noirish Los Angeles

[Wig-Wag]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Ed Workman, could the washed-out PE bridge over the Tujunga Wash be the same one you described as possibly being
what was shown in screencaps I posted from W. C. Fields' Man on the Flying Trapeeze (1935)?

Southern Pacific preparing for California 170 construction in North Hollywood - 1966.





The reason it is difficult for NLA readers tor reconcile the location of this trestle on today's google maps is that it succumbed to the construction of the 170 Freeway in 1966.

My photos show an SP steam pile driver setting supports for a short steel girder bridge over what would become a concrete lined Tujunga wash with vertical sides. With the wash narrowed to approximately 30 feet across, the steel truss bridges for vehicular traffic on the north and south sides of parallel Chandler Boulevard would be replaced by short concrete California Highway Department bridges plus a cover and fill between the vehicular bridges and the railroad bridge. The freeway would obliterate the scene shown in the pictures. The SP bridge would later be covered by the current Orange Line Busway. Note: If you look closely at the black and white photo you can see the north side Chandler Boulevard truss bridge in the distance behind the Hollywood car .

A minor correction to the PE route into North Hollywood. After descending Cahuenga Pass, the rails swung right and ran parallel to Vineland Avenue, crossing over Lankershim boulevard at the 5-points junction of Vineland Avenue, Lankershim Boulevard and Camarillo streets to Wilcox Avenue where it curved left on to the Southern Pacific’s Van Nuys Branch right-of-way. It then ran parallel to Chandler boulevard to Kester junction where the SP curved north while the PE continued on alongside Chandler to Van Nuys Boulevard where it too turned north.

Flying Wedge, I don’t believe the bridge you cited in your post from the “Man on the Flying Trapeze” is in the San Fernando Valley. There is no roadway visible on either side of the trestle and the small hill on the left side does not fit with the flat landscape of the SFV. There were three trestles in North Hollywood. Two were paralleled by Vineland avenue and the one on Chandler Boulevard seen behind the streetcar in the photo that sparked this discussion.

I think the trestles in the movie may be on PE's Eastern District, east of Pomona. However, I will have to do some research.

Cheers,
Jack

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Alan Weeks via https://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolibraryarchive/

"A Pacific Electric car near the Tujunga Wash. A 1938 flood washed out the Pacific Electric's bridge over the wash, forcing it to share tracks with the Union Pacific's until 1952."

Consistent with Wig-Wag's post

Recollect the image also having been identified as somewhere on Vineland, north of Lankershim, possibly close to Agua Vista? Noting the girders to the immediate left of the streetcar, are there any remaining open girder bridges spanning the LA River in/near this neighborhood?


1938 Studio City flooding
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019280.jpg




Projected LA River development
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00120/00120779.jpg

December 8, 1948 partially reads, "Most unusual of series of bridges in program is four-way structure to be built where wash crosses Riverside Dr. and Whitsett St. During construction of bridge (dotted lines), traffic will be detoured behind buildings in background of intersection."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00113/00113897.jpg

October 4, 1956 reads, "Crane swings lumber to workmen constructing freeway extension bridge over Vineland avenue near Moorpark street. Street project accompanying freeway work calls for widening Vineland between Magnolia boulevard and Los Angeles River channel and Moorpark between Vineland and Tujunga avenue. Curbs and gutters will be installed and additional traffic lanes constructed on both streets."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00113/00113907.jpg

[Wig-Wag]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

Consistent with Wig-Wag's post

Recollect the image also having been identified as somewhere on Vineland, north of Lankershim, possibly close to Agua Vista? Noting the girders to the immediate left of the streetcar, are there any remaining open girder bridges spanning the LA River in/near this neighborhood?


1938 Studio City flooding
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019280.jpg

Godzilla, the car is now several miles beyond Agua Vista street. The first street one would encounter on the far side of the vehicular bridge is Beck (I had a girlfriend who lived 3 houses north of Chandler on this street). The first street one would encounter ahead of the streetcar is Irvine. Both streets are visible on today's google maps.

Agua Vista Street crossed the PE at Vineland Avenue. It too is still visible on Google Maps. Look just north of the LA River just west of where the 170 freeway crosses over it. The PE stop in this area was Rio Vista. It lay between the Tujunga Wash Bridge and the Los Angeles River Bridge, Both were converted from wooden trestles to steel bridges in 1928. The Rio Vista shelter was saved and today is on display at Traveltown in Griffith Park.

There are no remaining girder bridges on Chandler Boulevard or elsewhere in the SFV so far as I know.

Cheers,
Jack

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

So this ramshackled place was the city orphanage before the huge orphanage was built out on the hill in Boyle Heights?


