Cleaned up version...
 

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mystery location / illicit gambling / where is this?



CAUGHT!

SHOOTING CRAPS at the Samarkand Ice Cream parlor factory(?)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/RiSm34.jpg
eBay






I say "caught" because it appears a car has pulled up and someone in the car snapped this photograph. (or maybe we're looking at the side of the car hood) note the horizontal seam.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/YaymER.jpg






Moments later this man comes running up to the car and waves them away.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/YBZcGr.jpg

Over the man's right shoulder you can see a possible clue which is pretty much the only clue in the entire bunch of photographs.







A closer look at the clue.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/NhPpJy.jpg

I know what it looks like to me. What does it look like to you?








Now let's look at the rest of the snapshots.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/belfZj.jpg









It's a bit difficult to see but I think the sign on the ground has been removed. And there are two other signs that we haven't seen before.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/g6P3xD.jpg

And like the first photograph this one was taken from inside a car.






It must be high stakes crap game because this is a fairly large group of men.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/FVpsfW.jpg






https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/T0qxJX.jpg





And then there's this guy who resembles that Rood dude we saw several years back. (remember Rood?)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/tvLE0i.jpg






This date stamp is on the back of each photograph. (May 31, 1938)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/ox62zj.jpg



Good luck minions sleuths! :superwhip


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It's worth remembering that those high interest rates of the 1970s and early 1980s accompanied the worst inflation seen in the country in the 20th Century. It is also when LA area housing prices began to climb and climb and climb. Until that period, LA was one of the most affordable big cities in the country.

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Hey noirishers. . .I just noticed this.

You can see the dice leaving the man's hand!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/RBsYV1.jpg

hmm, but it looks like three dice. I thought two dice are thrown in a craps game. :shrug:

ALSO TOO, this detail gives you a closer look at the sign on the ground. (the one I've been trying to decipher)


P.S. I realize multiple dice are die.

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:previous:

https://i.postimg.cc/bYkzjywj/Samarkand-LAT-32-9-17.jpg
LA Times, 9/17/1932.

2146 Sacramento St. looks somewhat different now:

https://i.postimg.cc/Gm0GmhkJ/Samarkand-Now.jpg
gsv

Chevy

https://www.chevytrucklegends.com/co...gallery-3.jpeg
history club

The "3rd die" might be his pinkie finger or ring finger sticking down as he throws the dice. Samarkand, an old city in eastern Russia or Uzbekistan is the last place I'd associate with ice cream. Odd name for an ice cream factory or parlor. The chain seemed to peak in the 1920s, and like a lot of things, the 1930s brought them down. Anybody know if Samarkand Ice Cream shops went beyond L.A. area? A limited google search has little on them except old pictures.

The Little Rascals buy ice creme at the Samarkand Ice Creme "Bucket" shaped like an ice creme churn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv0oivhUJYs

Good find. That's one of those early silent "Our Gang" shorts from the late 1920s. The fat "early Spanky" kid with tge beanie predates Spanky McFarland from the 1930s, the ones with Alfalfa and Darla etc. Poor Alfalfa was shot in a dispute over a hunting dog. Fat Spanky lived to a ripe old age. I don't know what happened to Darla.

The Samarkand store in the 1930s where they are shooting craps looks defunct, or at least struggling, maybe a casualty of the depression. I can't imagine a store owner letting men shoot craps in the parking lot, unless he got a cut of the action. I wonder if all the Samarkand stores folded up in the '30s? If this store was still open, the scandal of craps games outside may have closed them for good.

As the hubcap says, the car is a Pontiac, in this case, a '37.



Another Samarkand outlet was at the NEC of Wilshire and Ardmore:

https://i.postimg.cc/HLTp5WpC/smarkand-wilshire-bmp.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/bJsdDYTw/samarkandcloseup-bmp.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/PqLQhHw1/samarkandsign-bmp.jpg

A history of the origins of Samarkand ice cream is here.



