noirish Los Angeles

[tovangar2]

Thank you Hoss

[ethereal_reality]

HossC and tovanger2.

[Martin Pal]

Since I mentioned it here recently, I found the reminiscence of the Hollywood Canteen I was looking for. As I couldn't find it on NLA, I finally had to realize I was mistaken and went looking elsewhere, where I located it. It's worth a read. (And I added a few photographs.)

It's this wonderful perspective, the view of a 12 year old boy, from the memory of an 80 year old named Jerrold Foutz who has a blog writing reminiscences and such for his family. In one segment he talks about the history of the canteen and then writes:

Before its close [...] on Thanksgiving, November 27, 1945, over three million serviceman had entered its doors, about 18% of the sixteen million servicemen who served during WWII. So why am I telling you some of the history of the Hollywood Canteen?

Because it was on my Los Angeles Examiner paper route and my sister was occasionally a volunteer hostess there.

Being a newspaper boy on a daily morning paper is somewhat of a character building job. You delivered your papers before dawn 7 days a week, 365 weeks a year, including during the 3-day downpours during the Los Angeles monsoon season and the freezing rains that came down from the north at other times.

The papers for my route were delivered between 3 and 4 am to a small office on Santa Monica Blvd just east of Fairfax Ave. My alarm went off at 3:30 am and I peddled my bicycle to the office, grabbed my stack of papers, folded them for throwing, and stuffed them in a box that was nestled on my handle bars by a U-shaped bracket. All papers had to be delivered before 6am, and shortly after 4am I was on my way towards Cahuenga Blvd. to deliver the Los Angeles Examiner to the Hollywood Canteen and other customers. Then back to the office to cover any complaints coming in on my route (seldom) and making a little more money by delivering missed papers on other routes. Finally, a quick trip home to shower and change clothes and on to school for my 8am class at Bancroft Junior High School.

There was no glamour in delivering papers to the Hollywood Canteen because it was closed that early in the morning, but collecting payment every month was a different story. I would plan to collect on nights when the club was in full swing. Entering the club, I would wait by the office of the Navy Shore Patrol at the entrance to the main room while someone went to find a person with a key to the Canteen office petty cash box.


Where 12 year old Jerrold waited, near the entrance to main room & Shore Patrol Station at the Hollywood Canteen.



The Canteen office where the petty cash box was located.




Jerrold: From this vantage point I could see all the activity in the club...


Jerrold: ...hear the music...


Jerrold: ...watch the servicemen jitterbug with the hostesses...
(Faye McKenzie jitterbugging with a serviceman.)

(1944)
Jerrold: ...see any entertainment on the stage, etc.
(The Andrews Sisters perform. "Hold Tight" perhaps?)


Jerrold: I often had to wait a half hour or more for the person with the key to petty cash to be found. During this time I usually would be offered some food coming out of the kitchen, a cupcake, cookie, piece of pie, etc.
(Rita Hayworth cutting slices of pie.)

Standing outside the small office of the Navy Shore Patrol, I learned most servicemen preferred the Military Police to the Shore Patrol. Also, over-hearing their conversations, I also developed a mild dislike for them although I can recall no specific instance of why.


(Navy Shore Patrol being served coffee by Rudy Vallee.)

Which gets me to my sister. Vera Jean worked as a salesperson for the Broadway-Hollywood Department Store located on the south-west corner of Hollywood and Vine, not far from the Hollywood Canteen. Both she and her sister Kallie were movie extras during the 1940’s and I loved to hear them relate their experiences when they were lucky enough to be called for a gig. Vera Jean was also an occasional hostess at the Hollywood Canteen. I know very little about the details of this part of her life because I was away from home in the morning when she got up and she was away at work when I got home.



Jerrold: The Hollywood Canteen was definitely the highlight of my monthly collections.

Jerrold's blog:
http://www.morningtalks.com/hollwood-canteen#more-617
All photos from THE HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN by Mitchell and Torrence.

[HossC]

Good story, Martin Pal. I thought the tale might have been hidden on NLA in a newspaper clipping or something similar. I'm glad I wasn't going mad when I couldn't find it .


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


Here's the interior of the Coliseum Bar & Saloon at 221 W 4th Street. The seller dates it at 1910. This date is corroborated by the 1906, 1909 and 1911 CDs which list Harry G Brown, a resident of West Hollywood, as proprietor/manager. The 1909 CD also lists John H Kaschub of 516 W 1st Street as a bartender at the Coliseum Bar. I wonder if he's one of the men in the picture.


eBay

[MartinTurnbull]

I found this image on the Duke University Library site. Interestingly, it's dated 1941, before the US entered WWII. (Unless of course the billboard appeared right at the end of the year, after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th. Either that, or the date is inaccurate.)

[HossC]

This seller has several streetcar photos, all conveniently labeled with their locations. Here's streetcar 1380 at Washington and Rimpau in the 1940s.


eBay

I was pleased to see that the old Bank of America building at 4801 W Washington Boulevard is still standing. A post on the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles' website says:

The front of the building features simple lines and applied arches that look like midcentury modern, but walk around the corner, and wow! A perfectly gorgeous facade by S. Charles Lee, possibly the most celebrated theatre architect in California.

