I'm not too sure, my guess the early 80's. From what I remember being told, that it was an electrical fire.

Braun, Bryant & Austin Paving Contractor

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/VuwsrH.jpg
EBAY

"Original vintage photograph, shows boy Gilman McDonald with two men, Ralph Adams and his friend Mr. Duncan,
truck for Braun, Bryant and Austin Paving Contractors, Los Angeles , California, March 18, 1927.
Identification of the photo is taken from notations on the back, captions in a photo album,
or from similar images in the same collection." from EBAY SELLER






I also found this contractors 'stamp' [or what-ever-you-call-it], but I'm not sure where in Los Angeles this photograph was taken.
The information is in French. lapresse

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/pmavNc.jpg
PHOTO BY OLIVIER JEAN lapresse

"Sur plusieurs escaliers, on peut encore voir l’estampe du contracteur, ici Braun, Bryant & Austin, sur un escalier construit en 1927."
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Ok, I just re-read the French article. I believe the sidewalk is in Malibu. (the photograph is now missing)

_

Formidable, e_r! Merci!

the 1927 aerial [SYCAMORE GROVE AREA]

Thanks oldstuff and HossC. I appreciate the help (even though we still don't know the answer) Now it's bugging :eeekk: me more than ever.

ZOOOOOM IN
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/2f5cHp.jpg
DETAIL / 1927

As I look at it again, the part that I thought was the horizontal bridge appears to be vertical instead. Could it be an oil derrick?

or a V 2 rocket ;)?

_

You know, I really think they should have put a watermark on that top photo:haha:

Not a V-2, one of these:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4761/...7717cb00_b.jpg_9090051.jpg by BillinGlendaleCA, on Flickr

oldstuff, I appreciate the attempt to connect the girls with people living in the area at that time. (and with the Abbot name, no doubt)


SYCAMORE GROVE HIKE, 1917
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/VI7H3R.jpg


Each and every time I look at this photograph I think of the film 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/xpPfLJ.jpg
https://imageshack.com/a/img923/8043/MtsNSj.gif

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/9404/rFC8FN.gif
giphy

It left a big impression on me....so beautiful yet quite unsettling.

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After perusing old Los Angeles newspapers, I've noticed that young film actresses would occasionally turn up missing (usually found 2 or 3 days later)
I can't decide if these are actually missing reports or publicity ploys :shrug:

Here's an example of one of the missing reports. In this instance two girls that have gone 'missing'

One of the girls, Elva Viola Taylor, is none other than Scott Charles' Grandmother!


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/hY9faf.jpghttps://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/oLItSU.jpg
Los Angeles Herald, Feb. 24, 1919

At least we know Miss Taylor turned up safe and sound.




the Herald milked the missing report for all its worth. (take a gander at the large headline)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/924/9FPyNp.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/gGyHTe.jpg
Los Angeles Herald, Feb. 24, 1919

Oh my GOD!! :haha: That is so awesome, ER! Thank-you for finding and posting it!! What a great article to find, just shy of 100 years after publication!

That is SO like Elva, getting herself into trouble! I can't recall whether I mentioned this in a previous post, but by all accounts Elva was a “wild child”, always finding trouble... or making it herself! Just imagine having “every” precinct commander and all officers, sheriffs and constables throughout the city looking for you! Man, I'd LOVE to know how that story turned out!

“Elva Viola Taylor... packed a suitcase last night and went away without explaining where or why she was going”

That sounds like her, all right. She probably got bored sitting at home and thought "Forget this, I'm outta here!"

I did a Google search for Thelma Darling and came up with... nothing. No IMDB page, or anything else.

This would be the intersection where the two were “last reported seen”.

As to the Taylor residence (the articles lists BOTH “1279 East Thirty Eighth Street” and “1292 East Thirty Eighth Street”), the address doesn't seem to exist..? Or at least I can't find it. East Thirty Eighth street seems to end at the 600 block, only to start again at the 2000 block:

https://i.imgur.com/eM7fpSG.jpg

So, I went searching through that newspaper archive site you linked to, ER - here is what I found:

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1918

https://i.imgur.com/ydfB7ib.jpgLINK

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

There's my grandad, Charles Budge Diltz. Would the above be his draft notice for The Great War? I know that he was rejected from service for having flat feet.


SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1920

https://i.imgur.com/2sVa9wh.jpgLINK

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

He was probably working on a movie - 50 bucks would be about 500 or 600 dollars today.

Note that the address, ER, is 1455 Echo Park avenue... just two doors down from the address you posted for Elva in an earlier post:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/w9JBv7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/L9r31Qg.jpg

Perhaps the newspaper got the address wrong?


THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1920

https://i.imgur.com/IsNfnEb.jpgLINK

https://i.imgur.com/Rp0ne25.jpg

The above is VERY interesting to me. I've read about the film series before, but this is the first confirmation I have of it being completed. IMAGINE, a series of 26 MOVIES with my grandmother AS THE LEADING LADY! I would KILL to be able to see these, but they are almost certainly lost forever. :gaah:


TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1921

Lastly, a somewhat ignominious entry in the family history:

https://i.imgur.com/aIXwabu.jpgLINK

https://i.imgur.com/T1fCJqX.jpg

Yeesh..! Beating a cop, grandpa Charlie and great-uncle Hubert?? And a Detective Sergeant, no less! No wonder I was never told about this particular family story! :no:

AND NOW, A NOIRISH TALE OF POLICE CORRUPTION!

