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Bristolian Feb 28, 2020 8:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 8845313)
My guess would be the old Camarillo State Mental Hospital? The hills look right, with a few scattered oaks. Now a state college. Just a guess. The gathering of people in top hats, looks like a grand opening. The fat guy at the podium, the governor, or maybe the warden????

I agree that the terrain looks right for that area but every early image I see of Camarillo State Mental Hospital shows Spanish style buildings and not the more European looking architecture seen in the photos here. The hospital officially opened in 1936.

malumot Feb 28, 2020 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 8845313)
My guess would be the old Camarillo State Mental Hospital? The hills look right, with a few scattered oaks. Now a state college. Just a guess. The gathering of people in top hats, looks like a grand opening. The fat guy at the podium, the governor, or maybe the warden????


Nice try, but no. I used to ride my bike past CSH from Oxnard, up Portola Rd and down into 1000 Oaks. All the original buildings were Mission style.

This one IS a head scratcher........way the h*** out in the middle of nowhere.......would appear to be some institutional facility......

Maybe a new and improved Rock Ridge? :)

Earl Boebert Feb 29, 2020 12:13 AM

There appears to be a California state flag by the door in the third picture down. In the fourth picture we have a young boy on the podium, so I would guess a school or an orphanage.

Just a wild guess, but that terrain and vegetation looks more like north central California than southern.

Cheers,

Earl

CityBoyDoug Feb 29, 2020 2:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 8845278)
Does anyone recognize this cluster of buildings, obviously then new--a school, an asylum...? Have we seen it before on NLA?


https://i.postimg.cc/t4304CWN/mysterybldg4-bmp.jpg

Cliff Wesselmann

OK, I give up....what and where is this?

:previous:

Lorendoc Feb 29, 2020 5:37 AM

2100 Sunset Plaza Drive
 
I enjoyed reading the memories of 2100 Sunset Plaza Drive recently posted. This address is not far from my house. I have a dim memory that when I moved in (1988) the previous owner gave me a newspaper clipping about the Fields property that involved some crime whose details I do not remember. I wondered if I could find out what it was all about.

Here is the property as it looked this afternoon:

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

The address shows up in the Times in the '30s as the "French Norman" style chateau of silent film comedian Chester Conklin. The mid '30s must have been tough times for him because his furnishings went on the auction block twice, in 1935 and 1937:

https://i.imgur.com/C1SuyZD.jpg
LAT 9-8-35 via newspapers.com

https://i.imgur.com/PCpMq7o.jpg
LAT 10-19-37 via newspapers.com

As can be seen from the first photo, 2100 Sunset Plaza has undergone multiple additions, which include a tennis court, observatory, disco, etc. The LADBS provided the date and perpetrator of these "upgrades": 1977 and one Joel D. Nelson:

https://i.imgur.com/h96vn7R.jpg
LADBS

In the 70s and 80s, Joel D. Nelson was a frequent subject of stories in the Times, as was his wife:

https://i.imgur.com/Z3I1hgt.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DeRdQ5P.jpg
San Pedro Pilot 10-17-78 via newspapers.com

I think I remember those billboards. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Front page news on January 20, 1982:

https://i.imgur.com/cyvQuHn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/u1L8fLX.jpg
LAT via newspapers.com

Arrested!

https://i.imgur.com/Dqh9kX1.jpg
LAT 6-6-84 via newspapers.com

The inevitable plea bargain:

https://i.imgur.com/zj9TH45.jpg
LAT 8-28-84 via newspapers.com

And the sentence:

https://i.imgur.com/yvAVIZ3.jpg
LAT 1-9-85 via newspapers.com

A few years later, an LA Times writer had an attack of snark:

https://i.imgur.com/3sqanAA.jpg
LAT 8-29-88 via newspapers.com

Nelson's second wife is still active in the entertainment industry, at least according to her Wiki page:

https://i.imgur.com/5VM1wmA.jpg
Wikipedia retrieved 2-28-20

Unfortunately, the Conklin/Fields/Nelson house does not look long for this world:

https://i.imgur.com/So2YMa2.jpg
my photo

I am not sure I understand the intent of the bars on the facades, looks rather jail-like.

