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I found this original slide from the 1950s last night on ebay.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/6QizD3.jpg

I like the two old trucks...in Beverly Hills of all places. (of course they weren't old then)

Just for fun, here's another one.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...924/nFiSZO.jpg
ebay

That's the Paramount Gate in the distance.

What's the heavy cross on the back of the stop sign? -is it the back of a lighted sign?

The two cars parked by the service station on the left look like the car t2 pointed out that was parked next to TAIX.
----

I wondered about Geller's (on the right at 706 N. Bronson) in a similar slide I posted a few years back.

Hoss had the answer. :)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=31200

But I wonder what the restaurant is on that corner? (by the man in the gray suit)

_

Thanks for that amazing shot of the Paramount gate. They rarely ever showed the short street and the other businesses leading up to it. I think that all went down some time in the 80's, maybe around the same time as the Western Costumes building which was just East.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771262)

The two cars parked by the service station on the left look like the car t2 pointed out that was parked next to TAIX.

_

Nah, that's a pair of MGs. It was a Jeepster (the last of the touring cars, or phaetons) at Taix. I like them both.

The Bronson Gate at Paramount looks much grander nowadays, but less fun:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2y...=w1087-h585-no
gsv

Gloria Swanson arrives, "Sunset Boulevard", 1950:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eV...g=w688-h515-no
glamamore

The original gate, before it was simplified. Not sure why. Earthquakes? The crown (and another on a building along to the left) went missing between '37 and '45:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zu...w=w610-h612-no
paramount tumblr

Now, with ducks at the new fountain:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8K...Q=w853-h637-no
paramount pinterest

I had an office at Paramount from 1987 to 1991 in the Marx Brothers Building (previously the Story Building) on the north side of Stage 24. This was on the RKO side of the lot toward Gower.

When I first came to Los Angeles in 1978 all the studio lots were pretty run down (and so was the Hollywood sign - crumbling, its letters tattered or fallen).

Warner Brothers was sharing its lot with Columbia and calling itself the Burbank Studios.

MGM was still MGM and its commissary (the Cub Room?) was still in operation but the lot seemed sad and old, full of ghosts.

20th Century Fox was also in pretty bad shape and when you drove in, you parked near the
deteriorating Hello Dolly train depot.

By the 80's, though, fortunes had changed and all the lots had started sprucing up, to good and bad effect.

Paramount started renaming its buildings after stars and employees they had once employed and then fired decades ago - the Mark Brothers, Mae West, Preston Sturges, etc.

The worst offender may have been Sony who took over the MGM lot and built a faux studio street that has no function other than to appear to be a faux studio street.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blaster (Post 7771481)

I had an office at Paramount from 1987 to 1991 in the Marx Brothers Building (previously the Story Building) on the north side of Stage 24. This was on the RKO side of the lot toward Gower.

That's a nice spot Blaster (this view looking south). Does it look the same as when you were there?:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0p...=w1278-h550-no
google maps

"Extras flood the Bronson Gate at Paramount Pictures to attend a casting call for the "The Spoilers," starring Gary Cooper." [1930]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...924/jeL3zp.jpg
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/para...ures-at-100/6/

How did this work?........didn't they just call 'Central Casting'?

__

:previous:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/g4hR72.jpg
http://jeffarnoldblog.blogspot.com/2...-spoilers.html

A young Gary Cooper as Glenister and Betty Compson as Cherry in 'The Spoilers'. [1930]

damn, Gary Cooper was handsome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 7771503)

That's a nice spot Blaster (this view looking south). Does it look the same as when you were there?:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0p...=w1278-h550-no
google maps

When I was there (late 80's) , the tented area to to right of the Chevalier Building was for pre-school kids.

Their classroom, as I recall, was the Chevalier Building itself.

I know that we've seen numerous 'atomic blast' photographs on NLA, but I'm pretty sure we haven't seen this one.

Here's the rather vague description. ;)

"An uncredited, undated photo of an 'atomic dawn' taken from an unknown location."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/NMiX13.jpg
amusingplanet.com

I'm pretty sure that's the tower of the Richfield Building.

So where the heck was the photographer standing? It looks like an empty lot with overgrowth, dirt mounds and some liter. (not unlike a body dump) -noirish
__

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blaster (Post 7771481)

MGM was still MGM and its commissary (the Cub Room?) was still in operation but the lot seemed sad and old, full of ghosts.

I was at MGM during this same time period Blaster (late 1980s).

