noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

I'll let you do the real digging on the Zwebells, e_r--looks to me like they are widely considered to be architects, and that Charlie is somehow getting all the credit (better marquee recognition, of course)...maybe it'll turn out that he had nothing to do with "Chaplin Court" at all!

Drew Barrymore was actually born here?

[ethereal_reality]

update: I don't mean to beat a dead horse...but


__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I just noticed a big discrepancy in the above statement. United Artists Studios and Chaplin Studios are two separate entities
(see the 1947 map below). Chaplin Studios on La Brea is the one that became Jim Henson Studios....not United Artists.


1947 Los Angeles street map



below: Some history...which I admit can be quite confusing.


http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/ua-studio-lot.htm


Long story short: Even though Charlie Chaplin was one of the founding members of United Artists, he still had his own studio on La Brea Avenue.

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by gsjansen

i've heard of something getting lost in the translation, but dragnet in nyc???!!?? sacrilegious!

Speaking of Dragnet, the old radio series episodes, which are widely available online, are often set in and around Downtown and offer fascinating glimpses of life there just before the ravages of postwar redevelopment and freeway construction. To quote my own Wikipedia edit--

Throughout the series' radio years, one can find interesting glimpses of pre-renewal Downtown L.A., still full of working class residents and the cheap bars, cafes, hotels and boarding houses which served them. At the climax of the early episode "James Vickers", the chase leads to the Subway Terminal Building, where the robber flees into one of the tunnels only to be killed by an oncoming train.

[ethereal_reality]

I came across this intriguing photograph in 'The Black Dahlia Files' by Donald H. Wolfe.





below: This infamous bungalow court has survived after all these years (although it's somewhat difficult to see).


google street view




below: In this aerial you can see that the bungalows in front are one story while the bungalows behind are two stories.
You can clearly see the rear bungalow along the alley that is mentioned in 'The Black Dahlia Files'.


google street view

[Those Who Squirm!]

Originally Posted by malumot

I

Today's cars are superior in every way but one: Visual appeal. They look like clones of one another.

Especially if you drive a black, four-door sedan. Your best bet is to memorize your license plate, or else you may find yourself attempting to use your key to open cars belonging to other people...

[Engineeral]

A great picture of the powerhouse with rotating beacon/searchlight at Mount Lowe is available at the Shorpy.Com website at:http://www.shorpy.com/node/12578?size=_original

Above is a 512x512 pixel preview. On the Shorpy site is a 3,000px × 2,382px HD version.

[3940dxer]

I had never seen that photo before, fantastic! On the large format photo one can clearly see an electric car parked behind the building, and that famous circular section of track, about halfway to Mt. Lowe. Great find.

[ethereal_reality]

That HD photo on shorpy is amazing. Did you notice the man in the window beneath the spotlight?



This quaint cottage at 1133 South Western Avenue reminds me of something you might see New Orleans. I especially like the 4 pillars on the porch and the dormer (I'm ignoring the fact that the roof is sagging).



google street view

At first I didn't notice that odd looking thing on the pole in the front yard....but now it's all I can see. What the heck is it??

____

[KevinW]

It looks like a bracket for an old sign. A mortuary perhaps?

[ethereal_reality]

David/3940dxer, when you were on your Lookout Mtn. Inn quest I didn't realize it's noted by a square on my 1947 map.
This is many years after the inn burnt so why the square at Lookout Mountain? Was there anything there in the late 1940s?



1947 street map

Another interesting thing I noticed was the large area to the west of Lookout Mtn. labeled Los Angeles County (not city).
This area today is Trousdale Estates ( a ritzy enclave not unlike Bel Air Estate).



below: A current map for comparison.


Los Angeles Street map

[ethereal_reality]

I recently came across this 1912 photograph. I don't believe that it's been posted before (I could wrong).
I would love to know what's written on that little chalkboard-like sign.


http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/showthr...ice-Pics/page3

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by alanlutz

OK, sorry, I just re-read your post and it was the Harvey AT Union Station. The one I gave myself a back stage tour in 96. But I never saw those red booths. Where are they located? Great shots of this place. I'm pretty sure they do use it for catered events but wouldn't it be great if it was restored in all its retro glory?

Someone should hire Wolfgang Puck to take that space over and put it to use as a restaurant again. Renovate the interior, don't change it.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

This quaint cottage at 1133 South Western Avenue reminds me of something you might see New Orleans.

google street view

At first I didn't notice that odd looking thing on the pole in the front yard....but now it's all I can see. What the heck is it??
____

Palm out, e_r:





Having been born and raised in New Orleans, I can see what you mean about 1133 S. Western--it could be in a SoCal-influenced '20s suburb of New Orleans called Gentilly--full of cottages of just this sort and style, often on 2-3-foot berms. (At least the neighborhood was full of such cottages; Gentilly was pretty much devasted by Katrina--not sure of its state 7 years later.) But there are other parts of L.A. that could easily double for older neighborhoods of N.O., such as the Garden District and other Uptown sections. A friend of mine used to live at 2115 Bonsallo in L.A., top above, and on visits that cottage and its vegetation were almost eerie in giving me a sense of deja vu. Same for another house in the St. James Park vicinity: 2342 Scarff Street (bottom above). That streetscape would do well as a stand-in for the Garden District.

