noirish Los Angeles

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past

Wow, I'd give my eye teeth to have an original L.A. paving brick!

-Scott

There's a nice opportunity for a noirisher. Dig 'em up and we'll buy 'em. I wonder if every sixth one says "SIMONS"? They need saving for sure.



http://calbricks.netfirms.com/brick.simonssimons.html

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I had no idea, until tonight, that the Avodon Ballroom was originally built as an auto park.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si.../id/8240/rec/1

The long lost parking garage was elegant and dignified.

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Thank you so much e_r for answering my question. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=12182 The answer was even better than hoped for. You're the best :-)

P.S.

http://silentlocations.wordpress.com...n-los-angeles/


google maps

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by kznyc2k

This is one of those dirty little truths to all these buildings we pine for: that they probably wouldn't have lasted simply due to their own shortcomings, and not just because the planning gods were out to get them. Bunker Hill, Court Circle, Ferguson Alley...many structures in these areas were cruddy to begin with and only became more rickety with time as they didn't get proper maintenance and upkeep. Perhaps gentrification could have creeped up in time to save them, or maybe not...we'll never know.

Please read Jane Jacobs.

[DouglasUrantia]

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past

Wow, I'd give my eye teeth to have an original L.A. paving brick! From the air, it looks like there might be quite a few exposed ones on that old section of Court St. If I lived within driving distance, I'd be out there with a sledge and chisel tomorrow!

-Scott

Scott....On the opposite side of this street there are literally thousands of exposed paving bricks of the era gone by. They're in the curb area. Evidently the city added a crown of asphalt to the center of the street. Also, the green area to the west of the street is rather well populated with the encampments of the city's floating population.

[DouglasUrantia]

Silent footage of Bunker Hill from the late 1940s. Full screen mode was an interesting trip into the past.
The first two minutes of this footage is the background process plate for Douglas Sirk's film "Shockproof", 1949.
Click on link:

http://youtu.be/kbatKYDuksg

Still photo from the film

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by DouglasUrantia

Silent footage of Bunker Hill from the late 1940s. Full screen mode was an interesting trip into the past.
The first two minutes of this footage is the background process plate for Douglas Sirk's film "Shockproof", 1949.
Click on link:

http://youtu.be/kbatKYDuksg

Still photo from the film

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the sparkling clarity, even with the smog.

[rick m]

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Past

Wow, I'd give my eye teeth to have an original L.A. paving brick! From the air, it looks like there might be quite a few exposed ones on that old section of Court St. If I lived within driving distance, I'd be out there with a sledge and chisel tomorrow!

-Scott

I remember a small original woodface Victorian cottage about here on Fremont until it vanished - possibly circa 1990 - never carried a camera to record it - Was not trashed with graffiti - but likely had its squatters - Nobody then to share this spot with as I was a lone rambler therabouts...

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Please read Jane Jacobs.

I do admire Jane Jacobs, but no amount of wishing for a diverse population is going to save a given city's aging infrastructure, even if civic reformers such as Moses and those who went after Bunker Hill, are chased off. It takes money to keep ever-older buildings standing, and lots of it. I've lived in Greenwich Village for nearly 35 years; it's now the Upper East Side, and, while I might dislike the overgentrification, it has saved many hundreds of 150+-year-old buildings...and I'm not going to be foolish enough to complain that the value of the apartment I bought in 1986 is now worth six times what I paid for it. The bones of an historic neighborhood have been saved, and it's the money of the newly homogenized population that has done it. We'll see if what Jacobs predicted comes true--that eventually even the rich will get bored with luxury and move on--but I don't know why, being human, they would. I see no signs of it yet, anyway.

[ProphetM]

Strangely enough, Google Earth's 2002 aerial is somehow a better-looking pic than the more recent ones. It's a little large but I wanted the stairs and such to be clear:

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by rick m

I remember a small original woodface Victorian cottage about here on Fremont until it vanished - possibly circa 1990 - never carried a camera to record it - Was not trashed with graffiti - but likely had its squatters - Nobody then to share this spot with as I was a lone rambler therabouts...

rick m, do you think this comment from lacurbed is referring to the same victorian cottage that you remember?


http://la.curbed.com/tags/geoff-palmer

(the 'Palmer' they speak of is developer Geoff Palmer)

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[ethereal_reality]

It's always a good day when I stumble upon another archaic roof-top sign. This one features a large stylized A.


I present the poor man's art deco Hotel Adelphia.


gsv






below: It's located on 8th Street adjacent to the Valencia Triangle.


google aerial





A few more views of this somewhat forlorn area.


gsv





Looking north across 8th Street from Green Avenue.


gsv

Take note of the red Hotel Adelphia sign over the front entrance. (I bet it hasn't lit up for over 60 years)





Cattycorner to the Hotel Adelphia is another apartment building with an obsolete sign, not on the roof this time,
but near it's entrance facing 8th Street.


gsv






I would love to see this sign when it was in working order (preferably late at night when the Santa Ana's are blowing)


gsv


....thus is the life of noirish Los Angeles.



__

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by procab

The LAWC canal is clearly visible in the above picture as the light colored ribbon above and paralleling Riverside Dr. It also shows, to the left of the slide, where the open canal turned into the tunnel that led to Buena Vista Reservoir.



Does anyone want to volunteer to wade into that morass of poison oak to see if the tunnel still exists?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Great footwork, Procab! Too bad about the poison oak.

Is the tunnel where the "water works" is, or is that something else? I know the area has changed tremendously since this 1921 map:

Historic Mapworks (http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/19434)/Plate+028)

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I dunno what was required by Spain, but according to the map below the old and new Plazas were not identically orientated:

nopalera

The location of the original Pueblo 1781-1815, before it was moved in circa 1815-1835. The original site remains unmemorialized.

P.S. Why did Marchesseault (the mayor) turn into Marchessault (the street)?

Originally Posted by montréaliste

I dont know the answer to this question but Marchessault was the first french canadian mayor of Los Angeles, Beaudry; the second.

Did anyone know of L.A. Mayor Prudent Beaudry's interesting connection to Jean-Louis Beaudry, mayor of Montreal?

They were both brothers, and although they didnt serve terms at the same time, they both did a lot to improve their cities' waterworks and of course speculative real estate market. I remember seeing some short documentary pieces about this, but it would be nice to find correspondence between the two. Both were extraordinary businessmen, more so Jean-Louis since Prudent had a few reversals of fortune.

Marchessault (the street) was named to honor Marchessault (the mayor) after his death. He was a founder of the first city-owned gas company, and the first gas streetlights were installed during his tenure. He is also credited with helping establish Drum Barracks in Wilmington.

Damien Marchessault was born in Canada in 1818. He came to Los Angeles about 1850 and went into partnership with Victor Beaudry (Prudent's younger brother) bringing ice to LA from the San Bernardino Mountains. Marchessault served as Los Angeles Mayor from 1859-60 and 1861-65. In 1866-67 he was LA's Water Overseer, was again mayor for four months in 1867, then resumed his duties as Water Overseer.

Marchessault planned to install a system of pipes to deliver water to the city. But he gave the contract to a business associate, which prompted charges of corruption, and the pipes, made of hollowed-out trees, often leaked or even exploded, which prompted charges of incompetence.

The problems with the pipes -- along with bad business investments, gambling debts, and excessive drinking -- took their toll. Early in the morning of January 20, 1868, Marchessault went to the empty LA City Council Chambers, wrote his wife a suicide note (reproduced at link below), and shot himself in the head.

No photograph of Damien Marchessault is known to exist, but here's a photo of LA's first City Hall at Spring and Franklin in its later guise as a railroad ticket and real estate office:

USC Digital (http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/14083/rec/10)

Damien Marchessault bio from "If City Hall’s Walls Could Talk: Strange and Funny Stories from Inside Los Angeles City Hall," by Greig Smith (Xlibris Corporation 2010): http://books.google.com/books?id=7D5...page&q&f=false

[alester young]

Originally Posted by FredH

James Lileks has posted some pages from a 1941 Los Angeles pamphlet. Here are some apartment addresses. (sorry, no Q to Z)


www.lileks.com

Has anyone heard of the Collette Apartments? A relative of mine bought these in around 1937 and continued to manage them until his retirement in the mid 1950s, when he and the family moved out of Los Angeles to elsewhere in California. I believe that they were located in Glendale (which I guess would not fall within the geographical area covered by this 1941 directory).

City directories of the late 1930s have him listed living in Riverdale Drive, Glendale, but there is no reference in the address listed to the name "Collette Apartments", so I don't know if these two could be the same.

