noirish Los Angeles

[Noircitydame]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And from that same group of 1940s kodachrome slides, here is Marion Davies Santa Monica Beach House.



eBay

Can you imagine this is just a beach house.

__

I took a tour of the beach house while I was there. The main house is long gone, it’s just one of the guest houses left (itself big as a mansion), also designed by Julia Morgan, including the wonderful bathrooms (I’m with the FBI- federal bathroom inspectors). You can just hang out in the guest house all day if you want to.


dining room and living room







the seawall

The main house got turned in to a hotel after Marion sold it; it didn’t do well and was demolished/ The property was a beach club for a long time. The pool is still there and open to the public in summer for swimming.


in Marion's day

as the hotel, with the mansion still extant. You can see the ex-Gables garage up the highway too.



ad for Marion's stuff, 1-4-48 LAT

[MichaelRyerson]

Looking south on Roosevelt Highway with the Sorrento Beach Club on the left, Santa Monica, 1936

California Incline is visible just ahead of the car, beyond the beach club building, also on the left. 1936

USC Digital Archive/Dick Whittington

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

hmmm....I don't think that's the building t2 (and the hill/cliff behind doesn't seem to match).
But it's good to see the Sunspot Motel.

You're right of course. I've gotten confused again. The Sunspot (Burton Alexander Schutt, 1938) was north of Chautauqua, actually in Los Angeles.

Memorable as "Mildred's" in Mildred Pierce (1945):

overdrive

In 1991 LAT detailed the hopes for the Sunspot

...and in 1994 the inevitable end


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Great posts NCD!

[Noircitydame]

Thank you Martin Pal for the information about the Marias. I think my grandfather liked being in the navy.

I like that 1936 photo of the Sorrento, Michael Ryerson

Since we're already at the beach and you all were talking about the Thalberg Building earlier, how about cocktails at Norma & Irving's? 707 Pacific Coast Hwy (or Palisades Beach Rd.)


the beach house bar. Cal State Lib.

Built in 1927; John Byers was the architect. Irving died here in 1936.

The highway side courtyard. CSL

The ocean side view, then. The Gables/Sorrento garage can be glimpsed on the right. CSL


Now
my photo

old file

[HossC]

Excellent pictures of the Sorrento Beach Club garage, Noircitydame and Michael Ryerson. It looks like some of the structure survived until at least 1972. Note the absence of the bridge.


Detail of image from www.californiacoastline.org

By 1979, there wasn't much of the old garage left.


Detail of image from www.californiacoastline.org

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks so much for identifying the mystery 'ruins' as the Sorrento Club parking garage and rooftop pool NoirCity Dame. You're a treasure!

Here are a few more images from 1952 (I couldn't get them to enlarge for some reason).


ucla

The pool was pretty impressive to say the least.


ucla from 1952
____________________






Now the mystery deepens (literally).


ucla from 1952

"P.H. Philbin, of Chicago, a former owner of the Sorrento Beach building, had planned a 12-story apartment building on the site 1953. The project included utilizing the massive concrete Sorrento Beach Club structure which had been abandoned in an unfinished state. The project was controversial, as some property owners felt that it would mar the beauty of the Santa Monica Palisades Park." The image is of three children standing in a tunnel, looking toward the archway in the background. This tunnel is likely part of the Sorrento Beach Club."

I think everyone loves a mystery involving a tunnel!

Do you think it's possible that remnants of this tunnel still exists beneath P.C.H.?

__

[ethereal_reality]

for a chuckle.



Groucho_Marx/Kodachrome at http://hollywood-kodachrome.skyrock.com/

lol It's like he's smoking a piñata.

__


I loved the Norma Shearer beach house NoirCityDame. I think it looks great in the 'now' photograph.
There's a playhouse and a trampoline in the yard so the current family must have kids (or grandkids).

[ethereal_reality]

Family portrait, Pasadena Calif. 1910s?


eBay

"Uranium Photo Co.
12 West Dayton St.
Pasadena, - - Calif.
Phone: Colorado 7611"



photographer's stamp

Any idea why a photographer would name his business the Uranium Photo Co.?


Here's the complete photograph


eBay

How tall would you say that grass is?

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Family portrait, Pasadena Calif. 1910s

Any idea why a photographer would name his business the Uranium Photo Co.?

Uranium was used instead of silver in photographic paper to give a reddish-brown tint to prints. Interestingly, the article below states that the paper was not made after 1899.

http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Uranium/uranium.html

Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Very interesting Earl. -so the date of the photograph might be pre-1899.
or perhaps the photographer just didn't change the name of his business (even though he wasn't using uranium paper after 1899)

[Earl Boebert]

It definitely has the coloring of a uranium print.

Cheers,

Earl

[Martin Pal]

Going...
Going?
Gone.

From a Los Angeles Magazine article I just read:

18 of Your Favorite Classic L.A. Places That Are About to Disappear
by Chris Nichols
July 30, 2015

Folks were surprised recently when their neighborhood Albertson’s became a Haggen market and the local Radio Shack started morphing into a Sprint store, but that’s nothing compared to the epochal transformation happening to Los Angeles – especially for those that love those distinctive unusual joints that make the fabric of the city so special.

Most of the following are not designated landmark buildings and most of them are not as well known as the handful of buildings that get saved each year but they play a big part in the unique culture of Southern California. Major change is upon us in 2015 as new topples old and local favorites disappear. Summer isn’t even over and these classic places are heading for extreme remodels, complete demolition, or have already passed into history. Goodbye special places, hello blandness.

L.A. Magazine article

Formosa Café: Interior
7156 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046
This 90-year-old restaurant enjoys city landmark status, which protects the building, but not the ancient booths, lanterns, and funk inside that made this a favorite of film location scouts and fans of old Hollywood noir. A remodeling in July stripped the interior and replaced it with less.


A commenter (Scott Frank) says:

The Formosa renovation is absolutely horrible - it's like they removed all traces of personality and made it as bland as possible. It's doesn't even look like a McBar, it looks like whoever renovated it couldn't be bothered to do any decorating at all, it's almost blank inside. The situation is weird, since the personalityof the interior was really the only reason you went. Now...no reason to go at all.

Article link: HERE.

If anyone wants to research any of the others on the list, here they are:

El Dorado Lanes
8731 Lincoln Blvd, Westchester, CA 90045

House of Blues
8430 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

French Market Place
7985 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

Jan’s Coffee Shop
8424 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

Figueroa Tower Sky Lobby
660 S. Figueroa St Los Angeles, CA 90017

La Palma Chicken Pie Shop
928 N Euclid St, Anaheim, CA 92801

Belvedere Fireman’s Recreation Club
Record Ave., East Los Angeles

Arby’s neon sign
6833 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91405

Beckham Grill
77 W Walnut St, Pasadena, CA 91103

Billy’s Deli
216 N Orange St Glendale, CA 91203

Jewel’s Catch One
4067 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019

Frederick’s of Hollywood
6751 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028

Aidikoff Screening Room
150 S Rodeo Dr #140, Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Phil’s Diner neon sign
5230 Lakershim Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 91601

Figueroa Hotel
939 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015

San Pedro Waterfront Red Car
600 Sampson Way, San Pedro, CA 90731

Family Fair
810 Meridian Ave, South Pasadena, CA 91030

[ethereal_reality]

I have an additional photograph to add to the four I posted yesterday. (it has the same date as the others, 10-4-'22)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1922...item5b15bc1aba


http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1922...item5b15bc1aba


The previous four photographs are here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=30099

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Noircitydame

as the hotel, with the mansion still extant. You can see the ex-Gables garage up the highway too.

Is it a building or do I spy a gasometer along the horizon?

[ethereal_reality]

Yep, it's a gasometer M_P. It was located in Venice CA.


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19231


A very helpful grid by HossC

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19231

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The Sunspot (Burton Alexander Schutt, 1938) was north of Chautauqua, actually in Los Angeles.

Memorable as "Mildred's" in Mildred Pierce (1945):

overdrive

tovanger2, here it is as Carl's "Sea Air" Lodge & Restaurant.


I just found this at...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Santa-Monica...item4881bff7fa

[tovangar2]

Thank you e_r. Here is Carl's sea Air Lodge and Restaurant / Sunspot and environs in 1958:


pinterest

Today (I think, but I may still be lost):




-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

L.A. Magazine article

Formosa Café: Interior
7156 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046
This 90-year-old restaurant enjoys city landmark status, which protects the building, but not the ancient booths, lanterns, and funk inside that made this a favorite of film location scouts and fans of old Hollywood noir. A remodeling in July stripped the interior and replaced it with less.

A commenter (Scott Frank) says:

The Formosa renovation is absolutely horrible - it's like they removed all traces of personality and made it as bland as possible. It's doesn't even look like a McBar, it looks like whoever renovated it couldn't be bothered to do any decorating at all, it's almost blank inside. The situation is weird, since the personalityof the interior was really the only reason you went. Now...no reason to go at all.

In case anyone missed the changes at the Formosa Cafe:



@alisonmartino

(Apologies, the pix got a bit fuzzy when enlarged)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you MR for the photo of PCH. You always find the most evocative, romantic pix.

[CityBoyDoug]

American country music singer Gene Autry (1907 - 1998), of the CBS radio program 'Melody Ranch,' selects a record to play on a Wurlitzer jukebox, Los Angeles, California, May 17, 1940. Known as 'The Singing Cowboy,' Autry gained fame working in radio, movies and television and is best known for his signature song 'Back in the Saddle Again.

No bar in the Noir Age would be without one of these wonders.

Getty Img.,,,radio museum

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by broadwy_central_bldg

I'll be happy to post more photos or whatever people are interested in.

broadwy_central_bldg, if you haven't visited the city compilations section of ssp.com, & yet to see the following thread that focuses on dtla & the changes now underway there.....

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207723

I hope you'll add that section when you drop by & certainly post to ssp.com. I hope you also don't mind that I've re-posted in that thread your post from this thread that describes your being a resident of dtla.

[mjknight71]

Originally Posted by SoCalPaul

Hi everyone! I have been lurking & enjoying all the great pics for a few weeks now.

I have a couple of photos that I hope you can help me with. My grandfather owned a couple of flower shops, probably in the late 40's to early 50's. I don't know the streets they were on, but I have a few clues.



This one may be a little easier. Address looks like 10680. (WooHoo! I found an online LA phone directory from 1938 that lists the Nose Gay Flower Shop at 10660 W. Pico Blvd. Ardner g-4131)

Hi all,

I have been searching for pictures of the corner of West Pico Blvd and Overlands from the 1950s. The site is currently occupied by the CitiBank that from what i can find was build in the early 1960s (1961-3).

I have search the LA library and emailed anyone who comes up on the internet who might have a clue where to look but with limited success.

Then randomly I found the above post with a 1930s picture slightly further up the street.

One of the plots now taken by CitiBank in the 1951 phone book was a liquor store. The same address in a 1956 phone book is a florist (different to the one above), there only appears to be one business running at that area . The florist is still there in 1960.

Does anyone have any picture of the florist/liquor store from the 1950s or know where I could look for some?

I am in the UK so physical searches of documents are impossible