As I recall, the commissary was just called the MGM Commissary. It was a very large room with white walls and a lot of windows.
Black and white photographs of old MGM movies hung on the walls (between the windows). In the back on the right was a separate 'executive' room.
It was partitioned with glass from the rest of the room. It's walls, the two that weren't glass, were lined with Academy Awards. (I never had the opportunity to eat in there :()

1940s / looking at the northeast corner I believe
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...923/2xuOTP.jpg
MGM Commissary https://martinturnbull.com/2012/11/0...mmissary-1940/

More often than not, I ate in the 'Lion's Den' which had a separate entrance. It was in the same building as the commissary but on the west side.
I believe it would have been located on the opposite side of the back wall were the glass executive 'room' was located. (does that make sense?)

The Lion's Den was really nothing more than a glorified greasy spoon in a small square room with white walls and a high ceiling (windows facing west)
You worked your way along the counter and ordered from the grill. There were perhaps 10 small tables.

The MGM Commissary was famous for it's chicken soup.
----

below: Commissary building outlined in red.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...923/lXmLB0.jpg
gsv

The blue arrow:previous: at the end of Jasmine Ave. points to the old MGM Gate...the one with the impressive Corinthian columns.

this one.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...924/GEH7jK.jpg

As most of you know, the large I-shaped building at upper left in the google-aerial is the old Irving Thalberg Building.
Believe it or not, back when I was there it was actually outside of the studio lot. Now I believe Sony has extended the lot/gate to Madison Ave. (which makes sense)

__

p.s. What's up with that tacky rainbow in front of the Thalburg Building. Is it permanent or for special events?

:previous:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771608)

p.s. What's up with that tacky rainbow in front of the Thalburg Building. Is it permanent or for special events?

It's been there five years

............................................................................

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771570)

I'm pretty sure that's the tower of the Richfield building.

So where the heck was the photographer standing? It looks like an empty lot with overgrowth, dirt mounds and some liter.
__

It looks like the Statler to the left of the Richfield beacon and Barker Bros to the right of it. I'd guess the POV is from land cleared for the 1954 Harbor:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7E...A=w825-h638-no
lapl

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771545)

"Extras flood the Bronson Gate at Paramount Pictures to attend a casting call for the "The Spoilers," starring Gary Cooper." [1930]
__

I couldn't resist posting this 1926 shot, made during the construction of the Bronson gate, only because of the "casting office" sign on the right:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Vn...w=w709-h512-no
cbs/paramount

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

It looks like the Statler to the left of the Richfield beacon and Barker Bros to the right of it. I'd guess the POV is from land cleared for the Harbor
or the 1971 Convention Center.

I'd say you're spot on t2. It's probably land cleared for the Harbor Freeway.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/c3NIJM.jpg
amusing.planet

So the Richfield beacon/tower is rising above the building circled below. It's all pretty clear now. Thx

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...924/VVBZCP.jpg

Good sleuthing!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771262)

Just for fun, here's another one.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...924/nFiSZO.jpg
ebay

That's the Paramount Gate in the distance.

What's the heavy cross on the back of the stop sign? -is it the back of a lit sign?

The two cars parked by the service station on the left look like the car t2 pointed out that was parked next to TAIX.
----

I wondered about Geller's (on the right at 706 N. Bronson) in a similar slide I posted a few years back.

Hoss had the answer. :)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=31200

But I wonder what the restaurant is on that corner? (by the man in the gray suit)

_

Stop sign is in fact a lighted sign. It was a battery powered STOP sign.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771628)

I'd say you're spot on t2. It's probably land cleared for the Harbor Freeway.

Yes, I think 1954 is about right. Are those houses and apartments (on the right in your photo) on Georgia?

The building you circled is the 1925 Medico-Dental Building by Walker and Eisen. It was on W 8th.

Man, this one really made my head hurt.

The photo of the motorcycle folks outside Dino's (pg. 2049) got me to sign up on Skyscraper. I have had a long fascination with this part of the Strip since I was a 10 year-old watching 77 Sunset Strip (which is now being shown in reruns on MeTV to my delight). On my occasional business trips to Orange County over the past few years, I'd take a day and drive up to 8524 Sunset Blvd (the real address of 77 Sunset Strip) to bask in the history. By that time, Dino's was gone and the office that served as home for Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer had become Tiffanys Theater. However, the drive through that existed between the office and Dino's was still there, along with a plaque commemorating the tv show.
It's all gone now, having given way to some high rise condos. A shame.
Sure would love to see more pics of this area from those days gone by!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7771545)

Check out Make Me a Star (1932), an excellent movie . . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovangar2 (Post 7771617)

:previous:

It's been there five years

............................................................................

The "Over the Rainbow" rainbow commemorates the fact that THE WIZARD OF OZ was shot on the Sony Studio Lot, even though it was MGM at the time.

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