noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

THE HIKE ABOVE SYCAMORE GROVE

This is the house Hoss picked as well.

Originally Posted by oldstuff

House #2, located at 4910 Oak Terrace Drive, was built in 1910, according to the county assessor. It is a very large house with eight bedrooms and four baths. It has apparently at some point, been an alcohol and drug treatment center. You can't get the googlemobile in a place to see the front but there is one picture of the front (an old one) on a real estate site.

Here's the real estate photograph oldstuff mentioned.


redfin

"AWE INSPIRING PROPERTY IN HIGHLAND PARK, OFFERING INCREDIBLE CHARACTER AND UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES.
THIS HOME OFFERS FOUR LEVELS WITH EIGHT BEDROOMS AND FIVE BATHS. ZONED AS LAR3, THIS ONCE MAJESTIC SHOWPLACE".

in other words....it's haunted.

__

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by VictorAtomic

Sad that Toluca Lake was never kept up to its original natural state but the taming of the LA river probably dried up many lakes, marshes, and ponds (Although it's kinda greedy that the whole lakeside was sold off for residential). Beautiful pictures of what was, nonetheless.

No kidding, it's impossible to even get a photograph of Toluca Lake except from above. This picture was taken from Burbank Peak:07040066-1 by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

I read the Wikipedia article, too. There is some interesting stuff in there.


A really cool bunch of jazz musicians, including people like Dexter Gordon, Sonny Criss, Frank Morgan, Chico Hamilton, Art Farmer, and many more. And singers Ivie Anderson, Etta James, dance choreographer Alvin Ailey, Stymie from Our Gang, etc, etc. A lot of interesting people came from Jefferson.

Ralph Bunche was also a Jefferson graduate. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 and a building at UCLA is named for him.
06300131-1 by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

[ethereal_reality]

Here's an interesting photograph currently on eBay.


"1912 Los Angeles CA SHRINER FLORAL PARADE RPPC Postcard w/ DREXEL APARTMENT BLDG"


EBAY

I've gone through all the posts that mention 'Drexel', and none of them show the apartment building that appears in this 1912 photograph.




The only 'Drexel Apartments' we have seen is the one below.


SKYSCRAPERPAGE / BIFRAYROCK


Any idea where the Drexel in the top photo was located?

_

[MartinTurnbull]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

when I look at your animated picture I hear the song from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "The Pirates of Penzance" where the girls are singing "climbing over rocky mountain"
I was feeling invincible after finding the woman in the picture with no names on it of 6718 Second Avenue and was immediately frustrated that I was not finding at least some of the names of the hiking girls. Phooey!!

I live in LA now but I grew up in Australia during the time the "Picnic at Hanging Rock" was released. It was a game-changer for the Australian film industry and kicked off its renaissance. Hanging Rock is about an hour from where I used to live. The place really does have an eerie feeling to it and the movie captures it perfectly. FWIW, the story has been redone as a mini-series and is due to hair later this year.

[MartinTurnbull]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

And on the exact same physical location as the Garden of Allah...



By the way, I found some fantastic photos of the old model of the Garden of Allah, and was going to post them here... then I looked at the banner at the top of the website...



... so I guess you've already seen them, Martin! I'm going to have to give one of your novels a read, they sound right up my alley.

Well, here's another website with some (sadly, quite small) pictures of the model - including a few with the built-in lights turned on.

Yes, Scott, those WeHoville photos are frustratingly small, which is a shame because they're superior to the ones I posted on my blog. But I bet the photographer was using better equipment than my lil ol' point-n-shoot! (BTW, that blog post is perennially one of my most-visited posts. The guy who owns the model is very accommodating and happy to show the model to anyone who asks.)

My novels set at the Garden of Allah take place between 1927 and 1959 (the dates the Garden was open) so I've tried to use as many real-life places as settings...many of them I've found on these pages!

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's an interesting photograph currently on eBay.


"1912 Los Angeles CA SHRINER FLORAL PARADE RPPC Postcard w/ DREXEL APARTMENT BLDG"


EBAY

The Drexel Apartments are still standing! They are at 1516 S. Hope, the building below at bottom (at top, on the NE corner of
Venice Blvd., is 1516's twin, 1526). The building permit for 1516 S. Hope, by architect Lester M. Moore, is dated July 11, 1910:



Google aerial


That same ebay photo is also available at the CA State Library website, where the high-resolution TIFF format of the image
is numbered 2010-1783.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Otis Criblecoblis

I hope you all won't mind if I request your assistance with an inquiry.

My nephew--actually the husband of my niece--is a PR man, one of whose clients is the Toronto Second City troupe. He grew up in Toronto. I mentioned to him that, back in the Seventies, Second City had a venue here in Pasadena: Fignewton's, at 3737 E. Foothill Blvd., now the site of a Chuck E. Cheese outlet.

But when I searched for any evidence of its existence, all I could find was some evidence of its later existence as a disco.

Now, I was too young ever to visit Fignewton's in its earlier identity, but I did drive by it a million times, when it had the prominent sign reading "Fignewton's: The Second City Revue." While the address is Foothill, the physical location was along Rosemead Boulevard.

My request is for the many brilliant built-environment sleuths here: will you help point me to where I might find at least some photographic evidence of the existence of this onetime Second City outpost hereabouts? It would be of great assistance to my nephew as he seeks to promote an upcoming reunion of the classic Second City worthies.

Thanks for reading this!

I haven't tracked down any pictures yet, but if anyone has access to newspapers.com or the LA Times archives, there's an advert for the opening of Second City's Fignewton's club on page 75 of the Sunday, March 30, 1975 edition of the Los Angeles Times. The OCR text is difficult to read because it has all three columns mixed together, but some of it says:

"Second City" is coming on the L A. theatre scene. Opens April 23 Previews April 1$ [sic]. "The entire recent tradition of American theatrical satire can be summed tip in three words, 'The Second City"'... Clive Barnes, N.Y. Times.

Here's a thumbnail of the page:


www.newspapers.com

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by Bristolian

In reading about Jefferson High School, I found this on Wikipedia about its history:

"In 1915, the citizen of Los Angeles voted to sell bonds to raise $4,600,000 to build schools in the Los Angeles area. Approximately $500,000 was appropriated to build Jefferson High School on the "Stadium East Grounds" (The Old Coliseum) which held approximately 25,000 people in a circled amphitheater configuration. The "Stadium," as it was known, was the site for hosting and entertaining travelers on the way to both the San Diego and San Francisco world expos in 1915. Numerous rodeos and bicycle races were held at the location."
"The Old Coliseum precedes the "Los Angeles Coliseum built in 1929 that hosted two Olympics. It was the main amphitheater in Los Angeles in the late 1800s."

I had never heard of this and am intrigued. I wasn't able to find anything further including here on NLA. Does anyone have any more information on "The Old Coliseum"?

Originally Posted by HossC

The stadium only appears on the 1914 Baist map (below, right). The area was just the Stephenson Tract in 1910 (below, left). Jefferson High School is there by 1921, and all three maps show the street below as 38th Street.


www.historicmapworks.com/www.historicmapworks.com

The site was home to a brand new speedway circuit in 1912 -



https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=...adium+-------1


http://www.speedwayandroadracehistor...jpg?1488616711


It also hosted rodeos, pageants and other events until it was sold to build the school in 1915.


https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=...+rodeo-------1


The "Old Coliseum" reference in the Jefferson HS Wikipedia article may stem from confusion with another speedway track that Jack Prince built in the LA area. That track, built in 1909, was at 64th and Main Streets and was known as the Coliseum. A snip I forgot to include from the first article above -

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by VictorAtomic

Sad that Toluca Lake was never kept up to its original natural state but the taming of the LA river probably dried up many lakes, marshes, and ponds (Although it's kinda greedy that the whole lakeside was sold off for residential). Beautiful pictures of what was, nonetheless.

I still think that the boy in the picture is either my dad, or one of his brothers. The dog would be "Sailor". They lived "just down the road" where the Burbank airport is now and my dad learned to swim in what they called then "Brown's Pond" (Toluca Lake) and the LA River, if you can imagine the river having enough water to swim in.

[ethereal_reality]

speaking of Toluca Lake....



Toluca Lake : Lakeside Golf Club and adjacent area

Author: French, Park
Date: 1936

You can explore it indepth at David Rumsey Maps

Have fun!

Happy Friday!
_

[Slauson Slim]

Vid of motorcycle board track racing at Beverly Hills Speedway in 1921. Riders taking a spill also could suffer splinters from the track's wooden board surface.

• Video Link

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

The "Old Coliseum" reference in the Jefferson HS Wikipedia article may stem from confusion with another speedway track that Jack Prince built in the LA area. That track, built in 1909, was at 64th and Main Streets and was known as the Coliseum. A snip I forgot to include from the first article above -

Thank you, Hoss And Noir_Noir for the followups on the "Old Coliseum"

I would tend to agree that the Wiki page on Jefferson High School confused the two arenas as there is no mention of the word "Coliseum" on the racing program or ad/promo for the rodeo at the Hooper & 35th Street location.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

The Drexel Apartments are still standing! They are at 1516 S. Hope St. The building permit for 1516 S. Hope, by architect Lester M. Moore, is dated July 11, 1910

Thanks for finding the location of the Drexel Apts. Flyingwedge.

1516 left / 1526 right


GSV


Refresh my memory; was there a firehouse in the immediate area?



just wondering why this particular location was chosen.

_

[Flyingwedge]

Engine Company Number 10 was at 1615 S. Hill, which I think was the closest station to The Drexel
at the time of the photo. Perhaps the photo location was dictated by the parade arrangements?

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by HossC

I haven't tracked down any pictures yet, but if anyone has access to newspapers.com or the LA Times archives, there's an advert for the opening of Second City's Fignewton's club on page 75 of the Sunday, March 30, 1975 edition of the Los Angeles Times. The OCR text is difficult to read because it has all three columns mixed together, but some of it says:

"Second City" is coming on the L A. theatre scene. Opens April 23 Previews April 1$ [sic]. "The entire recent tradition of American theatrical satire can be summed tip in three words, 'The Second City"'... Clive Barnes, N.Y. Times.

Here's a thumbnail of the page:


www.newspapers.com

Here's the advertisement:



March 30, 1975, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL

[Flyingwedge]

Here is some more information about the two motorcycle tracks under discussion . . . .

Coliseum @ 64th and Main

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

This also says the Coliseum was the first facility built for motorcycle racing:



March 15, 1909, Motorcycle Illustrated @ Hathitrust


Records were shattered at the new track (and, during the same two-week period, at Daytona Beach, FL).
Here, the track is called the Prince Coliseum:



LINK


Racing at the Coliseum:



LINK




LINK

Previous three images from April 1, 1909, Motorcycle Illustrated @ Hathitrust

_____________________________________________________________


Los Angeles Stadium @ 35th and Hooper

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

http://www.speedwayandroadracehistor...jpg?1488616711

January 25, 1912, Motorcycle Illustrated @ Hathitrust


The upper photo below is the same one on the program that Noir_Noir posted. It seems to have been taken at a
race held at the Los Angeles Stadium on February 25, 1912. The lower photo shows spectators on the same day:



March 7, 1912, Motorcycle Illustrated @ Hathitrust

[Beaudry]

As long as we're on the subject, and if you're interested in more, pick up Harry Pallenberg's excellent doc Where They Raced.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Perhaps the photo location was dictated by the parade arrangements?

You're right FW. It could have been the staging area.
_____________________________







SANTA CRUZ EVENING NEWS, JUNE 23, 1925

CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE

Say whaaaaaat? DRUIDS in Burbank?




I guess so.....I JUST FOUND THIS

United Ancient Order of Druids in Burbank June 15-18, 1925


WES CLARK ET CETERA PHOTOGRAPHS


Let's take a closer look.

#1 BURBANK BANNERS

DETAIL






#2 writing along the bottom of the photograph.

DETAIL




#3 BUNGALOW NEIGHBORHOOD

DETAIL





#4 FLAGS

DETAIL






#5 A LOOK AT THE BUILDINGS DOWN THE STREET

DETAIL





#6 ONE LAST LOOK

DETAIL


I didn't know Druids were a thing back then. Does anyone have information on this organization?

__

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Here's the advertisement:



March 30, 1975, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL

Thanks, Hoss C and Flyingwedge! I deeply appreciate your kind responses to my inquiry. The Second City Cabaret started here a few years later than I had remembered. I'm hoping my nephew can use this information to find out more about this from the Toronto mother ship.