I have the biggest suspicion that that is Pacific BL in Huntington Park. Pep Boys auto parts.

This was a California State office building at 1100 S. Grand Ave. The building still exists albeit as the "Grand Lofts Downtown L.A." with a street address of 330 W. 11th St.

I can see the resemblance, SCB; but it's actually Long Beach Blvd. (née American Ave.) in Long Beach.

:previous: Thanks HH, I don't think I would have ever figured it out.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/nPkhqE.jpg
gsv
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/H2mZgU.jpg
1958 original slide
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Sounds like a front to me...
 

Tailors? Ha!


Tom Hagen: When I meet with Tattaglia's men, should I insist all their drug middlemen have clean records?

Don Corleone: Mention it, don't insist. But Barzini will know that without being told.

Tom Hagen: You mean Tattaglia...

Don Corleone: Tattaglia is a pimp. He never could have outfought Santino. But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along.

Pep Boys was at 336 Long Beach Blvd.; in the pic, we're looking north. As soon as I saw the image, I said to myself, "Why, that looks like Long Beach...", which makes sense as, even when I was a mere tyke, I was a frequent habitué of Acres of Books, which was located on the same side of the street about a block and a half south (so I'd be passing Pep Boys all the time and the streetscape became familiar to me). Both sides of the street are completely redeveloped now, with no remnants of the buildings visible in the picture. The pic can't be later than April, 1961, as that's when the Red Car service to Long Beach ceased (not sure of the precise date). As it happens, my father took me and my brother on the Red Car from Long Beach to L.A. either on the last trip of all, or at least on the last day on which trips were made, and I would have glanced at familiar Pep Boys as we went along, as I was on the right side of the car for the trip.

:previous:

Here's your old stomping grounds odinthor. (magnificent use of tongue depressors* ;))

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/vcInUT.jpggsv


Check this old post out if you like
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=31313





Looking especially lonely from the alley.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/XBLTik.jpg
gsv
__

It seems a bit tragic that all the building in my slide are gone. :(

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...922/CmcR2P.jpg

odinthor, do you remember the old hotel.....it's name perhaps?




It appears there was also a 'Federal Savings' in the hotel building.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/7tkJAW.jpg

hmmmmmm.....I just noticed; I believe the name of the hotel is on the green window (arched above the word hotel), but it's impossible to read.





& could the white 'deco' building behind the streetcar be a Sears store?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...921/CkUbbU.jpg

The sign on the side appears to be practically hidden, unless it was intended to be seen from the back......if there was parking in the back.
(or...maybe there was a space between the 'Sears' store and the Pep Boys) -in others words, I just don''t know why it would have been placed where it is.

__


*back in 2012, I found another building that used tongue depressors.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9913

(I have an innate fear of tongue depressors)

_

The way things were.


1938 - Warner Bros, Bubank. From: http://images.google.com/hosted/life...7dfada009.html
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/e624fb87dfada009_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/626fa8e0bfdc2d20_large







http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d8ad25bea7d3f2b4_large






http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/f4f5e704a8f7fd73_large





She's got Bette Davis eyes.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/5bf9fd05df69aae6_large






http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/619aa8ca3c90e381_large







http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/5f0facda781ae0f2_large






http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/bd82bff62760e260_large








http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/2e92cf6f1cf33a7c_large








Parking is still a problem.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/6dd628172440bb50_large






Ann Sheridan before Jane Curtin.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/61f890995ab13351_large






Could have made a great Mayflower (Maybe it did.;))
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/7be229993bfa400e_large






http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/23d50918e2e46e4d_large






Duke Mantee's alter ego, Bogart
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/cbdaf143562d9724_large






Grab some grub.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/bff0b416704941d4_large






Different tier lunchroom
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/ff17aaa3868a5aee_large

Bring back Prohibition ?!?!





From a collection entitled "Wctu Girls Raid Pasadena Bars" http://images.google.com/hosted/life...a3a8e1eb9.html

Pasadena - May 1947


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/81e984fa9d6892c4_large




Is bankable beer an option? :no:
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d60e45e2a7ab1b43_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a144f6ea3a8e1eb9_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/3e96cfaf991b906b_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/93b517a226ae8f8b_large




Bald tires, alcohol, texting or all of above?:cheers:

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/feb7984c936462a4_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/a57b3d9bab5f07d2_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d0dc18cb70e87f6a_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/3f4c225fd84032e8_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/0c6c62aa20190365_large






So much for a two drink minimum.:shrug:
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/358d947cc076ecc2_large






http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/e38755b8828d72f8_large








http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/4a9152db2b3a675c_large








http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/4b7d615a0540134d_large

I've left this Julius Shulman image with its original sepia tones. It's "Job 360: Walter's Furniture (Inglewood, Calif.), 1948".

