noirish Los Angeles - Page 293

ethereal_reality · #**5841** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 2:08 AM**

Since my earlier post I have found several references to it as the Studio Theater Playhouse as far back as 1966.

But then I found this 2000 article that refers to it as the Colony Studio Theatre (a reference to the silent movie house?)

http://articles.glendalenewspress.co...spring-color/3

......and this.
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-11-...atre-playhouse

The L.A. Times article says the theater seats 99, while Cinema Treasures says it seats 525.
I can understand the loss of some seats when it became a live performance venue.....but losing 426 seats!?!
_____

After learning the number of seats (or lack there of) I went back for a second look.
The building is much deeper than it appears from the street, so perhaps it did originally seat 525.

google aerial
_____

ethereal_reality · #**5842** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 4:25 AM**

A beautiful twilight photograph of Hollywood & Vine (looking north on vine).

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=18605

I was surprised by the over-sized Miller High Life Beer sign atop the Taft Building. I don't recall very many photos with this Miller sign.
At ground level on the right is the complex that housed the Vine Street Brown Derby.

below: Here is another view with the towering Miller sign, along with a pretty impressive 'Hotel PLAZA' sign.
'The Broadway Hollywood' sign is of course iconic and still in place (thank God).

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...rolNumber=1856

Notice the large presence of Western Air Lines in the Vine Street Brown Derby complex on the right.
On the opposite side of the street, the CBS Vine Street Theater is undergoing some type of renovation.

_____

ethereal_reality · #**5843** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 4:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: Here is another view with the towering Miller sign, along with a pretty impressive Hotel Plaza sign.
'The Broadway Hollywood' sign is of course iconic and still in place.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...rolNumber=1856

____

After checking this Google aerial, I see the 'Hotel Plaza' sign is still in place, but hidden behind a billboard.

google street view

I wonder if they still light up the 'PLAZA' sign at night despite the unfortunately placed billboard?
Perhaps someone that's going out for dinner at Musso & Frank's on Friday evening could find out for us.

____

Those Who Squirm! · #**5844** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 6:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Please post 'Those Who Squirm'.

I just happened to notice this request in this long, long thread. Certainly I'll post them here; they came out quite good considering they were taken years ago with dumb phone camera.

GaylordWilshire · #**5845** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 2:09 PM**

If anyone is awake...turn on TCM. There's a good Ginger Rogers noir on now (Ginger rogers in noir?), called Perfect Strangers---some great location shots, including the roof and towers of the Terminal Annex Post Office, city hall, Hall of Records-- don't know if there will be more. Anyone got a copy for screen shots?

GaylordWilshire · #**5846** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 3:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This is a long shot, but does anyone recognize this small streamline building?
It's unidentified in the lapl archive.

Herman Schultheis at http://www.lapl.org/

Besides the photographer's name, the biggest clue is clearly the address 4032 (minus the name of the street).
_________

This is one of those quarries that has been driving me crazy forever... I'm definitely not totally convinced--in fact would have to say no if pushed, given a number of detail discrepancies, but wishful thinking has me wondering if the building above might possibly have once stood at 4032 Hooper Avenue... that it might have once been part of the campus of Stiles Clements's amazing Thomas Jefferson high School, still standing on 41st between Hooper and Compton.

LAPL

The school building in the Google Street View below now stands at 4032 Hooper... I'm wanting to believe that the streamlined mystery building was once there and part of Clements's multi-building campus.... I've looked and looked for more Schultheis pics of the school, but haven't found any. The answer may lie only in some obscure Morgan Walls & Clements archive. (Btw, my reservations include the differing windows from other campus buildings, the plaque on front that looks to me, for some reason, less school- and more business-like, and that there is now no house across the street with a steep Craftsman roof to be reflected in the window....)

Google Street View
(Could the streamline building somehow now be contained in the box...?)

3940dxer · #**5847** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 6:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

____

After checking this Google aerial, I see the 'Hotel Plaza' sign is still in place, but hidden behind a billboard.

google street view

I wonder if they still light up the 'PLAZA' sign at night despite the unfortunately placed billboard?
Perhaps someone that's going out for dinner at Musso & Frank's on Friday evening could find out for us.

____

Musso and Frank's is actually tonight, and I'll try so see if that sign is still lit, though I doubt it.

BTW, the top of Sunset-Vine Tower would be a great place to view the sign...if it were still open to the public. Back in the 70's there was a bar-restaurant-club on the top floor called Simply Blues and wow, was that a fun place to hang out! I believe the owner's name was George Blue or Blues. The place had nearly 360 degree views and the food was pretty good. They had live music too. Simply Blues closed ages ago, then there was a fire in the building and it lay empty for many years. I think there was talk of demolishing it, for a while. It has recently re-opened as a luxury apartment complex.

http://you-are-here.com/sunset/vine.html

http://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/...g/26298-01.jpg

ethereal_reality · #**5848** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 9:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Google Street View
(Could the streamline building somehow now be contained in the box...?)

We need someone to go over there with a chisel.

