noirish Los Angeles - Page 1555

ethereal_reality · #**31081** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 2:00 AM**

I believe this might be the same location.

http://classiccinemagold.com/category/louise-brooks/

Noircitydame · #**31082** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 3:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC

Here's the best image I've found so far. The Rotisserie Restaurant on Wilshire is just to the left of the intersection in this 1968 aerial. Looking at Historic Aerials, I can see that the building is present on their earliest image from 1947, and that it gets replaced by the current building between 1980 and 1989.

Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

rcarlton posted a picture of the complex from c. 1940 when it was the Motor Glide Mart scooter store in post #6491

lapl, Ansel Admas photo.

I have in my notes that it had become the Rotisserie by Dec 1946

12-14-46 lat

It lasted through the end of 1947 at least

In August 1948 it reopned at Kitty Davis' "world famous" restuarant (even Kitty put it in quotes).

8-1-48 LAT

Kitty was there through September for sure but gone by Jan 1, 1949 when it became the Cafe Mart.

1-1-49 lat

Then in summer 1949 it opened as the Cafe Italia

7-30-49

But neighbors objected to the live outdoor opera and a lone Beverly Hills cop was dispatched the place and they shut down. In Oct 1950 it was sold in a bankruptcy auction.

After that it reverted to auto use again. In 1955 it was the HQ of the AFL auto works union.

3-27-55

Graybeard · #**31083** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 11:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Wow, that matchbook artist wasn't that far off! Thanks for digging up the 1968 aerial Hoss. I think I see the oval dining room too.

I just came across this striking photograph of movie actress Louis Brooks standing in the doorway of her Beverly Hills home.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEXY-LOUISE-...item5423d83e8e

I'm not sure where Louise Brooks lived in Beverly Hills....but this photograph has certainly piqued by interest.
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"Louise, of course, spent several years (on and off) in Los Angeles. In fact, for a time she lived in an awesomely beautiful Spanish Revival apartment complex on Havenhurst Drive in what’s now West Hollywood. The Ronda apartments, now called Mi Casa, were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985."

https://movieplacesinla.wordpress.co...in-the-helmet/

ethereal_reality · #**31084** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 4:00 PM**

Thanks for the info Graybeard. It's much appreciated.
I've been looking for a vintage photograph of the Ronda Apartments but I haven't had any luck.

re: The 'Rotisserie'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noircitydame

In August 1948 it reopned as Kitty Davis' "world famous" restuarant (even Kitty put it in quotes).

8-1-48 LAT

NCD, I wonder if this is the same 'Kitty Davis'? Do you know if she was from Miami?

http://www.pbase.com/image/102541578

*oops. I just noticed it says "New York-Chicago-Miami Beach" at the top of the Wilshire ad. -so yes, this is probably her.

Noircitydame · #**31085** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 4:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for the info Graybeard. It's much appreciated.
I've been looking for a vintage photograph of the Ronda Apartments but I haven't had any luck.

re: The 'Rotisserie'

NCD, I wonder if this is the same 'Kitty Davis'? Do you know if she was from Miami?

http://www.pbase.com/image/102541578

She's mystery figure for the most part but I'm sure that's the same Kitty. Kitty & husband Danny Davis. She had a club in Chicago before Miami- the Co Ed Bar staffed by beautiful, refined college girls. Supposedly opened 1933 and closed (or closed down) in 1940. She had the Miami aviation-themed bar after that, then wound up in LA somehow, as everyone seems to at some point. Some people think she had mob connections. There's a sort of retrospective of her Co-Ed bar days online in a 1952Chicago Tribune article with pictures: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...o-ed-bar-queen

ethereal_reality · #**31086** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 4:59 PM**

Juicy information NCD. Sounds like there's a 'noirish' storyline to be unearthed.

re: her 'Co-Ed' bar in CHICAGO.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...o-ed-bar-queen

They left out police scanner.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...o-ed-bar-queen

Graduates of the eighth grade. lol.

Now I'm dying to know more about her establishment on Wilshire Blvd!
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HossC · #**31087** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 6:05 PM**

Still on Wilshire, this is the Bank of America on the northwest corner of Crescent Heights Boulevard. If it looks familiar, it's because we visited it last month in post #30685 after unihikid tipped me off about the ship logo on the front. At the time I said I'd keep an eye out for it in the Julius Shulman photos, and here it is. The building to the right of the bank is also still standing. These pictures are from "Job 1167: Bank of America (Los Angeles, Calif.),1951".

Here's a reminder of the ship logo. The building immediately to the left of the bank originally housed three separate businesses.

I really think that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co could have found a better way to space their sign on this side of the bank.

Here's a wider view looking roughly west. The "MWM" on the building to the left of the Bank of America sign stands for Mid-Wilshire Medical.

This little collection of buildings has now gone, so I thought that a close-up was in order. From left to right we have: Modern House furniture and interiors, the Dollar Investment Company, Jane Gibson millinery and dresses, Pauline of Wilshire beauty salon, and Barrett-Kardell accountants and auditors.

It looks like 6399 Wilshire was still under construction in 1952. In the distance is the Fox Wilshire Theater at 8440 Wilshire Boulevard. It's now the Saban Theatre.

All from Getty Research Institute

The bank is now a branch of Wells Fargo - check out the link at the top of this post for a "now" picture. The building to the left of the bank is still standing, but is crying out for someone to tidy it up.

GSV

The old Mid-Wilshire Medical building is now a boutique hotel called the Hotel Wilshire. If you look closely, the "MWM" logo is still visible on the west side of the building. Next to it at 6333 Wilshire is the Wilshire Carthay Medical Center.

GSV

ethereal_reality · #**31088** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 6:17 PM**

Another Beverly Hills night-spot.

Harry 'Sugie' Sugarman's The Tropics on N. Rodeo Drive.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Matc...item3d0355094a

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1930...item25a4723206

asking $299.99 on ebay. (check it out to see the reverse side of the coin)

I tracked down a photograph of the nightclub only after I found out it later became The Luau. (which led me to the photo below)

http://www.tiki-ti.com/pages/home.html

"The Luau Restaurant opened in 1953 at 421 North Rodeo Drive by Steve Crane, who was married to Lana Turner. The Luau occupied the former site of Sugie's Tropics."

below: Today, this flashy post-modern atrocity occupies the former site of Sugie's Tropics and Steve Crane's Luau.

gsv
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more ephemera:

http://coolculinaria.com/search?q=los+angeles

tikiroom

can't forget the tropical 'boobies'

http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/...everly%20hills
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But wait, Harry Sugarman wasn't finished, he opened a second 'Tropics' on Vine Street!

old file

lapl

the story is told here:

http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/...everly%20hills

But by the time this matchbook was printed there was a new owner, Harry Arnheim.

http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/...sr=&srt=newest
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Thanks to the Tiki Room blog.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/...everly%20hills

CityBoyDoug · #**31089** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 8:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Thanks for the info Graybeard.

http://www.pbase.com/image/102541578

*oops. I just noticed it says "New York-Chicago-Miami Beach" at the top of the Wilshire ad. -so yes, this is probably her.

Kitty, what a character. Her Airliner Bar was not in the air. I guess critics called it unusual because it had airplane propellers on the wall and photos of planes hung up around the room. [see ad above.]
Real unusual.

So she and her hubby ran from city to city opening up ''theme'' bars. I think she was really a frustrated cat house madame.

The hostesses at her Chicago saloon were ''college graduates"...so funny. So their parents put them through college so that they could sell lots of drinks to guys in bars? Hilarious!

ethereal_reality · #**31090** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 8:27 PM**

I just came across this route salesman postcard for Adohr Creamery Co. The building in the background was located at 1801 La Cienega.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Postcard-CA-...item1a061655ac

reverse

For comparison here is the same building many years earlier. (before the rooftop sign)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7940

also note that the name has changed on the front of the building from "Adohr Creamery Co." to "Adohr Milk Farms".

I'm not sure when the building was destroyed (or what happened to the statue)

For a closer look at the statue go here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7940
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tovangar2 · #**31091** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 8:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I've been looking for a vintage photograph of the Ronda Apartments but I haven't had any luck.

Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles
(more pix at link above, go to pg 82 for La Ronda)

La Ronda/Mi Casa is next door to Leland Bryant's The Colonial House:

google maps

Speaking of La Ronda/Mi Casa, I don't think Arthur B. Zwebell (1891-1973) and Nina L. Zwebell (1895-1976) efforts have been too much covered here. They built at least eight gorgeous, mostly Spanish-Moorish, apartment complexes, all in the 1920s. I only know of seven. Does anyone have info on the 8th one?

If you have the time, please click the links below for more info and many, many pix (and one video):

El Cabrillo (1928), 1832-1850 N. Grace Ave., Hollywood
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2015/0..._tour.php#more

The Andalusia (1926–27), 1471-1475 Havenhurst Drive West Hollywood
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/1...sks_1295mm.php

La Ronda, renamed "Mi Casa" (1927), 1400 Havenhurst Drive, West Hollywood
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2011/0...ll_complex.php

Patio del Moro (1925), 8225 Fountain Avenue, West Hollywood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcVt2kPk9KA

Casa Laguna (1929), 5200 Franklin Ave, Los Feliz
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/0...s_for_sale.php

Villa Primavera (1925) 1300 N Harper at Fountain, West Hollywood
http://www.lahomeandstyle.com/inside...rd-apartments/

the so-called "Chaplin Court", 1330 North Formosa Avenue, Hollywood.
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2011/1...tment-complex/

Patio del Moro and the Andalusia are both shown in this 10-minute, mid-1920s architecture tour of Hollywood, previously posted by srk1941. It also includes "Egyptian"-style buildings (I'd forgotten that the Egyptian Theater had a "tomb" in its courtyard), roadside delights and etc, including, believe it or not, 15 or 20 secs of the elusive Normandie Village at about the 3:15 mark
Don't miss it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuCjQrGKPpU#t=16

e_r previously posted about "Chaplin Court":
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6901
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6902

la.curbed's archive on the Zwebells is here:
http://la.curbed.com/tags/arthur-and-nina-zwebell

