An update on the dead babies mystery.
There's a connection to a woman named Jean M. Barrie.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...or-deaths.html


msnbc link

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38774175/ns/us_news




Below: The Glen-Donald Apartment Building


http://a.imageshack.us/img178/1204/l...biesfoundh.jpg
damien dovarganes

It's funny, I thought the initial report said that the building in which the babies' bodies were found was on South Lake Street. Ah, I guess it's at the corner of Lake and James M. Wood (and, I have to figure out why that street is named that. Has always struck me as odd; it's 9th Street!).

Huh, OK, a few clicks, and here we go: He was a labor leader in Los Angeles. He even worked at keeping rents affordable downtown, and guaranteeing good wages for folks working on the new Bunker Hill developments. Very interesting.

Back later; I'm working on a long post with observations on all the stuff I've found in this thread over the past couple of weeks or whatever.

Finally caught up!
 

I have finally made it all the way through this thread.

I see that LA Space Cadet trumped me a bit on one of the panoramas, back on page 80. Man, so much to keep up with.

I guess I've lived in LA long enough now - 19 years?! - that I've lived near many of these places and certainly recognize more. I started out on the West side, and kind of progressively moved east, including stints in Mid-City (close to the Paul R. Williams house in post #1385), Koreatown (near Perinos, from the same post), and now Mount Washington.

So glad you posted those Mount Washington photos, Ethereal. Cool pictures in post #1490; I've seen a number of those, but not the copy of "The Mt. Washington Eagle." That's very cool. I so wish that funicular was still in use in Mt. Washington. I'd take it every day down to the subway (well, light rail, I guess).

I take the Gold Line light rail to work most mornings, and also ride my bike sometimes. So, your posts and film clip (from "This Gun for Hire") on the Cornfield, post #1376, are intimately familiar to me. I don't think I knew quite the extent of the railyards that were located there. I'm still trying to find any footings or trace of the footbridge that went across them, that you can see in the movie.

Kanhawk, post #1580: Looks like those delinquents who led the police on an 8-mile chase may all have lived to a ripe old age:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/...d17a987f5b.jpg
Delinquents by jonathanv_00, on Flickr

Richard Handt: There's a Richard Handt, age 65+, living in San Fernando. That would place his birth somewhere in the mid- to early 1930s. If this picture was taken in 1951, figure he may be 16-17 years old here, born in 1934 or so.

Ernie Smith: Way too common of a name, but there is one, 65+, living in the Mid-City area.

Donald Finwall: Looks to be one between 65 and 75, living in Redding. Maybe he had enough of the bad crowd he was running with; that Ernie Smith is definitely the troublemaker of the bunch. :)

Fourth name is hard to make out - Jack Ervington, perhaps? That comes up empty, but there's a John Elkington, 65+, in Foster City, CA. So, looks like they all may have lived to a ripe old age.

Someone mentioned the Dragon's Den, in post #1368. The interior is now at the Autry Museum, in Griffith Park, next to the LA Zoo. It's part of an exhibit on a Chinese family's history in Southern California. I knew that name sounded familiar when I saw it on the side of the building in the photo. I don't really remember if they brought over the murals, too, or just all the menus, cookware, etc. I did find one picture of the interior, but instead of stealing her bandwidth, here's a link to the "On Gold Mountain" website, based on a book of the same name by Lisa See: http://apa.si.edu/ongoldmountain/ Click on "Gallery 5, The Dragon's Den." There are a lot of other cool pictures on that site, too.

And, finally my own Then and Now, of the Figueroa Tunnels in the 1930s, and today:
Then:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/...8c3eb60cd0.jpg
FigTunnelsLARiver1930s by jonathanv_00, on Flickr

Now:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...4e376670c2.jpg
FigTunnelsLARiverToday by jonathanv_00, on Flickr

Not the best picture, but the best I can do without a balloon or an airplane!

:previous:
That then and now of the Fig. Tunnels is actually pretty good, chinghis! Thanks for posting that. And thanks for posting the follow-up to those delinquents. :)

Very interesting post chinghis....good job.





Here is a larger photo of the Mandarin Market gsjansen posted in #1671.
Northeast corner of Vine St. & LaMirada.


http://a.imageshack.us/img217/2884/l...nmarketnor.jpg
usc







Below: Pan-Gas service station at Washington Blvd. and Gramercy Place. (1928)
Notice the striped pole stop sign (the sign itself seems rather small).



http://a.imageshack.us/img217/9039/l...angas1928a.jpg
usc






http://a.imageshack.us/img217/2135/l...p2apangas2.jpg
usc







Below: ELIXER service station at Washington Blvd. & Hoover. (1936)

http://a.imageshack.us/img412/226/la...ixerwashin.jpg
ucla

An impressive Richfield service station in Los Angeles, no exact address given. (1925)



http://a.imageshack.us/img90/5262/la...ldfillings.jpg
usc







Side view of a different Richfield station (at first I thought they were the same station).
This one is more ornate with caryatid-like figures on the pillars.


http://a.imageshack.us/img291/5262/l...ldfillings.jpg
ucla

This CALPET station tops them all with genie attendants. (1922)


http://a.imageshack.us/img444/305/la...erviceatte.jpg
usc





below: Oops, I guess the attendants were male after all.





http://a.imageshack.us/img571/9030/l...lpet19221a.jpg
usc









below: Now I'm guessing the genies were hired for the grand opening (see the balloons) as eye-candy....it IS Hollywood after all.



http://a.imageshack.us/img294/1264/l...ervicestat.jpg
ucla



I would love to see a color photograph of this station. I'm sure the tile roof and the tile along the base was beautiful.

Why do you think they chose this particular motif?
My only guess is that CALPET is close to CARPET...as in flying carpet.

Here are couple more from the Los Angeles area.






Below: This one is too cute for words.

http://a.imageshack.us/img217/5609/l...rlystation.jpg
usc










below: I love the BIG dollar sign.

http://a.imageshack.us/img405/9448/l...dalehansen.jpg
usc


Can anyone tell what kind of gasoline they were selling...it looks like 'something' plane gasoline.....monoplane perhaps.

Monoplane! (in a Phil Hartman voice)

Thanks, glad you like it. I didn't realize that what's now Riverside Drive was Figureroa back then. Today, it's an odd street over the river that makes a weird curve. That bridge and road across the river would have dumped you off right at Figueroa under the configuration you see in the 1930s picture; it now makes complete sense to me. I also like the look of the LA River and the Arroyo Seco; both have a lot of vegetation in them, still pretty wild.

Love the gas station pictures, thanks.

great service station photos ER!

here's another

http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Converter?i...0&w=1200&h=762
Calisphere

and just one more

service attendants at jean's service station

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics46/00057679.jpg
LAPL

^^^That's a hoot! They look more like librarians than gas station attendants.

A great night-time shot of a Gilmore service station in Los Angeles.
Notice the Gilmore Lion at the top of the sign. "Roar with Gilmore!"



http://a.imageshack.us/img155/5018/l...oregasnoir.jpg
usc

Wow, an airplane for a gas station. I wonder if that had any resonance with people in LA who remembered that there was an airfield right down the street (at Fairfax and Wilshire) not more than 20 years earlier.

The building that you can see in the upper right-hand corner is still there, too. You can see if on Google Maps Streetview if you put in the address and go up Cochran a little bit. The site of the gas station itself is a large, Modernist structure (revamped from its original colors and stuff, but still Modernist).

Two very 'noir' photos from 1952 of a downpour in Los Angeles. Can anyone figure out where these were taken?




http://a.imageshack.us/img442/7013/l...or1ain1952.jpg
usc








http://a.imageshack.us/img442/6876/l...oor1in1952.jpg
usc










Below: Repairing/welding the rails on Figueroa in 1953.

http://a.imageshack.us/img261/3853/l...roa1953odd.jpg
usc







Below: Two photographs of a gas main fire at 95th St. & Normandie in 1952.


http://a.imageshack.us/img405/6129/l...mainfire1a.jpg
usc








http://a.imageshack.us/img90/9705/la...fire95thno.jpg
usc

I'm pretty sure this photograph of Angels Flight hasn't been posted yet (I could be wrong).

Notice the woman walking center-right on Clay Street ; her attire appears to be from the 1910s.





http://a.imageshack.us/img217/9441/l...angelsflig.jpg
unknown

Wow! Great thread... love those Gas Stations with so many different themes. Very interesting, was that a trend in the US then or just LA being LA?

chinghis, thanks so much for doing a search on those rascals. Glad to see none of them are residing in San Quentin right now.:haha:

Was it you or Sopas_ej that did a big great post on old traffic signs? Was it within this thread? I'd love to revisit that post, but unless someone remembers where it is, I'll never find it again in this huge thread.