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  #28661  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 8:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
Actually, the large 'Felix' building is still there as well! Note the structure for the roof-top sign is still in place.



gsv


You can see this building and the Felix roof-top sign below, far right.


eBay


We've seen this building once before, way back on page 145.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2894
Felix Chevrolet was originally established at 12th and Grand streets in 1921 as seen in the ebay auction photo. In 1958 the dealership was moved to 3330 South Figueroa at Jefferson and at one time advertised itself as "Felix Chevrolet- At the Big Cat Corner of Figueroa and Jefferson." The sign was moved to the new location and in 2007 the city's Cultural Heritage Commission voted to declare it a historic-cultural monument.

Cheers,
Jack
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  #28662  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 8:34 PM
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The vintage shots are missing from post 2894--here's the main one.... Notice the signage on 1225 S Grand at left. Its ghost remains....


California State Library


GSV
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  #28663  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 8:59 PM
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I just noticed there's a second 'arched' building just around the corner on Pico.

417 W. Pico

gsv


google_earth
__


Thanks for the information on Felix Chevrolet Wig_Wag.
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  #28664  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 9:04 PM
oldstuff oldstuff is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
Excellent discovery Hoss!


I'm surprised by how skinny the building is.


gsv

there's the freeway across the street.

gsv



I don't think the house behind it has much time left.


gsv

When you located Chao's Market in the 1956 directory did it say what the store (with the awning, and clock in the window) to the right of Chao's used to be?


detail

My guess is a barber shop.
WOW! You guys hit the jackpot! The old house, boarded up and looking like it will fall down, is one of the oldest houses in the city still standing. It was part of the Stewart's Nursery tract and was built in 1871. It was built by John Marcellus Stewart, a New Hampshire man who came west for the Gold Rush and settled in Los Angeles in 1971. He had 17 acres and was one of the first to plant a nursery for trees and shrubs to be used as plantings here rather than agricultural products to be exported. Stewart was born in 1823 and died on the property in 1913.

in 2010- 2013 there was an application to have it declared a Historic and Cultural Monument. It is in the process now, apparently. It looks like it will be saved.

The probable reason that the building is so skinny is that Mr. Stewart subdivided part of his nursery property and the narrow lot behind the brick building was still part of Stewart's land.

See the application paperwork here:
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/..._1-29-2013.pdf for lots more info.

There is a picture of Mr. Stewart in Find a Grave, or if you Google his whole name in "Images". He is buried in Rosedale Cemetery
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  #28665  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 9:10 PM
Martin Pal Martin Pal is offline
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Thanks so much HossC, it's great that you remembered seeing these photos!

Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC View Post
[...] a link to a post about 8'2" Max Palmer (I'm taking his height from a dubious Wikipedia page).

Max in the doorway of the Blue Palm Cafe. [...] The number 6124 is clearly visible over the door. The images are dated at 1952.


USC Digital Library
The Max Palmer link has a poster who indicates that the current owner of the Blue Palms Brewhouse says that the door for his establishment is the same one in this photo.

I found a couple similar photos of the owner, Brian Lenzo, standing outside the "Brewhouse" and it does have the same circular window in the door. The overhead has a window there, too.


Food GPS

(The Food GPS link has an interview with Brian Lenzo. Interesting guy.
Marine/Actor/Club Manager/Beer enthusiast and would be brewer.)


L.A. Weekly

This photo shows a chuch in the reflection in the window.

Flickr user lesbal123

Opposite direction:

Blue Palms Brewhouse

Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC View Post
[...] Max Palmer on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk outside the Blue Palm Cafe.


USC Digital Library

Anyone for shrimp?
LOL!

Does this photo indicate there may be "two" entrance doors, one on either side of the protruding window
section? (With the neon.) Not sure. Which would account for the differences to the right of the door. Can
anyone read the neon word above "KAPLAN"?

So, if the Blue Palm Cafe address is 6124 (as is the Blue Palms Brewhouse) it is on the left side of the building
(with the Music Box/Pix/Fonda et al in the center) then we still have the mystery of the original photo
posted by E_R (below) of the Blue Palm Cafe on the right side of a building (same one?) and
decidedly different signage.

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  #28666  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 9:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post

I just realized the large Felix building with the vertical roof-top sign is still there as well.
I missed that one - I blame the trees. Fetch the chainsaw, GW!

Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC View Post


GSV
I've just noticed that GSV lets you wander around inside 1225 S Grand Avenue. Just like e_r's overhead view above, the building is labeled MTM Special Ops (Multi Time Machine Inc). Here's a close-up of the front of the building.


GSV

A view from just inside the door.


GSV

The stairs at the back.


GSV

This is the wall you'll see if you turn left, but the wall on the right is equally well preserved.