What you're seeing in the background is Milnor, Inc. which started out as the Longyear house in 1906, the full story of which is here....

https://i.postimg.cc/4xk8Wm7j/WBMilnor-bmp.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/mgy0MQXm/3555-WB4-FB-bmp.jpg


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J.P. Rettenmayer, founder of Samarkand Ice Cream, met an unpleasant noirish end. Death by simultaneous heart attack and falling out of a second story window.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...65e3b56b_w.jpg
Hollywood Citizen-News
2/25/37
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ff23d7db_z.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...66719375_b.jpg
San Francisco Examiner 2/25/37

https://secure-images.rarenewspapers...4/image096.jpg
HCN

Famous Hollywood director kicks the can.

Anyone know what make of car that is in the next to bottom photo? The one with Rood in the driver's seat.

I have lived in LA for over 40 years.

It always astounds me when I see photos from the past that the men are often wearing overcoats, hats, heavy suits, long sleeved shirts, ties, vests, etc.

Was the weather in LA cooler back in the 30's/40's and 50's?

These days, Philip Marlowe wouldn't need to wear his trench coat more than a couple days a year.

It commonly gets cold in L.A. in November-March (except during periodic Santa Ana wind warmups), especially after cold fronts come through. Nightime lows often in 40s, sometimes down into 30s in mid winter, with frost in the inland valleys. A warm coat is needed. Many cold nights you see your breath. Global warming may reduce the cold days in the future.

Here's an earlier photograph of Mr. Rettenmayer from the website brewerygems

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/ohInHi.jpg
brewerygems

As the Snix article states, "He had helped found the Acme Brewing." (hence Acme on the photograph)

& if I'm reading the information correctly he had planned a. . . .

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/STUYq4.jpg
but it never came into fruition.



The brewery site also included this photograph of a Samarkand Ice Cream in South Pasadena.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/OVtdte.jpg
link to photo

There are a few numbers of the street address visible. (it might be 1124. . .


re: Rettenmayer's demise.

Can you imagine having a massive heart attack and falling out a 2nd story window. ...That's some cruel fate, right there.




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https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
artsy.net

Lee Friedlander took the photo in 1961.

I figured this was on one of the major West L.A. boulevards, eventually I ran 11854 Santa Monica Bl. on Building and Safety's site.....sure enough a 1958 permit came up for a used car lot....s.w. corner of Santa Monica and Westgate.



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds


Could this beefy fellow be Peter Lupus, who played the strongman on the 60's "Mission: Impossible" TV series?


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

I found a different view of what I believe to be the same building at silverscreenoasis.com, and that confirms the number as 1124. The caption there says "Hollywood, California: Merchants in Hollywood, California seek self expression in constructing their store to resemble the commodity they sell. In the above photo, Esther Ralston, screen favorite is seen beside unique hut made to resemble a huge ice-cream freezer. The handle on top maintains a continuous movement."

I checked the CDs and found that in 1929, The Freezer had ice cream shops at 3641 W Pico, 7435 Sunset Boulevard, 3801 W Washington Boulevard, 402 S Western Avenue and 1124 Vine Street. The last address is just north of Santa Monica Boulevard. A year later, they were listed as Freezer Sweet Shops at 751 S Alvarado, 3475 Beverly Boulevard, 1881 Colorado Boulevard, 6244 Pasadena Avenue, 3641 W Pico, 7435 Sunset Boulevard, 3801 W Washington Boulevard, 402 S Western Avenue and 1124 N Vine.

Here is the 3641 W. Pico location.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/ByaKfA.jpg
w & p




And there is a survivor in the photograph. (no, not the people)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/bOiWUB.jpg



1257 4th Avenue

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/jjs6Yw.jpg
here.


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And possibly another survivor, just possibly, is the palm at center below (if it has had a hard life and has grown rather slowly, not at all unlikely):

https://i.postimg.cc/RZB815k1/PicoPalm.jpg
gsv

Oh! You just reminded me of the old San Pedro St. / Hammel / Arcade Depot / Exposition Park / Colosseum Palm. 🌴
I had to go back and read up on all of it again.
B.T.W., did anyone ever figure out what the sign on the palm as it stood outside the depot said?

I think it boils down to fashion and the customs of the era. Marlowe's look was a part of who he was.

Here's another L.A. area private detective who's heyday was about 40 years after that of Marlowe. Jimbo's wardrobe seems much better suited to the Southern California climate but his ever present sports jacket is not something you see too often outside of a formal setting these days, another 45+ years removed.
I think also, the general auras of each character, despite being set in the same area are vastly different. One generally worked in the dark and the other lived at the beach.

https://i.imgur.com/lFOFAw0.png?1Pinterest

Also, mystery location anyone?

.Here's a sweet photograph of someone's mother in Long Beach. (c.1940s)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/O0PFI9.jpg
eBay

. . . . . . . . .It says 'Mother' in the foliage.:previous:




Here's a better look.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/I1lZEh.jpg
eBay


If you look closely you can see a couple of sailors walking in front of the Cinderella Ballroom. On the left we see the Alamo Apts.


OK, glance at the smaller photo again. I'm intrigued by the tall pole with all the spotlights. What are they lighting up? (what are they aimed at) :shrug:. . . I don't think it's the Cinderella Ballroom.


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:previous:

e_r, that's my bailiwick--the lights are aimed at the front of the Municipal Auditorium:

https://i.postimg.cc/Dz0kzxC3/LBCivic-Aud.jpg
https://losangelestheatres.blogspot....rium-1932.html

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EF1UYtl3d...-LBPL_3730.jpg
1975 Long Beach
The stage part of the old auditorium was left in place and the new seating area auditorium/lobby was added on in the same footprint as the old building.

https://youtu.be/46s00KC812M

Here's a film from the later 1940s.....a time travel Trip in Burbank, California, Residential Area Ride late 1940s, we can clearly see what is happening in broad daylight,

We also see a lot of those old wet-garbage cans [lined with newspaper]. My mom taught me how to line the can when I was 4 years old. It was one of my boyhood chores.:tup: When trash burning was banned, everyone bought the large barrels we see today. Life changes.

From a Los Angeles Times article on small pieces of real estate.

Reference to 440 N. Figueroa is inexplicable; they're obviously talking about 440 N. Los Angeles St.:

https://i.postimg.cc/9Qs1bkFp/440-NL...AT-48-1-26.jpg
LA Times, 1/26/1948

Now let's go back to 1882. We're looking north up Calle de los Negros from that irregular piece of open land where Aliso St., the aforementioned Calle, and what was then the north end of Los Angeles St. come together. In the distance upper left we see the old Lugo house's peak. Just out of frame at mid-left is Coronel Corner. Is the walkway in front of J. Kennedy's humble structure at right foreground the sliver-parcel that the above article is referring to? The site is well-placed to have served as the public hay scales at that busy intersection.

https://i.postimg.cc/T2Q9F13h/440-NL...-USC-c1882.jpg
From the USC collection; detail

:previous:


On the 1921 Baist map the only building on a sliver of property in that location is numbered 410 N. Los Angeles Street.


https://i.imgur.com/dggsoJM.jpg
digitallibrary.usc.edu


Tie-in with Lucille P. Cate, there's this John R. Cate hay business at 410 N. Los Angeles Street .

https://i.imgur.com/DFtXX6h.jpg
rescarta.lapl.org



Look out!!!!!

Runaway horses and wagon near the hay scales in 1876.

https://i.imgur.com/DWwUrs5.jpg
cdnc.ucr.edu - Los Angeles Herald, 20 January 1876

:previous:

odinthor and Noir Noir's posts reminded me of this old post from 2013. To this day I've never been able to find #424 in any photographs of Calles de los Negros. (unless I did & forgot about it)

Be sure to read the long article. It's quite descriptive.

