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Under magnification, it does look like there's a rear-projection screen housed within the box structure. There also appears to be a steel cable strung across the opening most of the way up. I don't see any provision for audio, so stills or silent movies likely were the video format. Looking across the street, where the presumed audience would be, there was the Cherokee Building (now the Hollywood-Cherokee Building). The "T" intersection provides for a longer continuous sidewalk on that side of the Boulevard, which makes me wonder if it was a preferred area for viewing parades or whatever. Meanwhile, note the apparent radio antenna mast supported by guy wires above or behind the United Airlines ticket office. The mast doesn't appear substantial enough for commercial broadcast (could be wrong here), so I wonder (a) if that's what it was, (b) what its purpose might've been and (c) if it had any relationship beyond proximity to The Thing. For a smallish commercial building, The Virginia certainly had its share of interesting features. |
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To wit, Frank Lloyd directed the film "THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA" in the late 1930s starring Cary Grant. Lloyd has his sidewalk walk of fame star almost directly in front of this building location at 6667 Hollywood Blvd. Could that have something to do with the building being called the "Virginia"? Maybe Lloyd had offices there or even an ownership interest (hence naming rights)? Anyway, his star is right in front of where it stood. Lloyd is best known for directing the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty starring Clark Gable & Charles Laughton. Perhaps the gadget on the roof was an audio/visual device to promote his films? |
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If I recall correctly, The Virginia was an apartment complex. ____________ HossC posted this in 2014, indicating it was... Quote:
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I did a Newspapers.com search of the address hoping for an article. Nothing, but here's what I gleaned and deduced from the photos:
6637 Hollywood Blvd: The Jade. No advertisements or mentions. Then Sontag Drugs after 1937. 6635 Hollywood Blvd: United Air Lines/Western Air Express ticket office. No mentions after 1937. 6633 Hollywood Blvd: Stern's Fine Furs. July 1937 ad states "Moving to 6659 Hollywood Blvd" and "Building Coming Down" 6631 Hollywood Blvd: Lichter's Deli. October 1937 article says moved to 6615. 6629 1/2 Hollywood Blvd: Unmarked door, probably to apartments on second floor, consistent with Martin Pal/HossC postings. 6629 Hollywood Blvd: 1936 ad for Dudleigh's Smoke Shop, then 1938 article stating Los Angeles Music Company moving into the Sontag Building. 6627 Hollywood Blvd: Edmund F. Richardson, Optometrist mentioned in article. Then starting in 1938, ads for musical instruments bought and sold. So this reinforces what we already knew, and the mystery object dates to before the building was convert to Sontag Drugs in the early Fall of 1937. 6637-6631 Sontag, 6629 1/2 gone, 6629-6627 Los Angeles Music Co. Cheers, Earl |
What about 6625 Hollywood Blvd?
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Here's another view, dated 1925, of The Virginia Apartments building. https://i.imgur.com/OSYR4eT.jpg waterandpower.org As to the "roof-top oddity", I think this July 1936 permit is the one that relates to it. Only refers to it as being a steel sign though. :shrug: https://i.imgur.com/lTRDinU.jpg ladbsdoc.lacity.org The pictures with the oddity on the roof must come between this and demolition in August 1937. |
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1934, Peter B Maus, butcher November 1935, The Curtain Store July 1938 Mattson's Army Navy store and the Curtain Store July 1944 The Italian Kitchen and The Curtain Store The Curtain Store uniformly until January 1960 [!] and then Christian Science Reading Room. Cheers, Earl |
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There is a permit for a water tower in 1937. Water towers are required for sprinkler systems. Not seen on any photos yet. Demolition permit in 1937. No description of what was demolished. Permit was issued to a wrecking company so the work might be substantial. Sign installation in 1938. There is also the possibility the installation was illegal. Not unheard of for the era. |
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What you perceived to be a steel cable inside the box may also be a shade or louver to break down a bit more of the incoming light from the opening. |
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Thanks, Earl Boebert! I just wanted to make clear for those that don't know, after 1937 The Jade relocated, as NoirCityDame points out in her post that HossC re-posted recently. Quote:
Noir_Noir, thanks for the 1925 photo of The Virginia Bldg. which shows that the corner location was a drug store before The Jade was there, as well as after. Also that permit is quite interesting. I wonder if there's any more that can be gleaned about what that "steel sign" was for from the company that made it? |
I've combined two previously-posted photos of the building at Hollywood Blvd. and Cherokee Avenue for convenience:
https://i.postimg.cc/0rRkX4NF/Cher-Holl-NE.jpg The device seems to be aimed very precisely at some point across the street, seemingly at 6636 Hollywood Blvd. In 1937, 6636 had the offices of the World Wide Wonders Motion Pictures company: https://i.postimg.cc/bNDSCXmC/6636-H...nnual-1937.jpg Film Daily Product Guide and Director's Annual of 1937. Could the device be some sort of screen with an internal projector, meant to be seen from the offices of said company for some purpose (publicity? development of backing?)? Or could it be a projector meant to project something onto that building, again for the purposes of that company? And so . . . no final answer yet; but the plot thickens with the World Wide Wonders Motion Pictures company. |
It looks like one of Martin Turnbull's followers on Twitter solved the mystery yesterday.
https://twitter.com/SF_Historian/sta...39074228297732 |
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Mystery solved? Yowsa! The poster on MT's twitter tweeted: SF_Historian @SF_Historian · Apr 16 In 1936, Mabel Grady leased the rooftop of her building for construction of a new "motion picture billboard." Less than a year later, however, Grady sold the building to Sanford Jacobi, who demolished the building for a new Sontag drugstore. L.A. Citizen, September 5, 1936 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzHldDfW...g&name=900x900 Hmm...a San Francisco historian found the answer! ___ Thanks for finding this Handsome Stranger! That mystery was a long time solving!!! |
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Thank you HenryHuntington! Well, apparently when I wrote above that the album was the first I'd heard of the Royal Room, that wasn't the case. In December of 2017 I posted 5 Christmas themed photos. But this photo is missing on the post now: Quote:
:???: I did find another photo, from a block away, to the left of the Egyptian Theatre, showing the blade sign. It's dated 1951, the same year the above Jack Teagarden album was recorded live there. https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img..._PpqSe1OJo.jpgLink _________________________________________________________________ I did find that other photo on Alamy Stock photo: The banner at street level for Royal Room (blade sign right) looks like it might say Dixieland. https://c7.alamy.com/comp/C1W9CK/usa...ght-C1W9CK.jpg |
P.S.: In some jazz magazine from the period that I had found references to the Royal Room, the author wrote that author "James Jones used to come in the Royal Room with Lowney Handy." Whoever that is.
______ ^^^ Well, I assumed that was another guy, but I was incorrect: In downstate Illinois throughout the 1950s, legendary novelist James Jones and his patron, mentor, and lover Lowney Handy, formed a countercultural writers’ group, known locally as The Colony. Lowney was an older, married, childless woman, whose unconditional support of ex-G.I. Jones between 1944 and 1950 allowed him to write his vast, groundbreaking novel From Here to Eternity. A LIFE Magazine photo-essay about Jones and Lowney was featured in the May 8, 1951, issue. Lowney was described as Jones’s foster-mother, which was plausible due to her being 17 years his senior. A photo of them is at the link I found this information: LINK |
The Virginia "thingy"
I am glad you noir folks finally solved the projection box mystery at 6637 Hollywood. Kudos, I knew you would do it!
I was a set and props man from 1988-2004, and worked in a whole lot of the places that you post and have lurked in silence here for the past many years. After installing Proton Sony Monitors in the 80's, and installing RP ( rear projection) & FP screens and working with Iwerks projection units I bet it had to be a projection device. A tilted inner screen, and, as with any one of a kind prototype installation... they had to add that extra overhead sun shield (I can see that it bows) after the construction to get the right effect. Projecting moving or still pictures on a screen during daylight is a real tricky thing, but I was surprised that someone tried this out so early. I would bet it was not very successful during the day, and it probably did good at night. A RP screen has to have a slight matte viewing side to reduce glare, and a semi diffused rear side to reduce light "bounce back scatter" so back then I think they would have had to use glass , but they could have used stretched fabric, and deal with the wind/ repair issue later. The lack of a visible exhaust vent for the carbon arc, or super bright light source is a little puzzling though. I spent 2004-2020 as a Construction & Design manager for one of the Hollywood restaurant groups so I can tell you the Geisha House was designed in 2004 and lasted until about 2014, and that it is not the old Virginia structure. Additionally, the Las Palmas and Hollywood Bldg. with rooftop "widows walk" building was a 2 year office of Dodd Mitchell Design ( Hospitality) about 2008. I was there 5 or 6 times. The Atrium was not part of the offices , but private and accessed through the icky restaurant or the Las Palmas entrance. That restaurant was a greasy spoon. The Hollywood BLVD. entrance to DMD had the old ancient door, and all of the old hexagonal tiles and stairs. Lastly, 6637 is slated to be demolished soon, it looks like its going to be a hotel. See LA Curbed , item 18. https://la.curbed.com/maps/hollywood...s-construction Sorry to be long winded. I hope I posted it correctly. You folks are a great forum and resource for those of us who live and work here and all of the history that goes along with it! JE |
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Looking at all those projects to be built at that link, they might as well change the name of the area to Hotelwood. |
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https://i.postimg.cc/hvyxJTKp/Lyon-Aliso.jpg detail 1909 birdseye map Lyon is the diagonal street near the top, Aliso is the street running horizontally above the word "Maier." In the 1880s, the Paraffine men would have been able to see the gigantic Aliso tree in the yard of the brewery (it was gone by the time of the birdseye map). All in all, quite a good location. :tup: |
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