Adam-12 was a show I regularly watched as a kid. I remember it showing a lot of the LA neighborhoods and buildings. Here is the LAPD station used in the series:

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics21/00060056.jpg

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics21/00060052.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/D...wdate=&hidate=

The building is actually the Rampart Division, northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Here is how they did the hood shots on Adam-12 showing the city in the background:

http://www.kentmccord.com/images/arc...2--Tow-Rig.jpghttp://www.kentmccord.com/images/arc...2--Tow-Rig.jpg

All night bike ride and The Rock
 

(Allow me one final post about The Rock and then I'll return to more Noirish topics, I promise!)

I had a fun adventure Friday night / Saturday morning. With bike, camera, tripod, and survival needs packed in the car I headed to Figueroa and Gage at about midnight. I knew the convoy had left that area an hour or two earlier, but figured I head up Fig to Jefferson and then up Western until I caught up with it.

Apparently the rock had been making good time. To my surprise and disappointment I didn't see the flashing lights until Western and the 10 freeway, about halfway to LACMA. Oh well. I parked the car at Western and Washington and mounted by bike. It was a warm clear evening, with a nearly full moon.

There were good size crowds lining the streets, and a lot of other bikers. The trucks traveled at about 5 MPH, so a person had to run to keep up with it; not a thing that many wanted to do. With the street closures and such you couldn't really follow it in a car either, so the only good way to join the convoy was by bike. The police and other workers seemed to give us free reign, so it was a great way to watch the event.

Unfortunately, despite much effort, most of my photos came out poorly and are not really worth posting. (I learned the hard way that for long exposure night shots, you need to use a timer or remote shutter control. Pressing the shutter manually moved the camera body and caused blurring. :uhh: )

After chatting with some of the Emmert workers and bikers around Western and Olympic I passed the rock and raced up to Wilshire, hoping to find a nice vantage spot to watch the convoy make that big left turn. I wound up atop a big bike locker at the Red Line station. Hundreds of other onlookers lined the intersection. At around 1:30 the massive transporter negotiated the turn onto westbound Wilshire to much applause and hooting, continued for another block or two...and then stopped.

The next couple of hours were an illustration of insufficient planning, public stupidity, or maybe both. Figueroa, Jefferson, and Western had been relatively smooth sailing but in Mid City there are medians in the middle of Wilshire Blvd. The huge transporter needed 3 entire lanes and though temporary No Parking signs had been installed along Wilshire they were rather hard to see. The path down Wilshire was blocked by dozens of illegally parked cars and this whole operation, which must have cost at least $10,000 a minute, had to wait while tow trucks were called and slowly removed the scofflaws, one by one. There were some colorful confrontations between law enforcement and car owners leaving the local Korean night clubs as this unfolded! One wonders why the lanes hadn't been coned off or all those cars towed, hours earlier.

So, the journey to down Wilshire to LACMA fell into a pattern of move a few blocks, wait for the next batch of cars to be towed, then move a little further west.

A bunch of hookers emerged from the IHOP at Wilshire and Hauser to watch the parade. A man on a unicycle joined us. A guy had a boombox and played a mix tape of topical songs (We Will Rock You by Queen, Michael Jackson's Rock With You, Like A Rock by Bob Segar...). Costumed revelers joined the throng. One of the Emmert workers operated a strange looking remote controlled miniature helicopter-like machine that flew overhead and shot video.

We haltingly continued west. The final stop was the "street light" installation near Museum Square, where workers prepared for the tricky right turn onto Fairfax. For this denouement, police seemed to relax the rules a bit and they let people come quite close to the trucks and transporter. When the Emmert workers executed that very complicated last turn up Fairfax it was very impressive to watch. After barely clearing Johnnie's Coffee Shop they continued the sharp turn, then slowly but very neatly swung in to the temporary driveway on the Fairfax side of LACMA.

I wish I had some good photos to share but it was great fun. (And I assure you that if you want to see a lot of strange sights, ride a bicycle across Los Angeles at four in the morning!)

Whatever you think of the rock and its installation at the museum, I think it was one of Mid Wilshire's greatest nights. Part street festival, part Doo Dah Parade; an exhibition of huge unique machinery and its amazingly intricate coordination. The rock itself is just a rock; the amazing thing was how they transported it 105 miles to LACMA, and the spectacle of that amazing convoy moving across town. In the end, this was a totally L.A. event and if it had happened 70 series ago and, I'll bet that photos of it would be treasured here. After all, we know from this thread that Los Angeles is, perhaps more than any other place, a land of preposterous schemes.

:previous:
Great story! Sorry you couldn't get the pictures you wanted, but it sounds like you still had a great time!

I think this whole rock thing has only been a good event for the LA area. Like you said, it somehow got all different kinds of people to mix and mingle with one another--kind of like the 1984 Summer Olympics, which united the whole SoCal region for a few weeks--but on a much larger scale than the rock did, of course. :-P

:previous: Excellent story David/3940dxer.....even without photographs you really brought your night with the rock to life.

The most visual was the hookers coming out of IHOP. I had to smile at that one. :)

I was being semi-sarcastic when I made that comment, of course. Yes, I appreciate LA's history and lament what was destroyed, especially things that were destroyed before I was even born. But like you said, in many ways, LA is a much better city now than it ever was.

LA, for a long time, wasn't seen as a place where "creative art" was created or even appreciated. Even now, many tourists don't go to LA to see or appreciate its myriad of very good museums (the LA area has TONS of museums that even locals don't go to; I haven't gotten around to it yet, and I've been wanting to go for a while now, but I have yet to visit the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, which claims to be the only museum in the western US that exclusively features contemporary Latin American art). I think this is why it wasn't until the 1960s that LA County finally built a museum exclusively dedicated to art in all forms, rather than just being part of the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park.

I was surprised too. I actually drove down Wilshire to get to LACMA yesterday, and saw that the traffic light mast arms were removed through the Miracle Mile, obviously for clearance of the boulder and transporter's height.

I actually like the plazas, and like that the museum is broken up into different buildings; I like that LACMA is a campus.

Going back to this photo:
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...49793373_n.jpg
Photo by me

and one I didn't post earlier:
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...84376085_n.jpg
Photo by me

I love how they created this vast area and series of walkways that are covered and yet open--like someone really THOUGHT about the climate for a change. People say that in "sunny LA," you don't need covered walkways because it doesn't rain most of the year; but HELLO, how about some shade? I certainly can appreciate shade, particularly on hot sunny summer days in LA. In fact, I spend a lot of time trying to protect myself from the sun.

In the first photo, people are comfortable and relaxed, not behaving like they're in a "stuffy art museum." Again, perfect for LA, with its supposed (maybe now gone or disappearing?) laid-back attitude.

And this vast area makes a great performance and event/festival space. I'll be at LACMA again next weekend for the Nowrooz Festival, I'm actually excited about it. For those not familiar with Nowrooz, it's the Persian New Year. I'll be all over those sexy Persian folk dancers. ;)

So this set up and design is far more functional and perfect for LA, in my opinion. The original LACMA design with the fountains was probably considered beautiful when it first opened, but the design and the mentality behind it was obviously a product of its time:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043115.jpg
LAPL

Looking at it now, there were such large wastes of space, and with those terraced plazas, it didn't look like it was a convenient museum to get around.

:previous:

Well... I have to say that I am stunned that the concrete expanse and canopy held up by red I-beams seen in the pictures in the last post are permanent parts of LACMA... no wonder they needed the rock.


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p...2520AM.bmp.jpg

6000 / 6050 Sunset Then and Now
 

I've posted the old versions here before, but last week shot some improved "now" versions for a talk I'll be giving to local engineering group, and thought I'd post them here.

6000 Sunset Blvd. in the 1930's, then Cashis Supermarket. Later Western Recording, Ocean Way Recording, and now EastWest Recoding Studios.

http://dkse.net/david/UW/6000sunsetblvd1930s.jpg
http://www.lapl.org/


And now.

http://dkse.net/david/UW/6000.now1100.jpg
My photo.


6050 Sunset Blvd. in the 1920's, then Horsley Studios. Later United Recording, now Ocean Way Recording.

http://dkse.net/david/UW/Horsly1100.jpg


And now. I don't know whether this is the same building, but would guess that it is.

http://dkse.net/david/UW/6050now1100.jpg
My photo.

