noirish Los Angeles

[Wrightguy0]

now this is exciting

from here http://gameinformer.com/games/la_noi...ostPageIndex=1

By Rockstar’s estimation, L.A. Noire will feature a game world that’s bigger and more detailed than any it’s created so far, and will be a near one-to-one recreation of the city at the time. That’s not to mention the over 140 interiors (many of which are multi-room structures) and the mind-boggling number of fully rendered objects that Cole Phelps can examine in his investigations.

i don't know who else is with me, but i think i'm going to search out a few locations that have been posted when this game comes out

[KevinW]

For years now, I've been trying to find an investor interested in producing a 4D model of Downtown Los Angeles (and eventually the whole town) that would be a 3D model as you've described in this Noire game but would have a time slider so you could sit at an intersection ner bunker hill and watch the victorians disappear and the skyscrapers take over. Anyone know an interested investor? This could be used for games, digital backgrounds for movies, even historical kiosks around town to show people what used to be here. L.A. simply erases its history and it would be nice to help people seen what it's been.

[gsjansen]

here's a screen cap of the hill street tunnel before it became a twin tunnel to accommodate vehicles as well as the p&e cars. I don't think i have ever seen a photo of when it was only a single tunnel before. The view is looking north from 1st street.

it is a screen cap from a great little movie detailing the hill street tunnels.

you can view the movie at youtube by clicking the source link below the photo


Source: Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk2xh...eature=related

[Jarrod]

I really, really love this thread! All these photos are just amazing!

[ethereal_reality]

That is a great find gsjansen.

Thx for the link.....

[ethereal_reality]

On April 4th, 1958 Johnny Stompanato was stabbed to death in Lana Turner's Beverly Hills Home (730 N. Bedford Drive).
The assailant was Turner's teenage daughter Cheryl Crane.



Los Angeles Mirror



Below: Gangster Mickey Cohen paying his last respects.


Los Angeles Mirror.


Below: A rare photo of Mr. Stompanato (behind the man with the glasses).


unknown

[Wrightguy0]

he sort of looks like Al Pacino in that last picture, does anyone else find that a tad coincidental?

[GaylordWilshire]

Herald-Examiner/LAPL
Johnny Stompanato, originator of the
medallion-in-chest-hair fashion trend


Herald-Examiner/LAPL
730 N. Bedford Drive: the arrow marks Lana's pink (now-
crimson) boudoir


Google Street View
One of an increasingly rare number of unchanged Beverly Hills houses


Herald-Examiner/LAPL
Hollywood glamour reduced to a black-and-white diagram


Herald-Examiner/LAPL
The actual knife--imagine the force it took to get this big knife through
all that hair and muscle--or is such a stabbing easier than I think?


Herald-Examiner/LAPL
Courtroom reenactment, with Johnny the
Dummy


Herald-Examiner/LAPL
Poor Lana--or was she attempting to win an Oscar?


Herald-Examiner/LAPL
Johnny in 1952

[Coldrsx]

This thread is so damn good, keep it coming.

[ethereal_reality]

The jewelry Johnny Stompanato was wearing the night of his death.



Los Angeles Times





Below: Johnny leaving 730 N. Bedford Drive for the last time.


Gary Smith/Los Angeles Times





Below:

Johnny Stompanato's T-Bird, parked outside Lana Turner's home the night of his killing.



LATimesBlog

[ethereal_reality]

A little known fact.

Before his affair with Lana Turner, Johhny Stompanato was married to Helene Stanley, Miss Smog 1951.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/10386/rec/1

The marriage lasted from 1952 to 1955.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

The actual knife--imagine the force it took to get this big knife through
all that hair and muscle--or is such a stabbing easier than I think?

If the knife is really sharp, I'd imagine it could go through flesh really easily.

Poor, poor Cheryl. Maybe she just didn't understand that her mom and Johnny liked to play games? Just kidding.

Cheryl Crane at court.

USC Archive

Cheryl Crane leaving juvie.

USC Archive


USC Archive


USC Archive

[JeffDiego]

Helene Stanley, Johnny Stompanato's wife (and Miss Smog) in the early 50's was a well-featured MGM starlet in the 40's. She had fairly prominent roles in films like "Thrill of a Romance" (with Esther Williams), "Holiday in Mexico" (with Jane Powell) and was the girl dancing to Jukebox music in a key scene in "The Asphalt Jungle" in 1949/50. You can check her out at IMDB.

[gsjansen]

a very nice color noirish image postcard from 1965


Source: public domain post card from LMU|LA http://library.lmu.edu/

the view is looking south on broadway across chinatown from the Arroyo-Seco Freeway

[malumot]

Most of the show was filmed in the San Fernando Valley, but other locations were used as well.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by malumot

Other pluses: All that beautiful mid- and late-50s Detroit iron, fedoras, and Broderick Crawford, who is a piece of work. Downside: many of the stories are insipid and the acting horrible.

Being interested in cars all my life, as well as in vintage Los Angeles, I've always noticed that in almost every photo of the city involving vehicles, from late 1954 and continuing for many years, there is always at least one (and often more than one) '55 Buick in the shot. This isn't really so surprising since Buick, despite notoriously weak brakes, was the third most popular make in '55 after Chevy and Ford. As for Detroit iron in Highway Patrol, one of the stars of the early seasons was Dan Matthews's own '55 Buick. The actual CHP ordered 270 '55s of a model not for sale at your local Buick dealer. The 2-door post sedan was available to the public only in the entry-level Special series and only with the 188-horsepower (264 cubic-inch) V8. Buick offered to make a special Special by installing the 2-door sedan body on the Century chassis, which included the bigger 236hp (322ci) V8 that was standard on the Century, Super and Roadmaster. By offering such a unique hotrod and by underbidding other manufacturers, Buick won the contract. (Half the order had three-on-the-tree, the other half Dynaflow transmissions.) Buick badged these hybrid models as Centurys, and even included the additional "Ventiport" of the upper-series Buicks on each front fender to signal to potential highway robbers that extra power was under the hood.

Source of all photos above: http://www.highwaypatroltv.com

[ethereal_reality]

Believe it or not, I've never heard of 'Highway Patrol'. But it would certainly be a hoot to watch these old episodes.
I think Broderick Crawford is one of the best character actors ever.

It would also be interesting to watch old 'Adam-12' and 'Emergency!' episodes to see L.A. in the 1960s and 70s.
I wanted to be Kent McCord or Randolph Mantooth when I grew up.



I just came across these bloopers from Emergency!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IphLB...eature=related

[ethereal_reality]

An old Pacific Electric Car in Crestline CA.


Brian Norden

[ethereal_reality]

This is an interesting illustration of Union Station proposed for this site along the Los Angeles River in East L.A.



unknown

If you look closely you can see the existing Santa Fe Depot.
(I just notice another one ; that one must be the Southern Pacific Depot)

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

An old Pacific Electric Car in Crestline CA.


Brian Norden

Here is the very same car, rescued by the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, back on wheels and awaiting restoration:

Orange Empire Railway Museum


I've looked in vain for a shot of this actual PE car (#179) in service. Below, however, is sister ship #173 stopped at Beverly Hills ca. 1920, which shows how #179 once looked, and presumably will again before too long. The 170-series cars were built in 1912 by Pullman and used at first by the Southern Pacific in Oakland before being transferred to SoCal, where they ran until 1934.

Orange Empire Railway Museum

Btw--the Orange Empire Railway Museum is an amazing operation, well worth the visit to get a sense of the vehicles (both Red and Yellow cars) that plied L.A. streets in the noir era: http://www.oerm.org/