noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

...more arches.

South Central and Washington Boulevard, March 30, 1984.


http://johnhumble.com/los-angeles-la...scape-1979-90/







South Central and Washington Boulevard, May 2011.


gsv

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I had no idea the Bank of America arched sign was so similar to this earliest example of McDonald's signage in Downey.


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

The elongated arches are exactly the same dimensions. I wouldn't be surprised if we found out they had the same designer.
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According to wiki, Stanley Clark Meston designed the 1953 McDonald's, but the "Speedy" sign didn't go up until 1959 (dunno who designed that). Previously Meston had worked on CBS Columbia Square with Wm Lescaze and also for Wayne McAllister, the noted drive-in restaurant designer.

LAT interview with Meston: "Architect's Arches Got the Job Done"

I don't know who did that Pasadena BofA. If Pasadena has their building permits online, I couldn't find them.

[tovangar2]

Considering that, at one time, they were so close to each other, there's few photos that show the first two LA high schools together:


ucla islandora depository

[ethereal_reality]

Here is a Hugo Ballin mural I didn't even know existed!


It was located in the tea room of the downtown J.W. Robinson's at 7th and Grand Ave.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/653598...7623700273699/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/653598...7623700273699/

I've been searching for a photograph of it; but I haven't had any luck what-so-ever.

Do you think it could still somewhere in the building downtown? -behind a false wall perhaps
If not, was it saved and relocated? -perhaps to someone's Beverly Hills home.
__

I'm curious, was anyone else unaware of this mural?
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[ethereal_reality]

Here's a pretty rare document:


Ava Gardner's completed questionnaire for employment at MGM.


http://www.royalbooks.com/pages/book...nt-at-mgm-1941


After googling the address Ms. Gardner listed, 10331 Wilshire Boulevard, I was struck by how many famous people have lived at this same address.


-here's a list:



https://books.google.com/books?id=BI...levard&f=false



But the only photographs of 10331 (Wilshire Palms Apartments) I have been able to locate
were from the time Alfred Hitchcock lived there with his wife and young daughter.

below: Here is Mr. Hitchcock looking out over the courtyard of the Wilshire Palms in 1939.


http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Alfred..._i7104617_.htm

I assume the wide street at upper right is Wilshire Boulevard; if that's the case, the street directly in front of Mr. Hitchcock is Comstock Avenue.
(I need some vintage aerials Hoss )



"Film director Alfred Hitchcock, his wife Alma, and their daughter walk their dogs near their apartment at the Wilshire Palms." (also 1939)


http://whataboutbobbed.tumblr.com/po...1/alma-reville

After looking at this for awhile, I believe they're actually within the courtyard of the Wilshire Palms. (not simply near, as stated in the above description)
...if you look closely, the flagpole with cross beam is also visible in the balcony photograph.
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Lastly, here are the nondescript towers that replaced the Wilshire Palms Apartments.


gsv
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[tovangar2]

I couldn't find any more photos of the Wilshire Palms (great location, overlooking LA Country Club) and it's slim pickings over at the LADBS database. However, it was interesting to note that the permits for repairs and additions during the 1940s list A.B. Heinsbergen, at 7415 Beverly Blvd, as the owner. By 1950, Richard Red Skelton (his real name), mailing address, 400 Camden Dr, Beverly Hills, owned it.

Celebrity tenants and owners (in Skelton's case, both).

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a pretty rare document:


Ava Gardner's completed questionnaire for employment at MGM, 1941.


http://www.royalbooks.com/pages/book...nt-at-mgm-1941



__

This is trivial but Eva was married to Rooney in 1942. At the bottom of this form it reads March 1943 -3-9-43. Could this have been filled out in 1943? She checks ''married" yes.

Very attractive woman to say the least.

[ethereal_reality]

You're correct CBD. Thanks for catching that discrepancy.

The seller (asking $2,400 by the way) has the date wrong.
http://www.royalbooks.com/pages/book...nt-at-mgm-1941

[oldstuff]

I'm guessing that the car with the great roof rack belongs to the guy up the ladder. The stores here are Senit's (? apparel and accessories), Kirby's Shoes and Hart's Jewelers.



