Here I am at Universal Studios in June 1974 wearing a BROWN leisure suit. (I was 13 years old)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/KZ9RKl.jpg

It looks purple-ish, but believe me...it was BROWN. :yuck:


Identical to this one. (100% Polyester)
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/923/lRi0ur.jpg
jimberkin

Did any of you NLAers wear leisure suits....or were they more of a Midwest thing?



_

• Video Link

High class Hollywood pimp Scotty Bowers, charming well endowed farm boy.
Born: July 1, 1923 (age 94), Ottawa, IL

Here is poster for 2017 documentary on his life.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Hollywood.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Hollywood.png

Directed by Matt Tyrnauer
Produced by Matt Tyrnauer
Corey Reeser
Josh Braun
Starring Scotty Bowers
Cinematography Chris J. Dapkins
Edited by Bob Eisenhardt
Daniel Morfesis
Release date
September 9, 2017 (Toronto International Film Festival)
Running time
97 minutes

I well recall the leisure suit of the 1970s and sure, they were worn in California too. I never wore one but they always seemed to be worn by the ''hip'' in-crowd. These were men who had a lot of ''leisure'' time....drove flashy cars, had beautiful partners, lounged around on yachts, golf resorts, La Vegas and Palm Springs...things like that...or so they wanted to appear ..
[none of my comments are directed at ER....these are just things in my imagination at the time]. Also, I believe they were popular in many TV series of the era....which made them a sought after item.

Personally I thought they were______. :rolleyes:

CBD, your description of who wore leisure suits is the opposite of mine.

I thought nerds wore leisure suits (especially Brown leisure suits)

ER....so you thought of yourself as a ''nerd'' back then? Or were you
wondering why your mom bought you the suit? :???:

When I wore that leisure suit I felt like a nerd. -I didn't feel like a nerd when I wore normal clothes. ;)

and yes, I would have preferred the blue one. (slightly less awful)




more 1960s negs for sale on ebay

posted extra-large so you can see the magazines
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/xxHPgP.jpg

Fred Hayman's?



https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/TQr9pK.jpg

note the clock on the building across the street.




Hotel Embassy (I didn't know it had that electric sign on top)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/923/y5SNY8.jpg

Pickwick Apt/Hotel and in the distance the Imperial Hotel.


all from EBAY

Wilson water
 

Thank you e_r. I get really interested when former water courses come up.

First "Wilson" was, I reckon, Benjamin Davis "Don Benito" Wilson, the one you've heard tell about (among other things, he was Gen. Geo S Patton's grandfather and got Mount Wilson named after him):

"[Wilson] came into possession of adjoining Rancho San Pascual (present day Pasadena) through a series of complicated land deals, which began with his lending money to the Rancho's owner Manuel Garfias in 1859. In 1863 Wilson and Dr. John Strother Griffin, who had also lent Garfias money — and with whom Wilson undertook many business deals in early Los Angeles, including railways, oil exploration, real estate, farming and ranching — bought the entire rancho property outright, and diverted water from the Arroyo Seco up to the dry mesa via an aqueduct called the "Wilson Ditch."
wiki

Now it's a "ditch".

"Lake Avenue is a major north–south feeder road for the Pasadena and Altadena communities in Los Angeles County, California. The road was developed in the mid 19th century and takes its name from a lake which was located at its southernmost end known variously as Mission Lake, Kewen Lake, and Wilson Lake reflecting different owners of the land. The lake bed still exists as a municipal park (Lacey Park) in the City of San Marino just south of the Raymond Dike, but it holds no water. It has been surrounded by residences who are served by a crisscross set of roads that dip into the edges of impression and back out the other side."
wiki

The former Wilson Lake (now Lacey Park) is a little over 3 miles south of the Saunders home at 580 N Lake (which is itself just south of Bungalow Heaven):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/P3...x=w449-h596-no
google maps

Lacey Park:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fc...C=w885-h589-no
google maps

I bet somebody over at the San Marino Historical Society knows something about the path of the former Wilson Creek (which I'm assuming connected to the lake).

SMHS did have this photo titled, "1926 Pre-Lacy park looking south from hill":

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0Q...=w1108-h628-no
SMHS

I always wondered why Lake St was called Lake St but never got around to looking it up.


I bet our Pasadena noirishers know all there is re Wilson Creek.


"Raymond Dike"? I'm def gonna look that up.

..................................................................



Nah, that was all FW. I was lost.

:previous: Thanks for the great information on Wilson's Creek t2. I really appreciate it.

I had no idea Lacy Park used to be a lake! (I didn't see that coming)
__







I don't mean to give anyone whiplash with this sudden turn to a totally different topic:

but earlier today I happened upon this black and white amateur video of Judy Garland's opening night at the Coconut Grove. (it's silent :( but still amazing)

• Video Link

movie stars in their natural habitat

Rhonda Fleming
Dean Martin talking to Jean Simmons
Rock Hudson
a young Liza Minnelli performing with her mom
Tony Curtis talking to Judy
Frank Sinatra rolling around on the floor :shrug:
Frank Sinatra bear hugging Jerry Lewis
Rhonda Fleming (again) talking to an unknown man. -Wally Cox(?) behind them
Tony Curtis and Judy again (judy's eyebrows are truly frightening)
_

I know that Judy Garland became horrifically skinny towards the end of her life, but I didn't realize she had a puffy period too.*

*I knew she struggled with her weight in the early years,
but this looks more like puffiness from some kind of medication

B.D. Wilson was a fairly significant person in early LA. I highly recommend a recent bio, "Don Benito Wilson; from Mountain Man to Mayor". He was one of the first mayors of LA, and eventually settled in an area known as Huerta de Cuati, located near the lake that was formed when the San Gabriel Mission had a mill built (El Molino Viejo) near natural streams along the Raymond Scarp, near the border of present-day San Marino and Pasadena. He name his property "Lake Vinyard" and was successful in growing grapes and marketing a well-respected wine.
A couple of F.H. Maude photos:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4601/...b90dd3f4_b.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4679/...dc9bbb75_z.jpg

Here is an early map of the area

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4731/...a8393be5_b.jpg
LMU
note the location of "Residence of Hon.B.D. Wilson"
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4596/...e97a0ecd_b.jpg
HDL



I did not know there was an active stream near Charles Saunder's home....I imagine it may have been an aqueduct; the Lake Vinyard Land and Water Assn. moved a lot of water around in the early days of Pasadena.

Good old Mr. Wilson
 

ER, Tovangar, ScottyB, thank you for your research in this matter. We live on Mentor on the next block up from the house ER found nestled between the tattoo parlor and Avis, and while I have long admired it, I did not know it had historical importance. In fact, despite my having researched this neighborhood fairly extensively, all the facts you all uncovered are new to me.

The funny thing is that I have a 1902 bird's-eye map of the area, and what I now know is Wilson's Ditch/Creek, I thought was a tear in the paper!

This is the closest this thread has ever gotten to our house. I keep hoping that some day I will come upon a photo of our house back when it had bargeboards in the front dormers. I'd like to replace them, and a photo would make getting approval from our Cultural Ossification Commission so much easier.

Victorian on Flower Street
 

That's a good looking Victorian shown on the right hand edge of the photo. Has it already been covered on the thread and is any history known about it? The neighbouring property also looks interesting. Was it an old mission church or was it just built to look that way?

I assume that the store belonged to Fred Hayman of Giorgio Beverly Hills fame (AKA "Mr Beverly Hills"/"Mr Rodeo Drive"). According to the 1967 CD (the store's only appearance), this was Fred Hayman Downtown at 749 S Hill Street. The date ties in with a couple of the magazines I identified, which are from May 1967.

Am working on something in which this block of text, from the Los Angeles Star of 12/15/1855, is involved. It has so much data, I thought bits and pieces here and there in it might be of interest to various members. I make no excuses for the various misspellings of the original (I only make excuses for my own various and abundant misspellings, which fortunately are not in evidence here):

“Sheriff’s Sale. […] Thomas G. Richards vs. Andres Pico. By virtue of an execution to me directed in the above entitled case, I have levied on and will proceed to sell at Public Auction […] the following described property, to wit: All the right, title and interest of said Andres Pico in and to the Rancho and Mission of San Fernando, lying and being situate in the County of Los Angeles, and State of California, and bounded on the North by the Rancho of San Francisco, on the West by the Rancho of Los Virgins, on the South by the River Los Angeles, and on the East by the Rancho of Los Berdugos. Also, all the right, title and interest of the said defendant in and to the Rancho de los Coyotes […], bounded on the North by the Rancho of Wm. Workman and John Ro[w]land, on the East by the Rancho of Juan Pacifico Ontiveros and Santa Ana, on the South by the Ranchos of John Temple, Abel Stearns and ‘La Balsas,’ and on the West by the Rancho of Lemuel Carpenter and other (‘Rancho de los Nietos’). Also, all the right, title and interest of said Pico in and to one certain House and Lot lying and being situate in the City of Los Angeles, County and State aforesaid, and bounded as follows:—On the North by the Plaza, on the East by the street leading from the Plaza to the ‘Calle de los Negros,’ on the South by the house and lot of Doña Ramona Serrano de Sepulveda, and on the West by the house formerly owned by Jose Antonio Carrillo, together with all the appurtenances, estate, title and interest of the said Andres Pico in and to each and all of the above described Lots and Parcels of Land.”

The "house formerly owned by Jose Antonio Carrillo" was on a lot soon to be occupied by our familiar Pico House.

Water and gravity is most certainly a reliable combination.

If anyone wants to know more, Jane over at LA Creek Freak as a pair of wonderful 2009/2010 articles on the Artesian Belt, the Raymond fault/scarp, La Presa and the future Lacey Park with many descriptions of streams, marshes, peet bogs and fern-lined canyons. Plus much interesting info about The Huntington Botanic Gardens and how its layout was shaped. And cautionary tales about how attempts to control water flow can have unintended consequences. Excellent "Comments" sections too.

An Artesian Belt in San Gabriel: Part I

An Artesian Belt in San Gabriel: Part II

"In this map, compiled under the direction of W.C. Mendenhall, active artesian areas during the summer of 1904 are hatched in blue and the blue circles indicate pumping plants (double circles), domestic wells (solid blue circles), and artesian wells (outlined circles). Though the San Gabriel artesian belt is clearly defined, only the eastern half is still actively artesian, showing the effects of the lowering of the water table. Courtesy Michael Hart":
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MF...2=w778-h424-no
la creek freak

*Note the future Lacey Park on the map above. Here marked "Kewen Lake".

"Not a Pasadenan who has grown up here but has been licked for coming home with his hair damp with the waters of Wilson’s Lake… Years ago it was stocked with carp and catfish… But today Wilson’s Lake is nearly dry. In its deepest portions boys were wading about with their trousers rolled half up to their knees, and the poor fish, to the number of thousands, huddled together in their last refuge, prove easy game…"
- la creek freak

Scotty Bowers, bartender
 

ethereal:
Bowers was mostly a private bartender at private parties. Here is an article in Variety from 11-12 years ago that says (even then) that he had tended bar at some 10,000 parties over 60 years, often working seven days a week.


http://variety.com/2006/film/feature...n-1200337270/#!

A segment on a news show (available at youtube) made a few years ago shows him still tending bar. He is now 94. The impression is that he has absolutely been the "go-to" guy to tend bar for Hollywood parties, straight and/or gay, for many decades.
Recently I read (can't remember where) that he worked for awhile as a bartender at a place that either was or later became "The Losers" on La Cienega in West Hollywood. Don't remember if Bowers mentions working in any bars in his book. Since his time working in an actual bar was apparently not long, seems unlikely the place in the photograph is a "lounge" where he was employed.

And now for my second wall of text today, heaven help us; see towards the end for connection with San Gabriel: "Kewen" above is probably Col. Edward John Cage Kewen, on whom I have the following stray notes: ca. 1826-1828, born in Missouri; practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri; California’s first State Attorney General; Los Angeles Star of December 6, 1856: “Col. E.J.C. Kewen.—We take the following, regarding this gentleman, from the Nicarauguense of Nov. 1st: [‘]This gentleman departs by the present steamer for the United States, on business connected with the Republic of Nicaragua. We beseech ‘Young America’ to give him a hearing in the United States. Col. Kewen is known in California as one of the most eloquent and graceful speakers in that State, and his relations with this country have proved him worthy of all confidence. He is an apostle of Progress, and all we ask of the people of the Southern and Atlantic States is to lend him their ears.[’] The lady of Col. Kewen, has been residing in this city with her father, Dr. White, for some months past, and takes her departure by to-day’s steamer, to join the gallant Colonel at New Orleans”; January 17, 1857, published (Los Angeles Star): “ […], having arrived from Nicaragua, had addressed a mass meeting of the citizens of New Orleans on the state of affairs in that country. The papers of that city are enthusiastic in their praises of his oration. […] We learn […] that Col. E.J.C. Kewen […] has left New Orleans for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia to raise recruits for General Walker”; February 6, 1858, published (Los Angeles Star): “E.J.C. Kewen, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Los Angeles, Cal., will practice in the Courts of the First Judicial District, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California. Office, in Salis’ [i.e., Celis’] Building, recently occupied by C.E. Thom, Esq.,—opposite the Bella Union”; 1858, city School Superintendent; August 14, 1858, published (Los Angeles Star): “on the north side of our office [of the Los Angeles Star], Col. E.J. Kewen has removed his office to the house formerly occupied by Mr. Temple. With him is Mr. Myer J. Newmark, Notary Public”; August 27, 1859, published (Los Angeles Star): “E.J.C. Kewen, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Los Angeles, Cal. […] Office, in Temple’s Building, opposite Mellus’s store”; 1860, present in San Gabriel as L.A. District Attorney with savings of $7,000 and real estate valued at $25,000; 1860s, in partnership with Myron Norton; 1862, mentioned as showing support for the Confederacy; October 18, 1862, published (Los Angeles Star): “He was, as will be remembered, arrested in Los Angeles some time ago, for alleged treasonable language”; mid-1860s, shot Fred Lemberg, not fatally, for a supposed indignity; 1870, present in San Gabriel as a lawyer with savings of $1,000 and real estate valued at $43,000; 1872, listed as present at Mission San Gabriel; 1872, “Col. Kewen was one of those brilliant men of whom we have seen so many, gifted with fine powers of oratory, but who are deficient in that nice poise of judgment which renders their words weighty and decisive when applied to the practical questions of life. He was brave, generous and affable. He could not do enough for a friend, and was the most entertaining of hosts at his fine home, ‘El Molino,’ in the San Gabriel orange belt. He came to California across the plains in 1849 in the same wagon train with Dr. T.J. White, of St. Louis, and family, and on their arrival at Sacramento, he married one of his daughters. This was one of the first weddings, if not the first, celebrated between Americans in that city. Col. Kewen was of a martial spirit, and when General Walker, the great filibuster, took his ill-fated expedition to Nicaragua, he joined him and fought under his banner gallantly to the end. He was the first Attorney-General of the State, filling the office from 1849 to 1851. He died in Los Angeles in 1879” (Ayers, James J., Gold and Sunshine, Boston, 1922; pp. 268-269); ca. 1872, as a lawyer, involved in the aftermath of the Chinese Massacre; ca. 1875, lived on 450 acres in what is now the north part of the city of San Gabriel, property including the mission’s decaying old mill, which he converted into a residence; sometime member of the State Assembly and, later, District Attorney; November, 1879, died; distinguished for eloquence; wife Fanny was a daughter of Dr. T.J. White; son Perry; in San Gabriel, a neighbor was Volney Howard.

Edit: But wait! There's more!:

Bonus: The above Col. Kewen was likely the source of the name of Kewen Dorsey. Who was Kewen Dorsey? The son of Hilliard Dorsey and Civility Rubottom, the latter of whom was the daughter of William Rubottom, who not only shot dead his son-in-law Hilliard but also supposedly imported the first possums into California.

You might've read it here:


I didn't put it in the post, but, in one of the links I included, Bowers said he worked there for 13 months. He had resigned (his word) from the gas station and been asked by John Walsh to help him open the 881 Club. When it opened he was only supposed to be the bartender until they found a replacement for him but John Walsh liked him there and was lackadaisical about it, but Bowers didn't belong to the bartender's union. The people Walsh got for the job he didn't like and Bowers stayed on. After pressure from union representatives John Walsh got him a Union card, but Bowers only stayed on a few more months. He said, though, this is where he learned to be a bartender.

In the photo, E_R, the lady to your left looks like "a Flying Nun."

I have to agree with CBD's description of who wore leisure suits. I guess I had one that you'd call a leisure suit, though I never thought of it like that. They were extremely popular, I recall.

Speaking recently of Pete Ellis and Cal Worthington and their commercial jingles, last night's episode of Will & Grace featured Jack & Karen unable to get a certain car/truck jingle out of their heads and they ended up going to a doctor for help. :cheers:

Which "old mill"? The old, old mill or the newer old mill?:

"...From 1816-1823 the Old Mill harnessed water from the adjacent canyon to grind wheat and corn to feed more than a thousand Mission Indians.

After being put to use at the mill, the water flowed into a bog at the present day location of Lacy Park. There, the Padres built a dam to power a sawmill, wool-washing works, and a tannery. According to Hiram Reid’s History of Pasadena, the dam caused the lake to double in size. Its storage capacity increased exponentially.

Though the Old Mill was quickly superseded by a more advanced mill built closer to the Mission,..."
la creek freak


Oh, here it is. Thank you wiki.
"In 1858, Dr. White conveyed the "Old Mill Site" to his daughter Fannie Kewen; she and her husband, Col. E. J. C. Kewen, both lived there for 20 years."

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/W8...j=w855-h340-no
google maps

Old Mill Foundation website

A "then" shot of the mill looking east towards the lake (now Lacey Park):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tI...O=w957-h504-no
oldmill.org


............................................................


Ah yes, a "certain House" here in 1895:

Now the site of the Quon Building.