This is curious...

"Sadie Thompson", Thousand Oaks, March 1959.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...673/2XO4T0.jpg
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Stunning-1950...item1c590e2c5e

:previous: "Sadie Thompson".....is this a 'tongue-in-cheek' reference to W. Somerset Maugham's fallen woman?





http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/TY6uqw.jpg

Joan Crawford as "Sadie Thompson" in RAIN [c.1932]
__

Follies Village Club next door to the Follies Theater
 

Wow, historic block that. I think the Follies Village was on the former site of Governor Downey's home, the 1 1/2 story south wing of which may have been the oldest brick house in Los Angeles:
The Roundhouse was next door to the north, gone by the time this photo was taken:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...8%252520PM.jpg
uscdl (a detail of this image was previously posted by FW)

The "Follies Village" was in the Hotel Morgan AKA the Morgan Oyster Company building, next door to the Follies Theater:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9...1%252520PM.jpg
1921 baist, plate 2

e_r and gsjansen have taken us by the Belasco/Follies Theater before, but I'm going back because it's a great spot. In just a few years, the theater went from a highbrow legit house (managed by David Belasco's brother Frederic) to the most raucous strip venue on Main St:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...5%252520PM.jpg
cinematreasures (previously posted by e_r)

"The Belaso Theatre opened in [1904] and was briefly renamed Republic Theatre, before being renamed Follies Theatre in 1919. It was remodeled by architect S. Charles Lee in the 1930s. The Follies Theatre was demolished in May 1974." -cinema treasures

Abraham M. Edelman was the architect.

1920s. There's No. 333 on the right (I spy "oyster" signage), but no hint of the Follies Village club:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...0%252520PM.jpg
lapl

Also 1920s. The Morgan Building is on the right. It seems to have a book store and a dentist as tenants. No Follies Village club that I can see:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...8%252520AM.jpg
historic los angeles theaters

1930s. Just before S Charles Lee got his mitts on it (JK):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...9%252520PM.jpg
lapl

This detail from a 1935 insurance map shows the Follies Village club space at No. 333 1/2. It's small and next to the Follies Theater:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1...4%252520AM.jpg
downtown los angeles theaters

ca 1940s. The Morgan Building is still in place (just north of the remodeled Follies Theater), but I don't know if the Follies Village club is still in it:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...1%252520PM.jpg
detail from an image previously posted by e_r

A Kodachrome from 1956 showing the back of the Follies Theater ("80 People, Mostly Girls")
and the side of the Barclay/Van Nuys framing the Westminster Hotel across Main. What a block:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U...3%252520PM.jpg
huntington dl

Once it housed "The World's Gay Spot...Where Show People Meet", but by 1973 the Morgan building, at No. 333, was gone:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...6%252520PM.jpg
lapl

A great history of the Follies Theater may be found here (apparently scenes from Mae West's "Every Day's A Holiday",1937, were filmed there).


...now, of course, most of this historic block is smothered by the massive State of California building. I'm forever grateful we still have the Barclay/Van Nuys:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...2%252520AM.jpg
gsv



Sorry e_r, I never found the Follies Village (but I had a lot of fun looking for it).


Follies Theater priors, well worth a look (with an emphasis on the Follies Theater's amazing 'bump & grind' history):

e_r:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=967
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=968
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=973
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6661

gsjansen:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=970


PLUS, if you are at all interested in the Follies Theater, do not miss the Historic Los Angeles Theaters page on it. It's constantly updated.

One last look back at the 300 block of Main Street, back in the day.
Two little kids pose in front of the Roundhouse:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...1%252520PM.jpg
islandora


__

UPDATE (e-r found the Follies Village!):

824 S. Bonnie Brae
 

824 S. Bonnie Brae, the Charles B. Boothe House, is Los Angeles Historical-Cultural Monument #491. In the
first photo below, it's the one with the semi-onion dome just to the right of center. Los Angeles County
says the home was built in 1893 and its carriage house in 1914, although the latter may be a remodel date.

