noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

The Ambassador Hotel Fountain with the Wilshire Brown Derby visible across the street.

ebay
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[CityBoyDoug]

citynews

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by Yak

My brother sent me a link to this thread a while ago; I'm finally chipping in.

My family lived in the castle at 4857 Melrose Ave. circa 1965-1977. During that time I aged from circa 3 to 15 years old.

On that slab shown in the thread, I believe the missing parts read "1949-1957" for the years that Milt Hopkins built the castle; and "Alexander Korens Konya," my Father who built the fountain w/ statue pouring water over herself, which is no longer there.

The thread shows a photo of the castle from "1935". That is definitely incorrect as the castle was built circa 1949-1957.

I once heard that Hopkins used material left over from the building of the Hollywood Freeway which he purchased cheap.

After completion, Hopkins moved into the castle with his wife & lived there until we purchased it around 1966. You should have seen it back then. Hopkins had built dozens of little lights embedded in concrete throughout the property which featured a working water wheel which fed an artificial creek which flowed into a sizable pond. The yard had many cool features, making it great for hide & go seek, inspecting plants & animals, outdoor meals, etc.

The parties mentioned in the thread occurred when we went on a family road trip and rented the castle out for a few months.

In semi-retirement, my Dad spent a lot of time gardening and upgrading the property. In addition to the fountain mentioned above, he also built the concrete walkway which still spans the bridge today, the driveway, and a fenced in table tennis area.

The interior also had the "castle" feel with big mirrors, high ceilings & windows & curvy edges to the walls. My parents decorated with antique furniture which seemed to fit in perfectly.

Even though it was "everyday" for me, I always felt special & priveleged to be living in such a cool home. When my Dad passed away, it was just too much property for my Mom & her 2 boys to maintain, so Mom sold it and it got converted into a French Restaurant. Since then it has also been a Korean Resaurant, & more recently it seemed like some kind of Korean dinner club. Currently it seems boarded up.

Our family and the house were featured regularly in the Wilshire Press newspaper and at least once on the local TV News.

I sure loved growing up there; the castle itself seemed like one of the family.

Yak, welcome to the thread. Pull up a chair. Get out the old family scrapbook (we hope). After the war (that would be WWII) my father and my uncle used the GI bill to buy a duplex at 5428 Monroe Street (about 1946-47ish), which is about two blocks west of Western Avenue. My uncle Bob and my aunt Evelyn moved into the east side unit and my family moved into the one on the west side (the house is still there, albeit with some grey hair and wrinkles). My brother and I went to Santa Monica Boulevard Elementary School which is up on the corner of Van Ness and Santa Monica Boulevard across the street from the old Hollywood Cemetery and just up the block from Paramount Studios. We drove by the 'castle' often and my parents would make a point of seeing if 'the man' was in the yard working on it. My dad would often honk the horn and we'd wave. My whole extended family knew about it and would make a point of driving by it when they came to visit. We moved to the valley (Reseda) when I was ten years old (1954) but whenever we'd come back to the old neighborhood, we'd try to go by the castle just for old time's sake. It always made us smile. It sort of still does. Anyways, welcome.

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here is a great photo showing the Hill Street Pacific Electric Station.



usc digital archive



Below: I found this schedule/map showing a Mount Lowe route (through a wonderland) for $2.50.

Change of camera angle/cropping can make the station facade seem far less choked for space. Short lived station (3 years) discussed way back when: http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=1334 and http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=1339 Uppermost photo presents itself as a serene, civilized place to visit by auto. Take a wider view and the roadway presents itself as a virtual mine field for any motorist who dared traverse the area with balloon tires and wooden wheels. Chiropractors' delight and repair shops' paradise?


