noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by odinthor

They sliced off a foot or so of the "archway" and stuck in a railing?

Do I win, e_r? Do I win?

Yes odinthor. You are the winner!!

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That's such a great little building Martin Pal. I'm surprised I've never heard of it before. [UNLESS I JUST FORGOT]

I found a tiny bit of information.

"West Hollywood Library began service to the area (then unincorporated ) in 1913. The library was previously located at Sherman School,
a cottage on Clark Street, a building on Westbourne Drive, and a building near the present site." [present site: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd.]

from colapublib.org.

Now I'm going to try and find a vintage photograph.
_________________________________________________________________

I'm still trying to find one, too. Also info corroborating Charlie Chaplin's involvement with that building. The building is so hidden by those trees, I don't think many people have heard of it to even forget it. Even though it can be seen from SMB, it's pretty hidden and looks almost like an adjunct to the building on the corner. I'm going to visit it when I have a chance.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ScottyB

Hmm...a drink at the Firefly or the Five Thirty? Looks like a couple of wise guys heading into the Firefly....think I'll do the Five Thirty, and check my coif in the mirror at the entry.
The camera shop down the block (Mooney and something?) seems to be advertising a Jerry Lewis camera.

I'd so very much like to see these signs lit up in color!

Here's the Firefly sign in color ScottyB (I believe this was taken in the 1980s.


kelly/pinimg


The Firefly sign is briefly shown flashing in an old black and white movie, but the name of the film escapes me at the moment.
(I thought it was 'The Strip' [1948] but it isn't..unless I missed it. (I just checked on youtube)
_



update:


make the music go bang

I had no idea what was meant by a flaming bar . (until now) see below

"That was a great dive bar. First place I went when I moved to Hollywood from Florida in 83.
The bartenders would put lighter fluid on the bar and have this flame run the length of the bar." SCOTT DELONG


_

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Yes odinthor. You are the winner!!

_______


http://ein-bleistift-und-radiergummi...t/166469835873


Victory!

[ethereal_reality]

Ah, Ramon Navarro.


That reminds me:
Last week I was watching an episode of Bonanza and to my surprise, Ramon Navarro was the guest star.
(I didn't realize it until the very end)



The Brass Box [1965]

[ScottyB]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's the Firefly sign in color ScottyB (I believe this was taken in the 1980s.


kelly/pinimg


The Firefly sign is briefly shown flashing in an old black and white movie, but the name of the film escapes me at the moment.
(I thought it was 'The Strip' [1948] but it isn't..unless I missed it. (I just checked on youtube)
_



update:


make the music go bang

I had no idea what was meant by a flaming bar . (until now) see below

"That was a great dive bar. First place I went when I moved to Hollywood from Florida in 83.
The bartenders would put lighter fluid on the bar and have this flame run the length of the bar." SCOTT DELONG


_

thanks, e_r! I'm usually not that literal-minded when someone describes a 'flaming bar"! The color picture shows a rather different set of features than the close up I posted.....I wonder if the bar moved at some point?

[ethereal_reality]

I happened upon this interesting photograph a few days ago on ebay.

"Very Rare 1920 Southern California Fire Explosive Crew Multi Agency Hat Badges" [$149.99]

EBAY

note the two flag men (far left / far right)
__

The badges appear to be fire department. (there are two types of badges)






& if you look closely there is a special license plate behind the 'Explosives Dangerous' sign.



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.
_

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Hey, I bet your dad heard my dad! My dad was in the Army Radio Corps or whatever they called it, broadcasting and moving along with the fighting in the South Pacific (Bougainville, etc.), then into Japan. Here he is:


odinthor collection

That's actor-to-be Jack Kruschen in back, working with him.

And my dad was born in (St. Jo) Missouri, too!

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

My dad was also from southern Missouri, but he was a city slicker(Springfield). He enlisted in the Navy in 1937 and did his boot camp in San Diego. He hated CA, never wanted to come back but spent the last 23 years of his life here. Like you I also arrived in 1960.

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert

Man, we could hold the Missouri equivalent of an Iowa Picnic (with or without the spats) My paternal grandmother was born a Lamm in Boonville.

Cheers,

Earl

Originally Posted by Lomara

My paternal grandparents were from Pike County, Missouri (from towns around Bowling Green).

After they were married (1922), they took Grandpa's Model A and drove it alllll the way to Long Beach, California. They drove 200 miles each day. Grandma kept a travel diary in little notebooks and scraps of paper. My cousin has it, along with Grandma's treadle sewing machine.


Grandpa's Model A by Kimberly, on Flickr

This is too cool--so many Missourian roots on NLA! My dad was born in Waco, in the Joplin/Springfield area. I still have a ton of relatives all over that part of the state.

Although I was born in the OC, people tell me I'm my father's son--stubborn as a Missouri mule and never say more than necessary.

If I ever get the knack for posting photos, I'll post my old man and my mom's wedding picture.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another curled photograph. :hint :

The Arroyo Seco Parkwy shortly after it was finished.


ebay

I'm not entirely sure what segment of the parkway we're looking at here. There's writing at the top but it's difficult to read.

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."

[BillinGlendaleCA]

My guess is that it was taken from the 3rd Street overpass.

ETA: Here's a photo from the same overpass from a bit to the east:

_8200043.jpg by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I decided to take a stab at uncurling this one.

STRAIGHTENED by HANDSOME STRANGER

You did a great job Handsome Stranger!

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

My guess is that it was taken from the 3rd Street overpass.

And you would be correct BGC.

I was wondering what this was.

DETAIL

And then I saw it was still there!

GSV

I'm so sleuthy.

__

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by KevinW

This is absolutely Temescal Gateway Park. My wife and I got married there 25 years ago under an Oak Tree and I recognized it immediately.

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]

_

[John Maddox Roberts]

You are the sleuthiest, ER!

[ethereal_reality]

Why thank you John.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Ah, Ramon Navarro.
That reminds me:
Last week I was watching an episode of Bonanza and to my surprise, Ramon Navarro was the guest star.
(I didn't realize it until the very end)
The Brass Box [1965]
___________________________________________________________________

^^^
That same year, 1965, he was in an episode of COMBAT titled "Finest Hour," with Luise Rainer (I saw her in person once). He played her husband.

Alt Film Guide

Ramon Novarro is always thought of as a silent movie star, including by me, but I also recently saw him pop-up in a 1949 film noir called The Big Steal.
(It was called a film noir, but it really isn't.) It seems he did keep working in films and television, though I haven't looked up his credits.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

usc digital archive


It's a GIANT woman's shoe!!

________________

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I got interested in the Grant Building, on top of which sat the shoe...

CSU http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/BroN4th.jpg


LAPL http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013830.jpg
A lovely noirish 6AM shot down Broadway...


So I went looking for the Grant Building, and I was reminded of the now low-rise character of the Broadway
streetscape between 3rd and 4th. Much of it seems to be taxpayers, at least for the moment, anyway. At
first, the Grant appeared to be gone along with the shoe. But... the curve... eight windows on the 4th
Street side, five along Broadway... it looks as though that it might not be gone entirely:

Google Street View [April 2009]

What appears to be the two-story remnant of the formerly seven-story Grant Block was looking better by February 2017:



GSV



Originally, it was a three-story structure:





October 27, 1897, Los Angeles Herald @ CDNC



In 1902 it was enlarged not just two more stories, but four more:



September 28, 1902, Los Angeles Herald @ CDNC



After it was enlarged, it looked like this, similar to what it looks like in e_r's photo above:



00013829 @ LAPL (undated)



One of the Grant Building's tenants, according to the 1903-05 city directories, was this company:



1903 LACD @ fold3.com



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



Here's a closer look at what's printed on the side of the wagon. I wonder how -- or how well -- the system worked?





Is this kid missing toes on his right foot?

[Handsome Stranger]

Ramon Novarro did indeed keep working up until the year he died. In his early years of stardom he was quite a striking young man.


1923 Scaramouche


1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ


1929 The Pagan


1931 Mata Hari


1933 The Barbarian


1949 The Big Steal


1960 Heller in Pink Tights


1967 The Wild Wild West (episode "The Night of the Assassin")


1968 The High Chaparral (episode "A Joyful Noise") (Novarro's final screen appearance)

[image sources: mostly Warner Home Video]

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

& if you look closely there is a special license plate behind the 'Explosives Dangerous' sign.


_

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.

[Rustifer]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

Reet! But I thought it would be fun for someone else to bring it up.

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

[Scott Charles]

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."

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: