noirish Los Angeles

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by HossC

I downloaded a couple of aerials from UCSB, but I couldn't tell if the dark, circular object was a tree or a building. Then I checked Historic Aerials, and the tree showed up much clearer. I'd say it looks best in the 1964 image (below). The 1972 and 1980 images appear to show the tree getting smaller, and I think it's gone by 1994.


Historic Aerials

If the Moreton Bay Fig was still standing, it would be about here.


GSV

Great, thanks! Here are two items from the Los Angeles Times.


LA Times via ProQuest via CSULB Library

Edit--And here it is, the very tree:


USC Calif. Historical Society Collection digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/22636

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I happened upon this amateur snapshot a few days ago.
"1932 Los Angeles West Hollywood Century Cactus" EBAY



WRITTEN ON THE BACK
"Century Cactus in Parsonage lot Cor. Harratt and Clark St West Hollywood, Aug 20, 1932."
"The Stalk has made its entire growth this season"
_________________________________________________________________

I'm having trouble finding a corner at Harratt and Clark St., unless San Vicente used to be named Clark St. at some point.

[HossC]

This 1929 Hill Publishing Co map doesn't show Harratt Street (it's between Sunset Boulevard and Cynthia Street), but it does show Clark Street going down to Santa Monica Boulevard.


www.historicmapworks.com

[John Maddox Roberts]

I don't want to post Scott Charles's
whole long post (great post, by the way, SC, this is the type of stuff I come to NLA for) but by coincidence I just recently read David Kenyon Webster's Parachute Infantry.As an old paratrooper myself, I'm always interested in airborne stuff. He was probably the only Harvard graduate to serve as an enlisted man in the paratroops.

[CityBoyDoug]

"For the last time...this is a noirish site for noirishers...and that's it." .................................. ''If you insist..dahling.''


78:media

[Krell58]

Scott Charles, what an interesting and informative post. Great photos and a family history to be proud of.

I wonder if Band of Brothers got Webster's story wrong as they did some others in the mini-series? They said Webster hadn't graduated. They also said he went out on his sailboat and was never seen again.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Edit--And here it is, the very tree:


USC Calif. Historical Society Collection digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/22636

Originally Posted by HossC

If the Moreton Bay Fig was still standing, it would be about here.


GSV

That's too bad about the Moreton Bay Fig that was at E. 20th and Compton. However, I believe the
Moreton Bay Fig at the Fairmont/Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, planted in 1879, is still standing,
as seen here on the right at the end of the driveway:



Nov 2015 GSV


Here was that same tree c. 1944:



Trees of Santa Monica @ Hathitrust


This is also from Trees of Santa Monica (1944), self-published by George T. Hastings:



Hathitrust


Those three King Palms seem to still be out in front of 305 Georgina, or at least they were as of December 2015
(the middle one is mostly obscured in both images below):






GSV

P. S.: Thanks for ID'ing the Auburn, Hoss!

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I hope I'm not sharing too much, but I stumbled across some photos of my parents while gathering up the "silent movie" stuff, and as they relate more directly to LA itself, I figured I'd post them here.


Upon leaving the hostel after two months, my mother got a job at the City News Service. I looked in the CD and found this:

LINK

LINK

It seems that the City News Service was located right between the Broadway Christian Church (seen here) and the "Clifton House", which I've never seen a photo of.

Wonderful post, Scott Charles. However, I don't believe the 1921 map above shows the 229 N. Broadway that
housed the City News Service when your mom worked there.

On the 1950 Sanborn below the numbers 229 got munched, but 229 is part of the building on the SW corner of
Temple and Broadway, to the right of the one-story restaurant at 225 N. Broadway:



ProQuest via LAPL


The entrance to 227-229-231 N. Broadway is cut off at the bottom center of this December 6, 1950, photo, but
at least we can see the rest of the building in color (the red dot at Temple and Olive was for another post):



00109975 at LAPL


However, we can see the entrance to 227-229-231 N. Broadway quite clearly near the lower right corner, next to the little
cafe/restaurant, in this October 29, 1943, shot from City Hall:



uclalat_1429_b3175_25063A-1 @ UCLA

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Marty and Elayne haven't changed one bit, other than the inevitable aging that we all go through. That said, neither of them has lost any of their chops, they are still playing just as great as in the old days.

LINK

I don't know whether you ever ate at the Dresden, Otis, but the food there is really good, too. GQ magazine named it one of the top five places to dine in LA.

Thanks, Scott, for all the wonderful photos and history regarding the Dresden Room! Based upon that photo, the years have been uncommonly kind to Marty and Elayne. They appear essentially as I remember them.

I've never eaten at the Dresden Room (although I certainly will now!), other than off the Lounge menu. Back in the early Eighties, I typically ate dinner at Sarno's, then hit the lounge at the Dresden. A very musical evening! I've always been an old-school type, and I was thrilled to find such a sophisticated night's enjoyment at a price I could afford.

