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ethereal_reality Dec 17, 2012 8:20 PM

http://imageshack.us/a/img201/6643/a...kinggrayin.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img21/9392/aa...38kinggray.jpg
ebay



http://imageshack.us/a/img341/5565/a...kinggrayim.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/



http://imageshack.us/a/img401/4630/a...kinggrayal.jpg
http://www.allmovie.com/


This is quite a mysterious case. I wonder if there are crime scene photos?
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ethereal_reality Dec 17, 2012 8:28 PM

yesterday
http://imageshack.us/a/img593/8394/aabatoceanpc.jpg
ebay



today
http://imageshack.us/a/img542/3729/aabatoceantoday.jpg
google street view
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tovangar2 Dec 17, 2012 8:55 PM

1953 shootout at the Famous Cafe
 
Anyone know more about this:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...geles_05_2.jpg
usc regioal history center

caption: "Spectators join police at the aftermath of a shootout, 1953."

AlvaroLegido Dec 17, 2012 9:25 PM

A spooky building ?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Lwize (Post 5833123)
Am I the only one haunted by the Hall of Records? What a spooky building.

http://img248.imageshack.us/edit_pre...&action=rotate
waterandpower.org

As I am haunted too (and Ethereal stood by – page 464 # 9263), I'd like to try to psychoanalyse Lwise, Ethereal and myself to recover together from that "spooky" Hall of Records.

Well, I guess it has several characteristics of the images which we form by night in our dreams or worse... nightmares : mainly awkwardness, odds shapes and amounts, and condensations between separate things...

1. everything is on the square except that giant which looks like nothing around. As it was for many years the last building in Downtown to show the old alignment, we've been able to see a lot of pictures showing that uncomfortable and lonely fate which probably led it to be removed : « The Civic Center planners may have sensed it was upstaging the Great Mall » (Los Angeles Times on November 6 1972 – www.metroplaza post #193) ;

2. I've never seen a building in the world which resembles - even remotely – the Hall of Records... except some magic castles in drawings. It's the One and Only Hall of Records ! The 4 that surround it (clockwise : Hall of Justice, Federal, City Hall, State) could be related to other buildings we know - as usual in architecture. It is definitely a separate thing ;

http://img826.imageshack.us/edit_pre...&action=rotate
forum.skyscraperpage.com

3. there are so many windows (of different sizes)... and so little wall between (compare to the State Building nearby) that it gives me kinda vertigo ;

4. it is a unlikely composite : have you noticed that the lower part in profile on Broadway (4 rows of windows) and Spring (5 rows) looks amazingly modern for 1910 (except the entrance door) while the upper part (5 above) looks strangely old for 1910 ? It is like 1950's below and 1870's above... (What did the architect have in mind ?) We could well imagine a modern structure on an old (as times goes by, they could build that...) but never an old on a modern, except in a nightmare ! ;

http://img13.imageshack.us/edit_prev...&action=rotate
blogs.laweekly.com

5. now a monster on the composite : the view in profile (East and West sides) shows a two-headed body like a polycephalic animal out of the Greek mythology.

6. on an aerial, we see a disturbing shape : 3 buildings in one (the lower and the 2 similars above).

Well... I feel better now, however I like it and I wish they didn't remove it.

westcork Dec 17, 2012 9:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 5941531)
Anyone know more about this:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...geles_05_2.jpg
usc regioal history center

caption: "Spectators join police at the aftermath of a shootout, 1953."

That was back in August: Post #8953

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...22#post5806331

tovangar2 Dec 17, 2012 10:58 PM

Incremental losses of charm add up on "saved" house
 
The Mayor's Residence (since 1977)
Paulson/Getty House
Meyer and Holler, 1921
SW corner, 6th & Irving, Windsor Square

1950's photo (note TV aerial) showing original chimney pots, entry lanterns, driveway gate, etc:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...100%2520PM.jpg
lockhart family

Mayor Viaraigosa's unfortunate fence (2012). Apparently several neighbors are planning similar eyesores.
http://la.curbed.com/uploads/2011.12_mayorfence.jpg
larchmont buzz

Getty Oil owned this house, built by Swedish immigrants Leta and Paul Paulson, and many others surrounding it for fifteen years, starting in 1958, while trying to get a variance to develop the land to expand their Tidewater/Getty Oil headquarters at 4201 Wilshire between Irving and Lorraine. That 1956 Claud Beelman building had already displaced the Getty house used in Sunset Blvd, 1950, Fancy Pants,1950 and Rebel Without a Cause, 1955 (see page 178 of this thread for extensive and worthwhile posts re that house). Getty finally gave up in the mid-70's and sold their Windsor Square holdings.