GSV
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  #28667  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 10:25 PM
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John Marcellus Stewart house


gsv

Quote:
Originally Posted by oldstuff View Post
WOW! You guys hit the jackpot! The old house, boarded up and looking like it will fall down, is one of the oldest houses in the city still standing. It was part of the Stewart's Nursery tract and was built in 1871. It was built by John Marcellus Stewart, a New Hampshire man who came west for the Gold Rush and settled in Los Angeles in 1971. He had 17 acres and was one of the first to plant a nursery for trees and shrubs to be used as plantings here rather than agricultural products to be exported. Stewart was born in 1823 and died on the property in 1913.

in 2010- 2013 there was an application to have it declared a Historic and Cultural Monument. It is in the process now, apparently. It looks like it will be saved.

The probable reason that the building is so skinny is that Mr. Stewart subdivided part of his nursery property and the narrow lot behind the brick building was still part of Stewart's land.

See the application paperwork here:
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/..._1-29-2013.pdf for lots more info.
Thanks so much for digging up the fascinating history of the Stewart house old stuff. We almost overlooked it!


bing

I read through the application paperwork. Here are a few paragraphs. (for those who didn't open the pdf)

description of the house.

lacity.org.

"It is nothing less than a miracle."

lacity.org.
__

There is also a survivor across the street.


bing

It's much larger than the Stewart house, but obviously not as old.


bing


looking especially 'noirish' in this side view.


Once again, thanks old stuff!

__

Last edited by ethereal_reality; May 21, 2015 at 11:13 PM.
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  #28668  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 10:36 PM
srk1941 srk1941 is offline
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The first restaurant I can find in the LA Times advertising pizza was Lucca, at 5th and Western, and that is 1940. The ad tells you how to pronounce this exotic food, "Old as the Roman Coliseum, New as Tomorrow's Sun." It says pizza, available only at Lucca, was introduced to Los Angeles by Bert Rovere. Googling Bert Rovere brings you right back here, to this thread! With pictures too...

Later, there was Pep's Vesuvio in 1943. By 1945, they were advertising that they had served over 50,000 pizzas...

Earlier, there was an article about Milton Berle's favorite foods from 1937, and he does mention pizza there...





The quoted text is somewhat historically imperfect given that in its original form, James Dean could not have visited the Yucca location in 1957 (unless the author is referring to the spirit world). But the text includes something about which I have long wondered. By whom, where and when was Pizza commercially introduced in LA? Did Patsy have it on the '39 menu? Pizza shops clearly proliferated in the '50s, but was Patsy really first, pre WW2?

FWIW, one source claims pizza was commercially available in 1905 (Lombardi's, NYC) and on the West Coast by 1935 (Tommaso's, San Francisco) and the first pizza "chain" began in 1943 (UNO, Chicago). http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...ias-in-americahttp://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...rillist-nation[/QUOTE]
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  #28669  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 10:53 PM
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The interior of 1225 S Grand is beautiful!


gsv

I went looking for bullet holes after GW posted that murder-suicide article; that's when I noticed you could go inside.
Is that how you discovered you could go inside Hoss? Were you looking for bullet holes too.

It would be nice to know that I'm not the only crazy one. lol.
__
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  #28670  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 10:55 PM
tovangar2 tovangar2 is offline
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John Marcellus Stewart Cottage

Quote:
Originally Posted by oldstuff View Post
WOW! You guys hit the jackpot! The old house, boarded up and looking like it will fall down, is one of the oldest houses in the city still standing. It was part of the Stewart's Nursery tract and was built in 1871. It was built by John Marcellus Stewart, a New Hampshire man who came west for the Gold Rush and settled in Los Angeles in 1971. He had 17 acres and was one of the first to plant a nursery for trees and shrubs to be used as plantings here rather than agricultural products to be exported. Stewart was born in 1823 and died on the property in 1913.

in 2010- 2013 there was an application to have it declared a Historic and Cultural Monument. It is in the process now, apparently. It looks like it will be saved.

The probable reason that the building is so skinny is that Mr. Stewart subdivided part of his nursery property and the narrow lot behind the brick building was still part of Stewart's land.

See the application paperwork here:
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/..._1-29-2013.pdf for lots more info.

There is a picture of Mr. Stewart in Find a Grave, or if you Google his whole name in "Images". He is buried in Rosedale Cemetery

find a grave

You beat me to it, and very nicely too. I was charmed by that little house and was looking up everything I could find.

The Stewart's 17 acres ran from Figueroa to Grand between 30th & 31st Streets, irrigated by our old friend, Los Reyes. However, Stewart sold off the eastern 7 acres (in two parcels) facing on Charity (Grand) in 1874 and also a smaller parcel on the corner of Figueroa and 31st. He kept the rest, eventually building a second, larger home at 512 W 30th, while keeping the 1871 farmhouse:


la herald 9 Apr 1874


stevenson's survey 1884

These days the Harbor Freeway right through the middle of the original 17 acres:


google maps



Curbed LA has a couple of interesting articles here and here:

Quote:
"The Folk Victorian-style cottage was built by nursery owner JM Stewart and is one of "only a handful of identified, extant wood-framed residences dating from the years just after the Civil War and before the transcontinental railroad linked Los Angeles directly with the rest of America, in 1876." Back then, the area was basically rural (nearby USC wasn't established until 1880): the house "was reported in its era as being the 'first' residence built south of Sixth Street in the "southern reaches of the city," according to its nomination for historic-cultural monument status. Stewart ploughed under the vineyards that had been on the 17 acres surrounding the house and "turned the soil over to the development of a nursery supplying orchard and decorative plants to other Angelenos" (he became famed for his fruit and pepper trees, among other things)".


la herald, 12 Jan 1875


la herald 11 Dec 1875

Stewart also profited (after 1880) from the Victorian passion for pampas grass plumes:


la herald 12 Sept 1884

The owners may be looking for a buyer who will move the farmhouse. I could not find contact info for them.

The City Heritage commission file is here

And like you said, here he is:

find a grave

John Stewart and his wife Melissa both died in 1913. One of their married daughters, Nettie, died in 1907. Her funeral was held at the Stewart's property (probably at the larger home the Stewarts built ca 1890, facing on 30th St).

It would be real wickedness to let this one go.

It comes complete with ghost or intruder or something:

gsv

.............................................................................

updates:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=38385
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=38386
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=38389
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=38395

Last edited by tovangar2; Dec 17, 2016 at 11:15 PM. Reason: updates
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  #28671  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 11:04 PM
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I kind of hope they don't move it. It's simply amazing that it has been on that same spot for 140 years!! It would make a nice little pocket park. The city should buy it.


Here's the second slide I found last night (along with the S. Grand /Felix slide)

This one is dated 1956.

'mystery' location

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item5675104547

Last edited by ethereal_reality; May 21, 2015 at 11:16 PM.
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  #28672  
Old Posted May 21, 2015, 11:27 PM
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I just found this a few minutes ago.

'mystery' location #2

be sure to scroll right-----> to see the building at the edge of the photo.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item487eae1ff3

I believe the sign in front of the building at far right says 'Citizen', but what are the 'markings' at the top of the building? (it looks like runes)
The seller dates this as 1954.
__

Last edited by ethereal_reality; May 22, 2015 at 12:11 AM.
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  #28673  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 12:14 AM
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More on the John Marcellus Stewart house from post 12855:

LAT
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  #28674  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 12:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
I kind of hope they don't move it. It's simply amazing that it has been on that same spot for 140 years!! It would make a nice little pocket park. The city should buy it.


Here's the second slide I found last night (along with the S. Grand /Felix slide)

This one is dated 1956.

'mystery' location

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item5675104547
This is a very sweet street view of a nice old neighborhood. I like the green roof house next to the gas station. It has to be from the 1800s. Nice collection of 1950s cars also.

detail of previous post
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  #28675  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 12:39 AM
Tourmaline Tourmaline is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by srk1941 View Post
The first restaurant I can find in the LA Times advertising pizza was Lucca, at 5th and Western, and that is 1940. The ad tells you how to pronounce this exotic food, "Old as the Roman Coliseum, New as Tomorrow's Sun." It says pizza, available only at Lucca, was introduced to Los Angeles by Bert Rovere. Googling Bert Rovere brings you right back here, to this thread! With pictures too...

Later, there was Pep's Vesuvio in 1943. By 1945, they were advertising that they had served over 50,000 pizzas...

Earlier, there was an article about Milton Berle's favorite foods from 1937, and he does mention pizza there...
Thanks. I had looked at the available Lucca menus, but took no notice of pizza ovens or the mention of pizza. This is somewhat understandable if I am correct in presuming the menus date to '37. Tangentially, it looks like Lucca tried for mass appeal targeting the upper crust with talk of fine dining and dancing while offering food for the common folk, such pasta dishes.

I have assumed that pizza shops shadowed the proliferation of hamburgers* and other fast food sometime in the late '40s to early '50s -and beyond. That is not to say pizza wasn't sold way-back-when by another less-popular name, e.g., tomato pie.
Curiously, the prewar CDs had a handful of "Pizza" surnames but not one listing, as far as I could tell, for an establishment wishing to be associated with the thin or deep dish comestible. Now I'm hungry.


Quote:
Originally Posted by gsjansen View Post


Yes, I am aware of the numerous pre-war NLA images of popular LA restaurants advertising hamburgers.


