noirish Los Angeles

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Intersection West Temple Street and North Broadway, Los Angeles, CA, 1932

Interesting series by Dick Whittington concentrating on just the one intersection, here looking east on Temple Street with the Hall of Justice on the left and the County Courthouse on the right just beyond the Owl Drug store. The Acme semaphore sitting over here on the right curb is interesting in it's placement with it and the corresponding painted auto limit line both well short of the intersection allowing for the turning radius of the streetcar tracks. The fact that the Acme is showing neither the 'stop' nor the 'go' arm means either Whittington hit the shutter at exactly the moment they were both folded into the light body or the exposure was taken early enough in the morning (probably by 7 am) before the semaphores were again operating for the day, being turned off around 9 pm when the 'red' and 'green' lights would suffice until being turned off themselves around midnight (or 1 am) when the little light seen at the base of the light body would then be turned on as a flasher. At intersections where both intersecting streets were relatively major roadways the little light would flash red indicating a boulevard stop for all cars. In the case of an Acme controlled intersection of a major roadway being crossed by a secondary road the little button light would show red for the smaller street and simply yellow/amber (or slow-down caution) for the bigger roadway. The Bank of Italy/International Bank Building stands out down the street with the squat old post office just to its left.

USC digital archive/Dick Whittington Photography Collection, 1924-1987

Banner business for alignment shops?

Recent posts have drawn my attention to those cast iron "safety bumps" pictured in MR's post. Their purpose is fairly obvious yet I have to wonder about their effectiveness. I would also assume many of them ended up in WW2 scrap drives. Were they all cast iron, or could they have been made from other composition, e.g., less-durable but equally hazardous cement? Hard to tell from this Pasadena photo where they appear in white clusters. (Image (formerly) on NLA, pg 491?)

1940s - Pasadena. Colorado Blvd.
http://macrochef.files.wordpress.com...nd-r1-e055.jpg


Other examples of marked traffic "safety" bumps. (Previously seen on NLA)

1950 Figueroa and Seventh
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/73...999f8751b7.jpg


1950 Figueroa and Seventh
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...AKIY7CRBGI.jpg

[ethereal_reality]

While I was researching for my last post, I happened across this renovation on York Boulevard that has exposed some rather interesting brick work.


GSV

Here's the building's previous life as the Verdugo Pet Shop.

GSV


The building will eventually be home to the Recess Eatery (interior below).


http://la.eater.com/2014/12/23/74430...-highland-park


below: One last look at the impressive brickwork that was covered up for years.






t2, I had no idea about the loss of A.C. Martin's Oswald Barlett house. Truly sad and disappointing.

_

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Toumaline, your bottom photo is missing. _

No rabbits were harmed during the making of the previous posts. The same may not be true for digital imagery.

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

Interesting. In revisiting some of my missing posts, including one I posted on yellow on blue signage http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24558, I also noticed your prior post with part of an impressive "street" related collection, including many examples of call/signal boxes. Bravo! http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24560

I vaguely recall watching what may have been a rehab of an old E. Hollywood home, the address of which has been long forgotten. Workers were removing all kinds of remnants, including striped posts. In retrospect, I am guessing they may have been once intended/used to support street signs pictured so many times on NLA.


http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...sJDonahue1.jpg http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=21733


I alluded to this previously, but the more I think of it, this was where I may have seen one or two porcelain / enameled street signs with yellow lettering (rather than white) on a dark blue field. I mentioned this to someone who has long since passed and he said he remembered the colored signs, because they reminded him of the UMichigan colors (darker than UCLA's). Still, I can't seem to locate any photographic evidence of their existence. In my mind's eye the signs were too solid to have been props and they bore local LA Street names. Do you or anyone else recall (or have examples of) blue shotgun-style street signs bearing yellow (not off-white) lettering?






https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...zk7biL2pXP-PDL

http://www.kta.com/assets/images/cawater.jpg

i have never seen a blue with yellow lettering street sign in L.A., maybe it was in a bordering city that had it. I have seen street signs as far back as wood ones and they have been blue and white. The stripped post you mention were very common even to the 50's. They were not alone many signal poles had stripes also. I have seen a promotional photo (?) showing a spotted post with a lady in a spotted dress next to it.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

i have never seen a blue with yellow lettering street sign in L.A., maybe it was in a bordering city that had it. I have seen street signs as far back as wood ones and they have been blue and white. The stripped post you mention were very common even to the 50's. They were not alone many signal poles had stripes also. I have seen a promotional photo (?) showing a spotted post with a lady in a spotted dress next to it.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12357

USC Digital[/QUOTE]

[ethereal_reality]

I've had this photograph in a file of mine for quite some time. Could one of you rail-fans tell me what's going on?
There appears to be a gap between the street-car and the tracks nearer the camera.



old file/eBay possibly

Whatever they're doing, I hope they pick up some of that litter.

__

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I've had this photograph in a file of mine for quite some time. Could one of you rail-fans tell me what's going on?
There appears to be a gap between the street-car and the tracks nearer the camera.

Whatever they're doing, I hope they pick up some of that litter.

__

LATL 1433 is about to traverse a temporary crossover that will shunt the car to the opposite track for a short distance probably so that repairs can be effected on its normal routing (behind the photographer).

Streetcar companies also employed temporary track sections like this one but with holes drilled in the rails to allow fire hoses to be passed through in the event of structure fires.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the help HenryHuntington! I appreciate it.
I couldn't figure out what was going on.

[CityBoyDoug]

In 1956 Jo-Ann Cox of Ballwin, Missouri, won a Screen Album magazine contest.
The prize was ''A visit to Hollywood and a date with teenage heartthrob...Tab Hunter''. Yes, Tab Hunter.
Her mom also came along on the trip.

Here's Tab and Jo-Ann at the very adult Mocambo on the Sunset Strip.

reminisce.com

[Martin Pal]

I just read that article, CBD, that was some date.

[Handsome Stranger]

This may be of no interest to anyone but myself, but I'll pass it along anyway.

I was saddened to see recently that the last little bit of streetcar tracks still visible in Hollywood (on Santa Monica Blvd, just west of the gas station at Highland Avenue) has now been paved over.

Here's what it used to look like:


[source: GSV]

Not much to look at, I know, but I always enjoyed the fact that there was some little bit of visual evidence remaining of the Pacific Electric streetcars after all these years. Alas, it is no more.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

t2, I had no idea about the loss of A.C. Martin's Oswald Barlett house.
_

I finally found the extant A.C. Martin, Sr. design. It's a beaut. I added some photos to my previous post. Thx for the lovely York Blvd brickwork.


I read the Tab Hunter article too CBD. Priceless. Great 2005 reunion photo :-)

I love bits of vestigial history Handsome Stranger. Even going through the dip in Wilshire Blvd at Mariposa where the bridge used to go over Sacatela Creek is enough to make me happy all day

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

And here's a new (to me) shot of the Eltinge house (the house with a 'little something extra'):

Google Books

It was designed by Pierpont with his brother and partner Walter, and we've seen it before... http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1212

Here are several of the posts at NLA about female impersonator Julian Eltinge:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1086
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16331
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=16333
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20965
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=20966

He was listed in the 1921 LA City Directory at 2327 Fargo Street, which is just above Silver Lake. Today you can just barely see part of the (pink) house from Baxter Street, which is
one block north of Fargo Street:

GSV

However, his home was featured in the February 1921 edition of The Architectural Record . . . .


The plan of the home and gardens











He had a nice view looking north at Silver Lake:




The music and living room








Are those lamps on either side of the fireplace?


There are more interior and exterior photos with the article @ HathiTrust: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...ew=1up;seq=102

# # #

In an unrelated note, if you hotlinked to a photo from the California State Library, it has probably disappeared from NLA recently.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

To the right of "Fiesta Nights" is Bob Hope. Just to the right of Bob is one of several photos of Desi Arnaz; I can't tell if that's Lucille Ball next to him, but she's in the photo just to the
right of the lower left corner.

To the right of "Join the Celebrities" is I believe a young Fernando Lamas. Below and to the right from him are Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, perhaps flanking the owner,
who appears in several of these shots. I think Van Heflin is right under Robert Taylor. Carmen Miranda is there, too, just to the right of center, one row up from the bottom.

# # #

I also noticed photos missing from the two posts you mentioned, but now after each post was edited I can see the photos.

However, three photos hotlinked to this post have also gone missing ("one of the attractive servers," "garden," and "flower shop"): http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=27090

That is Desi Arnaz next to the one of Bob Hope with Lucy and Lucy's mother, Desiree Ball

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Here are several of the posts at NLA about female impersonator Julian Eltinge:

[snip]

Are those lamps on either side of the fireplace?


There are more interior and exterior photos with the article @ HathiTrust: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...ew=1up;seq=102

Man, that den could serve as the set for Arthur Gwynn Geiger's living room in The Big Sleep. is there a camera hidden in that vase to the right? The only thing missing is Carmen Sternwood gracing the chair to the left. Noir decadence at its finest :-)

Cheers,

Earl

[tovangar2]

I could not agree more. Thx for conjuring up Martha Vickers' compelling portrait of careless, languid waywardness. Unforgettable.

fun & games with carmen & arthur:

http://torontofilmsociety.org/film-n...ig-sleep-1946/

[ethereal_reality]

Here's the scene where Humphrey Bogart first meets 'Carmen Sternwood'.


CLICK HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phkCtrYfnGo

It's fairly common knowledge that Martha Vicker's best scenes were left on the cutting room floor.
The studio wanted to promote Lauren Bacall, who was married to Bogart by the time the film was released.

__

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location

I don't believe we have seen this photograph on NLA......I would have remembered the unique hotel with the 'rounded' corners.



eBay

If I remember correctly it was on eBay a year or so ago, but it lacked any specific details.
__

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's the amazing scene where Humphrey Bogart first meets 'Carmen Sternwood'.

[snip]

It's fairly common knowledge that Martha Vicker's best scenes were left on the cutting room floor.
The studio wanted to promote Lauren Bacall, who was married to Bogart by the time the film was released.

__

Yes, and for those few who haven't seen it, be aware (as was noted here some time back) there are two versions, the shorter 1945 cut and the 1946 version with the (IMHO) hokey "racehorse" scene added. I advise looking for the 1945 version. Ebert, on the other hand, liked the longer one. De gustibus and all that ...

Cheers,

Earl

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

...It's fairly common knowledge that Martha Vicker's best scenes were left on the cutting room floor...
__

I've read that too, but I was so knocked-out by what we did get to see, I don't know if I could have taken anymore :-)

A classic exchange:

Carmen, "You're cute"

Marlowe, "You're higher than a kite"



BTW Geiger's neighborhood is one of my all-time favorite sets:


screenshots: Warner Bros