noirish Los Angeles

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I like the subtle dream like quality of this photograph.


FOUND ON PINTEREST / NO SOURCE

Pacoima Elementary [no date]

I'm not sure if this is hand colored or colored film. -anyone know?




p.s. eucalyptus trees. right odinthor?

Right-o, e_r!

It's hard to tell for sure which, though, as Eucalyptus is a large and intricate genus, and we don't have a close-up...

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

Scott,
I haven't seen "Barfly" for many years but remember a bar called the "Kenmore" appearing in it. Back in the pre-internet days I drove up and down Kenmore Avenue fully expecting to find it but never did. Were you able to locate that one?
___________________________________________________________________

The Kenmore's address was facing 3rd Street at Kenmore:

3702 W. 3rd Street

Movie Title Stills Collection

[MartinTurnbull]

As far as I know, “It Girl” Clara Bow and her husband Rex Bell opened their It Cafe at 1637 Vine St in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. on September 3rd, 1937. This anniversary announcement is for December 22nd, so I'm not sure whose anniversary they were celebrating, but get a load of that line up!

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The Kenmore's address was facing 3rd Street at Kenmore:

3702 W. 3rd Street

Movie Title Stills Collection

Thanks Martin. My trip along Kenmore must have been after the bar was gone because I definitely went through that area, in fact that was about where I expected to find it.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

Scott,
I haven't seen "Barfly" for many years but remember a bar called the "Kenmore" appearing in it. Back in the pre-internet days I drove up and down Kenmore Avenue fully expecting to find it but never did. Were you able to locate that one?

Hey, Bristolian!

So far, I've been able to locate every bar in Barfly, with the exception of the Catalina/Yoshiko's. I suppose that's why I'm so determined to find it. UPDATE, 8-20-2018: the location has been found by Lorendoc - see below!

Here are screenshots of all of the bars that appear in Barfly, along with locations. Underlined links show the location on Google street view.

(All images: American Zoetrope and GSV)




As to your question, the Kenmore was on the corner of Third and Kenmore streets.



The bar is long gone, but the building is still standing:



This is one of several Barfly bars I was able to visit while it was still open.

After leaving the Kenmore, Henry (Mickey Rourke) and Wanda (Faye Dunaway) walk across the street to a liquor store:


See full-sized image here.

The liquor store has been torn down and replaced by a modern building.





Next, there is The Sunset:





You can see the Sunset on the far right of this photo:

UCLA



Sadly, the building that housed The Sunset was torn down, but its former location can be seen here on Google Maps (it's now a parking lot).




Next up is The Hollyway.



1616 Sunset Blvd, seen here, is now an H&R Block store.






The building housing the Oasis has been torn down, but HossC found its former location in the City Directory at 736 S Alvarado Street. Thanks again, Hoss!




The Oasis Tavern would have been somewhere in the green area of this photo of the LA riots:






Appearing next is Craby Joe's, a place familiar to Noirish LAers:



The bar, at 656 S Main, has been gone for some time, but the building is still standing:






Up next is the fictional bar and main setting of the story, The Golden Horn:



The building was the Hotel Adams, located at 3896 Main Street, Culver City. There was an actual bar there called Big Ed's, the sign of which the movie people simply covered with a "Golden Horn" sign.

When Culver City demolished the Hotel Adams, they put a street through the former site of the hotel. This Google street view shows where the Hotel Adams used to be (where the group of cars are parked).

In the image below, the location of Big Ed's is highlighted in red:



It can also be seen in the background of this Starsky and Hutch screenshot:


Above two images: LINK






The next bar we see is Snug Harbor:



This is another bar I actually visited. It was located at 1415 Seventh Street, and has been torn down and replaced with a new building.



EDIT: Here is a photo I shot of Snug Harbor in the late '80s:






Next we visit the Silver Platter:



Located at 2700 W 7th Street, the bar is still open for business.






Next up is Frank and Hank, at 518 S Western:



Not really a dive bar like many of the rest in this post, Frank and Hank is still open for business.






Next shown is the Side Show at 6818 Hollywood Blvd:



The building still stands, but the bar has been replaced by a market:








Next up is the Catalina/Yoshiko's. This is the only location in the entire movie that I cannot find! If you have any suggestions on how I might figure it out, please let me know!



UPDATE, 8-20-2018: The location has been found by Lorendoc!

It is 3608 W Third Street.






The next photo is of the Ski Room, located at 5851 Sunset Blvd. I spent a lot of time here with friends in my youth.