427 South Hill Street - between 1922 and 1925
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013190.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013187.jpg

[Tourmaline]

Phil's Diner - 11138 Chandler Blvd transplanted to 5230 Lankershim Blvd - evidently closed. Again. Reportedly built in '20. Alleged to be "the oldest dining car in California." (Perhaps it was the oldest operating dining car?) http://www.chattelblog.us/2011/06/ch...alifornia.html



May be the best pic of the bunch. Probably early '60s considering Plymouth/Dodge tail fin, roof ac unit and parking meters. Did meters produce enough revenue to justify their existence, or was this a means of regulating limited parking?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xNtd24jYYm...2526+phils.jpg


2000
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics37/00068123.jpg


1990s (?)
http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/diners/philsExt.jpg

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/41/747...f2f_z.jpg?zz=1

moving day
http://laist.com/attachments/lindsay...philsdiner.jpg


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p4izNdIgYq...0/IMAG1569.jpg

[Blaster]

I don't think it's been previously reported here but the incredible Scottish Rites Masonic Temple on Wilshire, long dormant, has been sold to the Marciano Brothers of "Guess" fame who will convert it into a private art museum. The temple, designed by Millard Sheets, has long fascinated me. I'd love to take a look inside before the renovation.

[Wig-Wag]

Testing. Ignore this post.

Cheers,
Jacl

[Tetsu]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

LAPL

Back in October 2011 GaylordWilshire posted about the Jeffries family in Cypress Park. Above is a picture of their home, which if I'm not mistaken once stood at the NW corner of Figueroa & Cypress Street. But there was another house nearby, at 901 Isabel Street, that I always knew as the home of Jim Jeffries himself. When I first discovered it back in the early 90's, it wasn't in the best of shape and was downright creepy, a Classical Revival mansion standing atop a small hill, with a commanding yet dark presence. Back then, it looked something like this pic I found on Flickr:

Flickr

Well, according to local historian Charles Fisher, this was never the Jim Jeffries house (Fisher acknowledges it has been referred to in numerous publications as such, however erroneously). It was designed by John C. Austin of LA City Hall & Griffith Observatory fame, built in 1905 for restaurateur Max Nickel. It has come to be known as the Nickel-Leong house because it was sold to Jeung Leong in 1936, whose son, Gilbert Leong, designed many of the buildings in LA's new Chinatown. Here's a picture of the Nickel-Leong mansion in somewhat better days, looking like a transplant from a Southern plantation:

Charles Fisher

I drove by several months ago (totally would've taken pictures, had I discovered Noirish Los Angeles back then!) and found that, while not in horrible shape, it could certainly benefit from a renovation. But, unlike so many of LA's great architectural gems, at least it still stands.

[Godzilla]

Can someone explain what is going on with the roof protrusions on this recent repost? I see two torches or stacks or vents or even possible skylights. Originally attributed my confusion to an optical illusion. Now I am not so certain. Given the Masonic connection, could there be some obvious symbolism involved?

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Tetsu

Back in October 2011 GaylordWilshire posted about the Jeffries family in Cypress Park. Above is a picture of their home, which if I'm not mistaken once stood at the NW corner of Figueroa & Cypress Street. But there was another house nearby, at 901 Isabel Street, that I always knew as the home of Jim Jeffries himself. When I first discovered it back in the early 90's, it wasn't in the best of shape and was downright creepy, a Classical Revival mansion standing atop a small hill, with a commanding yet dark presence. Back then, it looked something like this pic I found on Flickr:

Flickr

Well, according to local historian Charles Fisher, this was never the Jim Jeffries house (Fisher acknowledges it has been referred to in numerous publications as such, however erroneously). It was designed by John C. Austin of LA City Hall & Griffith Observatory fame, built in 1905 for restaurateur Max Nickel. It has come to be known as the Nickel-Leong house because it was sold to Jeung Leong in 1936, whose son, Gilbert Leong, designed many of the buildings in LA's new Chinatown. Here's a picture of the Nickel-Leong mansion in somewhat better days, looking like a transplant from a Southern plantation:

Charles Fisher

I drove by several months ago (totally would've taken pictures, had I discovered Noirish Los Angeles back then!) and found that, while not in horrible shape, it could certainly benefit from a renovation. But, unlike so many of LA's great architectural gems, at least it still stands.

Nickel-Leong Mansion, John C. Austin 1905
The Greek Revival temple was designed originally for restaurateur max Nickel n 1905 by Architect John C. Austin.

In 1936, Jeung Leong acquired the home; his son, Gilbert Leong was one of the first architects of Chinese descent to acquire an architect's license. The Leong family continued to own the house until the 1990s. Located at 901 Isabel Street in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

[Mannock]

Isn't the meter maid Colleen Moore?

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

In that same Beverly Boulevard neighborhood is another building that looks as though it might have rooftop archers. On the NW corner of Sweetzer and Beverly is a two story deco structure. 8301 Beverly Blvd. Any information concerning the building's history or what it started it out as?



http://www.kates-co.com/properties/8...301beverly.jpg

Due east of this interesting structure, on the NE corner, at what appears to be 306 N Sweetzer, is a curious 1/4 round edifice that is going through some major facial work (according to mapping software). Maybe a "stretch" but the Quarter-round "theme" or "pattern" is strikingly similar to the lines found in the Beverly Center, Rexall Drugs and the referenced apartment complex - excepting the windows. http://www.bing.com/maps/default.asp...UyMGFuZ2VsZXM=


http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...ents_sky-1.jpg

http://www.fashiontraveler.com/appda...erlycenter.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPpPMDzig8...lyshopping.jpg


And . . . further "stretching."

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4026/4...5eb4f90d_o.jpg

'72
Ebay

[Godzilla]

"THINK IT OVER . . . THEN ACT WISELY . . . AND YOU WILL BE A TOURIST OWNER!"



http://www.ulwaf.com/images/TouristRunabout.gif


1907
http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles..../autos2097.jpg

1908 Directory Ad: http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...st&submit=Find


Per ad, 10th (Olympic) and Main Streets. Don't recall seeing this factory before, except in this ad. Perhaps it is better known by a different name.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9bgImXUANt...ar_tourist.jpg

Brad Caslon discusses the home of "Tourist's treasurer, Willis D. Longyear at the familiar address of 3555 Wilshire. http://oldhomesoflosangeles.blogspot...1_archive.html So does GW: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...5_archive.html




http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nv0ctn_YR7...3_longyear.jpg


1917 - L.A. Chamber of Commerce Bd. of Directors. Pictured are: (Back row, left to right) Joseph Scott, R. W. Pridham, William Mead, Oscar Mueller, L. D. Sale, Frank Wiggins. (Front row, left to right) Louis M. Cole, Col. A. J. Copp, Sylvester L. Weaver, Robert N. Bulla, Robert Wankowski, Watt L. Moreland, E. V. Sutton, F. Q. Story, W. D. Longyear, Chester W. Thompson, Maynard McFie, D. F. McGarry, Edward D. Lyman, Henry W. Louis, E. B. Rivers.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078728.jpg

[Lorendoc]

3940dxer and I made it to the top of Wulff's Peak in Lookout Mountain Park/Doheny Ranch Tract today. We will post some then-and-now pictures and describe what led to the identification of the Inn site in the next few days. Thanks as always to the remarkable posters here for providing hours and hours of enjoyment for me - am up to about page 450.

[ProphetM]

Originally Posted by Lorendoc

3940dxer and I made it to the top of Wulff's Peak in Lookout Mountain Park/Doheny Ranch Tract today. We will post some then-and-now pictures and describe what led to the identification of the Inn site in the next few days. Thanks as always to the remarkable posters here for providing hours and hours of enjoyment for me - am up to about page 450.

Tease!

[Godzilla]

Ebay

[GaylordWilshire]

The Henry Ford Museum

Speaking of Wilshire Boulevard...some Wilshire Boulevard houses do not give up actual photographs easily. While working on my story about the Harry Harrington house once at the northeast corner of Wilshire and Gramercy Place, I finally unearthed a shot of silent star Olive Thomas in her new limousine in front of a house, which I realized was 646 South Gramercy, where she lived briefly with her husband, actor Jack Pickford, Mary's bro. It seems that Olive had recently hit a 9-year-old boy when behind the wheel herself...the Times doesn't seem to have covered the accident. Hush-hush. Anyway, as it turned out, the successor to 646 South Gramercy was a Morgan, Walls beauty we've seen here before, first noticed by ER back in 2010:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1392

More on the history of the corner here: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...e-see-our.html

[ethereal_reality]

-very interesting GW. I've always been intrigued by Olive Thomas' early death in Paris. (poison wasn't it?)
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Do you recognize these homes? (I found this earlier today on ebay)

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[ethereal_reality]

LARY Car 3001 on the 1st Street Loop, March 18, 1957

ebay

-Where exactly is this?
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[ethereal_reality]

Pacific Electric Car 1815, circa. 1958 -no location given.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PACIFIC-ELEC...-/400539286070
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