noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

I also have a mystery location. I've been unable to find the address of this bank photographed by Julius Shulman in 1960. It's "Job 3109: Lunden and Johnson, Security Pacific National Bank (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1960". I've just noticed that the curb looks quite high.



I think this detail shows the street number as 4334, but I don't know which street.



Getty Research Institute

[ethereal_reality]

Rainbo Motel, 8320 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles



eBay

and today, still plugging along.(behind it, a half block away is the Harbor Freeway)




reverse / vintage postcard



I am not up on the old highway number system. So remind me, how is this State Hwy. 6 & 11?

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[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by HossC

I also have a mystery location.

I think this detail shows the street number as 4334, but I don't know which street.



Getty Research Institute

4334 Santa Fe Avenue, Vernon. Structure is still there, but facade has been massaged a bit.



http://media.superpages.com/media/ph...9699ae3fb.jpeg

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I just spotted something I hadn't noticed before.


detail


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Bus ad for Robaire's (348 S La Brea) http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=5375

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Rainbo Motel, 8320 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles

reverse / vintage postcard



I am not up on the old highway number system. So remind me, how is this State Hwy. 6 & 11?

ER, From what I read, Highway 6 was the designation for Figueroa St. through that part of Los Angeles. It was part of U.S. Route 6 which was transcontinental.

Highway 11 was the designation for what is now the 110 Freeway. The Harbor Freeway was approved as an interstate highway in 1978 and renumbered as Interstate 110 in 1981.

[CityBoyDoug]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1922....Avalon, Catalina Island.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location.

This intersection appears to be higher than the surrounding area.


eBay

"Washington Thrift & Loan"

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAT March 18, 1969

Could this be the 301 N Vermont address with the bus turning east onto Beverly Boulevard? There was a building on that corner at least into the 1980s. The view below is from 1972.


Historic Aerials

The intersection is higher than the section of Beverly Boulevard to the east. I've tried to find vintage views of the intersection to prove or disprove my theory, but haven't found anything so far. The former site of 301 N Vermont is now the location of the Vermont/Beverly Metro Station.


GSV

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

* I just noticed the signs in the corner window (to the left of the neighborhood Y sign). There's a word or two (red letters on orangish background) that are almost legible.

The sign on the right says "OF LANGUAGES". I'm pretty sure that the second word of the sign on the left is "SCHOOL", but I can't make out the first word. The City Directories I checked don't list any language schools at the intersection above, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong .

[GaylordWilshire]

HossC-- I'd talked myself out of the Vermont/Beverly corner and was sure it must in be an outlying district-- when I looked at street views I didn't back far enough east to notice the fairly sharp slope of Beverly eastward. I think this is the most likely spot.

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by HossC

We've seen the subject of this Julius Shulman photoset before. It's referred to here as the Lucien Lelong Building, but you can see its earlier incarnation as Chesterfield's Furniture Company courtesy of Godzilla and BifRayRock in post #19190. This is "Job 11: Spaulding and Rex, Lucien Lelong Building (Los Angeles, Calif.),1947".



Looking north across Wilshire, there's a glimpse of Switzer's on the left.

By the time of the "1955 - Transit Strike" "Ketchup" was spelled "Catsup" and 76 replaced Texaco.





FWIW, although we have visited this page before, there are one or two more shots of the immediate vicinity. http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/55440/rec/3

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's the hill used in 'Three Little Beers'.



This is meant to be the opposite side of the hill, but, of course, it may well have been somewhere else.

There is obviously a great deal of collateral material on several NLA favorites, including the Stooges. Moe's daughter, Joan Howard Maurer, authored a few books on her family and included a few images of various homes presumably occupied by or visited by Moe and Co. One such address is 107 S Fuller Avenue, circa 1935. It is very close to Station 61, which featured prominently in "False Alarms (1936)." FWIW, the image does not seem to match with the home at that location. Although there is always a possibility that the home was remodeled in the intervening years, there is little evidence of a deep set window or similar roof line and eaves, which leads one to wonder if the address is not a misprint, or possibly refers to an adjacent property or possibly "102" or "N" rather than "S".

From The Three Stooges: Book of Scripts, V1.


GoogleSV

Also mentioned are homes on Hayes Drive and Highland Avenue.

[ethereal_reality]

I thought I had another 'mystery' location, but i think I figured it out myself.

"July 1938, Hollywood in background"


http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-VIN...kAAOSwPc9WvoxQ

At first I thought they were posing along a roadside.

but I couldn't figure out what this was (below, outlined in red)


detail

Then it dawned on me, this must be the last row of the Hollywood Bowl.
And in the distance, the white structure that almost looks like a dam, or perhaps a bridge, is the Pilgrimage Theater on the other side of Cahuenga Pass.

