Mickey Cohen's old hangout
 

Looks like in between it's lives as Sherry's and Gazarri's, it was this place.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/840...sunset1958.jpg
It was 1958 and Mickey was in between prison sentences, so maybe some goon (or his wife) was looking for him.

Or, maybe it was before 1:00 PM and someone needed a drink really bad.

Nile Hight Photo Collection

Hey Fab_Fifties_Fan, you get a glimpse of the Plymouth House (the infamous Sherry's) in this 8mm film from 1964.
You also get to see the Villa Nova Restaurant before it became the Rainbow Club....and of course there's the iconic Whiskey A-Go-Go.
(just past the Shell Station)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLv4g...yer_detailpage

across from the Plymouth House/Sherry's you get a brief glimpse of Scandia.

I always seem to notice weird things....
 

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9...moredrivei.jpg
Just curious....was the drive-in used at some point as a public parking lot? Way too many cars there in the late morning/early afternoon when the shot was taken.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5...eaerial193.jpg
Also, is it possible that the Olympic Village was a re-purposed racetrack? Otherwise, it seems a very odd design layout for a village.

Welcome, Albany!

Actually, the 1932 Olympic Village was built entirely on undeveloped land, with little grading as possible, because it was meant to be temporary; they didn't want to create "scars" on the landscape. After the Olympics ended, the village was dismantled and no trace of it was left.

So no, there was no pre-existing racetrack in the Baldwin Hills. I wouldn't be surprised if the layout was in ovals, meant to be used as practice running tracks or whatever, though I know for the 1932 Olympics, a number of local high schools' athletic facilites were used for training, as well as the UCLA campus' athletic facilites, when the athletes arrived a number of weeks prior to the actual start of the Olympic Games.

[QUOTE=Albany NY;5387125]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9...moredrivei.jpg
Just curious....was the drive-in used at some point as a public parking lot? Way too many cars there in the late morning/early afternoon when the shot was taken.

Hey Albany NY, Welcome to the thread!

Actually, I wondered the same thing and the only conclusion I came up with is that this picture was taken on a Sunday, because I found out that church services were held at the drive-in in the late 50s and early 60s. My cousins grew up really close to there. Of course, the Gilmore family knows how to make money and I wouldn't be surprised if they also made it a public lot during the week.

Thanks so much for that link etheral_reality! The area looked VERY much the same when I hung out there in the mid 70's. We used to go to Gazarri's regularly to hear the bands and they had cheap pitchers of beer on week nights! Perfect for starving students. :cheers:

Villa Nova was already the Rainbow by then and the Largo was way too expensive, I think they charged a $1.00 cover AND their pitchers of beer were $3.00.....RIDICULOUS!!!

Thanks for sharing your Sunset Strip memories Fab_Fifties_Fan!
Small details like that are very often lost.

Did you ever go to Pandora's Box?

Hey ethereal, that video of the Sunset Strip 1964 is awesome, I've been watching it over and over again full screen.

Here's another gem; it's labeled as Los Angeles 1920s but it looks more like the mid-1910s to me, judging by the cars, fashions, and the fact that Pershing Square was being referred to as Central Park.

• Video Link

Unfortunately, two of the most infamous 60's clubs, Pandora's Box and the London Fog, were gone by the time I moved there in '75. Sunset Strip was becoming pretty seedy by then and only the small part where Gazarri's, Rainbow and Largo were was very comfortable to hang out in.

We actually did most of our partying at little neighborhood bars in Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

So if it's The Plymouth House, why is there a '56 Ford trying to get in? With another '56 Ford parked across the street?

Maybe the Ford people were rising up in protest because it wasn't named The Ford House????:D

Hi gsjansen,

All the Bunker Hill assessor log photos have be scanned, but are still in the queue to be cataloged. In the meantime, you can do a search for GPC_b27 (the filing number) to see all the recent construction images we have added, many of which you have already found.

Cheers.

Scott - despite your stated aversion to Farmers Market, some of us think of it with affection! The Gilmore Drive-In was a neighborhood standby for many years, until it was closed down around 1970. Some years ago, actress Michele Greene, who grew up in the Pico/Fairfax area, wrote a really sweet article for the LA Times Magazine about the Gilmore.

A noirish-note: I recall the Gilmore being used as a location on the "Police Story" tv series, maybe 1975 or '76, an episode with guest star Steve Lawrence chasing a suspect through the deserted Gilmore space.

Michele Greene's article
 

:previous:

very nice

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/aug...ine/tm-grove32


I'm out of pocket for a few days--and upon returning find so much great new material and new faces too--

Like
Any person who knows his or her '56 Fords is star

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-B...2520AM.bmp.jpgyoutube

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogle Street View
1300 South Santee Street

It's always great to find a building from the days when the city's name was pronounced "Los Angliss"--as
it is in the video that the top shot here came from--still standing and looking so good. South Santee Street--
just off East Pico Blvd--looks good, thriving and reminiscent of Larchmont Village (at least on Street View
it seems so...). Reminds me that there is so much to explore east of Main Street--

thanks CR! you're the best!

1st and hill looking north 1958

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00092/00092852.jpg
Source: LAPL

it's incredible when you think how astonishingly different this same view was just a mere 8 years before..................

This old photo from 1912 is baffling.
Was this 20 foot 'perpetual motion' machine built just to advertise McKee's Cafe at 520 So. Spring Street?



http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/571...almotionma.jpg
found on ebay

I LOVE discoveries like this!! A little pocket of history.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6075/...1cac661008.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6075/...1cac661008.jpg

Joe Musso at his Egg Ranch in Baldwin Hills, Ca

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/...e81efc2fe4.jpg

Joe and Emma (my grandma) at the ranch

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/...d5a0d39bc1.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/...d5a0d39bc1.jpg

Joe Musso at his beloved home at 1221 Ozeta Terrace

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6189/...2f4e367531.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6189/...2f4e367531.jpg

Joe Musso second from left and grandma Emma second from right. Why's Joe holding the bottle like that??

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6203/...93bf5185d0.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6203/...93bf5185d0.jpg

The great Chef and my Grandma at their restaurant Musso's Parisian Gardens on 6300 Wilshire.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/...08a5b07a_b.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/...08a5b07a_b.jpg

My Dad hosting the bar at my Great Uncle Bert Rovere's Paris Inn c. 1936. Look close at the mug. Awesome.

Oops. Wrong restaurant. That's dad at the Hurricane in SF. Another one of Bert's places. Sorry. But the mug's still cool.

Actually, Baldwin Park and Covina (shown on the truck) are adjoining cities in the east San Gabriel Valley. They are roughly 35 miles away from the Baldwin Hills.

-Scott

e_r: great find... not detecting a whole lot of motion in that perpetual motion machine, which is maybe why local cafés took advantage of it for advertisnig purposes. But of course anything to do with the Arcade Building is interesting.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics37/00068388.jpgLAPL

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...sarypc_sky.jpg
My collection/source unknown


I got this postcard on eBay a couple of years ago. It was advertised as a "Real Photo" postcard, but it actually turned out to be a modern halftone reproduction of a RPPC, and a pretty awful reproduction, at that.

So does anyone here have the original photo or RPPC of this scene? It's an awesome view of Temple Square in its 19th century prime. I'd love to get a nice hi-res scan of the original image!

-S

Thanks for pointing out the location of the 'perpetual motion' machine pic.
So are these the buildings that preceded the current Arcade Building? I don't think I've ever seen a picture of them.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019223.jpgLAPL

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032669.jpgLAPL

e_r-- I've never really been sure if the Mercantile Arcade Bldg incorporated any of the structure of the old buildings--seems unlikely, but I'm not sure why it was decided to retain the passage from Broadway to Spring--guess maybe it was just that the short street inspired an imitation of ther Burlington Arcade. I hear that the building is now lofts.

It is always very interesting how storefront signage in the 1930's complimented the architectural detail of a building and then in the 1950's obliterated as much as possible.

My own parents were guilty of the same "crime" at our family business.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6194/...35e35e8f_o.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6061/...a6f608ac_o.jpg

Looking south from the 4th St overpass, Kodak snap, April 1971.

Thanks for the correction Scott. I guess I had that awesome picture of the Olympic Village in my head. Is the the word "Covina" and the number afterward a phone number??

:previous:
I think so, yes. The telephone exchange in the Covina area when I was growing up there was EDgewood, but prior to that, phone numbers were typically designated by city.

I'm very curious to know where the Musso Ranch was located in Baldwin Park. Do you know the address, by any chance? The open rangeland in the background there makes me think it was closer to the San Gabriel River side of town than to the Covina side...

-Scott

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3...basket28cm.jpgimageshack[/IMG]

I really don't remember seeing this particular view of the Angels Flight Pharmacy

Noir in color
 

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/3...akeparknow.jpgimageshack

I've looked at the amazing skyscrapercity.com thread of Jesús E. Salgado before (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...geles+history)--not looking closely, I always assumed it was just another thread of this forum. Lately I've been going through it more and the thousands of collected images are amazing, L.A.-centric pictures and postcards of all vintages but occasionally noir-era items such as the card above.

Great shot showing the highway 11 before the renumbering took place.

Here is a great little source on California highway history
http://www.cahighways.org/009-016.html#011

This shot brings back memories! I would pass by this spot and take the next exit every morning to get to school on 8th between Broadway and Hill.

They should have left the iceplant there!

Why car seats were invented.....
 

Photograph caption dated November 26, 1959 reads, "Feared Baby Was Dead -- Mrs. Constance Gabler, 32, of North Hollywood, holds her tiny son Grant close to her after discovering he still was alive after falling out of her car as she turned onto the Hollywood freeway."

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3180/flyingbaby.jpg

Yep, that's what it says happened.

I know parents tended to be less safety minded back then, but, was he just tossed in the seat like a sack of groceries?

LAPL

Two impressive photographs of the Los Angeles Public Library under construction.


http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/5...1925m1lapl.jpg
LAPL




http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/4...ry1926lapl.jpg
LAPL

Main Street at Temple, Then & Now
 

Temple Block (r.), looking south on Main at Temple Street, ca.1885. I don't recall seeing this detailed a view of the building's ornate facade before. Note: no streetcar tracks at all yet. Could this actually be pre-1880?
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00014021.jpg
LAPL

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/mainan...etview2011.jpg
Google Street View

-Scott

A newer "now" photo can be seen on my blog post here.

More of the Baker Block
 

Los Angeles's showpiece of its day: the Baker Block, ca.1880. In a town still consisting mostly of simple frame houses and adobes, this palace of commerce must truly have been a wondrous apparition.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00019199-1.jpg
LAPL/Litho. C.L. Smith & Co., Oakland, CA.


Main Street looking north from atop the Temple Block, ca.1880.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00013999-1.jpg
LAPL


The upscale commercial heart of the old city, ca.1880. The Baker Block at left, and the old Bella Union Hotel building at far right. Note the second Coulter's Dry Goods store in the Baker Block at lower left, having moved from the Downey Block across the street in 1879.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00014067-1.jpg
LAPL


Baker Block, 1880.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00019194-1.jpg
LAPL


Still lookin' good ca.1920.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00019195-1.jpg
LAPL


ca.1940.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00019181-1.jpg
LAPL


SE corner Arcadia and Main, 1940.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00019170-1.jpg
LAPL


ca.1940.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00019182-1.jpg
LAPL


1939. After a hundred years, the old Bella Union/St. Charles Hotel building is admittedly starting to look a bit seedy.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00066057-1.jpg
LAPL


ca.1937. And there goes the neighborhood – the new Federal Building begins to rise across Main Street.
https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00086914-1.jpg
LAPL/Herman Schultheis, Photographer.


-Scott

Post on my blog here.

Here is a great photograph of the Temple Block as viewed from the side.
You are right Scott, the facade of this building is simply amazing.

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4549/templepage166.jpg
USC digital archive


What architectural style is this? Does anyone have information on the architect?

___________

:previous:
I'm also curious to find out exactly when this particular incarnation of the Temple Block was built. This is one of the most important structures in Los Angeles history, yet I've never been able to pin down the precise year of its construction...

Questions about the U.S. Hotel
 

On the LAPL Record page* for that pic of the Temple Block I posted yesterday, I noted that in the Summary, it says, "On the left is the United States Hotel." Initially, I dismissed this as an inaccuracy, as the building shown at the SE corner of Main and Market there (with the tall flag pole in front) is clearly NOT the U.S. Hotel I am familiar with.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00014021.jpg
LAPL

However, I distinctly recall that the Nuestro Pueblo column of April 27, 1939, which lamented the razing of the hotel, said it was built "before the Civil War." Yet, photos of the ornate Victorian structure I know as the U.S. Hotel clearly show the year "1886" on the front as the date of its erection. This apparent inconsistency has always bugged me.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/00056879.jpg
LAPL/Herald-Examiner Collection

Now, I think the LAPL Record page was correct, after all – that the building shown at Main and Market in the first photo is, in fact, the original United States Hotel. (I wish I could see the signage clearer, so I could be 100% certain.) If it is, that would be an exciting revelation to me! (Heh, I'm weird, go fig.) ^^ Anyway, I know there had to be a United States Hotel at least as early as 1863, as it is mentioned in the obituary of Louis Mesmer, who apparently bought the hotel in that year (and whose name appears on the facade of the 1886 structure). So I guess that really is the original U.S. Hotel in the older photo. Yay!

I'm also now curious if descendants of Louis Mesmer were somehow connected with the Mesmer City mentioned in this post. (Mesmer's not a very common surname, you have to admit.) Who knows? I sure don't.

*(A shame we apparently can't link to those LAPL Record pages directly.)

-Scott

Adding to the confusion or maybe clarifying the issue, I have been doing some research on Griffith J. Griffith who donated Griffith Park and the Observatory to the City of Los Angeles. Griffith was married to Louis Mesmer's daughter Christina (Tina). That is until he tried to kill her, but that's a different post.

Tina's brother Joseph Mesmer owned The Queen Shoe Store (1878-1896) in the U.S. Hotel Bldg. Since 1878 was the year he opened, it would have been in the old U.S. Hotel location. I found this fun little first-person remembrance of 19th century Los Angeles at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~nholdened...alk_around.htm

Information that I am still trying to ascertain is a. did Joe or his father build the newer U.S. Hotel in 1886 and what, if anything, did this branch of the Mesmer family have to do with Mesmer City?

One article on Tina that I came across, stated that she and her father were two of the largest landowners in the L.A. area, so it is quite possible that they or direct descendants were involved in the proposed development.

Mesmer
 

Information that I am still trying to ascertain is a. did Joe or his father build the newer U.S. Hotel in 1886 and what, if anything, did this branch of the Mesmer family have to do with Mesmer City?

Don't know about the U.S. Hotel but it appears on a map from 1894 by B.W. Pierce you can see on Library of Congress website http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/.../~ammem_oHvy::

About Mesmer City:

"The land was originally owned by Joseph Mesmer, son of pioneer Louis, a Frenchman who made his fortune in early bakeries and hotels in the city. Joseph continued his father’s success and eventually purchased the tracts where the street and city took his name."

Thanks Cleats! May I ask where you found that last last great bit of info?

Chinatown
 

Went to lunch today with the Entertainment Editor from the publication where I work. He told me that one of the major studios is in preliminary discussion for a remake of Chinatown.

Personally I think that would be a crime, but if they do go through with it, I think they need to contract the contributors on this thread as location consultants!!!

That being said, I would love to hear from all of you who you think should/could play the roles that Jack and Faye did such an exemplary job on????

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/295...lgermanmov.jpg
Photo pertsonal collection

-F3

Does the Hotel Santa Rita Still Survive?
 

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9...insantarit.jpg
I know this goes back awhile, but back in February of 2008 ethereal_reality posted some pics of the Hotel Santa Rita at 1110 South Main. Checking Google street view, it looks like the building that is now on that spot is the same, but with the top 3 floors lopped off. If you look at the minor trim detail it all seems to match. Being a newbie (and a New Yorker, at that) I'm wondering....would they really have demolished 3/4 of the building just to save 1 floor? What do you think? Look at the building with the Franciscan Merchandise awning in the Google street view link below. Same? For reference, the building next door (the cool radio store with drive-in service) is still there.
http://g.co/maps/cp69
Also, how the heck do I post a decent screen shot from Google street view without a link? I want to make it easy for you to compare images, but I'll be darned if I know how! Thanks in advance. Garry

Albany NY, I know next to nothing about the Hotel Santa Rita, but you're almost certainly correct that it's the same building but with its upper stories demolished. Unfortunately, it's a common fate that has befallen old buildings not only in LA, but in every American city. A few years back, I photographed a block of Philadelphia that's a particularly tragic example:http://briangoestotown.blogspot.com/...king-east.html