for a few years after the 1994 earthquake, and I
have not been in there since it reopened. Prior to the earthquake,
the interior still looked like the screen grab 15 years later.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6398/fareastcafe.jpg
Google Street View

(Emphasis mine)

Sadly, this is what was lost. When the County took over in 1953, the merchants and whatever residents there might still have been were sent packing and the buildings were padlocked. I consider it likely that the local storefronts and inhabitants were thought to represent the quintessence of urban blight--poor, transit-dependent people renting rooms in the Pico House and depending on cheap cafes, stores, and other businesses in the area. More so on Bunker Hill, but also to a definite extent in the Plaza, the urban renewal projects of the 1950s and 60s might better be termed suburban renewal, because it was largely a suburban aesthetic that was imposed. In the Plaza area, most of the historic buildings were cleared away not only for parking lots, but also simply to be replaced by bits of greenery here and there whose siting made them anything but inviting--but if you knock down an old building you have to put something in its place anyhow.

Recently I brought an out-of-town colleague to La Golandrina, and as we drove past the Plaza he asked if there was a street festival going on. Of course there wasn't; it was just the ordinary summer evening rush, so I guess we can be grateful that the area does yet live, in spite of everything that's been done to it.

Welcome to the thread FredH! I thought your first three posts were amazing.

I didn't know the triangular building was the Produce Exchange Building.
To be truthful, I didn't recognize it in the old market photograph until you pointed it out. Thank you for that information.

The additional Earl Witscher aerial was a treat as well.

Such amazing posts FredH! Thanks for posting such great pics. I've been staring at the large photo of Little Tokyo for a while now.



I totally agree with you about the suburban aesthetic. It's a shame that so much was torn down in the Plaza area.

What'd your colleague think of La Golondrina? I really like that restaurant.

You can just make out the Dan-Dee Shoe Repair Shop at the far right. Amazingly, it's still there, or at least it was into the mid-2000's when I drove by there the last time.

ETA: According to James Lileks' website, the large corner building became a Hody's Coffee Shop some years later. How many years later I don't know, but from the cars I'd say the picture on the other website must have been taken sometime in the 1960s.

Lileks mentions the Dan-Dee shop as well, which is how I knew to look for it.

Was Ann Miller the cross-your-heart-bra lady?

Oh wait, I think that was Jane Russell.

Both the burger and the coffee would have been a lot smaller than what you'd get today. When hamburgers first appeared they were sometimes marketed as "beef cookies", which gives you an idea of the size. IIRC from watching a documentary about this, these burgers were probably about like the smallest and cheapest at McD's today. The coffee would have been served in some variant of a traditional cup and saucer setup, so it would have been a lot less than the smallest size at a Starbucks' today.

But yeah--a penny really was worth a lot more, like maybe close to a quarter today. It's astonishing to realize how nearly worthless all that heavy metal is that we carry around or accumulate in jars, and yet how reluctant Americans are to have it changed. My favorite illustration is this: if you had a complete collection of the 50 state quarters, you'd have $12.50, not even enough to buy burgers, fries, and sodas for three people.

Sorry for the hijack, but this gets me every time people talk about it.

My sister was Anne's regular masseuse in Sedona in the Eighties - got to see how atrociously Anne would treat her personal assistants at every opportunity --

Here's Ann Miller's infamous soup commercial, crafted by the great Stan Freberg.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jU2pl7bqKg" target="_blank">Video Link

And from 1937, here's 14-year-old Ann Miller with Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou in a scene from Stage Door. (Ann lied about her age and obtained a fake birth certificate in order to be cast in this movie.)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZSRnSHJsWg" target="_blank">Video Link

nm

sadly it burned down a few(at least 2 )years ago,it is now....a parking lot,i want to say before it burned it was a strip joint.

Say it isn't so! Although perhaps it's not so surprising that behind the goody-two-shoes bit, the big smile, the relentless cheerfulness and all, might have beat the heart of a diva....


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...llerbowron.jpgLAPL
June 7, 1949: The diva and noir-era mayor Fletcher Bowron, just beginning his fourth
term, draw the first "Lucky Names" in a new game being conducted by the Los
Angeles Evening Herald-Express.

Eureka Scott!!!
 

It has taken quite a bit of time and digging but I finally found the right Packard Geek to ask about the car. Here is what he just sent me in an e-mail.

"I did locate on of the articles on a vehicle that initially looks like the one in your photograph, it's in this club's quarterly publication The Packard Cormorant, Spring 2010 (#138). I believe that back issues are still available - check the main website for information. If not, I had an article published in that same issue and probably have an extra copy somewhere. The car was also the subject of a letter in the same publication in the Summer 1975 issue - at that time the original tail lamps had been removed and replaced with those from a post-1950 model.

BUT, the vehicle in that article, strikingly similar in appearance to yours, would appear to perhaps NOT be the same car. Based on the hood side trim It's on the "160" or Super Eight chassis whereas your pictures clearly shows the world "One Twenty" on the hood side trim which would be "junior" or lesser 8-cylinder model. Of course it's possible that at one point or another over the years some badge-engineering was done, the identifying trim altered to indicate a different chassis - vehicle and engine numbers would help establish that.

The car in the article is rather unique in that it has 3 side doors, two on the right side and only 1 on the left side, and double, center-opening rear doors, these details appear to be the same on the car you pictured. That two such cars, one on the 120 and one on the 160 chassis, were built would seem very remote indeed. The article states the car was built for opera singer John Charles Thomas with the coachwork done by Standard Carriage Works of Los Angeles. At some point it was sold to a Mr. William Harris. It was displayed at the 1999 Packard Centennial in Warren OH and subsequently sold to a private museum on Long Island, according to the article."

Here is a photo of the car, taken in 1975, that accompanied the article he is referencing.
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/3...ccordingto.jpg

So the car was a one off just like we expected and it appears it is still extant and being treasured on Long Island. Great news!!!

~Jon Paul

That's amazing, Jon Paul! Thanks so much for your investigation! ^^

-Scott

You're very welcome Scott, it was actually a lot of fun! I was absolutely floored when he wrote about Mr. Thomas being the original owner. I had said nothing about that in my original e-mail.

~Jon Paul

You are correct, sir. The large apartment complex and the ovoid pool around which it wraps are still there.

I could be wrong, but I'm almost positive I saw El Centenario in a book about "forgotten L.A.". The book itself must have been published fifty or sixty years ago, and even then they didn't know what it was--understandably so, given all the street realignments and disappearances, and the destruction of most of the neighborhood.

The only other thing I can remember about the book is that it was the size of a small coffee table book and the illustrations looked like charcoal drawings that had been printed in sepia-colored ink.

Photo Murals
 

We had several large photo murals of Los Angeles on the studio walls
where I worked at Modernage. Before we left the building, one of
the photographers took pictures of them. The original murals were sent
over to the Los Angeles Public Library, where I envision them being
stashed in a large warehouse like the Ark of the Covenant
in Raiders of the Lost Ark. :( The good news is that they were
photographed and scanned by professionals, the bad news is that
they are second generation photos and will never be as good
as the originals. Anyway, they are a lot better than nothing,
so here goes.

I think this one is from the early 1960's or late 1950's:
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/95/25532b.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Servive Inc.

Down in the lower left hand corner, you will see our old friend, the Brew 102 plant squeezing the 101 Freeway into the train station.



Question: When was this overpass on the freeway removed? Was it just a pedestrian crossing? I can't tell.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg577...jpg&res=medium


I am also interested in the Taix French Restaurant, which you can see here on the photo:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg406...jpg&res=medium
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.

The Taix Restaurant was located at 321 Commercial Street. A photo from the LAPL is here:

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9512/000171971.jpg
LAPL

In 1962, the Taix french Restaurant moved out to 1911 Sunst Blvd. , where it now looks like this:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg52/...jpg&res=medium
Google Street View

According to the Taix website, the history of the restaurant includes this statement:

"In 1912 Marius Taix Sr. built a hotel called the Champ d'Or in downtown Los Angeles' French quarter. In 1927,
Marius Taix Jr. opened Taix French restaurant within the
hotel serving chicken dinners for 50 cents at long "family-style" tables.
Diners could choose private booth service for an extra quarter. Taix's novel food, unique service and affordable
prices make it a Los Angeles institution."

Have any of you ever heard of a "French quarter" in downtown Los Angeles?:shrug:

They certainly are. I took some pictures in the grounds about two years ago, and if it isn't too far off topic I'll be glad to post them here.

I believe it was a rail crossing, but as far as I can remember, I had never seen it used; it always had the closed chain link fences on both ends. I believe it was removed some time in the early or mid-90s.


Yes, I have. Vignes Street is named after after Jean-Louis Vignes, a Frenchman who settled in LA in the 1830s and owned a vineyard. The area of his vineyard attracted other French settlers and a little "French quarter" developed. And, today in Chinatown, what is now known as the Pacific Alliance Medical Center used to be called the French Hospital. There's even a statue of Joan of Arc in front of it.

Thanks sopas ej. I remember the French Hospital in Chinatown and always wondered about it. I had never heard anything about the French quarter in L.A.

This is another photo mural. Little Tokyo in the early 1980's, I think.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/2449/25532a.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service

To sopas ej: Do you remember Beverly's fast food joint and George's Garage on Second Street?

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg717...jpg&res=medium
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service

Please post 'Those Who Squirm'.

below: FredH here is a photograph of the Taix restaurant circa 1954.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9...ix1954lapl.jpg
LAPL



below: I am a bit confused by this photograph from 1964. The Taix sign is there as well as Eddies.

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/328/taix1964lapl.jpg
LAPL



below: This is more of a 'Where's Waldo' photo.
If you look closely you can see the tail end of the sign 'Taix French Restaurant' down the street.
I believe this view is looking east on Commercial Street from Los Angeles Street.


http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4...tlookingea.jpg
LAPL

above: The prominent building in the foreground is the Heinsch Building dating from 1869.

_________

Did that really say parking lots?! In Downtown L.A.? My goodness! Somebody pinch me.

One more post from me about Taix French Restaurant.


http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6...tinglablog.jpg
eatingla

Check out this link. There are several comments that reminisce about eating at Taix back in the day.
http://eatingla.blogspot.com/2008/01...inal-taix.html

But I do see yet another parking lot. It's little short of astonishing, the ability they had to put parking lots in every conceivable spot in the area. We bemoan the lost of our architectural history because it's almost all lost--and they utterly ignored the value of what they had because they needed parking lots.

The consolation is that by the time we get to about 1925 or so, we find that hundreds of buildings from that time, both residential and commercial are still to be found all over the city, but particularly in the older districts surrounding downtown proper. In the 1970s, when I became interested in this, many of demolished or soon-to-be demolished buildings around the Plaza and Bunker Hill, were or would have been no older than the "hundreds of buildings" are now, to which I alluded to above. And it seems likely these buildings will remain, because the forces which led to all the demolitions and the exodus from downtown have largely abated, if not reversed.

And, of course, another bright spot is the Old Bank District (TM), which largely escaped the notice and destructive zeal of the CRA, and is still there today.

a very noirish image of downtown with the taix sign

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008233.jpg
Source: LAPL


FredH....You're aerials are amazing! keep em coming! my favorite current pasttime is studying the incredible detail of your posts! thank you so much for sharing them. :)

It looks like our friends have an incorrect year on this photo. It should be 1959 or later as there is a '56 Lincoln in the parking lot and a '59 Ford rounding the curve. I'll send them a lil e-mail.

~Jon Paul

:previous:

Maybe a little later than '59.... The '56 Lincoln--a Premiere with factory air--appears to have the narrower-band whitewalls (with a black band between whitewall and rim) that became standard by the fall of 1962 with the introduction of the '63 Detroit offerings... just a little Aspergerian addition to the knowledge...

Re: French Quarter
 

Well we know (from some of the posts on the previous 254 pages! :cool:) that many French were involved in the early development of LA.

Was probably subsumed by the overall growth of LA. Betcha by the 50s the "French Quarter" was more like "the one block of Commercial Avenue that Taix sat on". (Not unlike NYC's "Little Italy", which is now no more than "three blocks of Mulberry Street north of Canal".)

Germain's also ran a pet shop, or as they so cleverly styled it, a Pet Shoppe.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YlTcjdZrbh...0/Germains.jpg

They were across the street from the P.E. terminal in this building:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YlTcjdZrbh...oppe+today.JPG; both buildings are still here and, I believe, are now converted to residential use.

Is it just me, or does Mayor Bowron look almost exactly like Curley-Joe DeRita?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Curlyjoe.jpg

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/328/taix1964lapl.jpg
LAPL

According to the Taix website, they moved out to Sunset in 1962. If this photo was from 1964, maybe Eddie had moved in but was to lazy (or too cheap) to have the Taix sign taken down.

"Midst the lily pads of a little fish pond watched over by the statue of a mysterious old gnome, death today had ended the life of Mrs. Mary James, three months the bride of Robert James, who found her lying face down in the pond when he returned to their West Eighth street home with friends last night. Arrow points out where Mrs. James' body was found. Standing is Viola Lueck, who had come with James to visit his wife. At right is the statue of the gnome, the only eye-witness to the tragedy, smoking his pipe silently."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094154.jpg
Source: LAPL


In 1935 Mary Busch, 27, answered an ad placed by beauty parlor/barber shop owner Robert James, who was looking for a manicurist for his shop. Soon after she was hired, she and James were married and she became pregnant three months later. On the evening of August 3, 1935, Busch became ill while working at the shop and was sent home. On Monday, August 5th, with Busch still "ill" and unable to work, James ran the shop on his own; after closing at 7:30 pm he invited two friends, Viola Lueck and her boyfriend Jim Pemberton, over for dinner. When they arrived at their home and didn't find Busch inside, they went out back and found her lying face down in the fishpond. Police and a physician arrived at the home, where they pronounced Busch dead at the scene, victim of an accidental drowning. It was surmised she had become dizzy due to her pregnancy, had fallen, and struck her head on one of the rocks used to rim the pool, though no evidence of a head injury was found. When Robert James filed a claim to collect on his wife's insurance policies totaling $21,400, he launched a chain of events that would lead to his downfall. After further investigation, it was determined that he and another man, Charles Hope, had concocted an elaborate scheme to murder Mary Busch. James convinced Busch to have an illegal abortion procedure, but instead, had her consume several glasses of whisky as "anesthesia", and strapped her down to a table with her eyes and mouth taped shut, he then stuck her foot into a box containing two Colorado diamond-back snakes who immediately sunk their fangs into her big toe. Hours passed and Busch still had not died, so James decided to drown her in the bathtub, and with Hope's help, arranged her body in the fishpond to make it appear as if she had tripped and fell in head-first. When confronted with evidence, Hope and James turned on each other. Hope agreed to turn states evidence and pled guilty to first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence. James went to trial for the murder of his wife, where the jury returned a guilty verdict and sentenced him to death by hanging. On May 9, 1942, Robert James became the last man to be hanged in California (capital punishment became more "humane" with the adoption of the gas chamber soon after).

Photograph shows a see-through crate with two large Colorado diamondback snakes, which appear curled and ready to strike. These snakes are similar to those that allegedly were used by Robert James and Charles Hope to poison James' wife, Mary Busch James in an attempt to kill her.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094172.jpg
Source: LAPL


"Charles Hope is shown at right watching officers re-enact his story of how James assertedly put his wife's foot into a box that contained deadly rattlesnakes, shortly before he allegedly drowned her."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094164.jpg
Source: LAPL


"White and wan, Robert S. James, marrying barber, shown standing up in court, was sentenced today to be hanged on the gallows for the rattlesnake torture and bathtub drowning of his seventh bride, Mary Busch James. He scarcely batted an eye at the "jolt."" Note: Pictured with James is his lawyer, Samuel Silverman (left), and a Deputy identified as George Perdue.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094210.jpg
Source: LAPL


