noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

LAT Nov 28, 1941

[HossC]

I couldn't find a picture showing the sign, but this one claims to show the windows as they were circa 1937.

People gaze at men's and women's clothing displayed in the windows of a Hartfield store located at 547 South Broadway, owned by Hartfield hosiery.


LAPL

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAT Nov 28, 1941

Originally Posted by HossC

I couldn't find a picture showing the sign, but this one claims to show the windows as they were circa 1937.

People gaze at men's and women's clothing displayed in the windows of a Hartfield store located at 547 South Broadway, owned by Hartfield hosiery.

Great finds so far! That terrazzo

[Martin Pal]

It's been awhile since I've come across anything new related to Coffee Dan's. Today was the first time I've seen this:

L.A. Meekly

It was posted on a site called L.A. Meekly, and while they have many of the photographs on their site sourced, this one they do not. The site says: "A blog about a podcast about a city. L.A Meekly is a monthly podcast on Los Angeles history."

If the photos refer to different podcasts, it's not clear to me so far.
http://lameekly.tumblr.com/podcasts
http://lameekly.tumblr.com/page/129
http://lameekly.tumblr.com/archive

In any case, I've never seen anything like this menu photo, if it is a menu and not a brochure or program of some kind. I was wondering if it might be some sort of radio show like they did at Tom Breneman's, but haven't seen any info about that. Notice there's a photo on the menu they're holding with other possible celebrities pictured.

Both films mentioned, Gloria De Haven's "I'll Get By" and Robert Maxwell's "For Heaven's Sake" were released in 1950.

Notice the coffee cups appear to have a Coffee Dan's logo imprinted on them.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

It's been awhile since I've come across anything new related to Coffee Dan's. Today was the first time I've seen this:

Dan's logo imprinted on them.

Coffee Dan's was cruising-central for the boys on Hollywood Blvd. One can probably still find remnants of that crowd today in the area.

Nothing has changed since Leonardo Da Vinci was strolling the streets of Milan, Italy hundreds of years ago.....looking for ''models".

One of his models....Salai's face appears in Leonardo's paintings, numerous drawings including erotic drawings.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Gc6vdWbB2Z...,%25201510.jpg

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ConstructDTLA

545 S Broadway - 'HARTFIELD'S' - I can't find any vintage images showing the space or that sign. Would love to see some.


WSS Shoes / Hartfields? by Hunter, on Flickr

Here are three photos looking north at Harfield's from 6th Street.

c. 1937:



00098743 at LAPL


1958:



EXM-N-12331-003~2 at USCDL


1979:



00008034 at LAPL


Many thanks for your current DTLA photos, ConstructDTLA!

[sadykadie2]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAT Nov 28, 1941

Wow, Gaylordwilshire, good find!

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Here are three photos looking north at Harfield's from 6th Street.

Many thanks for your current DTLA photos, ConstructDTLA!

Wow, very cool! Thank you

If you like current DTLA development pics the best place to be is the DTLA Development page right now. Sometimes we unearth interesting history (like the Philharmonic Basement). https://www.facebook.com/groups/DtlaDev/

[Flyingwedge]

.

[jd3189]

Been lurking at this thread for a few years and decided to show myself. These are amazing pictures. LA was a big city even back then.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

.

No post here....what happened?

One can always put up a substitute post....

[Joe Vogel]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Postcard showing the Meeting Room of the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge, circa 1910.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/South-Pasade...item46372b9f81

I'm a bit surprised they allowed an interior photograph since it's a 'secret society'.
I wonder what the two columns represent in their pageantry procession?



I took the google-mobile to So. Pasadena to find the Masonic Building.


GSV / Fair Oaks Avenue



The roof-line (behind the façade) appears to match the ceiling in the 1910 postcard.


google_earth

but I'm still not 100% sure this is the same building as the one in the 1910 postcard.

__

I don't believe it is the same building. In the mid-1960s I once visited the Pasadena Auction Gallery, which was then located in the old Pasadena Masonic Lodge at 73-77 N. Fair Oaks, and I'm 99% sure that the ca.1910 postcard shows that building. The South Pasadena lodge wasn't built until the 1920s, so if the postcard really is ca.1910 it can't be the building in your other photos. I think that the postcard publisher simply got the city wrong in the caption.

The Pasadena building was dedicated in 1905 and served as the Masons' home until they moved to a new, much larger building on South Euclid in the latter half of the 1920s. I'm not sure when the Pasadena Auction Gallery took over the old building, but it was there for quite a while.

In 1968, the gallery let that meeting room to the operators of Cinematheque 16, which had been operating a theater on the Sunset Strip for a couple of years. They ran indie and experimental films, and I believe that the Sunset Boulevard location was the first place in Los Angeles to run several of Andy Warhol's movies. The Pasadena location operated into the 1970s, and during its last days succumbed to running X-rated fare.

The old lodge building and everything else on its block was demolished in the mid-1970s to make way for a big parking garage for Parsons Engineering, still there today. The Masonic Temple was a very handsome old building, and would have made a significant contribution to today's Old Pasadena, so it is especially unfortunate that it was knocked down only a few years before the surviving part of the neighborhood became such a roaring success.

I never expected to see the interior of that building again, so thanks for posting this photo. I wish I could find a good photo of the exterior, as I remember it being very nice but time has erased the details of it from my mind. I've also tried to track down the name of the architect, but so far no luck.

[ethereal_reality]

Movie Usherettes, Los Angeles, 1956


Robert Frank, Art Institute of Chicago

It would be interesting to know what movie theater, especially because of the young ladies' diverse ethnic backgounds.

