[Wanderer239]

Hi, been loving this thread immensely for weeks, and although this posting is months after the question was posed, I just had to answer about the Chaplin Studios.

On the south east corner of Sunset and La Brea, where there is a Carl's Junior now, this used to be where the soundstages were. I've seen old photos, they were like big white tents, made of canvas and lumber.

Further south on La Brea, there is the structure you're referring to. Chaplin spent a lot of time here, made a lot of his most well-known films. There is a reproduction of this property in the film Chaplin. There were more permanent soundstages constructed later around this quaint little "village" that are still in use today.

Check this out for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin_Studios



Little known fact, if you go around the southern perimeter of the property line, Chaplin's footprints are in the cement! Not sure if I read this, or just found it myself years ago. The guy had very small feet.

Can't believe of all the noir, I finally commented on something that was probably already discussed at length having to do with nothing at all noirish. Well, if anyone is interested, James Ellroy will be at a WritersBloc event on May 24 in Beverly Hills. How's that for noir? You can RSVP by going to reservations@writersblocpresents.com.

My pop was a homicide detective for LA County, and actually worked with Ellroy on his nonfiction book about the Dahlia and his own mother who was killed in an unincorporated area of El Monte. The bureau basically let him hang out in the cold case room in the bureau's headquarters in a commercial district in Commerce (after The Hall of Justice was condemned). I was able to get all my hardcovers signed, and eventually got to meet him - I was already a huge fan. Usually after these speaking engagements, he hangs around and he's always up for a chat. Just throwing that out there for all you like-minded noir fans.

Originally Posted by JeffDiego

Fascinating photos of The Garden of Allah , and Nazimovoa. Speaking of unusual, long-gone apartment complexes that I don't believe have been featured here, a pal who lived in West Hollywood in the 50's says that there was a very large complex of stage-set like French cottage-style apartments, probably built in the twenties which may have been called Normandy Village. (Similar in architectural style to the small and still-standing "French Village Apartments" located in a quiet residential area of Hollywood, supposedly having a connection to Charlie Chaplin).I believe it fronted on the Sunset Strip and was a block square in size. I came across a photo of it on the LA Times a few years ago. Lots of peaked roofs and picturesque stairways. Anyone have photos or info?
A tidbit of gossip (my pal is probably the world's expert on old Hollywood and forgotten celebrities; he wrote many books on the subject) is that among the residents there was Harald Ramand (also known as Harald Maresch, originally from Vienna), the man who got Lupe Velez pregnant before she committed suicide in 1944 (he was blamed and it ruined his budding movie career). He lived at the complex with a gay lover.