GaylordWilshire · #**5849** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 9:50 PM**

This image of the modernization of Schwab's is from an hourlong KCET show called "Things That Aren't Here Anymore":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfQQBIgNDkQ&noredirect=1

GaylordWilshire · #**5850** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 10:01 PM**

Hollywood Reporter

I wasn't aware of the Chinese's change of ownership. I don't know that it didn't need an ungrade, but his sort of makes me sick: "Since taking over in April, Samaha and Kushner have begun hatching plans to leverage the iconic structure into a chain of replica theaters throughout the U.S. and beyond."

Read all about it (and weep?):
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...llywood-279246

(I love the two comments at the end of the story.)

Handsome Stranger · #**5851** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 10:07 PM**

Per GaylordWilshire's request, here's a few frame grabs from Perfect Strangers.

I think the first two were probably shot inside the real Hall of Records; this was not a big budget film and it's unlikely Warner's would have built sets with such detailed ceilings for this one brief scene.

[source: Warner Home Video]

[source: Warner Home Video]

This one comes at the tail end of a lap dissolve between two scenes, which is why you can kind of see two gentlemen from the previous scene. I grabbed this frame anyway just for the clear view of the signage.

[source: Warner Home Video]

Those Who Squirm! · #**5852** Posted **Jan 7, 2012, 11:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics15/00007395.jpg

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/insid...arijuana-hotel
605 S. Normandie, sw corner of 6th

CNN story here: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/insid...arijuana-hotel

There's an article about the renovation of the Hotel Normandie in today's Times.

GaylordWilshire · #**5853** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 1:24 AM**

Handsome: Thanks for the GREAT set of screenshots from Perfect Strangers--exactly what my eyes grabbed. When people ask me how I got interested in the history of L.A.--well, it's just these kinds of images from movies and tv that did it. I knew what the Los Angeles City Hall looked like before I even knew my own hometown had one.

As for the Normandie--

LAT

Here's the link to the Times story Squirm mentioned:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,4303557.story

Let's hope it's a success... maybe the developers will then dust off the Plaza and its rooftop sign.

ethereal_reality · #**5854** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 1:47 AM**

The Hotel Normandie during a VERY rainy day in 1922.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=22745

...and again in 1978 with some unfortunate signs.

http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=4968275

The Hotel Normandie article in today's L.A. Times was really interesting...thanks for providing the link 'Those Who Squirm'.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,4303557.story
I would have missed it otherwise.
____

Also, I LOVED the screen-grabs 'Handsome Stranger'. Great job!!

____

FredH · #**5855** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 2:09 AM**

From 1941:

lileks.com

lileks.com

A couple more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5340944...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5340944...n/photostream/

ethereal_reality · #**5856** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 2:24 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

The top of Sunset-Vine Tower would be a great place to view the Hotel Plaza sign... if it were still open to the public.

http://you-are-here.com/sunset/vine.html

3940dxer, this photo reminds me of the Sunset-Vine Tower's starring role in the movie Earthquake (1974).

http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com...1_archive.html

http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com...1_archive.html

It's the building where the office workers are lowered to safety using a hose and an office chair.

below: Lorne Greene scared shitless.

Universal Pictures 1974

Now it's the secretary's turn. I wonder how much this poor woman was paid?

FredH · #**5857** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 2:50 AM**

Here are a couple of photos that I don't think we have seen:

A 1937 file photo shows old Chinatown and a chop suey restaurant. In the background is the construction of Union Station. (Los Angeles Times)

Entrance to the new China City, which celebrated its opening on Aug. 2, 1939. (Los Angeles Times)

ethereal_reality · #**5858** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 2:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH

From 1941:

lileks.com

lileks.com

A couple more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5340944...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5340944...n/photostream/

Great find FredH !!

The two photos that you linked are completely new to me. I've been looking EVERYWHERE for photos like these.
I hope you don't mind if I post the photos here....a lot of times people skip the links.

below: I didn't realize this beautiful window even existed. Notice the exquisite curved glass.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5340944...n/photostream/

below: The elevator bank in Coulter's on Wilshire.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5340944...n/photostream/

Kudos to you FredH, your discovery made my night.

ethereal_reality · #**5859** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 3:16 AM**

Wow...I just saw your Chinatown post FredH.
The first photo of the Union Station clock tower and Old Chinatown almost made me fall out of my chair.
That is such a unique photograph.....it's simply amazing.

3940dxer · #**5860** Posted **Jan 8, 2012, 4:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

____
After checking this Google aerial, I see the 'Hotel Plaza' sign is still in place, but hidden behind a billboard.

google street view

I wonder if they still light up the 'PLAZA' sign at night despite the unfortunately placed billboard?
Perhaps someone that's going out for dinner at Musso & Frank's on Friday evening could find out for us.

____

e_r, we drove up Vine St. tonight and I'm sorry to report that your Plaza sign is not lit, or at least the letters are not. The little stars (barely visible in the photo) are illuminated in different colors and flash on and off, but the "Plaza Hotel" portion is dark. The sign is hard to see at all; we were only able to glimpse it when immediately opposite it on Vine St.

The Broadway sign is well maintained and looks great at night!

Thanks for your comments about Sunset-Vine tower. I didn't know that was the building in Earthquake.

(And BTW, Musso and Frank's was expensive, but fantastic in every way.)