noirish Los Angeles - Page 2311

oldstuff · #**46201** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 3:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Did you and the missus spend your honeymoon in one of the cabins?

If so, you might have met Charlie.

(or his ghost)

SMPL

Chautauqua Camp Manager, Mr. Charles Hoss on the telephone standing in front of Camp keys, Temescal Canyon, Calif. [Date 1922]

_

I find Charles Hoss in the 1922 Voter Registration. He is listed as an accountant and lived at 1207 S. Berendo in Los Angeles. The house, currently a rather plain Victorian, is still there, now made into apartments. From the number of gas meters, it looks like it is now two apartments. The Assessor has no original build date, but it does have a date that it was added on to as being 1911. The surrounding houses were built in 1905-1906, and there are some gems.

In 1930 Charles and his wife Marie Bella were living in Pasadena at 95 So. Las Robles. Alas, now a parking structure.

they lived in Riverside in 1920 where Charles was a farmer, growing citrus.
Charles was born in Illinois in 1859. He and his wife were still living in Illinois in 1910 and Charles was listed as working as a cashier.

I found some other pictures of the formal dedication of the Chautauqua camp in Temescal Canyon and it was in 1922.

HossC · #**46202** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 3:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Great job! Could you please share your technique for un-warping the photo above, Handsome Stranger?

I can get the edges straight using Free Transform/Warp in Photoshop, but your method looks much less messy than mine - look at how distorted the outer black, numbered areas are in my version, whereas yours are much less distorted - in addition, the white borders on your image remain perfectly intact, while mine are distorted beyond any recognition:

I had a go at correcting that image myself a couple of nights ago. I started with the Horizontal/Vertical Perspective Transforms in Lens Correction before I got around to warping it. Having said that, mine still didn't come out as good as Handsome Stranger's version.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The way the explosives sign is worded bugs me. (why not 'Danger Explosives!')

It reminds me of a movie title that has always bothered me... 'Experiment Perilous', the old Hedy LaMarr movie. (why place the adjective after the noun?)

now if there was a coma after explosives, oh God....N E V E R M I N D.

To me, "Explosives Dangerous" is bordering on tautology. Surely, the former implies the latter. I mean, I've never seen a sign saying "Explosives, Completely Safe"! (I put a comma in for you, e_r)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Chautauqua Camp Manager, Mr. Charles Hoss on the telephone standing in front of Camp keys, Temescal Canyon, Calif. [Date 1922]

Mr C Hoss? What sort of stupid name is that?

HossC · #**46203** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 4:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Here is the Compressed Air House Cleaning Company making a house call. I suspect that the wagon was pulled around
by horses and not by that little curved-dash Oldsmobile. Three of the boys are barefoot:

2008-2787 at CA State Library

I wonder how -- or how well -- the system worked?

Here's part of a 1903 sales booklet for the Canadian franchisee of "The Dustless Method" (the same as the one above). The other two pages just shown a couple of large buildings they've cleaned and a couple of letters from happy customers. The "van" in the third picture looks similar to the one above.

eBay

I don't know if the method is the same as the vacuum one developed in 1901 by Hubert Cecil Booth in London. From Wikipedia:

Booth is known for introducing one of the first powered vacuum cleaners. Before Booth introduced his version of the vacuum cleaner, cleaning machines blew or brushed dirt away, instead of sucking it up. As Booth recalled decades later, in 1901 he attended "a demonstration of an American machine by its inventor" at the Empire Music Hall in London. The inventor is not named, but Booth's description of the machine conforms fairly closely to American inventor John S. Thurman blown air design. Booth watched a demonstration of the device, which blew dust off the chairs, and thought that "...if the system could be reversed, and a filter inserted between the suction apparatus and the outside air, whereby the dust would be retained in a receptacle, the real solution of the hygienic removal of dust would be obtained." He tested the idea by laying a handkerchief on the seat of a restaurant chair, putting his mouth to the handkerchief, and then trying to suck up as much dust as he could onto the handkerchief. Upon seeing the dust and dirt collected on the underside of the handkerchief, he realized the idea could work.

