noirish Los Angeles

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by unihikid

I've always wondered about these. I have my daily walks down Manhattan Ave and there is a section of it that has these all over. Sorry for the picture quality i was double parked and was running across the street to snap them.





These are all near the Hermosa/Manhattan boarder once you get into MB.
Photos by unihikid

Thanks for finding these and posting the photos, unihikid. I distinctly remember one at the end of the block at Elm ave. and 17th st. but didn't realize they were all over town. I would have bet that they were all long gone but I'll keep an eye out for survivors now.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

My father worked for the post office (rural mail delivery for 39 years!), so I couldn't help but notice the mail box attached to the utility pole.

still there in the color shot as well

detail


I grew up in a rural community; our town didn't have this type of mail box.
__

Thanks for the fantastic post Flyingwedge.

They can be found on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281910532447...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
They make for a very cool mailbox on a pole in your front yard.

[Beaudry]

More opal glass (have also seen it called slump glass, or slumped glass, since apparently that's how they form the letters out of the sheets of semi-opaque opal glass):


flickr
Note the opal glass "Billiards" and "Bowling"

flickr

The Bendix signage is gone; half of it collapsed on its removal a couple years ago but the other half has made its way into the collection of the Museum of Neon Art. Grand opening February 6th!

flickr

What I wouldn't do to see the Ambassador Dog & Cat restored! Unfortunately the owners don't care for the sign. (In fact, they had large, breathtaking 20s/early 30s proto-deco neon script sign that graced their entrance which they dumpstered about 2002 and replaced with some plastic thing from El Cheapo Co.)

[austlar1]

Not that it matters, but I used to take my dog to this vet clinic back in the late 1970s. The old red sign was still in use and well maintained at that point in time. The clinic was kind of old and creepy. I felt guilty for boarding my dog there one or two times.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's another one for our rail-fans. This slide was taken in Los Angeles in 1955!

Aero Train Demonstrator

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EMD-AERO-TRA...8AAOSwPcVVx5zF

The seller didn't include any additional information on this extraordinary train.

in terms of the location: Does anyone recognize the silver tanks in the background?


_

No idea where this was taken, but the "aero-train" was the railroads' attempt to fix their problem without really doing anything more than making cosmetic changes. The problem was people were deserting the rails in droves for their cars and for trucks (for freight). Small wonder considering the money that was being thrown at highways (this was before the Interstate Highway System really got off the ground). So instead of pouring capital into modernized tracks and switching facilities; designated passenger lines, and express and local trackage, the railroads opted for a pretty new train. It went nowhere, so we're stuck with the wreckage that is the rail system in 99% of the country and the fact that we're decades behind Europe, Japan, and China when it comes to rail systems.

[ethereal_reality]

Yesterday, when I first glanced at that photograph I thought the silver smoke-stack was sticking out of the second rail car.
Now that wouldn't be very aerodynamic would it. lol

thanks for the information jg6544.

[ethereal_reality]

"View of Tom, the Hot Tamales Man, with his horse drawn refreshment wagon, USC [ca.1910]"


old file

note the large wooden bleachers behind him.

__

[ethereal_reality]

Here's another noirish downtown cocktail lounge.




eBay

The Chit-Chat, 2619 W. 6th Street Los Angeles, Calif.
DUnkirk 2-9432

"Enjoy cocktails in Los Angeles' prettiest lounge."
__

[ethereal_reality]

A very young Marilyn Monroe at the Ambassador Hotel.




http://historicaltimes.tumblr.com/po...cond-from-left

"20-year-old Marilyn Monroe (actually, Norma Jeane Dougherty) second from left, just starting her career in show business with four other models
from the Blue Book modeling agency at the old Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles."

[Mstimc]

I'll be in DTLA near Maple and 8th tomorrow morning. While my wife does bead shopping I'll do some urban exploring. Anyone need photos of something?

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Jan. 15, 1932 pan right--->


ebay

I was hoping to be able to read that street sign.
__

Originally Posted by Chuckaluck

Fascinating image. To my tired oculars, one of the street sign names has four letters and the building's address seems to be "2201."

Bbbbrrrrrrrr.

At first I mistook the snow for sand, something reminiscent of Manhattan Beaches' sand dunes (bottom) or somewhere in the desert. But the'32 date as the first recorded snowfall - throws me. No doubt '32 was a memorable winter, but pictures of Chaplin Studio's snow-covered frontage are dated '21, preceding the "first" allegedly recorded snowfall by 12 years. One might expect that snow on La Brea probably meant a few flakes nearby Hollywood? The LATimes reported that on January 15, 1932 downtown received 2" snowfall for the first time in 50 years. http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar...surroundings10

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013599.jpg


(On the left side of the street there are several posts that could easily serve as hosts to parking meters. Given the date ('21) approximately two decades prior to the employment of meters, is there an obvious purpose for these posts? Fencing, ropeline, hitching posts?)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013600.jpg

The Huntington's Iconic Japanese Garden was hit by the January '32 snow storm too.

http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...8/id/297/rec/8

1932's snowfall covered Hollywood Blvd. too, as evidenced by this image from an issue of ModernScreen Mag from that year.


For perspective
http://imageshack.us/a/img193/6459/p...osttheater.jpg


1931-2 A much warmer looking Hollywood Blvd. from the same ModernScreen Mag of the same year.