Am I right?
__

[ethereal_reality]

But this is a mystery.

I've never seen or heard of this place before, yet the seller on eBay says it was a popular teenage hang-out in Hollywood CA.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-phot...EAAOSwMmBVsVVf

"The Holly Spot"


http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-phot...EAAOSwMmBVsVVf

[ethereal_reality]

eBay

Originally Posted by ersatz01

I believe the Zebra Lounge was located at 8505 S. Central, Los Angeles, near Manchester Ave. This makes sense with the photo, as there is Central Farms grocery store in the shot. This shot would be looking southerly along Central, towards Manchester, the intersection being obscured by the street car. Apparently, John Coltrane played there a few times in 1961.

Thanks ersatz01.

lapl

Almost everything on that block is now gone, except 8503 (the boostMobile shop). KFC has replaced Central Farms Market.


gsv

boostMobile was Hooper's Jewelers in the vintage photograph. (to the right of the Zebra Lounge)
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Just a block north, it's a different story. Almost all the older shop buildings are still standing.

8400 block

gsv


And I couldn't help but notice this building across the street.


gsv

I wonder what it is?

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[ethereal_reality]

eBay





detail (to see the pretty faces)





One of the ladies was Vera Francis.


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/271130840041424746/




https://www.pinterest.com

Does anyone remember Vera Francis?

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[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

HossC-- I'd talked myself out of the Vermont/Beverly corner and was sure it must in be an outlying district-- when I looked at street views I didn't see the slope of Vermont southward--didn't back far enough north on Vermont. I think this is the most likely spot.

According to this route map...

http://www.chicagorailfan.com/los72gnw.gif

...Line 42 ran as suggested through this intersection, so you and HossC have nailed this one. As always, excellent work!

[ProphetM]

e_r - I see that #7 is Marion Ross. As in, Mrs. Cunningham from Happy Days?

[Beaudry]

Perhaps you're familiar with the recent KCET series Lost LA; their most recent episode is "Reshaping LA" in which one of the segments—"Lost Hills"—has some particularly interesting footage, which, being absorbed with Bunker minutiae in general, I thought touching on it would be pertinent here.

So you're also likely familiar with the justifiably-famous process plate filmette "A Drive Through Bunker Hill" shot for Shockproof in 1948; you may remember they toodle from Second down Grand to about Fifth, shot from the back of the car, they they set up again and shoot the same run out the side of the car. Then they set up again from Fifth and Flower and shoot out the back of the car, stopping at First and S Bunker Hill Ave. So why didn't they then shoot a matching film out the side of the car as they did with that first go?

Well, they did: in Lost Hills, which has footage from the Prelinger Archive, AKA archive.org, check out from 0:23 to 0:32, as they cruise past some familiar territory, right past 708 W 1st, 704 hiding a bit, then the columns of the Lima Apts at 702, we cross Hope St, there's the Crestone at 644 and the Baldy View at 632, at the corner of SBHAvenue.

To get your bearings, we're here looking south down Hope St, and the car drives from A to B along First:



A couple grabs from the film:

The Lima (AKA Rossmere, Majestic) at Hope and First, with 704 hiding a bit, as I mentioned—



And rolling past the Crestone—



There's a couple of Nadel images, a few years later, that give you a flavor of the drive:





Point being, one therefore has to assume there's a whole section filmed from Fifth up Flower at the oblique angle. Who knows what else from that filmy goodness may exist?


...The other thing I wanted to mention: remember about six months ago I was going on about there was some film somewhere of Angels Flight Café in color? And that I wanted desperately to see it but someone else bought it on eBay and fretted that it might never see the light of day? Well, we found out who bought it, and it couldn't be in better hands (besides mine, of course). Again, Prelinger Archives loaned to Lost Hills and so check out 0:37-:039 and 1:12-1:17 which, granted, is only a few short seconds but is just as amazing as you'd expect.

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

e_r wrote: I have a question about the 'speakeasy' you mention in your post # 1 of the series. Would this have been at the same location
as the earlier Laurel Tavern? (if I remember correctly, you mention a curve in the road or something)

Laurel Tavern

http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/

Sorry if this has already been answered, but I was researching Laurel Canyon and came across Lorendoc's post.

The site originally known as the Laurel Tavern was at 2401 Laurel Canyon, on the NW corner of Laurel Canyon and Lookout Mountain Drive. It was later occupied as a private residence by, most notably, silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix and later Frank Zappa and family. This is (or was) the same place also known as the Log House, famous for its many artificial caves and grottoes on the property.