"Robert James, barber shop Casanova convicted of the dastardly rattlesnake torture murder of his seventh bride, is shown in jail holding the two hack saws that were sent through the mail addressed to him in a daring and desperate escape plan. Arrows point out the two 14-inch black steel saws. The saws were found by attaches who inspected the mail."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094183.jpg
Source: LAPL


"Doomed to swing high on the gallows tree, Robert James is shown when he slept fitfully on the cot in his jail cell early today after jailors had taken a razor blade from his bedding. Officials believed he planned to end his life after the jury returned its verdict finding him guilty of first-degree murder in the rattlesnake torture and drowning of his seventh bride. James was wan and haggard on his cot and officials said he reminded them of a man already hanged."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094176.jpg
Source: LAPL


"In this fish pond at the rear of the La Canada home of Robert S. James, his pretty wife, Mary Busch, was found dead seven years ago. Today, this scene was recalled as James, convicted of using rattlesnakes to help kill his wife, was hanged at San Quentin Prison."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094184.jpg
Source: LAPL

we've done the car crash, the bus crash, the train and truck crash...........what's left?......oh yeah!


December 16th, 1962

"Flying Tiger cargo plane was flying east before crashing at Laurel Canyon Boulevard between Hart and Vose streets. After hitting signboard (black arrow) it left wreckage in area some 1200 feet long and 85 feet wide. Major portion of fuselage was embedded in ground (white arrow) before plane slammed to halt (circle). Eighty feet more and the plane would have smashed into apartment house where 100 persons, including 41 children live."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094065.jpg
Source: LAPL


December 13, 1978

"Beer drinking pool player gawks at single-engine Cessna that crash landed outside this bar in Lomita yesterday." The location of the bar is 2257 Pacific Coast Highway. .....(i'm hopin' the beer guzzler at the pilot)

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094046.jpg
Source: LAPL


February 4th, 1978

"Single-engine plane lies near Marina del Rey after crash killed unidentified pilot."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094051.jpg
Source: LAPL


June 11, 1979

Police and fire fighters examine the wreckage of a Cessna in the northbound lane of the San Diego freeway, where the planed crashed.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094034.jpg
Source: LAPL


July 8th, 1981

"This tangled mass of aircraft represents only two-thirds of the problem that resulted when a would-be thief, who apparently didn't know how to fly, climbed aboard a Piper Aztec at Santa Monica Airport today. According to Police Lt. Robert Thomas, the thief leaped out when it went out of control on the ground, crashing into two other planes. The wreckage at left and center is from the twin-engine Piper. On the right is a damaged single-engine Piper Cherokee."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094036.jpg
Source: LAPL

July 4th, 1980

"To the California Highway Patrol officers, if it's not one thing, it's another. As if they didn't have enough trouble with traffic on the ground at the start of this hot holiday weekend, yesterday afternoon a single-engine Cessna bellyflopped on the San Bernardino Freeway near the busy downtown interchange. Miraculously, neither the pilot of the plane, 28-year-old Leonard Adams of Eagle Point, Ore., nor any drivers were seriously hurt when the plane crash landed in the right lane. No cars were struck, but the plane was demolished. A CHP spokeswoman said Adams was en route from Oregon to Orange County when the 'engine just quit on him.' Adams was taken to White Memorial Hospital where he is listed in satisfactory condition. 'He really had an immense amount of luck,' said CHP officer Bruce Mauldin."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094026.jpg
Source: LAPL


August 23rd, 1982

"A small plane sits atop two parked cars in West Los Angeles following a fatal crash yesterday. Kenneth Jackson, 50, the pilot of the Piper Comanche 250, was killed when his plane skimmed across a rooftop on South Edris Street and crashed into the two cars. Authorities believe Jackson of Los Angeles had been in touch with the Santa Monica airport control tower just before the plane went down. A witness, Kevin Shea, said, 'We heard a crash and came running out to find the plane on top of my dad's car.' Shea said he and his brother, Brian, attempted to free the Los Angeles city employee from the small plane. Jackson, however, apparently died just moments before paramedics arrived."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094020.jpg
Source: LAPL

