That is a cool sign. And thanks to HossC for figuring out that it's actually a modern recording studio. I'm guessing the sign itself is truly vintage, and not just "weathered" to look the part?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/911/axwkp2.pngGSV

Indeed, the whole block looks vacant, though I know for sure that the building at the SW corner of Verdugo Road & Avenue 34 (the little white building at the far left of the screen shot above) is currently used as storage for the Verdugo Bar at the NE corner.

Nancy's
 

Just by a stroke of luck, I found a vid of one those travelogues that they produced back in the 40's and 50's. It shows Nancy's starting at about the 3:20 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a5WxgysHO4

:previous: Good eye C. King!!

Here's a screengrab of it.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...538/sDLowF.png
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a5WxgysHO4



-Yet another transit photograph I came across on ebay.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...910/uQuxFc.jpg
ebay

-note that the rails unceremoniously stop at this point.
__

ER...these transit photos are fantastic and so clear. Please post more if you find some.

Doug

Poignant detail from late 1940s photo posted by ER.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps3b28db90.jpg
ebay ~ detail

This is looking west along Colorado from Townsend in Eagle Rock. The Hardware store on the left is still there. Named Tritch's Hardware. Texaco station on the left is now a motorcycle repair shop.

:previous:

You beat me to it, C. King. Here's roughly the same view today looking west along Colorado.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...oTownsend2.jpg
GSV

It's pretty much a reverse view of this picture, taken at the same intersection.

Here's a similar view of HossC photo above. Different lenses certainly can take different photos.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps1be8c47b.jpg
GSV
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps8369058a.jpg
GSV

Los Angeles - 1887 - as seen from a hot air balloon
 

I just came across this remarkable photo on Pinterest. I don't remember seeing it before.

LOS ANGELES, 1887 -- This photograph of the fledgling town of Los Angeles was taken from a hot-air balloon on June 26, 1887. Floating 9,000 feet above the city in a hot-air balloon, photographer Edwin H. Husher tilted his camera over the basket’s edge to capture images of Los Angeles. The voyage was part of a publicity stunt orchestrated by William Randolph Hearst designed to sell newspaper advertising and to top a similar hot-air balloon stunt by Hearst’s archrival Joseph Pulitzer.

http://www.martinturnbull.com/wp-con...81ebb9c46a.jpg

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/535576580658569470/

That's been posted here before. It seems so much has but of course there's much more to cover.

Here's a good "now" photo for comparison:

http://nathanmasters.files.wordpress...g?w=1044&h=779 http://nathanmasters.me/2013/08/15/l...-1887-vs-2013/

So that west side of the 400 block of South Hope...the above is about the best shot I think we've seen of the Rubaiyat (which became the Wickland, seen here, and would later become the St Leon and was built on the site of the Zahn house)—and we've seen the facades of the SoTR and the Santa Barbara and the Touraine and the Briggs and even a fair to middling shot of that house next to the Briggs...

...in any event, I came across this in a 1914 tourist annual, and had to share:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8665/...5bdf2ee4_o.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7473/...e0ecbfe6_o.jpg

This got me to thinking about these characters across the street, which Michael Ryerson aptly called the "peas-in-a-pod" as seen here.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/...89f8d5f7_o.png

They were also built by Frances Zahn, but no good photos of their façades exist that I know of. So here they are in rendering form:

The Gordon is the first to go up, Spring of 1912, 618 W 4th—
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/...ec3c6390_o.jpg

Then the LaBelle goes up in the Summer of '12, down at the corner at 630 W 4th—
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7472/...e2f03e3b_b.jpg

And the Bronx is built between them in the Fall of '12, at 624 W 4th—
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7464/...251b22d3_o.png

These three, and the aforementioned Rubaiyat, are all designed by Frank M Tyler, read about him here and here and here.