That said, the above clipping strikes me as kind of odd. Hubert was on very good terms with the police department, and counted many officers as personal friends. Hubert became (in addition to his Hollywood work) a bootlegger during prohibition, and by all accounts, the police were one of his biggest customers. He also sold booze to a number of recognizable actors and actresses, directors, or whoever else he might have met through his Hollywood connections.

My father, at around the age of six or seven (so, 1928-1930) would hang out at Hubert's house on Ardmore St. My dad said that Hubert had so much money from bootlegging, he had random, tall stacks of cash just lying around the house, wrapped in twine, falling between cushions, etc. My dad said he'd never seen so much money, before or since.

On occasion, a customer would complain about the quality of the hooch. So Hubert would tell them “Well, you're one of the few people I've met in this racket smart enough to know the difference between cheap bathtub hooch and the real McCoy. I only drink the good stuff myself, but it's not easy to get. But seeing as how you're a connoisseur like myself, I'll sell you the GOOD stuff from my personal stock - but it's gonna cost you!” The customer would agree to the higher price, Hubert would hand the bottle to my dad, and my dad would run into the back room, slap a new label on the bottle, and bring it back out. When the customer would taste the allegedly new booze, according to my dad they would always say “AH... MUCH better!” and be happily on their way.

As I said, the cops were one of Hubert's biggest customers. Sometimes, someone would rat Hubert out and report him to the police. Shortly thereafter, Hubert would receive a telephone call, and it always went something like this:

“Hello, Hubert? This is officer O'Malley, down at the precinct. Oh yes, my wife is doing fine, very well, thank-you! Well, I hate to bother you, but - we just received a phone call from one of your neighbors, or an irate customer, I dunno - yes - so we're going to have to show up and make a fuss. You know the routine. How about in, say, two hours? Does that give you enough time to get things ready? I'm really sorry about this, you know...”

So Hubert would do what he had always done before. He would collect all but say one or two bottles. Then he and my dad would load all the rest of the booze into Hubert's truck. They'd then put the booze in Charlie's garage, then drive back to Hubert's place to wait for the cops to arrive.

Soon, two or three squad cars would arrive, sirens blaring. Of course, the cops would pretend not to know Hubert, and they would be as loud and disruptive as possible, perhaps threatening to kick in the door, whatever it took to make a suitably theatrical scene. Then they would confiscate the one or two half-empty bottles, hold them aloft for all to see, and exclaim loudly “there's no bootlegging going on here, but don't make us come back for stuff like this! We're letting you off easy this time!” Then they would smash the bottles on the curb, and drive off.

Later that evening, the same cops would return to buy their weekly supply of booze from Hubert, who went and retrieved it from Charlie's garage as soon as the police had left. “Gee, we're awfully sorry about that business earlier today, Hubert. It's the job, you know? Gotta keep up appearances - just add the cost of the bottles we smashed onto my bill. And hey, would you double my order this week, I've got the in-laws coming to stay this weekend for my wife's birthday.”

At some point, my father told grandpa Charlie about these happenings at Hubert's house, and from that point on, grandpa Charlie wouldn't allow my dad to hang out at uncle Hubert's house anymore.

A Raymond Chandler writing about corrupt LA-- sidewalks stamped by the builders going nowhere in the name of graft

Does anyone know when the Pep Boys sign was removed? I grew up next door in South Pasadena and the sign just gave me flashbacks to my youth at a time before Old Town was rehabilitated.

I feel your pain! I grew up going to the West Covina location and when it closed we started going back to the Downtown location. And well after the re-vamp Cliftons as we knew it was dead. I still crave my beef patties with au jus :Sad:

from last night.
IT SHOULD BE: "I'm not sure where in Los Angeles this photograph was taken." ---MINUS THE COMMAS*

Punctuation and sentence structure are not my friend. :(







*EDITED from comas

:previous:

Spelling is not your friend either, e_r. Maybe it's on account of all the comas. ;)

Elva's disappearance
I agree, that article is all kinds of awesome. Luckily I remembered your grandmother's maiden name was Taylor.

I was aware of the article about your grandfather (and his brother) beating up the police sergeant.
I didn't think I should post it without getting an OK from you first. (since your ancestors are obviously a bunch of hooligans. ;))

_

I don't know what you're talking about Hoss :shrug:. I just checked & it's spelled correctly. ;)

Edit is my friend.

'mystery' gate

"c1910 Los Angeles Southern California Upscale Residence Entrance RPPC Real Photo"

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/TP3dwj.jpg
EBAY REVERSE IS BLANK

If this wide road leads to an estate....it must be a whopper of an estate.

Does anyone recognize the gate?

_

'mystery' house

"RPPC - Los Angeles, CA - Private Residence - 1939"

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/bhI1mE.jpg
EBAY

That round opening to the porch is just wrong.



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No worries there, ER - the current generation of Diltzes is just a bunch of hooligans, too! ;) :haha: