:previous:

That looks like the old Tanner Gray Line bus terminal at 3rd and Boylston. It's now the location of the Visconti, although the neighboring Huntley Apartments are still standing.

https://i809.photobucket.com/albums/...rGrayLine1.jpg
USC Digital Library

BTW. I think the last location on the Santa Monica sign is "Holiday Inn".

:previous:

And the middle location is "Greyhound".

Beaudry, is the top part, which you refer to as being static neon below, maybe the windows and not neon writing?

https://i.postimg.cc/mDdXNmKZ/Bus.jpg
enhanced detail from e_r's bus terminal photo

I'm thinking the small word on each sign beneath "Santa Monica" and "Hollywood" is "HOTELS."

Proceeding on this theory:

In each list of stops, the last stop is indeed a hotel in the city mentioned at the top of the sign: The Holiday Inn in Santa Monica, and the Roosevelt in Hollywood.

On the Hollywood sign, PLAZA perhaps refers to the Century Plaza Hotel. If that's the case, the lengthy name second on the list would be a hotel located on some reasonable route between the Century Plaza Hotel and the Roosevelt Hotel.

On the Santa Monica sign . . . well, all I can do is to shrug; but the hotels listed would be high-occupancy reputable hotels on the route to Santa Monica.

--That is, if my HOTELS theory is correct . . .

:shrug:

I don't know if Beaudry had his question answered as to what the blinking neon said on the Tanner Gray Line Depot. :shrug:

I imagine this picture has likely been posted somewhere on the thread but I can't locate it. Anyway it shows the line-up of the neon below the windows.


https://i.imgur.com/yWWaJQT.jpg
dl.library.ucla.edu

.
I appreciate all the follow ups to the bus depot mystery location. (3rd & Boylston per HossC)


While searching for additional bus related photographs I happened upon this amazing bus roll.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/NiB8td.jpg
worthpoint

This would be perfect to hang in a loft. (of course if you have a bus. . .it would be perfect for the bus) ........Oh, bother. I'm screwy. :koko:


Here's the info:

"Original Vintage Los Angeles/Hollywood 1950's front roll transit bus scroll sign. This sign is a silk/screened cotton fiber/paper fabric original, found in my father's saved LA memorabilia. It is huge 12 1/2 feet X 4 1/4 feet. Yes feet not inches!!!As you can see the condition is fair-good. as the sewn on bottom section can be removed as it appears to be an add on, and the paint is flaking. It has a few slits in the main section, but cannot see when it is hanging, condition not bad for being rolled for 60 years."


I want it.

.

This might just be an error in rendering.

First version:
https://i.imgur.com/8Up2Ctv.jpg
urbanize.la

Now look at the bottom right area in the new picture:

https://i.imgur.com/bHxKKVu.jpg
urbanize.la

The new render still has a setback at the right side of the building. The bottom right area has a nondescript dark and light grey area with no detail whatsoever. It looks like they just forgot to stick the image of the old facade onto the new render.

That might actually be a roll sign from a Pacific Electric car, specifically the "Hollywood" Car. All of those destinations appears to be ones served by PE cars at one point in time. Compare with this image of 717, which is perserved at the Southern California Railway Museum, but still has the original signs

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/7d...3de34517c8.jpg

I’m guessing the longish name is Knickerbocker.

:previous:

I hadn't realized that there was a Knickerbocker Hotel, and so was hesitant to take up that suggestion; [does some research] but blow me down!, there indeed was, at 1714 Ivar in Hollywood. In 1972, it was "remodeled for occupancy by senior citizens of low to moderate income," quoth the LA Times of February 6, 1972.

:previous:

Back in the '90s, there was a cool and quirky coffeehouse in the lobby of the Knickerbocker. It looked more like a living room than anything like a Starbucks, and you could actually buy pieces of the decor if you liked them - there were tons of interesting knickknacks, like vintage style ashtrays, costume jewelry, and other assorted items.

I used to hang out there with my friends. Sadly, the lobby coffeehouse disappeared sometime since the '90s...

:previous:

We've seen the Knickerbocker in Hollywood several times over the years, and I'm sure that's where the Gray Line bus was going. Many years earlier, however, there was a Hotel Knickerbocker at 551 S Fremont Avenue. It's seen here circa 1929. The site is now almost dead center under the Harbor Freeway.

https://i809.photobucket.com/albums/...kerbocker1.jpg
USC Digital Library

:previous:

I had forgotten all about the Knickerbocker on Freemont. Thanks for the reminder, Hoss.

.

Last I checked there is currently a swanky bar in the lobby, or lobby adjacent. It’s named Knickerbocker. Heavy drapery, dim lighting, cozy atmosphere.

:previous:

The Knickerbocker Hotel is where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio often met in the hotel bar. Elvis Presley stayed at the hotel (Room 1016) while making his first film, Love Me Tender (1956) and a famous photoshoot of him was done there. For thirty years, it was the residence of actor William Frawley. Laurel and Hardy stayed in room 205, where they were surprised by the crew for an episode of This is Your Life, and Graham Nash lived there in 1968.


Could the Plaza sign on E_R's Gray Line photo (1989) refer to the Hollywood Plaza Hotel? It was turned into a retirement home sometime in the 70's, according to wikipedia, but so was the Knickerbocker, according to Odinthor's post:

Do you have any links about the current bar, Nadeau? I just did a Google search and was unable to find anything at all, regardless of which search terms I tried.

I can't recall exactly when I revisited the Knickerbocker (maybe around 2005 or so?), but when I walked in there was no bar (or anything even remotely similar) to be found.

A young watchman/security guard came over and asked me if I needed anything; when I asked him what became of the bar that used to be in the lobby he had no idea what I was talking about. He told me he'd never before heard of any bar being in the lobby of the Knickerbocker.

Here is a photo of the lobby bar, courtesy of the California State Library. The date given is “192-?”, which I suspect is inaccurate - the figure on the right of the mural seems(?) to be using a television camera:

https://i.imgur.com/W9MLeDF.jpg

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
shorpy.com


From the original Shorpy post....

"I found this photo, which is dated 1939, in an antique store in Simi Valley, California. It is glued to an album page labeled "House of Chords and Dischords." The picture of that house, which is labeled 1961 N Argyle, is missing. But under these two gentlemen it says "2 inmates."


I had the same problem that the Shorpy poster did, in that she could not see the "1961" over the doorway, it's something of an optical illusion....sometimes I can see it and sometimes not....but it's definitely there, white numerals against a black background on 4 individual tiles tacked together....you need to let your eyes unfocus, like in those hidden image pictures that were all the rage about 30 years ago.

1961 N. Argyle Ave. showed as a 3 unit apartment court in 1939....the structure pictured here was demolished in 1954 to make way for a 24 unit building, which still stands.

The reference to "chords" got me to wondering, were these fellows aspiring songwriters?....players in a studio orchestra, or in one of the big swing bands?....

So it was off to my old friend, the 1940 census, Enumeration District 60-116....a few years back (pgs. 1913 and 1927) I went through this and adjacent census tracts, finding (among others) James M. Cain, Nathanael West, Dorothy Comingore, and (at 2307 N. Cahuenga) the 23 year-old Sidney Sheldon, when he was reading scripts at Universal and earning $44 a week.

The obvious assumption that I am making here is that the tenants in the '39 photo were still in the unit when the enumerator came calling in the spring of 1940...anyway, here's what turned up (for the purposes of the '40 census I believe the term "partner" would equate to today's "roommate").....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

So we have...

Eric Johnson....age 33, divorced, from Oklahoma
Arthur Cox....age 32, "m" for married (but there's a line through it, so maybe divorced or separated), he was from Michigan
Victor Johnson....age 37, single, like Eric he was an Okie
Winfield Prentis (I believe he was misidentified, see below)....age 29, single, from New Mexico


The other side of the census ledger has the occupation/income information....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

Eric Johnson....theatre manager, he made $1100/yr.
Arthur Cox....self-employed musician (ah, there's our "chords")....zero earnings.
Victor Johnson....electrical engineer, working in "???" products....he was pulling down $1700/yr.
Winfield Prentis, no info other than $300 in earnings


Armed with the tenant names, I checked the '39 and '40 city directories....

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

In the '39 book Eric Johnson shows up with no further details.



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

In '39 we add a middle initial for Victor Johnson, here he shows as a geoligist.



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...370&fit=bounds

The 1940 directory gives us a middle initial for Eric.



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

The '40 book has Victor listed as an engineer, consistent with the census.



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

The "Winfield Prentis" of the census is shown as Wynn Prentice in the '40 directory....and we find that he is also a musician, so more "chords".


Arthur Cox was not found in either directory.

So who's in the snapshot?....the Johnsons, the two musicians?....or some combination thereof?

Illumination products, I think.

It looks like whatever bar it was, is now closed. There is this article about a cafe/bar that was in that space in the 90s, but I was there in the 20teens for sure. The color photo in the article looks like the same space, so maybe they have the dates wrong. https://www.seeing-stars.com/Landmar...kerHotel.shtml

I'd say it's the Johnson brothers in the picture.

There's a strong resemblance - eyes, noses, forehead and face shapes.


https://i.imgur.com/ffy8AfR.jpg