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Handsome Stranger Jan 3, 2012 5:06 AM

GaylordWilshire, I think you nailed the Criterion sign in Santa Monica. It looks to my eyes to be identical to the one that appears in The Outer Limits.

Sebisebster Jan 3, 2012 11:14 AM

A young shoeshine boy at Pershing Square
 
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6279/00072141.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Source: LAPL http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=75680

Photographer: Herman Schultheis


Another great Pershing Square scene from the past, early years of the 20th century.
I thought it was a good picture to share with you.
Happy new year to all of you!:tup:

GaylordWilshire Jan 3, 2012 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5535158)
Here's another Earl Carroll photo I don't remember seeing....the construction of the revolving stage in 1938.
(to be honest, I didn't know that Earl Carroll's had a revolving stage)

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/2...stage1938l.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=38854

The spectacular interior of Earl Carrolls was an art deco lover's wet-dream. To see the interior click on the link below.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1504


Great shot, e_r...and the interior shots in your older post are spectacular. As for the revolving stage--I suppose all the dancing and tapping and music drowned out any noise from the mechanics, but it seems like there must have been alot of creaking and grinding to overcome! A few more pics of the works:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t...2520AM.bmp.jpgHistoric Hollywood Theatres

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...2520AM.bmp.jpgHistoric Hollywood Theatres


Below is the underside of one of the elevators that lifted showgirls to the stage (in light of a recent elevator accident here in NY, there is no way I'd have gotten in this thing--reminds me of those old parking garage conveyors for the attendants, which used to scare me just looking at them). How did the girls avoid getting their feathers caught, not to mention legs and fingers?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-R...2520AM.bmp.jpgHistoric Hollywood Theatres


Excellent site on the Earl Carroll, with alot more color pics, here: https://sites.google.com/site/hollyw...s/earl-carroll


Gordon Kaufmann designed the exterior of the Earl Carroll and collaborated on the interior, and the billboard indicates that his firm Kaufmann, Lippincott and Eggers designed the new unbuilt theater too:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J...2520AM.bmp.jpgLAPL

GaylordWilshire Jan 3, 2012 1:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5456706)
A postcard view of the Hollywood Palladium and the Columbia Broadcast System's western headquarters on Sunset Boulevard.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8...diumhugece.jpg
postcard via Cesar Del Valle

And I'm reminded that Gordon Kaufmann also designed the Palladium (I remembered your post above, e_r), which went
on to a '60s remodeling and has now been brought back to its 1940 look:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics34/00036892.jpgLAPL
September 23, 1940: The singer that night was Sinatra.


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics27/00063456.jpgLAPL
I might have had a fit when the original was remodeled if I'd been paying attention then (or was old enough to pay
attention), but this version now has its own charm.... wish we could have both versions!


And ahead to the past:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...2520AM.bmp.jpgGoogle Street View

FredH Jan 3, 2012 5:36 PM

Carthay Circle Theater
 
Torn down, of course: :koko:

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3909/carthay.jpg
Los Angeles Times

Story and more pictures here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/03...ircle-theater/


Now we have this:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4809/carthaynow.jpg
Google Street View

Wow! Thanks a bunch

citywatch Jan 3, 2012 6:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5535114)


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...2520PM.bmp.jpg
hollywoodphotographs.com

(in case you couldn't tell) I'm assuming it's the same building, since it's the same height; I might have been upset when the remodeling took place, but now it looks like architectural nirvana compared to what's there today (not worth posting a pic of it--standard issue post-Postmodern L.A. filler). (Will we ever feel nostalgic about the sameness of the past 20 years?)

I have to disagree, gaylordw, if only due to such old bldgs never being too exceptional in the first place. A hint of that is I've read countless number of times through the yrs about ppl visiting hollywood, & so many of them coming away disappointed by it. I don't remember hearing the same thing said about another cliched tourist spot around where you live, meaning times square.

I remember a writer for Time magazine----possible around the late 1980s or early 1990s----describing hollywood as reminding him of a typical town in the midwest, with its mostly short, forgettable bldgs. So I give higher marks than you do for replacement devlpt like this, if only cuz they're not as typical of squat "smaller midwestern city" type bldgs & also cuz they include residential....

