noirish Los Angeles

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Glad you like it, I do, too!

I don't know who the "bolero dude" is, but I was looking at the other photo again and thinking the "valley boy" is the same person. (Maybe?)

(I was looking at the eBay seller pages and he says these photos are from a man who used to go around to different store locations
and take photos of their window displays, which he also has slides of for sale, along with some others like the ones above. So it may
be the same person. The slides are from those 3-D slides, I forget the name, where you have two images and look at the slides on
some contraption we've mentioned before so they look 3-D. Stereoptical or something.)

It's stereopticon. It's a Victorian invention and I was surprised a few years ago to find that people were still taking pictures for them in the 1950s.

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Not a bolo. We used to call one like he's wearing a "string tie."

Cheers,

Earl

That's what I thought too, Earl, a string tie. I was offering bolo as being what e-r was reaching for with 'Bolero'. Bolo, string or bow, I gravitate to the simple straight-down the front placket men's tie.

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

It's stereopticon. It's a Victorian invention and I was surprised a few years ago to find that people were still taking pictures for them in the 1950s.

The Victorian stereopticon is a different gadget than the stereo cameras of the 1950s. The most popular brand then was the Stereo Realist, which used 35mm film and whose slides could be viewed in a handheld viewer or projected and viewed with polarized glasses. A close family friend was a fanatic for the process and I saw a ton of his slides at parties and after dinners. The sharpness and depth of field was amazing.

People still play with Stereo Realist cameras, in what has become a somewhat expensive hobby. Lots of material on the technology has been posted to the web.

Cheers,

Earl

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

I was offering bolo as being what e-r was reaching for with 'Bolero'.

Google Images

This is what I was reaching for MR,

but the 'Flight Deck' guy's tie was made entirely of cloth, instead of string. -so perhaps this definition isn't correct either.


detail

_

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' corner.


eBay

-looks like a rather nice vintage building being renovated.

_

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' street, downtown.


eBay

Does anyone remember 'The Flame' restaurant?

_

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Google Images

This is what I was reaching for MR,

but the 'Flight Deck' guy's tie was made entirely of cloth, instead of string. -so perhaps this definition isn't correct either.


detail

_

I live smack in the middle of bolo country (own a dozen or so) and *nobody* here calls them "boleros." Must be a bicoastal thing :-)

Plenty of pictures of ties like Flight Deck Man is wearing can be found by searching on "string tie," "cowboy string tie," or "western string tie." Yee-hah!

Cheers,

Earl

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' street, downtown.


eBay

Does anyone remember 'The Flame' restaurant?

That's the "GW" sign on the Great Western Building at the corner of 7th and Hill. The bus is on 7th Street.


GSV

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' corner.


eBay

-looks like a rather nice vintage building being renovated.

I'm not sure if the building on the left was being renovated or demolished. Either way, it's not there now. The building on the right has been painted blue, and now belongs to the US Postal Service (maybe it did in the image above). This is the corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente Boulevards.


GSV

[Flyingwedge]

This was the home of George Drake Ruddy and his wife Ella:

1900 LACD @ fold3.com

The house was built in 1899 and either torn down or moved in 1912. GW has some details here.
The April 17, 1912, LA Herald notes that the Ruddys had taken apartments at the Hershey Arms
on Wilshire Boulevard. The November 20, 1912, Herald shows Mrs. Ruddy had contracted to build
a new home at 241 N. Western, where the 1913 LACD shows the Ruddys residing.

Here is the heretofore pictorially obscure "Mission Cottage" at 2711 Wilshire Blvd., probably with
Mr. and Mrs. Ruddy standing at the front door:

July 5, 1902, The Capital @ Google Books

By the way, at least half of the photos in the editions of The Capital (1897-1902) are of theatrical
performers who were on tour and stopping in LA. So if anyone is interested in actors, singers, and
other acts from that era, The Capital might be a good place to look.

[GILMORE]

Was wondering if anyone can supply a shot showing the front of this Gilmore Oil sign that was atop a building on Broadway in the early-mid '30s?

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/51122/rec/67

[westcork]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Hey all, has it been mentioned that USC is digitizing the City Archives, including films? Go here http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/la...n/p15799coll88 and take a look.

I mean, the first thing they show in this movie from the CRA is color film footage of the Rochester, and it just gets more insane from there. The largely undocumented Temple-Beaudry area sure gives Bunker Hill a run for its money.

This is by far the my favorite post of the year. There are great views of Court Circle, and many of the apartment buildings I recall on Mignonette, Colton and Angelica.

[Tetsu]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Hey all, has it been mentioned that USC is digitizing the City Archives, including films? Go here http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/la...n/p15799coll88 and take a look.

I mean, the first thing they show in this movie from the CRA is color film footage of the Rochester, and it just gets more insane from there. The largely undocumented Temple-Beaudry area sure gives Bunker Hill a run for its money.

westcork, I second that! Thanks Beaudry. I started watching the video and just had to stop - need to connect my computer to my TV so I can watch on the big screen. WOW!!!

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Google Images

This is what I was reaching for MR,

but the 'Flight Deck' guy's tie was made entirely of cloth, instead of string. -so perhaps this definition isn't correct either.


detail

_

Never heard them called bolero. Those are bolos in my neck of the woods.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson

Never heard them called bolero. Those are bolos in my neck of the woods.

The Flight Deck dude's tie is like Col. Sanders' tie; and rummaging across the net searching on that I find it called a "Nancy" (!), a Western Bow Tie, a Kentucky Bow Tie, and a String Bow Tie.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Hey all, has it been mentioned that USC is digitizing the City Archives, including films? Go here http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/la...n/p15799coll88 and take a look.

I mean, the first thing they show in this movie from the CRA is color film footage of the Rochester, and it just gets more insane from there. The largely undocumented Temple-Beaudry area sure gives Bunker Hill a run for its money.

Amazing film-- the predatory camera zooms in on all the crumbling details... a lot of firetraps, but still, it's hard not to feel what's coming for the residents.


This screenshot...



...reminded me of this house...





...which we've seen before (the s/s is of its left rear corner):

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=13160

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

I'm not sure if the building on the left was being renovated or demolished. Either way, it's not there now. The building on the right has been painted blue, and now belongs to the US Postal Service (maybe it did in the image above). This is the corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente Boulevards.


GSV
_____________________________

Yes, HossC, the "blue" building on the right was built and opened in 1969 as a U.S. Post Office. Before that the post office was at 805 Larrabee St., part of the building on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Larrabee. I remember when it was painted blue, but not sure of the year, probably in the 90's. The post office was closed last year (boo-hiss), for customer service, and relocated to Doheny. The Post Office has retained the building as a mail distribution center, however.

The sign on the building in the vintage picture looks like it's promoting "the future home of the Bank of Los Angeles." I remember that bank and not this building, as pictured, before that. The photo would have to be 1969 or later. Anyone date any of the cars in it? For what it's worth, in my experience I also know of no RTD or MTA bus route that turned right off San Vincente onto Santa Monica Blvd., either.

If anyone's interested, the signs for the businesses pictured in the current photo are, left to right, the RAGE nightclub (sign behind the tree), US Bank, the mentioned post office building, American Apparel (previously "Don't Panic"), ROUNDS Premium Burgers, which just closed in April and will be replaced by a restaurant called Daeida, which was having a hiring day last Thursday I noticed, Z-Pizza and then, partially visible, the Fiesta Cantina.

This is the same corner in this recent post:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Referencing this recent post:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=35390

A little Then and Now comparison.

Then: c. early 1950's.

Santa Monica Blvd. / San Vicente cross street ahead / Hilldale Ave. at left




Now:

Google Street View

[ethereal_reality]

I don't recall seeing this sightseeing platform


Observation telescopes overlooking Los Angeles Harbor, San Pedro CA.


eBay

sign: "Telescopes, see Ships....Cruisers....Mountains'

Any idea where this would have been located? I believe that might be a rail in the payment.

__

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The photo would have to be 1969 or later. Anyone date any of the cars in it? For what it's worth, in my experience I also know of no RTD or MTA bus route that turned right off San Vincente onto Santa Monica Blvd., either.

Thanks for the extra information, Martin Pal. I think the car just to the right of the back of the bus is a third generation Toyota Celica, which was sold from 1981 to 1985.

[HossC]

As I said in my last Julius Shulman post a week ago, LA subjects are getting harder to find at the moment, so I'll only be posting them as and when I find them. Hopefully there'll be more as I continue through the search results. This is "Job 5430: Sylvan Shulman, West Covina Fashion Plaza (West Covina, Calif.), 1977". Sylvan Shulman is the architect. I had a quick look for more information to see if Julius and Sylvan were related, but didn't find anything.



There are four very similar color images in this set, the rest are black & white. The first shows an exterior view of The Broadway.



Here are the interior views.







All from Getty Research Institute

The mall is now known as Plaza West Covina, and The Broadway store is now Sears. I can't find any good large images of the two-story section of the mall, so here's a small one.


www.shoppingplazawestcovina.com