"if God had wanted to man to fly, he would have given him wings........."

in 1952, the hall of records loses it's "gingerbread" onramentation due to damage and loosening by earthquakes.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093284.jpg
Source: http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093284.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093285.jpg
Source: LAPL

Fascinating post about the Mary Busch/Robert James case, gsjansen! I had never heard about it before. I'm still confused about where his house is/was located, being that in the first post it's mentioned as being on West 8th St. (which made me assume Los Angeles), but then later on it says that his house was in La Cañada; I don't recall any numbered streets in La Cañada. That town is so boring, too--nice, somewhat upscale, and home to Descanso Gardens and all, but for the most part, a boring place. And now I know it has a noir aspect to it. Cool!

This gives more details about Robert James, who was a really seedy guy: http://murderrevisited.blogspot.com/

It said that the rope used to hang him was the wrong length--it took him over 10 minutes to die.

I was gonna say, because in this picture, you can see the Welton Becket-designed Federal Building in the background, which opened in 1964:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9512/000171971.jpg
LAPL

Here's that building today:
http://you-are-here.com/los_angeles/federal.jpg
you-are-here.com

Oh I see; Eddie's isn't in the same building as the Taix. The sign just advertises it, it's a few doors down, around the bend. I just had a thought; I notice even today, in San Francisco, that you'll see signs for names of motels that aren't on the actual motel buildings (they might even be half a block away) but they act sort of like directional signs for them. We've already seen examples of this on this thread in Los Angeles, like the sign for the Paris Inn on Sunset and Broadway:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013681.jpg
LAPL

And let's not forget Howard Hughes crashing into Beverly Hills in 1946:


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P...2520PM.bmp.jpgCorbis

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...2520PM.bmp.jpgCorbis

http://www.aviatorhowardhughes.com/i...xf11-crash.jpgAviatorHowardHughes

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...ughescrash.jpgLenin Imports

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...2520PM.bmp.jpgEAA

Full story here:
EAA

Isn't that the old Bella Union Hotel, partly obscured by the right margin?

Another Photo Mural
 

I really like this photo, but the copy shot did not come out as sharp as some of the others. Looks like sometime before the Dodger Stadium dig began. Sorry about the quality.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1491/25532e2.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.


Stupid question alert :jester:
They say there is no such thing as a stupid question, so here goes:
What is this large building? I see buses. It seems very large for just a bus terminal.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg21/...jpg&res=medium
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc

Originally posted by FredH
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7285/paceeast.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service


The building in question is the Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main Street.
I believe this is a view of the elevated annex at the back (east side) of the terminal
where passengers entered the main terminal via an enclosed bridge over Los Angeles Street.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6...eleocaloia.jpg
Leo Caloia

In the 1950s the interurban rail service routes were gradually abandoned and replaced by motor coaches.


below: Another view of the Pacific Electric Building (originally the Huntington Building).

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9759/pacel.jpg
usc digital archive


FredH, the aerial you posted shows a bit of the Jonathan Club roof garden.
The private social club inhabited the top three floors of the P-E Building until 1925.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6290/pacelaplroof.jpg
LAPL



below: The club's enchanting ballroom atop the Pacific Electric Building.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/9169/paceballroom.jpg
shainla

http://shainla.typepad.com/photos/pa...ilding/jc.html

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg21/...jpg&res=medium
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.


Thanks ethereal reality, It sure looked like the building was set up for rails, but there were only buses in the picture.

It is hard to tell from the aerial photo, but there doesn't seem to be much left of the roof garden. It almost looks liked they pulled everything out and put in Astro Turf or something. I would have loved to go up there when the Jonathan Club had the place.

for great images of the P&E building at 6th and main, check out the 2000 japanese gang flick Brother. the los angeles gang sets up their headquarters in the old ballroom space at the top of the P&E building.

http://www.musicman.com/moomoo/brother2.jpg
Source: Musicman.com