This photo is undated but looks to be c. 1970s:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...e.jpg~original
http://cityplanning.lacity.org/compl...0Residence.pdf

From the September 10, 1898, The Capital:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...m.jpg~original
Hathitrust -- http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...q=183;size=175

I found this clipping in the January 29, 1948 edition of the 'Forest Park Review' from Forest Park, Illinois. The former Forest Park residents were taking part as an olio act in "the popular show Gaslights". I've had trouble locating the "famed Daly Opera House", but the article does mention "noted Hollywoodian" Frank Fortier.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...AGaslights.jpg
www.newspapers.com

It may be unrelated, but, according to the City Directories, there was someone called F A Fortier living at 1606 S Genesee Avenue during the first half of the 1960s.


ETA:

I finally found a reference to the Daly Opera House and "Gas Lights" in a book called 'Los Angeles: A Guide to the City and its Environs' which I found here (it's a 576 page PDF file). First published in 1941, this is from the 1951 second edition. It lists the Daly Opera House at La Brea Avenue and Beverly Boulevard.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...Gaslights2.jpg
krishikosh.egranth.ac.in (28.2Mb PDF file)

The Monarch was at the NW corner of 5th and Figueroa. The Walgrove was at 427 S. Figueroa.
The photo seems to have been taken from on top of the 5th Street bridge over the Harbor Freeway.

I hope the weather was cool when this picture was taken. They make me sweat just looking at them all bundled like that in Los Angeles. They were, of course, what my grandmother would have called "little ladies", who always covered everything and wore gloves and hats everywhere.....

Taffy's was a Studio City dress shop. It was called "Taffy's of California" and had its own label. It was apparently one of a chain of seven stores according to a newspaper article in the Valley News from August of 1961. There was also apparently one in the Ambassador Hotel. This particular store was located at 12199 Ventura Blvd. The building is still there but the façade has been altered with more angles. The store is now a Lululemon Athletica which sells mostly exercise clothes. The current building has some cool mosaic tile surrounding the doorway. ( see the Mercury Mosaics website) The Glendale Federal building next door is now a CitiBank

:previous:

Thanks for the info on Taffy's, oldstuff. This advert for Taffy's Dress Shops also appeared in the Valley News in August 1961.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z.../LATaffys1.jpg
www.newspapers.com

Here's a view of the current angular building at 12199 Ventura Boulevard, and the CitiBank next door. I nearly posted a picture of 12199 with the Shulman pictures, but didn't realize that it was the old Taffy's building reworked.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z.../LATaffys2.jpg
GSV

:previous: Good sleuthing oldstuff and hossC.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...537/BjYbSE.jpg
detail /

-so I take it that's the Taffy's entrance on the left. -hmmmm...there might be another entrance on the right end of the bldg.

OR.....is the store entrance solely on the right (see below).... and what we're seeing on the left is an entryway leading to & from a parking lot in the back?

(vintage aerial please ;))

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...911/uVJjck.jpg

Either way, it's a fine looking design.
__

Mr. Boothe's Carriage House
 

I am very fond of that carriage house. It's larger than some houses I've lived in. The current arrangement looks to be about the same as in the 1898 photo above.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...1%252520AM.jpg
gsv

Missing Pix
 

I seem to have a problem.

Two members have told me that my recently posted pix are not showing up on the thread. Another noirisher says he can see everything.

Google automatically updated on 9/9. Since then my Picasa3 pix are presented differently on Google Photos and now have very long links. As I can see everything my end, I don't know how to fix the problem.

Does anyone else use Picasa3 or know what to do to solve this?

Thx

.All of your pix are appearing on my google chrome screen, Win 7. The problem may be with their browser and/or operating system.

Many mysteries in cyberspace

:previous:

I normally use Firefox on Windows 7, and I can only see t2's recent images when I'm logged into my Google (gmail) account in another tab. I've just checked, and I get the same results in Chrome, IE 11 and Opera, so I don't think it's the browser. My guess would be that some sort of privacy/visibility setting got screwed up by the update.