Richard Landry's Wiki page calls him the "King of the Megamansion." Wonderful.

Those Who Squirm! Feb 29, 2020 5:47 AM

What a shame they couldn't keep it in operation as a post office. As a performing arts space I assume access is strictly controlled, whereas when it was a P.O. anyone could walk in at any time, during business hours.

When my brother and I were kids we found out that it was a whispering gallery; if the two of us stood at two particular spots near either end of the hall, we could hear each other whisper.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA (Post 8780542)
Exterior of the former Beverly Hills Post Office:
https://live.staticflickr.com/8142/2...10f5f8db_b.jpg_8160009-1 by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

Main Lobby of the former Post Office:

https://live.staticflickr.com/8268/2...cc786116_b.jpg_8160011-1 by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr


Flyingwedge Feb 29, 2020 6:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 8845278)
Does anyone recognize this cluster of buildings, obviously then new--a school, an asylum...? Have we seen it before on NLA?

https://i.postimg.cc/x1RsZkLh/mysterybldg1-bmp.jpg

Cliff Wesselmann

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 8845313)
My guess would be the old Camarillo State Mental Hospital? The hills look right, with a few scattered oaks. Now a state college. Just a guess. The gathering of people in top hats, looks like a grand opening. The fat guy at the podium, the governor, or maybe the warden????


We are looking at the dedication ceremony for the Tehachapi Women's Prison on May 22, 1932. The guy in the top hat on stage on both photos
appears to be California Governor James Rolph (the kid with the striped cap is in both photos, too). I don't know who the fat guy is, but he's on
the left in this other photo.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...20-%201024.jpg

UCLA


Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1932 (partial article):

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...0dedicated.jpg

ProQuest via LAPL


The above-mentioned verdant Cummings Valley is here. And e_r posted about Clara Phillips in 2014.

More Tehachapi prison-related photos at Calisphere.



Great post on 2100 Sunset Plaza, Lorendoc!

malumot Feb 29, 2020 7:14 AM

Verdant? And BTW.......what's with that California State Flag? Looks like it was stitched together by grade schoolers!

So when Brigid O'Shaughnessy moved in it was still fairly new.....

"......Well, if you get a good break, you'll be out of Tehachapi in 20 years and you can come back to me then. I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck...Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you........

FYI......that brand spanking new facility only lived 20 years......." After the 1952 Kern County earthquake on July 21, "made the brick dormitories unsafe", the institution was closed and the 417 prisoners were sent to the new California Institution for Women in Corona....."



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTCZzXxWAAEKedg.jpg
------------------------------

The women's prison has been frequently mentioned in popular film and radio, particularly during the noir era.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Nocturne (1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
The Hunted (1948)
Criss Cross (1949)
The Story of Molly X (1949)
1001 Rabbit Tales (1982)
The Black Echo, 1991
Duckman episode title "Noir Gang" (1996)
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (page 106 (Italian translation)) (2009)
Dragnet radio drama series

CityBoyDoug Feb 29, 2020 8:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug (Post 8846172)
OK, I give up....what and where is this?

:previous:

Matron Alva Brittain in the kitchen of the luxurious prison for women at Tehachapi...1933

https://calisphere.org/clip/500x500/...f50dc313d30feb
rainbow

https://external-preview.redd.it/jIm...=webp&d535444e

GaylordWilshire Feb 29, 2020 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge (Post 8846316)
We are looking at the dedication ceremony for the Tehachapi Women's Prison on May 22, 1932. The guy in the top hat on stage on both photos
appears to be California Governor James Rolph (the kid with the striped cap is in both photos, too). I don't know who the fat guy is, but he's on
the left

Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1932 (partial article):

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...0dedicated.jpg ProQuest via LAPL


Thanks FW--I thought it could have been a mental hospital but never thought prison-- the architecture for a prison, during the Depression, is amazing. As malumothas said, it seems the buildings were compromised by the Kern County earthquake of July 21, 1952, and then apparently torn down.


