Russian Eagle Cafe - 8648 Sunset Blvd.
 

This is 8640-48 Sunset Blvd. that housed the Russian Eagle Cafe, with roof intact, right after it was built in 1924.


https://i.imgur.com/YNSDeIj.jpeg


It was one of the four original buildings developed by Francis Montgomery that was the initial phase of Sunset Plaza.


The above detail comes from this wider view of that first phase.


https://i.imgur.com/NUh93Rg.jpeg
hollywoodphotographs.com


Lined up here in a 1927 aerial.


https://i.imgur.com/LqTrI5r.jpeg
mil.library.ucsb.edu


Did the 1928 fire and blast prompt an immediate reconfiguration of the middle two buildings into a bigger single one?

Or did that came later in the 1930s as seen here in 1938? :shrug:


https://i.imgur.com/M8UpjqV.jpeg
hollywoodphotographs.com

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re: Zulu Hut
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/gkouzz.jpg

Now I remember!

Zulu Hut was located near 'Monkey Island', right?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/cVpq41.jpg

1,000 monkeys! I forgot there were so many of them. :stunned:

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More details. :previous:





https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2019/11...november-1925/
https://i0.wp.com/homesteadmuseum.bl...30%2C405&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/homesteadmuseum.bl...30%2C414&ssl=1

Noir_Noir, especially in less populated times I'm not averse to the idea that addresses of the exact same space can vary over some decades,
but how do we account for the two different addresses for the Russian Eagle?



Since it's in an ad and not an article, wouldn't that be assumed to be an accurate address? There isn't any date I can find for this ad, is it possible after the explosion it moved east down the street before moving again to Hollywood?
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I've also now located this ad on J.H. Graham's website.

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To make all this even more confusing.

Besides the Zulu Hut there was also the Hula Hut located at 8204 Beverly Boulevard during the same time period.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/nask4c.jpg
LAPL via jhgraham

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/VnEMB6.jpg
jhgraham


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AND the Hawaiian Hut at 7210 Beverly Boulevard.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/WTl6d9.jpg
jhgraham


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/THCLpm.jpg
jhgraham



Meanwhile somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/861/IGaPe7.gif
medium


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First mentions of the Russian Eagle Cafe's place it at 8648 Sunset Blvd. I don't know how long it was there before the fire and explosion in June of 1928.


The Russian Eagle apparently became the Double Eagle (and/or the Double-Headed Russian Eagle) for some years after the Big Bang of 28.


https://i.imgur.com/E5KUTSI.jpeg
archive.org - Motion Picture (Feb-Jul 1929)

https://i.imgur.com/Q6aM0mn.jpg
archive.org - Screenland (June 1930)


Sunset and Doheny is mentioned as the location for one of these versions.

Also a widening of Sunset would necessitate a move to avoid half the cafe disappearing.


In 1933 the Russian Eagle reappears as an alfresco dining experience in a date palm grove to the rear of the Hollywood Plaza Hotel at 1633–37 N. Vine St.

https://i.imgur.com/ErYykcE.jpeg
paradiseleased.wordpress.com


https://i.imgur.com/u5aLDZw.jpeg
cdnc.ucr.edu - The Jewish News of Northern California, 31 May 1935


On Halloween 1935 the doors were opened on the Russian Eagle Supper Club at the new and final location of 8428 Sunset Blvd.


https://i.imgur.com/ZfFGZcS.jpeg
archive.org - Los Angeles Times 1935-10-31


It's tenure there was brief enough and it was gone sometime in late summer of 1936.

Major General Theodore A. Lodijensky, whose baby it was, had had enough and left Hollywood to head back east.


https://i.imgur.com/aZSht9m.jpeg
cdnc.ucr.edu - Daily News (Los Angeles), 7 March 1947

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About a month or so ago on eBay there were a bunch of snapshots (being sold separately) of famous actors and actresses in various locations around Los Angeles.

I saved some of them to a file.


#1

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/b2Dejv.jpg

Lana Turner in front of an abstract mural, somewhere.



#2

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/bBQRzW.jpg

Evelyn Keyes, somewhere.






#3

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/924/EkYjrt.jpg

Judy Garland and the photographer. (proto-selfie?)



A few more coming soon. :)

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As promised.


#4

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/922/TFFSsc.jpg

I don't think either of those women are Lupe Velez. Nice of them to trespass on Lupe's lawn.


A closer look.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/rq6l1T.jpg

Nope, not Lupe. . Does anyone know Lupe's address in 1941?






#5

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/924/qkcBuZ.jpg

John Wayne driving a car load of men out of a parking lot.(I think)..If we could read that blade sign down the street we might be able to figure out the location.