The stores with "Sunset" in their name would've helped to find this location if I hadn't recognized it already. Julius Shulman's "Job 1050: Bank of America (Los Angeles, Calif.),1951" shows the bank at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue. On the hill behind the bank are the 1926 Laguna Apartments.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original

The large "FOOD" blade sign on the left belonged to the Pioneer Super Market, which we covered recently - see e_r's post #30181. The Citizen's Bank was missing from the best of e_r's pictures, and also eluded me when I did my round-up of branches last year. I've now added a close-up to the relevant post. On the right is Henry's Men's Wear with an impressive roof sign. On the far right, I had to rely on the 1956 CD to find the name Gladys' Pet Shop at 1606 Sunset Boulevard.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original

Of course, Henry's roof sign wasn't as impressive as the extant roof sign on Jensen's Recreation Center which can be seen in the distance in this shot. You can read more about that in post #25091. I love the electricity bolts on the sign for Ozzie's Television store.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute

We have another survivor that's still a Bank of America. The detailing either side of the old English text in the Shulman pictures is not hidden by the new signage - it's missing in the 2007 GSV image. Apart from that, it looks fairly original.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original
GSV

The Laguna Apartments building is also still standing, although nowadays it just seems to be known as 1109 Laguna Avenue.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...5.jpg~original
GSV

Anyone who clicked the link to e_r's post about the Pioneer Super Market will have read "It's really too bad the Pioneer Market was torn down. The other 3 corners (of Echo Park Ave. and Sunset Blvd.) are still anchored by vintage buildings.", so it comes as no surprise that the old Henry's Men's Wear building is still there. I had a look around the other side hoping to see a ghost sign, but without luck.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...6.jpg~original
GSV

What did surprise me is that the house behind the bank on Echo Park Avenue is relatively unchanged from the 1951 image. That's the former Laguna Apartments up the alley behind it.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...7.jpg~original
GSV

Asking a favor
 

It would be great to see that lush western part of Bunker Hill without these transparent words. May I ask one of the noirishers who knows to erase that ?

Switching Sides
 

As very minor aside, there's a permit which says the home at 1150 Echo Park Ave (built in 1905 per Zillow) was moved in 1928 from 1141 (across the street) to make way for an apartment building:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/z6...g=w683-h424-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mr...H=w679-h421-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/UK...C=w679-h195-no
ladbs

Sure enough, the apartment building at 1141 Echo Park Ave was built in 1928.



-----------------------------------------------------------



Thx CBD & HossC for the replies re the missing pix. I'll ask one of my kids what to do about it. They know everything.


__

A distinction with a difference? The name seems to vascillate between JAR's Sons to JAR and Sons. I guess it is a common mistake.

The 1906 CD lists the business at 326 East Market Street, which would have been somewhere between Spring and Temple. It is unclear from cursory research when JAR's Sons moved to the 216 S Alameda location. The 1914 CD advertises JAR's Sons at the southeast corner of Alameda Street and Stephenson Avenue and 216 S. Alameda. Permits for alterations/repairs/additions were obtained in '22. But there are also new construction permits for a warehouse at the same location in 1924. Whether there are any remnants from the first structure incorporated withing the new '24 structure is unknown.

One wonders whether the "Roebling" Avenue name in Westwood has any direct connection with either the business or JAR?

In 1906, some of the "wire rope" competition included: RH Herron & Co 212 N Los Angeles St., Pacific Steel and Wire, (210 S Los Angeles St.) 22 Laughlin Bldg., and American; American Steel and Wire, 160 Central Ave. It is unclear how much, if any, iron and steel product originated in or around LA at that time. The 1875 CD lists but one "Los Angeles Foundry" at the corner of Aliso and Garcia. Some of its advertising depicts engines and boilers suggesting it was a bigger operation than mere blacksmithing. Equally unclear whether there were similar businesses that escaped listing or were listed as Blacksmiths or some other name associated with metal working. By 1883, there were three iron foundries listed. The Los Angeles Foundry seems to have been renamed the Los Angeles Pioneer Iron Foundry. Same Aliso and Garcia address - i.e., 368/370/372 Aliso Street. There is also a Baker Foundry at the corner of Main and Second Street and Bath and Fosmir on Main near Second Street.