And again, Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles by By Stefanos Polyzoides, Roger Sherwood, James Tice, photography by Julius Schulman (start on pg 70 for the Zwebell preview pages)
google books preview
https://books.google.com/books?id=cu...mavera&f=false

A friend lived at Casa Laguna for 20 years, but I'm actually more fond of the Andalusia:

gvs

youtube

The painted signage has been retained:

youtube

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unihikid · #**31092** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 9:03 PM**

^^^^^^ what a beautiful garage door!

tovangar2 · #**31093** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 9:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by unihikid

^^^^^^ what a beautiful garage door!

LOL. Yes! They get chalked Valentines :-)

gsv

The doors at Patio del Moro are very similar:

patiodelmoro.net

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tovangar2 · #**31094** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 10:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...0%252520PM.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7940
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I think we talked before about the similarities between Clements' Adohr building and his Chouinard School of Art:

calarts

And come to think about it, the Los Angeles Brewery Company offices at 1910 N Main look awfully similar too:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

early 1950s

lincolnheightsla.com
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And didn't we once try to track down the milkmaid statute? I seem to recall that some company that still bears the "Adohr" name may have it out in the back-of-beyond somewhere. I can't find the discussion now.

UPDATE:

Oh, wait. Here's the latest (the sculpture was an edition of 25):

2014:

tulare voice <--- (story at link)

Lookin' good:

roadarch

605 North J Street, Tulare in 2012. Stop by when you're out that way.
(Pfft, another name change. They shoulda stuck with "Adohr"):

gsv

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ethereal_reality · #**31095** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 10:13 PM**

You found the Adohr statue! Good sleuthing t2.

Wait, there were 25 of them?!?!
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I didn't realize Arthur and Nina Zwebell were so prolific. Thx for your fine post tovanger.
Here are a couple more images of The Andalusia.

http://tdclassicist.blogspot.com/201...partments.html

Andalusia ground floor plans and roof plans

http://tdclassicist.blogspot.com/201...partments.html

"Each apartment had a unique floor plan with the Zwebell's unit having a two-story living room and three fireplaces. Zina had an infamous built-in pipe organ;
the bellows were located in the basement with the pipes installed at opposite ends of the living room."

I bet her neighbors wanted to clobber her whenever she played her pipe-organ.

___

tovangar2 · #**31096** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 11:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

You found the Adohr statue t2!

Wait, there were 25 of them?!?!

I guess, just please don't make me find the other two dozen!

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

can't forget the tropical 'boobies'
[/URL][URL=https://imageshack.com/i/pdxpbmLlj]

_____________

If Jim Heimann hasn't done a book over at Taschen on risque vintage night club imagery, he should. There's plenty of material to work with, from the rather wholesome (above) to the decidedly noir:

Martin Turnbull

"Meet Me at Pico and Western"

.

ethereal_reality · #**31097** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 11:34 PM**

That graphic is beautiful t2.

To be honest, I don't like the Sugie's Tropics graphic.....they look fake.
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ethereal_reality · #**31098** Posted **Sep 17, 2015, 11:53 PM**

I don't recall seeing this extraordinary photograph on NLA.

"Three engineering students and a professor from USC surveying Fourth Street in downtown Los Angeles, 1912."

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155303887124316948/

I almost feel like I am there with them!

reverse

November 10th, 1912 to be exact.
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CityBoyDoug · #**31099** Posted **Sep 18, 2015, 12:46 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I don't recall seeing this extraordinary photograph on NLA.

"Three engineering students and a professor from USC surveying Fourth Street in downtown Los Angeles, 1912."

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155303887124316948/

I almost feel like I am there with them!
November 10th, 1912 to be exact.
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Notice that every man wears a hat according to his status in life. High status man gets to wear the bowler [r]....and down from there. They're all as uniform conscious as Cub Scouts and nuns.

If you want the boss...see the man with the bowler.

tovangar2 · #**31100** Posted **Sep 18, 2015, 1:15 AM**

Blimey, they needn't have bothered:

W 4th at Olive, 2015

gsv

That big piece of the Fremont's wall is still there:

gsv

wiki

And yes, e-r, that's a real 'time-travel' photo. We're there.

Thank you so much.

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

Thank you HossC for highlighting Victor Gruen's Mid-Wilshire Medical building (1950-51). I thought it was going to get torn down for sure. The distinctive "MWM" lettering on the side made it such a landmark in a sea of change. I'm glad that was kept, although I'm not thrilled by some of the changes made to rehab the building into the Hotel Wilshire (the entrance in particular). Those big south-facing windows are nice though:

6317 Wilshire, 1952-2011:

urban diachrony

KFA did the redesign. They did the Hotel Barbizon makeover too. KFA also did the Ace Hotel and a bunch of others. Now they're working on the Commercial Exchange Building.

The Hotel Wilshire/MWM rooftop:

KFA