noirish Los Angeles

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Oak Garage, Rio Grande Service Station, Los Angeles vicinity, 1920s.



old file of mine

-note the El Camino Real Mission Bell Marker. (I didn't see it until I enlarged the photograph)


I found an "Oak Garage" in only one city directory.

1928 San Fernando Valley

LAPL

...But I don't understand the street system listed. Help!
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Here's a nice Whittington shot of the station...

Union Service Station, Calabasas, Los Angeles County, Dick Whittington, 1939

View of the Union Service Station and the purported “Hanging Tree” in Calabasas, Los Angeles County, 1939. Photograph by Dick Whittington. Courtesy of the Huntington Library.

This station also makes an appearance early in the film Kiss Me Deadly when Mike is still driving the Jag.
edit: following a bit of research (which rightfully should have happened before I posted) it looks like Mike stops at a Chevron Station in Calabasas.

[unihikid]

thats south pasadena junior high...they have added to the site but other than the red cars not much has changed in this area

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Very interesting information HossC. So I take it that the bell is still at that location? ..and the Oak? (I'll gas up the google-mobile )


mystery location.



old file of mine

The people boarding the street-cars look like Co-Eds to me (some are holding books), and the building behind the tree looks academic

So my guess is....USC.
__

hmmm.....but some of the students look too young to be in college. -so now I'm leaning more towards a high school.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks unihikid.


Excellent Whittington photograph of the Calabasas (Oak Garage) gas station MichaelRyerson. I didn't realize it was the station in one of my favorite noirs, 'Kiss Me Deadly'.


http://www.themoviedistrict.com/wp-c...medeadly01.jpg

Where's the Oak? Was it gone by 1955?

Oh, and I almost forgot about the bell....where's the El Camino Real mission bell-
(I guess I need to watch 'Kiss Me Deadly' again )

__

[C. King]

Originally Posted by unihikid

thats south pasadena junior high...they have added to the site but other than the red cars not much has changed in this area

I agree with you unihikid. Its just a couple of blks north on Fair Oaks from Oneonta Junction that we have been talking about recently.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

mystery location. -3 slides.


Playground/basketball court being used for roller-skating, los Angeles, 1950s.


And finally, in this last slide we get to see a portion of the school. (looks like it might be parochial)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Photo-Sl...item46353ff364

Think we can figure out the location?

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If we look at the building arches and windows in both photos, I believe these are the same building. I suspect they may have been taken by the same person.

Note the picture in the middle of the page and the 3 photos that show arches. I could be mistaken but they look the same to me. There's even a basketball hoop in the same location in both pics.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

USCDL

USCDL

I never knew that Catalina had a Rio-like Sugar Loaf--



Story here: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/18607/rec/18

A closer look at those daunting stairs. (Good place for a funicular)



http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd...e/id/351/rec/1


Curious poles at crest. Flagpoles, Antennae, Fishing rods, clotheslines?

[ethereal_reality]

Those stairs are truly treacherous looking Tourmaline. Can you imagine that lady climbing the stairs in her long dress?

And to think that monumental rock, once the symbol of Avalon Harbor, was destroyed!!!!!

I posted early black & white photographs of Sugar Loaf and it's demise here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16278

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[BifRayRock]

See the sights one hundred years ago?

Sherman? Motordrome? Sawtelle? Soldiers' Home?


1910-1913 Birdeye view of LA-adjacent resorts


http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd.../id/707/rec/37

[tovangar2]

Some young person, reading over my shoulder, just ask, "Is that what LA used to be like? Isolated built-up areas with mud flats in between?"

[stanklem]

Image from Wikipedia site with link.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Motordrome

Article from Daily Breeze.
http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history...es-motordrome/

Article mentions several races. Ascot Park. any pictures??
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-...st-board-track

I was more curious about the area named SHERMAN on the drawing.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by stanklem

I was more curious about the area named SHERMAN on the drawing.

See Martin Pal's post about Sherman being renamed West Hollywood in 1925:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17758

[HossC]

The advert below is from the August 1905 edition of The Pacific Monthly.


eBay

This is just a few months after the Lexington Hotel had changed owners. This clipping is from the April 16, 1905 edition of the Los Angeles Herald.


California Digital Newspaper Collection

Not too long afterwards, the Lexington became part of the Hotel Rosslyn. This 1907 image is from 'Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood' by Linda McCann, Dace Taube, Claude Zachary, Curtis C. Roseman.


books.google.com

As soon as I saw the "Brents" and "H Raphael Co" signs in the image above, I remembered this picture that e_r posted just over a week ago. My reply naming some of the businesses can be found here. Note that the building under construction in the picture below (the Brennan Hotel) is complete in the image above.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DOWNTOWN-LOS...item4190bffc73

Take a look at that precarious scaffolding. Obviously there's construction going on...but that seems ridiculously tall.
-also note the white house with the turret next to the construction. -anyone recognize the house? It looks like a real charmer.

Then, while checking for previous mentions of the Lexington, I came across a detail of the image below in post #15197 by Flyingwedge. The title is "Panoramic view of Los Angeles, looking north from the Huntington Building, ca.1904".


USC Digital Library

The three houses together in the foreground indicate that this was taken before e_r's picture. It also shows the "white house with the turret" that e_r described as looking like "a real charmer".


Detail of picture above.

My reply in the link above also mentions the Silver Republican Club (below). In post #26414, tovangar2 suggests that this is their clubhouse at 318 W 2nd Street, but now we have this better picture, I think there are enough similarities to say that this house was at 533 S Main. Note that in the 1907 image above, the house still stands, but its front yard has been replaced by a couple of small shops.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a bit of a mystery (to me anyway...I've never heard of a Silver Republican Club)

Los Angeles 1909

tumblr/memoriastoica

[tovangar2]

thanks Hoss. This location has been bugging me, so I'm glad to have it sorted out.

The business in front of the Silver Republican Club was the "Optic Theater" (as you said in a prior post, see below).

Originally Posted by tovangar2

One hundred years ago:

Brennan Hotel, 529 S Main:

lafdblogspot.com

Seven more photos: http://laist.com/2013/01/24/historic...hotel_fire.php

The LA Examiner's thrilling account:
http://lafd.blogspot.com/2013/01/100...s-angeles.html

The Optic opened in 1911. More info here

Originally Posted by HossC

Could this be the old clubhouse to the left of The Brennan on the 1910 Baist map? In 1911 the Optic Theatre opened at 533 S Main. Two years later, the Brennan suffered a devastating fire - see post #11832 by tovangar2.


www.historicmapworks.com

[ethereal_reality]

Impressive discoveries Hoss. You found the SR Clubhouse and my turreted 'charmer' in the same photograph. -pretty cool.

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[BifRayRock]

Can someone draw the shades? Candlepower to rival NY's Times Square?

1915 seems to have been an exceptionally illuminating year for downtown LA.








1915 - Clunes Auditorium Theater

http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd.../id/555/rec/18










1915 - Clunes Auditorium Theater


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/co...coll2/id/15033

[ethereal_reality]

Oak Garage redux


In this 1939 image I just found (at first I thought it was a detail of the photograph MichaelRyerson posted,) but the shadows, especially the one to the left of the tree, are different.

Note the twin nooses hanging from the Oak. (MR mentioned it was known as the "Hanging Tree")


http://www.boomcalifornia.com/2013/0...-to-a-hanging/



A bigger surprise was when I looked back at my original photograph of the Oak Garage, and noticed a noose that I had missed. (did you guys see this noose? or am I just slow?)





below: Interesting sepia photo. -cute kid on a bike....no noose.


http://www.calabasasrealestate.com/f..._Hills_History




below: The building to the left of the Oak, and Oak Garage, was Kramer's Store. (this view is looking west on Calabasas Road)





I'm still looking for the the Oak Tree mission bell. I found several sources that say it's in front of the Leonis Adobe in Calababas,
but I haven't found it in any current Leonis Adobe photographs (and I looked at a lot of them).
___


postscript:

I finally found that damn elusive bell.