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

Getty Research Institute

Other than naming the glass company who ordered the picture, there was no information with the photo. Googling didn't provide an address either, so I thought I'd be posting this as a mystery location until I spotted the distinctive neon on the right. The neon spiral belonged to the Academy Theatre, seen here in a post by MichaelRyerson.

You may have noticed that the picture above is also by Julius Shulman, so look out for more pictures from that set tomorrow.

The theater building is still standing, but the pole has lost its spiral. Armed with the address of the theater, I went looking for the Walter's building. This one at 3215 W Manchester Boulevard is wide enough, and in the right location, but the extra height and design differences made me unsure ...

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

... until I took a closer look at the entrance.

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

Power pole in photo
 

That power pole with the transformers in the photo might actually be the same pole in both pictures. I looked it up and it's from 1953. The pole on 33rd st behind the RTD bus in the newer picture is from 1934 and is still there! A large percentage of power poles in these photos are probably still in the same location.

Thanks, e_r! Many an hour I spent at Acres of Books from the late 50s when I was barely old enough to read until the place closed; and many are the books from there still on my bookshelves (in fact, I was just reading one an hour ago).

Man, I was doing all sorts of Photoshop tricks last night to try to read the hotel's name, which is in the window; I can barely make out the word HOTEL, which is in larger lettering than the "personal" name of the hotel just preceding it, and which I can't make out. I had no awareness of the hotel previously--if I thought about it at all in the olden days, it was probably just as being another flophouse in downtown LB.

To the right of Acres of Books was a narrow building which was at first a bank and then a photography shop; and immediately to the right of that was a very noir alley. To the left of Acres of Books, beyond a little parking lot, was a bar. I don't recall that one ever entered or exited Acres of Books in the back, though there was a door (delivery door, I'd guess). There was of course the front door, and midway there was a little door at the side, just inside of which was a cashier counter.

Back to the pic: In addition to the Sea[rs] sign (there was a big Sears store a few blocks down; this must have been some offshoot remote department of it), one can also make out a small "furn[iture]" sign; and further down is a big blade sign which I think says, in full, "LARS," which rings no bells with me.

Ah, tongue depressors! Just the mere mention of them brings back to me their wooden toothpick flavor. Yum...

By the way, just before the economic turndown, the city of LB and Cal State Long Beach had an ambitious plan to turn the whole block on which Acres of Books sits into some sort of collegiate arts community, retaining the AoB building, and erecting new structures to accompany it. This was eventually put on hold, and I'm unsure of the current status of the plan. It was an interesting plan, and would I think have been a good thing all the way around, as bringing some youthfulness and vitality to downtown LB.

:previous: Good eye Hoss....what a fun discovery!
__

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/iykscY.jpg
detail / a look further down the street

I believe this might be the Sears store you mentioned (it has the same type-font as the Sears of that era) The S is behind a metal sign hanging from the wires above the street

.....but I could be wrong (of course ;))

Anybody recognize the make/model of that TV and audio console in Walter's window:

http://www.bitsmasherpress.com/LANoir/TV.jpg

Pretty high-tech for 1948.

Cheers,

Earl

Possibly Barbara Stanwyck with cigarette and Fred Clark to her right? Gentleman across from them has a Gable look but I don't think it's him.
And could that be Eddie Cantor just right of the coat rack?

[QUOTE=Tourmaline;7499163]

It looks like the hotel was the Rolston Hotel at 332 Long Beach Boulevard. Pep Boys was at 338, and the Furn[iture] sign most likely belonged to Ocean Furniture at 342. The clipping below is from the 1960 Long Beach CD.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...BeachBlvd1.jpg
www.lbpl.org

It looks like this 1949 Philco (the TV controls are slightly different). Maybe the new models were in early!

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...949Philco1.jpg
www.tvhistory.tv

[Slaps forehead] Of course: My "LARS" must be "SEARS" with the first letter obscured. Eh! :shrug: Thanks, e_r!

Right-o. Thanks, HossC!

The listing has Pep Boys at address 338; my 336 came from a Pep Boys ad in the L.A. Times on June 4, 1961 (or maybe I misread it...).