noirish Los Angeles - Page 2736

ethereal_reality · #**54701** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 6:36 PM**

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Bristolian, here's the Executive 'Room' on Wilshire Blvd. back in 1978. ....hmmm. . . I wonder what kind of 'entertainment' they had?

Laskey/lapl

sidenote: In high school I had a bright red Mustang exactly like that gray one.

Here's the complete photograph.

That's quite a fancy-smancy entrance they rigged up.

Link

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riichkay · #**54702** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 7:13 PM**

"Son can you play me a memory I'm not really sure how it goes..." Music is the greatest distillery of truth, emotion and soul. Billy Joel's monster 1st single Piano Man (1973) was born in the Executive Room (3953 Wilshire, LA) where he spent 6 months in 1972 under an assumed name Bill Martin. His 1st album had a mastering error and failed. Joel wanted to leave that label to join Columbia Records but couldn't leave his contract. So he played here 6 months while in legal limbo under a different name as lawyers tried to free him. Joel met his first wife Elizabeth Weber here. "The waitress is practicing politics." That's her. "John at the bar" was an actual bartender here. "Paul is a real estate novelist" refers to an actual customer named Paul (a real estate broker) writing here every night, aspiring to be the next great American novelist. And then there was Bill Martin..."He says, Bill, I believe this is killing me..And the piano sounds like a carnival. And the microphone smells like a beer.And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar...And say, Man what are you doing here?"

https://findery.com/Chung123/notes/b...executive-room

HossC · #**54703** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 7:24 PM**

Here's some of the demo permit for 3951-73 Wilshire Boulevard from 9/6/85.

www.ladbs.org

Bristolian · #**54704** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 8:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Laskey/lapl

sidenote: In high school I had a bright red Mustang exactly like that gray one.

Mustang II - I'm sorry to hear that

Martin Pal · #**54705** Posted **Jun 17, 2020, 9:07 PM**

^^^

Tnat's only the second photo, first in color, I've ever seen of a Chicken Delight in Los Angeles, though growing up comedians used to constantly use it in jokes, especially Carson, if I recall. I thought it was made up for the longest time.

Here's that first photo I ever saw, that HossC posted, and turns out it was in Lynwood:
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ostcount=42484

This one is from a short post on KooKoo California. No date, it just says the building is still there on Hollywood Blvd., but it's not a Chicken Delight anymore.

KooKooCA

odinthor · #**54706** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 3:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by odinthor

The architect Edward Neisser [...]
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131-133 South Los Angeles Street:

LA Times, 7/27/1902

Correction: That should have been North Los Angeles Street; my mis-read!

ethereal_reality · #**54707** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 3:39 AM**

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I just happened upon this AMAZING phootgraph on an auction site.

Harry Houdini - Strait Jacket Escape - Herald Examiner Building, Los Angeles c.1920

bidsquare

I was hoping Houdini would be hanging upside down but it appears he has just finished his escape. ...Unless I'm mistaken he's down in the crowd.

Let's take a closer look.

detail

I'm still not sure it's him but look at the wooden contraption that was assembled up on the building. ...I'm curious about the tarps too.

Our last hope.

detail

hmmm. . .it's either Houdini or a plucked chichen.

Link....Estimate $400 - $500.

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GaylordWilshire · #**54708** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 12:01 PM**

LA Examiner, April 5, 1923

From Wild About Harry

(In looking around for more info, it seems that rival papers "overlooked" the Examiner's big promo....

GaylordWilshire · #**54709** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 12:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Bristolian, here's the Executive 'Room' on Wilshire Blvd. back in 1978. ....hmmm. . . I wonder what kind of 'entertainment' they had?

Laskey/lapl

Before the Executive Room and Chicken Delight, there was this:

Image is from my survey of the post-residential boulevard, Wilshire After Its Houses--as are those below, which we've seen on NLA before.

