noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

posted earlier

I posted a 1952 aerial view in my reply on the previous page, but after seeing loyalton's post I'd thought I'd go back earlier. Here's the intersection on the 1910 Baist map, and it predates the jog in 1st Street, meaning that streetcars had to negotiate two 90 degree turns at Chicago. I'm guessing that the large red building is the former powerhouse that loyalton wrote about.


www.historicmapworks.com

The jog was in place by 1914, and the streetcars were using it.


www.historicmapworks.com

The 1921 map isn't as sharp, but it shows the Boyle Heights Branch Library on the site of the old powerhouse.


www.historicmapworks.com

[tovangar2]

Thank you Mstimc for the charming note. I am so glad that you had a rewarding day.

Thank you too loyalton and Earl Boebert for the info on hurdy-gurdys. I had not realized they engendered such hatred. I went on to read about them yesterday on wiki, finding that hurdy-gurdys are stringed instruments, with pre-11th-century origins, requiring an actual musician to play. Street organs have pre-programed tunes and require only a organ-grinder to turn a crank.

It became traditional in the old Soviet Union for blind men to play hurdy-gurdys in the streets while soliciting funds. However, they were all but wiped out in the 1930s when the authorities gathered 250 or so of them, under the guise of an ethnographic conference, and executed them as social undesirables.

New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia outlawed street organs in 1935 because of their association with begging and organized crime. Other cities in the US and UK did the same. Both Charles Dickens and George Orwell railed against organ grinders, who, oft-times, let their instruments go out of tune, and cranked them so ineptly that the resulting sound constituted an assault. People paid the men for silence, not as a thank you for a pleasant tune.

I could find nothing re Los Angeles and organ grinders, but some must have thought they were a problem here too or they would not be outlawed in the Code.


library of congress/wiki

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Thank you Mstimc for the charming note. I am so glad that you had a rewarding day.

Thank you too loyalton and Earl Boebert for the info on hurdy-gurdys. I had not realized they engendered such hatred. I went on to read about them yesterday on wiki, finding that hurdy-gurdys are stringed instruments, with pre-11th-century origins, requiring an actual musician to play. Street organs have pre-programed tunes and require only a organ-grinder to turn a crank.

It became traditional in the old Soviet Union for blind men to play hurdy-gurdys in the streets while soliciting funds. However, they were all but wiped out in the 1930s when the authorities gathered 250 or so of them, under the guise of an ethnographic conference, and executed them as social undesirables.

New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia outlawed street organs in 1935 because of their association with begging and organized crime. Other cities in the US and UK did the same. Both Charles Dickens and George Orwell railed against organ grinders, who, oft-times, let their instruments go out of tune, and cranked them so ineptly that the resulting sound constituted an assault. People paid the men for silence, not as a thank you for a pleasant tune.

I could find nothing re Los Angeles and organ grinders, but some must have thought they were a problem here too or they would not be outlawed in the Code.


library of congress/wiki

I remember seeing this Organ Grinder man Tony Barbuto in Chinatown in the late 1950s. I would give the little monkey a dime and he would put it in his pocket. The monkey wore a red outfit. Cute and strange at the same time.
Earlier in this thread I posted a photo of our family in Chinatown. This is probably when we saw the monkey and at other times. I got the dimes from my father as I rarely had any money on me as a child.

Below is a 1956 article that mentions Los Angeles organ grinders and their little monkeys.

google books - Rexparker

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

If prohibition is good . . . so are hills.


Spring Street '39 (Bring back prohibition?)
http://derangedlacrimes.com/wp-conte..._HOJJ_1939.jpg

1930 (?) Spring Street

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si.../7102/rec/1701

Incline or decline?

1951 another view of The Hall of Justice
http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-c...LA1951_800.jpg


Parking has always been a problem in this neighborhood
1943 - Parade
http://assets.blog.hemmings.com/wp-c...LAtank_800.jpg






While on the subject of miscellaneous street car scenes . . .

All aboard.

November 1946, Pacific Electric, Glendale Line
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm...d/77125/rec/19

[tovangar2]

That sounds perfectly charming CBD. Thx for tying street organs/barrel organs to LA. I'm now wondering when they were outlawed.

[ethereal_reality]

One-of-a-kind tourist snapshot showing the busy intersection at the foot of Angels Flight, 1950.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/RPPC-Los-Ang...item4ae7032880

I like the crowd....the attractive woman....the pensioners heading back to Bunker Hill...

[ethereal_reality]

Interesting building next to the Majestic.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/A9153-POSTCA...item51ce135fd1

[ethereal_reality]

Here is an especially fine look at the Bishop Johnson residence in Pasadena.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/PASADENA-CAL...item1e9af538cc

designed by Locke & Munsell.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20179

__

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Yowsah!



ebay

I just noticed the trees behind the Carolina Pines Jr. look like pines.
I don't know trees, so I'm guessing they're pines) I wonder if they survive?


the Carolina Pines Jr. site today


GSV




below: Across the street is this fine one story building with twelve count'em twelve miniature dormers. SE corner Melrose & Martel Avenue.

GSV
__

Carolina Pines (no Jr.)
http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compo...id/2174/rec/17

[Tourmaline]

1750 Colorado Blvd. Pueblo Motel






http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compo...id/4301/rec/30

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

2 postcard views of [CHester Place]


Source: LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026848.jpg


Source: LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026853.jpg

another view of homes on Chester Place


Source: LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026860.jpg

The Chester Place of today retains much of the charm of the old neighborhood with many of the mansions still intact. The neighborhood now is part of Mount St. Mary’s college satellite campus. The school was first given rights to operate out of number 2 Chester Place in 1957. After her death in 1958, Estelle left Chester Place to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which transferred the land to Mount St. Mary’s College, which officially opened their second campus in 1962. The administration and teaching at the campus takes place in many of the historic mansions, although a new library has been added to the campus. Estelle also left the easternmost portion of Chester place bordering Figueroa Street to St. Vincent’s school.

here is a bingmaps birdseye view of chester place today centered on the Doheny Mansion

Here's a third postcard view.


http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/singl...id/5000/rec/65



See also http://stjamesparklosangeles.blogspot.com/

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

1750 Colorado Blvd. Pueblo Motel






http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compo...id/4301/rec/30

It looks like the buildings are still standing, even though I can't see any sign of a motel name on them.


GSV

The overhead view on Google Maps shows all the buildings at the back as they appear on the postcard. Here's a view of the buildings nearest the street from an adjoining alley.


GSV

[Tourmaline]

Thanks for the follow up. One stop shopping. Eat, get trimmed, sleep. Keep off the HiWay! (or else?)

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Los Angeles High School (the second), ca.1902

View from Broadway between Temple and California Streets, northwest. The tall building with a clock tower is the second Los Angeles High School. The Broadway Tunnel, open less than a year, can be seen in the lower right. I especially like this shot of Fort Moore Hill as you can see some of the many oil wells in the distance. I believe the J.W. Robinson mansion can be seen immediately to the right of the high school.

waterandpower.org



los angeles high school, 1908

Photograph of the exterior view of second Los Angeles High School with the American flag flying above the clock tower, Fort Moore Hill, Los Angeles, 1908. The 4-story brick building is surrounded by a low picket fence. Two entries are visible in this perspective -- one with a square portico (at left) and one under an arch (at right). The street runs along the front of the school. A sign posted in a vacant lot is beside the school reads: "for sale, C.O.G., has Goodwin [...]". Several trees are visible. Utility poles and lines run above the sidewalk and street.
"Los Angeles' first high school was located on Poundcake Hill, near First and Fort St. (which is now Broadway.) Los Angeles High School was created on the Central Elementary School site in 1873, at a cost of $20,000. The school's first principal was Dr. W.T. Lucky. Its first graduating class (1875) had 7 members. In 1882, to make room for the County Court House, the school was moved to Fort Moore Hill, where the present Board of Education now stands. [The picture to the left] is that of the second Los Angeles High School. In 1917, it moved again to its current location on Olympic Blvd., and Rimpau Ave., with 1937 students." -- unknown author.

~1910 Broadway Tunnel

http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/singl...id/4849/rec/78



~1910 Looking south from Courthouse

http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/singl...id/5297/rec/97

[ethereal_reality]

Postcard showing the Meeting Room of the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge, circa 1910.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/South-Pasade...item46372b9f81

I'm a bit surprised they allowed an interior photograph since it's a 'secret society'.
I wonder what the two columns represent in their pageantry procession?



I took the google-mobile to So. Pasadena to find the Masonic Building.


GSV / Fair Oaks Avenue



The roof-line (behind the façade) appears to match the ceiling in the 1910 postcard.


google_earth

but I'm still not 100% sure this is the same building as the one in the 1910 postcard.

__

[Tourmaline]

Dora Hennicke visits Los Angeles residence, July '35 unknown location. (Could she have been visiting Henry Hennicke at 316 S Berendo, or Raymond at 1670 S. Rimapu Blvd.?)


http://digitalcollections.missourist...=0&x=329&y=392

[tovangar2]

There's an extant 1927 Bishop Johnson house in Pasadena (I thought his name was "Bishop Johnson", turns out he was LA's Episcopal Bishop, Joseph Johnson) designed by his son Reginald the year before the Bishop's retirement.


LAT

Reginald Johnson (1882-1952) worked for Hunt and Grey and also Robert Farquhar before opening his own practice. He and partners designed St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral on Figueroa, Good Sam Hospital, the Santa Barbara Biltmore and Baldwin Hills Village. Johnson enthusiastically took up the cause of affordable housing during the Depression, winning an AIA award for best small house design.

More: http://oldhomesoflosangeles.blogspot...nd-avenue.html

Thank you e_r for sending me off on another enjoyable digression

[Tourmaline]

3438 East Colorado Street, Pasadena Bella Vista Motor Court

http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compo...d/2540/rec/172

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

That sounds perfectly charming CBD. Thx for tying street organs/barrel organs to LA. I'm now wondering when they were outlawed.

It was rather sad really. I felt sorry for the little monkey who had to give up all of his coins to the man. But he was doing what he was trained to do.

Old 1940s photos of LA show many "FURS" shops...most are very large. Can you imagine that today?

[Tourmaline]

11925 Santa Monica Blvd., West LA (near Bundy) Pick's








http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compo...d/4180/rec/238

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

I remember seeing this Organ Grinder man Tony Barbuto in Chinatown in the late 1950s. I would give the little monkey a dime and he would put it in his pocket. The monkey wore a red outfit. Cute and strange at the same time.
Earlier in this thread I posted a photo of our family in Chinatown. This is probably when we saw the monkey and at other times. I got the dimes from my father as I rarely had any money on me as a child.

Below is a 1956 article that mentions Los Angeles organ grinders and their little monkeys.

google books - Rexparker

I remember the organ grinder and his assistant (monkey) in mid fifties playing around Alan Lum's tourist photo booth when ever we went to ChinaTown. My father knew almost all the shop and restaurant owners so we were there too often. Alan was a very important Tong member, when he died he had a huge funeral.