Here's Benjamin Wilson with his second wife around 1860.


http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpresse...doc.view=print

"Benjamin Davis Wilson, known as Don Benito in pre-American Southern California, shaped Los Angeles and California history in a remarkable number of ways. He:

Owned what is today Beverly Hills, UCLA, large parts of downtown Los Angeles, the City of Riverside, Culver City, Wilmington, Pasadena, Altadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra and parts of other cities and was one of the wealthiest persons in early Los Angeles
Set up American Government locally as the first county clerk of Los Angeles County.
Was the second mayor of Los Angeles. He sat on the first year’s Los Angeles city council.
Was on the Los Angeles County board of supervisors
Was the state senator for everything between Tulare County and the Mexican border.
Led Americans in the first battle of the Mexican War, as a captain in the U.S. Army
Was in the first party of overland settlers to reach Southern California
Was a successful mountain man
Named the Bear Lake area, while leading the first group of non-Indians into the San Bernardino mountains.
Was the first Indian Agent in Southern California
Took Chief Cabazon prisoner at present-day Palm Springs while hunting down renegade Indians
Owned gold and silver mines in Southern (yes, Southern) California
Was president of the first railroad in Los Angeles
Was on the board of the first oil company in Los Angeles
Was one of the largest vintners in the U.S.
Was one of the largest citrus growers in the U.S.
Was the first to bottle sparkling wine (champagne) in California
Started the first manufacturing plant in Los Angeles
Played an important role in the development of the Los Angeles port.
Started the predecessor college to USC
Built a trail to the peak that bears his name today, Mount Wilson."

from
http://www.natread.com/donbenito

Benjamin Wilson was also the grandfather of General George S. Patton

[ethereal_reality]

Jack, is this you?



June 19, 1955, photo by Bill Whyte http://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-co..._PE_WigWag.jpg

"A railfan armed with his camera sits atop a Pacific Electric wig-wag."



__

[ethereal_reality]

I previously thought the writing next to the windows on the San Carlos Cocktail Lounge said 'Welcome',
but after looking closer, I was surprised to see it actually says 'Television', twice!


detail

-somewhat surprised a television is such a drawing card (especially to paint it twice on the front of an establishment)

[ethereal_reality]

"Motormen carries a grip in which they carried the controller handle and the reverse key, otherwise it was like leaving your ignition key in the ignition switch."
-Ed Workman


"As a kid, I'd see the motormen change out from time to time and the one guy would remove his 'handle' and step off the car, maybe exchange a few words with his relief who would then step aboard and place his own control handle on the shaft and off we'd go. Also saw, but can't really remember the particulars, the motorman remove his handle at one end of the car, walk the length of it, reconnect it to the shaft at the far end and we'd go the other way. Never really thought about it much but without that handle the car couldn't be moved. The reverse key, as I remember was kept on a chain attached to the guy's belt. He couldn't really move around without taking it with him."
-Michael Ryerson

Thanks for explaining all this to me guys. I really appreciate it.

_
http://www.sbcity.org/images/departm...hades_0411.jpg

Pacific Electric Motorman, Edward Erickson, 1935
Pictured is donor's father on the Big Red Car


_


1953


https://www.flickr.com/photos/brianf...an/9150625715/

"A Pacific Electric red car motorman waves to a passing colleague in 1953."

_

[ethereal_reality]

Headlight Check, Los Angeles 1939


eBay

"An officer of the State Motor Vehicle Department checks height of lights on a car during a campaign to eliminate road hazards
created by faulty lights. If the lights show too high or too low, officers board the car, move it down the street where
the driver is given a citation." -4/5/39


reverse


____

[ethereal_reality]

California Border Patrol, 1936


eBay

"In an effort to keep out itinerants who might become charges of the county, Lo Angeles Police have been patrolling the California border in advance of the annual mid-winter influx.
The governor of Arizona has declared the action unconstitutional and an inter-state controversy threatens."



reverse

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

California Border Patrol, 1936

"In an effort to keep out itinerants who might become charges of the county, Lo Angeles Police have been patrolling the California border in advance of the annual mid-winter influx.
The governor of Arizona has declared the action unconstitutional and an inter-state controversy threatens."

In 1936 my father was a railroad Special Agent in Portola, CA. LA County sheriff's officers were up there pulling indigents off of trains. In 1938 he was transferred to Elko, NV, and the LA County lads were there as well.

Hard times.

Earl

[Wig-Wag]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Jack, is this you?



June 19, 1955, photo by Bill Whyte http://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-co..._PE_WigWag.jpg

"A railfan armed with his camera sits atop a Pacific Electric wig-wag."


__

I wish it was ER, but in 1955 I was only 10-years old. However, at that age I could have climbed the Wig-Wag!

Cheers,
Jack

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Jack, is this you?



June 19, 1955, photo by Bill Whyte http://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-co..._PE_WigWag.jpg

"A railfan armed with his camera sits atop a Pacific Electric wig-wag."



