noirish Los Angeles

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by HossC

• Video Link

We're starting between the old Courthouse and City Hall on Spring and finishing up facing Main from between the Bank of Italy and the old Federal Building/Post Office on Temple. This aerial from a couple of years earlier (1929) shows the route.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

Wow, thanks, HossC! It's great to see that angle of the area... I don't think I've ever seen such a view before!

Do you know what building this one on Main is?



According to the 1921 Baist map (which, of course, was before Spring was straightened out), it looks like it should be the Lanfranco Building...



... but this image of the Lanfranco Building doesn't seem to match at all:

link

PS: THANK YOU for the information regarding Macy Street and Maxime's!

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by BillinGlendaleCA

The bridge over the river in Clip #5 is the Macy Street Bridge, that portion of Caesar Chavez(before that Sunset) was called Macy Street. Also at the end of the clip you can see the Macy Street School(it's new brick building). It's still there:
_B280002-1 by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

Thanks for the info, BillinGlendale! It's funny, I used to visit that building all the time (there used to be a photo lab there, right about where the red car is parked) but I didn't even notice it in the clip!

[Scott Charles]

Here are the two clips from the movie that remain unidentified. Anyone else know where they are (or were)..?

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Clip #4: Driving past train tracks, gasometer briefly seen in background, on the right. Also check out the elevated booth on the right. Anyone know where exactly this is? It predates Union Station by seven years, but I'd imagine the tracks are in the same general vicinity:

• Video Link

Clip #6: I have no idea where this is. In the beginning of the clip, we cross over a train track - you can see the railroad signs on the left of the picture. Once the car turns left, you can see City Hall looming in the distance:

• Video Link

I'm interested in Clip #4, but I am really curious about Clip #6 - where in LA can you cross a railroad track like that and end up headed towards City Hall?

[BillinGlendaleCA]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

re: Douglas Hill Photo project 1979


Hmmm.....I wonder if Mr. Hill remembers where he took this photograph of a home under construction-


Douglas Hill 1979 via SAAM

I'd like to see what it looks like finished.

__

No need to bother Mr. Hill, it's 3538 Multiview Dr., there's a tree blocking the view now for a good shot from the Google Street View:
Google Street View

The Google 3D view has a better look:
Google Maps-3D view

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Nothing to add except to put on record that the Serra Chapel is one of the few places at which odinthor feels a kind of spiritual lock-in--not religious per se, but rather a serene engagement with what I suppose the Romans would call the spirit of the place (another place would be the Wrigley Memorial at the head of Avalon Canyon). Mystical attachment to L.A. area sites being within the purview of Noirish L.A., I pose the question to other Noirishers: What place or places (if any) in L.A. engender in you a profound personal resonance of the nature of what I'm talking about?

Phillippe's.

[Tikiman]

I color corrected this but I can't figure out how to post the photo here from my desk top.

[Tikiman]

Originally Posted by Tikiman

I color corrected this but I can't figure out how to post the photo here from my desk top.

This is in response to the fruit basket house. I also can't figure out how to delete my messages. What a learning curve!

Sorry - never mind. I will study the FAQ

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location.

My first thought was...bowling in a church?


EBAY



There is information written [in pencil] on the back...but the names are rather difficult to read.



...but it clearly says Hollenbeck Center 1922.

Does anyone know where this social center and church was located? (obviously, somewhere near Hollenbeck Park)

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[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location.

My first thought was...bowling in a church?




There is information written [in pencil] on the back...but the names are rather difficult to read.



...but it clearly says Hollenbeck Center 1922.

Does anyone know where this social center and church was located? (obviously, somewhere near Hollenbeck Park)

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Boyle Heights.....Los Angeles vicinity. After finessing a state law that restricted charitable gifts to one third of a person's net worth, Elizabeth Hollenbeck established a trust to build and maintain a home for the elderly on land contiguous to her Boyle Heights garden. In 1892, with former Los Angeles Mayor William Workman, she created Hollenbeck Park across the street from where Morgan and Walls began construction three years later.

file old

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Do you know what building this one on Main is?



According to the 1921 Baist map (which, of course, was before Spring was straightened out), it looks like it should be the Lanfranco Building...

I seem to remember that good pictures of the building were hard to find. In post #26820, I noted that "the 1927 CD also lists the Bank of Italy (International Branch) at 220 N Main Street." Here's some images from early 2016 (the first two show the building with a later façade):

Originally Posted by HossC

This is the best shot I've found so far. It's dated 6/1/55.

Bank of America gives way to Temple Street extension.


Huntington Digital Library

Here are a couple of earlier appearances in the back of much wider images.


Detail from image in USC Digital Library


Detail from image in USC Digital Library

NB. The full-size version of the first image isn't currently showing in my original post. It's likely to be another Photobucket issue which I'll try to fix later today!

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Clip #4: Driving past train tracks, gasometer briefly seen in background, on the right. Also check out the elevated booth on the right. Anyone know where exactly this is? It predates Union Station by seven years, but I'd imagine the tracks are in the same general vicinity:

• Video Link

Here's a frame from near the start.