Here a picture of actress Madge Meredith being freed from Tehachapi prison on July 15, 1951--looks leafy compared to the dedication pictures, but apparently these are the facility's gates:

https://i.postimg.cc/SNXGyfjp/meredithtehachapi-bmp.jpg


I found only one mention of Madge on NLA here


More on her story here:

http://1947project.blogspot.com/2005...or-kidnap.html

odinthor Mar 1, 2020 12:50 AM

709 South Broadway

As you know, acquiring a postcard prompts my interest in the address's often diverse experiences over a span of time . . .


https://i.postimg.cc/QdSsCFDQ/709-S0...Her6-11-08.jpg
LA Herland, June 11, 1908


https://i.postimg.cc/tgMjd8Y7/709SoBroadHer7-14-08.jpg
LA Herald, July 14, 1908


https://i.postimg.cc/jS80KB6v/709SoBroadLAT8-29-13.jpg
LA Times, August 29, 1913


https://i.postimg.cc/76JyKX29/709SoBroadHer8-14-14.jpg
LA Herald, August 14, 1914


https://i.postimg.cc/6qsxgRVX/709SoBroadHer12-29-15.jpg
LA Herald, December 29, 1915


https://i.postimg.cc/vHsdvrH7/709SoBroadLAT8-25-18.jpg
LA Times, August 25, 1918


https://i.postimg.cc/mrD4HTZ0/709SoBroadHer4-3-20.jpg
LA Herald, April 3, 1920


https://i.postimg.cc/2SjRsCWV/709SoBroadLAT8-27-20.jpg
LA Times, August 27, 1920


https://i.postimg.cc/gcRWRSdk/709SoBroadLAT4-16-22.jpg
LA Times, April 16 1922


https://i.postimg.cc/Qddw60L7/709SoB...ightons001.jpg
odinthor collection


https://i.postimg.cc/Hx8VbwsD/709-So...LAT3-10-31.jpg
LA Times, March 10, 1931


https://i.postimg.cc/SsMw6sBt/709SoBroadLAT12-29-31.jpg
LA Times, December 29, 1931


https://i.postimg.cc/k5Br5wfC/709SoBroadLAT11-10-33.jpg
LA Times, November 10, 1933

malumot Mar 1, 2020 6:44 AM

LA Times, August 27, 1920-------------------

https://i.postimg.cc/2SjRsCWV/709SoBroadLAT8-27-20.jpg

Egads! Isn't that what Pioneer women wore? But by the 40s.......MUCH more stylish. Light years in just one generation.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/82/75...c7110ad0e0.jpg

BillinGlendaleCA Mar 1, 2020 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm! (Post 8846309)
What a shame they couldn't keep it in operation as a post office. As a performing arts space I assume access is strictly controlled, whereas when it was a P.O. anyone could walk in at any time, during business hours.

When my brother and I were kids we found out that it was a whispering gallery; if the two of us stood at two particular spots near either end of the hall, we could hear each other whisper.

I just wandered in, the old post office serves more as a lobby for the performing arts space.

GaylordWilshire Mar 1, 2020 1:01 PM

https://i.postimg.cc/ZYNYyLQr/nlaeyeglassad-bmp.jpg
LAPL


Ran across this ad in the 1908 CD and was going to post it by itself for its artistic merits. Then I decided to dig a little further.
Interestingly, there is an optical shop in the space today. It's part of the Sun Drug Company Building at the nwc of Broadway & Fifth,
which I think we've seen on NLA before.


https://i.postimg.cc/3JBkdByt/nlaeyeglassnow-bmp.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/HkNsyPT9/nlaeye...undrug-bmp.jpg

BDiH Mar 1, 2020 9:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 8847073)
https://i.postimg.cc/ZYNYyLQr/nlaeyeglassad-bmp.jpg
LAPL

Ran across this ad in the 1908 CD and was going to post it by itself for its artistic merits. Then I decided to dig a little further.
Interestingly, there is an optical shop in the space today. It's part of the Sun Drug Company Building at the nwc of Broadway & Fifth,
which I think we've seen on NLA before.

Haven't seen the name Marshutz in ages. They had an office on Hollywood Boulevard, close to Rector's Admiral Theatre and Orange Julius. I was a patient in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

ethereal_reality Mar 2, 2020 10:22 PM

.

