noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks again t2.


Minutes ago, I came upon this wonderful photograph of a large building at 10th & Figueroa.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-8-x-...4AAOSwhQhY2aMo



written on the reverse:

"Belmont Apartments, 10th & Figueroa"





& photographer's stamp

[tovangar2]

The 6-story Belmont was designed by AL Haley in 1910 for a Mr Ivins. It was originally called the Ivins Hotel. It cost $96K, constructed on never-before-built-on land next door to the Friday Morning Club. The Belmont fell in the 80s for a parking lot. W 10th is now, of course, Olympic (and the intersection has been straightened out).


baist, 1921, plate 8

The 26-story 717 Olympic Apartments is now on the site. It's been up about a decade:

google maps

[CityBoyDoug]

Rita Hayworth somewhere in 1939. Pure style & glamour but what could be more obvious...!!!


pinterist

Maybe Hoss knows where this was taken?

[Martin Pal]

.

It looks like it was the holidays. Here's a larger version.

[tovangar2]

Godzilla got there first

One source says the photo is by Frank Worth (1923-2000), but he would only have been 16 in 1939. His bio says he came to Hollywood from New York after he graduated from high school in 1940 (?).

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

.

It looks like it was the holidays. Here's a larger version.

]

Oh yes..... I like that larger version.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

1939 - Rita does more of Beverly Hills - ? (Several sources misidentify this location as Burbank)

One of the sources to misidentify the location as Burbank is paddle8.com, but is does have a much larger version of the image (hope you like it, CBD). I think Rita Hayworth was just about to cross the street near the Moorish Beverly Theater and California Bank building on Wilshire Boulevard. The view below is dated 1937.


Detail of picture on www.facebook.com - Photo Credit: Marc Wanamaker via Beverly Hills Historical Society

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The 6-story Belmont was designed by AL Haley in 1910 for a Mr Ivins. It was originally called the Ivins Hotel.
It cost $96K, constructed on never-before-built-on land next door to the Friday Morning Club.
The Belmont fell in the 80s for a parking lot. W 10th is now, of course, Olympic (and the intersection has been straightened out).


baist, 1921, plate 8

Here's a postcard of the the Ivins Hotel (hmmm...I just noticed it actually says Ivins Apartments)


ebay

for comparison:

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Back in the 1950-60s when I studied architecture in college, this style was called Post & Beam [vertical posts and horizontal beams - the epitome of simplicity]. The architect of this home, Richard Neutra, was a local god of design. Post & Beam was uber hot at that time but for some reason it seems to have fallen out of favor. Maybe all that wood tended to deteriorate over time if the builder used cheap wood for the beams and roofing.

Nevertheless this is a gorgeous home.

[A local church that was built in 1960 using laminated wood beams to support the roof has experienced serious wood rot *photo below*. Recently they had to spend over a million dollars to replace the beams and most of the roof.
Yet another nearby church built in 1955 using the same method is in perfect condition. Moral: be careful from what source your contractor buys beams and roof wood.]

226 W Colorado Blvd Arcadia, CA 91007

yelp

My church, with a sanctuary built in 1957, has had no problems whatsoever with the laminated beams, but I see that in the picture, the beams continue outside in the weather, whereas ours are completely inside.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a postcard of the the Ivins Hotel (hmmm...I just noticed it actually says Ivins Apartments)

I got the "hotel" off the 1914 Baist. Many buildings that went up then were called "hotel and apartments", so I suppose it could have been both.

Here's the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, which was once at the SE corner of Figueroa and 10th. LAPL gives a date of 1915, but as the lot across the street, where the 1910 Ivins will rise, is still empty, it must be earlier (the church decamped to Wilshire in 1928):

lapl



P.S.


Requisite noir:

la herald 25 May 1916

RIP Mr Lem

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I got the "hotel" off the 1914 Baist. Many buildings that went up then were called "hotel and apartments", so I suppose it could have been both.

t2, I've seen it listed as the Ivins Hotel too.

That's why I was surprised when I noticed it just said apartments on that undated postcard.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

One of the sources to misidentify the location as Burbank is paddle8.com

As Frank Worth's wiki page says, many of his unpublished negatives were found after his death. They were titled and dated by those who then owned them. Mistakes were bound to be made.

Most of us know this iconic 1955 Frank Worth shot of Elizabeth Taylor on the set of "Giant" (1956)

artspace

[ethereal_reality]

Liz nailed the come-hither look.




While searching for more photographs of the Belmont Apartments at 10th & Figueroa, I happened upon this photograph of the Belmont Hotel at 251 S. Hill Street.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/29095/rec/40 (this has probably been seen before on NLA)



Just for fun, here's a closer look at the Belmont entrance.


detail




We've no doubt seen this photograph before on NLA, but we haven't discussed the much smaller Guiles Hotel next door.


detail




I've been trying to figure out the name of the Guiles Hotel building.


detail

It's McCo _ ?