The uniforms appear slightly Asiatic

and unless my eyes deceive me, the corsages are black Dahlias!
__

[ScottyB]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/South-Pasade...item46372b9f81

Originally Posted by Joe Vogel

I don't believe it is the same building. In the mid-1960s I once visited the Pasadena Auction Gallery, which was then located in the old Pasadena Masonic Lodge at 73-77 N. Fair Oaks, and I'm 99% sure that the ca.1910 postcard shows that building. The South Pasadena lodge wasn't built until the 1920s, so if the postcard really is ca.1910 it can't be the building in your other photos. I think that the postcard publisher simply got the city wrong in the caption.

The Pasadena building was dedicated in 1905 and served as the Masons' home until they moved to a new, much larger building on South Euclid in the latter half of the 1920s. I'm not sure when the Pasadena Auction Gallery took over the old building, but it was there for quite a while.

In 1968, the gallery let that meeting room to the operators of Cinematheque 16, which had been operating a theater on the Sunset Strip for a couple of years. They ran indie and experimental films, and I believe that the Sunset Boulevard location was the first place in Los Angeles to run several of Andy Warhol's movies. The Pasadena location operated into the 1970s, and during its last days succumbed to running X-rated fare.

The old lodge building and everything else on its block was demolished in the mid-1970s to make way for a big parking garage for Parsons Engineering, still there today. The Masonic Temple was a very handsome old building, and would have made a significant contribution to today's Old Pasadena, so it is especially unfortunate that it was knocked down only a few years before the surviving part of the neighborhood became such a roaring success.

I never expected to see the interior of that building again, so thanks for posting this photo. I wish I could find a good photo of the exterior, as I remember it being very nice but time has erased the details of it from my mind. I've also tried to track down the name of the architect, but so far no luck.

Hey Joe, here's a shot of 73 N Fair Oaks ca. 1917

PDHC

This is the Masonic Temple on Colorado Blvd. (?) in the 1880's


PDHC

I ought to know where this building is but can't place it at the moment.....

And then there's this interior, which is different from the postcard.....

HDL

[ethereal_reality]

South Pasadena Lodge [1910]

Originally Posted by Joe Vogel

I don't believe it is the same building. In the mid-1960s I once visited the Pasadena Auction Gallery,
which was then located in the old Pasadena Masonic Lodge at 73-77 N. Fair Oaks,
and I'm 99% sure that the ca.1910 postcard shows that building. The South Pasadena lodge wasn't built until the 1920s,
so if the postcard really is ca.1910 it can't be the building in your other photos.
I think that the postcard publisher simply got the city wrong in the caption.

You're correct JV, the extant South Pasadena Lodge wasn't built until the 1920s. (although I couldn't find an exact date)

That said, I'm not convinced the "So. Pasadena" location (on the 1910 postcard) was a mistake.



The interior photograph might have been taken inside the old South Pasadena Opera Building.


OAC

Title: "South Pasadena Postcard: Opera House Building and Post Office."

Creator/Contributor: Unknown
Date:1888-1910
Contributing Institution: South Pasadena Public Library
__







I only say this because earlier tonight I caught a glimpse of the same building in a video about the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge #290.


http://southpasadena290.org/home/














There was also this image from the video


http://southpasadena290.org/home/

Is it just me or is the building leaning to the left? (or is it an optical illusion caused by the leaning streetlight )

I don't know the street address of this building. (nor the Opera Building)
_

[unihikid]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

South Pasadena Lodge [1910]



You're correct JV, the extant South Pasadena Lodge wasn't built until the 1920s. (although I couldn't find an exact date)

That said, I'm not convinced the "So. Pasadena" location (on the 1910 postcard) was a mistake.



The interior photograph might have been taken inside the old South Pasadena Opera Building.


OAC

Title: "South Pasadena Postcard: Opera House Building and Post Office."

Creator/Contributor: Unknown
Date:1888-1910
Contributing Institution: South Pasadena Public Library
__







I only say this because earlier tonight I caught a glimpse of the same building in a video about the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge #290.


http://southpasadena290.org/home/














There was also this image from the video


http://southpasadena290.org/home/

Is it just me or is the building leaning to the left? (or is it an optical illusion caused by the leaning streetlight )

I don't know the street address of this building. (nor the Opera Building)
_

I may be wrong, but i think the last photo is where the papa johns is now on fair oaks.

[Lwize]

LA Weekly has a cover story on real LA noir, probably all of which has been covered here before.

Here's the story link:

http://www.laweekly.com/news/taschen...istory-8853679


(Photo by Cliff Wesselmann/Courtesy Gregory Paul Williams, BL Press LLC/Taschen)

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by unihikid

I may be wrong, but i think the last photo is where the papa johns is now on fair oaks.

I believe you're right unihikid. Thanks for the tip buddy.


gsv





Looking southeast from the intersection of Fair Oak Blvd. and Hope St. (It's much larger than I expected)

gsv




and the shaped of the roof makes me think this is a contender for the 1910 interior photo.


google_earth





google_earth




I believe we finally found the correct building- What do ya'll think?

_

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This intriguing photograph was published in the April 21, 1908 Los Angeles Herald (without an accompanying story)


https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc

I was surprised by the extreme depth of this tunnel....1,300 feet!
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The tunnel in the photo is shown on the map below.


Drawn in 1938 water and power

NUMBER #16 corresponds to the date of the newspaper photograph.

Was no one else surprised by the 1,300 ft depth of the tunnel in the clipping?
(did they mean to say 1,300 ft looooong)

__

[ethereal_reality]

detail



NUMBER #10 on the map: the Buena Vista Pumping Station.


water and power

The pump house was located at the edge of Elysian Park, east of the North Figueroa Street Bridge, and faced the Los Angeles River.
(it was placed in operation by the Water Bureau in 1904)