A mystery from the Jean Howard Papers at the University of Wyoming.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/kIYrB3.jpg
LINK






A closer look at the sign
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/qjDR1o.jpg
detail

by the office of
John Woolf
8450 Melrose Place
Phone YO - 0108



But where is this house with the spiral(!) staircase in the front foyer.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/fjbWWt.jpg
LINK

One of the lovely ladies is Mrs. Gary (Rocky) Cooper. I imagine she's the one of the right. (my guess is grandmother, daughter and mother)









Lastly, here's a closer look at the house minus the women. I believe this style would be classified as 'Hollywood Regency'.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/XSFtXl.jpg
LINK

So where is this house . . .Beverly Hills? . . .Bel Air? . . .Trousdale Estate? :shrug:

The archive at the University of Wyoming doesn't say.



.

ethereal_reality Mar 3, 2020 7:41 AM

I don't believe we have seen the following two snapshots.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/iRfs27.jpg
eBay

Rue Los Angeles, California...April 1902...R. C.

I believe the Hotel Ramona is down the street on the left. It was located on the SW corner of Spring & Second Street. (per 1893 city directory)







mystery street corner.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/hTCO2F.jpg
eBay

A Los Angeles, California...April 1902...R. C.

There is an old wooden street sign high on the pole at the corner but it's impossible to read.







So you didn't take my word for it.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/SbeBwY.jpg
detail

Impossible. :(


.

ethereal_reality Mar 3, 2020 7:54 AM

.

This next snapshot appears to have been taken in the 1920s.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/0WDB6J.jpg
eBay

My guess would be. . .squints . . . where Santa Monica Canyon meets the ocean. :shrug:

.

ethereal_reality Mar 3, 2020 8:09 AM

.
Remember this sign in my post from yesterday.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/Vy8udW.jpg
skyscraperpage





I just located a photograph of John Woolf posing in front of his office at 8450 Melrose Place.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/K4FRuY.jpg
Vanityfair

He is the person responsible for the Hollywood Regency architectural 'style'. (a precursor to post-modern architecture) We have no doubt talked about him previously on NLA)


Here is an abbreviated list of his work.

• Cary Grant, 9966 Beverly Grove Drive, Los Angeles.
• Errol Flynn, 7740 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles.
• Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland, 8850 Evanview Drive, Los Angeles.
• Barbara Stanwyck, 273 South Glen Boulevard, Los Angeles.
• Ira and Leonore Gershwin, 1021 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills.
• Fanny Brice, 312 North Faring Road, Los Angeles.
• Bob Hope, 10346 Moorpark Street, North Hollywood.
• Agnes Moorehead, 1023 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills.
• Ronald Colman, 1003 Summit Drive, Beverly Hills.
• Charles Feldman and Jean Howard, 2000 Coldwater Canyon, Los Angeles.
• Lillian Gish, Trancas Beach, Malibu.
• Mervyn LeRoy, 332 St. Cloud Road, Bel Air.
• Paul Lynde, 103 Robin Drive, Los Angeles.
• Ray Milland, 10664 Bellagio Road, Los Angeles.
• Ricardo and Georgiana Montalban, 9256 Robin Drive, Los Angeles.
• Loretta Young, 8313 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles.
• Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, 9191 St. Ives Drive, Beverly Hills.


This guy's life is all kinds of interesting. He adopted his gay lover as his son. . .and then later in life, he adopted another gay man as his son. (total: two sons!)


I have only heard of one other gay gentleman who has done this. . .Robert Allerton of Chicago.


An indepth article on John Woolf's life:....Vanityfair

wiki: Robert Allerton



.

Scott Charles Mar 3, 2020 3:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorendoc (Post 8846304)
I enjoyed reading the memories of 2100 Sunset Plaza Drive recently posted. This address is not far from my house. I have a dim memory that when I moved in (1988) the previous owner gave me a newspaper clipping about the Fields property that involved some crime whose details I do not remember. I wondered if I could find out what it was all about.

Here is the property as it looked this afternoon:

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

Thanks for the info, Lorendoc! That photo is much clearer than what you can see on Google Maps.

I didn't notice the observatory when I visited, but I did visit the disco, and I did see the elevator (though I did not ride in it) - as I noted, I was the only person in the house and was afraid of getting trapped if the old thing broke down. This was before I had a cellphone!


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