Booth created a large device, driven by an internal combustion engine. Nicknamed the "Puffing Billy", Booth's first petrol-powered, horse-drawn vacuum cleaner relied upon air drawn by a piston pump through a cloth filter. It did not contain any brushes; all the cleaning was done by suction through long tubes with nozzles on the ends. Although the machine was too bulky to be brought into the building, its principles of operation were essentially the same as the vacuum cleaners of today. He followed this up with an electric-powered model, but both designs were extremely bulky, and had to be transported by horse and carriage. The term "vacuum cleaner" was first used by the company set up to market Booth's invention, in its first issued prospectus of 1901.

Booth initially did not attempt to sell his machine, but rather sold cleaning services. The vans of the British Vacuum Cleaner Company (BVCC) were bright red; uniformed operators would haul hose off the van and route it through the windows of a building to reach all the rooms inside. Booth was harassed by complaints about the noise of his vacuum machines and was even fined for frightening horses. Gaining the royal seal of approval, Booth's motorized vacuum cleaner was used to clean the carpets of Westminster Abbey prior to Edward VII's coronation in 1901. The device was used by the Royal Navy to improve the level of sanitation in the naval barracks. It was also used in businesses such as theatres and shops, although the device was too large to be feasibly used as a domestic appliance. When cleaning the royal mint, upon leaving he was arrested as his machine had collected a massive amount of silver dust from the coins and he had forgotten to empty it. He was however quickly released.

P.S. Very interesting details on the Grant Building, FW.

Flyingwedge · #**46204** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 4:26 PM**

Very interesting details on the vacuum, Hoss. Thanks for the follow-up!

Handsome Stranger · #**46205** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 5:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Great job! Could you please share your technique for un-warping the photo above, Handsome Stranger?

Sure. The Photoshop tool I used is "Puppet Warp" which is cleverly hidden in the Edit menu. First I selected "more points" in the Density option. Next I put pins at the four corners of the image of the freeway. After placing a few guides in order to keep the edges as straight as possible, I dragged the corners into place, then added more pins along the side of the image and dragged them as needed. I tried to use as few pins as possible.

In my first couple of attempts I discovered that the image was getting soft; it just wasn't as sharp as the image ethereal_reality posted. So I went back to the original image and used a piece of software called Perfect Resize to bump up the resolution to 300 pixels per inch, and increased the frame size slightly. That definitely helped keep the image reasonably sharp. After that I increased the canvas size in Photoshop so that no part of the image would be inadvertently cropped.

After Puppet Warping, the last steps were to use Curves to tweak the tonal range a bit, crop, and drop the resolution back down.

I hope this helps!

♪♫ I want a zoot suit with a reet pleat
And a drape shape, and a stuff cuff
To look sharp enough to see my Sunday gal
You want a reef sleeve with a right stripe
And a rare square, so the gals will stare
When they see you struttin' with your Sunday pal ♪♫

odinthor · #**46206** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 5:49 PM**

Adding my favorite Ramon Novarro pic to the NLA dossier on him:

Photo by Geo. Hurrell, Silver Screen Magazine, 1931.

NLA might be interested in this well-written two-part article on him (links below, to Cine Silente Mexicano site), written for Motion Picture Magazine in 1927. The second part I found particularly interesting. There are some mentions of his home etc. Some pix too! The article proper is in English, so don't be put off when you're confronted with Spanish at the top when you go to the site(s). Enjoy!

https://cinesilentemexicano.wordpres...primera-parte/

https://cinesilentemexicano.wordpres...segunda-parte/

Lwize · #**46207** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 8:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I decided to take a stab at uncurling this one.

Not perfect, but ain't not bad neither (as my Dad used to say). I'm pretty sure the writing at the top reads "Arroyo Seco freeway into downtown Los Angeles."

The road is still curved.

Scott Charles · #**46208** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 8:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Sure. The Photoshop tool I used is "Puppet Warp" which is cleverly hidden in the Edit menu. First I selected "more points" in the Density option. Next I put pins at the four corners of the image of the freeway. After placing a few guides in order to keep the edges as straight as possible, I dragged the corners into place, then added more pins along the side of the image and dragged them as needed. I tried to use as few pins as possible.