Glancing around for Ballerino data, I ran across the locations of some property he owned at the time of his death, which might be of interest:

https://i.postimg.cc/qvsYbpnM/Ballerino-LAT-09-7-14.jpg
LA Times, 7/14/1909

^^^ Note that the Sheriff had been for years a close friend of this King of the Cribs.

This adds some information:

https://i.postimg.cc/PxxR5Z7P/Ballerino-LAT-09-7-29.jpg
LA Times, 7/29/1909

A decade earlier, he had also owned this impressive tract:

https://i.postimg.cc/Jn2dD0wK/Baller...r-01-11-13.jpg
LA Herald, 11/13/1901

Bartolo Ballerino had been born in Chile ca. 1831, and was in L.A. by 1856, in which year he wedded Miss Maria Ampara Salcido in L.A.

That was a great video! Thanks

:previous:

Thanks for the additional information on Bartolo Ballerino, odinthor. . .very interesting. (the name Bartolo Ballerino sure rolls nicely off the tongue)



mystery location.


Armless lady visits Los Angeles.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/GZQy2R.jpg
eBay


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/CfHuAW.jpg


I thought the building at far left might be the old Queen of Angels Hospital but I don't recall a church ever being in front of it. (I think that's a church)

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Before we get too far removed from Samarkand/The Freezer posts I wanted to point out another unknown location.


It appears in a short film from 1927 titled Hollywood the Unusual. (which we have seen earlier in the thread)

I thought we might be able to figure out this particular location because of the various clues.

Here's a screengrab.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/4gl3JP.jpg






Watch the complete video below.

I just noticed the short film was directed by William Taylor. Do you think that is murder victim William Desmond Taylor?

• Video Link

The video is truly wonderful.




Hollywood the Unusual was originally posted by Handsome Stranger back in 2011.
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I posted that video link because I thought ER would like it. He usually likes my posts.

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;9234463].

It appears in a short film from 1927 titled Hollywood the Unusual. (which we have seen earlier in the year)

I just noticed the short film was directed by William Taylor. Do you think that is murder victim William Desmond Taylor?

Doubtful - if the film is from 1927. William Desmond Taylor was murdered February 1, 1922.

The clue is also in the bottom right picture. To me it RESEMBLES the viaduct for the recently demolished 6th street bridge. That viaduct was much higher than most others, had the same slight arching, and had 3 support piers in each row.

But it did NOT seem to have a lower viaduct immediately in front, which blows up that theory pretty nicely.

Here's a link with some old pictures: https://bridgehunter.com/ca/los-angeles/sixth-street/

It looks like 7th street to me, and it would have been a few blocks from this location.

Is it just me, or was that Zorro on top of the Egyptian Theater?
And perhaps I'm mistaken, but I think I saw Crossroads of the World identified as apartments?
Though, it has been about 10 years since I've walked through there.

I'm going to presume that they may have limited their presentation to locations that were in what is generally considered Hollywood.
IF that's the case, I'm going to just assume that it may have been the 7435 Sunset location.
I tried to find more information about "Barry's Battery and Ignition", if I'm reading that sign correctly, however in my admittedly breif search I wasn't able to find anything.
(I'm at work, and didn't bring my laptop with me, and trying to do that level of searching on my phone is somewhat more tedious than I have the patience for at this moment.)

Ah-ha!
 

Here's a picture of what looks like the same Freezer location.

You can see some of what's on the other side of the intersection, it stood close to.


https://i.imgur.com/Up8MQlu.jpg
facebook.com - bizarrelosangeles

Could the " B" be an "H"-- "Harry's Battery..."? The sign is blurry.