This begets the question of who or what business can claim the honor of first commercial mass steel production in LA or the LA viscinity? Well before the introduction of automobiles, railroads, shipbuilders, commercial construction and assorted manufacturing plants all used iron and later steel.:shrug: FWIW, the Bradbury building's iron and steel were reportedly imported from France and/or other parts of Europe.http://www.publicartinla.com/Downtow...brad_hist.html


Source dates this DTLA image as pre-1900. Note toward the center-left is a roof marked "Brass Foundry."
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics23/00031430.jpghttp://jpg1.lapl.org/pics23/00031430.jpg




The former Mann & Johnson Brass Foundry, 1009-13 South Main Street?)





Johnson Foundry and Machine Works at 1009 South Main. Circa '24
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjgwWDEwMj...jD!~~60_57.JPGhttp://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjgwWDEwMj...jD!~~60_57.JPG

I already contacted t2. I use Google and I can't see any of her photographs since around 9/9.
I tried Google Chrome, and that didn't work either. (instead of Xs in a black box I get symbols)
__

* I just noticed:
I CAN see the permit t2 just posted.:)
I'm not sure why I can see that and not the photographs.

Everything displays fine in Safari, both iMac and iPad.

Cheers,

Earl

There are all kinds of interesting things to see in this Key entertainment brochure (1950s).

Key #1
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/Lm7kG4.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KEY-Dining-E...item2a568fa5c2



Key #2
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/913/Q9tJKH.jpg
ebay




Key #3
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/910/9gm1Eg.jpg
ebay




Key #4
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/912/KOormf.jpg
ebay




Key #5
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/913/SnPgvS.jpg
ebay



Key #6
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/V4fzLa.jpg
ebay

:previous: Wow, look how tall the Hotel Hayward is in that illustration! ;)




Key #7
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/vfYdeu.jpg
ebay




Key #8
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/sblu45.jpg
ebay




Key #9
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/9hnqim.jpg
ebay




Key #10
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/C30ehe.jpg
ebay

:previous: it's quite interesting to read through that list of entertainers. (there are quite a few that I've never heard of)

__

as most of you know, we've seen "The Hangover" several times on NLA.

Key #4
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/AVW8a8.jpg
ebay



"The Hangover" on Vine Street. (1961)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/mgzaRL.jpg
posted by Martin_Pal at http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=21277




and a 'noirish' view. (1957)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/6WICWS.jpg
sopas_ej at http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3061

I have a business card somewhere, but I can't locate it at the moment.
__

Here's a wider close-up from the original image. I think the entrance to Furnitureland is to the left of Taffy's. I see there's a little character under the main Glendale Federal Savings sign with a smaller sign saying "Home of the Thrift Twins". The Thrift Twins must refer to the "Friendly" and "Safe" characters on the advert I posted at the bottom of post #30981.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...6.jpg~original
Getty Research Institute

Historic Aerials has an image from 1952 (below). Hopefully I've labeled the stores correctly: "GFS" is Glendale Federal Savings, and "Loans" represents the loans store and the Asia Rug Company. Access to the parking lot behind was between the Loans store and the Bank of America.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...7.jpg~original
Historic Aerials

The latest Historic Aerials image is 2012, and it's not very clear. Here's the 2004 image which is pretty much the same. The general layout doesn't seem to have changed.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...8.jpg~original
Historic Aerials

:previous: thanks Hoss.

A few months ago a photo-hosting site deleted the photos when the 'watermarks' were removed.
...not sure if the eBay seller contacted the photo-hosting site & requested their removal.

I just came across this eye-catching matchbook for Larry Potter's 'Orchid Room'.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/zDHcrj.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIRLIE-ORCHI...item51d7c7072e


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/kf1pOe.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIRLIE-ORCHI...item51d7c7072e


Much to my surprise, 1931 W. 6th Street places the 'Orchid Room' inside the Hotel Barbizon.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/7ZzBVo.jpg
2015 / gsv





Just look at the sad condition the Hotel Barbizon was in back in 2007. We're lucky it's still standing.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...907/lLmPZQ.jpg
gsv

Looking OK in March, 2015.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pspz128jd5.jpg
gsv

Hotel Barbizon
 

:previous:

The Barbizon was looking so terrible in 2007 because KFA was rehabbing it. Their page on the work is here. It was finished in 2008.

