noirish Los Angeles

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

ebay

gsv

That's great that the 1898 Penzold home, at 825 Bartlett, seems to have all of its details intact. The pretty porch hasn't been filled in and I appreciate the appropriate screen door. That the lovely, scrolling, foliate decoration has been picked-out in pale blue is a nice touch. The concrete steps, which replaced the wooden ones, are well done.

Too bad the neighborhood has lost some cohesiveness and that that charmer of a fence was discarded. The pair of fan palms is now one that's too tall and the other is but a stump.

Thanks for a non-distressing 'then & now'. A good reminder that plenty of LA homes have grown old gracefully.


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Bartlett intersects with North Bunker Hill Avenue. I thought I'd look to see if there were any buildings worthy of such an evocative street name. There's not much, but I did notice this amazement of a duplex at No. 728. It was built in 1910. It's got crackerjack windows, slightly "Polynesian" eaves and a telescoping gable. The various volumes are fitted together beautifully. Great view too:




gsv

(I searched for priors everyone, as usual, but, if I missed some, let me know, and I'll add them to this post.)

[GaylordWilshire]

ebay


Slightly different signage--the darker one appears to be electrified--but a reminder of two great posts about the Regent:




From HossC's 27363


also, from BRR's 20191 (love the wicker chairs):

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

http://blogs.library.ucla.edu/specia.../FoLAR_003.jpg



I heard from a long-time former LA resident who said that as kids, he and his brother collected railroad spikes from that intersection and other nearby locations when there was road construction or street repairs. He could not explain how these trolley related items got there but said considering some of those arteries led to nearby trolley car lines it might not be that surprising. The more I ponder this I wonder whether parallel cracks could also be from prior construction repairs, especially for utilities. It seems unlikely but did trolley car track and spikes bear readily identifiable makers marks? Unless severely worn, some of it could be recycled on other jobs, no?



I noticed this blurb concerning Disney World and faux historical track.




http://land.allears.net/blogs/jacksp...ement%2049.jpg


Warning. Viewer discretion advised. May contain some reposts.



1937 - Surveyor near Santa Monica Blvd. and Highland Ave (6820 Santa Monica Blvd in background)
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00098/00098001.jpg




1937 - Santa Monica - Highland Construction project
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00097/00097996.jpg


1958 - Highland Park
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics48/00058502.jpg







Undated
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013164.jpg


No info on date or location
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067226.jpg



No info on date or location
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013166.jpg




Automation be raised. No date
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013163.jpg



Electric car interior. Purpose of center object, change collection?
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013154.jpg



Uniformed PE Drivers contemplate women in slacks
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00006/00006957.jpg



A PE Conductor Ponders, "Did I make the correct change?"
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013195.jpg



Safely boarding/packing a trolley car.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013156.jpg





Looks potentially painful.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013153.jpg




1924 - Georgia Street and Pico Blvd. (Near current Staples Center location)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013167.jpg




1958 -
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013106.jpg

The 1958 Highland Park picture shows the building with the curved portico to the left of the tracks. This was originally a "Carnegie Library". It was the Arroyo Seco Branch, originally completed in 1914, and designed by Frederick Ashley. It would be torn down and replaced in 1959, just after this picture was taken. It was located at Piedmont Avenue and Figueroa, just south of York Blvd. The street with the tracks should be Figueroa but the picture may be flipped unless the tracks actually went down Piedmont. Does anyone know?


Another note in this set is the picture where the white-haired man is pointing to the sign that says "fourth Subway". Over his shoulder is a sign that says "New Ammo" instead of liquid ammonia. This intrigued me so I went looking and discovered that ammonia was used as a leavening agent for baking. This powdered form was apparently easier to measure than the liquid. Some sites indicates that using this method left the baked goods with an ammonia smell....Yummy. A trade ad dated 1910 shows the "Ammo" brand of baking ammonia. This might give a date range for the picture.

[stacymckenna]

Actually, further research has shown there's a copyright by "Bennett, Kenneth Hall" in 1948 for a menu, quite possibly this one, so the date may be over a decade later than originally thought.

Stacy McKenna, Menu Archivist, LAPL
https://books.google.com/books?id=5E...AJ&pg=RA1-PA37

Originally Posted by 3940dxer

All of these are from the early 1930's.

...
And to close, an anthropomorphic (finally I get to use that word) menu. "Bicarbonate of soda and hot water, free!" I'd love to see a photo of Ken's Kennel. This place seems expensive, though...the Dag-Dog cost more than a 3 course lunch in many sit down restaurants back then. Odd.






http://dbase1.lapl.org/dbtw-wpd/exec...=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by stacymckenna

Actually, further research has shown there's a copyright by "Bennett, Kenneth Hall" in 1948 for a menu, quite possibly this one, so the date may be over a decade later than originally thought.

Stacy McKenna, Menu Archivist, LAPL
https://books.google.com/books?id=5E...AJ&pg=RA1-PA37

Most interesting visuals but I'm not sure that humor and food work together. I don't mean to be over critical but that Shish-Ke-Dog looks kinda scary.

[ethereal_reality]

Yep, that's scary alright. yuck


I came across this photograph last night on eBay.

It shows the parking lot behind Glenn Wallich's Music City. (that's Hollywood & Vine in the distance)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Orig-Negativ...item5d59eae55e






As a reminder; here's the front of Wallich's Music City on the northwest corner of Vine and Sunset. (Capital Records offices second floor)


http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=21093

[ethereal_reality]

I found this last night as well. (I can't find it today...maybe it sold)


eBay

It clearly shows 111 W. 7th Street. (the address is on the canopy next to the red sandwich shop)




But if you go to gsv, it looks like a different building.(I can understand if the arched windows were hidden by the Owl Rexall sign
...but that doesn't explain the missing second story rectangular windows and the row of medallions beneath them)


gsv







gsv

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by oldstuff

The 1958 Highland Park picture shows the building with the curved portico to the left of the tracks. This was originally a "Carnegie Library". It was the Arroyo Seco Branch, originally completed in 1914, and designed by Frederick Ashley. It would be torn down and replaced in 1959, just after this picture was taken. It was located at Piedmont Avenue and Figueroa, just south of York Blvd. The street with the tracks should be Figueroa but the picture may be flipped unless the tracks actually went down Piedmont. Does anyone know?

The tracks pictured are on Piedmont (compare the structures, on the right side of Piedmont, in the historic photo with the current gsv).

Thank you for ID-ing the library. I couldn't extract it from my faulty memory.

The new library was built on the same site. It's hard to get a good photo of b/c it looks disjointed from certain angles:

lapl

Water and Power adds this interesting info (see caption):

waterandpower.org



e_r posted a photo of a trolley/motorcycle/2-car accident on Piedmont at N Figueroa here


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Interesting post stacymckenna. Thx


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Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

It clearly shows 111 W. 7th Street. (the address is on the canopy next to the red sandwich shop)

But if you go to gsv, it looks like a different building.(I can understand if arched windows were hidden by the Owl Rexall sign
...but that doesn't explain the missing second story rectangular windows and the row of medallions beneath them)

The big, arched windows are new. They wiped out everything you mentioned. Use the dentil trim under the first line of office windows as a reference (I dunno if it's the same dentil trim, but it's in approximately the same location).

[HossC]

Re: 111 W 7th Street

As tovangar2 said, it's the same building with the lower floors remodeled. The Claud Beelman/Alexander Curlett designed Board of Trade Building opened in 1929. Here it is in 1939:


USC Digital Library

And today as the SB Main Lofts:


GSV

[tovangar2]

I hope all the discards: window cap, spandrels, medallions, etc went to a good architectural salvage yard.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by ProphetM

Hello all, I am wondering if anyone here can help me in a search since the sleuthing abilities here at Noirish LA are pretty legendary at this point!

I am looking for information, and especially photos, of the Richfield Beacons in Alhambra and Castaic Junction. Not strictly LA I know, but close so I hope it's ok. For those unaware, Richfield put up a string of beacon towers from Mexico to Canada in 1928-1930, as promotional tools as well as navigational aids for flyers. Each tower was triangular, 125 feet tall, and had Richfield spelled vertically down two sides in letters several feet tall, with a two-letter code for its location in even larger letters on the third side. At the base of most towers was a service station, built in Mission Revivial style for most of California, or an English-Norman style for northern California, Oregon and Washington.

You've all seen at least one of these beacons: the tower on top of the Richfield Building in DTLA. Although being on top of a building it was different than the rest. Here is what the others in SoCal looked like:


http://theoldmotor.com/?p=90970

The pic above is of the station in Barstow, with the Beacon Tavern hotel behind it - an improvement that was planned for all beacons eventually but never occurred due to the depression and the beacons' rather quick technological obsolescence.

Information on the Alhambra beacon is scant. All that I have seen are a couple of entries from Air Commerce Bulletin in 1929 and 1930, found at http://richfieldbeacons.weebly.com - I will quote their quote:





(Don't remember where I picked this one up)

The beacon and station would be behind camera from this vantage point. The tower was purchased by LA County in 1943 and removed to a mountaintop somewhere for use as a transmission tower by the fire department. Where exactly it was placed, I don't know.

So, any help would be appreciated! These are the only ones in the immediate LA area; the next closest were in Dana Point, and Santa Barbara (tower only). I started a Richfield Beacons Facebook page a couple of weeks ago to foster information-gathering on all the sites, as a number of them have not been precisely located, mostly in Oregon and Washington where fewer towers had service stations adjacent.

June 1928 - San Bernardino


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/32310/rec/30

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night.

Unrelated to Beacons.

June 1938 date is the same and similar location. (Foothill Blvd. is a long road)


http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/32309/rec/29

But the

[Godzilla]

1916 - Hauser Packing, East Ninth Street and Mateo Coincidentally there is a Violet Street nearby. Herman Hauser resided at 2701 Wilshire the relatively new Bryson Apartments. Other presumed relatives resided on 317 Wilton Pl. and 184 S. Harvard Blvd.


Home of the Violet Brand Shortening. (Curious if the Violet Brand preceded the naming of the Street or vice versa?)

[Godzilla]

Intriguing image.


1915 - Loma Drive and Sixth Street

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/14401/rec/11





1915 - Waldorf (The Waldorf Wines and Spirits 445 S Spring; Waldorf Saloon, 136 S Broadway; Waldorf Annex, 521 S Main; Waldorf Apartments, 621 S Union Ave. My mother keeps me away from these places.)


















Jevne's Coffee Sign off of Loma Drive












Gutter lined with Simon bricks?











1915 - Loma Drive and Sixth Street





Awfully nice "Kodak moment" billboard. Soon they would move to a building on Sixth and Hill Street.

[Godzilla]

Wig-Wag says:

"Exercise extreme caution when exiting a street car. Make sure to watch both ways when crossing in front of or behind any street car." "Don't curse in the presence of women, children and Street car Employees."



http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...d/15191/rec/18

May 1916, somewhere close to Hauser Packers







See above advice.







Keep your mind off of moonlight boating at Echo Park until you reach the curb. Especially, if you are riding on Car 420.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

1915 - Waldorf (The Waldorf Wines and Spirits 445 S Spring; Waldorf Saloon, 136 S Broadway; Waldorf Annex, 521 S Main; Waldorf Apartments, 621 S Union Ave. My mother keeps me away from these places.)

The Waldorf Apartments are still at 621 S Union Avenue.


GSV

Originally Posted by Godzilla

1915 - Location undetermined

The intersection is W 6th Street at Loma Drive. Here's a view towards the Waldorf Apartments today.


GSV

See GW's post #7290 for some older pictures of the Goodwill building.

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' train(s)


Ok rail fans, I just came across this interesting photograph a few minutes ago on eBay.

INGLEWOOD STATION (no date)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COLOR-PHOTOG...item43dd6f2841

I don't remember seeing a red painted engine before. What a beauty!

I can't quite read the sign in the rear doorway of the double-decker car...it appears to say No-Level, then something written beneath it.
__


Thanks for the information on 111 W. 7th Street tovanger2 and HossC. -much appreciated.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by HossC

The Waldorf Apartments are still at 621 S Union Avenue.


GSV



The intersection is W 6th Street at Loma Drive. Here's a view towards the Waldorf Apartments today.


GSV

See GW's post #7290 for some older pictures of the Goodwill building.

Thanks, I was busy looking at Saloons and "Bis-Bis." I also thought the Apartment Bldg. was newer than 1915, but evidently the building permit is from 1912 and occupancy cert. from 1913. Hadn't realized that area between Sixth and Wilshire was so hilly.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

The Waldorf Apartments are still at 621 S Union Avenue.

The intersection is W 6th Street at Loma Drive.

LOL, you beat me to it. All I've got to add is the 1912 Waldorf Apartments were designed by B.B. Bixby for Dr. E LeGrand Vaughn.

....and also it's owned by notorious slumlord Monica Hujazi

[ethereal_reality]

504 Chung King Court, Chinatown District, Los Angeles.

Peephole Cinema


https://www.flickr.com/photos/mauree...n/photostream/

Go HERE for details:
http://www.peepholecinema.com/peepho...los-angeles-2/

[ethereal_reality]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hollyw...n/photostream/

"Dr. Charles E. Wood and two contestants in the National Chiropractic Association's perfect back contest in Los Angeles, 1927."