noirish Los Angeles

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

In 2020, I posted HERE about James Wong Howe's restaurant that he opened at 11386 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City in 1940. Although I found information, a couple stories and some ads about it, I couldn't locate a photo of it, which was the orginal goal.

This youtube video colorized by NASS, may have been linked here before:

• Video Link

At the films 3:55 mark it switches to Ventura Blvd. at Tujunga Ave. heading east in Studio City. At that point on the left the video passes by a building with a blade sign reading "Korner" and then at the 4:00 mark in the upper left hand corner, you'll see a neon sign for the "CHING HOW" restaurant, so you get a very brief glimpse of it beforehand.

It opened in February, 1940, at 11386 Ventura Blvd. and was there for around ten years at least.

I was hoping the footage would continue all the way past Monkey Island but, at 6:10, with 2 mins. 10 secs. to go, it abruptly switches to some other street.

It isn't a good 1940-50s Chinese joint without a "Chop Suey" neon sign out front. Double bonus for "Egg Foo Young". Still a fair number of 1920s cars on the road. Car production and demand went down in the 1930s, so a lot if people kept their 1920s cars, plus almost no non-military cars were built during WW2, so 1920s cars were fairly common to see well into the late 1940s and even into the '50s. I remember them when I was a kid. In the 1950s and 1960s some were reincarnated as "hot rods". Nice view of the dear departed Richfield Bldg. at the start of the film

[Harrys]

Seaboard National Bank, Los Angeles, in 1936

[GaylordWilshire]

This building replaced the Kornblum house, completed in 1909, at 3143 Wilshire Boulevard:



The full story of the property is here

Seaboard National Bank moved into the building in 1931, moving from the Busch Building across Wilshire--it even took along its big rooftop sign.
See the story of the Busch Building here and here--in the latter, my compilation of Wilshire Boulevard buildings that replaced residences, scroll down.



LAPL



PS Harrys: These pictures are great, keep 'em coming, but is there any chance you could make them slightly smaller in width? They tend to be too large for easy viewing on my 15" laptop, not to mention on a tablet. Just a thought.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by jerry1656

Martin, in your video at the 6:10 min mark it appears that that street is in Los Feliz. I can make out Hillhurst Ave (which I know well) and this is the area North of Los Feliz Blvd where there are wonderful old Estates on the edge of Griffith Park on that curvy road, I couldn't decipher the cross street though. Great area if you got a few million bucks, much better than Bev Hills.

Thanks for this additional info, jerry1656!

[Harrys]

Ok, i'll post them resized. I uploaded them full size so all details can be seen

Not quite L.A., but i find it to be an interesting piece of CA history.
Palo Alto Hospital in 1936

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

In 2020, I posted HERE about James Wong Howe's restaurant that he opened at 11386 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City in 1940. Although I found information, a couple stories and some ads about it, I couldn't locate a photo of it, which was the orginal goal.

This youtube video colorized by NASS, may have been linked here before:

• Video Link

Originally Posted by jerry1656

Martin, in your video at the 610 min mark it appears that that street is in Los Feliz. I can make out Hillhurst Ave (which I know well) and this is the area North of Los Feliz Blvd where there are wonderful old Estates on the edge of Griffith Park on that curvy road, I couldn't decipher the cross street though. Great area if you got a few million bucks, much better than Bev Hills.

In the last part of the video, the car is traveling northeast on N Vermont Avenue. As far as I can tell, the house behind the Hillhurst Avenue sign is still at the intersection at Vermont Parkway, but it's now so covered by foliage that only the entrance is visible for comparison.

[Snix]

Here's a new one to me. The Lazy X
11720 Van Owen, North Hollywood


Vintage matchcover on eBay


The venue opened as a Country & Western spot in 1964.
Valley Times 6/18/64

then quickly started booking big name acts like Phyllis Diller

LAT2/25/65

Valley Times 4/2/65
LAT 3.14.65

LAT 4/14/65




LITTLE RICHARD and a Watusi contest!
Citizen News 10/1/65
Ike & Tina Turner
https://concerts.fandom.com/wiki/Nov...azy_X_1967.jpg
A little noir...

Van Nuys News 9/8/66
Can't find much after 1971, but today the building is still there. It's still a bar, it's called "Salsa and Beer." Here's a 2019 pic when it was "Gorditas Durango."
GSV

[ScottyB]

[QUOTE=Snix;9547272]Here's a new one to me. The Lazy X
11720 Van Owen, North Hollywood


Vintage matchcover on eBay
Great stuff Snix! I wonder where the band set up....maybe photo taken from stage?

[Harrys]

Los Angeles County Hospital in 1936

[BDiH]

[QUOTE
Can't find much after 1971, but today the building is still there. It's still a bar, it's called "Salsa and Beer." Here's a 2019 pic when it was "Gorditas Durango."
GSV[/QUOTE]

Salsa & Beer is actually a restaurant with two locations and is one of the most popular family run Mexican restaurants in the Valley.

[JeffDiego]

Good Lord. Hideous! Depressing.

[JeffDiego]

[QUOTE=RudyJK;9542365]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
What we have so far. . .




The Huntress, Livingston Dr. and 2nd St., Long Beach on Aug. 1, 1949

Could C be Cornel Wilde? (not this headshot, but...)
https://alchetron.com/cdn/cornel-wil...esize-750.jpeg

Old movie buff here.
A resembles Gene Tierney, but Tierney resembles N too. A also has a slight resemblance to Rita Johnson.
Pretty sure B is Mona Freeman & C is McDonald Carey.
D resembles Esther Williams, also Marie McDonald
E looks like John Lund to me, not James Cagney.
G resembles William Demarest.
I is William Bendix, already correctly identified.
J looks like Maureen O'hara, as has been pointed out.
K, to me, resembles Mark Stevens, rather than Ray Milland.
M looks like Dan Dailey.
R indeed resembles Gail Russel, but also Helen Walker - somewhat.
S indeed resembles Cesar Romero.
I agree that Tyrone Power, Betty Grable, Richard Widmark, Barbara Stanwyck ( a curiously old photo from the thirties), and Veronica Lake have been correctly identified.

All of these names would've been at the top of their game around 1947 - although I see the photo was taken in August of '49..

[ethereal_reality]

.
Billy Jack billboard, Los Angeles - August, 1971.


gettyimages


Do you suppose the owners of the red and orange cars - which, as you can see, perfectly match the billboard - were paid to park their cars there for the duration of the Billy Jack publicity campaign?


ooooor. . .do you think it was simply fortuitous that the cars were parked there?



.

[HossC]

The red Mini looks fairly stock, but the yellow Beetle appears to be a model from the late-50s that's been customized to some extent. The rare one in the picture is the white Fiat Dino. Wikipedia says that less than 6,000 of the coupes were built.

[riichkay]

JeffDiego nails "M" as Dan Dailey...





Jeff (and others) are also correct on "G" as Bill Demarest....






I think John Lund is good for "E" instead of Cagney....






And Cesar Romero is correct for "S"....

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Billy Jack billboard, Los Angeles - August, 1971.


gettyimages


Do you suppose the owners of the red and orange cars - which, as you can see, perfectly match the billboard - were paid to park their cars there for the duration of the Billy Jack publicity campaign?


ooooor. . .do you think it was simply fortuitous that the cars were parked there?



.

I saw "Billy Jack" and forgot them almost immediately. The film was too preachy and the dialogue stilted and badly delivered. There was one film from that era about Native Americans that was much better. The one with Dustin Hoffman, "Little Big Man", where he gets mixed up in the Custer Little Big Horn battle. It mixes humor and absurdity with tragedy. Another film from that period that is pretty good is "Tell Them Willie Boy is Here", starring Robert Blake. The 1990 "Dances With Wolves" is good too, maybe a bit long.. Actually the stately pace is appropriate for such an epic story.

What is the red mini, A Fiat or BMW early version mini cooper, or something else?

[MartinTurnbull]

I was browsing through a digital version of "Staley's views : Los Angeles, 1914-1915"

https://archive.org/details/staleysv...p?view=theater



And found this image whose caption was “Twenty-Five Mile Ocean Drive, Santa Monica” but I’m guessing it was actually taken just north of Santa Monica on PCH? Anybody care to confirm or deny?

[Mackerm]

Maybe the foot of Big Rock Drive In Malibu.

[Edit. Pats self on back] https://cdm15730.contentdm.oclc.org/...5730coll8/id/8

[ethereal_reality]

.
hmm. . . .how should I post this?


I know! I'll post it as a CHALLANGE.


Can anyone figure out this mystery location?


old file /

I have the answer (it's written on the back) but I want to see if any of you fine sleuths can figure it out.

If no one does (figure it out, that is). . .I'll post the answer in a couple of days.


Good luck minions!

.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull

I was browsing through a digital version of "Staley's views : Los Angeles, 1914-1915"

https://archive.org/details/staleysv...p?view=theater

And found this image whose caption was “Twenty-Five Mile Ocean Drive, Santa Monica” but I’m guessing it was actually taken just north of Santa Monica on PCH? Anybody care to confirm or deny?

I agree with Mackerm, it is the tide pool area at Big Rock beach on the way to Malibu, not in SaMo. When I was a TA grad student long ago (but not as long ago as this photo! There were no "flivvers" on the road, and it was two lane and paved) we used to take our classes to Big Rock to look at the invertebrates in the pools. I think the "big rock" in the name is the one in the center of the photo. Probably tumbled down the hill above in a landslide long long ago, before this 1910s or early '20s photo was taken. There are Great White Sharks in these waters. In the late 1980s, a couple of kayakers were attacked and killed not far from here. I recall that all that was ever found were the kayaks with big shark bites in them. Maybe someone can find the story in an old L.A. Times or other source and post it. Maybe 1988 or 1989?