__

so that's why the windows were missing. I should have known. thx t2.
__



Attractive couples enjoying a night out in S. Central L.A.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/OUa85Q.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/1m7CgM.jpg


It's frustrating that we'll probably never know where on Central Avenue this was taken (or who the people are)
If only the name of the nightclub had been written on the back.
__

"The Last Word" Jazz Club
 

:previous:

"Couples partying at a jazz club known as "The Last Word" in the 1940s (my guess). It's address was 4206 S. Central Ave., close to the historic Dunbar Hotel. The building no longer stands."
-pinterest

"The neighborhood was also the home of other famous jazz clubs, including Club Alabam (next door), the Last Word (across the street), and the Downbeat (nearby)."

-Hotel Dunbar's wiki page

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v...1%252520PM.jpg
Martin Turnbull

"A table at The Last Word nightclub...Edward on the left":
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T...5%252520PM.jpg
lapl

:previous: Thanks so much tovanger2!




below: Here's 4206 S. Central today....the former site of "The Last Word" jazz club.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...913/nrWZVY.jpg
gsv

:previous: Could the two Ionic columns be remnants from the old jazz club?
__

:shrug: :surrender:

;)

Club Alabam
 

Check out that eagle on the right-hand column


Interior and exterior shots of the Club Alabam (next door to the Dunbar) may be found here

"The Club Alabam was the epitome of Central Avenue. It was right off Forty-second Street across from Ivy Anderson's Chicken Shack. There were a lot of other clubs, but the Club Alabam was really one of the old-time show-time places, a huge room with beautiful drapes and silks and sparklers and colored lights turning and flashing. The bandstand was plush and gorgeous with curtains that glistened. The waitresses were dressed in scanty costumes, and they were all smiling and wiggling and walking around, and everwhere you looked you saw teeth, people laughing, and everybody was decked out. It was a sea of opulence, big hats and white fluffy fur. And the cars out front were real long Cadillacs with little mudguards, little flappy little things, shiny things." -- Art Pepper from his autobiography, "Straight Life."
-nightlife

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...1%252520PM.jpg
la mag


More info on Club Apex/Alabam here


"A table at Club Alabam" circa 1941:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U...8%252520PM.jpg
lapl


And just for fun, Drag Contest at Club Alabam, hosted by Bill Hefflin, ca. 1945:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...2%252520PM.jpg
lapl

Hotel Barbizon Lobby 'Then & Now'
 

These may be the same stairs, but there's a very different atmosphere at the Hotel Barbizon these days:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...1%252520PM.jpg
KFA

The column capitals seem to have gotten lost in the dropped ceiling.


Better than the bulldozer.

.

That's really weird, after reading what some have said about not seeing pictures. I just went to James Lileks' always amusing website, wanting to link to his picture of Richlor's--particularly well worth looking at for the neon alone. But in this series of old coffeeshop postcards, he usually provides in inset Street View so we can see what the address looks like now, or at any rate the last time the Google car went through. And all of those insets are now just a message saying Street View isn't available over a black rectangle.

"The Downbeat" Jazz Club
 

:previous:

I remember Richlor's when it was Ed Debevic's. I loved the entrance under the porte cochere. Glamorous architecture :-) What was left of it :-(

GWTW now.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s...4%252520PM.jpg
hiddenla

LOL


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Can't forget "The Downbeat" as long as we're at it:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...9%252520PM.jpg
lapl

"Robinez Reid and girlfriends with sailors they met at "The Downbeat", a nightclub on Central Avenue, Los Angeles. Identities of the women from left to right: Robinez Reid; Emily Labean; Loretta Reid; Wanda Williams. The sailors are unidentified, but they were stationed in Los Angeles at the time, circa 1944":
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_...9%252520PM.jpg
lapl

I've been meaning to post these images of the Club Alabam for about a month, so now seems as good a time as any. The captions are the decriptions which appear with the pictures at LAPL.