I'm pretty sure we've discussed this building on Noirish LA before.




Next up is the Boulevard Inn, at 5602 Hollywood Blvd. I'd have never found this place, had I not personally remembered the pawn shop next door!







And here is the location today.




The Smog Cutter at 864 N Virgil, another one of my old hangouts.



There used to be a really friendly barmaid (owner?) there, an Asian lady with the unusual name of, I think, Sunshine. I wonder if she's still around?






The end credits of the movie show some of the bars again, but the view of the Ski Room is a different one:






Then, the only bar unique to the end credits - the Firefly:



You folks already know all about the Firefly, at the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine.






So that's it, all of the seedy, noirish, vintage dive bars seen in the movie Barfly.

... and let me apologize for the length of this post! When I started it I thought "it's just a handful of bars..." I had no idea it would make for such a lengthy post!

Well, at least I only covered the bars in the credit sequences... there are also the hotels and multitude of street scenes that (thankfully!) I have left out of my post!

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

This anniversary announcement is for December 22nd, so I'm not sure whose anniversary they were celebrating, but get a load of that line up!

Yowza! That is quite a line up alright. Only two of those names are unfamiliar to me, most notably...Davey Forester?

Currently grooving to Ziggy Elman's Zaggin' with Zig.

[HossC]

While looking for pictures of the Bayview Drive-In, I came across this image from Wilmington.

"Exterior view of Rubber Products Co. at 114 East G Street, in Wilmington. The shop sells tires, rims and other automotive products. Photo dated: August 11, 1941."


LAPL

I wasn't hopeful that it would still be standing, but I checked anyway, and here it is. Even the building behind appears to be the same.


GSV

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Hey, Bristolian!

So far, I've been able to locate every bar in Barfly, with the exception of the Catalina/Yoshiko's. I suppose that's why I'm so determined to find it.

Here are screenshots of all of the bars that appear in Barfly, along with locations. Underlined links show the location on Google street view.

(All images: American Zoetrope and GSV)

As to your question, the Kenmore was on the corner of Third and Kenmore streets.




... and let me apologize for the length of this post! When I started it I thought "it's just a handful of bars..." I had no idea it would make for such a lengthy post!

Well, at least I only covered the bars in the credit sequences... there are also the hotels and multitude of street scenes that (thankfully!) I have left out of my post!

Apology...accepted? This may literally be my favorite post on the whole of NLA, which puts it in august company indeed.

[esotouric]

Bravo, Scott Charles, and a tip of the hat to your productive obsession. I'd hoped to be able to answer your question about the location of Catalina / Yoshiko's, but all I've got is a lead.

According to production designer Bob Ziembicki, who recently joined us (and Beaudry!) for a mini-Barfly reunion on a guided tour of Bukowski's Los Angeles: "Been racking my brain but just can’t remember exactly. My best guesses would be on Beverly or 3rd based on keeping all those locations relatively close to each other on a short night of B roll shooting."

[Martin Pal]

Scott Charles, thanks for the "then and now" look at the bars from Bar Fly. I love the opening (and ending) sequence in the film showing those places, which are nearly all gone now! I also enjoyed the animated touches you gave to them, especially the reflection of traffic lights going by in the Ski Room photograph.

Although I never went inside it, the only bar of these that I remember is walking by the Side Show many times, with it's bright colorful neon, which, ironically, always seemed to beckon one inside to something much darker.

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Up next is the fictional bar and main setting of the story, The Golden Horn:



The building was the Hotel Adams, located at 3896 Main Street, Culver City. There was an actual bar there called Big Ed's, the sign of which the movie people simply covered with a "Golden Horn" sign.

When Culver City demolished the Hotel Adams, they put a street through the former site of the hotel. This Google street view shows where the Hotel Adams used to be (where the group of cars are parked).

In the image below, the location of Big Ed's is highlighted in red:



It can also be seen in the background of this Starsky and Hutch screenshot:


Above two images: LINK


_________________________________________________________________

Here's a photograph of Big Ed's and the Adams Hotel:

Barbet Schroeder website


Here's the neon sign at night from a 1985 episode of Hunter:
"The Garbage Man" Season 1 Episode 11

Hunter and McCall (Tumblr)

From the Bukowski Forum site, a poster named "Chronic" reveals some inside ambiance of Big Ed's:

"The bar was Big Ed's (prior to that Sarna's II). It was on Washington Blvd. where it intersects with Culver Blvd. in Culver City about a half-mile east of the MGM (now Sony) Studios and about a block from the Culver Studios.

I drove a taxi in Culver City from 1977 until 1980 and it was a regular stop. I used to go in there from time to time to drink, bullshit with the bartender and just soak up the ambiance. It was the epitome of a dive bar with several filthy old regulars who were there every morning at 6:00 am until they would (literally) crawl out of the door at 2:00 am. It was always very dark and if you ran your finger along any of the moldings it would come away with decades worth of grime. There was a bartender there for years named Brigham Young. He was the great-grandson of the founder of the Mormons. A very nice guy. I later came across a photo of the Mormon Brigham Young and this guy was the spitting image of him.

The building was torn down not too long after the movie was shot there."

*****************************************************************

Here's a Los Angeles Times article from April 5, 1987:
Culver City Expected to Condemn Hotel, Bar for Downtown Project
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-...wn-culver-city

FROM THE ARTICLE:

"About a dozen tenants of the Adams hotel were still living there last week, said hotel manager Letta Small. The agency paid each of the hotel's 28 tenants about $4,000 to relocate.

Ed Schwartz, who runs Big Ed's bar, said he makes more money from film companies that shoot movies at his bar than from patrons. Schwartz said a film company recently paid him about $14,000 to use his bar for three weeks to shoot the film "Bar Fly" with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.

On average, patrons at the bar provide him with about $200 in net income per day, Schwartz said."

*****************************************************************

IMDB lists October 16, 1987, as Bar Fly's release date.

*****************************************************************

On the Bukowksi Forum a poster named Delight Schwartz writes:

"Big Ed's was run by my in-laws.

Big Ed's is now a Culver City parking lot; but my in-laws were there running the place from about 1980 to 1987 when it was condemned/torn down, including while Barfly filmed; they met Buk, and my father-in-law had to sneak him a drink once in awhile while his wife wasn't around... because of the bar's shape/size it was easy to get a camera dolly on both sides of the bar, so it was used frequently for location shoots - Streets of Fire, The A Team, Hunter, etc.. I think the relative bartender of Brigham Young's that you mentioned was named Bucky. I have a shot my husband took years ago of Big Ed standing in the doorway shortly before the condemnation hearings began for the building."

*****************************************************************

Heh - "condemnation" hearings!

*****************************************************************

My personal recollection of this area is from when I worked in Culver City for a few years and I would pass by this location on a bus every morning between 7:30 and 8:00 am.

One fall morning on one of those extremely hot L.A. days when it's in the 80's before 8am, I noticed this area all set up for a film shoot. I found out later it was to be for the film "Under the Rainbow." There was a false studio front over one of the streets and period cars in the road. I decided to get out a few stops before the one I wanted and I went over to take a look. I stayed there an hour (and was an hour late for work) and I saw them film one scene where a water truck drives down the street and wets down the road (for filming purposes, I imagine) and is followed by a touring bus driving around the corner, followed by dozens of extras chasing after it.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Appearing next is Craby Joe's, a place familiar to Noirish LAers:



The bar is at 656 S Main.
_________________________________________________________________

My site search on NLA didn't come up with anything about the name of this place. "Craby"?


I did find some interesting information about this place on a YELP site.

--Craby Joe's closed on Christmas Eve, 2007, supposedly because the landlord opted not to renew the lease.

Several posters had some interesting things to say about the place when it was open:

--"I live right up the street from Craby Joe's. It is the diveiest dive bar I've ever seen. The drinks are cheap, as well they should be considering their patrons. There are generally a few dicey individuals hanging around outside. I have gone there many times when there were more people hanging around outside then inside."

--"Talk about creepy... Craby Joe's has to be one of the more dicey bars in Los Angeles and I love it for it... Joe's is one of those places that keeps you on your toes - I have been in by myself but I've got to tell you that I had my eye on the mirror behind the bar the whole time. Shadowy figures are constantly ducking in an out of the place. The business they are conducting - who knows. But you know its shady. Its one of the few places in Los Angeles that can serve booze as well as sell beer to go. Plenty of people coming in and out for that reason... Need a snack? Pickled eggs anyone?"

He included this photo with the caption: "Crime taking place!"



--Melinda writes: "i read that Richard Ramirez "the Nightstalker" used to quench his thirst here & eat at the mexican place next to it.. He also stayed at the nearby Hotel Cecil (which is an embryo Loft type resident hotel now) .. me & a big breasted friend didnt feel the need to hold our purses tight as we left the downtown sunset & plopped at the deserted bar & ordered 2 coronas... before we were even done, a bloodshot mayan looking wobbly wino stinky spanglish mumbling man offered our next round.. & our next.... & our next..

And this:

--On March 27, 2010, there was a dedication ceremony of the recently refurbished, historic neon sign from the bar "Craby Joe's," rescued in 2007 by Jeremy Hansen, and cared for by the Museum of Neon Art. The sign, which has been in storage on and off since being removed from the bar facade at 7th & Main Streets, is now re-installed inside "Raw Materials" art supply store on Main St. (436 S. Main St.) between 4th & 5th Streets, thanks to the local creative community coming together and assisting the Museum and Mr. Hansen in finding a new home for the public to enjoy this historic treasure.

The sign is illuminated for two hours each evening from 7 pm to 9 pm, and is visible through the store windows from the sidewalk.


Here's a photo of the art supply store:

Cartwheel Art

[odinthor]

Just a heads up, should it turn out that a heads up is needed: My new (post-Photobucket) image host postimage.org, alias postimages.org, alias postimg.ORG, sports a message--at least, for the moment--that "postimg.ORG domain is locked by Registry, no prior notice. While we hope to resolve the issue, we chose postimg.CC as our new home. Please update codes embedded in your websites." It appears, at the moment, that my recent images here at NLA are still up; and going to postimg.CC jumps back to postimages.org, so, um . . . A minute ago, it wasn't accepting upload of images; now, for the moment it is . . . so . . . perhaps the issue is resolved and the world can stop holding its collective breath.

Speaking of heads, and to my original purpose in visiting my image host:

NLA has not had a satisfactory number of postings about Angelenos standing on their head. Let this begin to remedy that. (And in poking around, I found this other article of potential interest):


LA Times via ProQuest via CSULB Library.

I find nothing further about young master Kuymatan.

[CityBoyDoug]

...

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Los Angeles Akido Center.....its all about balance.

I bet Scott Charles could make him wobble with one of his gifs.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Apology...accepted? This may literally be my favorite post on the whole of NLA, which puts it in august company indeed.

Coming from you, Beaudry, that is high praise indeed. Thanks, and glad you enjoyed the post!

Originally Posted by esotouric

Bravo, Scott Charles, and a tip of the hat to your productive obsession. I'd hoped to be able to answer your question about the location of Catalina / Yoshiko's, but all I've got is a lead.

According to production designer Bob Ziembicki, who recently joined us (and Beaudry!) for a mini-Barfly reunion on a guided tour of Bukowski's Los Angeles: "Been racking my brain but just can’t remember exactly. My best guesses would be on Beverly or 3rd based on keeping all those locations relatively close to each other on a short night of B roll shooting."

Fascinating, esotouric! How great that tour must have been! And thank you for the lead on the Catalina!

What Mr. Ziembicki said about the B roll makes sense - I was beginning to wonder if the Catalina was located somewhere other than the rest of the bars (say, I don't know, Santa Pedro or something), but his comment about shooting B roll in the same proximity is completely logical. The only downside to this is it makes a mystery out of the fact that I haven't been able to find any information about this bar (which is why I began thinking it might not be in Downtown/Hollywood in the first place).

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Scott Charles, thanks for the "then and now" look at the bars from Bar Fly. I love the opening (and ending) sequence in the film showing those places, which are nearly all gone now! I also enjoyed the animated touches you gave to them, especially the reflection of traffic lights going by in the Ski Room photograph.

Although I never went inside it, the only bar of these that I remember is walking by the Side Show many times, with it's bright colorful neon, which, ironically, always seemed to beckon one inside to something much darker.

Here's a photograph of Big Ed's and the Adams Hotel...

My site search on NLA didn't come up with anything about the name of this place. "Craby"?

And this:

--On March 27, 2010, there was a dedication ceremony of the recently refurbished, historic neon sign from the bar "Craby Joe's," rescued in 2007 by Jeremy Hansen, and cared for by the Museum of Neon Art. The sign, which has been in storage on and off since being removed from the bar facade at 7th & Main Streets, is now re-installed inside "Raw Materials" art supply store on Main St. (436 S. Main St.) between 4th & 5th Streets, thanks to the local creative community coming together and assisting the Museum and Mr. Hansen in finding a new home for the public to enjoy this historic treasure.

The sign is illuminated for two hours each evening from 7 pm to 9 pm, and is visible through the store windows from the sidewalk.

Here's a photo of the art supply store:

Cartwheel Art

Martin, I could have sworn that Noirish LA had previously discussed Craby Joe's. But you are right, there are no search results for "Craby" -not even for "Crabby" - I must have gotten my wires crossed somehow.

