To quickly follow up my introduction with a gift of some actual, awesome, local noir:
Oviatt Building Fan had some great background on Pandora's, located in the wye of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard (post 6184851, and as well as others expanding on the late 60's Pandora's Box). But what about the year 1959?
Larry Harnisch, of the LA Times, dug through the Daily Mirror archives a few years ago, and has an incredible story of Pandora's permit application from that year. I suggest really reading the police reports, which are all individual pages, unfortunately. I'd love to summarize, but I don't think i can do it justice without borrowing extensively from Mr. Harnish, but a location map would be fun.
...to the Los Angeles Times' blog!
Suffice to say, you'll learn a lot about the prevailing police opinions concerning gay people, sex workers, racism, and the general condition of the upper Crescent Heights neighborhood. And from reading about these attitudes, it gives some credence to a long standing rumor (which I wish I could attribute with a link or pic or something, but it was in the pre-cameraphone era of the late 80s during a One Institute-arranged speaker at USC during our month of gay history) whereas the controversial Barney's Beanery "stay out" sign was originally hung with good-humor to the regular clientele, but hung in order to point it out when the extremely homophobic Alcohol and Beverage Control officers would pay an impromptu visit. What was lost with the later changes in Beanery ownership was that sense of jest, and the sign was taken at face value. If anyone could confirm or refute this tale, I'd be interested, as it seems lost after the hubbub of its removal in the early 80s. This Daily Mirror reporting has me feel like there could be some truth to it.
For the area around Pandora's, may I refer to Historical Aerials 1952 and 2004, where you can see the building in the center of the triangle, flanked by the Garden of Allah to the left and Schwab's Pharmacy to the right, none which survive today:
Historical Aerials, for 8000-8100 Sunset Blvd