Tavern Trail is several blocks south, near the Canyon Country Store which is 2100 Laurel Canyon. It consists partly of a short stretch of ordinary motor road that runs along the short end of the building housing the Canyon Country Store, and, downstairs, Pace Italian Restaurant.

Here we are looking eastish (per the numbering of streets); Laurel Canyon Blvd is just behind us. To the left, Pace is downstairs and the Country Store is upstairs.


Pace by pithecanthropus, on Flickr
(Google Street View)

The cross street you see just in front of the hill is Rothdell Trail; beyond Rothdell Trail, as you continue east, Tavern Trail becomes a stair street which you can see just to the left of the Laurel Canyon Cleaners & Laundry.

I tried to get a better view from Rothdell Trail, but I couldn't get the Googlemobile to stop in exactly the right place. Here's the best I was able to do:


Tavern Trail by pithecanthropus, on Flickr
(Google Street View)

Many years ago, sometime before 1995, I stopped here and noticed the stairway for the first time, despite being no stranger to the Canyon. At the time there was a small yellow City sign saying that Tavern Tr had been withdrawn from public use, and as I looked up that narrow stairway it did appear to be in a dangerous state of neglect, yet people were (and are) still living in the houses along it. Even the warning sign itself seemed to be ancient and decrepit. One resident started a campaign to get the City to refurbish it, but I don't know how that turned out. This was sometime around the mid 2000s. From as much as I can see in these pics, they do look better than they did, so maybe she won through.

If you hang a right and go up Rothdell Trail, you'll find Prospect Trail, another stair street. I wish I had taken a closer look when I lived in L.A.


Prospect Trail by pithecanthropus, on Flickr
(Google Street View)

ETA: Rothdell Tr continues northward behind the Country Store then merges into Laurel Canyon Blvd. Bing Maps has this section incorrectly marked Prospect Trail. Google Maps/Earth has it right; Prospect Tr is just the stair street in the last picture. Also, as an additional curiosity, the county assessor's parcel database indicates that there was another "trail" street, Lucille, running above and roughly parallel to Rothdell, and that Tavern and Prospect both connected and terminated on that road, but AFAI tell no addresses were ever assigned to it and there was never a usable trail there. There are a couple of undeveloped parcels that could only have Lucille Tr addresses, but no addresses have been assigned.

Arising from this, is there any way to research street maintenance projects when the street has either been withdrawn from city maintenance or renamed? It seems that since Sunset Blvd was renamed Cesar E. Chavez Ave, you can only go back as far as the renaming for that part of the road. All the projects and improvements from the turn of the last century until then seem to be gone. Or is there another way to ferret those out of some city website?

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

But this is a mystery.

I've never seen, or heard, of this place before, yet the seller on eBay says it was a popular teenage hang-out in Hollywood CA.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-phot...EAAOSwMmBVsVVf

"The Holly Spot"

The only reference to the Holly Spot that I've found so far is on a page about Donald O'Connor (Singin' In The Rain etc) on www.mar-ken.org. It says, "According to friend and Mar-Ken student, Jean Porter, it was joked that Donald graduated from the Holly Spot. The Holly Spot was a hamburger joint a few blocks down Hollywood Blvd. from Hollywood Professional School, where a lot of the HPS students hung out, and it was joked that they spent more time there than in classes, thus the graduation from the Holly Spot joke." The Hollywood Professional School was at 5400 Hollywood Boulevard - e_r posted several pictures in post #29001. I can't find the Holly Spot in the City Directories, but a lot of restaurants in the 1942 CD are listed under their owner's names.

[HossC]

I won't name names this time (there are quite a few), but there have been a growing number of badly edited quotes recently. The main result is that it's impossible to tell where the original material ends and the new information starts. Additionally, the link back to the original post is lost. I previously posted about this issue in post #23297.

When editing a quote, please leave the start that says something like:



And also the bit at the that says:



It's the end tag which gets deleted most often, and it can easily be fixed by just retyping /QUOTE in square brackets (as above). In one recent example, this line was deleted, that post then got requoted a couple of times, and it became very difficult to tell who said what. If all else fails, and both QUOTE tags have been deleted, simply highlight the quoted section and click the Quote button (see below). This will still lose the link to the original post, and the name of the person who posted it, but at least the quoted portion will be clear.



As I've said before, please do edit quotes - we're also seeing a recurrence of long posts being quoted just to add a single line of information.

I realize that this won't immediately come easily to everyone, and I don't want to scare people away from editing quotes. If anyone wants to practice in private, feel free to PM me - the messaging system handles quotes in a very similar way to the forum.

Remember - it's never too late to go back and edit previous posts to make them clearer!