It was built in 1930 for Trabue Pittman Corporation, and the Los Angeles Times noted that space in the building had been leased to "the F.W. Woolworth Company, International Provision Company, a drug store and two shops."


GSV

[rick m]

Originally Posted by HossC

That's the 1926 Roman Gardens at 2000 North Highland Avenue. They were mentioned in mdiederi's post about the Lost French Village of Hollywood because they had the same architects. BifRayRock also posted some black and white images in post #15726.


Michael Locke on Flickr

Found that director Joseph Mankiewicz was the most notable name of an occupant -- then there was the tiny newspaper advert I came across while sorting clippings at OneArchives months ago - It was for a show of Rae Bourbon performing at these Roman Gardens post prohibition's end.

[Martin Pal]

This is out of season, but an interesting photo I don't recall seeing on NLA before.

Christmas on Hollywood Blvd. 1930

Vickie Lester Blog

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

From "History and the Hill: Los Angeles Loses a Landmark" by L. Mildred Harris in 'The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly', Vol. 32, No. 2 (June 1950)


The landmark in question is Fort Moore Hill.

[URL=https://imageshack.com/i/expxj732p]

Thanks E_R. I could never get a precise idea of that section of Fort Hill behind the Plaza church until now !
There were larger photos taken from behind Alameda Street. Now we are coming closer : from the Plaza at Marchessault or Sunset (names already discussed by Tovangar I remember).
The semi-circular building draw my attention several years before the birth of the thread seeing it in « Out of the Past ». Robert Mitchum in his car passes by. I didn't know it was the deep center of Los Angeles and couldn't imagine how much I would know years later by NLA.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by rick m

Found that director Joseph Mankiewicz was the most notable occupant at 2000 N. highland Avenue.
-- then there was the tiny newspaper advert I came across while sorting clippings at OneArchives months ago.
It was for a show of Rae Bourbon performing at these Roman Gardens post prohibition's end.

This Rae Bourbon?

-the female impersonator

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/...ae_bourbon.php





(Formerly of the B.B.B. CELLAR CAFE, Hollywood) Have we covered this place on NLA?
-all I remember discussing is the Waldorf Cellar downtown.*

*Now that I reread this, I vaguely remember an underground bar in Hollywood that featured cross-dressers.
(but I don't remember B.B.B. as being the name)





-much later in life, he was involved in an extremely noirish incident...............MURDER!


http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/...ae_bourbon.php


multi-colored dogs that urinated on cue? -sounds like a classy act.

"the kennel owner donated the dogs to a medical research company." -for experiments? -many layers of noir to this story.

from another article.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2012/0...y-bourbon.html

So the colorful pooches were used in experiments. -no wonder the kennel owner was shot.
__

mug shot

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2012/0...y-bourbon.html


For further reading, here is an excellent essay titled "Murder in Mink" about Rae Bourbon's life, and specific details on the kennel owner's murder.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2012/0...y-bourbon.html

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[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

Good story, Martin Pal. I thought the tale might have been hidden on NLA in a newspaper clipping or something similar. I'm glad I wasn't going mad when I couldn't find it .

Thanks for trying to find it. I was sure it was on NLA because I thought I remembered a response to it. So thanks for helping!
_________

I noticed this October 1938 ad for a place called The Gay White Way.
L.A.Times

This was from 1938 and I noticed that it was the same address as the Hollywood Canteen.
This is a bit of a discrepancy with the 2012 Mitchell/Torrence book, The Hollywood Canteen, in that
the book says the structure had once been a barn and then had been a series of ill-fated nightclubs,
the last one being The Red Barn, which closed its doors in 1937 and then had been vacant for five
years. So, maybe not?

There was a trial associated with the canteen. A hostess, and aspiring actress, named Florida Evans
was injured in 1942 when a serviceman coaxed her into doing the jitterbug and she was severely injured in
a fall when he failed to catch her. This pretty much ruined her career. Florida sued the canteen and the trial
was played for quite a few laughs in the press, using the "swing" jargon of the day. Florida sued for $17,500,
a not unreasonable sum after all her medical expenses. The judge did agree with Florida and ruled in her favor,
but he awarded her $8,170. The canteen appealed the ruling and the case wasn't settled until 1946 when the
California Supreme Court heard it. They agreed with the lower court ruling, but reduced her settlement to $7,000.

L.A. Times

The canteen building was demolished in 1966. Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1966:



We've had similar photos here of the Hollywood Canteen, but this one that Martin Turnbull recently posted on his
Garden of Allah website made me chuckle, as my mind was apparently prone to conjuring up a notion or two
about what they were doing. (The photo does read "Hollywood Canteen for Service...") Heh!



The Hollywood Canteen was open from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday from
2 p.m. to 8 p.m. In addition to the two noticeable sailors, it appears there are two others lurking in the shadows
of the doorway.

There's a new book out (October, 2014) that I've been reading called DANCE FLOOR DEMOCRACY: The Social
Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen by Sherrie Tucker. It's a fascinating read looking at the experiences
of different types of people and how their memories relate to what's become sort of an "official memory" of the canteen.
Looking at it through the lens of "differences," you might say. I thought it was quite fascinating.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I noticed this October 1938 ad for a place called The Gay White Way.
L.A.Times

This was from 1938 and I noticed that it was the same address as the Hollywood Canteen.
This is a bit of a discrepancy with the 2012 Mitchell/Torrence book, The Hollywood Canteen, in that
the book says the structure had once been a barn and then had been a series of ill-fated nightclubs,
the last one being The Red Barn, which closed its doors in 1937 and then had been vacant for five
years. So, maybe not?

very interesting. I never thought about what was located in the Hollywood Canteen building prior to the war.

That said, great couple of posts on the canteen Martin_Pal. -excellent job.
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[ethereal_reality]

FYI

Clifton's was all lit up Saturday night!


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7831

originally posted by iboardsnow13 on the 'Los Angeles l Central City Project Rundown 5.0 thread
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[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

[/URL]

(Formerly of the B.B.B. CELLAR CAFE, Hollywood) Have we covered this place on NLA?


__

rick m, brought up the B.B.B. Cellar Cafe very briefly: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=10434

This is from MartinTurnbull's "Hollywood Places" site:


http://www.martinturnbull.com/hollywood-places/

It appears to be a vacant lot now, but, as nicdahammer mentioned another filming location for Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid", the club was by EaCa Alley, which is where the Little Tramp found the baby Kid to begin with.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

_________

I noticed this October 1938 ad for a place called The Gay White Way.
L.A.Times

This was from 1938 and I noticed that it was the same address as the Hollywood Canteen.
This is a bit of a discrepancy with the 2012 Mitchell/Torrence book, The Hollywood Canteen, in that
the book says the structure had once been a barn and then had been a series of ill-fated nightclubs,
the last one being The Red Barn, which closed its doors in 1937 and then had been vacant for five
years. So, maybe not?

The Canteen, a former livery stable and nightclub, the Old Barn, was located at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard, off Sunset. http://www.hollywoodcanteen.net/canteenhistory.htm

http://katewebb.files.wordpress.com/...is-img0481.jpg



http://www.georgettebauerdorf.com/wp...anteen%201.jpg


http://davelandweb.com/hollywood/ima...anteen_N27.jpg



http://davelandweb.com/hollywood/ima...anteen_N30.jpg

[HossC]

I thought I'd found a pair of ALCO delivery trucks to post about, but a quick check shows that e_r beat me to the first one in post #24010. Here's a reminder of the H R Boynton Company truck.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"Photograph of Los Angeles plumbing supply company, the H.R. Boynton Co. flat bed delivery truck, with crew and freight, circa 1912."


ebay

This is their entry from the 1911 CD.


LAPL

The second ALCO truck belonged to produce wholesaler the Rivers Bros. It's also dated at 1912.


eBay

When I searched the CDs, I found the first appearance of the Rivers Bros in 1894 when they were at 300 Temple Street. By 1911 (the nearest CD to the photo's date) the company had moved to 1300-1312 Produce Street. They later moved again, this time to 746-748 Market Court, where they remained until their last entry in the 1929 CD.


LAPL

It looks like the sign on the truck answers the question posed by MichaelRyerson about two and a half years ago in post #8498. The sign near the Courthouse was for the same company - I'm guessing the "G" was the start of "Grocers" or "Groceries".

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Los Angeles County Courthouse, 1900LAPL

Los Angeles County Courthouse in 1900, taken from across Broadway near Rivers Bros. Rivers Bros?

[CityBoyDoug]

http://youtu.be/WLoYFvbR0XY


From the movie Hollywood Canteen. Roy Rogers sings a song with Trigger. Link to 3 minute video above.

[ethereal_reality]

HossC, excellent job connecting the Rivers Bros. truck with the shop across from the county courthouse.

I remember the 1900 photo because I admired the ornate script used to spell Rivers Bros.
...and it looks even better on the side of the truck.
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Thx for posting the information on the B.B.B. Cellar T2. I'm going to try and dig up some photographs of the place.

[mrfredmertz]

Ah, VHS. Things that aren't around anymore.

[ethereal_reality]

Cliff's Inn, 2640 N. Figueroa Avenue, Los Angeles


old file / ebay



old file / ebay


I was only able to find this one reference, ca. 1942


http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d...9421210.2.30.1



http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d...9421210.2.30.1

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2640 N. Figueroa is still a bar.....Footsies.


GSV





The interior of the bar has indirect lighting that might date back to the 1940s or 50s when the place was Cliff's Inn.


http://www.shophex.com/blog/tag/footsies-bar/




Here's a contemporary black & white view from their facebook page.


https://www.facebook.com/Footsies



...lastly, there's a rather old looking 'cocktails' blade sign outside.


http://www.partyearth.com/los-angele...k-5/dive-bars/

but I have no idea if this is from the Cliff's Inn era.
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