Noir_Noir · #**54710** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 1:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Bristolian, here's the Executive 'Room' on Wilshire Blvd. back in 1978. ....hmmm. . . I wonder what kind of 'entertainment' they had?

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by riichkay

"Son can you play me a memory I'm not really sure how it goes..." Music is the greatest distillery of truth, emotion and soul. Billy Joel's monster 1st single Piano Man (1973) was born in the Executive Room (3953 Wilshire, LA) where he spent 6 months in 1972 under an assumed name Bill Martin. His 1st album had a mastering error and failed. Joel wanted to leave that label to join Columbia Records but couldn't leave his contract. So he played here 6 months while in legal limbo under a different name as lawyers tried to free him. Joel met his first wife Elizabeth Weber here. "The waitress is practicing politics." That's her. "John at the bar" was an actual bartender here. "Paul is a real estate novelist" refers to an actual customer named Paul (a real estate broker) writing here every night, aspiring to be the next great American novelist. And then there was Bill Martin..."He says, Bill, I believe this is killing me..And the piano sounds like a carnival. And the microphone smells like a beer.And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar...And say, Man what are you doing here?"

https://findery.com/Chung123/notes/b...executive-room

• Video Link

Three interior shots from the Executive Room.

popspotsnyc.com

ethereal_reality · #**54711** Posted **Jun 18, 2020, 11:57 PM**

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If you look closely the padded bar that you see in the corner has the curvy shape of a grand piano. The piano Joel used was an old upright. . .so . . .umm. .tacky.

It's explained better here:

"When not in use the piano was moved to the back hallway which led to the restrooms. They would slide the piano up next to the "piano bar" which was shaped to give the first glance illusion of a grand piano, but since the piano was an upright, it would stick up above it."
popspotnyc

Thanks for pointing out Billy Joel's connection to the Executive Room, riichkay

It appears there was another Executive Room in town.

This one in the Hotel Savoy Plaza at Grand & 6th.

eBay

I hardly remember this hotel. It must have gone by a different name the majority of the time.

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Martin Pal · #**54712** Posted **Jun 19, 2020, 12:59 AM**

I saw this unusual photo on eBay. It's a photo of Hollywood Blvd. taken through a window.
(I had to hotlink it, by the way, so it'll disappear at some point.)

eBay

The photo is taken toward the southeast corner of Hollywood and Highland Ave. At first glance I thought it might have been taken from the National Bank building across the street, but quickly realized it's diagonally across the intersection, so it must have been taken from the Hollywood Hotel.

I deduced the movies playing at the Hollywood Theatre as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and The Werewolf, which, according to IMDB, both premiered in July of 1956. The Hollywood Hotel was torn down/demolished in August of 1956, so that might account why there's no curtains on the window or awnings outside of it.

I wonder which window it may have been taken from?

Hollywod Photographs

On the left of the eBay photo there looks to be some concrete sort of steps on the left directly outside the window which you can see something like that on the right center of the Hotel photo above.

The watermark is unfortunately covering up the entrances of Coffee Dan's, the Bank of America and a couple other businesses.

I just found another photo, HERE, from the same eBay seller that is taken on the street corner below facing east that shows the Hollywood Theatre marquee clearly (now I see it!). The words at top are Hugh Marlowe. Oklahoma is playing down at the Egyptian and two sailors are on the corner in front of the National Bank building.

ethereal_reality · #**54713** Posted **Jun 19, 2020, 3:44 PM**

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That's a great find, Martin Pal. It's interesting to see the inside frame of the window and how run down it looks. (the glass is missing too)

The photograph was no doubt taken shortly before the hotel was torn down in 1956. (or was it 1957 )

Just for fun (and for newcomers): Here's an aerial of the Hollywood Hotel taken in 1930.

kcet/lapl

I wonder what's going on in the white tents. (maybe we've already discussed the white tents & I've just forgotten)

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Martin Pal · #**54714** Posted **Jun 19, 2020, 6:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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That's quite a find, Martin Pal. It's interesting to see the inside frame of the window and how run down it looks. (it appears the glass is missing too)

The photograph was no doubt taken shortly before the hotel was torn down in 1956. (or was it 1957 )

Just for fun (and for newcomers): Here's an aerial of the Hollywood Hotel taken in 1930.

kcet/lapl

I wonder what's going on in the white tents. (maybe we've already discussed the white tents & I've just forgotten)

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E_R, that photo cannot be from 1930, because the Hollywood First National Bank Building was built in 1927 and it would be in the bottom right of that photo in 1930. I'm placing your photo at no later than 1926.

A 1924 view of that corner with the original bank building:

USC

I was first thinking the tents might possibly be for a premiere at the Chinese Theatre, which opened in 1927. Maybe it was for the groundbreaking?

ChineseTheatre.org
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Sources say the Hollywood Hotel was razed in August, 1956. One of the last, perhaps the last, film that shows the Hotel in it is Man in the Vault. By the time the film was released in December of 1956, the Hotel was history.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.It's interesting to see the inside frame of the window and how run down it looks. (it appears the glass is missing too)
_________________________________________________________________

I was going to say the glass was missing, too, but I wasn't quite sure.

keizers · #**54715** Posted **Jun 19, 2020, 10:20 PM**

Almost certainly Pico and Rimpau because the sign says they accept Santa Monica Bus Tokens... and Cooper Lumber was at 4650 W. Pico, adjacent to the turnaround's west side. Today it's a Starbucks (of course).

ethereal_reality · #**54716** Posted **Jun 19, 2020, 11:50 PM**

Which post are you referring to keizers? I may be able to help out.

kznyc2k · #**54717** Posted **Jun 20, 2020, 2:06 AM**

Hello all. In a previous chapter of my life I was here all the freaking time (circa 2011-13) but life and personal interests move on and so did I. I still love LA and its history immensely, and I learned a ridiculous amount about the city from this thread, but unfortunately I almost never visit here any more.

ANYWAY, I started to colorize this shot of the 6th Street Bridge from the 1930s probably back in like 2014 in Photoshop but like many creative endeavors I more or less abandoned it, and in the name of cleaning up my computer's memory I came across this file and decided I had to finish it off. Of all the shots I've come across from LA's classic noir period, this is damn near my favorite... there's something very forlorn and evocative about not only the view with those untamed river banks and the gasometer but also in the hazy sky and grainy look.

Now it's debatable whether I should've gone with a blue sky, but for whatever reason I have a much harder time bringing a scene to life with gray skies than I do blue. So I had to make an executive decision and roll with blue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now in doing these, my main objective is to make the image feel more present than the original artifact. It isn't about improving, or making it more real or whatever... it's about bringing out details that hopefully pull you into the shot and into the place of the photographer a little bit more than the original. Fingers crossed that I did that for you, my dear noirish fans.

Lorendoc · #**54718** Posted **Jun 20, 2020, 6:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Which post are you referring to keizers? I may be able to help out.

I think he may be referring to your post https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ostcount=26642

ethereal_reality · #**54719** Posted **Jun 20, 2020, 6:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kznyc2k

Now in doing these, my main objective is to make the image feel more present than the original artifact. It isn't about improving, or making it more real or whatever... it's about bringing out details that hopefully pull you into the shot and into the place of the photographer a little bit more than the original. Fingers crossed that I did that for you, my dear noirish fans.

...............................

You did a remarkable job! ....Thanks for sharing it with us, kznyc2k. It's much appreciated.

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ethereal_reality · #**54720** Posted **Jun 20, 2020, 7:15 AM**

Here is a rare snapshot of a woman posing on the roof of the Mission Apartments in the Bunker Hill area of Los Angeles.

eBay

Here's a closer look at the buildings in the background.

detail

Do any of you Bunker Hill enthusiasts recognize these buildings?

.... . .because I'm stumped.

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