We're starting at Alameda and heading down Macy Street. The image above shows the "BER" of "LUMBER" on the Kerckhoff building.


USC Digital Library

It's right on the edge of two Baist plates, which I've merged below. This section of (what was) Macy Street now goes under the tracks coming out of Union Station.


www.historicmapworks.com/www.historicmapworks.com

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Also check out the elevated booth on the right. Anyone know where exactly this is?

I arrowed the "elevated booth" in the USC detail. It may have the same purpose as the one posted by MichaelRyerson, which was identified by Wig-Wag as a "switchtender's box for controlling the turning of streetcars".

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Nothing to add except to put on record that the Serra Chapel is one of the few places at which odinthor feels a kind of spiritual lock-in--not religious per se, but rather a serene engagement with what I suppose the Romans would call the spirit of the place (another place would be the Wrigley Memorial at the head of Avalon Canyon). Mystical attachment to L.A. area sites being within the purview of Noirish L.A., I pose the question to other Noirishers: What place or places (if any) in L.A. engender in you a profound personal resonance of the nature of what I'm talking about?

This is coming from a very non-spiritual person but I would say The Coliseum. It has undergone some changes but I still sense some of the energy from so many big events that elevated L.A.'s status on both the national and world stages.

And the beach, I grew up there and still go several times a week. Change is inevitable and I accept that buildings and businesses come and go. The character of neighborhoods change but one thing that does not is the beach itself. The sand, the water, the waves remain constant. The water, like the air, is actually cleaner than when I was a kid and that's definitely a good thing.

[SHERIFFPAUL]

I invited Mr. Hill to join this thread. He said he will check it out. I also ask him about the locations in question.

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

It has definitely improved from what it was 30 years ago, give or take a few years.

For Hollywood in general, the pace of change is almost frightening. I have considered putting up a post with several contemporary photos showing many of the current construction projects taking place. They're all over Hollywood, and most of them are massive.

I worked in parking lots in Hollywood 50 years ago and it was a cess pool then. It was nice when LAPD would send "Metro" coppers in to clean it up every once in awhile . I could always tell when they were there for the week end, there would be numerous cars on the lots Monday morning that did not belong there normally, the owners were in jail.

[CityBoyDoug]

Hoss.PBucket

The Alameda St. S.P.R.R. Co. siding is where long trains from Washington State full of Christmas trees were unloaded. One could drive right up to the boxcars full of the freshly cut trees. The most sought after tree was the Silver Tip.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location.

My first thought was...bowling in a church?


EBAY


Does anyone know where this social center and church was located? (obviously, somewhere near Hollenbeck Park)

__

The Methodist Episcopal Church was at 200 N. St. Louis Street.


The Hollenbeck Social Center at 200½ N. St. Louis Street.



rescarta.lapl.org


The buildings were demolished in 1978 for parking space.

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

Hoss.PBucket

The Alameda St. S.P.R.R. Co. siding is where long trains from Washington State full of Christmas trees were unloaded. One could drive right up to the boxcars full of the freshly cut trees. The most sought after tree was the Silver Tip.

Not exactly noirish but very fresh and poetical fact. Thanks a lot CityBoy !

[SHERIFFPAUL]

Mr. Hill said this was in Silver Lake but doesn't remember the exact location.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Scott Charles

Clip #6: I have no idea where this is. In the beginning of the clip, we cross over a train track - you can see the railroad signs on the left of the picture. Once the car turns left, you can see City Hall looming in the distance:

• Video Link

Believe it or not, I think this clip starts in the same place as clip #4, but facing in the opposite direction. That would be about where the "M" of "Macy" is marked. The camera car then heads west and turns south onto Main.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

The view above is from November 29, 1933, and I initially discounted this as the correct location because there are buildings dead ahead as the car turns onto Main. Then I checked earlier images which showed the area before Macy was extended to Spring. I've marked the extension on the January 1, 1929 view below. It's a shame the picture doesn't extend slightly north.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

Here's a re-positioned detail of the USC image I posted earlier. I think the tower on the Baker Block (lower-right, below) is visible near the end of the video clip.


USC Digital Library

For anyone who's interested, I posted later pictures of the building on the northeast corner of Macy and Main in post #22221.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

I worked in parking lots in Hollywood 50 years ago and it was a cess pool then.
______________________________________________________

And yet your screen name is "Hollywood" Graham...


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Yesterday when I was looking up contemporary Hollywood Blvd., I saw a very good video (HD from 35mm) posted this year that I hadn't seen before. It's footage of Hollywood Blvd. from N. Orange Dr., just west of the Chinese Theatre, traveling east to just before the Warner (Pacific) Theatre at Stromberg Jewelers.

Movies on several marquees date the footage to 1966 and two clocks, one digital (First Federal Bldg.) and the other (Stromberg's sidewalk clock), place the time at 10:11 a.m. and it's either 75° or 79°.

• Video Link