noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

.

Here's the slide of Minnewaska on eBay with the Chandler Pavilion in the distance.



eBay







Lorendoc thanks for figuring out the location of Slide #3. It never occurred to me to flip the slide.

[santamonicadesign]

Found this album at a garage sale in the desert today... looks like a reissue from the '70's but it appears the signed message is authentic. I googled Manny Strand and can't find anything about him except he was originally from Sweden and played 2,000 dates at Earl Carroll's. The music is very well done, typical big band fare. Anyone heard of him?

[ethereal_reality]

.
The following snapshots are from a photo album that was on eBay a month or so ago.


Wille's Tin Shop, 441 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach CA



ebay


As you'll see (below) the Alamitos address varies. . . and includes 431, 435 and 437.





eBay












eBay


(note the plate-glass windows in the first two photographs)









Here we have the Willes posing next to their delivery truck.


eBay

I surmise they're in front of the tin shop on Alamitos.








We even get a look at the roof top!



eBay

I see that one of my hardware stores is next door.








Here's the most intriguing photograph of the bunch.

It shows two men posing with huge sun rays made of tin.


eBay

I wonder if these marvelous rays adorned a building in Long Beach or even perhaps Los Angeles. (?)







And, finally, we get to see the exterior of the new building that I assume is the 441 address.

I present Wille's Tin Shop!


eBay


BUt wait, there's more!





Could this be the same building?

435 - 437 Alamitos

GSV

It's definitely similar but I wasn't 100% sure until I got a closer look at the building.


Above each of the 1st floor windows there is a small rectangle with a name Wille's.


Take a look.

detail

I imagine the Wille's name is cut-out of, do I dare say, tin. ...(or wrought iron)








hmm. . . .but the blade sign inextricably says 'The Liberty'.. . .*scratches head*



detail.




As for the different street numbers:

I imagine the other addresses (of the tin shop) are the smaller buildings to the left of the main building.


.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by santamonicadesign

Found this album at a garage sale in the desert today... looks like a reissue from the '70's but it appears the signed message is authentic. I googled Manny Strand and can't find anything about him except he was originally from Sweden and played 2,000 dates at Earl Carroll's. The music is very well done, typical big band fare. Anyone heard of him?
_________________________________________________________________

If I heard the name before I don't remember. I guess his orchestra was the primary Earl Carroll's music. A blurb in an October, 1944 edition of Billboard Magazine says, "Strand's ork has been at Earl Carroll's since 1938." And Dec. 1938 to October 1944 would probably equal 2000 dates.

The entire blurb reads: Strand for Breneman Show | Hollywood, Oct. 21.-- Band for the new Tom Breneman Highlights has been picked, and Manny Strand and ork, who furnish the music for Earl Carroll's nitery, have been given the nod. New show tees off October 20 over the Blue, and features, in addition to Breneman and band, vocalist Jimmy Nolan. Strand's ork has been at Earl Carroll's since 1938.

--Does "Blue" refer to a radio network? --Did this mean Manny's "ork" was then not with Earl Carroll's after that?

On WorldCat's library search, a couple libraries that have this item include this information about the album:

The record company releasing the album was based in Reseda, California.

Dance orchestra music, in part with vocals.
Biographical notes on container.

Performer(s): Manny Strand and his orchestra (Bill DePew, George Hill, alto saxes ; Jack Chaney, Ham Cunningham, tenor saxes ; Mannie Klein, Frank Griffand, Dave Klein, trumpets ; Bill Lower, trombone ; Stanley Bridges, piano ; Mannie Stein, bass ; Ward Archer, drums ; Stanley Spiegelman, violin) ; Manny Strand, Lennie Conn, Harry Stone, arrangers.

Event notes: Recorded from radio broadcasts, Contains previously released material.

[Earl Boebert]

The Blue network was part of NBC until its forced divestiture in 1942, continued under that name for a couple of years and then became ABC in 1945.

Cheers,

Earl

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by santamonicadesign

Found this album at a garage sale in the desert today... looks like a reissue from the '70's but it appears the signed message is authentic. I googled Manny Strand and can't find anything about him except he was originally from Sweden and played 2,000 dates at Earl Carroll's. The music is very well done, typical big band fare. Anyone heard of him?

Manny Strand was pianist with the well-known trad jazz band Red Nichols and his orchestra around 1934-1937:


From Jazz and Ragtime Records 1897-1942 L-Z, by Brian Rust and Malcolm Shaw, 2002.

