noirish Los Angeles

[GaylordWilshire]

An interesting building at 3349 Cahuenga Blvd West. The b&w's are from the LAPL, dated 1959; others, Google SV.

[GaylordWilshire]

Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club

Google SV

I wasn't sure at first if the building currently at 822 S. San Fernando Road in Burbank was the same, but then I noticed the tiny bit of brickwork visible at lower left in both shots.... C & P Hudson was formerly Monroe & Frankson. The top pic shows a '53 Hudson in November of that year; the '54s would be out soon, and they were hardly changed from the "Step-Down" design introduced six years before. Hudson's days were numbered... there would be no more after 1957.

HudsonJet.net

[Engineeral]

Who would go to L.A. and stay at a hotel called "Knickerbocker"?

I don't think I have seen reference to this hotel or to the Brooks store in this thread. This picture comes from the Library of Congress Collection:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/owi2001024127/PP/



Title: Los Angeles, California. Street scene
Creator(s): Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1942 Apr.
Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
Part of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

The building is still standing, incredibly, as the "The Knickerbocker" with rooftop sign in place, (three letters "T H E" where it once had five letters "H O T E L".) The Brooks store is gone from Hollywood Boulevard => parking lot, but the building to its left still stands as a contemporary piece of Noir called (The?) Cave Cabaret (Famous Dancers ~ VIP Lounge) at 6315(?) Hollywood Blvd. I think this Brooks was at 6313 or so.




Source: LAPL City Directory collection, 1942 edition.

[GaylordWilshire]

Here are a couple of old posts--lots of Hollywood history at the Knick:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3107

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6000


Here's a picture I think we've seen here before that includes the downtown Brooks store--a great shot that also shows a semaphore, a PCC car, and those great old street signs:

LAPL


Brooks isn't to be confused with the much fancier Brooks Brothers, often referred to as "Brooks," whose Los Angeles branch was once at 530 W Seventh, southeast corner of Grand. When the store was in residence, it refaced the corner with stone that gave it a feel of the main B² store on Madison Avenue. The bottom floors of the building were restored at some point. That's the old Robinson's at right.

LAPL

Google SV

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by Mayor Shaw

I was down in Hollywood today and went by the apartment complex that E_R asked about a few pages back. I was able to get inside and spoke to a guy who was in the process of moving out. It's a pretty cool place. This is the first time I've attempted to upload pictures... I hope it goes well...



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I'll post these now and see if I did it right. If all goes well, I have some shots of inside the units and more of the courtyard. You old pro's at this are great to put up with the new kids

Wow, great shots and what a great subject. Thanks. I'm jealous, I've never been able to upload diddly to the thread. damn. Pretty obvious you're a better photographer than you were a mayor.

[MichaelRyerson]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Gaylord_Wilshire:
I apologize for my post. There should be no censorship in a public forum. It was a stupid mistake on my part.

That said...who in the heck is Hazel Glab?

class act all the way around.

[3940dxer]

Originally Posted by rick m

Whoa ! Mjr altitude for an early manned balloon ! The street w/question mark twixt Grand and Hope would be Bunker Hill Ave. You do mean to indicate that the courthouse is over 3 inches @ Fort n Temple I gather--Sorta light triangle (the lawn? or excavation) at that intersection

Rick, thanks for your reply. My notation was just meant to show that the street near the upper left corner was Court House street...not the site of the court house itself.

But I wonder what that little street is between Grand and Hope, near 2nd. I'm pretty sure it's gone now. And I wonder whether that bridge across the L.A. river, a few blocks north of Aliso, really is Spring Street. I expected to see Broadway up around there too, but that part of the image is pretty fuzzy. Maybe it didn't extend that far up.

[GaylordWilshire]

North on Selma from Sunset, circa 1925, and now... the three houses in the vintage shot are still there.






North on Ogden from Selma, circa 1925, and now... the houses remain.




B&Ws: http://lapl.org; others: Google SV

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

I think this mid-century modern office building is quite charming. I like the different geometric shapes cut into the roof to let in light, and how the office doors are placed at a welcoming angle. Pretty clever.

Sadly, a black wrought iron gate has been added to the main entrance marring the open-air aesthetics of the design....but luckily the attractive numbers and letters of the address are still intact (I checked it out on google-earth)

I usually don't go 'ga-ga' over mid-century modern but I am starting to appreciate it much more than I have in the past.
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[ethereal_reality]

This is what makes the internet so great.

Gaylord_Wilshire's post on the mid-century modern office building inspired me to visit it on google-earth. After viewing the building I decided to see what else was in the area. Well several building to the south at 3315 Cahuenga Blvd. W is the Oak-Crest Market. I felt like I was transported back in time. I just had to sit and stare at this place for a few minutes and take it all in.



google street view

love it love it love it

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[fhammon]

Here's another great historical relic from an even earlier period.
The Las Palmas Market on the corner of Las Palmas and Fountain in Hollywood. It's got to be from @ 1900. Maybe earlier. I haven't found any historical info on it yet.

[ethereal_reality]

That's such a great place fhammon!

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A slide of Grauman's Chinese Theater circa 1952.


found on ebay




The same view today.


google street view

[kanhawk]

neat photo of an old funhouse

1946-Fun House, Venice Pier by ozfan22, on Flickr

Description:
One of the outstanding attractions of the pier is the "Fun House," where, according to General Manager R. R. "Ted" Newcomb, "every celebrity of the world has visited." It was the scene of a party staged in 1936 by Carole Lombard, to which she invited 400 movie stars to enjoy its slides, rides, air-spouting gadgets and other asserted forms of tom-foolery. Photo dated: January 12, 1946.

Herald-Examiner Collection

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent kanhawk!


Here is a magnificent photograph taken at Carole Lombard's party at the Venice Fun House.


http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/

That's Carole in the middle with Marlene Dietrich on her right, on her left is Lili Damita with her young husband Errol Flynn.

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[ethereal_reality]

Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard at the Venice Fun House party.


http://fan.tcm.com/_Carole-Lombard-1...263/66470.html




below: Ruth Chatterton & Richard Barthelmess clowning around with Ms. Lombard.


http://fan.tcm.com/_Carole-Lombard-1...263/66470.html

[ethereal_reality]

Two more photos from Ms. Lombard's Fun House party and then I'll let it go....I promise.


http://www.carolelombard.org/gallery...album=8&pos=44

Randolph Scott is on Ms. Lombard's right, and on our right is Cary Grant & the perfectly named Toby Wing.
Just by looking at Carole's striped socks I know I would have loved her.




below: Marlene Dietrich & Claudette Colbert on the donkey slide.


http://www.carolelombard.org/gallery...album=8&pos=44




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewing_circles


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[Mayor Shaw]

Hi G_W of course you can call me Frank -it's the recall that shivers me timber. Thank you Micheal Ryerson. I suppose there were many times as mayor I could have made better choices, not the least of which was the style of mustache I wore. While quite in fashion when I was sworn into office, by 1938 it had fallen out of favor with most people for some reason. By the early 40's only one politician was still wearing it and then it disappeared completely in the spring of '45



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Frank Shaw sworn into office
Photo: LAPL

E_R Love the Oak Crest Market photo. It looks like a place I used to go to in Burbank. I'll have to stop by sometime and see if they make sandwiches.

[Mayor Shaw]

The massive boulder "Levitated Mass" isn't the first rock to make a journey to L.A. In 1932 Emmanuel Jonidis, a WWI vet promised his friends in Litchfield, Conn. that he would walk to Los Angeles with a 60 pound rock in a wheelbarrow if they,his friends, would vote for Roosevelt.
Jonidis left Connecticut on Sept. 6,1933 and arrived in Los Angeles June 30,1934.
He was 80 days late on account of the times he spent in hospitals along the way.



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It looks like something is written on the face of the rock. I wonder if it's still around stuck on a shelf somewhere.
Photo: LAPL

[Engineeral]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Here are a couple of old posts--lots of Hollywood history at the Knick:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3107

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=6000

Thanks for the reminder links. I recall them now. I did a search for "Knickerbocker" and "Knicker" before I posted but the search returned nothing. For me the search function usually is useless. What am I doing wrong? Are there some tips or tricks?

[GaylordWilshire]

Engineeral-- It's not you-- the search function here is quirky at best, and very balky. I only remembered the Frawley connection to the Knickerbocker and searched his name...