The relationship between the Getty building on Wilshire and the Getty House on 6th & Irving:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t...609%2520PM.jpg
LA curbed

happier days:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...25329%2BPM.jpg
wikimedia

GaylordWilshire Dec 17, 2012 10:58 PM

Re: The Famous Café


http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...geles_05_2.jpgUSCDL

What's more noir than cream-colored Cadillacs and pearl-handled revolvers?

I don't remember if we ever pinpointed the address--not surprisingly, there have been a number of Famous Cafés in L.A. over the years. I knew that the DUNKIRK exchange was downtown; looking closely at the picture revealed what appeared to be a "W" (for west) and a short street name between it and "St"...and likewise figuring the postal zone number to be "17"... I tried a few numbered streets and came up with the Famous Café Coffee Shop in the '56 directory at 2017 West 7th St.... phone number DUNKIRK 3-7000... must have been a digit change between '54 & '56. Here's the story:

http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/3913/famouscompl.jpgLAT

tovangar2 Dec 17, 2012 11:23 PM

Famous Cafe
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5941690)
Re: The Famous Café


http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...geles_05_2.jpgUSCDL

What's more noir than cream-colored Cadillacs and pearl-handled revolvers?

Cool, thx yet again GW. I know that block :-)

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6...812%2520PM.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d...603%2520PM.jpg
gsv

The expressions in the original news photo are priceless, especially combined with the neon "CHOPS".

see also: http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=11971

FredH Dec 17, 2012 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProphetM (Post 5940395)
Hmm, if the Hollywood Freeway took it out, then it's not Bunker Hill, is it? I thought the Hollywood Freeway was more properly described as running through Fort Moore Hill. Although I realize Fort Moore Hill was more or less just the north end of Bunker Hill, right?

Judging by the angle of City Hall and the note about the Hollywood Freeway, I have two guesses.

My first guess is California St. - the Park Tract map we discussed many pages back has the west end of it, where it is called Sand Street. It was eliminated with construction of the Hollywood Freeway east of the four-level interchange. It ran from Bunker Hill to Broadway. I don't know why it would be closed like that at one end, though - I don't have a street map of the area from the 1940s.

My second guess is Boston Street. It ran from Centennial to Bunker Hill, parallel to Sunset and was part of the Park Tract. If that's the right place, then the road is closed in the foreground due to construction of the Harbor Freeway, which would be directly behind camera. All that's left of these two blocks of Boston St. are, arguably, a couple of driveways into the Orsini Apartments on either side of Figueroa, just north of the 101.

If we can dig up old photos of Boston St. and California St. perhaps there will be something there to match up.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/5...erhill1000.jpg


Could this be the spot? Photo is dated 1948.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/982/00041080.jpg
lapl

The description with the photo is:

"Historic Bunker Hill is 'going into history' as workmen push construction of the Hollywood Freeway. The sound of shovels and tractors is roaring heavily these days along North Figueroa Street, between Sunset and Temple. In this area workmen are busily cutting away sections of Fort Moore Hill or Bunker Hill to make way for the construction of the Hollywood Freeway and the four-level bridge. This view shows the area, with historic Bunker Hill almost "gone." The outlines indicate the area where the Hollywood Freeway will be built. Civic Center is in the background. Photo dated: May 11, 1948."

Lwize Dec 17, 2012 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido (Post 5941570)
http://img248.imageshack.us/edit_pre...&action=rotate
waterandpower.org

As I am haunted too (and Ethereal stood by – page 464 # 9263), I'd like to try to psychoanalyse Lwise, Ethereal and myself to recover together from that "spooky" Hall of Records.

Well, I guess it has several characteristics of the images which we form by night in our dreams or worse... nightmares : mainly awkwardness, odds shapes and amounts, and condensations between separate things...

Thank you for putting into words several of the design elements that made the spook-tacular Hall of Records what is was.

Add the IMO Gothic, almost bat wing skeletal shapes on the roof ,and the twin shotgun upper floors that recall the ghostly hallway twins from The Shining:

http://www.nancyloewen.com/blog/wp-c...ins-108081.jpg

The old alignment angle of the building (which gives me goosebumps just thinking about the ghosts of Los Angeles past) stood out in a stark black & white photo in our family's World Book Encyclopedia collection, 1965 edition. :O

malumot Dec 18, 2012 12:13 AM

All very true (I was going the add the seeming Gothic qualities, but you beat me to it. :)

Since this is something of a hobo stew, let me add one more: The air shafts between the towers seem very narrow and proportionally out of whack (no, that's not a scientific term but the best I can come up with right now. LOL)

Here's one to ponder: The Richard Neutra-designed replacement is now 50 years old......which is just about the life-span of the original.

Quick! - Form a mental image of the 1962 version......Yeah, I didn't think you could do it. I sure couldn't. It's a featureless Modernistic block. Photos here. (I can almost smell the cheap, government-issue floor wax through my computer screen :D)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansas_...951383/detail/

Thankfully Neutra died in 1970, before he could inflict further damage. LOL......

(I must admit I actually like some of the private homes and small apartments he did. His larger structures are wretched, however.)



Quote:

Originally Posted by Lwize (Post 5941736)
Thank you for putting into words several of the design elements that made the spook-tacular Hall of Records what is was.

Add the IMO Gothic, almost bat wing skeletal shapes on the roof ,and the twin shotgun upper floors that recall the ghostly hallway twins from The Shining:

http://www.nancyloewen.com/blog/wp-c...ins-108081.jpg

The old alignment angle of the building (which gives me goosebumps just thinking about the ghosts of Los Angeles past) stood out in a stark black & white photo in our family's World Book Encyclopedia collection, 1965 edition. :O


tovangar2 Dec 18, 2012 12:41 AM

.

ethereal_reality Dec 18, 2012 1:26 AM

An odd chart dated 1956.

http://imageshack.us/a/img211/5118/a...6hollywood.jpg
ebay
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tovangar2 Dec 18, 2012 2:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5941863)

I don't know where I'd fit into this, but I do like to talk about movies.

FredH Dec 18, 2012 3:33 AM

:previous:

...and boy, do I love croquet!

That's a tequila, right? :cheers:


By the way, I didn't see a category on the chart for people who grew up in Cleveland.

tovangar2 Dec 18, 2012 3:50 AM

old Hall of Records
 
This photo is the reason why I'm freaked by the old Hall of Records. I cannot get over the idea that it's sucking the life out of the old County Courthouse:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/204...ycourthous.jpg
usc digital library
(previously posted by ethereal_reality on page 9)



One can almost hear the slurping sounds....

FredH Dec 18, 2012 3:59 AM

Ernie's 5 Cent Cafe - 1939
 
806 E. Fifth Street

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3771/00068906.jpg
lapl

tovangar2 Dec 18, 2012 4:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 5942028)
:previous:

...and boy, do I love croquet!


Yeah FredH, I know, I've seen you play :-)

http://logo.cafepress.com/1/3083734.3487851.jpg

ethereal_reality Dec 18, 2012 4:00 AM

...you have an active imagination tovanger2.
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ethereal_reality Dec 18, 2012 4:17 AM

Arlington Laundry 2456 Washington blvd. at Cimarron.

http://imageshack.us/a/img651/2793/a...aundry2426.jpg
ebay



today
http://imageshack.us/a/img856/1049/a...aundrytoda.jpg
google street view






below: The brickwork is exquisite...this is the Cimarron side.

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/6484/aa...aundrycima.jpg
google street view
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