noirish Los Angeles

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by odinthor

In haste, I just gathered some quick data from the usage of the terms by the Los Angeles Times. For what it's worth:

--Instances of usage by 1890 of term "Fort Moore Hill": Zero.

--Instances of usage by 1890 of term "Fort Hill": 222.

--First usage of term "Fort Moore Hill" in the Times: November 4, 1909.

--Usage of term "Fort Moore Hill" shot up abruptly around 1933-1934.

Yes, very interesting, odinthor! Thanks for checking into this.

Originally Posted by HossC

From KCET's The Lost Hills of Downtown Los Angeles:

Poundcake Hill was the first to recede from the landscape. First known to English-speaking Angelenos as Telegraph Hill for the semaphore tower that once stood on its summit, it eventually gained a new name, derived from its resemblance to the round, plump dessert food. When the Southland's first high school rose from its top in 1873, the hill stood high above Temple Street below. Later, construction of an imposing, red-sandstone county courthouse (1891) on the site shortened the hill's stature, and after the courthouse's 1936 demolition, development of the Los Angeles Civic Center and construction of the new Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center flattened Poundcake Hill beyond recognition.

Is it possible that before there was a semaphore on Poundcake/Telegraph Hill, the old name for the hill had been
"Round Hill"? I can't think of what other landform the author could be referring to ("Others have the custom of firing
from Round Hill at Fort Hill, with their rifles"). This is the only reference I found, so perhaps the name never caught on:



May 31, 1856, Los Angeles Star @ USCDL

[ethereal_reality]

The composition of this slide leaves a lot to be desired (I'm guessing it was taken from a moving car)

"1959 Mary Webb Davis Modeling 8532 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY

I can't figure out what this is below the white awning. (it looks like a dirty torn awning )

__

[Noir_Noir]

At 1830 South Figueroa Street. Picture from the 1930's. The building dates from 1921.



http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compou.../17758/rec/292





Building still there in 2017.


GSV

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by odinthor

[...]

Mention of "Church Bell will be rung at 4:00 A.M." makes me think, with a smile, of the sounds Avalonians would have to endure, and in particular from the steamship. At some point in the afternoon, as I remember vividly, the steamship would let off a blast which would nearly rattle everything in town. It signified that the ship was soon to depart, and that anyone planning to be on it better get on board NOW. I remember being in the pool at the recently-mentioned Las Casitas bungalow hotel at the back of town, hearing the blast, and--because the next day was my own day of departure--thinking, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

Of course, it wasn't a bell, and wouldn't be tolling for "thee" until the following day, so I went back to splashing around in the pool...

Why, here's the very pool:


odinthor collection

The battered condition of this postcard arises from the fact that its disgraceful owner, one odinthor, used it as a bookmark for about fifteen years.

The baseball field which you will recall having been discussed is beyond and to the right of the building on the other side of the pool (which is the hotel office building). If you could see more clearly through the windows of the office building, you could probably see in the distance the bungalow my family would normally stay at.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The composition of this slide leaves a lot to be desired (I'm guessing it was taken from a moving car)

"1959 Mary Webb Davis Modeling 8532 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY

I can't figure out what this is below the white awning. (it looks like a dirty torn awning )

__

It kind of has the shape of a concert grand piano . . . and an extra large "specialty" one at that . . . with something additional on top of the piano but still under the cover. I even hallucinate that I see bits of piano legs. Maybe they needed a piano for a modeling shoot...?

[sopas ej]

Market Street, downtown Inglewood, May 7, 1955.

Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority Library and Archive

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I'm kind of comforted that there are some like minded attitudes on NLA about Frank Gehry, who's been foisting his work on Los Angeles for 50 years.

[. . .]

What I am not comforted by is that this project at Sunset Blvd. and Crescent Heights keeps moving forward, despite various groups, and even some court rulings, against it. What can you do?

Martin, I welcome correction on this observation, but it seems to me that the LA Conservancy is largely ineffective, unlike Pasadena Heritage here in my part of town.

