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Flyingwedge Jul 10, 2014 7:38 PM

La France Apartments Part II
 
A few months ago I posted about the La France Apartments at 681 S. Burlington: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19837

Just the other day I stumbled across these unidentified photos at the CA State Library taken by William Reagh in 1963 and 1978, which I recognized as photos of the La France:

1978; some of the artistic detailing seems to have eroded (Wasn't a lot of that stuff stamped metal?):
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...b.jpg~original
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...3A7DJT1KHN.jpg

1963; she'd been holding up the entrance since 1914:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...3.jpg~original
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...8PIQSR3EK6.jpg

It had 117 rooms? That seems like kind of a lot, unless they were mostly studio apartments:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...e.jpg~original
Los Angeles Times, July 5, 1914

CityBoyDoug Jul 10, 2014 8:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6649052)
We first visited Pierpoint Landing here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=18159

Interesting before & after aerials courtesy of HossC here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=18168


Here are a couple additional photographs from 1952.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/162/2a1d36.jpg
ebay




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/683/da1724.jpg
ebay

__

A tour of the harbor on this boat was lots of fun in the 1950s. My 5th grade class did the trip.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps8c04bdf5.jpg
LAHC

oldstuff Jul 10, 2014 8:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6648143)
Truly a mystery.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...817/518a62.jpg
ebay

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/269/f3cfd2.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...241/d18785.jpg
ebay

The connection to Los Angeles is quite interesting. I'm guessing Truly is an obsolete town.....long gone.
__


postscript:
Here's 213 East 29th Street mentioned in the description, directly south of downtown Los Angeles.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/392/735311.jpg
GSV

__

Truly Post Office was located in Montana, just southwest of Great Falls. The area is now part of Ulm, Montana. Harry Martin Joslin was the proprietor of a general store in Cascade County, which contained the Truly Post Office. Harry Joslin was born in Vermont on February 17,1863. A Great Falls directory shows him in 1908 as part owner of a grocery store in that city with an Ernest Downing.

He appears in the 1940 Census as being an owner of a store in Ulm.

The 1931 Great Falls city Directory lists Truly as a "discontinued Post Office" having been located 6 miles southwest of Ulm on the GNRY (presumably Great Northern) and 21 miles south of Great Falls. There was a postmaster appointed for Truly in 1884 and people living there under the name Truly in 1930, so it must have discontinued between the 1930 census and the date of the directory in 1931.

There is a Harry M. Joslin listed in the voter registrations as living in Los Angeles County in 1946. He would be 82. He also appears in the 1948 and 1950 voter registrations. The address listed is the same : 213 E. 29th Street. Harry M. Joslin died in Los Angeles County on May 3, 1952, hence the Los Angeles Connection. He is buried in the Ulm Cemetery in Ulm, Montana with two of his sisters.

ethereal_reality Jul 10, 2014 9:22 PM

Thanks for clarifying oldstuff -so Harry Joslin left his gas station and general store and moved to L.A. in his twilight years.

-my apologizes for posting two Montana photographs on noirish Los Angeles.
__

Tourmaline Jul 10, 2014 9:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 6008578)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Y...2520PM.bmp.jpgIMDB

Notice the neon sign at the top of this shot from Gangster Squad...it's all you need to know.

Well, it was a snowy afternoon and I thought, how bad could it be, especially for someone interested in noirish L.A.? Excruciating is not too strong a word. It's a cartoon that goes off the rails in every direction. (Even the femme fatale is made to look like Jessica Rabbit.) About 2/3 of the way through a Carmen Miranda character made an appearance--one cliché too many. Along with others in the theater I groaned, and I got up and left (not the first to do so). But after discovering that I'd left my hat--I considered just leaving it--I went back to get it and decided to stay...and then the movie's biggest blunder of all appeared on the screen. It was a dying movie's desperate footage of a shootout in--guess where? Chinatown. Which reminded me to go home and watch an actual movie masterpiece again, not an all-around schlock job. The Mickey Cohen we've come to know here is nowhere in this film--nor is an even slightly deep hint of period L.A. feel.


I offer no opinion regarding GSquad or Mob City. (I admit being hyper-critical and biased in favor of the main character played by the city, "Los Angaleese.") FWIW, I happened across these few publicity stills featured in the LATimes. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...togallery.html If I did not know any better, LA and its inhabitants must have adhered to a very strict unwritten code of cleanliness. No bad hair days. All clothing, pressed and freshly laundered (between takes). All all ashtrays, bar rooms, gutters and tail pipes must have a fresh-as-a-daisy look, feel, smell and taste.