My friends moved away from Bonsallo Street a while ago, tired of the crime...another way old West Adams can resemble Uptown New Orleans. But then, like N.O., it doesn't seem to keep Mercedeses off the street--they're parked in front of both of these houses, just as they might be in the Garden District.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by KevinW

It looks like a bracket for an old sign. A mortuary perhaps?

Curiosity got the best of me so I revisited that little bungalow on western.


google street view

Yep...a sign just like you said KevinW.

___

OOPS! Gaylord Wilshire beat me to it.

[3940dxer]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

David/3940dxer, when you were on your Lookout Mtn. Inn quest I didn't realize it's noted by a square on my 1947 map. This is many years after the inn burnt so why the square at Lookout Mountain? Was there anything there in the late 1940s?



1947 street map

e_r, the cartographer put that square in the wrong place. Do you see the label that says "McLeod Dr."? The summit of Lookout Mountain (and the marker in the photo I posted weeks ago) is about where the period is, in "Dr.". The Inn was located about where the little arrow is, beneath the "Cole Crest Dr." label.

However, I'm glad you posted this map, because I noticed an interesting detail on it. McLeod Drive is shown as a through street that connects with Appian way at its north end. Today, McLeod just goes about half that distance and then dead ends. When I was exploring that area I found what looked like the remains of an old road beneath Appian Way, and wondered if it might have been some kind of shortcut between Cole Crest and Appian Way. In fact, it's probably what's left of that short section of McLeod.

Here are a couple of photos that I took that day. The first one shows what is basically the end of McLeod, near the last home on that street. The second one shows a graded area further up, now overgrown, with Appian way in the background. In between those two sections, there was a short stretch with scraps of old white wooden fence; the type seen in the old roads around there. Maybe the connection to Appian was destroyed by flood or fire.





I still want to learn more about the roads in in that area and am still trying to set up an appointment with the curator of AAA's map archive, at their (beautiful old) building on Figueroa near West Adams.

[ethereal_reality]

Very interesting David. It's quite fortuitous that you previously stumbled across that long lost section of McLeod Drive.

That said, the first photo you posted shows a rather 'sketchy' area. Has it ever crossed your mind that you might find
human bones some day....or a revolver or two?


.....just a 'noirish' thought. I can't help it.
____

[ethereal_reality]

I just found another photograph of Dillon's Copper Skillet (Sunset & Gower).


http://hollywoodphotographs.com/

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

slide/ebay

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

1947 street map

Another interesting thing I noticed was the large area to the west of Lookout Mtn. labeled Los Angeles County (not city).
This area today is Trousdale Estates ( a ritzy enclave not unlike Bel Air Estate).



below: A current map for comparison.


Los Angeles Street map

When I first bought the 1943 Renie Atlas I have from ebay, I was very surprised to learn while looking through it, that Trousdale Estates was once unincorporated LA County territory. In the Renie Atlas, it's also denoted as being the Doheny Estate. I hadn't known that it was once the lands that comprised the Doheny Ranch, and Greystone Mansion was the manor house. It wasn't until the 1950s that the area was annexed by the City of Beverly Hills, and a guy named Paul Trousdale bought up the land and developed it into the neighborhood that it is now.

I always assumed that Beverly Hills has more or less had the same area since its incorporation as a city. Apparently not. Other LA suburbs have also grown in area by annexing territory over time, which I've learned from the Renie Atlas. A note about my town, though; from what I've read, South Pasadena has had the same city limits since its incorporation in 1888; looking at my Renie Atlas and my Thomas Guide, I can see that South Pasadena has exactly the same city limits on both maps.

By the way, this thread is still going strong, I love it. So many great posts in the last several days!

[3940dxer]

sopas_ej, would you post the page of your 1943 Atlas that shows this same area of Laurel Canyon? I have found very few old maps of that area, and wonder if it would reveal anything about the old roads that I'm still trying to identify. Plus I am just plain curious to see it. Thanks.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here is another photograph of Dillon's Copper Skillet (Sunset & Gower).

Somewhere between (judging by the cars) 1964 or so (left) and 1971, a helpful sign was added over the door:


ebay/http://hollywoodphotographs.com


Another oddment about the Copper Skillet--it is nowhere to be found in any '60s L.A. city directory.