I had heard that something went on with Lucy's house. Sorry to hear that it was knocked down. Seems like a lot of the old guard Hollywood homes have been destroyed. Didn't Jimmy Stewart live next door? I think Gilbert Roland was a couple of doors down.

Lucy's wall seems to be the same.

I always wondered what that building was in the opening. Thanks for the heads up!

Does anybody know, with terrorism always in the back of one's mind, would you be allowed to take photos of city hall like that today? I took photos inside Union Station back in the nineties but I can't imagine being allowed to do that today.

Welcome to the thread MikeD.
Your posts have been great! I hope you continue to visit this thread on a daily basis. :)


Here is a vintage photo of the Elaine Apartments on Vine St.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/6154/elaineapt.jpg
usc digital archive

I would give anything to see the interior of the Jester Room.
I'm willing to bet John Hamilton stopped in for a drink now and then.

Orson Welles and Man Ray also lived in the Elaine Apartments. If walls could talk!

Here is a great photo of three art deco towers on Wilshire Blvd.
The building in the distance on the left is the Wilson Building aka "Daily News Building".


http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8...planetleft.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: The "Daily News Building" with a General of America Insurance sign in 1954.
Was this before the Mutual of Omaha sign?


http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7...54juliewil.jpg
julie_wilsons_world

I love that trylon thingy on top. I'm guessing it served as a beacon.

^^^In the b/w photo I posted above, noticed the Silverwoods Dept. Store.




Just today I came across this photo of a Silverwoods Store on Sunset Blvd.
It shared the building with Stetson, Hats for Women.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/5...oodsdeptst.jpg
usc digital archive

This diminutive art deco building is absolutely beautiful.
I don't remember ever seeing a photograph of it before.

Thanks for the warm welcome. I've enjoyed wading through all 104 pages! I hope to dig up some more pictures you might like.

What the hell - it's not LA, it's not film noir, but it's a famous CA movie site; Garces Hwy near Bakersfield.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...IMG_0006-2.jpg

where Cary Grant is chased by the cropduster in 'North By Northwest'.

^^^Very cool. I've often wondered where this scene was filmed.
I am in northwest Indiana (the alleged location for the crop dusting scene).

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TP...94443%20AM.jpgGoogle Street View


ethereal-- That is a beautiful little building, though it was actually at 611/615 W. 7th St (the little branch Silverwoods was at 615, Stetson at 611). I suppose it's possible that it's the same building, badly remodeled with some height added, but, in any case, it looks lost forever. The building to the left, 617 W. 7th St., is the 1922 Union Oil Building. The entrance has been remodeled away from its original classic style, and the windows have also been badly altered. Here is a vintage shot of the Union Oil Building showing Silverwoods:

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...T-BUI-332?v=hr
USC Digital Library http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...T-BUI-332?v=hr

:previous:
Oh man, such a beautiful Art Deco treasure, and it's been replaced by that ugly building (I'd like to think that it was demolished rather than horribly disfigured). I know exactly where that is, I've walked by it lots and lots of times. And yes, the Union Oil Bldg. would look much better if they got rid of those awful 1970s-looking greenhouse windows and restored it to its original look-- though, for a building of its period, it wasn't as deliciously detailed as others were.


Welcome to the forum, MikeD!

Thanks for the welcome,sopas ej. I also like those old style buildings rather than the new monoliths that seem to be sprouting up in their place.

Here are some pictures of the old Bullock's Department store on Wilshire. It is now occupied by the Southwestern Law School. We were saddened to see in the window there was a permit or variance for renovations. Hope they don't alter the outside. My brother thinks James Cagney picks up Jean Harlow outside Bullocks in 'Public Enemy' 1931.

Would it be considered Art Deco? I'm never sure about that stuff.
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...10part1210.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...10part1208.jpg

Here's some detail over the front door
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...10part1213.jpg

One of the best parts of the Bullocks Wilshire building is the beautiful "transportation" mural on the porte cochere.
Since most costumers at the time would arrive by vehicle, the most appealing entrance was placed in the rear.
Valets in livery welcomed patrons and parked their cars.

Thanks for the correction GaylordWilshire on the small Silverwoods store.
The USC archive had the location as Sunset Boulevard.
Hopefully, that art deco beauty is still somewhat intact under that hideous remodeling job.
Perhaps it will be rescued one day. (that is, if it is in fact the same building)

I like that huge photo of the Union Oil Building.

Is this the "porte cochere"?
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...10part1218.jpg

I would have liked to get inside but the gate was closed.

^^^Yes MikeD, that is the porte cochere. I can't believed they had it locked up.
I'll try to find a decent photo of the mural. If I remember correctly, it's a very fun mural featuring dirigibles
and ocean liners and many other forms of transportation.

Here are a couple photos of the Bullocks Wilshire mural.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/373...acesblogsp.jpg
laplaces.blogspot.com




http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/2...ilshire032.jpg
laplaces.blogspot.com

Embassy Hotel and Auditorium and RKO Theatre
 

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6...nlosangele.jpg

Downtown Los Angeles 1948
There are two buildings with domes in the foreground. Can anyone tell me what they are?[/QUOTE]

The domed building in the lower left corner of the photo is indeed the Embassy Hotel and Auditorium, the domed building to the right is the RKO Theatre located on the corner of 9th and Hill. Indeed, if you look very closely you can read "RKO" on both the back of the fly wall and the south side of the building!
I have two images of the RKO that I would like to add to your thread, but unsure how to post them.

[QUOTE=Prezervit;5081962I have two images of the RKO that I would like to add to your thread, but unsure how to post them.[/QUOTE]

What I did was upload them to photobucket and then copy & past the IMG address into my forum message. There's a more detailed explanation in the FAQs. Good luck!

The great Bullocks-Wilshire ceiling mural is by Herman Sachs and is called The Spirit of Transportation. Sachs included all spirits of transportation in his porte-cochere painting...except the car! Apparently he also contributed to the interiors of Union Station, City Hall, the Gas Company building, and the Title Insurance Building. His friend Rudolph Schindler designed the Manola Court Apartments for him (1811 Edgecliffe Drive in Silver Lake):

http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...8c27f8fc_o.jpgLACurbed http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...8c27f8fc_o.jpg


Excellent interiors shots of Bullocks-Wilshire are here:
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.c...-building.html

P.S. In his mural Sachs depicts a Maddux Air Lines Ford Trimotor. Maddux flew around the southwest in the late '20s before becoming part of what was eventually to be TWA.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-Maddox_ad.jpg Los Angeles Times, August 26, 1929 (via Wikipedia)
"Mines Field" is now LAX.

Love the vegetarian restaurant c1910 just north of the 3rd St. tunnel! Who knew?

Maddux redux
 

Another small gem of a lost downtown building is the Maddux Air Lines ticket office, which once stood at 636 S. Olive, near the 7th Street Silverwoods, on the site of what is now a parking lot:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034236.jpgLAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034236.jpg

Another shot of the Maddux building, with a beautiful chauffeured Lincoln out front:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034235.jpgLAPL http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics29/00034235.jpg

According to the LAPL, the architects were "Jock Detlef Peters and Feil & Paradise. Peters was a German emigre known for his modern store designs in Los Angeles. Other of his projects included the interiors of Bullocks Wilshire." (Emphasis mine.) Could he have also done the 7th Street Silverwoods? The building at far right in the first picture still stands and faces
Hill St.--while its rear facade is ordinary, its front is not:

http://www.nileguide.com/destination...HARRIS_SUN.jpghttp://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/los-angeles/files/2010/11/DECO_NA_HARRIS_SUN.jpg
Sun Realty Bulding, 629 S. Hill St., 1930. It's by Claude Beelman, who also did the Union
Oil Building recently discussed. It seems that all design in L.A. in this period is
interconnected, and very local.

Silverwoods Hollywood
 

ethereal-- As you noted, the shot of the Silverwoods store you found--the one that turned out to be downtown on 7th Street--is misidentified in the USC Digital Archive. The archive places it at 6555 Sunset Boulevard, as it also does the picture of an obviously different Silverwoods below. Well, there was no Silverwoods branch on Sunset at all--but there was one at 6555 Hollywood Boulevard, and the building still stands:

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...F53071B27?v=hr
USC Digital Archive http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...F53071B27?v=hr

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TP...01256%20AM.jpgGoogle Street View

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TP...01810%20AM.jpgGoogle Street View

Btw, if you ever see a problem with a USC photo, the fourth icon under the picture ("Send us your question") brings up a box to send a message to the administrators. I hate to say it, but I've seen plenty of misidentifications on the various sites that have historic shots of L.A. Sometimes I send in a correction in spite of feeling a bit like a nerd (and not wanting to make the compilers feels unappreciated for all the incredible resources they give us), but it turns out that it is appreciated, at least for the concern for accuracy.