Here's a shot of the Gordon and a bit of the Bronx in less happy days, Summer of 1954—
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8583/...c273215f_b.jpgusc

One can even see the demo of the Crestholme across the street at 621...
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7547/...41476d3a_h.jpg

...the Crestholme was a 1905 hotel by Joseph Cather Newsom, an incredibly prolific and important architect whose work is all but wiped out down here. On Bunker Hill alone he was known for the Bradbury, the Melrose, the Bryan mansion, the Ems, the Hildreth, the Milo Baker house, etc.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7495/...6d6912e8_b.jpg

Nice find, C. King. That video is dated 1946. I found another from 1957 (Hollywood Blvd 1957) which also shows Nancy's in the old I Magnin building at 6340 Hollywood Boulevard.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...Nancys1957.jpg
YouTube

And here's Mimi's at 6366 Hollywood Boulevard.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...AMimis1957.jpg
YouTube

It's beginning to look as if Nancy's started out at 6366 (as seen in 'Big City'), and then expanded to the old I Magnin building at 6340. The City Directories suggest that by 1960, Nancy's had moved back to 6366.

Ever since e_r posted this picture a couple of days ago, myself and Lorendoc have been scanning City Directories, photographs and old maps to try and find the location. The route of the 10 line is pretty much laid out on the board at the front, but neither of us could find a street layout on that route which exactly matched the picture.

I thought I'd had breakthrough yesterday when I found a picture of a 10 line car not far from Echo Park. That turned out to be a dead end, so I did a brute force picture search and eventually found the picture below. The caption says "Los Angeles Transit Lines car no. 315 poses for the camera at Miller and City Terrace on March 22, 1948."

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original
www.pacificelectric.org/Alan Weeks Collection

It turns out the drug store that Lorendoc and I had been looking for was Barbanell's at 4101 City Terrace Drive. I think the text under the name says "DRUGS FOUNTAIN". That still doesn't explain why a 10 line car was on the B line.

Here's a view of the same building from around 20 years later. The caption of this one says "Christine Parnin, Library Manager of City Terrace Library, in the library's parking lot. In the background can be seen Barbanell's Pharmacy (now Hidalgo Market), RR Auto Parts store, a U.S. Post Office, and a Mex-Delicatessen in City Terrace, Summer 1966."

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...aceMiller2.jpg
The County of Los Angeles Public Library

This is about as close as I could get to e_r's picture with GSV.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...aceMiller3.jpg
GSV

I think that most of the buildings from the 1966 picture are still standing.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...aceMiller4.jpg
GSV

Thanks to Lorendoc for a fun joint effort :).

:previous: You found my curvy streamline modern building!
Thanks HossC and Lorendoc for not giving up.
__

http://www.mckeencar.com/gallery-2/



http://www.mckeencar.com/wp-content/...header-5-4.jpghttp://www.mckeencar.com/wp-content/...header-5-4.jpg


http://www.mckeencar.com/wp-content/...keen-815-3.jpghttp://www.mckeencar.com/wp-content/...keen-815-3.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/McKeen/Sout...ckeen+1207.jpghttps://s3.amazonaws.com/McKeen/Sout...ckeen+1207.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/McKeen/Post...type+two-2.jpghttps://s3.amazonaws.com/McKeen/Post...type+two-2.jpg


http://www.mckeencar.com/wp-content/...1597354788.jpghttp://www.mckeencar.com/wp-content/...1597354788.jpg

Another vintage streetcar picture from eBay. This one shows car #1513 about to turn onto San Fernando Road from North Figueroa Street.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original
eBay

Roughly the same location today.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
GSV

:previous: Makes me want to eat at that little greasy spoon.
1/2 chicken with French fries .88 cent, pastrami dip .35 cents.
If the street-car had moved a little further along we would have seen the name of the place.
Sad to see the building on the left is gone. It gave the area a sense of place.

__

Protest VW
 

ER, Thanks for posting the rear view of the Protetst VW. Just for giggles I will make some inquires among my friends from the period and see if I can identify the owner. Chances are he is still an Orange Empire Railway Museum member.

Cheers,
Jack

Novelty photograph.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...538/i08yTx.jpg
ebay

"Los Angeles Airdrome, Leaving For Hollywood." (would have been a short flight ;))
__

Passengers boarding street-car #1444 in front of Union Station. (hence the suitcases)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...540/MgHwF7.jpg
ebay
__

I've certainly never heard of this café before.

St. Bernard Café, 4057 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...905/pUSOZt.jpg
ebay

The stately house with it's Corinthian columns and leaded windows is simple amazing! Does anyone have any information on this place?

reverse
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/93UTrM.jpg

-quite bizarre. So is Pascha one of the stuffed dogs above the St. Bernard Café sign? (behind the glass) -kind of creepy.