Google Earth ain't perfect but it helps in telling the story. It's a cool tool.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...uralCanyon.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...2520AM.bmp.jpg Car Lust
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B...s640/honda.jpg Google SV


At 4077 West Pico Blvd, just down the street from the Forum Theater...

According to the Car Lust blog, "Honda first set up shop in the U.S. on June 11, 1959, with an unassuming little storefront in Los Angeles named the American Honda Motor Co. Inc."...

Hi,
I'm Barbara Payton's biographer and I was happy to see her being discussed here. Barbara's life story is currently being developed for a feature-length documentary titled "Bad Blonde", and I hope that those who find the film noir aspects of her life interesting will support the project once it comes to fruition. I am also currently working on a photo book titled “Barbara Payton: A Life in Pictures”, which will contain over 600 rare and previously unpublished images of Barbara from her life and career, as well as associated text from Barbara's best friend and sister-in-law, Jan Redfield, and myself. Thanks very much for allowing me to contribute to this forum. The photos here are absolutely dynamite!
Thanks again,
John O'Dowd

Yes!!!!!
It doesn't get any cooler than this.... :cheers:
Thank you! Please keep us updated on the project.

http://www.hollywoodstarletbarbarapa.../whatsnew.html

http://lisaburks.typepad.com/home/20...ography_c.html

re: Barbara Payton
 

Thanks very much! Here's a link to a new article on Barbara's documentary. I am very eager to get to work on it and to really get into her unbelievably interesting (and HARROWING) life. Thank you again.

http://www.highlighthollywood.com/20...ood-exclusive/

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...stillwell1.jpg Daily Bungalow

I recently came across a photostream including a portfolio of one of the many American
house-plan companies of the prewar era. E.W. Stillwell & Co. was based in downtown Los
Angeles. As I looked through some of its houses on the photostream, one in particular
caught my eye... something about its roof vents:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X...2520PM.bmp.jpg Daily Bungalow

There may have been other houses built in L.A. using the same plan, but it looks to me like
the plan-book photo just above is of the familar Colonial I'd posted here before and had
managed to connect with '20s star Colleen Moore....



I'm sure that many if not all built examples of Stillwell's plans were in Los Angeles...I'm going to be on the lookout for the others

There may have been other houses built in L.A. using the same plan, but it looks to me like
the plan-book photo just above is of the familar Colonial I'd posted here before and had
managed to connect with '20s star Colleen Moore....





I'm sure that many if not all built examples of Stillwell's plans were in Los Angeles...I'm going to be on the lookout for the others[/QUOTE]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X...2520PM.bmp.jpg Daily Bungalow

There may have been other houses built in L.A. using the same plan, but it looks to me like
the plan-book photo just above is of the familar Colonial I'd posted here before and had
managed to connect with '20s star Colleen Moore....





I'm sure that many if not all built examples of Stillwell's plans were in Los Angeles...I'm going to be on the lookout for the others[/QUOTE]

As a small child, around 1938-39, I remember going to downtown Los Angeles, possibly the May Company to see Colleen Moore's famous doll-house. I was absoloutely mesmerized...it had working electric lights, running water in a fountain...and so much more...I think I read much later that it ended up in Chicago at a museum...

Welcome to the thread John O'Dowd! Good luck with your documentary of Barbara Payton...it all sounds very interesting.
I'm surprised that there hasn't been a feature film in the same vein as 1982's Frances.



below: Franchot Tone and Barbara Payton arriving at LAX on Oct. 29, 1951. And no, that isn't Edith Head on the steps. ;)


http://imageshack.us/a/img838/6393/barblaxoct1951.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1333230985676


above: I noticed the Mercury New York sign....did airlines name their planes back then?





http://imageshack.us/a/img855/5710/barblaxoct1951a.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1333230985676








http://imageshack.us/a/img210/1456/barblaxoct1951b.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1333230985676

_____

I have a question for you Mr. O'Dowd. Do you know the address of the house in the following photograph?


Franchot Tone leaving Barbara Payton's home in 1951.

http://imageshack.us/a/img96/8447/shome.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1333230985676

WOW times a thousand!!! I have been extremely busy with a design project over the last few weeks and unable to visit the thread very much. Imagine my delight, when I took time to visit today, to find all of these great posts about Barbara Payton.

From the time of my first post about her a few months ago, I have become obsessed with getting to know more about her and her ultimately tragic short life.

I am especially thrilled that you have joined the thread Mr. O'Dowd, as I just recently finished your beautifully warm biography of Barbara "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story". What a great read! Thank you.

Online, I was also able to find the interview that you conducted with her son John Lee. His loving and understanding words regarding his mother were very touching in that they were so obviously heartfelt.

I have bought, rented, downloaded, etc. copies of every Barbara movie that I can find and can say that she was definitely a presence on film. So striking and statuesque.