There is an outside chance that they were located in South Los Angeles, as there was a residence listing for him there in the early 1940s. However, a 1970s press cutting does specifically mention the Collette Apartments and Glendale in the same breath (but again, no street address given).

It would be great if anyone has any period photos of the Collette! Wishful thinking...? Any help gratefully received.

I am continuing to enjoy greatly this thread -have now caught up to current page after 2 months intensive reading! Great stuff!

Thanks

Alester

[Mr.Swink]

I'm so glad you mentioned this area, I totally forgot about it. The first time I noticed the Hotel Adelphia and it's surroundings I was driving home from work on a late night, it was foggy and no other cars or people were out on the street. As I slowed down for that little jog in the road, I saw the Hotel Adelphia through the haze and thought this would be the perfect location for a film noir. That little twist in the road really makes the Adelphia and rest of the block stand out. I think when I get some time on a foggy night, I will try and go snap some photos.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

It's always a good day when I stumble upon another archaic roof-top sign. This one features a large stylized A.


I present the poor man's art deco Hotel Adelphia.


gsv






below: It's located on 8th Street adjacent to the Valencia Triangle.


google aerial





A few more views of this somewhat forlorn area.


gsv





Looking north across 8th Street from Green Avenue.


gsv

Take note of the red Hotel Adelphia sign over the front entrance. (I bet it hasn't lit up for over 60 years)





Cattycorner to the Hotel Adelphia is another apartment building with an obsolete sign, not on the roof this time,
but near it's entrance facing 8th Street.


gsv






I would love to see this sign when it was in working order (preferably late at night when the Santa Ana's are blowing)


gsv


....thus is the life of noirish Los Angeles.



__

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I present the poor man's art deco Hotel Adelphia.

I hope my earlier post wasn't misunderstood. I was referring to the architecture, not the people that live there.


http://www.usingenglish.com/referenc...something.html
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[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Cattycorner to the Hotel Adelphia is another apartment building with an obsolete sign, not on the roof this time,
but near it's entrance facing 8th Street.


gsv

I would love to see this sign when it was in working order (preferably late at night when the Santa Ana's are blowing)


gsv
....thus is the life of noirish Los Angeles.

That is or was the Melbert Hotel.... You'd think there might be a few noirish items in the paper about it, a death from smoking in bed or some such...but I haven't seen any.

[GaylordWilshire]

LAT

LAPL

LAPL


Alexis C Jeffries came from Ohio with his wife and brood in 1891 (one source indicates 1882). It appears that the family settled above downtown on considerable property that they eventually subdivided, with Jeffries Avenue as a main street--now part of L.A.'s Cypress Park neighborhood. While at least one son continued the family interest in real estate, another took an altogether different track. In 1899, James Jackson Jeffries (the "Boilermaker") became boxing's World Heavyweight Champion. While the stairs in the Times article above appear to be those in the photograph below it, the same wall--made of stones presumably taken from the Arroyo Seco just a stone's throw away--continued, with portions continuing today, from nearly North Figueroa (née Dayton Avenue) three blocks to Idell Street. The location of the Jeffries "big house" at the top of the stairs is now taken up by the Florence Nightingale Middle School. Below are a few samples of the extant wall--the first surrounds 571 Cypress Avenue, the 1911 house of Charles Jeffries, one of the Boilermaker's brothers (L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument 735).


GSV



He looks shorter in this picture, but to top it all off, I present all 6'-1½" and 225 pounds of the pulchitrudinous James Jackson Jeffries, Heavyweight Champion of the World of 1899:

wikipedia

[tovangar2]

Thank you Flyingwedge, but my question:

"Why did Marchesseault (the mayor) turn into Marchessault (the street)?"

...was actually just about the spelling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Marchesseault

Originally Posted by Mr.Swink

Tovangar... I did read THAT some what revisionist history... clearly the LAPD does not go by "just the facts ma'am", they go by their own version.

That's it in a nutshell.

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

rick m, do you think this comment from lacurbed is referring to the same victorian cottage that you remember?


http://la.curbed.com/tags/geoff-palmer

(the 'Palmer' they speak of is developer Geoff Palmer)

__

The Victorian cottage was at Sunset and Figueroa. Palmer likes to build against the freeways.