The memories are coming back. . . now I recall that I discovered this little slice of heaven during a summer job working at the Security Pacific National Bank nearby.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

THis reminds me of the joke:

"I'd rather hear you sing than go drink. I've heard you drink."

I LOVE IT!

[ethereal_reality]

Wonderful post on your Dad and Mom Scott Charles. You have good looking parents!


You've no doubt seen this photograph, right?


RAFU

Hisaye Yamamoto DeSoto (standing, right) and Mary Kitano Diltz (standing, second from left).
They worked at The Los Angeles Tribune, an African American newspaper, in the late 1940s
and are pictured at the beach with some of their co-workers in this undated photo."
(Photo courtesy J.K. Yamamoto)
__________________________________________________________________________





I wasn't aware of the many Nisei social clubs that sprung up around Los Angeles after the war.


NEWSROOM.UCLA

This photograph shows members of 'Just Us Girls', a social club for Japanese-American girls, posing in Boyle Heights. [c.1946]

This particular Nisei social club had begun at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. (they were also known as J.U.G.S.) Just Us GirlS

Believe it or not, there was even a Nisei club called the Atomettes!?!
___________________________________________________________



I should also add: There were Nisei social clubs that pre-dated WWII.

HERE'S AN EXAMPLE

PRE.ORG

The Tartanettes, one of many Japanese-American social clubs, at a beach outing in the late 1930s.


Credit: Courtesy of the Nishi Family



__

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for trying to locate the Oak odinthor.

Originally Posted by odinthor

I spent a good portion of my afternoon trying to located the C.C.C. Camp at Bouquet Canyon.
I was surprised to learn that no one quite knows where, in the canyon, it was located.

sidenote: My search led me down multiple rabbit holes (enough for 4 or 5 posts)


Also, you guys (odinthor, HossC & Flyingwedge) did a fine job in locating the Compton Moreton Bay Fig.



Here it is a bit larger (I couldn't resist making it larger) I have a problem.

lapl



this is a big mother of a incinerator.


detail

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Don't tease us Bill. Let's see them!
__

One of the things I really enjoy photographing is LA cityscapes, especially from an elevation. Beacon Hill is one of my favorite locations(you get Silver Lake with DTLA in the background) and guess the back of which house shows up in the foreground of every picture?

_2140005.jpg by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

It's right in the center of the frame about a quarter the way up from the bottom, next to the old convent.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by odinthor

And, as for "another tree of the same species" on Cedar St. in Glendale, Mr. Google obligingly took me for a spin down said street, without any result, except the sight of this nice domicile at or about 123 N. Cedar:


gsv

I'm sure the palm tree in front is what caught your eye.

That house looks very familier:
_C300010.jpg by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

What they did there is preserve the house, but the apartment building was built around it in the shape of a 'U'.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

I don't want to post Scott Charles's
whole long post (great post, by the way, SC, this is the type of stuff I come to NLA for) but by coincidence I just recently read David Kenyon Webster's Parachute Infantry.As an old paratrooper myself, I'm always interested in airborne stuff. He was probably the only Harvard graduate to serve as an enlisted man in the paratroops.

Very interesting, John! I intend to read Webster's book myself - I added it to my wishlist on Amazon.

Originally Posted by Krell58

Scott Charles, what an interesting and informative post. Great photos and a family history to be proud of.

Thanks, Krell!

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

Thanks, Scott, for all the wonderful photos and history regarding the Dresden Room! Based upon that photo, the years have been uncommonly kind to Marty and Elayne. They appear essentially as I remember them.

I've never eaten at the Dresden Room (although I certainly will now!), other than off the Lounge menu. Back in the early Eighties, I typically ate dinner at Sarno's, then hit the lounge at the Dresden. A very musical evening! I've always been an old-school type, and I was thrilled to find such a sophisticated night's enjoyment at a price I could afford.

The memories are coming back. . . now I recall that I discovered this little slice of heaven during a summer job working at the Security Pacific National Bank nearby.

I wish that I had gone to Sarno's more before it closed. I only went once or twice, and can barely remember it.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Wonderful post, Scott Charles. However, I don't believe the 1921 map above shows the 229 N. Broadway that
housed the City News Service when your mom worked there.

On the 1950 Sanborn below the numbers 229 got munched, but 229 is part of the building on the SW corner of
Temple and Broadway, to the right of the one-story restaurant at 225 N. Broadway:



ProQuest via LAPL


The entrance to 227-229-231 N. Broadway is cut off at the bottom center of this December 6, 1950, photo, but
at least we can see the rest of the building in color (the red dot at Temple and Olive was for another post):



00109975 at LAPL


However, we can see the entrance to 227-229-231 N. Broadway quite clearly near the lower right corner, next to the little
cafe/restaurant, in this October 29, 1943, shot from City Hall:



uclalat_1429_b3175_25063A-1 @ UCLA

Amazing, Flyingwedge! It might seem like nothing to a bystander, but for me to see the place that my mother worked is an enormous thrill for me! Thanks so much!

I am admittedly new to using things like the online CD and things like Baist and Sanborn maps - all tricks I've picked up from reading this thread, and I am still (slowly) learning. But how on Earth did you know that my mapwork was out of date? Did 1921 and the late 1940s seem too long a time for you to believe my old data was correct?

Every time I start to think I'm getting good at this stuff, someone comes along and shows how clueless I really am!

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Wonderful post on your Dad and Mom ScottyB. You have good looking parents!

You've no doubt seen this photograph, right?


RAFU

Hisaye Yamamoto DeSoto (standing, right) and Mary Kitano Diltz (standing, second from left).
They worked at The Los Angeles Tribune, an African American newspaper, in the late 1940s
and are pictured at the beach with some of their co-workers in this undated photo."
(Photo courtesy J.K. Yamamoto)

Thanks for the amazing post, ER! One minor correction, though - I am Scott Charles, not ScottyB. ScottyB is a member who's been here a lot longer than I have!

I have seen this photo before, but I've never seen it captioned. The captions mention that the other Japanese girl is "Hisaye Yamamoto DeSoto" - she was my mother's best friend, my mother used to call her "Saye", which is pronounced just like the word "sigh" - and I never knew that was her in the photo!

Hisaye was a well-known writer, and has her own Wikipedia page.

And I am certain that the woman in the photo between my mom and Hisaye is Almena Lomax, publisher of the Los Angeles Tribune. She too, has her own Wikipedia page.

NY Times

By the way, at this period in time, wouldn't the beaches have been still segregated? I've tried to figure out where this photo may have been taken, the mountainous landscape doesn't seem to match that of the "Inkwell", the beach that was put aside for African Americans to use.

(Post by tovangar2 showing the boundaries of Inkwell beach)

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I wasn't aware of the many Nisei social clubs that sprung up around Los Angeles after the war.


NEWSROOM.UCLA

This photograph shows members of 'Just Us Girls', a social club for Japanese-American girls, posing in Boyle Heights. [c.1946]

This particular Nisei social club had begun at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. (they were also known as J.U.G.S.) Just Us GirlS

WOW! Now THAT photo I have never seen before!

I wish the photo were a little sharper so I could be more certain, but I'm almost sure that my mom is the second-from-the-right in that photo. The face looks like her, and the hairstyle is identical to other photos of my mom. And the girl on the far left looks a lot like Saye, right down to the eyeglasses.

Thanks so much for posting it!

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

[

[...]

this is a big mother of a incinerator.


detail

[For CBD: To add some noirishness...]

Hmmm . . . just the right size . . . to incinerate . . . a corpse . . .

• Video Link

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for trying to locate the Oak odinthor.


I spent a good portion of my afternoon trying to located the C.C.C. Camp at Bouquet Canyon.
I was surprised to learn that no one quite knows where, in the canyon, it was located. [...]

e_r, I think I found it (the specific location of the oak tree in Bouquet Canyon)!


LA Times via ProQuest via CSULB Library

edit add:

Here's the area:


Google Satellite View.

[Martin Pal]

.

Originally Posted by HossC

This 1929 Hill Publishing Co map doesn't show Harratt Street (it's between Sunset Boulevard and Cynthia Street), but it does show Clark Street going down to Santa Monica Boulevard.


www.historicmapworks.com
___________________________________________________________________

Thanks, HossC! That means at some point the section of Clark Street from Santa Monica Blvd. (where your red arrow is) to Sunset Blvd. was renamed San Vicente. (San Vicente below Santa Monica Blvd. isn't there yet, but is probably that unnamed street below the vacant white space where "El Tovar" connects to it.)

Also noticed:

--Either it's mis-spelled on the map or Larabee St. was later changed to Larrabee Street.

--La Cienega doesn't appear to go straight up to Sunset Blvd. yet.

--Am I correct that I'm seeing the east/west street that intersects with Sunset Blvd. near the top of the map is labeled as HOLLOW WY? Now known as Holloway?

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Amazing, Flyingwedge! It might seem like nothing to a bystander, but for me to see the place that my mother worked is an enormous thrill for me! Thanks so much!

I am admittedly new to using things like the online CD and things like Baist and Sanborn maps - all tricks I've picked up from reading this thread, and I am still (slowly) learning. But how on Earth did you know that my mapwork was out of date? Did 1921 and the late 1940s seem too long a time for you to believe my old data was correct?

You are quite welcome!

I just had a hunch that the Clifton House, the church, and the building in between didn't last until WWII.

Speaking of the Clifton House on the SW corner of Broadway and Temple, it can be seen on the right side of this
c. 1892-3 photo of the LA County Court House, which shows Temple on the right and New High St. on the left:



Islandora/UCLA


Here is a closer look at the Clifton House, on the right: