Speaking of how quickly things change, or how many times, here's what the V.A. grounds looked like ca. 1892:

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/201...407f664a8b.jpg

Ghosts of Tinseltown - Myself Included
 

I used to live in some historic, (or perhaps more appropriately described) notorious buildings in Hollywood.

For example, I used to live in the Canterbury Apartments at Cherokee and Yucca. Bing Crosby lived there in 1930. And, from what I've read, it was quite the hotspot during the height of the punk era (late 70's - early 80's).
Oh, and one of the people involved with the Urantia Book (Harold Sherman) lived there. As well as many other, shall we say, interesting characters.

One of my favorite pastimes was going for a late night walk up and down the side streets, (I usually kept north of the boulevard though), or up to Whitley Heights. I would often stop and look around and either reminisce on the stories that I knew, or would wonder about the countless stories that have slipped through the cracks of time.

Frank Baum owned a house that used to be across the street from the Canterbury, (before the Canterbury was built), called Ozcot. He died there in 1910. It was torn down in the early 50's and replaced in '55 by a yellow shoebox.

https://na-st01.ext.exlibrisgroup.co...2OZCZ36VGVASIA
https://na-st01.ext.exlibrisgroup.co...2OZCZ36VGVASIA

Ozcot:
https://calisphere.org/crop/999x999/...d6f7a22002afb9
https://calisphere.org/crop/999x999/...d6f7a22002afb9

The nondescript pale blob to the left in this photo is the building that replaced Ozcot.
https://la.streetsblog.org/wp-conten...ikes-only.jpeg
https://la.streetsblog.org/wp-conten...ikes-only.jpeg

Small Town Hollywood

Dixie Lee lived at the La Leyenda, around the corner on Whitley, when she was dating Bing Crosby, who was performing at the Café Montmartre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Ava Gardner lived at the Canterbury in the early 1940s. My mother was walking under her kitchen window on Yucca one evening and heard her and Mickey Rooney in a screaming match. I sat with Mickey behind Musso & Frank one evening shortly before he died and pointed at the Canterbury and asked him if he remembered that apartment building.

Mickey once said, "Hollywood has unfortunately become a memory. It's nothing but a sign on the side of a hill."

https://southbay.goldenstate.is/wp-c...ge-concept.jpg
So my newest project is a documentary about the Palisades Del Rey/Surfridge area. Over the next few months I'll be interviewing experts and am getting permits to go in and shoot the butterfly count in late June/early July. If anyone knows anyone or anything they think I should be aware of, do let me know.

As time goes by.
 

La Leyenda was right behind the Canterbury. My apartment windows looked out onto the small courtyard between the buildings. I thought the back of La Leyenda looked rather picturesque in the evenings when it was lit up by the setting sun.

I had no idea about Ava Gardner living in the Canterbury. Now I'm very glad that I mentioned it. I learned something new.

"Hollywood has unfortunately become a memory. It's nothing but a sign on the side of a hill."
I suppose that's all it was ever meant to be, the rest was just imaginations run wild.

Even though the Canterbury was run down, I loved the ambiance of the place. I used to hang out on the fire escape on Yucca and watch all the random activity on the street below.
It was better than t.v.
With the history and the general feeling of the place, it was like living in a noir film.
I half expected to see the ghost of Philip Marlowe lurking around the joint.

I just hope that I don't live to see them tear it down.

1935 Daytime Video Wilshire Boulevard
 

Just posted on March 11, 2021 so I hope this is fresh to readers here:

https://youtu.be/ViNoQd4OaIo

https://i.imgur.com/ZqIjlqi.jpg

So far, so good. It survived a major fire in 1987.

A hot time in the old town in 1987
 

I read about that some years ago. What I find odd, is that for some reason the folks over at the L.A. Times seem to have had the misconception that the Canterbury was built in 1905. Twice they made the statement that the building was 82 years old in 1987. My understanding that that the building would have been about 60 years old in `87. :dunno:

From the L.A. Times: 06/17/1987
"Sprinklers ’99% Installed’ at Time of Apartment Fire
By KENNETH J. FANUCCHI
JUNE 17, 1987 12 AM PT
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Emergency fire sprinklers that city officials had ordered installed earlier this year were not hooked up when a Sunday morning arson blaze forced almost 400 residents to flee a Hollywood apartment complex, authorities said.

A senior inspector for the city Building and Safety Department, Domingo Sauceda, said an inspection in February, 1986, revealed that required safety equipment had not been installed at the Canterbury Apartments, 1746 N. Cherokee Ave.

Sauceda said the building’s owner, Daniel Wiener of Newport Beach, had been given a year to install the equipment. When an inspection last month showed that the equipment still had not been installed, a hearing was set for today before a city attorney’s hearing officer to determine why the order had not been followed, Sauceda said.

Nearly Completed

Wiener said the fire safety work was just short of completion. “We have paid for the work,” he said. “My guess is that any delay probably resulted from a lot of work being done in the fire safety area.”

Sauceda said the sprinklers appear to be “99% installed . . . including the installation of a (water) meter for the sprinklers and a water supply main. We want to determine why the system was not connected.

“Had the sprinklers been working,” he said, “it would have helped contain the fire, although probably not dramatically.”

Besides a sprinkler system, Sauceda said, Wiener had been ordered to install smoke detectors and fire doors that close automatically to halt the spread of flames. Sauceda said that equipment was operational and “worked beautifully.”

Sauceda said Wiener is scheduled to appear in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Thursday on two misdemeanor charges for failing to install sprinklers at another apartment complex he owns at 756 S. Normandie Ave.

Deadline Not Met

Failure to comply with an installation order carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, officials said.

“The work has been done,” Sauceda said of the Normandie apartments, “but he failed to meet the deadline and we have no authority to withdraw the charges.”

Wiener declined to discuss the case.

No one was injured in the fire at the Canterbury Apartments, which caused an estimated $75,000 damage to the structure and $325,000 damage to the contents, fire officials said.

Sauceda said most of the fire damage was confined to the fourth floor, but that there is extensive water damage throughout the building. The fire was started on the roof of the 90-unit structure, fire officials said.

Time for Repairs

Sauceda said that it will take about two weeks to repair the damage so that at least some of the residents can move back into their apartments.

The 82-year-old building was one of the first large apartment complexes in Hollywood. It was closed in 1979 by the Building and Safety Department after numerous arson fires and years of disrepair had turned it into a dilapidated slum. It reopened after a major face lift in 1980.

A Red Cross spokesman, Ralph Wright, said 170 of the displaced residents stayed overnight Sunday and Monday in a temporary shelter operated by the Red Cross in the Hollywood High School gymnasium. The shelter is expected to remain open through tonight."

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...496-story.html

"JULY 1, 1987 12 AM PT
The city attorney’s office filed criminal charges against the owner of a Hollywood apartment house that was set afire June 14. Dan Wiener, of Newport Beach, was charged with 11 misdemeanor counts of failing to install an automatic sprinkler and provide a night fire watch person in the 90-unit Canterbury Apartments, 1746 N. Cherokee Ave. None of the estimated 350 to 400 residents were injured in the arson fire in the four-story, 82-year-old building. The city Building and Safety Department had given Wiener a year, which ended Feb. 18, to complete the improvements. Trial was set for July 23 in Municipal Court. The maximum penalty for each misdemeanor is a $1,000 fine and six months in jail."

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...582-story.html

Thank you. That went into my favorites list.

I watched the entire video. Thanks for finding and posting it. Nothing like a video--you feel you are right in that 1935 traffic. The little details--the fully uniformed gas station attendent checking on a car. Don't see that today! Some of the drivers were as bad as today. Some of those old cars would be worth fortunes today. To do list...invent a time machine.

The Canterbury was built in 1926--except that what's at 1746 N Cherokee is altogther different building compared to what the LAT reported on June 21, 1925, was being built at 1746. (Could the paper have had the address wrong--was this building built elsewhere?) The resulting building was called the Ruth Manor for a while, until about 1934. A BP was issued on April 16, 1926--240 rooms for 135 families. The permit says the architect was L.A. Smith rather than Arthur T. Hesse, as mentioned in the 1925 LAT article below. The LAT reported on Nov 14, 1926, that the building was being started. The Canterbury name was being used by a building at 100 N. New Hampshire in 1925....

https://i.postimg.cc/G2Zk43zB/canterbury2-bmp.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/bJhs2Gk2/canterbury3-bmp.jpg
LAT June 21, 1925


https://i.postimg.cc/435QyThZ/canterbury4-bmp.jpg
LAT Nov 14, 1926


https://i.postimg.cc/J4Dk2Yj1/canterbury6-bmp.jpg



George Pepperdine, who, by the way, lived here on Adams Boulevard, owned it later:

https://i.postimg.cc/xd9YSK28/canterbury1-bmp.jpg
LAT Oct 24, 1937



Today it's the "Alexa Artisté":
https://i.postimg.cc/qqQ3HWjR/canterbury5-bmp.jpg

