noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

The stuff of nightmares.

Imagine going to a Fur & Rabbit Expo and being greeted by a giant rabbit!


EBAY search purposes: compton industrial fur & rabbit expo. may 1st to 7th. california's most interesting exposition.







Let's a take a closer look at Bugs.



Except for the rabbit ears..he's very squirrel-like.

I wonder what that tattered banner hanging from the clothesline signifies.

if I'm not mistaken, the shiny object next to the squirrel rabbit is an upside-down metal wash tub.

_____________________________________________________________


Free night's stay at the Ambassador Hotel for anyone who figures out where, in Compton, this exposition was held.

.

[Noir_Noir]

This 1926 clipping makes reference to the show taking place in two huge tents.


cdnc.ucr.edu - San Pedro Daily News - 25 February 1926


Not a precise location but the show then got it's own building on Alameda Boulevard, north of Rosecrans Boulevard.


Google Books - Compton

[Snix]

Here is the obit for William E. Nelson, the fellow who tore down the RKO Hillstreet in 1965. He just died two years ago. BOO for tearing down the theater, but he DID bring us the American Cement building in MacArthur Park.

"Among the projects he developed are The American Cement Company building, the office building at 6404 Wilshire Blvd, and the eight level Hill/Olive parking garage which was one of the first center-core parking structures ever built."

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sa...&pid=184351294

Originally Posted by badrunner

That was a beautiful theater. Very understated and elegant compared to some of the wilder ones in town.






source

Seems like a lot of theaters that weren't on Broadway didn't fare too well. Hard to believe they tore down this beauty and put a parking garage and a Shake Shack in its place.

Current streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/Np9nays7zGT2

What is interesting is that three of the four corners on 8th and Hill still have historic buildings standing there. This was the only one to get the wrecking ball

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

This 1926 clipping makes reference to the show taking place in two huge tents.


cdnc.ucr.edu - San Pedro Daily News - 25 February 1926


Not a precise location but the show then got it's own building on Alameda Boulevard, north of Rosecrans Boulevard.


Google Books - Compton

Thanks Noir Noir..

The building appears to be quite significant so I thought it might have been included in this 1926 map of Compton. -but no.


click HERE to see the map even larger.


I'm still searching for an exterior photograph.

.

[ethereal_reality]

Have we visited the Chit Chat Club?



angelusmatchbooclub


2617 W. 6th St., today. (outlined in blue)




1970s?


gustavepdt




The club was located in an old market/gas station complex on the northeast corner of 6th and Rampart.. (it's still there..except for the gas station part)

In this aerial you can see how the building extends way back [behind the Chit Chat]. I believe these are the old garage bays for mechanics.


google_earth


.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

6701 S. Normandie


gsv

Odinthor believes this is the same building. I doubted it, at first...but now I think he might be right.

What do you think?

.

[Noir_Noir]

It was a riot rebuild in 1993.



http://ladbsdoc.lacity.org



The rebuild is L-shaped unlike before.



www.historicaerials.com

[FredH]

According to this, the new place was built (I guess rebuilt) in 1993 I wonder what was left of the old building after the riot.



So much for good building maintenance



To double check, I called them and asked if they still had protected milk.



They hung up on me.

[FredH]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

It was a riot rebuild in 1993.



http://ladbsdoc.lacity.org



The rebuild is L-shaped unlike before.



www.historicaerials.com

Looks like they were only five blocks up from where the Rodney King riot started at Florence and Normandie



Google Maps

Hey! I thought the rebuild license said no booze.


Google Street View

[ethereal_reality]

The giant rabbit, from the Compton Fur & Rabbit Expo, reminded me of a mystery that we were never able to solve.



The mystery stems from this snapshot of two women posing with a giant monster/idol from an early silent film.


old file / 1920?

If I remember correctly, the only information was "movie studio, Hollywood" or " movie backlot, Hollywood" (but no studio name was given)

I was hoping a silent film aficionado, or scholar, might visit the thread and recognize the monster... & know what film it was used in. (obviously, some sort of epic)



If you look closely at the photo, you can see a separation at the wrists...between the hands and the lower arms.


DETAIL

The hands were no doubt manipulated to move in the film. (kinda' like an overgrown puppet)




And......

the mouth appears to be attached to the head in a similar manner so that it could be manipulated as well.



ADD some smoke...flames...and a thousand extras...& you got yourself a DeMille worthy flick. (hmmm...maybe it was DeMille )




I believe the movie monster, as well as the Compton rabbit, were made with a building material called STAFF molded over a wooden framework.

.

[ethereal_reality]

.
This didn't start out as a mystery post.. but it turned into one.


Ye Hattery, 216 W. Third (the seller included L. H. Lippman 1908)




This is an odd little space. (especially how the support columns are placed.





When I typed the address, "216 W. Third", into google_earth..it showed the location down some little alleyway.


GSV

hmmm.......
If my calculations are correct, 216 W. Third St. might be one of the storefronts in the Bradbury Building facing 3rd.


.