1938 - Wilshire and Cochran "The Glorified Hamburger" - before the flying saucer.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101386.jpg http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=11861


ps: For those keeping score, I think the menu depicts another example of those electrified (illuminated) stop signs. Look carefully.

Last edited by Tourmaline; May 22, 2015 at 12:51 AM.
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  #28676  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 1:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
I kind of hope they don't move it. It's simply amazing that it has been on that same spot for 140 years!! It would make a nice little pocket park. The city should buy it.


Here's the second slide I found last night (along with the S. Grand /Felix slide)

This one is dated 1956.

'mystery' location

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item5675104547

This is the NE corner of Vernon and Compton:





The taller palm and the detail of the porch are keys...




As is the small apartment house with the central notch down the block, still there:



All GSV
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  #28677  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 1:05 AM
tovangar2 tovangar2 is offline
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John and Melissa Stewart Cottage

Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
I kind of hope they don't move it. It's simply amazing that it has been on that same spot for 140 years!! It would make a nice little pocket park. The city should buy it.
I agree except it's so out of the way (hardly anyone lives around there) and no longer has its 17 acres. There's only three houses on that block. Next door has been stuccoed and had aluminum sliders installed. The handsome 1900 effort, which you pointed out, across the street, has a really nice porch and has been cut into three units:

gsv

I'd like to see the city buy it and make it a house museum in Grand Park. It would make a great field trip destination. It's a real, and rare, prize. Some adobes have been saved and big mansions too, but the thousands of little frame homes that were built here from 1870-1900, which are so much a part of our history, hardly get a look-in.

BTW, why is Grand Park called that? The park, between the courthouse and the HOA, was dedicated to the Los Pobladores when it was created in 1960. What happened to that? I'm just cynical enough to think Eli Broad's Grand Avenue Committee had something to do with it. Trying to entice us up to Grand Ave, so it will finally be "thronged" as promised?

(I'm also cynical enough to think "Grand Park" is only a placeholder name until Broad dies.)

Last edited by tovangar2; May 22, 2015 at 2:24 AM.
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  #28678  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 1:17 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by srk1941 View Post
The first restaurant I can find in the LA Times advertising pizza was Lucca, at 5th and Western, and that is 1940. The ad tells you how to pronounce this exotic food, "Old as the Roman Coliseum, New as Tomorrow's Sun." It says pizza, available only at Lucca, was introduced to Los Angeles by Bert Rovere. Googling Bert Rovere brings you right back here, to this thread! With pictures too...

Later, there was Pep's Vesuvio in 1943. By 1945, they were advertising that they had served over 50,000 pizzas...

Earlier, there was an article about Milton Berle's favorite foods from 1937, and he does mention pizza there...





The quoted text is somewhat historically imperfect given that in its original form, James Dean could not have visited the Yucca location in 1957 (unless the author is referring to the spirit world). But the text includes something about which I have long wondered. By whom, where and when was Pizza commercially introduced in LA? Did Patsy have it on the '39 menu? Pizza shops clearly proliferated in the '50s, but was Patsy really first, pre WW2?

FWIW, one source claims pizza was commercially available in 1905 (Lombardi's, NYC) and on the West Coast by 1935 (Tommaso's, San Francisco) and the first pizza "chain" began in 1943 (UNO, Chicago). http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...ias-in-americahttp://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...rillist-nation
[/QUOTE]


Sometimes the best part of a restaurant is out back...

Lucca's parking lot, 1940

USC Digital/"Dick" Whittington Photography Collection, 1924-1987
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  #28679  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 1:20 AM
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GaylordWilshire GaylordWilshire is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
I just found this a few minutes ago.

'mystery' location #2

be sure to scroll right-----> to see the building at the edge of the photo.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Los-Angeles-...item487eae1ff3

I believe the sign in front of the building at far right says 'Citizen', but what are the 'markings' at the top of the building? (it looks like runes)
The seller dates this as 1954.
__

Federal Cold Storage--we've seen it here before, or maybe, if there were any, one of its other locations with signature architectural detail.... at the SE corner of Vernon and Downey:







Both GSV


Edit-- priors on Federal Cold Storage (apparently the "S" is for "Standard"):
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19861

Last edited by GaylordWilshire; May 22, 2015 at 1:32 AM.
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  #28680  
Old Posted May 22, 2015, 1:41 AM
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Gee Willikers....you're batting a 1000 tonight GW!

How did you ever figure out the color slide was the NE corner of Vernon and Compton??
and now this black and white discovery of Vernon and Downey. Your sleuthing is beyond reproach.
___

But I still want to believe those are rune markings at the top of the cold storage building.






*I can't believe I just said "Gee Willikers" I'm turning into my grandfather.

Last edited by ethereal_reality; May 22, 2015 at 2:10 AM.
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