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn89/Viewpark/HV.jpg
maps.google.com

GaylordWilshire Jan 3, 2012 7:25 PM

:previous:

Interesting, citywatch. But I guess I wonder, why replace unexceptional with unexceptional? And I suppose I never saw anything wrong with Hollywood looking more like a small town in the Midwest (the Time reporter who said this was most likely from east of the Hudson, after all) than an accretion of generic examples of the design stasis we've been in for 20 years--much less like an ersatz Times Square (which is really just a shopping mall now). Are tourists leaving Hollywood these days any more dazzled by the architecture than they were in the '60s? I don't think so. The streetscape of '60s Hollywood was definitely ugly in large measure, but the current sameness is equally uninspiring... IMHO. Anyway, I'm really only here to look back. I miss the old, gritty Times Square too--I'm happy to have the personal memory of a much grittier New York because it was a much more stimulating place in about a thousand ways--but at this point I don't really mind being able to sit back and enjoy its safer if relatively boring and undiverse (is that a word?) energy. I know it's economics, its building itself up and out to the sidewalks, but I do hate seeing L.A. trying to Manhattanize itself. Stop trying! It seems like one day NY & LA will meet in the middle, and it'll all look alike Omaha. That's why I wouldn't mine having Wallich's back, even if it could have also been in '60s Omaha or Queens. (P.S. If none of this makes sense, please let me blame it on the bad head cold I have.)

GaylordWilshire Jan 3, 2012 8:17 PM

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...2520PM.bmp.jpg

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

These are from this fabulous youtube short. The restaurants! The cars! The color!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7QUr7yIfts


And here's a bit of an oddity... Actor Richard Carlson giving a tour of L.A. in his Packard
convertible. Dinner on me at Chasen's to the first person who can identify the building
in this pic....

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


It's in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWEqv...eature=related

Fab Fifties Fan Jan 3, 2012 9:01 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7QUr7yIfts


And here's a bit of an oddity... Actor Richard Carlson giving a tour of L.A. in his Packard
convertible. Dinner on me at Chasen's to the first person who can identify the building
in this pic....

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

I'll have a bowl of chili and a grilled cheese G_W. That's Sid's place, the Chinese Theater ;)

~Jon Paul

It's in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWEqv...eature=related[/QUOTE]

ethereal_reality Jan 3, 2012 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 5535731)
Torn down, of course: :koko:

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3909/carthay.jpg
Los Angeles Times

Story and more pictures here:

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/03...ircle-theater/


Now we have this:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4809/carthaynow.jpg
Google Street View




The Carthay Circle Theater has always been one of my favorite theaters FredH.

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/7266/carthaypc.jpg
ebay

Here's a link to an earlier post with some AERIAL photos of the Carthay Circle.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=719


This link is to an excellent post by sopas_ej. There is even a COLOR photo of the lobby.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2584

FredH Jan 3, 2012 11:58 PM

:previous:

I didn't realize the history of the place ethereal_reality. I should go back to the beginning of this forum and take a second look at all the posts.

Anyway, here is a new aerial view of the area. It looks like the school at the back of the curved road might be the same. Also, the little park across the street is still there (it was probably too small to put in a Burger King, or something).

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3...haycircle2.jpg
Google Earth

I wonder who Commodore Sloat was? :Titanic:


p.s O.K., so I had to look it up.

John Drake Sloat (July 6, 1781 – November 28, 1867) was a commodore in the United States Navy who, in 1846, claimed California for the United States.
Not too shabby!

Leo the Dog Jan 4, 2012 2:01 AM

I'm on the 190 page area right now, but wow, you guys are doing a great job! I love CA and I love history, this is fascinating. LA has such an incredible history that is unique to LA alone!

kanhawk Jan 4, 2012 2:44 AM

Some famous Los Angeles diners at Chasen's

http://fiftieswesterns.files.wordpre...011/03/h80.jpg
http://fiftieswesterns.files.wordpre...011/03/h80.jpg

ethereal_reality Jan 4, 2012 2:59 AM

:previous: I recognize William Holden and the Reagans....but who are the other two?

Steve Hoffman Jan 4, 2012 3:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fab Fifties Fan (Post 5490833)
Given my fascination with vanished Los Angeles movie palaces, I just had to go looking for more on the Figueroa Theater. Here are some interior photos from the LAPL site. They are dated 1945.

Lobby
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/525...eaterlobby.jpg

Mezzanine
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9...ueroatheat.jpg

Auditorium
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/3...erauditori.jpg
All images LAPL


~Jon Paul

Hi, first post here but having read alll 200 something pages of this thread, I know more about LA than I did having lived here all my life.

Regarding the FOX, it happened that my parents and I were at a Lakers game at the Sports Arena back in 1968 and our car was on the edge of the lot. I looked over and saw a sight that still freaks me out all these years later. The entire front of the Fox theater had been wrecking balled away and you could look in and see the vast seats and all the ornamentation, curtain, etc. of the inside of the theater. I remember staring in wonder at it. It was truly creepy to me and I wondered (not for the last time) why something so beautiful was being torn down. I remember it being pretty spooky at night with the security lights on shining inside that vast space. If I close my eyes I can still see it. My little buddy dared me to go in there and I looked at him like he was from the moon. No way was I going to go into that haunted place..

kanhawk Jan 4, 2012 3:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5536425)
:previous: I recognize William Holden and the Reagans....but who are the other two?

According to the caption at the website, the attractive brunette to the left of William Holden is his wife of 30 years, actress Brenda Marshall. The guy to the far left is Don Taylor, and I have no idea who he is.

GaylordWilshire Jan 4, 2012 3:43 AM

:previous:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-M.../dontaylor.jpgIMDB

Well, I guess as Elizabeth Taylor's husband in Father of the Bride, he shouldn't be allowed to pass unnoticed.

ethereal_reality Jan 4, 2012 4:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Hoffman (Post 5536429)
Hi, first post here but having read alll 200 something pages of this thread, I know more about LA than I did having lived here all my life.

Regarding the FOX, it happened that my parents and I were at a Lakers game at the Sports Arena back in 1968 and our car was on the edge of the lot. I looked over and saw a sight that still freaks me out all these years later. The entire front of the Fox theater had been wrecking balled away and you could look in and see the vast seats and all the ornamentation, curtain, etc. of the inside of the theater. I remember staring in wonder at it. It was truly creepy to me and I wondered (not for the last time) why something so beautiful was being torn down. I remember it being pretty spooky at night with the security lights on shining inside that vast space. If I close my eyes I can still see it. My little buddy dared me to go in there and I looked at him like he was from the moon. No way was I going to go into that haunted place..


That's quite a haunting recollection Steve.
With your fine description I was able to imagine this unsettling scene. You gave me chills.

ethereal_reality Jan 4, 2012 4:32 AM

I found this Arnold Hylen photograph earlier this year on ebay. It's a nice view of the west portal of the 3rd Street tunnel.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/612...streetcopy.jpg


below: This is the description on the reverse.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4889/f3rdstreet2.jpg

_____

citywatch Jan 4, 2012 4:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 5535836)
Are tourists leaving Hollywood these days any more dazzled by the architecture than they were in the '60s? I don't think so. The streetscape of '60s Hollywood was definitely ugly in large measure, but the current sameness is equally uninspiring...

but, gaylord, there is bad & then there is BAAAD. I think the hollywood of over 15 or 20 yrs ago----when what's now the hollywood/highland devlpt was still a huge parking lot & even smaller plots, like the one next door to grauman's, also were nothing but surface parking instead of what's now madame Tussaud's----was BAD. That also was when the egyptian theater still was a moldering mess & the El capitan theater had yet to be renovated by disney. At the same time, much of the land at the intersection of Hollywood & vine still was big deadzone parking lots too.

Quote:

I miss the old, gritty Times Square too--I'm happy to have the personal memory of a much grittier New York because it was a much more stimulating place in about a thousand ways--but at this point I don't really mind being able to sit back and enjoy its safer if relatively boring and undiverse (is that a word?) energy.
Your town must be doing something right, cuz far more ppl have moved there over the past 20 yrs than here to LA. I believe it's something like NYC has added 3 times more ppl in total numbers than all of LA. compare that growth rate with most of the midwestern cities the Time mag writer compared hollywood with. cities that have been either stagnant or withering away.

as for the Cathay circle theater, it will have to relive on in simulacrum, down at a disney park in the OC....

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UC_fGOGqOO...8carth1520.jpg
Connie at Life is a Journey via filmic-light.blogspot.com


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