A few weeks ago I drove out to Cypress View to pay my respects and leave flowers at Barbara's internment site. It was pleasing to see that someone else had left flowers for her as well. Feeling that it was somehow appropriate, I drove our '51 Cadillac convertible out there.

Thank you to everyone who has posted about Barbara lately and I certainly look forward to the film and new book Mr. O'Dowd!

~Jon Paul

'Honeymoon in Hollywood' pan right---->


http://imageshack.us/a/img819/4117/fotopageebay.jpg
photo album/ebay

I like the street activity in this postcard of the Angelus Temple.


http://imageshack.us/a/img846/3402/a...mpleflickr.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zilf/53...57594063877166

Hi ethereal reality,
The building to the left of Franchot Tone is Barbara Payton's apartment at the time of the brawl, which is located at 1803 N. Courtney Terrace in Los Angeles. Barbara lived there from 1951 to sometime in 1954, when she moved to a rented, 15-room house (with a swimming pool) that is at 1534 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills (near the Beverly Hills Hotel).

These are great images and are among the dozens of old wire photos that I am interested in licensing for Barbara's photo book. I have a definite vision for the book and it is to depict the LA NOIR world (underworld?) that Barbara existed in back then. I have been working on the book for a couple of years now and I keep finding photos that I want to include in it. I thought I had dug pretty deep for the ones I have found thus far, but now I want to keep digging as I think there are probably many more rare pics to be found. :)

All the best,
John O'Dowd

Hi Jon Paul,
Thank you very much for your great note about Barbara, and I think it is terrific that you recently paid your respects to her at her place of rest. Barbara went through a lot of bad stuff in Hollywood -- and yes, much of it was her own doing -- but I think it would really thrill her to know that there are people who enjoyed her work (and her beauty), and that she hasn't been forgotten.

Your '51 Cadillac convertible sounds like a real beaut! I would love to find a photo of the red Cadillac convertible that Barbara drove back then, but I'm not sure if such a photo even exists.

I'm very glad and grateful to hear that you liked Barbara's book. I worked on it for several years and it was important to me that I tried to be as respectful of her as I could, while also telling her story truthfully. It wasn't an easy task, but I can honestly say that I know I did the best job I could for Barbara.

Her son John Lee Payton is a wonderful person and he still loves his mother deeply. Barbara was tough and wild, but she was also an incredibly loving person. I'm glad I had an opportunity to reveal that about her, and it is all thanks to John Payton and Jan Redfield, who, as you know, was Barbara's sister-in-law.

Thank you again for welcoming me here, Jon Paul. I see that the process for posting photos here is somewhat involved, but I will try to master it and post a few rare pics I have of Barbara, soon.

Best wishes,
John

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5...andcentral.jpg Airport Journals


Yes--it was common for the airlines to name individual aircraft back in the prop era--and many still do (Jetblue names each plane something with "blue" in it). Notice "Flagship Tennessee" at Grand Central airport circa 1936. American's planes were "Flagships," United's were "Mainliners," Pan Am had its "Clippers." But "Mercury" was the name of a particular service, following the practice of the railroads--i.e., the 20th Century between NY & Chicago and the Super Chief between Chicago and L.A. American's Mercury was its transcon service between LA & NY, and it started with its DC3s (seen at top) introduced in 1936. The plane in the b&w shot above is a DC6. Later the Mercury name was used for other routes as well, and into the 707 era.

The Night Train
 

A friend recently sent a link to this vintage 1946 Columbia reel. I thought it was really neat and then thought the gang here might enjoy it. http://archive.org/details/PET0981_R-5
It is a film taken from a Southern Pacific train while moving out of the LA area at night. Hope you like it
JoeW

that looks like a sante fe line but i want to say thats a pe line sooooo badly.the station around 7:50 looks like a pe station...great footage though

1887 Aerial Balloon Map Decoded
 

This morning I re-discovered this old 1887 aerial balloon may and spent a few hours trying to decode the main downtown streets. Here's what I came up with -- please correct me anyone, if you notice any errors or important omissions. (I oriented it vertically for publication here, to save viewers from massive amounts of scrolling.)

http://dkse.net/david/1887.balloon.markup.1200.jpg

American Airlines offered Mercury Service on its most premier flights. It was an early version of domestic first class. I think later on they referred to tourist or coach as Royal Coachman Service.

Regarding Franchot Tone and his toney background. I briefly attended boarding school with Jeff Tone, who was Franchot Tone's son by the woman he left for Payton. I remember once when Franchot Tone visited the school and was an honored lunch guest who was introduced to all the impressionable boys at the school by the headmaster. There was no mention that Mr. Tone had this drawn out and ugly affair with the trollop Barbara Payton. We were left with the impression that Franchot Tone was an aristocratic and wealthy movie star of impeccable background. His son, Jeff, was golden and beautiful. He seemed to have such a glamorous life with homes and parents in NYC and Beverly Hills. Who knew about his agrieved mother and all the scandal!