Can someone post pictures of downtown circa 1890? Thanks. It astounds me that Downtown today has not one resemblance from the downtown of 100 years ago.

gsjansen, thanks for your reply. The annotated panoramic view is great, very interesting.

Here are a couple photos of the United portion of United/Western. United was actually Bill Putnam's first studio acquisition in Hollywood and plenty of huge hits were recorded there too, many personally engineered by Mr. Putnam (Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby...).

During my time in the 70's I was a technical assistant on a Michael Jackson album at 6050. He was very kind to everyone and I recall him walking down Sunset to Arby's Roast Beef, to buy sandwiches for everyone.

In the 30's, way before Bill Putnam came along, 6050 as Horsley Studios. Horsley and Christie were two or the earliest film studios in Hollywood. Here is a photo of Horsley (from me) and a modern street view from Google. 6050 is now Ocean Way, a very busy and prestigious recording facility.


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/STU-057-1.mid.jpg


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/6050.modern.jpg

http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...&hit_index=390LAPL

How much you want to bet that "Prof. von Lange of Vienna, Austria" was a recent arrival from Altoona?


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G...eralkurnow.jpgGoogle Street View

a great little student film done prior to angels flight closing in 1969. great images of the area and the bradbury building.

the site indicates that the film was done in 1970, however, that is impossible, as angels flight was long gone by mid year 1969.

enjoy!

[QUOTE=GaylordWilshire;5479466]http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...&hit_index=390LAPL

How much you want to bet that "Prof. von Lange of Vienna, Austria" was a recent arrival from Altoona?


Wonder where the esteemed professor found his "high grade Medical Men and competent operators", Bakersfield?

and exactly what is Blood Washing? A little shot of White King in the old veins??? :yuck:

~Jon Paul

That's a great photo, but with CBS Columbia Square lurking in the background, the banners would have to be over Sunset Blvd. with the camera looking east. And that makes it even more interesting to me, because it's a point of view of Sunset and Vine that rarely crops up in vintage photos.

In the 1953 color photo of Vine I was intrigued by the Coffee Dan's sign at the far right and have been looking for more photos of the restaurant itself. Not much luck yet.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M.../s512/menu.JPG
[source: eBay]


This one has been marked as being in Los Angeles, but I have no clue which location it might be. Still...great atmosphere!

http://blog.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/w...coffe-dans.jpg
[source: Stuttgarter Zeitung]

Yipes!

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9...hruwall970.jpg
Los Angeles Times

Story here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/11...-through-wall/

Update:

Looks like in today's world, the locomotive would have been hanging out over the 101 freeway. Really scary!

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5554/busway.jpg
Google Maps

:previous: very frightening!


Your guess is as good as mine FredH.
Initially I thought the banners had something to do with WWII......the colors and shapes remind me of military rank stripes.
I was hoping someone on the thread might know the answer.

____

That is such a beautiful black and white photo of the Coffee Dan's. Thanks for posting it Handsome Stranger.

Looking north on Spring Street from 8th.


http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5...dglookingn.jpg
usc digital archive

Police Chief William Parker with Wayne Roberts whose panther escaped and is roaming the streets of Los Angeles, circa 1954.


http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2...arkerwayne.jpg
usc digital archive





http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2...arkerwayne.jpg
usc digital archive






below: Meat-On-A-Stick and a rope......poor Wayne.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4...ssearching.jpg
usc digital archive






I would say this was a publicity stunt if the year had been 1942 instead of 1954.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/5549/catpeople1d.jpg
Val Lewton's Cat People 1942

Click on the link to see one of the spookiest scenes in film noir.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbGJrAVWUo


_____

Does anyone have any info or photos about the very old Hollywood building at 1518 (or 1520) Cahuenga? It's near the northeast corner of Cahuenga and Sunset. I have a little personal experience with this building, and suspect that this is one of the oldest buildings still standing in Hollywood. I was told that it dates back to about 1880, which is hard to believe, but I really have no idea.

In the mid 1980's this building housed a small recording studio called Bijou, that had me in at times to do tech work. The studio was on the left (the north side) at street level and was done in nautical decor. There was a lounge and hang out spaces upstairs. I'm straining here to remember more about the building, but I believe that behind the studio was the "remains" of an auto repair place, maybe with a wood or dirt floor in some areas.