Aerosol Lysol only became available in '62. Fabreze in '98.
Were Lizabeth Scott's smokes filtered or unfiltered? :shhh:


Too colorful for noir?
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07567/t...-005/1150/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07567/t...-005/1150/16x9




Former Bellflower JCPenny's in Slapsey's makeup. A little short on Wilshire lighting and I suppose it might have been nice to see the Dominguez and Wilshire-La Brea towers or the El Rey's marquee. :rolleyes: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f0755c/t...-009/1150/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f0755c/t...-009/1150/16x9


Park Plaza Hotel
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07559/t...1-010/600/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07559/t...1-010/600/16x9


"Some" building John Hamilton would have easily recognized. ("Great Caesar's ghost!")
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f0756a/t...-004/1150/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f0756a/t...-004/1150/16x9



Mayor's Conference Room, City Hall
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07561/t...-007/1150/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07561/t...-007/1150/16x9


The real and reel Lucy's El Adobe.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07574/t...-001/1150/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07574/t...-001/1150/16x9


Clifton's recreation of itself.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07564/t...-006/1150/16x9 http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07564/t...-006/1150/16x9

The Tower Theater Interior designed to emulate Club Figaro.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07570/t...-002/1150/16x9http://www.trbimg.com/img-50f07570/t...-002/1150/16x9

L. Scott '48
http://images.fineartamerica.com/ima...48-everett.jpghttp://images.fineartamerica.com/ima...48-everett.jpg

L. Scott '54
http://acertaincinema.com/wp-content...scott-1954.jpghttp://acertaincinema.com/wp-content...scott-1954.jpg

ethereal_reality Jul 10, 2014 10:12 PM

:previous: Believe it or not, I just watched Gangster Squad for the first time a couple days ago Tourmaline.
The film had such a cartoonish look/feel I thought many of the locations were cgi or matte paintings (especially Slapsy Maxies).
..also, I didn't realize the rustic timber interior of Clifton's Brookdale was still intact.


Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 6608477)
Back in 1926, the building next to the Gates was the Hotel Lee. It also appears that it was known as the Lee Building (see name at top).
The corner later occupied by Darms Market was the New China Cafe, complete with one of those once ubiquitous Chop Suey signs.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original
Detail




I thought I'd post this pc with HossC's photo.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/853/8eua.jpg
ebay

They could have used a person or two in that lobby pic.

__

Tourmaline Jul 10, 2014 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tourmaline (Post 6643564)

"The" sign generally touted as being the first in LA. (Address and date??)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gyCekNQQsq...47-pacsign.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gyCekNQQsq...47-pacsign.jpg

The Packard-neon discussion has raised my awareness of how many signs made use of "good-old" "high-wattage" and "heat-producing" incandescents. As anachronistic and environmentally detrimental it may be, compared to neon, are there any still-operating/operational large signs in the LA area that were originally conceived as incandescent and remain so? Even signs that are now using the incandescent blub replacements e.g., fluorescent or led? (The kind you could probably obtain from the studio rental store that was so recently at 900 N. La Brea? (The disappearance of that building may have gone unnoticed by most, but this type of loss adds up quickly and has a lasting effect. If not already, will this be another iconic building facade reproduced only at an amusement park appreciative of such designs? Will it be missed by only those who knew of its existence? http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=22012 )





RIP
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...PREI93QJNN.jpg http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...PREI93QJNN.jpg

ethereal_reality Jul 10, 2014 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tourmaline (Post 6649760)
If I did not know any better (after watching GSquad), LA and its inhabitants must have adhered to a very strict unwritten code of cleanliness. No bad hair days. All clothing, pressed and freshly laundered (between takes). All ashtrays, bar rooms, gutters and tail pipes must have a fresh-as-a-daisy look, feel, smell and taste.

Your statement made me think of this series of 'litterbug' photos taken along Broadway, circa 1957.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/849/mspy.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/48095/rec/2

-a slightly closer view.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/853/87ldz.jpg





http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/841/6877u.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/48095/rec/2




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/823/l3s03.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/48095/rec/2


come on...somebody pick this shit up.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/823/uzml.jpg
detail



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/823/vv7bz.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/48095/rec/2


I wonder what the older gentleman is promoting at his card table.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/842/fp23z.jpg




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/829/8bct.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/48095/rec/2


-additional descriptions of the photographs here:
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/48095/rec/2

The way USC lists the locations is quite confusing.
__

Tourmaline Jul 11, 2014 1:23 AM

Too much vérité may steal from the plot and Liz Scott's cameo.


1957 - Tin Can Beach, Orange County (posted recently here?) Out of state picnickers making a statement against home incineration? Protest on the low deposit bottles? >:koko:


Quote:

At 'Tin Can Beach' Orange County's 3-mile beach playground between Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach, summer's litterbugs have left annual 30 tons of empty cans, bottles, food cartons, paper plates, steak bones, corn cobs and old shoes. Photos show rusty 'path to the sea' through junk". http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/48085/rec/10
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...%20&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...%20&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...%20&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...%20&DMROTATE=0





Exchange Alley, Old Town Pasadena (Behind 45-47 E Colorado Blvd.)

Interesting spiral staircase reminiscent of so many seen in a Bunker Hill that no longer exists. Not the biggest fan of refuse . . . . .

Undated, including the refuse. http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...3/id/351/rec/3
http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...XT=&DMROTATE=0
http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...XT=&DMROTATE=0
http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://collection.pasadenadigitalhis...XT=&DMROTATE=0


Set dressers create character where it's needed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by westcork (Post 6197406)


FredH Jul 11, 2014 3:27 AM

Miss Wiley with Willys-Knight car, 20 Oak Grove Avenue, Pasadena. 1924.


Nice car, nice looking girl from 90 years ago
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps0e75bd13.jpg
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../id/2476/rec/1

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...psb55f3b60.jpg
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../id/2476/rec/1


I couldn't find 20 Oak Grove Avenue. I think the numbering system has been changed.

Those Who Squirm! Jul 11, 2014 5:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6643278)
Los Angeles Pressed Brick Co. (no date)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128.../842/7vnw3.jpg
ebay

Anyone have an address?
__

There is a Los Angeles Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company at 204 S. Broadway, listed in the 1894 directory. While one might suppose the cart could be elsewhere in the city, the three tall smokestacks suggest that this is indeed the factory in the background.

My word, what a lot of mules it takes to haul a wagon made of bricks!

Flyingwedge Jul 11, 2014 8:13 AM

Park Lane Apartments
 
The Park Lane Apartments -- and the top of its rooftop sign -- can been seen in the panorama of Vermont and 4th:

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 6517742)

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 6517918)

The current view looking west on 4th Street shows that the Park Lane Apartments (3333 W 4th St) and the church on the west side of New Hampshire are still standing.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...VermontGSV.jpg
GSV

You can see the Park Lane in the distance, behind the Brynmoor (432 S. New Hampshire), in this 1927/28 photo looking north on New Hampshire from below 5th:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...3.jpg~original
LAPL -- http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067315.jpg

North on New Hampshire from below 5th, 2014:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...9.jpg~original
GSV

Back to the Park Lane:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...1.jpg~original
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...5.jpg~original
Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1927

1929:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...0.jpg~original
USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si.../90365/rec/167

1929 entrance with wishing well:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...4.jpg~original

1929 upper detail:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...a.jpg~original

1929 sign:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...5.jpg~original

1931 sign:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...b.jpg~original
USCDL -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...ll170/id/17850

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...6.jpg~original
GSV

Entrance; wishing well barely visible:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...8.jpg~original
GSV

Wishing well also visible from above:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...8.jpg~original
Bing

HossC Jul 11, 2014 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6644140)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...0/856/9ksd.jpg
Did Mr. Frost also have an office downtown?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6643432)

Charlie Frost organized the Los Angeles Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company in 1887. The company office was located at 204 South Spring Street until 1896, when it was moved to 119 South Broadway. In 1900, the office was moved to the Frost Building at 145 Broadway. The entire sixth floor of the Frost Building was where the company had its products showroom.

Here's an advertisement for the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company from the February 1925 edition of 'Architect and Engineer' which I found in a book called City Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile, and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950 by Richard W. Longstreth.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original
books.google.com

Flyingwedge included pictures of the C.H. Frost/Haig M. Prince Building recently when writing about the Millar Block/Roanoke Building in post #20376. Here's another color picture from HDL that's dated 4/20/59. It shows the Prince Building and the Roanoke Building near the end of their lives.
NB. I've removed all the dirt from the sky.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ceBuilding.jpg
Huntington Digital Library

HossC Jul 11, 2014 11:32 AM

Thanks for the postcard of the Hotel Lee, e_r.


----------------


Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6649860)

The sign says "Voters Register Here", although I don't know what they're voting for.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...A/LAVoters.jpg

oldstuff Jul 11, 2014 2:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6649712)
Thanks for clarifying oldstuff -so Harry Joslin left his gas station and general store and moved to L.A. in his twilight years.

-my apologizes for posting two Montana photographs on noirish Los Angeles.
__

We had no way of knowing it was not LA county until I tracked down Harry Joslin. I started searching in Los Angeles. He did end up there, although buried in Montana.....

Earl Boebert Jul 11, 2014 4:11 PM

"The Rules of Film Noir," BBC documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGW-kW1AwW0

Haven't had a chance to watch yet, but looks promising.

Cheers,

Earl

oldstuff Jul 11, 2014 4:14 PM

[QUOTE=FredH;6648531]
Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality


Unlike Encino's Lang Oak, this Moreton Bay Fig tree in Santa Barbara is thriving, with a span of just under 200 feet!

[IMG
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/856/93vi.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5005/...961bd6c7_b.jpg

Now that is one hell of a beautiful tree ER - Wow! I think even GW would approve.

GW should not mind that one, since the only thing it blocks the view of is a freeway! It was brought to Santa Barbara by a seaman in 1876 and transplanted to its current location a year later.

ethereal_reality Jul 11, 2014 9:33 PM

Excellent post on the Park Lane Apartments Flyingwedge. I wonder at what point in time it lost it's rooftop sign?
I was half hoping to see it lying on the roof in disrepair.
It was good to see the La France Apartments as well.
__


I know we've seen this panorama taken from the Hotel Lankershim.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...5/id/923/rec/1


While looking at it in detail, something caught my eye in the bottom right corner of the photo below.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/823/ltwh.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...5/id/923/rec/1




And what did I find? -two insanely placed incinerators!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/834/g8i9o.jpg

How could anyone in their right mind think it was a good idea to place an incinerator on the roof of a back porch..especially in a wooden tenement.
Weren't there city laws forbidding people from doing this? Until this photograph, I've only seen them in backyards.

__


The architecture of the Hotel Rookwood is also interesting, with it's fairly unique side arches.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/822/bbqu.jpg
same panorama http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...5/id/923/rec/1

Design wise, I'm not sure what was gained by this. Was it purely ornamental?
It seems they gave up a lot of apartment space.
__

We've covered gas holders (gasometers) on NLA almost as often as we've covered incinerators.
Despite that, I can't remember if there was a gas holder near Slauson and Western.
I tried to used historicaerials.com but it's not working on my computer (because of silverlight). Can someone look it up for me? (HossC :)) -thx.
__

ethereal_reality Jul 11, 2014 10:09 PM

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/840/awgt.jpg
ebay


1916 Los Angeles postmark
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/820/wqwm.jpg

HossC Jul 11, 2014 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6651214)

We've covered gas holders (gasometers) on NLA almost as often as we've covered incinerators.
Despite that, I can't remember if there was a gas holder near Slauson and Western.
I tried to used historicaerials.com but it's not working on my computer (because of silverlight). Can someone look it up for me? (HossC :)) -thx.

Here's a view from 1954, and it looks like there were two large, cylindrical structures on S St Andrews Place, just above W 60th Street. Both are gone by 1972, although the outline of where the lower one once stood can still be made out. BTW, I use HA without Silverlight and it usually works fine for me.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...estern1954.jpg
Historic Aerials


--------------


Quote:

Originally Posted by Earl Boebert (Post 6650689)

"The Rules of Film Noir," BBC documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGW-kW1AwW0

Haven't had a chance to watch yet, but looks promising.

Cheers,

Earl

Thanks for the link, Earl. I've just watched the whole documentary. In the middle there's a guy called Neil Brand talking about the music in film noir. A few years ago I saw him giving live accompaniment to a talk on silent comedy, recreating the way the original audiences would've seen it - he was very good.


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