__

There's still a few left. Here's what they sound like.

Click link:

https://youtu.be/k1PCyKhC1_k

[ethereal_reality]

It turns out the wig-wag sitter is Jim Bruggere.



http://www.pacificelectric.org/pacif...erch/#comments

i think Ralph meant Atwater.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

In 1936 my father was a railroad Special Agent in Portola, CA. LA County sheriff's officers were up there pulling indigents off of trains. In 1938 he was transferred to Elko, NV, and the LA County lads were there as well.

Hard times.

Earl

This is quite interesting Earl. I didn't know any of this before I came across that border photograph from eBay.

So were the LA County sheriff's officers undercover? I was a bit confused by the absence of any uniformed officers in the photo I posted.
I wasn't sure if the men in the photograph were merely drivers crossing the border, or officers undercover.

And did LA County officials have any actual jurisdiction at the border? I mean come on, the eastern boundary of LA county is hundreds of miles away.

__

[ethereal_reality]

Here' a 'Where's-Waldo' type of photograph.

"The 800 students of Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High in California had their picture taken in 1941."------------------------------------------------>


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ane-Baker.html

There is someone in this photograph that is going to become very famous in the next few years. Can you spot her?

(answer below)































Well, here she is in the upper center of this detail.



A young fresh-faced Norma Jean Baker! aka Marilyn Monroe.

There are signatures covering the back of the photo, but frustratingly Norma Jean's isn't one of them.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ane-Baker.html

....if you're still looking for her in the group, here she is circled.






The article doesn't say, but Ralph Waldo Emerson Jr. High is located on Selby Avenue in Santa Monica. (directly behind the massive Mormon Temple)


google_aerial

I haven't decided yet which building the students were posed in front of.


__

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This is quite interesting Earl. I didn't know any of this before I came across that border photograph from eBay.

So were the LA County sheriff's officers undercover? I was a bit confused by the absence of any uniformed officers in the photo I posted.
I wasn't sure if the men in the photograph were merely drivers crossing the border, or officers undercover.

And did LA County officials have any actual jurisdiction at the border? I mean come on, the eastern boundary of LA county is hundreds of miles away.

__

Not in uniform, that's for sure. Whether that qualifies as "undercover" is kind of a semantic quibble.

As for your second question, I think the answer is:

"Jurisdiction? Jurisdiction? We have blackjacks. We don't need no stinking jurisdiction."

A blackjack is a spring-loaded sap, which, with a little practice, can be used with a flick of the wrist to deliver a neatly calibrated blow to the head. I still have my father's somewhere.

As I said, hard times. Real hard times.

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

A blackjack is a spring-loaded sap, which, with a little practice, can be used with a flick of the wrist to deliver a neatly calibrated blow to the head.
I still have my father's somewhere.

As I said, hard times. Real hard times.

Earl

My grandfather was a sheriff's deputy in Illinois in the 1950s and I have his blackjack. It's a heavy rounded weight encased in black leather with a thick leather handle.

like this.


I used to carry it under the seat of my truck. (until someone told me it was illegal to do so.

How was your father's spring loaded Earl?
_

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

My grandfather was a sheriff's deputy in Illinois in the 1950s and I have his blackjack. It's a heavy rounded weight encased in black leather with a thick leather handle.

[snip]

I used to carry it under the seat of my truck. (until someone told me it was illegal to do so.

How was your father's spring loaded Earl?
_

I think they are functionally the same. The weight is on the business end and the spring is in the handle, so the weight can be snapped out and back with a flick of the wrist. The idea is to deliver a concussion without cracking the skull. No raised truncheons to excite a crowd, just a guy dropping quietly at your feet. ("Move along folks, nothing to see here.") There's a great shot of Steve McQueen sapping a cop in the original "Thomas Crown Affair."

I kid you not, my dad was trained in its use by the FBI. (Because of interstate commerce, most railroad Special Agents were close to the feds -- and formally federalized during WWII.)

Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks Earl. -quite interesting.



This 'mystery' photograph was sold on eBay back on March 8, 2014.



"1900 Railway, RPPC (Real Picture PostCard), Pacific Electric CALIF Observation Rail Car Rail"

Does anyone have an idea where this photograph was taken? Is there a unseen tunnel behind the streetcar...or is this the end to the line?
-also note, there appear to be three sets of tracks. (I only noticed two at first)

Since this is an observation car I'm assuming this is somewhere along Pacific electric's Balloon Route.
-but the Balloon Route didn't open until September of 1901, so the date of the photograph might be off by a year.

*Do you think the man holding the bag at far right is the motorman?
-but he's not in uniform so maybe he's a doctor.

[ethereal_reality]

OK, I just spotted the motorman, so maybe the other man was a doctor.


detail





...or maybe he's just holding his wife's purse.



nope, looks like a doctor's bag to me.
_