SkyscraperPage Forum

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)
-   Found City Photos (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=23)
-   -   noirish Los Angeles (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170279)

Steve Hoffman Oct 15, 2012 8:28 PM

Thank you for that. Great to read!

Earl Boebert Oct 15, 2012 9:35 PM

[QUOTE=GaylordWilshire;5867365]As for Winnie Ruth Judd's Los Angeles connections...

[snip]

Now for a little bit of added noir... in the shot of the 1928 U.S.C. freshman debate squad above I noticed a familiar name... that of a man who would become the go-to guy for Hollywood figures who found themselves in scrapes. While I just assumed, given his fame and studly accomplishments—he was apparently once engaged to such Hollywood offscreen-noir favorites as Lana Turner and Barbara Payton and had sack time with everyone else from Joan to Ava to Ginger—that we must have seen him here before, I could find nothing on him with the search feature.

http://imageshack.us/a/img132/7334/0b0vxzquqxgh0h0q.jpghttp://imdb.com
Greg Bautzer and Lucille.

More on Bautzer here:

http://ladailymirror.com/2012/05/28/...-greg-bautzer/

Cheers,

Earl

BifRayRock Oct 16, 2012 5:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzilla (Post 5865311)
No competitor shortage for largest and longest lunch counters in LA!

SH Kress on South Broadway throws its hat in the ring!
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008752.jpghttp://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008753.jpg

621-625 So Broadway

1926
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013761.jpgLAPL

1930
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013780.jpgLAPL

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...CHS-36724?v=hrUSC Digital

1931 "Night and Day"
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...Y4PNPV16EM.jpg
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...SKY8H2ISH6.jpgC.St.Lib

1935 (Ripley's Great Big Price Tag. So much for 5 and dime?)
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...T-BUI-156?v=hrUSCDigital

1937
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00097/00097557.jpgLAPL

1939
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...B-11-ISLA?v=hrUSC Digital

1952 (Bing in "Just For You" released in '52)
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...0480C073E?v=hrUSC Digital

Undated
("Hit Man" starring Bernie Casey released in '72)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015050.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics49/00059195.jpgLAPL

BifRayRock Oct 16, 2012 5:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4828534)
Last night when I was looking at this pic:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5...igueroa195.jpg
usc digital archive

I realized that that is the same intersection (7th and Figueroa) as the one in this pic:

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7...n1949ssilb.jpg
ssliberman

I realized that the building on the right with the fire escape is what I call the "reclining men building," being that the facade of it at about the 3rd floor has huge statues of 2 reclining half-naked men. It's really called the Fine Arts Building, built in 1925. I've been in the lobby and it is BEAUTIFUL.

Here's a contemporary photo of it from photobucket/fawnskinpics:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...neArtsBldg.jpg

Here's a 1933 photo of it from travelinlocal.com
http://www.travelinlocal.com/wp-cont...10/tl10-22.jpg

Oh, apparently it housed the Signal Oil Company, and a Pig 'n Whistle restaurant!

1933
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...T-BUI-493?v=hrUSC Digital

Pig 'N Whistle (Fine Arts Interior) late '20s - early '30s
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...VIPU7D5Q5G.jpghttp://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...5LXL5QILVI.jpghttp://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...FMA7FSKRNA.jpgC.St.Lib

1930s Far Right
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...61-1-ISLA?v=hrUSC Digital

1937
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...23-1-ISLA?v=hrhttp://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...0B-2-ISLA?v=hrUSC Digital



BifRayRock Oct 16, 2012 5:53 PM

Mt. Lowe Preservation Society > http://www.mountlowe.org/our-collection/ :tup::worship:

Lowe Railway moving pictures> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew4vS...eature=related


1913
http://www.mountlowe.org/wp-content/...13-940x596.jpg

http://www.mountlowe.org/wp-content/...e-tourists.jpg

http://www.mountlowe.org/wp-content/...-echobrand.jpg

http://www.mountlowe.org/wp-content/...doublecard.jpg


ethereal_reality Oct 16, 2012 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silverlaker (Post 5867397)
The Broom Room cocktail lounge was an endless source of fascination for my young mind. I would dare to open that door and peek my head in and OH! the glamour, the sophistication, the sex appeal! My own little secret garden! A dimly lit room with lots of twinkling sparkling lights like stars. Red leather booths and a cocktail bar with shiny bottles behind. Adult music playing and glamorous adults smoking at the bar talking to the sexy bar maid. It represented all that was secret and magical to my young mind - a world known only to adults and I just loved to get a glimpse of it, if only fleeting. I'd imagine myself one day walking in there and chatting with these urbane sophisticates!

What a wonderfully vivid recollection! Thanks for sharing Silverlaker.
__

ethereal_reality Oct 16, 2012 11:47 PM

http://imageshack.us/a/img818/3031/s...151920ebay.jpg
ebay

http://imageshack.us/a/img440/7195/stabernacleinfo.jpg

I tried, without success, to verify that the 1917 Los Angeles Auto Show was held at Billy Sunday's Tabernacle.
Actually, I am not sure where this tabernacle was located. Does anyone recognize the church in the distance?




below: I was able to find this additional photograph (but with no address).

http://imageshack.us/a/img22/6158/aa...yphoto1917.jpg
http://www.worldcat.org/

__

ethereal_reality Oct 17, 2012 12:09 AM

http://imageshack.us/a/img546/4559/a...denofallah.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3925224...in/photostream

Oh my, think what you could have picked up for a song at this auction.

__

ethereal_reality Oct 17, 2012 12:34 AM

As of 2012, this magnificent manhole cover from 1938 still resides at the foot of the stairs to the Federal Courthouse.


http://imageshack.us/a/img29/6066/aabmanholecovers.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Manhole-Covers.../dp/0870931687

http://imageshack.us/a/img23/9913/aabmanholecovers1.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img401/5779/a...lemitpress.jpg
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item...ype=2&tid=5993

If I were in L.A. I would have to make a pilgrimage down to the Federal Courthouse and find of this utilitarian masterpiece.
(with a camera...hint. hint. :))

__

rcarlton Oct 17, 2012 7:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcarlton (Post 5863444)
Another noirish unsolved murder: Diane Sparks

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00082/00082390.jpgLAPL
Photograph caption reads: "Her murder still unsolved two years after death". Photograph printed: Jan. 29, 1948.

Some more on her:
Movies she appeared in:

1935 George White's 1935 Scandals (uncredited) (linked to a scene in the movie, Diane may be in the audience, Jane Wyman had an uncredited part also).

1934 The Captain Hates the Sea (uncredited) (the 3 Stooges were in this movie).

1934 Tripping Through the Tropics (short)

1934 Love Detectives (short) (Betty Grable)
Dancer (uncredited)

Birth: Sep. 14, 1914
Empire
Coos County
Oregon, USA
Death: Mar. 13, 1946
Van Nuys
Los Angeles County
California, USA

Born Edjana Bell Ingram
Guardian: Edward Bernhard MaxMeyer
Stage name: Diane Dahl

Diane was a Hollywood movie actress in the 1930s. She was murdered; the crime remains unsolved. She was 31 yrs 5 months 20 days old when she died. Her death was linked to the grizzly "Black Dahlia Murder" cases.

In the early 1930's Max Factor listed her as one of the ten most beautiful women in Hollywood. She was a dancer and supporting actress appearing in several movies.

Screen names used during her career: Diane Dahl and Diane Meyer, but there were others. At the time of her death she was married to Los Angeles Police Officer Edward George Sparks; George was born in Missouri 26 Nov 1903. When she married him she left acting.

On January 29th 1946 her husband reported her missing. Her mutilated body was discovered six weeks later on 10 March by two children playing in a Roscoe area canyon in Van Nuys, San Fernando; she had been shot in the head. Perhaps it was the mutilations that linked her death to the Black Dahlia Murder cases - she was missing one complete arm and the hand from the other arm.

The prime suspect lived next door to the Sparks' and the two families were good friends. The neighbor and Diane had been seen together the day she died. A gun, the murder weapon found near the body was engraved with the initials of the suspect, "RG". He was a husband and father of three young daughters. An all-woman jury acquitted Ramon Gonzales of the crime on 31 July 1946.

