noirish Los Angeles

[Flyingwedge]

There's a photo of Marion Davies wearing the same uniform in her autobiography, The Times We Had (Bobbs-Merrill, 1975).
On the facing page she wrote, "During World War II, I was a major in the California Guards, and I used to go to the hospital
and we'd have review."

I'm not sure what she's referring to, but it's the only explanation of the uniform that I could find in her book.

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

There's a photo of Marion Davies wearing the same uniform in her autobiography, The Times We Had (Bobbs-Merrill, 1975).
On the facing page she wrote, "During World War II, I was a major in the California Guards, and I used to go to the hospital
and we'd have review."

I'm not sure what she's referring to, but it's the only explanation of the uniform that I could find in her book.

That photo shows her as a Captain in the California National Guard Nurse Corps, later promoted to Major. Since she had significant stage experience, my guess is that "review" was "a review," skits and such.

Cheers,

Earl

[jtown]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;8889926]Hi jtown. Thanks for the post.

"and the insinuation that her role in "Citizen Kane" was not portrayal, but reality."

I'm a bit confused by how this is worded, jtown.

Ms. Davies wasn't in Citizen Kane. Dorothy Comingore played the part that was supposedly based on Marion Davies.

You're right, E_R. My mistake. It was due to my misreading of this paragraph in the article.

"Davies was reportedly the inspiration behind the character Susan Alexander, the untalented mistress of a media mogul who is himself loosely based off Hearst. These likenesses were not lost on Davies’ critics and Davies thus appeared to the public as a trifling, vapid actress buoyed only by her relationship with a powerful man."

One of the more salacious rumors was that 'Rosebud', the name of young Mr. Kane's sled, was a term Hearst used to describe Marion's. . ummm. . This

[MartinTurnbull]

I came across this photo on Facebook and wanted to share it, just for the record, lest we forget. With the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in place together with the atmosphere-cleansing rains we've been having lately has resulted in the clearest skies over Los Angeles in years. This photo was taken on April 9th, 2020 with Echo Park in the foreground with the downtown LA skyline in the background. Kind of amazing, isn't it?

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

I came across this photo on Facebook and wanted to share it, just for the record, lest we forget. With the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in place together with the atmosphere-cleansing rains we've been having lately has resulted in the clearest skies over Los Angeles in years. This photo was taken on April 9th, 2020 with Echo Park in the foreground with the downtown LA skyline in the background. Kind of amazing, isn't it?

Looks as clear as a day after a rain storm.

by me.

That was after last year's Boxing Day storm with it's really low snow levels.

[ethereal_reality]

.

The following three snapshots, dated 1912, show an airplane at various stages of assembly.

As they appeared on worthpoint.

worthpoint no longer listed

Keep your eye on the middle photograph.




Here's a closer look at all three photographs.
















The middle photograph appears to show the airplane in (what looks like) the basement of the Hotel Virginia in Long Beach!


Just for fun. . .here it is supersized.





The seller's description of the three photographs.


worthpoint



This was written on the back of one of the photograph but the seller didn't specify which one.



I don't believe there was a Lime St. in Los Angeles and I couldn't find a R. Weber Jeweler in any of the old Los Angeles directories.

I'd say this address is probably New York. (as mentioned by the seller)



There is also a Long Beach, New York - but the seller plainly said that one of the photographs was labeled Los Angeles.
.

[Noir_Noir]

Google Books - Soaring Skyward



claudineburnettbooks.com


The Man himself with the Flyer -


claudineburnettbooks.com


Looks like there was more than one plane built in the basement.


Google Books - Early Aviation in Long Beach

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

That photo shows her as a Captain in the California National Guard Nurse Corps, later promoted to Major. Since she had significant stage experience, my guess is that "review" was "a review," skits and such.

Cheers,

Earl

Judging by the "CAL" on her lapel, she was a member of the California State Guard (formerly the Calif. State Military Reserve), a volunteer auxiliary and support unit of the California National Guard. Its still around and has a couple of outfits at JFB Los Alamitos. Members aren't paid except in unusual disasters when activated by the governor and can't be federalized like the National Guard.

https://calguard.ca.gov/csg/

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by jtown

Fascinating insight into the challenges faced by Marion Davies, due in large part to her relationship with William Randolph Hearst, and the insinuation that her role in "Citizen Kane" was not portrayal, but reality.



https://allthatsinteresting.com/marion-davies

Mr. Hearst was married to Millicent Hearst at the time of this photo and they had several sons. Being a devout Catholic she would not grant him a divorce. Besides that, she had a stranglehold on his money.

Hearst met Marion in 1917 and was closely associated with him until his death in 1951. Friends recall that they were soulmates which is something that was not present in his marriage with Millicent.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by jtown

Fascinating insight into the challenges faced by Marion Davies, due in large part to her relationship with William Randolph Hearst, and the insinuation that her role in "Citizen Kane" was not portrayal, but reality.



https://allthatsinteresting.com/marion-davies

^^^
Marion (and perhaps Hearst) gets a bad rap. She was a very talented comic actress. Charlie Chaplin said as much, and Chaplin was a good judge of acting talent. Hearst no doubt had tremendous respect and love for Davies, and she probably loved and respected him as well. Marion bears no relationship to the talentless "singer" in "Citizen Kane". Orson Welles later said he was ashamed of the fact that some took the portrayal of Kane's mistress as a mirror of Davies. A heavily fictionalized (possibly false) account of the Davies-Hearst-Chaplin trio on an ill-fated cruise of Hearst's ship "Oneida" can be seen in the Peter Bogdanovich film "The Cat's Meow". Davies is portrayed by Kirsten Dunst.

[Scott Charles]

While we're on the topic of Marion Davies...

Back in the '93 or '94, I had a friend who lived alone in a beautiful but somewhat worn-down old house that belonged to his grandmother. He told me that the home was built for Marion Davies by Hearst, supposedly as a secret love nest.

Here is the entrance to the driveway to the home, on Highland:



And here is the home itself:



For reference, here is the location of the home, up the hill from Highland:



Does anyone know if this structure actually was the love nest of Davies and Hearst? I tried researching it years ago, but I wasn't able to come up with anything. Perhaps you folks who are far better researchers than I can confirm it?

PS: The surname of my friend and his grandmother was Lovins. They were Mormons. I can't recall the grandmother's first name, but she was supposedly a well-respected art teacher who taught painting to rich, society clients. My friend said she was famous in art circles, and that her name was listed in some kind official art history book that had a name like “Compendium of American Artists” or somesuch.

The cream-colored building on the top right of my second photo was her art school. I spent quite a bit of time in the house, but was only able to peer through the windows of the art school. The grandmother had retired from teaching, but you could still see the classroom through the windows.

[HossC]

The house is 2025 N Highland Avenue, and the former art school (the Hollywood Art Center School) is 2027 N Highland Avenue. I found a recent video of a walk around the extensive grounds here. From the description:

Walking through the former grounds of the historic Hollywood Art Center School Estate grounds. Formerly owned by well known California landscape artist, Henry Lovins with his wife Mona Lue, the estate was home to many Los Angeles and Hollywood artists, escaping WWI and II since the 1940s.

Former location of Threshold Films and Hollywood Film Associates, owned and operated by Jay Lovins ( Henry and Mona Lue's son).

The 1920s Spanish Villa and guest houses were built by the wife of Barker Brothers Furniture, Bertha J. Barker. Landscape design by pioneering Los Angeles landscape architect, Paul J. Howard.

The estate is located at 2025 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90068. While the estate is currently for sale by the current owner (no longer owned by Lovins family), the property should be historically preserved as part of Los Angeles' important cultural past.

Bertha J. Barker's names appears in the owner's details section of a couple of 1927 building permits for alterations.

There are 29 photos of 2027, including the art studio, at realtor.com.

[Noir_Noir]

There's also this 2019 recommendation report PDF concerning a Historic-Cultural Monument Application for 2027 N. Highland Ave.


planning.lacity.org - 2027 N. Highland - Recommendation Report


Covers the history of the buildings on the property and the Lovins run Hollywood Art Center School which was based there from the 1940's to 2000.


No mention of the term "love nest" anywhere in the report that I could see.

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by Mstimc

Judging by the "CAL" on her lapel, she was a member of the California State Guard (formerly the Calif. State Military Reserve), a volunteer auxiliary and support unit of the California National Guard. Its still around and has a couple of outfits at JFB Los Alamitos. Members aren't paid except in unusual disasters when activated by the governor and can't be federalized like the National Guard.

https://calguard.ca.gov/csg/

Thanks for the correction.

Cheers,

Earl

[MartinTurnbull]

This is a screen-grab from a British short called “Round About Hollywood” which travels around Hollywood in 1931 in a two-color process known as Cinecolor. As the camera approaches the Hollywood and Vine intersection, it passes that building on the left. In 1932, it became the Richard Neutra designed CoCo Tree Café, but before that, it was owned by Universal Pictures’s Carl Laemmle, who put up billboards to advertise his latest films. I've only seen one or two photos of this building, and even they were small and grainy.

On the far right, we can see “The Bad Sister” which is significant in that it was Bette Davis’s film debut, as well as the first (of seven) times she appeared in a movie with Humphrey Bogart.



You can watch the short on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPT1K7s9lzo

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

And here is the home itself:



For reference, here is the location of the home, up the hill from Highland:

Here's a close-up from an undated (but maybe c. 1920) photo showing the same area (that's the Bernheimer Mansion/Yamashiro at upper left):





Here's the full photo ("Panorama of scenery surrounding Los Angeles residential area"), looking west at the south end of Cahuenga Pass:



UCLA/Islandora

[Scott Charles]

Thank you for the great information, HossC, Noir_Noir, and for the old photos, Flyingwedge!

From looking at the real estate photos, the place has clearly been remodeled since I was there in '92/'93 - as I mentioned, it was kind of run down at the time, with stacks of books on every surface reaching nearly to the ceiling, and generally a lot of dust. Now it looks like a luxury hotel.

There's TONS of information and cool old photos in the PDF file, thanks for that link, Noir_Noir. Interestingly enough, it mentions that the Lovins family was Jewish - now that I give it some thought, I suppose Lovins does sound like a Jewish name, but my friend and his brother spoke constantly about being raised as a Mormon, doing missionary work, how they hated it, etc, etc, and I never gave it any further thought. I wonder when and why the family converted...

No information turned up about Davies/Hearst, though, eh? Well, I suppose if it was a secret love nest, any information about the place might be kind of slim - the way Hearst controlled the press (and went after people like Welles), I can't imagine that's the kind of thing many writers were willing to publish.

Who knows, maybe I'm privy to a secret from Hollywood's past!

[HossC]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The Herald of April 11, 1914, considered it attractive. I'm not so sure. But could it still stand? Hoss? FW?

The description gives the location as "within the city limits of Santa Monica, facing San Vicente boulevard, between Twenty-third and Twenty-sixth streets". Even in 1927, there weren't many houses in that location (I'm guessing were looking at the area north of San Vicente).


mil.library.ucsb.edu

All the houses there today appear to be large, mainly 2-story buildings, and I couldn't see a match for the house above.

The area to the east on the aerial also caught my eye. It's this location that's labeled "Brentwood Park" on a 1925 map I found. Maybe the mystery house is/was in there somewhere.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

I had to see if all the little islands in the roads were still there. It looks like only the ones on Hanover Street and S Bristol Avenue survived.


Google Maps

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Thanks for the correction.

Cheers,

Earl

De nada! Truth in advertising, I was in the Guard in the mid-2000's. An interesting mix of prior service and civilian members.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by HossC

The description gives the location as "within the city limits of Santa Monica, facing San Vicente boulevard, between Twenty-third and Twenty-sixth streets". Even in 1927, there weren't many houses in that location (I'm guessing were looking at the area north of San Vicente).


mil.library.ucsb.edu

All the houses there today appear to be large, mainly 2-story buildings, and I couldn't see a match for the house above.

The area to the east on the aerial also caught my eye. It's this location that's labeled "Brentwood Park" on a 1925 map I found. Maybe the mystery house is/was in there somewhere.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

I had to see if all the little islands in the roads were still there. It looks like only the ones on Hanover Street and S Bristol Avenue survived.


Google Maps

Looks to me like those Craftsman-style houses were on La Mesa just over the Santa Monica city line from Brentwood Park. It's one of the loveliest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. As far as I know, they're all gone, replaced by Tudor (brick and stone) and Mediterranean style houses (stucco, painted white, tan, or brick color with red tile roofs).