[HossC]

I can only find "Ye Hattery" at 216 W 3rd in the 1911 CD. The proprietor was Lazard H Lippman (listed as "Lezard" in 1910). By 1913, he'd moved his hat business to 327 S Spring, but the "Hattery" name had gone. Ten years later, Lazard and his wife, Claribel, were running Lazard's Department Store at 219 W 6th Street in San Pedro. According to the 1925 CD, it offered "Three Floors of Values".

Try as I might, I can't find any pictures of the shop front.

[odinthor]

e_r and HossC, here's a start on an exterior for Ye Hattery, 216 W. 3rd: Third Street west from Spring.


A Visit to Old Los Angeles, episode 12 http://web.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal9.html

The Metropolitan Barber Shop at 219 W. 3rd was right across the street from Ye Hattery:


A Visit to Old Los Angeles, episode 5 http://web.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal3.html

edit add:

e_r, your ponderings were correct. 216 W. Third is being advertised in the Los Angeles Herald as being in the Bradbury Bldg. Going by ads, previous occupants were: Southern California Music Hall (1897-at least 1900), Waterman's Shoe Store (1903-1905), Exton Music Shop (1908-1909; Exton killed himself in the basement of the shop December 29, 1908; has anyone visited any basement area of the Bradbury Bldg.?); and by December 2, 1913, was followed by The Electric Lighting Supply Company.

[Noir_Noir]

cdnc.ucr.edu - Los Angeles Herald - 18 January 1910

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Ye Hattery, 216 W. Third (the seller included L. H. Lippman 1908)




This is an odd little space. (especially how the support columns are placed.

If you want a space or store in the Bradbury Building, you've just got to put up with oddly placed support columns.


This is the interior of 218 W. 3rd Street.



Google Maps


And this is Blue Bottle Coffee at 300 South Broadway.



Yelp

[Ammoniacal Spirits]

Originally Posted by badrunner

I found this nice 1929 aerial shot of downtown. Anyone have any info on those gigantic tank looking things next to the river? Damn things are bigger than city hall. Must have been quite a sight at ground level. btw there are some great old LA photos on this flickr page.


Aerial of Los Angeles, ca.1929 by Michael Ryerson, on Flickr

Tanks are “gas-holders”.

Held “Manufactured Gas” produced by the Aliso Street Manufactured Gas Plant on the 64-acre parcel between LA Union Station and the LA River.

Highly poisonous Manufactured Gas was produced by pyrolysis of imported Australian Coal($$$$). In 1870, LA Gas Co won a 20-year concession to provide manufactured gas for street lighting on Main Street, the contract also specified that LA Gas Co would also produce manufactured gas to light LA City Hall.

LA Gas Co management quickly realized their fuel costs were higher than the agreed upon contract price and purchased the entire Rancho LaBrea (LaBrea Tar Pits) to lower their costs from costly Aussie coal. The use of (LaBrea Tar) liquid in the Aliso Street Manufactured Plant fouled the plants internal design and produced very poor quality gas that fouled the City Hall lighting fixtures with a sulfurous smokey flame. LA City Hall workers were so traumatized by malodorous poison wafting throughout La City Hall they rioted, demanding a stop to its use.

Only after a threat of cancellation did LA Gas Co convert its plant back to using Australian coal.

Gas-holders are south of old Aliso Street, now Hwy 101, next to LA River.

Largest tank held 1,000,000 cu. ft. of manufactured gas, and is 300 ft tall.

Mal Gardner
Tri-State Wire

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent information Ammoniacal Spirts.

And welcome to the thread Mal Gardner. That's a good first post. (don't be a stranger )



Thanks for the follow-ups to the Hattery post, Hoss....Odinthor....and Noir Noir!

We visited the 3rd Street side of the Bradbury Building in the "Case of the Missing Six Arched Windows post.

I don't believe my question [about the arched winows] was ever answered.

.

[ethereal_reality]

slowly but surely.

Here is another photograph from one of the UMC Mission Photo Albums.


NO DATE


.

[Beaudry]

On those occasions I've asked, I've usually had good luck here, so I'm asking again. And speaking of good luck...

I lived near the Good Luck back when it opened—it didn't even have signage out front till about 2000—and spent many happy nights there, or so I'm told. The memories are pretty dim...as dim as the bar's interior.




timeoutlosangeles

Anyway, the whole building is being wiped away and replaced with what I'm assuming'll be another four-story mixed-use thingamabob.

This corner was built in 1928-9 and designed by Harold W. Charlton, who was apparently better known as a contractor than an architect. The plans say the exterior was "brick and art stone" which leads me to believe it had some interesting detailing that was stripped over the years, although I would have believed that anyway.

gsv

So my question then, where are the pictures of this building in its infancy? My first impulse was to check for vintage images of the Vista Theater but none happened to capture its neighbor. What have we got out there? Seems like this major five-points would be better photographed but I'm having trouble coming up with anything.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

This corner was built in 1928-9 and designed by Harold W. Charlton, who was apparently better known as a contractor than an architect. The plans say the exterior was "brick and art stone" which leads me to believe it had some interesting detailing that was stripped over the years, although I would have believed that anyway.

So my question then, where are the pictures of this building in its infancy?

Well, there's this from 1930:



I found this photograph here. The building was much more attractive in its original configuration, I think.