Just for fun here's a closer look at the blade sign.

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




#6

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq70/923/D0SOPt.jpg

Martha Scott (and a mutant dog), somewhere.



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Re: Lupe Velez home in 1941 was 732 N. Rodeo Dr....1940 census....


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds



Following images/text courtesy of The Huntington Library & The Beverly Hills Historical Society....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds


This is the final home of actress Lupe Vélez, nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire, and known for a succession of stormy, high-profile romances. She lived in this house with her husband, Tarzan actor and Olympian Johnny Weissmuller. Previously, she lived next door with actor Gary Cooper. When Cooper broke off their tempestuous relationship, it’s said Vélez followed him to the train station and fired a pistol at him. She died in this house by her own hand, pregnant and unmarried, on December 13, 1944.


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds




https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

:previous:


https://i.postimg.cc/Zn5CccrK/lupeandclara-bmp.jpg


Was it Lupe or Clara who said that Gary was "hung like a horse and can go all night"?

Being the old guy that I am, I wouldn't assume "myself" was the photographer, though, judging from the camera angle, I think there's a good chance the photog was a Munchkin. :haha:

I love all these photos!


Edited to add: I just noticed what looks like a camera possibly hanging from her neck so maybe she was a/the photographer. Is this her, maybe?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ae44d6ef_c.jpg

That indeed was Clara Bow.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/1cd734c7...654192661a.gif

They're exiting the Brown Derby; this is looking north on Vine toward Hollywood Blvd. The blade sign is still there, at the Taft Bldg.

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:previous:

I didn't think we'd figure that one out. Thanks Beaudry.


And thanks Riichkay for locating the house that Lupe Velez lived in in 1941.

I believe CBS Columbia Square (6121 Sunset Boulevard) is in the distance behind Evelyn Keyes (#2) so she might be standing on . .um. .Gower(?), perhaps. :shrug:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/0Mi6z7.jpg


I'm glad you liked them. Don't be a stranger. :)
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Here's another mystery location that might be a stinker to solve..

This snapshot shows cars parked in on front of a large building with an arched entrance in Los Angeles.

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

I'm mostly curious about the steak joint but I think the best clue might be the storefront closest to the camera.

Here's a better look.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/AyHAhK.jpg
Detail

The circles reminds me of the Civil Defense logo but it could be a number of other gov. organizations as well.



Help me out here noirishers. :whip:
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OK, e_r, here's my best take. The signage at the other end of the building reads "Ward Refrigerators" and "Viking...". A directory search (1947 Central L.A. Yellow Pages via Library of Congress) establishes that Viking Sales Corporation was a distributor of Ward Refrigerators and had their place of business at 1481 West Washington Blvd. in that year.

The remaining trace of supporting evidence is that the barely-visible building down the street in the photo bears a resemblance to the neighborhood market currently at 1451-57 West Washington. And thus endeth my case.

As for the rest, 1481 doesn't appear in the 1956 Street Directory, and what's there now is a storage lot that would merit a junkyard dog. I wasn't able to locate a street directory before 1956 that might've helped us determine the identities of the other businesses in the photo, assuming that we have the right location. The sign for the cafe appears to read "Steaks Snacks". I was able to make out the window lettering for the remaining ground-floor tenant as "______ Music Producers (or Publishers?), Inc. Local 207 (or 217?), but I never came up with an organization that fit the nomenclature; the first word is too fuzzy for my primitive image management skills, I'm afraid. And without it...

One last touch is that there was indeed a Ward Refrigerator and Manufacturing Company at 6501 South Alameda just to provide a nice red herring. And no, their building didn't resemble our quarry.

Stinker, indeed. But I can't say I didn't have fun with this! Comments and critique are welcome as always.

:previous:

Thanks for the tip on the 1947 Yellow Pages. That looks like a union logo in the window, and I think I can read "Local" at the bottom. So I looked up Unions, which redirected me to Labor Organizations, and browsed for ones on Washington.


https://i.postimg.cc/Vsncfyjh/Screen...428-230845.png
LOC

Seems to be the Building Service Employees International Union at 1491 W. Washington. The logo looks right.


https://i.postimg.cc/cJ7XV7Kk/s-l1200-1.webp
eBay

Mackerm, great work! I completely misread most of the lettering on the windows at 1491 and so would've gone to my grave wondering what a music-oriented union would've been doing there instead of Hollywood. Thanks!

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EXCELLENT sleuthing HenryHuntington and Mackerm. :worship:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/C6gf8c.jpg

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