Glancing over various references, I see that he then came to be with Earl Carroll's on piano and arranging music; and at length became its bandleader, sometimes taking on other quick gigs (I saw one reference to his leading the CBS orchestra).

Life at home for him had occasional challenges:


LA Times, 11/1/1950

After Carroll's, it seems he made his base in Palm Springs for a few years, first with a duo:


LA Times, 10/15/1965

. . . then as a trio:


LA Times, 12/1/1968

It appears that his brother Joe had his own career in music with a group called the Texas Rangers:


From The Texas Rangers: Two Decades on Radio, Film, Television, and Stage, by Ryan Ellett and Kevin Coffey, 2014

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
The following snapshots are from a photo album that was on eBay a month or so ago.


Wille's Tin Shop, 441 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach CA



ebay


As you'll see (below) the Alamitos address varies. . . and includes 431, 435 and 437.





eBay












eBay


(note the plate-glass windows in the first two photographs)









Here we have the Willes posing next to their delivery truck.


eBay

I surmise they're in front of the tin shop on Alamitos.








We even get a look at the roof top!



eBay

I see that one of my hardware stores is next door.








Here's the most intriguing photograph of the bunch.

It shows two men posing with huge sun rays made of tin.


eBay

I wonder if these marvelous rays adorned a building in Long Beach or even perhaps Los Angeles. (?)







And, finally, we get to see the exterior of the new building that I assume is the 441 address.

I present Wille's Tin Shop!


eBay


BUt wait, there's more!





Could this be the same building?

435 - 437 Alamitos

GSV

It's definitely similar but I wasn't 100% sure until I got a closer look at the building.


Above each of the 1st floor windows there is a small rectangle with a name Wille's.


Take a look.

detail

I imagine the Wille's name is cut-out of, do I dare say, tin. ...(or wrought iron)








hmm. . . .but the blade sign inextricably says 'The Liberty'.. . .*scratches head*



detail.




As for the different street numbers:

I imagine the other addresses (of the tin shop) are the smaller buildings to the left of the main building.


.

e_r, this is in my longtime neck of the woods, and I recall as a young 'un seeing Wille's Tin Shop from the car as my father would drive past; and for some reason I found it mysterious and interesting for there to be such a thing as a tin shop. I'd ponder, "Does someone walk in, come up to the counter, and say, 'Good morning, I'd like a cup of tin, please'?"

Even though it's spelled "Wille's," everyone since forever has called it as if it were spelled "Willie's." My brother knew someone who had a friend who worked there at the real tin shop (not the distillery mentioned below); but I never had the opportunity to learn anything further about it.

Currently, a distillery at another location (but nevertheless in Long Beach) is named after it:

https://www.presstelegram.com/2019/1...st-distillery/

[santamonicadesign]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Manny Strand was pianist with the well-known trad jazz band Red Nichols and his orchestra around 1934-1937:


From Jazz and Ragtime Records 1897-1942 L-Z, by Brian Rust and Malcolm Shaw, 2002.

Glancing over various references, I see that he then came to be with Earl Carroll's on piano and arranging music; and at length became its bandleader, sometimes taking on other quick gigs (I saw one reference to his leading the CBS orchestra).

Life at home for him had occasional challenges:


LA Times, 11/1/1950

After Carroll's, it seems he made his base in Palm Springs for a few years, first with a duo:


LA Times, 10/15/1965

. . . then as a trio:


LA Times, 12/1/1968

It appears that his brother Joe had his own career in music with a group called the Texas Rangers:


From The Texas Rangers: Two Decades on Radio, Film, Television, and Stage, by Ryan Ellett and Kevin Coffey, 2014

Wow - amazing info! Thanks!

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
The following snapshots are from a photo album that was on eBay a month or so ago.


Wille's Tin Shop, 441 Alamitos Avenue, Long Beach CA



ebay


As you'll see (below) the Alamitos address varies. . . and includes 431, 435 and 437.





eBay

Oh boy, did this tin shop bring back memories. When I lived in Long Beach in the late 1970s I had old Willie make some special overhead lamps for me. I gave him the drawings and he bent and curved them into the right shape of a cylinder with a lid. He made two for me. He was very skilled. He gave me a strange look before he accepted the job. I guess he figured I was rather young to know what I was doing. Each one was about $25 and he had them finished in two days. I wish I still had them but that was long ago.

