noirish Los Angeles

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Sooo, it's kind of difficult to express the magnitude of what's been released. I'm just gonna leave this here and let you see for yourself...

https://esotouric.com/2020/09/05/ruscha/

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ostcount=28771















https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...arzan_yell.jpg



https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...postcount=9084

[Arch2000]

Hi All. I was wondering if anyone had any photos or information on 420 South Broadway, in downtown's historic core. Apparently my great-great grandfather lived there when he moved to LA from the East Coast. I know he lived there starting in 1924, and probably for a few years, as by 1928 he had moved.

I assume this was a boarding house of some sort at the time. GSV shows it to be a one-story block of shops from when it started in 2009, sometime in 2015/2016 it was razed, and currently it's the construction site of luxury high-rise condos (Perla on Broadway)

[ethereal_reality]

. .just listed on eBay.

Two color slides of nightlife along Hollywood Boulevard in 1959.



eBay

I recognize most everything but what is YAL?

note how the Barker Bros. sign appears to be floating in front of the Roosevelt Hotel sign.




eBay

Is that a neon leg ?

The mammoth Coca-Cola sign blocks the view of the Kress Building.



Winner of the most boring sign: ...SHOE CITY top slide.



.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Arch2000

Hi All. I was wondering if anyone had any photos or information on 420 South Broadway, in downtown's historic core. Apparently my great-great grandfather lived there when he moved to LA from the East Coast. I know he lived there starting in 1924, and probably for a few years, as by 1928 he had moved.

I assume this was a boarding house of some sort at the time. GSV shows it to be a one-story block of shops from when it started in 2009, sometime in 2015/2016 it was razed, and currently it's the construction site of luxury high-rise condos (Perla on Broadway)

Here's 420 S Broadway on the far left of this 1928 image. The sign above "Glick & Co" says "Entrance 420 Take Elevator".


USC Digital Library

420 S Broadway appears to have been called the Winstel Building. The 1924 CD lists its businesses as H Glick & Co, milliners, Martin Schaefer & Co, signs, Everlasto Luggage Shop and Miller's Photo Service. Signs for a couple of these were still present in 1928 (above). I can't see any indication of residential accommodation. There's a demo permit dated 9/21/1955 for 420-422 S Broadway.

[Lwize]

Some new LA Noir reading material for a case in-no-ways beaten to death here:

The Black Dahlia

The Long, Strange History of Los Angeles’ Coldest Cold Case

https://delacortereview.org/2020/09/...est-cold-case/

[riichkay]

The link that Beaudry provided to the Ed Ruscha collection had a thumbnail of the above 1966 image, 5905-25 Sunset Blvd....n/w corner of Sunset and Bronson...the site is now improved with a recently completed 13 story office building that has been leased in its entirety to Netflix.


Here is a night view, courtesy of Randall Insurance....




The 1935 building permit tells us it was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who was also responsible for the Wilshire Tower, which housed Desmond's and Silverwood's....he also designed numerous stations for Union Pacific....more on Underwood here.....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Stanley_Underwood


The 1935 permit...





The building was demolished in '91....



The last usage shown is as a theater, certainly it was not a movie theater....I would guess a playhouse of some kind, but I could find no reference to the building housing a legitimate theater.    



On the site sketch attached to the demo permit is a notation that the city's Cultural Heritage commission found the building unworthy of preservation....  

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

. .just listed on eBay.

eBay

I recognize most everything but what is YAL?
_________________________________________________________________

Something doesn't look right with that YAL. Look at the bottom left corner of it. It almost looks like a square insert on the slide.

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Something doesn't look right with that YAL. Look at the bottom left corner of it. It almost looks like a square insert on the slide.

I think it's a sign on a framework that sits on the sidewalk in front of the movie theater.

Cheers,

Earl

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

. .just listed on eBay.

Two color slides of nightlife along Hollywood Boulevard in 1959.



eBay

I recognize most everything but what is YAL?

Per the 1960 CD:

Shoe City was at 6666 Hollywood Bl, and at 6672 was the Hollywood Stationers and Typewriter Shop. The sign might be animated and advertising "Royal Typewriters."

Or, in between at 6670 Hollywood Bl was the Lucky Value Shop. Maybe what looks like a Y was actually a malformed V?

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

I think it's a sign on a framework that sits on the sidewalk.

I think you're correct, Earl. . .and I believe Lorendoc is on to something with his ROYAL TYPEWRITERS suggestion.



Impressive deducing, Lorendoc.
.

[Flyingwedge]

The 1956 LA Street Address Directory shows a Royal Room restaurant at 6700 Hollywood Blvd., which could account
for the YAL we see.

There is a June 2, 1948, building permit to "construct and install neon sign" at that address. Although the sign on the
permit says "Royal Room," it is a different design than the orange YAL.

[Lorendoc]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The 1956 LA Street Address Directory shows a Royal Room restaurant at 6700 Hollywood Blvd., which could account
for the YAL we see.