Enchanting Indeed
 

Tried to insert an image from Bing.com maps of the location of the Portal Motel, but I totally mucked it up. Bing shows several birdseye views of the site both before and after its unfortunate demise. I can never get the hang of images on this forum! Anyway, it looks as if the motel and cabins were only recently removed.

G.W.- is this Berkely Sq?
 

just saw your message. is this the spot? (streets left and right are Second and First)

(edit: oops, don't think this is the place. I'll keep looking.)

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...rl/BSq1947.jpg

photo by moi

Are there any old pictures of Atwater villiage? Like in the 40's or 50s? THat's my neigborhood.

I originally thought the motel and cabins were destroyed many years ago...but I guess I was mistaken.
Wenders (back in post #6778) remembered staying there in 1995 when it was a youth hostel. He believes the buildings were torn down around 2001.

If I find the images you're talking about on Bing I'll post them.

St.James Park- plat book '47
 

G.W.
here are a couple of St.JamesPk from the book

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...l/043208ba.jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...l/a6ea8c6c.jpg

photos by me

Berkeley Sq -plat book '47
 

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...l/5e488cf7.jpg

photo by me

:previous:

Excellent, Mark. This is an early view of Berkeley Square, when the lot numbers shown were used as addresses; by about 1912, addresses were changed to conform to the city's practice of having even numbered addresses on the the south and east sides of streets, odds on the north and west. At about the same time, Hermosa Street at the west end was renamed Gramercy Place.

I'm intrigued by the notation "CAHUENGA ROAD" at the east end of the Square, which I've only ever seen designated Western Avenue.

For more on Berkeley Square: http://www.berkeleysquarelosangeles.blogspot.com

more StJamesPark-plat book '47
 

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...l/8c58f07d.jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...l/62be1804.jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...l/0ede4ba9.jpg

photos by me

Yes, throughout the book many old street names are notated and crossed out.

All I have is this old shot of Fletcher and San Fernando Road (looking west) from 1936. Not really what you had in mind, but maybe it will be of interest.


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/1936sanfernandordfletch.jpg
http://www.lapl.org/

Hi, I just wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate all you've bee doing on this page the last several years. I am only up to page 80 now but I am avidly following all the photos you are posting and saving as many as I can with appropriate labels if I can. I am learning so much about old L.A. Plan to make a trip down there soon and photo as much as I can to compare to the good old days you are sharing here. Alan in Orange, CA

Ah, Atwater Village. :)

The pic isn't from the 40s or 50s, but from some time in the 20s; here's the Tam O'Shanter Inn, a beloved Atwater Village landmark, on Los Feliz Boulevard:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008768.jpg
LAPL

The restaurant is supposedly the oldest restaurant in Los Angeles that is still operated by the same family and that is still in the same location. It opened in 1922.

Oh here, from a flyer from the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles (my partner gets mail from them), for an event that already happened:

"Join the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, as we host our Cocktails in Historic Places at the Tam O’Shanter Restaurant in Atwater Village. When the Tam O’Shanter opened in 1922, you could crank up your Hupmobile, lurch down a dirt road and arrive at the Tam, which was billed as an “old-world-style inn.” Tom Mix, Fatty Arbuckle, Mary Pickford, and Walt Disney had lunch in the restaurant so often that some referred to it as the “Hyperion studio commissary.” The Tam has been open for nine decades and has become a beloved landmark with a singular distinction—it is the oldest restaurant in Los Angeles owned and operated by the same family in the same location.

Come straight from work or slip into something more Deco—either way, plan to join us for no-host cocktails on February 10th for an evening with like-minded people. Cocktails in Historic Places™ is open to members and non-members alike, and no reservations are required."

Tom Mix, Fatty Arbuckle, Mary Pickford and Walt Disney... Wow! A friend of mine, her mother used to work for the Tam O'Shanter Inn. I wonder if my friend knew about (or even cared about) who used to hang out there.

These are from the 40s:

PE car at Glendale Blvd. near Greensward, 1940s
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013114.jpg
LAPL

Van De Kamps Bakery and Coffee Shop with Drive-In service, located on the corner of Fletcher Drive and San Fernando Road, circa 1945.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics49/00059037.jpg
LAPL