noirish Los Angeles

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

I really like this one because it has a fave bldng of mine, the Petroleum Securities Building, AKA the Pan-American Petroleum Building. It's a Meyer & Holler, built by Edward Doheny, at Olympic and Flower (SW corner) and in 1925 Doheny designed and erected America's largest electrical sign for it, which was about 160' x 50' if I remember, three color flashing "PAN-GAS".

It wasn't long though before it was switched over to read "HYDRIL" which was an oilfield equipment supplier.



(both USC; USC calls the second image 1926, but Hydril didn't come into being until 1933, and besides, those cars are early 30s, not mid-20s.)

Ah, the brea, the inky viscous blood that runs through LA's veins!

PAN GAS ahoy.

1923-1933 Petroleum Securities Bldg. - 714 W. Tenth Street (Olympic Blvd.)
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...FCY5D2RVY2.jpg

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

I just don't know for sure but you could be correct ER.....Norma Shearer, such a darling....very romantic and dangerous. Maybe some candy will make her sweet...

She had a handsome brother, Douglas Shearer, who was a sound engineer at MGM. I don't know too much about him. His body donated to medical science
Specifically: Body was donated to UCLA medical school. He was married but without issue.



Hollywoodhaydays.

Douglas Graham Shearer was born in Canada on November 17, 1899. The 1930 Census says he came to the US in 1926. He appears in the US Census in 1930 and again twice in 1940. In the 1930 Census he is married to the first wife Marian (Tilden). In 1930, they lived at 487 Mesa Road, Santa Monica (Pacific Palisades) The house is apparently still there, according to the Assessor's office, although it has a giant hedge across the front.

There are two entries for him in 1940, the first is on a farm or ranch in San Diego County, with his wife Ann (Cunningham) and the two children. He apparently married Ann in 1932.

The second appears to be a rental house he shared with a roomer, a Leonard Nudson (possibly Hudson) This was located on Kelton Avenue and is no longer there. On all three Census listings he is noted to be a sound engineer. He died in Culver City in 1971.

A paragraph in Find a Grave notes that he won 12 Oscars during his career. Find a Grave also notes another sister, an actress, Athole Shearer Hawks, born in 1900. She had come to Hollywood in 1919. She married director Howard Hawks.

[ethereal_reality]

advertising / playing cards


ebay




ebay




4611 W. Slauson today

GSV



ebay


ebay

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[ethereal_reality]

file this under noir.





ebay

Durella Boyer 17, murdered March 31, 1959 in Los Angeles.

There's more information (newspaper articles) on the internet about Ms. Boyer's murder, but they're all at pay sites. (at least the ones I found)
Is anyone a member of www.newspapers.com or www.myheratage.com?

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[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I was recently informed by HossC that this map I posted back on page 5 has been missing for some time.
I fixed the post, and thought I might as well post it here as well, since the original post is from 2009. (hard to believe!)

It's from a 1954 Atlas. It's not all that informative but it's fun to look at none-the-less.



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Is the Hellman Building correctly positioned?

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Durella Boyer 17, murdered March 31, 1959 in Los Angeles.

There's more information (newspaper articles) on the internet about Ms. Boyer's murder, but they're all at pay sites. (at least the ones I found)
Is anyone a member of www.newspapers.com or www.myheratage.com?

I found this small piece about Durella Boyer in the April 1, 1959 edition of the Spokane Daily Chronicle:


news.google.com

[ConstructDTLA]

May Co Downtown LA 1931 vs Now:

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

Douglas Graham Shearer was born in Canada on November 17, 1899. The 1930 Census says he came to the US in 1926. He appears in the US Census in 1930 and again twice in 1940. In the 1930 Census he is married to the first wife Marian (Tilden). In 1930, they lived at 487 Mesa Road, Santa Monica (Pacific Palisades) The house is apparently still there, according to the Assessor's office, although it has a giant hedge across the front.

There are two entries for him in 1940, the first is on a farm or ranch in San Diego County, with his wife Ann (Cunningham) and the two children. He apparently married Ann in 1932.

The second appears to be a rental house he shared with a roomer, a Leonard Nudson (possibly Hudson) This was located on Kelton Avenue and is no longer there. On all three Census listings he is noted to be a sound engineer. He died in Culver City in 1971.

A paragraph in Find a Grave notes that he won 12 Oscars during his career. Find a Grave also notes another sister, an actress, Athole Shearer Hawks, born in 1900. She had come to Hollywood in 1919. She married director Howard Hawks.

Thanks Old Stuff for the great info on sound engineer Douglas Shearer. I thought everyone might like to see the ''giant hedge''. You weren't kidding...the hedge even has a curious overhang to allow even more frontal coverage of the property.


google streetview

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

A quick look through the 1923 CD shows William Gibbs McAdoo (not MacAdoo) at 5 Berkeley Square. GW has written extensively about 5 Berkeley Square on his www.berkeleysquarelosangeles.com blog. It's worth noting that GW says "A full picture of the Phillips/Hunt/McAdoo house remains elusive", so if this is 5 Berkeley Square, maybe you've found that elusive picture.

Thanks for identifying the McAdoo house as the elusive 5 Berkeley Square.

I sent a PM to GaylordWilshire to let him know we located a photograph of 5 Berkeley Square. -but I'm not sure if he logs in any longer.
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[HossC]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Is the Hellman Building correctly positioned?

Fixed .

[ethereal_reality]

Take a look at this beautiful amber flask.


ebay

The seller says:
"Here's a 1/2 pint Dandy style whiskey flask embossed:"
The Chief Bar - Dan Kearney - 513 S. Main St.
"Thanks to some excellent research provided by Bruce Silva at Western Whiskey Gazette, I now know that this saloon was located in Los Angeles.
In a 1915 Directory listing, it shows that Kearney lived a few block away at Broadway & 7th in the Hotel Lankershim."



I couldn't find The Chief Bar in any of the directories, but here's Dan Kearney listed under Saloons in the 1909 Directory with the same 513 S. Main Street address.


LAPL


In the same 1909 directory his residence is listed as 626 S. Hill.


LAPL



By 1911...513 S. Main St. is listed under restaurants with Milovich & Kressich as proprietors.


LAPL


One last look at this very cool collectible.


ebay

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[ethereal_reality]

I found this rare 1920 snapshot on ebay a couple nights ago.

It shows a very tall Christmas tree in a vacant lot in front of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Building (built 1914).


ebay

above: I'm mostly surprised by the large empty lot. Was something torn down, leaving the lot vacant for a number of years?
(it's been there long enough to grow grass and weeds around the detritus)



-the seller included this large detail of the top half of the photo.

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[CityBoyDoug]

I love amber glass. ER inspired me to look for some from LA.

To me its very noir and nostalgic.

Here is a piece from Little Joe's Italian restaurant.


ebay

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Take a look at this beautiful amber flask.


ebay

The seller says:
"Here's a 1/2 pint Dandy style whiskey flask embossed:"
The Chief Bar - Dan Kearney - 513 S. Main St.
"Thanks to some excellent research provided by Bruce Silva at Western Whiskey Gazette, I now know that this saloon was located in Los Angeles.
In a 1915 Directory listing, it shows that Kearney lived a few block away at Broadway & 7th in the Hotel Lankershim."

I couldn't find The Chief Bar in any of the directories...

I had a look through the USC library for a picture of the Chief Bar at 513 S Main. I haven't found a ground level view yet, but I did find this 1917 image which shows the bar's awning advertising Eastside Beer.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

I went to the 1917 CD to find out who owned it when the picture above was taken, and guess whose name I found complete with Lankershim Hotel address? I didn't find any trace of the Chief Bar, but the 1917 CD does also list a cigar seller called Elmer B Geiser at 513 S Main.


LAPL

Here's the full USC picture - we may well have seen it before. For search purposes, other visible buildings include the Optic and Omar Theatres, the Security Building, the Rosslyn Hotel, Hotel Green and Hotel Leonide.


USC Digital Library

I couldn't find any mention of Colyear's on NLA. Their building in the picture above covers 509-511 S Main Street. Here's their advert from the 1915 CD.


LAPL

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I found this rare 1920 snapshot on ebay a couple nights ago.

It shows a very tall Christmas tree in a vacant lot in front of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Building (built 1914).


ebay

above: I'm mostly surprised by the large empty lot. Was something torn down, leaving the lot vacant for a number of years?
(it's been there long enough to grow grass and weeds around the detritus)

The lot was previously occupied by the Huntington Hall School for Young Ladies. This is the 1910 Baist map


www.historicmapworks.com

The 1914 Baist map shows the Examiner Building and the extension of Broadway. The rest of the block has also been subdivided into smaller plots, although it looks like only two or three are taken.


www.historicmapworks.com

LAPL's smaller version of the picture below was originally posted by gsjansen in post #1621, along with other pictures of how Broadway used to terminate at 10th Street. The Broadway extension obviously hasn't been completed here. It looks like the two small plots shown as occupied on the Baist map are also under construction at the far left.


USC Digital Library

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by HossC

I had a look through the USC library for a picture of the Chief Bar at 513 S Main. I haven't found a ground level view yet, but I did find this 1917 image which shows the bar's awning advertising Eastside Beer.

drat.

[CityBoyDoug]

Here is a just discovered and previously unpublished photo taken by physique photographer Bob Mizer of Athletic Guild Studio...

Taken in 1957 it appears to show the latest fashion in boy's haircuts. This and other photos were on display at a NY art gallery..



AMG-Mizer Los Angeles

Here is another never published Mizer photo from 1955. It appears Bob did a bit of directing to get the boys to ''look busy''. Corny but cute. Does anyone recognize the street?


AMG-Mizer Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

The lot was previously occupied by the Huntington Hall School for Young Ladies. This is the 1910 Baist map


www.historicmapworks.com

This is serendipitous...I found this stereo-view a few days ago on ebay. The Huntington Hall School for Girls, Los Angeles


ebay



...I'm not sure why there's a question mark under my avatar.

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[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

1924 Map originally posted by GaylordWilshire

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7491






http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=5070332


In 1924 Victor Girard (1880-1954) opened a real estate office on what is now Topanga Canyon and Ventura Boulevard and built a mosque-like gate to his 2886-acre subdivision named Girard. He graded the streets, set aside land for parks and schools, and planted thousands of trees.
In 1941 to community's name was changed to Woodland Hills.




http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=5070332






http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...Number=5070332


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1924 - Girard, eventually Woodland Hills

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/3964/rec/12

[ethereal_reality]

I'm always intrigued by Girard's Moorish follies.



below: -this was included with the SV of the Huntington Hall School for Girls.

The Brownsberger Home School, Los Angeles


ebay

You can view a large ad for the Brownsberger School here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16680


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