On my way downtown last Friday I visited 3154 Durand Drive. Here are two views of the old garage you mention, which is next to an interesting dome shaped dwelling. The house itself is completely invisible from here but a block or two down Durand I got a peek at what I think is the right home (with the steeple, quite impressive!), connected to Durand by a long footpath.

http://dkse.net/david/3154.Durand.garage.JPG

http://dkse.net/david/3154.Durand.garage2.JPG

http://dkse.net/david/3154.Durand.JPG

My photos

Yes, it's me. I really am enjoying this thread. Every day there is more great stuff here. There are a few more www.stevehoffman.tv people here as well.

Thanks for the kind words!

Regarding the short ties, if you notice, back then, men's pants had much higher waistlines, like their pants went well above their navels, so, a shorter tie would be in proportion to the higher waistlines on men's pants back then. It seems like it wasn't until the 1960s that men started wearing waistbands that came below their belly-buttons.

I've noticed in some modern films set in earlier decades of the 20th Century, that the costume designer has men's waistbands at the modern level, which kinda destroys the look.

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Again, great posts, everyone! 3940dxer, those Rosslyn Hotel photos are awesome! I really like the Durand Drive pics too. And ethereal, it's funny that you'd post those Long Beach pics, I was gonna go there yesterday to do some scoping for then and now photos, but I was feeling under the weather (still am), so I didn't go (still debating to myself if I wanna make the trek down there today). Those are great pics of the Jergins Subway tunnel. :tup:

The Morrison was, until about eight years ago, operating as a long-stay hotel for low income tenants, one of whom is a friend. He and others in the building were being harassed by the slumlord landlords, who wanted to throw everyone out, sell or demolish the property and cash in one some of that L.A. Live "magic." I tipped off Ron Garmon from City Beat, and he wrote about the sad fate of the Morrison here.

Ah, the 75th anniversary of the discovery of Miss Short's body today. Perfect day for it, too, today---cold morning (upper 40s at 8am), very cloudy; definitely sweater or jacket weather.

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The Jergins Subway tunnel was indeed an elegant tunnel.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics50/00074920.jpg
LAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics50/00074918.jpg
LAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics50/00074919.jpg
LAPL

http://i40.tinypic.com/4qprhe.jpgONTD

Every time I see high-rise pants in old movies, I wonder--especially considering that these were the days before Jockeys became popular--umm... how it was all arranged without revealing certain contours, IF you know what I mean. Perhaps the costume designers had their tricks.... Anyway... this is really out of the scope of the thread....

As for William Holden above--he's sporting another fashion quirk I've noticed before, the belt buckle worn to the side. My father still does this, at age 89. So did his brothers. They always told us they were copying their father and grandfather, who, as cotton brokers, wore their buckles that way to avoid scratching them on the brass rail overlooking the pit!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...2520AM.bmp.jpgLA Weekly

Not in L.A... a tribute to the album, and thus to the original hotel: 124 Prince Street in SoHo, NYC.

Aye.......I've been arguing that for years, Squirm.

Plus the fact that trees often hide the architectural features of shorter buildings.

Hate trees? I LOVE trees. I love them in parks, along parkways, in yards. One of my favorite cities in LA County is Pasadena, precisely because there ARE so many trees.

In a downtown urban core? Not so much.

And as to New York - my least favorite part of town is along 6th Avenue in Midtown....precisely because it's filled with more modern buildings and their silly plazas and setbacks. It certainly doesn't "feel" New York.

[QUOTE=3940dxer;5550914]On my way downtown last Friday I visited 3154 Durand Drive. Here are two views of the old garage you mention, which is next to an interesting dome shaped dwelling. The house itself is completely invisible from here but a block or two down Durand I got a peek at what I think is the right home (with the steeple, quite impressive!), connected to Durand by a long footpath.

Thanks 3940dxer for the new pictures of 3154 Durand Drive...I don't remember the deck on the right of the home...but I haven't seen the home since the late 40's. My uncle, Tom Powers, was very proud of this home. He had painted different "themes" on the stucco at the lower levels. He also had a "shrine" to St. Francis of Assisi near the west-side of the house. I will try to post a picture of him...(if I can figure out how to do it!).

Scotty Bowers
 

I don't recall if Scotty Bowers, Hollywood's infamous "male madam" of the 40's and 50's has been mentioned here before, but his autobiography "Full Service" (he and his stable of men were known for working out of a Hollywood service station) is coming out this month. Scotty is very much alive. (And no, I'm in no way a promoter of the book).
http://www.hilsingermendelson.com/campaign.php?id=289
Scotty's book sounds as though it will be quite an eye-opener. The recent photos of Madam Brenda Allen (hope I spelled her name correctly) made me think that the two of them would certainly have been aware of each other, although they served a very different clientele.

:previous:
That definitely looks like a fun read. Hubba hubba!

Thanks for the link and the postcard image! The postcard rate remained one cent until 1932, so this postcard apparently dates from some time after the hotel's opening and before the arrival of Prohibition. I've seen very few local ads from that era which specifically tout the quality and variety of the liquor to be had. Even today, reading the history of the Prohibition movement, it's easy to get the idea that most drinking establishments were grungy places in which desperate and dangerous men gathered to swill and to fight; and not at all consistent with what you'd expect to see in the bar of what was then a very good hotel.

I've always heard it was a Richfield gas station at the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Sunset Blvd.
I'll have to order the book to find out if that's true.

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3...rfaxsunset.jpg
google street view

"Pico House" ep of Ghost Adventures is available on YouTube
 

I've known about this episode for some time but haven't seen it yet. However, I just learned that it's available on YouTube, and will definitely be watching it over the next day or so.

Very good clue and deduction. So, since the Monterey Room was featured in the postcard that is no later than 1932, and the room is still there below street level today, it certainly was part of the Rosslyn when the murder occurred in 1951. Of course there may have been two bars at the hotel, but your info seems like further confirmation that the room I visited on Friday is where the murder took place.

Now, here is a truly heartbreaking story from the Rosslyn. Again, I think part of this was posted here before, but I was unaware of the tragic ending of this story until I went through the old L.A. Times articles recently. It's worth reading every word of the Times stories. ("Crowd yells jump"...I will never understand.)

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/1.23.58.Dobbs.jpg

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/1.23.58.Dobbs2.jpg
http://search.proquest.com/hnplatime...ccountid=11124


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/E...2284-009~6.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-N-12284-009~6

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/E...2284-009~5.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-N-12284-009~5

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/E...2284-009~3.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-N-12284-009~3

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/E...2284-009~1.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-N-12284-009~1


The terrible conclusion.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/2.22.58.leap_gun.jpg

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Rosslyn/2....leap_gun2.jpg
http://search.proquest.com/hnplatime...ccountid=11124

I had no idea it was that impressive!
In almost every description of the tunnel a large skylight is mentioned. How could there be a huge skylight when the tunnel runs beneath Ocean Boulevard? Am I missing something? I need to find an aerial of the area from the 1930s or 40s (the skylight was covered years before the 1967 closing date)

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below: A photo showing the Jergins Trust Building (far left) bordering the beach. Can anyone read the sign on the corner of the building?

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/8...uildingrig.jpg
lbreport

One thing these old black and white photographs don't show is that both the Jergins Trust Building and the Jergins Tunnel were highly polychromatic.


below: The colorful Jergins Trust Building in the 1980s during it's demolition.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/1...g1980swhil.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_rick/5276299598/



below: Notice the 'Servicemen's Center' sign at lower right

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/4...g1980sserv.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_rick/5276299598/




http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2...g1980sdemo.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_rick/5276299598/





below: So painful to see.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8...gshouldbej.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_rick/5276299598/

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I was excited to learn that the ornament had been save.

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9...orn1flickr.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfish...n/photostream/





http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/9...insolarge1.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfish...n/photostream/





http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7...ergusflick.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfish...n/photostream/





http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7...ergusflick.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfish...n/photostream/





http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2396/jerginsorn3.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfish...n/photostream/





http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4...orn4cherub.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfish...n/photostream/

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Someone at cinema treasures mentioned that the Jergins Building relics were stored in a lot along San Francisco Avenue. So I deciding to do some sleuthing on google-street-views.


I think I see the lot.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/9...agealongsa.jpg
google street view




Yep, there they are.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/848...instorage1.jpg
google street views

I pictured the lot being chock-full of hundreds of pieces of ornament.....this is just a sorry handful. :(

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An aerial view showing the Jergins Trust Building shortly before it was torn down.
It's the square/rectangular building at the bottom......in the middle.


http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/2...uildingaer.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_rick/5276299598/

Full text of the first Los Angeles Times article about the as-yet unidentified, much less nicknamed, Black Dahlia.... This and the photo below it appeared under the headline above 65 years ago tomorrow morning:


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y...finalfinal.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...ahlilatpic.jpg

According to this website story, the landlords got sentenced to some jail time a few years back. What goes around, comes around!

http://www.saje.net/site/c.hkLQJcMUK...g_Campaign.htm

Re:Black Dahlia Murder


:previous: Since it's the 65th anniversary of Elizabeth Short's murder should we finally delve into this horrible crime.
So far on 'noirish Los Angeles' we've been very cautious concerning the Black Dahlia case. No explicit crime scene photos have been posted....no autopsy photographs have been posted. We've pretty much steered clear of these extremely graphic photographs.

What is your opinion G_W? Should we post the photos? Would it tarnish the thread? Would it be disrespectful to Elizabeth Short?
What do the rest of you think?

With so many 'sleuths' and L. A. history aficionados on this thread perhaps we could discover something if some of these photographs were posted. You never know.

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