More perspective
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--6m6mDieod...+Book+(14).jpg

[HossC]

Thanks for digging out the picture of the Cooper Building cake, Noircitydame.


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


Sorry this Julius Shulman post is late - I had planned to post it yesterday, but Photobucket was down.

Here's the Arden Farms Co plant which Julius Shulman visited in 1948. It's "Job 238: Stiles Oliver Clements, Arden Plant (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1948"


Getty Research Institute

There's a sign for 21st Street on the right of the picture above, and the 1956 CD lists Arden Farms' ice cream division at 2101 S Los Angeles Street. This building is actually on the other end of the block at the corner of Main and 21st Streets. The entrance has been moved to Main Street, and some of the glass blocks have been replaced with opening windows. I'm also pretty sure that it wasn't green in 1948.


GSV

[GaylordWilshire]

Re the glimpse of the Southland Apt Hotel seen at far right... its original 1913 building permit is stamped "TENEMENT HOUSE" and, curiously, 69 years later a permit was issued for a new "swimming pool and/or solar heater"....


GSV

GSV


Into every building must creep a little noir, even obliquely:

Herald July 16, 1916

[HossC]

Thanks for the follow-up about the Southland Apt Hotel, GW. I hadn't spotted it.


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


By chance, this is the third Julius Shulman post in a row where the subject is attributed to Stiles Oliver Clements. It's "Job 237: Stiles Oliver Clements, Ross Building (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1948".


Getty Research Institute

My searches for "Ross Building", "Phil's Bar B Q" and "O L Kramer" all came to nothing, and I thought I might have to post it as a mystery location. My only clue was what appears to be a three digit street number on the door. After a quick search of the downtown area at 45 degrees, I found the building on the corner of E 8th and San Julian Streets. The first floor has been altered a little, but the upper floors look remarkably unchanged.


GSV

I couldn't find a new building permit, but there is a 1948 permit for the neon sign on Phil's Bar B Q. Returning to Google with an address of 536 E 8th Street, I found that this was the downtown location of Gorky's Cafe and Russian Brewery in the '80s and early-90s. A couple of LA Times articles from 1992 give a bit of history, and tell of the financial problems at the restaurant - see here and here. A third article from 1993 reports on the closure of Gorky's - see here. Here's an undated photo of Gorky's I found at LA Magazine.


www.lamag.com

Gorky's may have closed over 20 years ago, but the neon sign is still there.


GSV

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by Mstimc

I'll be in DTLA near Maple and 8th tomorrow morning. While my wife does bead shopping I'll do some urban exploring. Anyone need photos of something?

Hi Tim.
I've always liked autobus companies. There's a pretty one at the end of "Dark Passage" (Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall 1947). I'd be glad to see the desk of the American Lion Autobuses... if you're allowed to shoot it. North/West corner of Maple and Eight.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by HossC

By chance, this is the third Julius Shulman post in a row where the subject is attributed to Stiles Oliver Clements. It's "Job 237: Stiles Oliver Clements, Ross Building (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1948".


Getty Research Institute

Looks like Phil's didn't last long...

LAT Nov 21, 1948

[GaylordWilshire]

and on the same page of the LAT, Nov 21, 1948:





A building permit for it was issued to George and Matilda Englestad in April 28, 1948. The C/O was issued on Feb 2, 1949--the only other permit apparently ever issued was to Ida Ginsburg in Dec 2011 for a "complete repipe"... it does appear that the house remains little touched since it was built:

GSV

[Mstimc]

Originally Posted by AlvaroLegido

Hi Tim.
I've always liked autobus companies. There's a pretty one at the end of "Dark Passage" (Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall 1947). I'd be glad to see the desk of the American Lion Autobuses... if you're allowed to shoot it. North/West corner of Maple and Eight.

Sorry, Alvaro--didn't see this till after we got back, but I'll see if I can sneak a photo next time--it'll be soon, rest assured!

Interesting....Broadway from Second south for several blocks was blocked off to traffic for a "Night on Broadway" event tonight. Kind of fun walking down the middle of the street with no cars in sight...

[BifRayRock]

Originally Posted by BifRayRock

Complementing this nice 1931 series of Fairfax and Drexel is an interesting perspective from two years earlier (1929) shot from one block north of Drexel , i.e., Colgate and Fairfax.


1929 - Looking south on Fairfax from Colgate








http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...0/id/539/rec/1

Additional images of Fairfax Avenue, circa 1924-25 from German Filmland magazine of that date.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

below: This aerial clearly shows the proximity of the Bank of Italy building to City Hall.


LAPL

The International Bank/Bank of Italy has featured many times on these pages, but I can't find any previous posts of these demolition pictures from the Huntington Digital Library.

The first two images are dated 1/16/55. The small building on the south-west corner of the bank has already gone and demolition of the top floor has started.


Huntington Digital Library

This reverse view is from Los Angeles Street.


Huntington Digital Library

Skipping on to 2/10/55, the top two floors are gone.


Huntington Digital Library

Now we have two shots of the Main Street side from 3/10/55.


Huntington Digital Library


Huntington Digital Library

And finally, gone by August 1955. This one gives a clear view through to the Amestoy.


Huntington Digital Library