"An advertisement for New Club Alabam, a nightclub at 42nd and Central Avenue in Los Angeles. It reads, 'Finest Harlem Cafe in America!' and promotes two shows nightly with host Curtis Mosby. 1941"

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lubAlabam2.jpg
LAPL

"Interior of Club Alabam, seating area and balcony. ca. 1945"

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lubAlabam1.jpg
LAPL

"Audience watching a performance at Club Alabam, located at S. Central Avenue and 42nd Street in Los Angeles. Identified are: actress Lillian Randolph (right of center), dancer Prince Spencer, Clarence Moore, Tillie Culison, Clehue McGee. ca. 1945"

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lubAlabam3.jpg
LAPL

"Lional Hampton, at far left, rides in a Cadillac convertible in front of Club Alabam on Central Avenue, a busy thoroughfare of businesses, nightclubs, and homes in Los Angeles. ca. 1953"

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lubAlabam4.jpg
LAPL

I originally searched out these photos after rewatching the 2004 Ray Charles biopic, 'Ray'. Here's the movie's recreation of the Club Alabam.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...bAlabamRay.jpg
Universal Pictures, Bristol Bay Productions, Anvil Films

The Wikipedia page about the Dunbar Hotel is here.

The Dunbar Hotel and Club Alabam both get mentioned in an article called 'Central Avenue History', which can be found here.

Johnson Foundry and Machine Works at 1009 South Main. Circa '24


The Johnson Foundry and Machine Works, along with Llewellen foundry and the Steams Gas Engine works, all located on Main street, were damaged by an explosion in 1910 that was thought to have been the result of dynamite. An article in the Los Angeles Herald from Christmas Day 1910 details the damage.

An earlier article, from 1907, in the same newspaper mentions that Johnson, along with LLewellen and other businesses were pledging to open later than usual in order to allow their employees to vote for the "Owens River Project". This was a bond issue to raise funds for the aqueduct project.

re: The Richlor's ad in the Key brochure.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...673/StMkab.jpg




I just found this on eBay, it's the same postcard in Those Who Squirm's link (I adjusted the colors a tad)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/Xy3fa7.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEVERLY-HILL...item48837f6dbd


early matchbook / I love the "Dick Tracy" car.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...913/sm55JK.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Matchb...item2eaefbc796
__






And now, for my FAVORITE image.

The beautiful curvaceous bar at Richlor's! ("Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez" is a watermark)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/7ZyYCu.jpg
http://shanghaililandthescarletfez.b...1_archive.html

What I wouldn't give to see that interior space in color!

I wonder what that is on top of the stand-alone bar/counter in the center of the photo.....a fancy napkin holder?

...and we've all seen a linoleum floor like that.

:previous:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...911/9Fmf7O.jpg
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just for fun.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/Qxi9qs.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/BuxV0S.jpg
eBay

San Pedro viewscape.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...537/phFw1C.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/San-Pedro-Ca...3D311443811773

I have never heard of Miraleste before.


writing on the reverse (I can't read what comes after "San Pedro California")
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...909/sxCfW3.jpg

is it German?
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Richlor's / Ed Debevic's building, demolished 2004
 

As Beaudry pointed out before, the Richlor's building was insensitively remodeled into Ed Debevic's. At least they had the sense to leave the porte cochere alone:

There's no prize for guessing this Julius Shulman location, although the second and third shots are more obvious than the first. This is the Bank of America on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Unusually for these photosets, there's no close-up of the bank building. There is, however, another of those "Chop Suey" signs on the left. For search/credit purposes, this is "Job 1268: Bank of America (Los Angeles, Calif.),1952".