All from Getty Research Institute


Senit's was owned by Maurice Senit, who appears in a 1962 Compton directory as the owner of an apparel and accessories shop. The Compton store was located at 171 E. Compton Blvd. Mr. Senit and his wife Frances lived at 2615 Halm Avenue, Los Angeles. This house, built in 1935, is still there. The location of the Compton store is now a Social Security office and the building is apparently no longer there, or at least remodeled out of recognizability.

Maurice was born in 1908, in Poland and died in 1986 in Los Angeles. He and Frances lived in Dallas, Texas in 1940 where he was the proprietor of a dry goods store.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

I just noticed that rotating exit turnstile grate on the right. You used to see those everywhere. They were put at exits and only rotated one way to keep people from sneaking in through the exit. It's one of those "When did I last see one of those?" moments. They were probably banned because they might get stuck in a fire or other emergency, trapping people inside. Like railroad cabooses and airport life insurance machines, they just sort of disappeared without me noticing.

I remember those gate things at Marineland. As a child I was a bit scared of them.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Looking north on Figueroa, 1967."

I've never noticed the A-Frame before.


eBay

It seems out-of-place in relation to it's surroundings; but the mere size of it makes it impressive. (it's as tall as that three story building across the street)

I'm not sure of it's purpose. -my best guess is that it's an automobile showroom.

__

Maybe it was built as a church.

[ethereal_reality]

That's the same conclusion I came up oldstuff. (after finding that Daily Trojan 1965 ad for the Lutheran Church..."newest building on campus")

Originally Posted by HossC

This building isn't visible in the Shulman photos. It's directly opposite the building above. I hope someone tidies it up - the historic GSV images show it's been this way for a while.


GSV

It's now one of only two buildings on the block.

Hoss, here it is when it was open for business.


http://www.yelp.com/biz/bertrand-smi...oks-long-beach

The Acres of Books building was built in 1924 as a market. The building was upgraded in a Streamline Modern style in 1936 after earthquake damage.
At that time, the building was a used car showroom.

"Acres of Books opened on Pacific Street in 1934 and moved into the current building in the 1940s, taking over from a country-western bar and dance hall.
Back then, Long Beach Boulevard was a hot spot for the Navy, packed with bar, tattoo parlors and mom-and-pop shops."

Acres of Books closed in 2008.


http://www.yelp.com/biz/bertrand-smi...oks-long-beach


http://www.yelp.com/biz/bertrand-smi...oks-long-beach


From what I read the City of Long Beach now owns the building.

from an article dated 2008:

"After 74 years in business, the independent bookstore giant with 6 1/2 miles of shelving and an inventory that topped 1 million(!) volumes is closing down to make way for a redevelopment project. The two-story brick building will be transformed into a mix of housing and art galleries as part of the city's plan to connect downtown with it's East Village Arts District. The building was sold to the city for $2.8 million dollars three months ago."

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/03/local/me-then3





It will be interesting to see what the city comes up with.




gsv
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[HossC]

Thanks for the follow-up, e_r.


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

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here is a Hugo Ballin mural I didn't even know existed!

It was located in the tea room of the downtown J.W. Robinson's at 7th and Grand Ave.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/653598...7623700273699/

I've been searching for a photograph of it; but I haven't had any luck what-so-ever.

I haven't found any photos of the Hugo Ballin mural at J.W. Robinson's, but I thought it was worth posting these photos of the murals at the Griffith Observatory. I couldn't find any previous mentions. The description and pictures below are from griffithobservatory.org. The page also has close-ups of the eight wall murals: Time, Astronomy, Aeronautics, Navigation, Metallurgy and Electricity, Mathematics and Physics, Geology and Biology, and Engineering.

On the vaulted ceiling and upper walls of the W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda are Griffith Observatory's greatest artistic treasure: the Hugo Ballin Murals. Workers have carefully and completely restored the murals so that they appear as they did when first painted by muralist, film producer, and author Hugo Ballin (1879-1956) in 1934.

griffithobservatory.org

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That's the same conclusion I came up oldstuff. (after finding that Daily Trojan 1965 ad for the Lutheran Church..."newest building on campus")

Acres of Books closed in 2008. The cash register is at the left in this photo and the fiction section is the doorway in the back.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bertrand-smi...oks-long-beach



__

Thanks for posting this ER.

