Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5970821)

I found some interesting information on the Ora Murray murder.

http://imageshack.us/a/img26/9158/aa...gardeniafo.jpg
http://abytesgen01.securesites.net/c...stick%20Killer

Originally Posted by LATimes.com

Los Angeles on view in 'Gangster Squad'

By Susan King, Los Angeles Times

January 12, 2013, 8:00 a.m.

When mobster Mickey Cohen ruled Los Angeles in the late 1940s, his favorite hangout was the legendary Slapsy Maxie's nightclub on Wilshire Boulevard. It's long gone now of course, so to re-create it for the new film "Gangster Squad" the filmmakers had to be creative.

Production designer Maher Ahmad found the right spot for Slapsy Maxie's almost by accident, while driving around with the film's first location manager. They had been looking for a vintage house in a suburban neighborhood when they passed an Art Deco-inspired block of empty businesses in Bellflower.

What caught their attention was a large empty store that had been built as a J.C. Penney in 1952 and had last housed a supermarket. "It was a great find," said Ahmad. "The whole block was built at the same time."

PHOTOS: 'Gangster Squad' around town

The exterior and interior were perfect so Ahmad went to work building the floor of the nightclub as well as its backstage area. He even built a replica of the office of Cohen's bookie business in the old department store.

Instead of relying on sound stages and studio back lots, "Gangster Squad" took advantage of many real locations in Los Angeles to bring a vivid authenticity to the crime thriller set in 1949 Los Angeles. The film opened on Friday to mixed reviews. Among the recognizable locations used in the film are Los Angeles City Hall, the Park Plaza Hotel near MacArthur Park, Union Station, Olvera Street and Clifton's Cafeteria.

Once a location was secured, it generally went through a massive transformation. "Any exterior that we were doing we had to remove the parking meters," said location manager Robin Citrin, who came on board the film while it was in production. "We had to change out the street lights, remove stop signals, take off the traffic signals."

Even parking lines had to be changed, "because they didn't have diagonal lines," said Citrin. "We had to change the red curbs because they didn't have red curbs in 1949."

Based on the book "Gangster Squad" by former Los Angeles Times reporter Paul Lieberman, the thriller revolves around a crew of brave LAPD officers who form a secret squad to rid the City of Angels of Mickey Cohen, the Brooklyn-born mobster who struck fear in the hearts of his rivals and had politicians and policemen in his pocket.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer ("Zombieland"), the ensemble film features Sean Penn as Cohen, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Anthony Mackie as the members of the squad, Emma Stone as Cohen's mistress who falls for Gosling and Nick Nolte as legendary police chief William H. Parker, who wants to rid L.A. of the heinous Cohen.

"There were about 50 or 60 location where we actually shot," said Ahmad, who has worked with Fleischer on his previous two films. Mary Zophres designed the costumes and Oscar-winning Dion Beebe was the cinematographer.

Ahmad did an enormous amount of research, such as looking into the vintage locations and personalities of the era, as well as viewing motion pictures that were shot on location in L.A., including the 1949 film noir classic "D.O.A."

"I and my assistants pulled about 20,000 stills for over 40 period films," said Ahmad. "Not just crime films — I also looked at a lot of musicals because musicals from that period all had nightclubs in them and we had four different nightclubs in our movies."

The vintage downtown movie palace the Tower was the site of Club Figaro, a Mocambo-inspired nightclub owned by an Italian don who is Cohen's rival.

"The theater had been converted into a venue and the seats were taken out and a flat floor was put in," said Ahmad. "We built a bar and did quite an elaborate re-dress job."

The popular Hollywood eatery Lucy's El Adobe was the location for Cafe Caliente, where some of the officers hung out.

"We repainted it and re-dressed it and hung new fixtures and put in a stained glass window," Ahmad said. "There are very few places in Los Angeles that at one point or another haven't been shot [in a movie]. What is unique for us is that a lot of those places haven't been shot as period."

susan.king@latimes.com

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5970882)

Fox Hills Golf Course. ---> pan right
1947 Los Angeles street map

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Originally Posted by Lwize (Post 5970863)

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5970710)

http://imageshack.us/a/img22/8163/aa...streetview.jpg
gsv
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Originally Posted by Lwize (Post 5970957)

The 1947 LA map sheds light on a curiosity I've had for decades.
Joe Petrelli Airport Cafe, an old school steak house I used to go to with my family, was on Sepulveda near Jefferson, a few miles north of LAX. The term "Airport Cafe" now makes more sense, since was was across the street from the long-gone Culver City Airport.
Petrelli's closed some time ago, but reemerged as George Petrelli's Steak House across the street (and is still there). Besides steaks & such, they have one of the best hamburgers you can get!

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5971054)

Lake Los Angeles? Never heard of it.
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Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5971054)

Lake Los Angeles? Never heard of it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img593/3421/a...e1967where.jpg
ebay



To my surprise, there actually is a Lake Los Angeles.The only problem is....the lake is missing. Huh?


http://imageshack.us/a/img248/2192/aaadlake1967a.jpg
google aerial

Lake Los Angeles is a 'census-designated place', or CDP in Los Angeles County with a population of 12,328. The area was formerly known as 'Los Angeles Buttes'.

In 1967, during the speculation boom in Antelope Valley, developers artificially refilled a dried up lake and named it Lake Los Angeles as an enticement to landbuyers. Advertisements (like the one I posted above...mine has a sailboat) showed a water skier on the lake (which was probably no more than 5 feet) giving the impression of a resort town.

Streets were named 'Biglake Ave.', 'Lakespring Ave.' and 'Longmeadow Ave.' to draw attention away from the fact the town was a barren desert used for filming westerns (the aforementioned 'buttes'). The lake eventually dried up again in the early 1980s. Much of the land was sold to people who never visited the area.

source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Lo...es,_California
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Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5970821)

I found some interesting information on the Ora Murray murder.

gsjansen's list of unsolved murders
http://imageshack.us/a/img7/793/aabm...ggsjansenl.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1950


http://imageshack.us/a/img580/7938/a...htgardenia.jpg
http://abytesgen01.securesites.net/c...stick%20Killer

http://imageshack.us/a/img11/1008/aa...1zenda1939.jpg
http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/e...eles-1945-1975



http://imageshack.us/a/img853/3892/aabmurder1zenda.jpg
ebay



http://imageshack.us/a/img26/9158/aa...gardeniafo.jpg
http://abytesgen01.securesites.net/c...stick%20Killer

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5970925)

Sufridge

Since I already had my map out, I thought flyingwedge might like to see the Surfridge area in 1947.

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/5793/aabfo2sur.jpg

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Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5970710)

Speaking of signs, while driving the google-mobile down N. Madison Avenue I spotted this rooftop sign on Beverly Blvd.

http://imageshack.us/a/img818/2124/aabsign3684a.jpg
gsv
http://imageshack.us/a/img22/8163/aa...streetview.jpg
gsv __