GSV

:slaps self on back:

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[BifRayRock]

Clean sidewalks


Was Edward Hopper an unspoken fan of Thrifty Drugs' pistachio flavored ice cream?


1940 - Fifth and Hill Streets

http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd.../id/557/rec/20

[BifRayRock]

Next time I visit the shore I will ask for extra starch in my collar. Same for the swimming costume worn under my street clothing!


Surely some of these visitors traveled by horse and buggy, even as late as '07, or did they all travel via horseless carriage and street rail? Were there nearby stables to park four-legged friends? Furnish your own food, libations and harmonica?


1907 - Ocean Park, step-sister to Santa Monica's Pleasure Pier?

http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd.../id/223/rec/12





1922 - Santa Monica's Pleasure Pier. (Particularly like the landscaped walking path in the foreground. By 1922, no obvious signs of equine visitation.)

http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd...e/id/215/rec/3

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

We've seen a few interior shots of I Magnin's Wilshire store before, but I couldn't resist this selection when I saw them on eBay.

Thank You HossC for the shots of I Magnin's Wilshire store. I still have an very pretty English shawl I bought there in the late 70s. Magnin's was a beautiful store, although I was much more loyal to Bullock's Wilshire.

Now, of course, it's The Wilshire Galleria, mentioned in this article:



The Motor Court at the rear was a knockout. Here's another shot of it circa 1941:

Martin Turnbull

Before she was famous, a teen-aged Esther Williams worked as a stock girl at the store:

"I. Magnin was the classiest store for women’s clothing in Los Angeles and attracted its share of Hollywood stars. That, of course, was no guarantee they were big spenders. The Andrew Sisters used to come whenever there was a sale and would buy one of everything that was marked down below 50 percent. When those three ladies and their crazy stage mother swept into the store, it was like an invasion. I would rush around helping the salesgirls serve them, exhausted at having to restock the numerous items that had been strewn throughout three dressing rooms. They virtually took over the store.

Hidden behind glasses and scarves, Greta Garbo would come in almost daily, paw through the entire inventory of the sweater department, and never buy a thing. She always felt she “deserved” an item gratis by virtue of the fact that she was Garbo. And we’d all have to pretend that she was just another shopper. Strict orders were given that no one was to address her in any manner that would reveal who she was.

However the day Marlene Dietrich came in was the most memorable. She went straight to the designer floor and demanded a private showing. Because I was as tall as she, I was asked to model the dresses that she selected. I put on the first selection and knocked on her dressing room door. This deep voice said, “Come in, dahlingh.” As i opened the door, I saw Dietrich, the worlds most celebrated sex symbol, lounging on a chaise longue, totally nude. The rumors that Dietrich was an exhibitionist were obviously true— she loved the shock on my face and coolly proceeded to instruct me as to how I should model the dress. I was so taken aback by her apparent immodesty that i couldn’t find my way out of the room. I kept walking into multimirrored reflection of the door as she sat laughing seductively at my confusion."
—The Million Dollar Mermaid:
An Autobiography by Esther Williams and Digby Diehl

Years later Williams unveiled her line of swimsuits at the store. The swimwear line is still going strong


In the neo-noir film "Collateral" (2004) hitman Vincent (Tom Cruise) is seen after exiting the rear of the building where he's just completed a job. I Magnin's distinctive balconies on the east side of the store give the location away:

Paramount Pictures / Dreamworks skg

[ethereal_reality]

Very interesting tovanger2. I really liked the Esther Williams anecdote.
And yes, the I. Magnin postcards HossC posted were great...especially seeing them all together in a group.


mystery location


eBay / 2_28_2015

I'm trying to make out the name on that brownish-pinkish awning between the rental car place and the LARy street-car.
The street sign looks like it says 2...no wait...maybe 3.....or 5...6...oh, never mind.