I've read the thread on Bukowski.net before, there are some interesting recollections there.

Lastly, I am SO GLAD that the neon sign from Craby Joe's was saved! And I'm glad you liked the animated images, I had fun making them!

[ethereal_reality]

Scott Charles, the BarFly 'dives' post was amazing!

BRAVO!

GIPHY

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

The Smog Cutter at 864 N Virgil, another one of my old hangouts.



There used to be a really friendly barmaid (owner?) there, an Asian lady with the unusual name of, I think, Sunshine. I wonder if she's still around?

Scott, could you have been thinking of 'Mama Nita'?

"Nita Sevikul, known to her patrons and bar family as “Mama Nita,” has owned the Smog Cutter since 1988. The bar itself has been around for “at least 77 years,” according to Mama Nita."


...or could you have been thinking of 'Mama K'?

"Before she scraped up the money to buy it herself, Mama Nita bartended at the Smog Cutter when she emigrated to the United States from Thailand in 1972.
A young mother with meager resources, she first entered the workforce at sweatshops downtown until a friend suggested she might earn a better living wage
at a little bar between Silver Lake and Thai Town, then owned by a woman they called “Mama K.” Nita describes Mama K, the first female owner in the Smog’s matrilineal genealogy,
as a “geisha from Little Tokyo.”

To read the entire article go to LAWEEKLY
__

[ethereal_reality]

The Rubber Products building is a great little find Hoss.

Originally Posted by HossC

While looking for pictures of the Bayview Drive-In, I came across this image from Wilmington.

"Exterior view of Rubber Products Co. at 114 East G Street, in Wilmington." [August 11, 1941]


LAPL

I appreciate that you tried to find a photo of the Bayview Drive-In. I've tried several times before. (I have no idea why it's so difficult to find one)

Since we've been discussing dive bars, take a look at this one down the street from Hoss' Rubber Products building.

Dino's Bar / Rubber Products building in the distance

GSV 2011 [today it's a gussied up marijuana dispensary]



you're going to think I'm crazy..but is this the building that used to be Wilmington City Hall

_

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Scott Charles, the BarFly 'dives' post was amazing!

BRAVO!

GIPHY

Scott, could you have been thinking of 'Mama Nita'?

"Nita Sevikul, known to her patrons and bar family as “Mama Nita,” has owned the Smog Cutter since 1988. The bar itself has been around for “at least 77 years,” according to Mama Nita."

...or could you have been thinking of 'Mama K'? (etc)
__

Thanks, ER - so glad you enjoyed the post!

Perhaps the person I am thinking of was "just" an employee - her name was definitely some variant of the word "sun" - Sunshine, Sunlight, Sunbeam, something really trippy and new age-y, like that. That's the only reason I remember it, because it was SO unusual! And it definitely wasn't anything even remotely common, like Sunny.

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

The next bar we see is Snug Harbor:



This is another bar I actually visited. It was located at 1415 Seventh Street, and has been torn down and replaced with a new building.

It took me about an hour to find, but here is a photograph I shot one night of Snug Harbor:



I don't recall the date that I took this photo, but the bar looks(?) to be out of business, judging by all the graffiti. Or maybe they just didn't care about the graffiti? Sadly, there was no EXIF data on film photography.

Regardless, the bar would not have been open at the time I took the photograph - I always waited 'til after 2:30 AM or so before going out to photograph at night, just to avoid all the drunk drivers (and the cops out looking for them!).

The bar was still in business in '87 (the year it appeared in Barfly), but I'm 95% certain I took this photo in the 80s. So maybe they went out of business right after Barfly was filmed. (?)

[ethereal_reality]

DREAMY

PACOIMA ELEMENTARY

Originally Posted by odinthor

Right-o, e_r!

It's hard to tell for sure which, though, as Eucalyptus is a large and intricate genus, and we don't have a close-up...

So I was right! My first baby step at being a dendrologist.
____



odinthor, here's something you might find interesting about the recently discussed MAR VISTA Tract (location of the Tension house)

Landscape architect Garrett Eckbo planted different types of trees on each of the streets so that each street had its own original streetscape.

Ficus on Beethoven

Melaleuca on Moor

Magnolia on Meier
_______________




One more interesting fact: There are no street lights!


information from James Collin Campbell

[CityBoyDoug]

This week the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan for the nearly 58,000 homeless to live in people's backyards and renovated garages. This will get them off the streets and into your backyards where they'll be safe and out of danger. Details in Link below>>>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti....html#comments