In my first couple of attempts I discovered that the image was getting soft; it just wasn't as sharp as the image ethereal_reality posted. So I went back to the original image and used a piece of software called Perfect Resize to bump up the resolution to 300 pixels per inch, and increased the frame size slightly. That definitely helped keep the image reasonably sharp. After that I increased the canvas size in Photoshop so that no part of the image would be inadvertently cropped.

After Puppet Warping, the last steps were to use Curves to tweak the tonal range a bit, crop, and drop the resolution back down.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the tutorial, Handsome Stranger! By following it, I was able to duplicate your results almost exactly. Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks!

Thanks again!

(I remember when Puppet Warp first came out. I played with it for about three minutes, then never used it again. Good to know it has some real-life uses!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lwize

The road is still curved.

The road is actually curved in real life, Lwize - you can see a modern day photo of the road in ER's post, here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=46192

Handsome Stranger · #**46209** Posted **Mar 29, 2018, 9:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lwize

The road is still curved.

ethereal_reality · #**46210** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 2:25 AM**

OK anti-Curlites. Work your magic.

EBAY

"1931 ORIGINAL PRESS NEWS PHOTO LOS ANGELES LA FIESTA PARADE"

Oh..and kudos to the decorating comittee. The fake bells hanging from the arches really give the coliseum a Spanish flair.
Each 'bell' appears to be as tall as a person (I compared with a man on the top row) -wonder what they were made out of? (I'm thinking papier-mache'

THE INFO:

Getting working!

__

ethereal_reality · #**46211** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 2:51 AM**

'mystery' location.

Do you think there are enough clues to figure out where in Los Angeles these snapshots were taken?

"VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS 1920'S FLAPPER GIRLS FOX FUR LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA CAR"

#1, #2 and #3

EBAY

No doubt the best clue is the ICE COMPANY in photo #1, but the first half of the name is missing.

To my surprise there appears to be a pretty good clue in #3 as well.

If you look closely, there's a sign on the front porch of the residence.

DETAIL

The only parts I can read..is a name that might possibly end in "Field".
& at bottom right I see "& POWER" (I think)

__

ProphetM · #**46212** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 5:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location.

Do you think there are enough clues to figure out where in Los Angeles these snapshots were taken?

"VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS 1920'S FLAPPER GIRLS FOX FUR LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA CAR"

#1, #2 and #3

EBAY

No doubt the best clue is the ICE COMPANY in photo #1, but the first half of the name is missing.

To my surprise there appears to be a pretty good clue in #3 as well.

If you look closely, there's a sign on the front porch of the residence.

DETAIL

The only parts I can read..is a name that might possibly end in "Field".
& at bottom right I see "& POWER" (I think)

__

That's a Richfield advertisement - Richfield, Gasoline of Power. That may be a gas station overhang and not a front porch.

Scott Charles · #**46213** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 6:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

OK anti-Curlites. Work your magic.

EBAY

Getting working!

__

Here's my best shot, using Handsome Stranger's method:

This picture is actually somewhat harder to fix than a street scene, as there are no real straight lines in the image, other than the stage. I had to guess as to what some of the rounded angles are "supposed" to look like.

Otis Criblecoblis · #**46214** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 10:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustifer

"Reet!"...always glad to see a Kookie-ism crossover in this thread...

Hi, Russ!

"Reet" is one of the Kookieisms I carried forward from my early exposure to the show without knowing where I got it from until I started watching the show on Me-TV.

HossC · #**46215** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 11:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location.

Do you think there are enough clues to figure out where in Los Angeles these snapshots were taken?

"VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS 1920'S FLAPPER GIRLS FOX FUR LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA CAR"

#1, #2 and #3

EBAY

No doubt the best clue is the ICE COMPANY in photo #1, but the first half of the name is missing.

Looking through the early-20s CDs, the only name that fits the photo is the Jefferson Ice Co at 157 E Jefferson. So far I haven't been able to find any other images of the Jefferson Ice Co for comparison.

oldstuff · #**46216** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 2:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Looking through the early-20s CDs, the only name that fits the photo is the Jefferson Ice Co at 157 E Jefferson. So far I haven't been able to find any other images of the Jefferson Ice Co for comparison.