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original

Now we're looking east along Hollywood Boulevard. In 1952, the Hollywood Hotel would still have been hiding behind the trees on the left.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original

I thought Martin Pal might like this close-up of Coffee Dan's, although I don't think it shows us anything new. The Hotel Drake was formerly the Hotel Christie.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original

The view looking north is dominated by the Hollywood First National Bank building.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original

Here's a close-up of the Max Factor building on the right. Chuckaluck posted a similar 1939 image in post #17987.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...5.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute

The old bank building is still standing, but has been transformed into Ripley's Believe It or Not.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...6.jpg~original
GSV

Here's my attempt to recreate the third Shulman image with GSV. Considering the changes that have taken place on the northwest corner of Hollywood/Highland, this view still has a lot of the buildings from 1952. On the right, the old Max Factor building is now the Hollywood Museum.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...7.jpg~original
GSV

The Green Book
 

Hector Tobar's article for LAT, "A Trip Through Time to Historic South-Central Los Angeles" relied on "The Green Book" guide. The introduction to The Green Book stated:

"It has been our idea to give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trip more enjoyable"

Published starting in 1936, The Green Book at first only covered the New York metropolitan area, but soon covered the entire US plus Canada, Mexico and Bermuda:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1...8%252520AM.jpg

The entries were brief, just addresses, but the Los Angeles listings covered hotels, motels, restaurants, beauty parlors, barber shops,
taverns, night clubs, road houses, service stations, garages, automotive, drug stores, tailors and real estate.
(There were, of course, many more businesses besides those listed in The Green Book, which admittedly didn't cover everything).

LA hotels:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e...1%252520AM.jpg

Some of these (including the Dunbar, of course) are still around. Here's the Lincoln at 549 Ceres:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...0%252520AM.jpg
gsv



A PDF of The Green Book may be found here. (the LA entries are on pages 7 and 8)



(All I remember from when I was a kid was that Black families traveling east had to get to Lordsburg, NM before sundown.
I don't think I understood why. I thought Lordsburg must be wonderful)

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Just a guess but it could be for privacy....or the illusion of it.

Max Factor Building
 

I seem to recall that the glamorous S Charles Lee-remodeled Max Factor building started life as a furniture warehouse (the 4-story bit) and a garage (there's a nice timber-trussed ceiling in the one-story garage part).

An interior:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E...6%252520PM.jpg
islandora


Max Factor had wanted to build this (but the Depression intervened):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X...6%252520AM.jpg
the show starts on the sidewalk - google books

Back in 1930-31, Los Angeles had its own "Negro City Directory". Here's the preface.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LANegroCD1.jpg
LAPL

And here's the list of buildings and apartments, which also includes the Dunbar and the Lincoln.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LANegroCD2.jpg
LAPL

:previous:


Opened in 1928, "The Apex Nite Club", mentioned above, later became the Club Alabam.



P.S.

"Devil in a Blue Dress" (1995), based on one of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins detective stories, made real efforts to recreate S. Central Avenue. South Main at Winston was dressed as S. Central for the film (notice our old friend, The Regent, 1914, the last historic theater building on Main Street, the Charnock building, 1888, down the way and Parkinson and Bergstrom's 1909 Canadian Building on the left):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A...4%252520PM.jpg

The exterior of the fictional "Club Finale" was filmed at 3426 W Pico, between Crenshaw and Western:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T...9%252520PM.jpg
both pix: it'sfilmedthere

detail / Richlor's bar
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/y2uh6S.jpg

:previous: I think you're entirely correct CBD.
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It's actually Dutch. Luckily, I have a Dutch friend on another forum. He says the first bit is "In vogelvlucht", which means something like fast or for a short time. He also says that the last word is "inwoners". His translation of the whole caption is:

San Pedro
California, in a nutshell.
Over 60 thousand citizens.

Thanks Roth!

:previous: It's always good to have a Dutch friend. :)





As most of you know, thousands of vintage buildings in the Los Angeles area have lost architectural decorative elements due to safety concerns w future earthquakes.
(you don't want a 300lb stone urn landing on your head!)

So I am surprised the large 'obelisks' on the First National Bank building are still in place. (as shown below)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...537/LnRPSk.jpg
https://vimeo.com/136228343

Does anyone know, have they been reinforced?

I ask that because I don't any brackets securing them to the building. (perhaps metal rods have been placed within the obelisks)

It would be interesting to find out what safety precautions were included in the latest restoration.
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