Yes, ER, that building with the blue stripes is the old tin shop. Back in the day it was painted one color, light beige. All it contained were the tools and rolls of tin....nothing fancy about the place.

ODINTHOR.....They could make just about anything out of tin. In the photo above, I have stood in that shop several times....its a mess for sure.

[Martin Pal]

Thanks for answering my "Blue" question, Earl B. and for further info on Manny Strand and his brother, Odinthor ...as remembered by "Gomer Cool." Now that's a name!

Here is the Real Gomer, the Man Who Inspired the Name ''Gomer Pyle''
Golly! There really was a famous man named Gomer Cool.
https://www.Me-TV.com/stories/here-is-the-real-gomer-inspiration

Who knew?...

[ethereal_reality]

.
Interesting memories about the Wille's Tin Shop odinthor and CBD. I would have liked to have seen your made-to-order lamps, CityBoyDoug.

I was hoping by now someone might have a clue about the sun rays.

The photograph below is slightly different than the photograph I posted the other day.


eBay

There are many places the sun rays might have been made for. . .a power company. . .an electrical substation. . .an an art deco hotel entrance or lobby
. . .a movie palace. . .a bank lobby. . .etc.


When I first saw the rays I thought of the long lost Wise Building because it reminds me of the old Edison Building that used to stand in downtown Los Angeles)



You can read about the Wise Building's demise Here


What lies beneath.

Fun fact: "The original structure of the Wise Building was so sound that it was “skinned down to its columns, beams, and slabs” with its new exterior added on, according to a December 8, 1963 article—
technically meaning the entire building wasn’t “demolished."....Long Beach Post

I didn't know this!



.

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.


When I first saw the rays I thought of the long lost Wise Building because it reminds me of the old Edison Building that used to stand in downtown Los Angeles)


.

Eh, the Edison building is still in downtown Los Angeles.

Here's pic of the lobby from 4 years ago:
by BillinGlendaleCA

[GaylordWilshire]

Sometimes I think we might have found all LA Noir, but of course it's a bottomless pit. In researching a house that was built at 1500 West Adams in 1902 and burned in 1932 (and replaced with a gas station), I came across Mrs. Harriet Canfield. Could she have succeeded in 1932 where she failed in 1915? Has anyone come aross the case of the Canfield Apartments before? (PS--Per the July 1955 issue of Confidential, "gospel minister" Alexander Smither, who built 1500 West Adams, was the officiant at Clark Gable's marriage to Josephine Dillon on December 13, 1924.)

[ovens]

Does anyone have any cool or notable historical photos of skid row over the years?

I did a search of 'skid row' in here but it came up null. Thank you in advance, you guys are always the best. - a noirish lurker

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

Eh, the Edison building is still in downtown Los Angeles.

Thanks for the correction, Bill.

I momentarily confused it with the Sunkist Building which was also located on Fifth Street. (a block west of the Edison Building, as shown below)


LAPL

"Looking northeast across Fifth Street from Central Library towards the Sunkist Building, Engstrum Apartments and the Edison Building, July 10, 1939."








The Sunkist Building was demolished in 1972.


huntington




.

[Earl Boebert]

More on the Canfield saga, summarized because I don't have time to enhance and upload the actual clippings:

9 Nov 1915: Details of police investigation. Gasoline bombs placed at all avenues of escape, holes chopped in floors and ceilings, oil at the bottom of elevator shaft so first explosion would wreck it and prevent escape; front and back stairways soaked with oil and gasoline bombs near windows leading to escape. [She did all this alone and without waking anybody?]

13 Nov 1915: Doctors decide she doesn't need to be moved from county jail; "regained her mental and physical poise."

19 Nov 1915: Stay in trial granted until 7 Dec. Le Compte Davis has undertaken defense because she is "the widow of a high Mason."

26 Nov 1915: Suit involving cancellation of her lease on the property settled; property reverts to F.O.Jean and will be known as the Jean Hotel. [There are two properties mentions in these accounts, 804 and 836 S. Flower. I can't figure out if they are the same or not.]

7 Sep 1916: Canfield claims Jean defrauded her by having his lawyer trick her into signing a mortage on the furniture in the apartment house.

16 Jul 1918: Canfield testifies in trial about fraud; claims she was taken from county jail and registered under a false name in a downtown hotel by Jean's lawyer, where she was tricked into signing papers.

17 Jul 1918: A report on the fraud trial notes she was acquitted on the attempted arson charges by reason of insanity.

And that's it until the account of the 1932 fire.

Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

.

Here's a restaurant that we haven't seen, or discussed, on NLA.



"ARCARO RESTAURANT 4658 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood 29, Calif."


eBay

If memory serves me, "Eddie" Arcaro was a horse jockey.


Printed by Waldorf Printers...NOrmandy 1 -1533
.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Interesting memories about the Wille's Tin Shop odinthor and CBD. I would have liked to have seen your made-to-order lamps, CityBoyDoug.

Thanks ER. My Wlli's lights were very simple. Each one was a 8" X 24" cylinder with an end piece/ lamp socket inside. Not even painted, with a square hook at the top. Nothing much to see. I did the wiring.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

More on the Canfield saga, summarized because I don't have time to enhance and upload the actual clippings:

9 Nov 1915: Details of police investigation. Gasoline bombs placed at all avenues of escape, holes chopped in floors and ceilings, oil at the bottom of elevator shaft so first explosion would wreck it and prevent escape; front and back stairways soaked with oil and gasoline bombs near windows leading to escape. [She did all this alone and without waking anybody?]

13 Nov 1915: Doctors decide she doesn't need to be moved from county jail; "regained her mental and physical poise."

19 Nov 1915: Stay in trial granted until 7 Dec. Le Compte Davis has undertaken defense because she is "the widow of a high Mason."

26 Nov 1915: Suit involving cancellation of her lease on the property settled; property reverts to F.O.Jean and will be known as the Jean Hotel. [There are two properties mentions in these accounts, 804 and 836 S. Flower. I can't figure out if they are the same or not.]

7 Sep 1916: Canfield claims Jean defrauded her by having his lawyer trick her into signing a mortage on the furniture in the apartment house.

16 Jul 1918: Canfield testifies in trial about fraud; claims she was taken from county jail and registered under a false name in a downtown hotel by Jean's lawyer, where she was tricked into signing papers.

17 Jul 1918: A report on the fraud trial notes she was acquitted on the attempted arson charges by reason of insanity.

And that's it until the account of the 1932 fire.

Cheers,

Earl

Thanks Earl. I will always wonder if Harriet managed to burn down 1500 W Adams (swc Adams and Catalina).... As an aside to the story of that house (1902-1932), it appears that the metal gas-station office built on the site of the house in 1934 still stands:

GSV

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Thanks Earl. I will always wonder if Harriet managed to burn down 1500 W Adams (swc Adams and Catalina).... As an aside to the story of that house (1902-1932), it appears that the metal gas-station office built on the site of the house in 1934 still stands:

GSV

I don't know if she did or not. Certainly a lot of funny business going on at 840 and 836 S. Flower. She appears to have been a very vulnerable woman and could have been manipulated into the deed. And who were these people who could take her out of the county jail and stash her in a hotel until she signed a bunch of papers?

Her lawyer, Le Compte Davis, appears to have been a real Perry Mason type character, lots of newspaper stories about him. Worth an article by himself.

Cheers,

Earl

Edit: Looked him up on Find a Grave:

Noted Criminal Lawyer LeCompte Davis Dies. Colorful Veteran of Many Los Angeles Court Battles Dies in Sanitarium at 95. Atty. LeCompte Davis, 95, colorful veteran of many Los Angeles court battles, died yesterday in a sanitarium, where he was resting after minor surgery performed last Sept. 8. Described by his friends in the legal profession as one of the great criminal attorneys to practice here, his career spanned some 60 years. Pantages Trial. He devoted his life to private practice, except for a two-year period at the turn of the century when he was Assistant District Attorney. Mr. Davis represented Gilbert H. Beesemyer in the Guarantee Building & Loan Association case in which Beesemyer pleaded guilty to grand theft involving some $8,000,000. He also was defense attorney in the Harry New murder case and in Eunice Pringle's assault case against Theater Magnate Alexander Pantages. Along with Clarence Darrow he defended the McNamara brothers accused of the bombing of the Times in 1910. Mr. Davis lived at 2755 Raymond Ave. He leaves two half sisters and a half brother in his native Kentucky, and two distant relatives here. [Obituary From Los Angeles Times, Sept. 27, 1958.]

First married to Della May, no children.

Second married to Edythe Gilman, no children. Edythe and Count were legally separated on 15 May 1955 in Los Angeles, California.

Known informally as "Count." 2755 Raymond Avenue appears to be a survivor.