I find an announcement in the Los Angeles Herald dated September 9. 1918 concerning ice delivery arrangements "due to the war"

Another mention of Jefferson Ice was that it was started by Herbert Wolfskill in 1914.

I don't find images of the ice company either but I do find pictures of Herbert Wolfskill's home at 5719 Hillcrest in Los Angeles. It was built in 1913 and is in very good shape. Recently sold, there are also real estate pictures of the interior online.

Scott Charles · #**46217** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 3:00 PM**

Seeing as how ER posted one higher-resolution close-up of one of the images, I decided to visit eBay to see if I could find any higher resolution versions of the photos. Here is what I found:

All but two of the photos also mention San Francisco... so we might not even be looking at LA.

But here's another photo from the same eBay seller that was not posted by ER... the partially obscured sign in the background appears to say "something STEEL los ANGELES". Also note that the RICHFIELD sign in the photo is not the same one as in ER's photo, as this one is not attached to an awning. The structure itself seems to be a (former?) gas station:

Here's another photo that does not appear in ER's post. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be anything in it that hints at the location:

The first photo posted by ER. A very tall smokestack and the facade of a building can be seen in the background. Might the smokestack suggest an industrial neighborhood?

The woman is also standing next to an elaborate potted plant. Was there a neighborhood where such potted plants were common?

The second photo posted by ER. What seems to be a distinctive, tall building appears in the background. The gutter area of the street (between the curb and the street proper) appears to be made from bricks:

The third photo posted by ER. Again, there appears to be a swath of bricks in the gutter, lying between the curb and the street, but the shape of the bricks is different than the above photo. There is also a mysterious structure in the background, which appears to be a plinth with a plaque on the face, with two poles rising into the air - or perhaps it shows two telephone poles, which only appear to be close to each other due to the perspective of the photo.

That's about all of the clues I can extract from these photos. While it is not enough to reveal the location to me, I hope that they might provide sufficient clues for one of you Noirish LA experts.

ethereal_reality · #**46218** Posted **Mar 30, 2018, 9:16 PM**

EXCELLENT summation Scott Charles!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bristolian

I found this example of a 1923 CHP plate on a site dedicated to State Trooper license plates:

http://www.statetrooperplates.com/california.html

It certainly looks to be California. The site says these plates had a maximum of four digits but everything else seems to match and every other example
shown has bigger differences. I would guess the Fire Department plates were a slight variation, perhaps with an extra digit.

Thanks for digging up the 1923 CHP license plate Bristolian. -so that means the firefighters using a highway partol truck.

That no doubt explains the tin FIRE sign bolted onto the front bumper of the truck.

DETAIL

it's obviously been there awhile considering the chips and bangs.

(that 'Explosives Dangerous' sign still bugs me)

EXPLOSIVES DANGEROUS !

ProphetM · #**46219** Posted **Mar 31, 2018, 6:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

But here's another photo from the same eBay seller that was not posted by ER... the partially obscured sign in the background appears to say "something STEEL los ANGELES". Also note that the RICHFIELD sign in the photo is not the same one as in ER's photo, as this one is not attached to an awning. The structure itself seems to be a (former?) gas station:

I would say not a former gas station. The pump is behind the woman on the right. You can see a bit of hose just past her skirt, and above (and behind) her head you can see the metal cage protecting the glass of a gravity-feed style pump.

Such as:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-p...pump-on-704840

The Richfield advertisement in the background appears to be painted on the property fence.

Scott Charles · #**46220** Posted **Mar 31, 2018, 11:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProphetM

I would say not a former gas station. The pump is behind the woman on the right. You can see a bit of hose just past her skirt, and above (and behind) her head you can see the metal cage protecting the glass of a gravity-feed style pump.

Such as:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-p...pump-on-704840

Interesting, ProphetM!

Many photos of gas stations with gravity feed pumps can be seen here: http://waterandpower.org/museum/Earl..._Stations.html