Canterbury Tales
 

My recollection of the history that I had pieced together, as best as I can recall after about 10 years, was that there were two houses on the lots that were cleared for construction. One of those houses was called "Ruth Manor", again, I seem to remember it was the name of the the owner/builder/occupant. Then when the apartment building was completed it was called "The Ruth Manor Flats" (IIRC).
Again, as I understand it, at first the building's wings didn't extend all the way to the sidewalk on Cherokee, and may have only been 3 stories tall. (I was of the impression that the 4th floor was added at some point after the initial construction, possibly when they added the extensions which I think happened around 1930-31).

As for the news article discrepancies, I think that could just be chalked up one of several explanations, like funding falling through somewhere, contract disputes, governmental corruption, partners pulling out (:redface:), architect firms folding, or just good old fashioned unabashed, over-the-top hype.

I would seem that at the very least, there was some turn-over with the architects, or construction company.
It does prove to be consistent with plenty of other early concept "artist's rendering" looking nothing like the completed project.

Thank you for the permit and the articles. I had not seen either of those before.

Finally, if I understand correctly, I think that the building's name has now been changed back to "The Canterbury".
If so, I would say: "Thank goodness".

Ghosts

Well, you might see the ghost of Percy Kilbride ("Pa Kettle"), who was struck by a car at Yucca and Cherokee in 1964. He died several months later from complications from his injuries.

And, if you go further up Cherokee, above Yucca, you can look for the ghost of Elizabeth Short, who lived at the Chancellor. The Chancellor also had a name change in the past couple of years to the Chateau Hollywood.

I couldn't find an obituary either, Snix, but here are some random facts I uncovered:

After poking around Ancestry.com, I find there is a Leonardo Del Sonno who left his hometown of Osara di Puglia, Italy,
to travel to Naples where on September 18, 1920, he sailed on the SS Canada and arrived in New York (Ellis Island)
on October 4 with $16 in his pocket. He is listed as a 15-year-old peasant who spoke Italian (duh), could read and write,
and was on his way to Philadelphia, where his brother Pasquale lived at 810 Montrose Street. His health condition was listed
as "Good," and he was not a polygamist or anarchist (yes, those questions are on the form).

There is a Leonard Del Sonno living at 712 League Street in Philadelphia on February 16, 1942, according to his draft registration.
Birthdate is May 18, 1904, and his contact person at the same address is Mrs. Jean Del Sonno (not his mother). He works as
a painter for Angelo Guirico at 330 Noble Street in Philadelphia. He has a scar on his right cheek and is 5'6", 135 lbs.

Leonard married the former Josephine Tierno on July 2, 1946, but the location is not listed other than somewhere in
California. In 1950, he and Josephine are registered to vote at 1308 Glendale Blvd. in Los Angeles. By 1956-58, they lived
at 1330-1/2 Allesandro Street.

The August 4, 1961, The Citizen News shows Leonard owed delinquent assessments of $8.88 on each of two parcels
(Lots 22 and 23, Tract 5036) in the Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard Lighting District. If he didn't pay
by September 5, his properties would be sold. Perhaps the building in your 1973 photo sat on those two lots?

There is a Josephine Delsonno (b. Feb 18 1916) who died in Delaware County, PA, on August 26, 2003. Her Philly.com
obituary on August 28 describes her as "beloved wife of the late Leonard."

Leonard does appear to have passed on April 7, 1981, in Los Angeles zip code 90026.

Does any of that help? I know none of it is lamp-related . . . .

delete

True. Very few traffic signals and drivers weaving back and forth. There are some crosswalks although being a pedestrian looks risky. But the speed limits were lower and many cars could barely get above 50. If this is Beverly Hills, it looks kind of hard knocks and middle class. But this was the depression, so maybe. Possibly filmed in L.A. as well as BH. What street is this? Maybe not Wilshire, although the multistory buildings might indicate that. Some of the buildings or signs might say. Maybe Pico? The BH low rent district.

Era of dirty cars. I remember them. Smelled of oil, gasoline and cigarettes. They dripped grease everywhere. :yuck::yuck:

Trying to get my bearings. Is clip taken (camera facing west) headed east from roughly the vicinity of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel towards Miracle Mile? So many vacant lots and so many service stations. Truly a colorized look at Noirish LA. Love it.

I believe the theatre playing "Oil For The Lamps of China" was the Warner Bros Theatre built in 1931, located at Wilshire and Canon.