As far as I know, there are no Gehry buildings here, although I'm now going to check that link you thoughtfully provided.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The composition of this slide leaves a lot to be desired (I'm guessing it was taken from a moving car)

"1959 Mary Webb Davis Modeling 8532 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY

I can't figure out what this is below the white awning. (it looks like a dirty torn awning )

__

Because 77 Sunset Strip is my favorite show of all time, this photograph fills me with sublime joy.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The composition of this slide leaves a lot to be desired (I'm guessing it was taken from a moving car)

"1959 Mary Webb Davis Modeling 8532 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY

I can't figure out what this is below the white awning. (it looks like a dirty torn awning )

__

It looks like a rack for luggage on top of a car, covered with a rather disreputable-looking canvas cover.

Mary Webb Davis was born in Los Angeles in 1910. She died in West Hollywood in 1997.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The composition of this slide leaves a lot to be desired (I'm guessing it was taken from a moving car)

"1959 Mary Webb Davis Modeling 8532 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY

I can't figure out what this is below the white awning. (it looks like a dirty torn awning )

__

As this is Noirish LA , I'm pretty sure it's a bumped off couple in flagrante delicto in a bed encased in cement.



8532 Sunset Blvd was a popular sightseeing destination in 1959 -

The address 77 Sunset Strip is a phony. There's no such number. It has no significance except it sounded good when the program was put together. However, the office front used in the drama is authentic. It is the office of the Mary Webb Davis modeling agency, 8532 Sunset Blvd., next to Dino's Lodge, also featured in the series. Of course, facsimiles of the office front, the parking lot and Dino's have been built on a Warner Bros. sound stage. This is what people see on TV.

But this touch of realism has had a strange effect. Life is not the same around the agency -- which furnishes models for film commercials, fashion shows and photographic ads -- since the program became popular. Incidentally, it has been there for 12 years.

Mail keeps coming there for Zimbalist, and tourists tie up traffic stopping for a look and to snap pictures of the office front. As a result, Otis Jenkins, the cleanup man, works twice as hard polishing the brass on the door.

One other thing, Mary Webb Davis hasn't mentioned it to the gang at Warner Bros., but the handle of the door in the studio replica is on the wrong side.

Los Angeles Mirror - 1959

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...einstoc-3.html


This blog post describes a 1961 sightseeing trip to the location -

http://malatman-malatblogspotcom.blo...d-spencer.html

[ethereal_reality]

It appears the tourist that took the Mary Webb Davis slide appears to have returned later in the evening to try and catch some stars entering/leaving Dino's Lodge next door.





"1959 Dino's Lodge 8532 Sunset Actress ? Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"



EBAY slide 1

I could be wrong, but I think this is Louella Parsons.





"1959 Dino's Lodge Sign Actor Actress Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY slide 2

I believe the lady might be Ida Lupino / with her husband. The young lad on the left is a Dino's valet (you'll see him again in slide #4)






"1959 Dino's Lodge Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide Car" (at first I thought this was a valet)


EBAY slide 3

but that was before I figured out the dudes in the blazers were the valets.
The rear end of the car appears to be out on Sunset Blvd. It's waiting to pull into Dino's and under the canopy.



Here's a closer look. (is it someone famous? )

[/URL]
detail

License plate...'JSA 409'................................... Anyone have an idea who this is?








"1959 Dino's Lodge Doormen Los Angeles Kodachrome Slide"


EBAY slide 4 (detail)

Can you imagine having one of those Dino's jackets!!
__








Oh what the heck... here's a closer look at 'Louella' too.


detail

She's wearing her War Paint.



_

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a closer look. (is it someone famous? )

[/URL]
detail

License plate...'JSA 409'................................... Anyone have an idea who this is?

That looks like a 1956-58 Dual Ghia. I can't tell whether or not it's a convertible. From the link below:

Out of the 117 cars produced it is believed that approximately 32 still exist. American celebrities, such as Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, Richard Nixon and Desi Arnez bought the cars.

It looks like Dean Martin owner a later model with squarer headlights, but that's after the date of the photo above.


mycarquest.com

[ethereal_reality]

Good eye Hoss! I had no idea what kind of car that was.

I'm still trying to connect a celeb with the letters/initials on the license plate. J.S.A.


I haven't had any luck.

_

[ethereal_reality]

"1927 Photo California Los Angeles 6718 2nd Ave."


[EBAY]




I believe the two end photos show the back porch.





This small house still stands.

here it is today

GSV


EBAY


_

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks for the before & after of Hess Tire Service, 1830 South Figueroa Street Noir Noir. Good work!


The building looked much better a few years ago before the ALL RED paint job.

2014

GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Here's one last pic for tonight

and it's a double exposure.



"1927 Photo California Santa Monica Double Exposure Beach Pier Buildings Coast"


EBAY


Did you notice the Camera Obscura building below the tall flagpole?


_

[Lojack]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's the Firefly sign in color ScottyB (I believe this was taken in the 1980s.


kelly/pinimg


The Firefly sign is briefly shown flashing in an old black and white movie, but the name of the film escapes me at the moment.
(I thought it was 'The Strip' [1948] but it isn't..unless I missed it. (I just checked on youtube)
_



update:


make the music go bang

I had no idea what was meant by a flaming bar . (until now) see below

"That was a great dive bar. First place I went when I moved to Hollywood from Florida in 83.
The bartenders would put lighter fluid on the bar and have this flame run the length of the bar." SCOTT DELONG


_

Originally Posted by ScottyB

thanks, e_r! I'm usually not that literal-minded when someone describes a 'flaming bar"! The color picture shows a rather different set of features than the close up I posted.....I wonder if the bar moved at some point?

It appears to be the same location.

Picture sleuthing time! If you look at the b/w photo, you see the arch over the alley is cladded over the brick of the building. This brickwork appears similar to the color photo, even though the arch has been removed (as have the window covers). Just visible over the trunk of the left car you can make out the tip of the concrete corner protector, with black and yellow stripes which is painted all yellow in the color one. Finally, the very top of the color photo you can make out the circles and lines of the detail work of the building roof line which matches that of the b/w photo.

If you go to GSV, the address is 1674 Vine St., you'll have to pivot to the right a little to get the alley in view. Go to the 2007 or 2011 views to see the last images of the building looking like that color photo before the remodel.

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

8532 Sunset Blvd was a popular sightseeing destination in 1959 -


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...einstoc-3.html


This blog post describes a 1961 sightseeing trip to the location -

http://malatman-malatblogspotcom.blo...d-spencer.html

Noir_Noir, thanks for these great links! BTW, I actually bought this slide. I remember Dino's quite distinctly, but not the Mary Webb Davis building. I wonder why so much of the building front is black? One can see it in some establishing shots on the show, and it's all light-colored in those.

EDIT: Oh, wait. Obviously they're working on the building; there is scaffolding over to the right. The black up high is likely related to that. Also, I'm watching an episode now, and the panel to the right of the entrance is indeed black.

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Is it possible that before there was a semaphore on Poundcake/Telegraph Hill, the old name for the hill had been
"Round Hill"? I can't think of what other landform the author could be referring to ("Others have the custom of firing
from Round Hill at Fort Hill, with their rifles"). This is the only reference I found, so perhaps the name never caught on:



May 31, 1856, Los Angeles Star @ USCDL

It certainly seems possible that Poundcake/Telegraph Hill could once have been called "Round Hill", Flyingwedge - it was in the right place to shoot at Fort Hill, and it certainly was depicted as being round enough to earn the name!

link

The more I research the old hills of downtown LA, the more I become convinced that their names were largely colloquial, and often changed depending on the speaker. I've seen Court Hill referred to as both Bunker Hill and Fort Hill; I've seen Poundcake Hill referred to as "Courthouse Hill"; I've seen Bunker Hill described as ending on First Street on its north side, but I've also seen it claimed that Bunker Hill ran straight through to Elysian Park (basically following the path of Bunker Hill Ave)...

It seems impossible to nail down the exact boundaries of old hills of LA, but I agree with you that Poundcake Hill seems by far the most likely candidate for being "Round" Hill.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Good eye Hoss! I had no idea what kind of car that was.

I'm still trying to connect a celeb with the letters/initials on the license plate. J.S.A.


I haven't had any luck.

_

How about this blue eyed guy?


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1c/9d...abf097d6d2.jpg