I've been looking at a sign in our Samarkand picture . . . but not the Battery & Ignition one. Here's a detail from the pic:

https://i.postimg.cc/nzZKW09X/Samarkand-Sign.jpg

The sign at center, at too great an angle for us to read, appears to be some standard roadside sign giving information for motorists to heed. This may yield a clue to location. Does anyone more familiar than I with the signs which motorists in that era might have encountered have an idea what message such a sign would have?

:previous:



I had a look at some old aerials for the Freezer locations that HossC found in the city directories.


The one that fits with the screengrab from the movie is 751½ South Alvarado Street.


This is how it lines up on a 1928 aerial. The Freezer stand as we see in the screengrab was essentially plonked in the front lawn of 751.

https://i.imgur.com/vYPQu2o.jpg
mil.library.ucsb.edu


The "Harry's Battery & Ignition" service in the screengrab is this one.

https://i.imgur.com/Obw2dAw.jpg
rescarta.lapl.org


Here's 751 somewhat clearer three years later with where the Freezer would have stood dotted red.


https://i.imgur.com/UoYuM9c.jpg
mil.library.ucsb.edu

:previous:

Excellent team work everyone! :)

We're whittling down the locations one by one.




Now how about the location of The Freezer in the Our Gang short? I imagine it would be somewhere near one of the studios. (I can't remember which studio/production company owned the Our Gang series)

For those of you who skipped the video (I did at first) you should watch it. (it's only 53 seconds long) And get this; the handle on the ice cream freezer actually TURNS! It's really cool.


• Video Link






Here are a couple of screengrabs from the video.

#1 As you can see, there is a street lined with trees leading to a one-story courtyard(?) apartment.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/tD5DVy.jpg







#2 Here's a better look at those apartments. They appears to be about a 1/2 block away.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/D9aJMt.jpg


There is a rather large floodlight (above my RED ARROW) that appears to be aimed at the rotating handle.



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Hal Roach owned Little Rascals/Our Gang until he sold the unit and all rights to MGM in 1938. The Hal Roach Studios were located at 8822 Washington Blvd in Culver City.

:previous:

Hal Roach Studios:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...%281959%29.jpgCulverCityHistoricalSociety

The studio went bankrupt in 1959 under the management of Hal Roach’s son, and was demolished in 1963.

In relation to the other studios in Culver City:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lMmLvIlLb...30546987_o.png

Mystery intersection
 

No date or location for this SPNB Collection photo, although the presence of the Cahuenga cross and the absence of the Hollywood Sign pin the date down to 1923. Are those houses in the foreground still there?

https://i.imgur.com/tH0KcLs.jpg
via Calisphere.org

https://i.imgur.com/2afm04k.jpg
Google Earth Pro

In response to the question asked about the "Isn't Hollywood Unusual?" Film, William Desmond Taylor was killed in 1922. Graumans Opened in 1927, so the director must be another William Taylor. Similarly, The Crossroads of the World opened in 1936, so it can't be in the film either. I know this because the widow of the man who LA District Attorney Dave Clark murdered took his insurance money and built The Crossroads. I know this because that case was the original story we were going to tell in "Perry Mason" on HBO.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
LAPL/Herald Examiner collection


"A powerful bomb was exploded in the carport of a $200,000 home in Doheny Estates, igniting a fire that destroyed the entire interior of the home, the carport and two automobiles.

The bomb was attached to the floorboard of a late-model Cadillac, and blew a hole in the floor 2 feet square.

The occupants, Mr. and Mrs. John Coughlin, who were subleasing the single-story, 5,000-square-foot stucco house in the Hollywood Hills above Sunset Boulevard, were asleep when the bomb went off about 12:30 a.m. but escaped without injury." 

Photograph dated October 6, 1970.


No address provided for the destroyed home.

Considerable noirishness here....someone had the wherewithal to wire a ferocious explosive to the Caddy....were they targeting John Coughlin, his wife, or possibly both?....a cursory search yielded no additional details.



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds




https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds



https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds