noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks GW.


I took the google-mobile to the Pico and Ardmore area to snoop around.

While in the vicinity I came across the Water & Power Station #17 at 11th street and Irolo.


waterandpower



It's still looks mighty fine. (except for the wire fence!)


gsv






gsv

detail






The house behind it survives as well.


gsv

[quickstop]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Interesting Tourmaline...good job in eyeing the Singer Midgets billboard. (I thought that one sign said "Frozen Steam")
-nice collection of photographs.





If only this amazing monument had been built!


eBay

"A huge monument to commemorate the start of the army's round-the-world flight in 1924 from Clover Field, Santa Monica Calif., and serve as a beacon to guide flyers
to the field, is being projected by Geoffrey F. Morgan, and has enthusiastic backing. The model of the monument, to rival the Statue of Liberty, was completed by
Murrell(?) Gage....and daughter are showing."



I wonder where the beacon (the actual light) would have been located...atop the globe?..or perhaps within the globe if the globe was glass (so cool).
_______________







While driving the perimeter of Santa Monica/Clover Field Airport in the google-mobile, I came across this 'mystery' structure in the southwestern corner of the airport.


gsv



a closer look

gsv

Is it an old radar installation? or perhaps old support beams, from what used to be a gas tank?

Or how about an abandoned foundation for an over-sized monument to rival the Statue of Liberty? (I'm kidding)



Here's an aerial.

google_earth.

If you look closely there appears to be a single line (a path?) connecting it to the rectangular building on the right.

Maybe HossC (or someone) can dig up some old aerials of the airport.

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This is a VOR antenna (VHF Omni Directional Radio Range) a short range navigation antenna.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by quickstop

This is a VOR antenna (VHF Omni Directional Radio Range) a short range navigation antenna.

Thanks for the information quickstop.

here is some information I found while trying to find more information on Santa Monica Airport's VOR antenna.


http://airnav.com/cgi-bin/navaid-inf...e=SANTA+MONICA


http://vfrmap.com/?type=vfrc&lat=34....18.451&zoom=10


http://airnav.com/cgi-bin/navaid-inf...e=SANTA+MONICA






and just for fun, here's a wider view of that mind-boggling map.



I spy the "Emmy and Eva Oil Platforms" -they're like twin.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The house behind it survives as well.


gsv

The house looked to me like it predated the area so I looked into it-- sure enough, according to city records, it was moved to Irolo Street in 1910-- from 1825 Oak Street, now apparently under a Harbor Freeway on-ramp at the s/w corner of the 10 & the 110.

[ethereal_reality]

Good sleuthing GW. Thanks for that.

_

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

From a Times article, May 8, 1924

Dr. R. B. Stone mentioned in the article, was Robert Bruno Stone, born in Germany in 1882. He lived in the east for a while and then came to California in 1913, settling in Ventura County. Five years later, when he registered for the draft in WWI, he was living with his mother at 798 1/2 E/ Kensington Road (Angeleno Heights) That house is still there. He had an office in 1918 at 245 S. Broadway ( that is now a parking lot) His draft card for WWI shows him to be a short man, at only 5' 2". He married in 1925. He and his wife Helen appear in the 1930 Census where they are living at 2316 Live Oak in Los Angeles. His brother Carl and a cousin were living with them at the time. That house, built in 1925-26, is still there. He died in Chatsworth in 1955

[Tourmaline]

Hill Street looking south from Fourth. 1905

This ~1905-image did not appear on my NLA VOR. Wondering about the big cylindrical object. It obviously stopped rolling long enough to acquire its posted bills. Peck & Chase ordered a custom casket? Cheese delivery?




http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/2925/rec/138











Monarch Skating Rink - 409 S Hill. Guessing the skating rink doubled as a dance floor. Should a tragic mishap occur, Peck & Chase are conveniently located nearby at 433 S Hope. Parking lot sale - before the advent of parking?







Silver collars billboard









http://www.photosmadeperfect.com/Gen...ent_formal.jpg

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I recently came across this sepia postcard of Palisades Park, Santa Monica. (1920s?)


eBay

So what is that 'phallic' thingy in the middle distance? A sculpture....a monument?
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That's the concrete statue of Santa Monica at Wilshire.


davidpaulkirkpatrick


The background info is here


The "Santa Monica" place name comes, in a roundabout way, from Kuruvungna Springs, at Barrington and Ohio, on the University High School campus, rather than directly from the saint:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

When the Portola Expedition came through in 1769 to found the Missions and Presidios up the coast of Alta California (in order to check the Russians and the English) they stopped at Kuruvungna on August 4th, between their visits to Yangna and Siutcangna:

"...we stopped at a watering place, which consists of two little springs that rise at the foot of a higher mesa. From each of the springs runs a small stream of water...both full of watercress and innumerable bushes of Castilian (native, single, pink) roses. We made camp near the springs where we found a village of very friendly and peaceful Indians, who, as soon as we arrived, came to visit us...I understood that they were asking if we were going to stay and I said, 'No'..." -quoted from an entry in the diary of Fray Juan Crespi with the Portola Expedition, 4 August 1769

Father Crespi renamed the village "San Gregorio", but the soldiers called it "El Berrendo" after a deer they wounded there. Later, incoming settlers called the pair of springs after Santa Monica because they reminded them of the weeping eyes of the saint as she cried for her son. The name was soon used on a grazing permit and the next year, 1828, it was recorded on a land grant for Rancho Boca de Santa Monica and later still on the Rancho Sepulveda y Santa Monica land grant (which actually included Kuruvungna Springs). The name has since been applied to the canyon, the mountains, the city, the bay, the boulevard, the airport and the freeway.

If only we'd had Merrel Gage's aviator instead of this. Eugene Morahan's 1934 depiction of Santa Monica is so grim and pious, it's very hard to like. Plus, unsurprisingly, its nickname is "The Vibrator" for the obvious reason, which you stated.

[ethereal_reality]

Thanks t2.



http://www.smmirror.com/articles/New...iversary/42197

From the link you provided, I see that it's another WPA project. (created in 1934 by Eugene Morahan)

And it's 18 ft. high! It doesn't look that tall in the sepia pic.
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[ethereal_reality]

re: The Sunset Blvd. Bridge over Silver Lake Blvd.

Originally Posted by HossC

That's the city seal.

thanks Hoss.


originally posted by HossC



I was trying to get a look at the groin vaults.


gsv

there are homeless sleeping there now.





the original railing along Sunset is still intact.




originally posted by HossC

__

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Hill Street looking south from Fourth. 1905

This ~1905-image did not appear on my NLA VOR. Wondering about the big cylindrical object. It obviously stopped rolling long enough to acquire its posted bills. Peck & Chase ordered a custom casket? Cheese delivery?




http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/2925/rec/138

That large round object probably holds some kind of coiled cable.
stock photo

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

If only this amazing monument had been built!


eBay

"A huge monument to commemorate the start of the army's round-the-world flight in 1924 from Clover Field, Santa Monica Calif., and serve as a beacon to guide flyers
to the field, is being projected by Geoffrey F. Morgan, and has enthusiastic backing. The model of the monument, to rival the Statue of Liberty, was completed by
Murrell(?) Gage....and daughter are showing."



I wonder where the beacon (the actual light) would have been located...atop the globe?..or perhaps within the globe if the globe was glass (so cool).
_______________

Wow e_r, you've come up with some stunners recently, but this one is beyond outstanding. It's really, really good and, combined with the proposed size, would have been amazing.

Noirishers probably know Merrell Gage as the artist who did the sculptures on the Edison/One Bunker Hill building and the figures over at LAT. He also did the Electric Fountain and the film stars monument, both in Beverly Hills. Gage was most famous for his Lincoln sculptures. He assisted on the facade sculptures at the Fine Arts Building on W 7th St as well.

Gage was head of the Sculpture Dept at USC.

He was married to painter Marian Gage. That's probably her in the photo with their daughter Jean.

I wish I knew where that maquette is.

More info on Gage:

Wiki
Archives of American Art/Gage papers
California Art Club article
Another aviator, "Flight"

Video of Gage sculpting Lincoln:



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

Thx quickstop, you beat me to it :-). The antenna is held in great affection around these parts.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by tovangar2

I wish I knew where that maquette is.

Me too! I think it's beautiful.

__

[tovangar2]

It's gorgeous :-)

And it was to be as big as the Statue of Liberty? I am knocked-out just thinking about that!

[ethereal_reality]

Birthday party at the Florentine Gardens, 1940s.



eBay / found last week.

The birthday girl is the bubbly lady on the right with the large hat.

oh, and another clue is that huge birthday cake in front of her. lol

I wonder what the books are, that are on the table? (they're too thick to be menus)


detail / and rotated


It looks like the last name of the author is TUCKER.
and the title might be "Some of These Days".

__

[HossC]

'Some of These Days' - The Autobiography of Sophie Tucker.


www.norpete.com

Sophie Tucker's Wiki page is here.

[Earl Boebert]

^^^

Sophie Tucker's biography.

Cheers,

Earl

Edit: Dang! Slow old fingers lose again :-)

[ethereal_reality]

You missed by 1 second Earl. I'll consider it a tie.

[Martin Pal]

From a THEN & NOW article in the Los Angeles Times:

During Hollywood's Golden Age, Florentine Gardens nightclub more than held its own against the Cocoanut Grove, Mocambo's, Ciro's, the Clover Club and the Trocadero.

The Gardens on Hollywood Boulevard drew tourists by the busload, helping Hollywood forge its reputation as the world's entertainment capital. It also drew local working people who saved up to go out on the town, paying a cover charge of $1.25 -- or $2.50 for dinner too.

Here, future actress Yvonne De Carlo danced until her toes bled. Sophie Tucker, known as the "Last of the Red Hot Mamas," belted out "Some of These Days." Al Jolson dropped to one knee and, with outstretched arms, sang "Mammy." And in 1942, Norma Jean Mortensen and her first husband, Jim Dougherty, said "I do" -- before Mortensen abandoned spouse and name to become Marilyn Monroe.
___

Her autobiography was published in 1945. If she wasn't performing there at the time of this photograph, perhaps they sold the book there if they had a gift shop?

[ethereal_reality]

Ah-Ha, a connection!! Maybe Ms. Tucker was performing the night of the birthday photograph! (previous page)

Good sleuthing Martin_Pal.
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