There is a June 2, 1948, building permit to "construct and install neon sign" at that address. Although the sign on the
permit says "Royal Room," it is a different design than the orange YAL.

- Many possibilities although the sign seems rather grand for a bar, a typewriter store and an "outlet store."

[Arch2000]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's 420 S Broadway on the far left of this 1928 image. The sign above "Glick & Co" says "Entrance 420 Take Elevator".


USC Digital Library

420 S Broadway appears to have been called the Winstel Building. The 1924 CD lists its businesses as H Glick & Co, milliners, Martin Schaefer & Co, signs, Everlasto Luggage Shop and Miller's Photo Service. Signs for a couple of these were still present in 1928 (above). I can't see any indication of residential accommodation. There's a demo permit dated 9/21/1955 for 420-422 S Broadway.

Thanks Hoss, for this info. So it was purely a commercial building and not a boarding house or hotel as I thought ... perhaps my relative used a business address for his mailing address, since he was new to the area, and had not yet found a permanent place to live.

Were those the only businesses listed in the CD? Is it available on-line so I can search and see if there were other clues I can find that may clear this up a little? Cheers!

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

- Many possibilities although the sign seems rather grand for a bar, a typewriter store and an "outlet store."
________________________________________________________________________________________________

That is true, Lorendoc.

There's also a couple spotlights across the street shining into the sky which wouldn't be there normally.

(I love the Vogue's blade sign in this photo.)

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Arch2000

Were those the only businesses listed in the CD? Is it available on-line so I can search and see if there were other clues I can find that may clear this up a little? Cheers!

They were the only businesses listed in 1924. The City Directories are available at LAPL. You can either open an individual CD (Browse Titles) or search all the CDs for a name or address (Simple Search).

Note that the CDs of the 1920s tend to use the abbreviation "420 s bway" for 420 South Broadway.

Feel free to PM me if you need more help searching the CDs.

[Snix]

Paul's Duck Press at 2353 E. Olympic Blvd. at Santa Fe Avenue at the edge of Downtown.

Photo from eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1960s-Pauls...T/193657272546


Webstore
https://www.webstore.com/item/Pauls-...rnia/102723088

That original Bank of America on the corner always caught my eye. I had no idea it was part of this famous restaurant. The building next door is still intact, but the banquet room part of the restaurant has been demolished. A 1945 permit says this space had already been a restaurant for 15 years.

Before he opened this restaurant, owner Paul Peter Della Maggiora (1890-1965) worked at the Mt. Lowe Tavern above Pasadena, ran a speakeasy in Venice, and had ventures in San Diego. He was also partners with Caesar Cardini of Caesar salad fame: https://classicsandiego.com/restaura...urant-tijuana/

This auction ad gives a good idea of what the interior looked like: black diamond-tufted booths, brass chandeliers, 1920 Italian espresso machine, copper hibachis for tableside cooking, antique duck presses (of course), plus mounted heads of kudu, elan, bighorn sheep!

(LAT 2.5.78)
According to permits, 75' of the building was demolished in 1980 which left 40' remaining. Here it is today.

GSV

[Slauson Slim]

According to permits, 75' of the building was demolished in 1980 which left 40' remaining. Here it is today.

GSV[/QUOTE]

Like so many older buidlings in LA, another nondescript bricked up fortress.

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent post, Snix.

I happened upon your top photo on eBay yesterday & was preparing a post but you beat me to it. (Darn it)


I initially didn't think any of the building was left until I noticed the medallion with the B of A schooner in both views.









It's such a strange location for a fancy restaurant. The area is almost entirely industrial.

............................................................................................................................................................................................that's the L.A. River - - - >

google earth

.

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Sooo, it's kind of difficult to express the magnitude of what's been released. I'm just gonna leave this here and let you see for yourself...

https://esotouric.com/2020/09/05/ruscha/

I went to the opening of Johnny Weismuller's. Johnny was there, wearing a blue blazer over his bay window. He no longer resembled Tarzan.

[Beaudry]

Greetings all,

So, something to share with the group; normally I'd shy away from shameless money-grabbing self-promotion buuuuuut...

...besides (and hard to believe it) I've been posting here for over ten years, and primarily about Bunker Hill. Lots of the ideas I had about the Hill I honed and refined here in these very posts, with the aid of all the great fellow researchers.

And thus, at some point during the last decade, I approached Angel City Press and said you know, there oughta be a book. Right?

The last few years then included a bit of hard labor and voilà:



Its publication date is September 22nd. Might I humbly suggest you pick one up? Of course, it's unlikely you'll venture out to the local book store, which is on fire while being attacked by zombies, so should you be interested in the thing you might want to pre-order it from ACP and they'll send it right to you.

The skinny on that can be found on my new website https://bunkerhilllosangeles.com/ where I'll be posting lots of Bunker Hill stuff henceforth (but I'll still post here, of course; nothing could keep me from that).