News of her death and the subsequent murder trial was carried nationally & internationally via AP and UP services, reported in the local LA Examiner, LA Times, SF Valley News and Long Beach Independent newspapers and widely circulated from New York-New England through Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and the South, to the Far West of Washington, Idaho, Nevada and other states. The stories appeared in issues of the European edition of the Stars and Stripes.

After the trial, George left the LAPD and moved to Texas.

George took his own life on 09 Feb 1953 in Fall County Texas. His body was returned to Missouri and was buried in Mt Tabor Cemetery near Hurdland Missouri.

Diane's genealogy is cloudy.
Her mother, Anna Dorothy DAHL married Edgar Charles Ingram approx 1911-1912; they lived in Empire, Coos Bay, Oregon. The marriage produced a daughter whom they named Edjana Bell. Edjana is a combination of father-mother's names.
Abt 1916 Anna Dorothy married Benjamin Teschner. The union produced daughter Marie born 1918 Oregon. The Teschner marriage lasted into 1920. By 1930, Anna had married Edward Bernhardt MaxMeyer. Edjana Bell's name was "changed" to Dorothy. Both Dorothy and sister Marie used the last name MaxMeyer, but i haven't verified whether the E.B.MaxMeyer relationship was one of adoption. The origin of and why (Edjana-Dorothy) used the name Diane is not known to me.



Family links:
Parents:
Anna Dorothy Dahl MaxMeyer (1896 - 1991)

Spouse:
George Ernest Sparks (1902 - 1953)

Burial:
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Glendale
Los Angeles County
California, USA
Plot: Evertide, space 1, lot 246

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...1057019860.jpgFind a Grave

George Sparks
Birth: Nov. 26, 1902
Hurdland
Knox County
Missouri, USA
Death: Feb. 9, 1953
Falls County
Texas, USA

info provided by family member Terry Sparks

SIBLINGS-------------
Ada Marie Sparks FAG# 79126770
Samuel F Sparks FAG# 79127699
John Goodson Sparks FAG# 79127588
Walter Edward Sparks FAG# 79127898
Perle Sparks FAG# 79128084
George E Sparks FAG# 65563167
Hazel Elizabeth Sparks FAG# 79127158 TWIN
Grace Estella Sparks FAG# 69887191 TWIN
Raymond Roy Sparks FAG# 24514118

George's first wife was Ethel .... no additional info

His second wife was Diane Ingram MaxMeyer, former film actress known as Diane Dahl (and others.) see the memorials under "Spouses". George had no children.

George joined the Los Angeles Police Dept as a motorcycle officer and served 14 years until after the trial of Ramon Gonzales accused of murdering George's wife - Diane Sparks - July 1946. He moved to Dallas Texas and lived near his brother Samuel F Sparks.

"My father, also an LAPD after Diane's murder, was a cousin to Diane. Dad knew George and said George returned to Texas with a broken heart. He took his own life in Fall County Texas," wrote John Dahl.

His body was returned to family home in Missouri to be buried with his parents in the new Mount Tabor Cemetery, Hurdland MO.


Family links:
Parents:
John Wesley Sparks (1852 - 1929)
Sallie Elizabeth Janney Sparks (1874 - 1961)

Spouse:
Edjana Bell Ingram Sparks (1914 - 1946)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial:
Landsberry Cemetery
Knox County
Missouri, USA

Created by: JOHN DAHL
Record added: Feb 12, 2011
Find A Grave Memorial# 65563167

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...3893554250.jpgFind a Grave

Diane's mother was attractive also:
http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...1852516903.jpg
Anna Dorothy MaxMeyer Find a Grave

Further digging finds that her younger sister was in over 30 movies!
Marie Evelyne Heath, Born June 29, 1918, in Portland, Oregon, passed away in Sacramento on Monday, April 16, 2012, at age 93.
She was preceded in death by parents Benjamin Teschner and Anna Dorothy MaxMeyer, stepfather E. B. MaxMeyer, beloved sister Diane Sparks and brother Tom Teschner.
She is survived by her devoted husband of 70 years, Norton Heath, and sons Jim Heath and Don Heath (Ritsuko), granddaughter Erika Heath, sister Carol Scott and brother Benjamin Teschner, Jr.
Marie lived 22 years in Willits until last December. She was an accomplished artist and a strong supporter of animal welfare.
During the late 1930s she appeared in about 30 Hollywood movies, including Test Pilot and Suez.

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...3712340078.jpgFind a Grave

ethereal_reality Oct 17, 2012 9:22 PM

:previous: Excellent research on the Diane Sparks murder rcarlton.
__



Here is a rppc with an excellent view of the old Whitley Heights sign.

http://imageshack.us/a/img72/5672/aa...whitelyhei.jpg
ebay

ethereal_reality Oct 18, 2012 5:12 AM

I came across this New York Times newspaper dated march 12, 1947 on ebay.

http://imageshack.us/a/img152/8145/aabslain1947.jpg
__





What caught my eye was this article on two slayings in Los Angeles.

http://imageshack.us/a/img502/2383/aabslain1947a.jpg




http://imageshack.us/a/img688/227/aabslain1947b.jpg

One of the bodies, identified as Evelyn Winters aged 42 yrs, was found nearly nude on railroad tracks near Los Angeles City Hall.
A 28 year old railroad worker was initially charged with the murder...in reality, he was only guilty of kissing the corpse
in the shadow of City Hall (hence the lipstick on his face).

The second murder victim, unidentified, was found strangled to death with electrical wire on a riverbank in Norwalk.
__

GaylordWilshire Oct 18, 2012 12:46 PM

:previous:

I didn't remember posting this item on Jeanne French until I found it, or having seen jansen's followup:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1949

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1950


And here's more Los Angeles Times coverage:

Feb 14, 1947--the Evelyn Winters Case
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h...2520AM.bmp.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-O...2520AM.bmp.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h...2520AM.bmp.jpg


March 12, 1947
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-O...2520AM.bmp.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...2520AM.bmp.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...2520AM.bmp.jpg


Interestingly, there was a radio show at the time called "The Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters"...which also ended in 1947.
http://pictures.historicimages.net/p...94/4893450.jpg
http://pictures.historicimages.net/p...94/4893451.jpg
Both ebay

rcarlton Oct 18, 2012 3:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5049864)
Snip
The Elizabeth Short, "Black Dahlia" case gets all the attention, but there certainly were a number of similar murders that were never solved in Los Angeles during the 1940's;

7-23-43 Ora Murray 42 found nude, bludgeoned to death dumped in golf club parking lot after 2am, after a night of drinking and dancing in downtown bars.

10-12-44 Georgina Bauerdorf 20 (a friend of Elizabeth Short's) found nude strangled in her own apt. bathtub, after apparently being followed home from the Hollywood servicemans club.

1-15-47 Elizabeth (Beth) Short aka Black Dahlia 22, found nude, bludgeoned to death dumped in vacat lot on downtown LA Hollywood border, after leaving downtown LA Biltmore hotel with no apparent place to stay the night. Her body was also cut in 2 at the waist, she'd been sexually assaulted, and also tortured.

2-10-47 Jeanne French 40 found nude vacant lot bludgeoned, beat to death, strangled, signs of torture, after being seen in downtown/hollywood bars with brown haired man, a message written in lipstick possibly referring to the Short crime written on body.

3-12-47 Evelyn Winters 42 found nude, bludgeoned to death in vacant lot 2 miles from downtown, strangled, last seen in bars the night before.

5-11-47 Laura Trelstad (Telestad) 37 found nude strangled with strip of cloth, bludgeoned, dumped in vacant lot near oil rigs, after being last seen intoxicated bars Long Beach.

7-8-47 Rosenda Mondragon 20 found nude strangled with stocking signs of torture, dumped side of street 1 miles from Winters scene.

6-13-49 Louise Springer 28 abducted with her car while waiting in a downtown parking lot, found 2 days later in car bludgeoned, strangled with a cloth strip, sexually assulted/tortured.

8-11-49 Jean Spangler 27 starlet a onetime roomate of Beth Shorts, body never found, after going on date with new man, and being seen in bars with a brown haired men, or 2 men, purse found on street at Hollywood's Dell park.

8-18-49 Mimi Boombauer known as 'the happy widow' after going out on date to nightclubs, body never found, purse left in Wilshire phone booth with note written in lipstick

It certainly looks like Los Angeles had a serial killer on the loose in the 1940's who was never brought to justice...........................

I wonder why Diane Sparks is not on this list?

Anyone have access to LA newspapers archival issues? Sure would like to know why they found Ramon Gonzales not guilty in the Diane Sparks trial. I'd also like to know what her husband George's alibi was. Maybe it wasn't a broken heart that lead to his suicide but the build up of guilt over the years? Whatever happened to Ramon Gonzales? Mrs. Bessie Hensley, who reportedly witnessed the murder and was threatened about testifying...what came of that story?

rcarlton Oct 18, 2012 7:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 5144012)
snip

The Jonathan Club at 6th and Figueroa, 1957
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/380...gueroa1957.jpg
USC Archive

In the background is the Carlton Hotel. Anybody have anything on it? Gone now with only a parking structure on the location.

Here's a picture of the Carlton Hotel (built in 1903) on skid row...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8195/8...669e7c10_b.jpgGE

Not to be confused with this:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5...ju7o1_1280.jpgtumblr
Marilyn Monroe in her room at the Beverly Carlton Hotel.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7...ksmo1_1280.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr...a1vo1_1280.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9...xiogo2_400.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9...xiogo1_400.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9...xiogo3_400.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2...to1_r1_500.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk...da1vo1_500.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9...xiogo4_400.jpgtumblr

GaylordWilshire Oct 18, 2012 8:25 PM

:previous:


The Carlton...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...12/carlton.jpg
1934


The Beverly Carlton...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=3131



https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C...2520PM.bmp.jpg
1949

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...2520PM.bmp.jpg
1959

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9...2520PM.bmp.jpg
1967


Images: Los Angeles Times

GaylordWilshire Oct 18, 2012 9:03 PM

But now let's talk Carlton noir...

http://imageshack.us/a/img685/2782/64285748.jpgUSCDL

The library's caption: "Vice raid...6526 Selma Avenue, 8 October 1951. Lee Carlton -- 40 years; Mrs. Mary Richards -- 40 years (Las Palmas Hotel)"


The Las Palmas Hotel is at 1738 N Las Palmas and was seen in Pretty Woman. Perhaps the raid was there. However, the Selma Manor was at 6526 Selma...
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-P...043%2520PM.jpgLos Angeles Times
1941


6526 Selma Ave is no more.

ethereal_reality Oct 18, 2012 9:14 PM

http://imageshack.us/a/img27/7952/aa...chools1909.jpg
ebay

GaylordWilshire Oct 18, 2012 10:08 PM

:previous:

I don't remember hearing about the Custer Ave school before—here's a clear shot of it. According to the source, "The Custer Avenue School was built in 1895. It was the first Junior High School (Middle School in the District) It became an elementary school in 1914. It was located on the corner of Custer and Temple Streets."

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...2520PM.bmp.jpghttp://www.lausd.net


And there's this:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...2520PM.bmp.jpg
More pics here: ebay

ethereal_reality Oct 18, 2012 10:09 PM

:previous: Interesting GW. I wasn't aware of the Custer Ave. School either.



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/PJIrOK.jpg
ebay





below: Blond & bodacious Marie Wilson

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/9KthSS.jpg
ebay





below: 'Blackouts of 1948' at the El Capitan on Vine Street in Hollywood.

http://imageshack.us/a/img210/984/aa...tantheater.jpg




below: 'Blackouts' placard along the street.

http://imageshack.us/a/img109/4137/a...utsplacard.jpg



http://imageshack.us/a/img545/4126/aabblackoutsg1a.jpg
http://store.acousticsounds.com/incl...title_id=26812


For more information on Ken Murray and his long running stage show clink on the link.
http://projects.latimes.com/hollywoo...lk/ken-murray/

__


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:19 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.