Oh, Ethereal, thank you! You just gave me a whole new angle and neighbor hood for one of the characters in my book to live in!:cheers:

Wonderful Post David-3940dxer!!


I wasn't aware of a Bungalow Land until that map...very cool find. I get confused with the area at the top of Laurel Canyon. I still wouldn't be able to point out where the 'Lookout Inn' used to be. I would find it interesting to see a photo taken from Hollywood and looking up into the Laurel Canyon area and have a X to mark the spot (hint hint) ;)

Sorry I can't answer your question about the locations of the Log House and Tavern Inn.
It would be fun to find out more about the remnant of the stone fireplace.


When you're up in that area have you noticed a building that kinda looks like an elementary school?
Here's a photo of it from the late 1970s or early 80s.

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1...mountainai.jpg

Back in the day it was a secret film studio that produced government films (atomic films during the Cold War). It's been mentioned briefly in the thread a few years back. Anyway, I just thought it would be cool to see more recent photos of this mysterious place.
Everyone loves a mystery....right? :)

Noirish Photos from the Los Angeles Times
 

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/4...tscene1970.jpg
Oct. 29, 1943: Nighttime cityscape seen from Los Angeles City Hall tower looking west, during World War II dimout. The building in the foreground is the old Hall of Records.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/4...tscene2970.jpg
Oct. 29, 1943: Nighttime cityscape seen from Los Angeles City Hall tower looking northeast, during World War II dimout. The building in the left foreground is the Hall of Justice.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6...tscene3970.jpg
Oct. 29, 1943: Nighttime cityscape seen from Los Angeles City Hall tower looking north, during World War II dimout. The U.S. Federal Courthouse roof is in the middle foreground. N. Spring Street is on the left. The post office Terminal Annex is on the right.

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/6...tscene4970.jpg
Oct. 29, 1943: Nighttime cityscape seen from Los Angeles City Hall tower looking east, during World War II dimout. Union Station is just left of the center of the image. The post office Terminal Annex is left of Union station.

By the time those were taken, people had obviously quit worrying about an air attack by the Japanese.

E_R, thanks fir the tour of Alvarado terrace. I remember seeing the pomeroy powers home in an LA photo thread by kingofthehill a couple years ago and loving it. I did a quick streetview tour back then, but this was much better and informative. I still can't get enough of old historic homes of any size.

minkykat...just so you know, Terrace Park used to be known as Summerland Park.
It was named after Theodore Summerland, city council member and county assessor from 1894 to 1902.

I thought this was a tidbit that you might like to know.

Yes, that military film complex has been on my wish list. My wife and I have an errand in that area tomorrow and maybe we'll go look for it. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out exactly where it is, but finally found it about about 2 hours of searching. It's a very extravagant private residence now. Here's a Google satellite image. Nice parking lot. (!)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/lookout.studio.3.jpg

Here is what I found on this complex: "For twenty-two years during the Cold War, the federal government operated a secret film studio in the Hollywood Hills, in a complex which has since been converted into a private residence. Called Lookout Mountain Air Force Station, the studio produced films from 1947 to 1969, for all branches of the armed services, as well as for the Atomic Energy Commission. Though this was the principal production facility for the films of the atmospheric nuclear testing program, only a few dozen of the thousands of films made here have been declassified. The self-contained filmmaking compound employed around 250 people, and covered 2.5 built-up acres, housing studios, film vaults, production areas and screening rooms. It is surrounded by residential structures in the eccentric and hilly neighborhood on Wonderland Avenue, five minutes from the Sunset Strip, and is now the home of a Municipal Court Commissioner and an artist."

And: "The Lookout Mountain Air Force Station (LMAFS) located on Wonderland Avenue, Los Angeles, California, provided in-service production of classified motion picture and still photographs to the U.S. Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission from 1947-1969.

The 100000 sqft facility is built on 2 acre of land and was originally built in 1941 as a World War II air defense center to coordinate radar installations. The studio was established in 1947 and its purpose kept secret. The studio consisted of a complete stage, 2 screening rooms, a helicopter landing pad, a bomb shelter and 17 climate controlled film vaults as well as two underground parking garages. With the latest equipment the studio could process both 35 mm and 16 mm motion pictures as well as optical prints and still photographs. The nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site were filmed in various formats including CinemaScope, stereophonic sound, VistaVision and 3-D photography."

Very hard to see from street view:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6...38e72f5b_b.jpg

tidbit more on wikipedia's Billy Berg entry--
 

The Capri was addnly mentioned as a gay hangout sometimes in the 50s (later becoming Glen's) in one of the REMEMBER WHEN essays in a late issue of GayGirlsRidingClub newslettter- It's address was 374 S.LaCienega - putting it just above Olympic Blvd - These issues squired inside OneArchives periodical collection---Tasty and rare data on the 50s decade in two issues..

Fantastic! Thanks!:banana:

Thanks for sharing your findings rcarlton! I had no idea it was such a large complex.



below: A rare screen grab of one of the films produced at the secret studio in Laurel Canyon.
Surprisingly, 'Lookout Mountain Laboratory' is listed in the credits.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5812/...koutmtnlab.jpg
unclassified usaf



It's hard for me to swallow that this 'Cold War' complex is now a 'private' residence.
What could possibly be done with 17 film vaults and a 200 car underground parking garage? (not to mention all the other unusual amenities)
Why didn't the U.S. Government simply tear it all down?

FYI: I am certainly not a 'tin foil hat' type of person but this seems very odd to me.
____

The 1352d Motion Picture Squadron, aka LMAFS
 

My wife and I (and dog Waffle) had a long interesting walk around Laurel Canyon this Super Bowl Sunday. I've always liked this area a lot. When I moved here from the Bay Area in '77 Laurel Canyon was where I wanted to live. That didn't quite happen -- it was Flores St. instead, just south -- I but still enjoy exploring the Canyon.

There are several spots that I plan to talk about but to maintain order I'll handle the topics separately in the sequence we saw them today, starting with the 1352d Motion Picture Squadron, aka Lookout Mountain Air Force Station (LMAFS).

I had a lot of trouble finding this spot, partly because the one address I found on the web was wrong. The property is nearly a block long and has 2 entrances, each with its own mailbox and street number. The east mailbox is marked 8935, the west 8945. It is indeed well hidden from the street, by gates and foliage, but here are a few shots. Many of these were taken through gaps in the black iron fence.

There is at least one real estate site that lists this property and shows it as modern, fabulously renovated mansion but oddly, none of the improvements can be seen from the street. From the outside, it looks just like what it used to be -- an mid century military installation that simply shut down one day. Seeing it from the street you'd think it's only been gathering dust since 1970 or whatever, but apparently that's not the case (see next post).

East entrance and fallout shelter.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6097.JPG


East entrance again, close ups of shelter and Douglas Aircraft intercom ("EXPLOSION HAZARD").

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6081.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6082.JPG


Behind the 2nd level windows that face the street are huge electrical panels.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6098.JPG


Some views from across the street.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6090.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6096.JPG


Huge gate at the west entrance, mailbox, parking lot and buildings beyond.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6100.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6095.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6085.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6088.JPG

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/100_6080.JPG


L.A. Times June 22, 1954. (Note the line about "12 foot thick walls"! Could that be a typo? 12 feet thick???)
http://wwww.dkse.net/david/LCyn/LMAFS/lab.1.jpg
LAPL

Here are some images from the site with the real estate listing. You'd hardly recognize it, right? But it's the same place. There's the old telephone booth, in the 3rd shot. The site seems to indicate that the property was listed just a few days ago, but that may be incorrect. In any case, my photos are more recent than the ones below. You can buy it right now for $5,750,000.00. Here on the Noirish L.A. thread, truth is often stranger than fiction!

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...579751_1_1.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...579751_3_1.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...579751_4_1.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...579751_5_1.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...579751_6_0.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...579751_7_0.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...79751_13_0.jpg

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/40...79751_14_0.jpg

All from http://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles...6/home/7123564.

If they throw in the Roller - sure!

Really interesting.

Fantastic photos, 3940dxer! Not long ago ethereal_reality suggested a building downtown for the official clubhouse of Noirish Los Angeles; I think the 1352d Motion Picture Squadron site would be even better.

That is perhaps the most bizarre place I have ever seen. I would love to see the whole building and what they have done with the remainder of that immense facility.

The rooms we see appear to have had design flung at them by the handfulls. There is everything from african tribal art to medieval to greco roman to cubist all housed in a very mid-century industrial space. Eclecticism reigns supreme!

My favorite elements are the phone booth and the 50's Airstream barely visible in the third color photo. I would keep both there in perpetuity.

~Jon Paul

Thank you and my pleasure. This place was definitely weirder and more interesting than I had expected! I have a few more stories in the pipeline about Laurel Canyon, but I don't think I'll be able to top this one any time soon.

I am simply amazed by your photographs of the Lookout Mountain Laboratory David. Congratulations to you...your wife....and Waffle. :)

I was stunned when I saw the phone booth. It looks as if it's waiting for some long lost cold war ghost to come along and place a call.
There were several other surprises: The 'FALLOUT SHELTER' sign still prominently displayed. The huge electrical panels on view through the windows
(where I expected a breakfast nook if it were indeed a private residence). The Douglas Aircraft intercom system still attached to the outer wall.
The article that mentions 12 foot thick walls (think about that for a moment.... 12 foot thick walls!!)

Perhaps one of us could pose as a millionaire (billionaire?) and request a tour through the real estate site that published the photos?

FYI: I've been told (by Johnny Socko) that there is a DVD available titled 'Atomic Filmmakers' produced by Peter Kuran of VCE.
It tells the history of the Lookout Mountain Laboratory.

Again, good job David.

ethereal_reality, this is indeed very strange. Let us know if you get any visits in middle of the night from men wearing black suits and dark sunglasses demanding you take down these pictures.:jester:

3940dxer:

I did not think it was possible, but you have outdone yourself again!

If the wife ever hits the Mega Millions, I will buy the place and have a noirish party.
I will have to move quickly before she realizes what I have done and has me done in.
If that is the case you can all come to my wake. I'll leave word for an open bar.

By the way, what is this?

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2...utmountain.jpg

p.s. I love the telephone booth.