----------------------------------------





Lastly, here's the receipt for the photograph. [1930]


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/29095/rec/40

It appears the Belmont Hotel was a member of "Consolidated Hotels".



for search purposes:

Photograph of exterior of Belmont Hotel, 251 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA, 1930. "Subject: Belmont Hotel, 251 So. Hill Street; Agency:
Mail to Stiller, c/o Lockwood Shackleford Co.; Client: Consolidated Hotels; Classifications: B. hotels; Year: 1930; Job: 11-20-112"
-- on envelope front. "Operator's Report: Joe; Amount: 3.00" -- on envelope back.

lapl

_

[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Liz nailed the come-hither look.







detail




I've been trying to figure out the name of the Guiles Hotel building.


detail

It's McCo _ ?

----------------------------------------





_

I think it's McCoy. No idea about the previous word(s).

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I've been trying to figure out the name of the Guiles Hotel building
_

The 1921 Baist calls it McCoy Guiles Hotel.

FWIW, on the 1969 demo permit, under "legal description", someone has typed in "Part of Rosa McCoy".



There's some great shots at USCDL of the interior of the Belmont.

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

The 1921 Baist calls it McCoy Guiles Hotel.

FWIW, on the 1969 demo permit, under "legal description", someone has typed in "Part of Rosa McCoy".



There's some great shots at USCDL of the interior of the Belmont.

The McCoy house used to be there next to the base of Angels Flight, and they moved it up Third, and then Rose built this familiar figure:

usc



Next door the YWCA went up (Arthur B Benton, 1908), which became the Belmont.

usc

[tovangar2]

Thank you Beaudry. I knew you'd come and save me.

I was just going to post an image and this:

google books

...and there it is, just before Sinai & Olivett cross in the background above Clay Street:

ffilms @ the 9:04 mark

[GaylordWilshire]

From Angels Flight Goes to the Movies: http://www.electricearl.com/af/


Speaking of movies...wonder if James M. Cain had ever read about Amy L. Winter?



LAT 7-15-29

[tovangar2]

I owe you big time Beaudry. A tiny thank you in return:


lapl

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Article and a great drawing from the October 9, 1904 LA Herald here



Don't know the address, but this might help. The 1900 Ocean Park Country Clubhouse was on Westminster, between Main and Pacific:

LA Herald,4 Sept 1904

So maybe 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd for Ocean Park Grammar School (now the Westminster Ave School)?


Try 1025 & 1027 Abbot Kinney Blvd (nee Lake, formerly Washington) for the commercial buildings:

gsv


per Beaudry

A closer view of the shoe repair/shine shop frontage:

pinterest


Thanks again.

[HossC]

Thanks for the information about Post & Beam yesterday, CityBoyDoug.

After a few days of private homes, today's Julius Shulman post shows offices. It's "Job 887: William Beckett, William Beckett Offices (West Hollywood, Calif.), 1950". With a fair bit of duplication between the prints and contact prints, I've included most views.



The contact print of this image has scribbled notes, presumably for featuring in a publication. As well as a couple of "Crop" directions, the one above the building intriguingly says "Bum in".



The offices had a very simple reception area.



I believe that the sign on the right says "EMPLOYEES".



Here's the rather spartan employees' area, although it appears to have had a bed.



The mezzanine level was reached by this simple and stylish staircase.



I wonder what building was on the drawing board.



This table looks very unstable, but I assume it was well anchored.



All from Getty Research Institute

I initially confused William Beckett with Welton Becket, but they're completely unrelated (as far as I know). Here's a little biography I found in the caption of a photo by moderns_r_us at Flickr:

William Sutherland Beckett was born June 14, 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Yale University, graduating in 1943. Beckett moved to California after graduating and worked for Douglas Aircraft for a short time during World War II. He went to work for the firm Spaulding and Rex from 1944 to 1949, eventually achieving the title Chief Designer. Spaulding was the architect of Case Study House #2, for Arts + Architecture magazine in 1945-1947.

Mr. Beckett married fellow Kansas Citian and socialite, Julianne Kemper in 1948. She was the daughter of James Madison Kemper, Sr. and part of a prominent banking family and patrons of the arts in Kansas City.

In late 1949, Beckett went out on his own, and by 1950, he had completed his own offices, located at 9026 Melrose Avenue. The Julius Shulman photographs of this building were widely published in the architectural press. The building garnered him an AIA National Honor First Award, in 1952, one of only three given nationwide that year. This prestigious award set his reputation as an architect for stars like Charlton Heston, setting him off on a career designing many celebrity homes and businesses in Beverly Hills and throughout LA.

Eventually, William Sutherland Beckett succumbed to chronic alcoholism and died at the early age of 56 on September 21, 1977.

The building can still be found at at 9026 Melrose Avenue.


GSV