The front of the building was very striking, with a lot of elaborate architectural details and a what looked like a marquee. It looked very old, as do many buildings on Cahuenga and Wilcox, between Sunset and Franklin.

The south wall is exposed brick and faces a the south east corner of Cahuenga and Sunset. In the 80's it was painted with "Hollywood Multigraphic Service" (not visible now). The sign faced a Texaco station, now a Jack In The Box. Across the street was the famous show biz hangout Martonis (now gone), and Chan Dara, a popular Thai restaurant.

I have a friend with a space in this building and I called him today. He said that during recent renovations, the owner went to the city and saw old documentation which showed that the place was built in 1880 and was originally a granary, later a Chinese laundry and a theater. And apparently, a print shop too.

The address is either 1520 or 1518. The address in my records was 1520 but (oddly) that address is now used by the building to the north, which recently got a big renovation.

There are some glimpses of this building on hollywoodphotographs.com in the Cahuenga section, but no clear old images.

Cahuenga was an important street in Hollywood. It led to the Cahuenga Pass and the San Fernando Valley, to the northwest.

Anyhoo - does anyone have an old photo, or any further info on this neat old building? I'd love to learn more about it.

Modern view, shot today by me:

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/1520_Cah.mid.jpg

Thanks for the history of 6000 Sunset Blvd.! A very illustrious building indeed. I had just assumed that it became part of Sunset Gower Studios. I do remember when this building was in abandoned-looking disrepair, I was afraid that it would be demolished. I'm glad it still exists and is now again a recording studio. :)

ethereal_reality - I have looked at the meat-on-a-stick photo of Wayne Roberts about ten times and laughed every time. I can just imagine him roaming the streets of Los Angeles with that gear.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061771.jpgLAPL

The Lay of the Land: St. James Park, installment #2

http://stjamesparklosangeles.blogspot.com/

I FINALLY found an Angels Flight photo that I don't remember seeing before. (this is a detail of a stereoview)


http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/2...stereoview.jpg
ebay

What in the world is going on in the right side of the photo? It looks like they're modernizing the building, but to me the new first floor facade looks way too modern for this time period (it resembles the Seagram Building circa 1958).



below: the reverse side.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5...ss2reverse.jpg
ebay

:previous:

just some storefront construction being installed. i dtae your photo to either be 1904 or early 1905. Angels flight still runs at grade across clay street. It was elevated above clay street in 1905

the same view 1905. note the storefront in place that is being installed in your photo E_R

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008578.jpg
Source: LAPL

Play Ball!!!
 

Interesting images of a proposed NFL stadium to be built by AEG behind the Staples Center.

Since Los Angeles does not currently have an NFL franchise this, of course, would be dependent on them acquiring one. Currently, three franchises are under consideration including our very own San Diego Chargers.

I, personally, am not much on football but I think this is quite a striking design concept.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5...lastadium3.jpg

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1...lastadium2.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/464...lastadium1.jpg
Images Courtesy: NFL/AEG/Gensler Los Angeles

~Jon Paul

Folded wings indeed...
 

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077883.jpgLAPL

As described by the LAPL: "Built in 1924 as the entrance to Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, the
75-foot Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is a Spanish/Mission Revival style monument and burial site
for 13 pioneers of aviation. It was dedicated in 1953 as a final resting place for pilots, mechanics and other pioneers
of flight." Here, "Spectators gather around the wreckage of a Navajo-Piper aircraft scattered at the base of the
Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation in Burbank. The twin-engine plane crashed shortly after taking off from
the Hollywood-Burbank Airport. Photograph dated July 21, 1969."

Well, if you are going to crash, I guess he picked the right spot!

Here is a really nice set of Angels Flight photos from the L.A. Times.
(keep clicking forward through the advertisements)

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/01...st-opening/#/0

The LA Auto Show opens this Friday. Woo hoo! I go every year.

In honor of that...

Here's a picture from 1958, actress Sandra Giles and the "You Auto Buy Now" week campaign.
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7...n123310131.jpg
USC Archive

And here's a picture of The Smiling Irishman at Western and Pico, 1952.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1754/sflickr.jpg
From electrospark's flickr

^^^I'd like a 50 dollar car, please! Here, let me go to the ATM. :-P

:previous: Sopas_ej, remember the post from several years ago about the auto show that burnt down?

Yes I do remember that. It was to be held in tents or something, but a huge fire broke out and it was moved to the Shrine Expo Center, right?

:previous: Yes! And all the burnt cars were transferred to a junk yard across the street. Needless to say, it all seemed suspicious.

_______




The Adohr Creamery Company at 1801 La Cienega circa Jan. 1, 1931.
This place looks enormous! Notice the sculpture near the palm tree on the right.



http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4...1801lacien.jpg
LAPL





below: Here's an aerial of the area that used to be the Adohr Creamery.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/8...isnowlacie.jpg
google street view





below: Today it is the La Cienega Plaza mall. :( -Shopping Hell-

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1...atlacieneg.jpg
google street view





http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6596/adohrad.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainspaulding/page764/







http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1...reyiscorre.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainspaulding/page764/

_______

Sopas: Love the Smiling Irishman's lot, and love that fur-covered T-bird. And the model--I am continually amazed by the style of brassieres in the fifties--how men got women to display their goods so weirdly, and then designed car bumpers the same way, up and OUT, watch out, I'm comin' through!

And so the model remined me of Dagmar, who bequeathed her name to the bumpers...

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00092/00092999.jpgLAPL
Per the LAPL: "Looking every inch a television star, Dagmar enjoys an evening at Ciro's with her husband, Dan Dayton
(left); Lorraine Cugat (second from right), estranged wife of Bandleader Xavier Cugat, and her escort, Gould Morrison.
Dagmar, who is big on TV in the east, flew out here to spend some time with her husband."


http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics28/00033972.jpgLAPL

3184 W. 8th Street--it's come a long, sad way from '57 Sixty Specials, gold-lettered storefronts, and matrons in hats...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogle Street View

:previous: Great post GaylordWilshire. lol
My Dad always said the ladies put marbles in the tips of their bras to make them extra pointy.
But what happens if you take someone home....wouldn't you end up with two marbles rolling around on the floor?


_____

That 'before and after' is a crying shame. It hurts me to see that.
What does it say above the entryway....Haddon Hall?

__

Ah yes, Dagmar bumpers. When they first came out, they were all chrome, but they inflicted much damage to cars that were rear-ended by them. So on later models, GM put black rubber tips on them to minimize damage--but the rubber tips gave them a pastied look, didn't they... or it made them look like breasts with huge silver-dollar nipples.

Yeah, women wore those bullet bras in the 1950s; I don't think breasts started looking "natural" again until the 1960s.

...

1954
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics31/00050218.jpg
LAPL

Dagmars out front, Continental kits out back (named for the original Lincoln Continentals of the '40s):

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-g...2520AM.bmp.jpgIMCDB
Baby Jane pulling her '47 Continental into 172 S. McCadden

Back to Dagmars for a moment...pre-pasties: Cadillac's '55 version...
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...2520AM.bmp.jpgcaliforniaclassix.com

How come they weren't called "Janes"?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H7BkL-rwXy...0/59753702.jpgCarnage and Culture

Or "Jaynes"?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EUlWu1LxrR...+Mansfield.jpgwronskiwrambles.blogspot.com

Timing is everything, I guess.

some color images i stumbled upon from the 50's that i don't recall seeing before.

Brand Boulevard Glendale

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...LTD/ALA151.jpg
Source: Viewliner Ltd

7th and broadway

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...LTD/ALA152.jpg
Source: Viewliner Ltd

San Fernando Road Burbank

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...LTD/ALA153.jpg
Source: Viewliner Ltd

Originally posted by gsjansen

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/2...daleviewli.jpg
viewliner_ltd


below: The same view today.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9...dglendale1.jpg
google street view

Sorry to inflict pain, e_r. Yes, it says Haddon Hall. The view is perhaps a little less painful from this angle:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9...2520PM.bmp.jpghttp://you-are-here.com
Haddon Hall was designed by S. Charles Lee, famous for his many great movie theaters in L.A. as well as the
Max Factor studio in Hollywood.

Apparently, Haddon Hall was built as an apartment hotel in 1925, and was to originally have been called,
uneuphoniously, the Oberndorf Apartments. Below are some interior shots.
http://digital.library.ucla.edu/imag...9/i0081909.jpgUSCDL

http://digital.library.ucla.edu/imag...9/i0081904.jpgUSCDL

Burbank?
 

San Fernando Road Burbank

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...LTD/ALA153.jpg
Source: Viewliner Ltd[/QUOTE]

Are we sure this is San Fernando in Burbank? It really reminds me of Ventura Blvd. at Laurel Canyon...

On a side note, I LOVE this forum!!!!!

:previous:
It is indeed Burbank. I can tell by the lamp posts.

Welcome to the forums, by the way! :)

:previous:

i've said this before...i'll say it again......

you can tell a street by it's lamp posts???!!!??

sopas ej, you are and have always been my idol........i'm not worthy!


:multibow

Round up the usual suspects! :whip:

Quite a collection of mugs

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8...eshowup970.jpg
Los Angeles Times


Story here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/11/17/police-show-up/

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics43/00056166.jpgLAPL

The lamps tell all. The LAPL describes this pic this way: "View of the principal retail shopping section of San Fernando Road, Burbank, looking southeast from San Jose Avenue on October 8, 1963."

Some big shopping center seems to on top of this intersection now; it looks like gs's pic and the LAPL shot are of the same block from different directions, at least looking at the Thrifty Drugs, Seaboard Loans, and Sav-on signs. So whatever happened to "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" anyway?

Thanks for the information on Haddon Hall GaylordWilshire. I never would have guessed it was by S. Charles Lee.

:previous:

Ah yes, Gaylord, that shopping center is the enclosed, 3-level Burbank Town Center Mall; it used to be called the Media City Center, built in the early 1990s. Nearby is the closest IKEA to me; yeah, I've been there a number of times.

Downtown Burbank is actually quite thriving; lots of people walking about, especially on Saturday nights, being that there's many restaurants and a cinema complex there. I don't really hang out there, though.

I do occasionally like going to Burbank for the old, retro-cool, 1949-era Bob's Big Boy. It's open 24 hours and can get very crowded.

The lamp posts that you see in those older photos are no longer on San Fernando Blvd. in downtown Burbank, but they still exist on many stretches of other major thoroughfares in Burbank, albeit now with modern light fixtures.

Here's Providence St. Joseph Medical Center on South Buena Vista Street in Burbank (where John Ritter died), with the Walt Disney Studios across the street. You can see the lamp posts, though they've been painted black.
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/985/picture2zsh.png
Google Street View

A little more Burbank.

A parade in downtown Burbank, 1952, headed down San Fernando Blvd., crossing Olive Avenue.
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/735...parade1952.jpg
USC Archive

The same corner today.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3747/picture3bi.png
Google Street View

San Fernando Blvd. has been narrowed through downtown with bulb-outs and diagonal parking.

gsjansen, seeing this post totally made my day. I always liked the Outpost area, have hiked Runyon Canyon for years, and always wondered about all that twisted metal wreckage! It makes perfect sense and I remember seeing the electrical parts. After seeing your thread I found a photo that shows the letters a little more clearly, and shot a few photos of my own. There's lots of interesting stuff in this area!

http://www.digitalartform.com/archiv...stSign1924.jpg
http://www.digitalartform.com/archiv...post_sign.html

The remains of the sign seem more or less centered along the steep eastern trail that runs along a ridge that looks south towards La Brea. They are scattered near a lookout point along the trail - which may have been a dirt access road when the sign was built.

Just north and up the hill on a large, fenced and somewhat hidden lot is a triangular Frank Lloyd Wright home, the Headley-Handley house. (Built in 1947?) Nearby is an old home with horses and goats in a side area.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/headley-handley.jpg
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/0...e.php#runyon-5

On another hilltop to the northwest is the weird monstrosity at 2450 Solar Drive, partially built in 1980's but never occupied. A resident told me the noirish story behind it. This "dream house" was built by a porn star and her manager (think Boogie Nights) but apparently the project was grossly mismanaged and the money ran out.. Since the house was never finished it was never approved for occupancy. Notice the boarded up windows.

Gang bangers and squatters took over, the neighbors hated it. The house is huge and has a great view, but spoils the other homeowner's views. It became an illegal party hangout and got progressively trashed, finally someone installed a caretaker, who lives in a motor home in the driveway. My wish is that the place is torn down one day. Here are some photos, from me.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/100_8712a.bw.jpg


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/100_8715a.bw.jpg



It was pretty hazy this evening but if the skies were clear you'd see the buildings of Franklin, Hollywood Blvd., and Sunset, with mid Wilshire further out. It it was really clear you'd see the Palos Verdes pininsula, the Pacific and maybe Catalina Island in the distance.

To be continued...

Hi everyone.

I'm from England, & am fascinated by historical photos, especially then & now comparisons. I've never been to LA, & probably never will, but after playing LA Noire, i was intrigued to see what the game landmarks were like today, which is how i stumbled across this thread!

Some of the buildings & places destroyed in the name of 'progress' is astonishing.

I'm actually only up to page 46, but had to jump to the end to say thanks to all the contributors for this glimpse into the past.

Right, back to 46 i go.........................................!!

.

The Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade
 

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg266...pg&res=landing
Los Angeles Times


Read the story here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/09/13/loyalty-oaths/


They needed Major--de Coverley to step in and put a stop to it:

(From Catch-22 by Joseph Heller)
Milo carefully said nothing when Major —— de Coverley stepped into the mess hall with his fierce and austere dignity the day he returned and found his way blocked by a wall of officers waiting in line to sign loyalty oaths. At the far end of the food counter, a group of men who had arrived earlier were pledging allegiance to the flag, with trays of food balanced in one hand, in order to be allowed to take seats at the table. Already at the tables, a group that had arrived still earlier was singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in order that they might use the salt and pepper and ketchup there. The hubub began to subside slowly as Major —— de Coverley paused in the doorway with a frown of puzzled disapproval, as though viewing something bizarre. He started forward in a straight line, and the wall of officers before him parted like the Red Sea. Glancing neither left nor right, he strode indomitably up to the steam counter and, in a clear, full-bodied voice that was gruff with age and resonant with ancient eminence and authority, said:
“Gimme eat.”
Instead of eat, Corporal Snark gave Major —— de Coverley a loyalty oath to sign. Major —— de Coverley swept it away with mighty displeasure the moment he recognized what it was, his good eye flaring up blindingly with fiery disdain and his enormous old corrugated face darkening in mountainous wrath.
“Gimme eat, I said,” he ordered loudly in harsh tones that rumbled ominously through the silent tent like claps of distant thunder.
Corporal Snark turned pale and began to tremble. He glanced toward Milo pleadingly for guidance. For several terrible seconds there was not a sound. Then Milo nodded.
“Give him eat,” he said.
Corporal Snark began giving Major —— de Coverley eat. Major —— de Coverley turned from the counter with his tray full and came to a stop. His eyes fell on the groups of other officers gazing at him in mute appeal, and, with righteous belligerence, he roared:
“Give everybody eat!”
“Give everybody eat!” Milo echoed with joyful relief, and the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade came to an end.

1929 Auto Show Fire
 

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5...wcombo2970.jpg
Los Angeles Times


The story and more pictures are here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/11...929-auto-show/

.

Great post 3940dxer. I'm with you, that porn mansion needs to be torn down.
They should let the caretaker stay in the vacant house instead of some trailer. That guy could be livin' it up.

I'm glad you reposted gsjansen's post on Outpost....I had forgotten all about the story. I still find it amazing that the sign was in neon!
I would love to find a night-time photo of it.

_____
Welcome to the thread Pompeyuk. I spent a summer in Portsmouth many years ago.
I stayed at the YMCA across from the bombed out Royal Garrison Church. My cohorts and I would go to a pub called 'Still & West'.

_____