That interior photo really brings back memories for me. I lived in LB for 17 years and bought many books at Acres of Books.... mostly about ships and boats as that was my business at the time.

Now I sell a few of those old books on Amazon.

[ethereal_reality]

re: NE Corner Orange and Loomis and thing related


955-57 and 961-63 Orange Street at the NE corner of Loomis, by Eisen & Hunt.

originally posted by Flyingwedge

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...0279&page=1565

Thanks so much for your post Flyingwedge. It was very interesting to read about the Schallerts (mostly Mary).

I found it interesting that the two beautiful buildings above were eventually moved to N. Lake Street. They would have been neighbors to one of my favorite 'survivors' (link below)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17514

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[HossC]

I hope no one minds staying in Long Beach for another Julius Shulman post - I'm doing them in the order I find them. This Bank of America was only a couple of blocks from yesterday's branch, but this one occupied the first floor of a much larger building on the northwest corner of 1st Street and Pine Avenue. I think that's a USS Portsmouth shield on the corner of the building, but can't be sure. This is "Job 1092: Bank of America (Long Beach, Calif.),1951".



Here's the view looking north on Pine Avenue. In 1951, the south side of the intersection was flanked by a dentist on each side.



Across Pine Avenue from the Bank of America was Security First National Bank on the first floor of an even larger building. South of the bank on the right were the Heartwell Building and the 1929 Ocean Center Building.



All from Getty Research Institute

The old bank building is still standing, and in good shape, but it's no longer a bank. It's now an Italian restaurant called L'Opera, which gets pretty good reviews. Sadly, they've moved the entrance to the corner of the building, so the shield has gone. You'll now find the Downtown Long Beach Station on the Metro Blue Line outside the old bank building in the middle of 1st Street.


GSV

The Bank of America may have become an Italian restaurant, but the Security First National Bank is now The Federal Bar.


GSV

It's lucky that the two bank buildings survived, because everything on Pine Avenue between 1st Street and Ocean Boulevard has been replaced. At least the Ocean Center Building is still there.


GSV

[so-cal-bear]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I had no idea the Bank of America arched sign was so similar to this earliest example of McDonald's signage in Downey.


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

The elongated arches are exactly the same dimensions. I wouldn't be surprised if we found out they had the same designer.
__

(do arches have dimensions?)

HA! I was going to mention how the B of A bank sign was so similar to the first McDonald's restaurants myself. I just didn't because I thought it would be a silly comment. I guess not.

And yes, Parabolas, AKA arches do have dimensions. Basic Algebra, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabola

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here is a Hugo Ballin mural I didn't even know existed!


It was located in the tea room of the downtown J.W. Robinson's at 7th and Grand Ave.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/653598...7623700273699/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/653598...7623700273699/

I've been searching for a photograph of it; but I haven't had any luck what-so-ever.

Do you think it could still somewhere in the building downtown? -behind a false wall perhaps
If not, was it saved and relocated? -perhaps to someone's Beverly Hills home.
__

I'm curious, was anyone else unaware of this mural?
__

I did not know about that one, but in Burbank we have a lot of Hugo Ballin's work. There are at least two murals in the city hall, one at the top of the stairs from the entrance and one in the council chambers. We also have bronze reliefs on the stairways. Some attribute these to Ballin and some to William Allen, but they are in the same style. The Water and Power building on Magnolia in Burbank also has a Ballin mural.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by HossC

The Bank of America may have become an Italian restaurant, but the Security First National Bank is now The Federal Bar.


GSV

I see that Long Beach is desperate to ''dog proof'' the palm trees.

[CityBoyDoug]

Here's my favorite photo of Lucille Ball...''Lucy". She's seen with Desilu employees at their annual company picnic.
A tragic figure in many respects but she made the best of it.


desilu archives