:previous:


More on the Creque building...


The original two-story building appears to be under construction here...
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics03/00011325.jpgLAPL

...note the building to the west of the current Creque, still there.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z...2520AM.bmp.jpgGSV


The USCDL describes this shot as depicting the northeast corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga, but it's the two-story Creque on the southwest corner (again, note the small building to its west)....
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...2520AM.bmp.jpgUSCDL

A detail of the two-story Creque, at right...
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics03/00011337.jpgLAPL

...and from the air:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics39/00039365.jpgLAPL


At far left, what appears to be the original cornice line of the current Creque:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00104/00104569.jpgLAPL

Regarding the Hollywood PO.

As circumstances may have warranted, e.g., increased demand, the USP office designated a main office and annexes. I don't pretend to understand the PO's nomenclature, but I have seen one or two references to the Ivar stucture as Hollywood PO no. 6. Whether that means that at that time there were six offices, or this was the sixth in chronology, or there were six (or more) designated zones or codes, is unclear to me. One might expect that the USPO would have the definitive answer. In any event, there may have been many POs, at any given time, and that means they were subject to change. Hotels, like the Sackett's and Ambassador acted as PO's, as did buildings specifically designated for that purpose, e.g., the Wilcox Station.


The Ivar station's '26 opening was met with much fanfare, maybe because it marked a growth milestone, for the local businesses, rather than the industry now so closely associated with the Hollywood name. Several photos of local dignitaries at the opening support this notion. None of the faces seem obvious to me, but at least one, the senior VIP, is identified as Sanford Rich.


According to one source, Rich, built a large home at 6948 Hollywood Boulevard. He predated Johnny Grant as Hollywood's first elected mayor in 1903. He sub-divided several tracts in the area and served as chairman of the Hollywood National Bank and Citizens' Savings Bank. In '26 he would have been 86 yo. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=60045991

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046273.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046273.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046274.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046274.jpg




GW mentioned Mullen and Bluett in connection with the Ivar's design. M&B certainly went for an eclectic look.:rolleyes:

1929
Hollywood Blvd., next door to the fabulous Roos Bros. Building. 6320 H. Blvd. (http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=15719)http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics43/00071355.jpghttp://jpg3.lapl.org/pics43/00071355.jpg


VJ "night", in front of M&B downtown store.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055043.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055043.jpg

Yes, there are many more examples of Mullen & Bluett on this thread, including Miracle Mile.

Danger town
 

Another one of those dreadful streetcar waiting zones. To access it, you had to actually walk into the street [jaywalk] and across moving traffic. Imagine doing this on a dark and windy night with children. Then you had to stand there with cars whizzing by on both sides until your trolley arrived.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps6a1c1964.jpg

I don't know if this clarifies much, but here's a list of Post Offices from the 1932 CD. The paragraph on the left claims there are "One hundred and fourteen stations and branches..." - I haven't counted them. The Hollywood Station at 1723 N Vine is about a third of the way down the center column.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ostOffices.jpg
rescarta.lapl.org

The Hollywood Station is still on Vine in the 1936 CD, although the number of stations and branches is down to ninety. The 1938 CD lists the Hollywood Station at 1615 N Wilcox Av., and gives the number of stations and branches as one hundred.

:previous: Good list. Some stations had names, some had numbers, some had letters. May hold a clue or two regarding the location of various photos, including those with the decorative tiles. For example, Station No. 13 was 5207 Hollywood.

Somewhere in Hollywood
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046268.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046268.jpg

West LA Station was at 1544 Purdue. Could this nondescript storefront have sold stamps during the depression?
http://www.loopnet.com/xnet/mainsite...Original=Falsehttp://www.loopnet.com/xnet/mainsite...Original=False

1620 N Highland would have been near Max Factor (1666) and across for Hollywood High?

1939
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046263.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046263.jpg




Mail Miscellanea?


Ambassador Hotel (before its demise)
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085088.jpghttp://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085088.jpg


Who says the PO doesn't have a sense of humor?

Celebrating opening of Beverly Hills PO(?)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019451.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019451.jpg

Mail Bags for the modest?
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019450.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019450.jpg


Mail Order Bride? Handle with care? Special delivery?
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019448.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics19/00019448.jpg


http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068748.jpghttp://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068748.jpg


Main, Spring and Temple (Plenty of Opportunity for Pedestrian mishaps :previous:)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014188.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014188.jpg


Didn't realize the USPS offered a primitive form of E-mail (Electronic Mail).
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics14/00006751.jpghttp://jpg1.lapl.org/pics14/00006751.jpg




1941 - Venice and Motor Ave. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9934
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics07/00023130.jpghttp://jpg3.lapl.org/pics07/00023130.jpg


1966 - Downtown LA Courthouse/PostOffice, a natural place for V. War protest (?)
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045999.jpg http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045999.jpg











LAPL is often correct, but no body is perfect! (Occasionally the mail gets misdelivered to the Sackett address instead of 1728 Ivar. :P)


http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046260.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046260.jpg

I wonder if they sold it here:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/gogonotes/SBOjS...00/6U2UcL.jpegLAPL

The Gold Cup at Hollywood Blvd. & Las Palmas, 1972. (The Egyptian and Hotel Christie building can also be seen.)

Interior, 1972:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/gogonotes/SJeri...00/LEVmuu.jpeg William Reagh, LAPL

The blogger writes:

http://gogonotes.blogspot.com/html

"When I think of Las Palmas and I think Miceli's, Stefano's, Jack in the Box, News Stands, Peaches Records and the notorious Gold Cup coffee shop."

No further explanation of why The Gold Cup was notorious, but one of the three comments below the post says:

"It does bring back memories. I came out standing in front of the Gold Cup Coffee Shop back in 1968. Thanks for the photos."

http://gogonotes.blogspot.com/html

I found a NLA post about what was there before Gold Cup:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9464

And some comments about The Gold Cup itself and why it was notorious:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9472

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9477

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9478

I've just realized that USC's "Cityscape" photo covers this section of S Beaudry. Here's the building above with some of its neighbors. The quality isn't great at this zoom level, but "Tanner Limousines and Parlor Cars" can be seen on the wall, along with "Richfield & Richlube". The "Tanner Motor Livery MUtual 3111" sign can be seen on the roof.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...MLBeaudry2.jpg

A slightly wider view. The street in the foreground is Fremont Avenue.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...MLBeaudry3.jpg
Detail from picture in USC Digital Library

I was just about to post this when I noticed some clues to tie up some loose ends. First, take a look at this picture posted by Tourmaline:

Below left is an enlargement of the far right of the picture above. Although the writing isn't legible, it matches the writing on the corner of the building on Fremont Avenue that's directly behind Tanner Motor Livery in the wide view above. That confirms that Tourmaline's picture was taken on S Beaudry. It also means that the portion of the Tanner building to the right of the roof sign (i.e. the part in the picture above) was added between 1927 and 1931, which I think has caused some of the confusion over the location. According to the 1929 CD, the highlighted building is the Irving Hotel at 335 S Fremont Avenue. The building next door is the Ben Hur Apartments at 337 S Fremont Avenue.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...rvingHotel.jpg
Detail of pictures above

Tourmaline also posted this picture of one of Tanner's cars at an unknown location:

It's now clear that the picture above was taken next to the empty lot opposite Tanner's garage. The light-colored building in the top left of the picture below is the Sunnyside Apartments at 318 S Boylston (1929 CD again). Part of the sign is visible at the top of the picture above.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...MLBeaudry5.jpg
Detail of picture above

900 pages, at least with my page settings, Congrats, another milestone.

I just found out about this place...
 

I didn't even know it had ever existed.

The old Idle Hour bar in North Hollywood is being refurbished. It's supposed to open early next year on Vineland, though I'm not sure where.

I used to know the guys who have added it to their growing chain of watering holes. Back in 1993 they took over Cacao, a West L.A. coffeeshop that had opened only two or three years before; it was they who made it over in tiki style you see in the pictures. Twenty years on, it still looks almost exactly the same and is still going strong--the last of the 1990s-era independent cafes that used to be scattered all along Santa Monica Boulevard between Centinela and Sawtelle Avenues.

Here's an exterior shot of Cacao I took for my blog several years ago:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YlTcjdZrbh...o+exterior.jpg

and the interior:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YlTcjdZrbh...o+Interior.jpg

(Both own work)


Bobby and Alastair no longer run Cacao, but it's telling that the subsequent owners have seen fit to keep everything as it was. And for those of you who live out North Hollywood way and are looking for a cool new place to knock back a few, you'll be in good hands.

As can be seen in the newer photo the tall tower was part of the fire station. These towers were used for "hanging hose" and also for practice drills. Since the hoses were made of heavy canvas fabric they would be soaking wet when they returned from a fire and in order to keep mildew at bay, they would hang the hoses to dry in the towers

I hadn't realized that Pennzoil was founded in Los Angeles, in 1913. I'm not sure what constituted its facilities before the building seen above, but there seems to have been a fire in 1918, with the diaper-brick building apparently going up in 1922. A few items from the Times:


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...2520PM.bmp.jpg Feb 16, 1918

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9775/om31.jpg May 7, 1922

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...2520PM.bmp.jpg May 18, 1941


LAT

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7946/szz6.jpgGotfredson Truck History


Found this interesting Morgan, Walls & Clements building still standing at 1235 East Olympic (1235 East Ninth).


http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1416/ulre.jpgGSV


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...056%2520AM.jpgGotfredson Truck History


More pictures and interesting full history of the Gotfredson Truck Corporation is here.

Yes, nice, I usually go here when I attend a movie at the theatre up the street a ways!

MONKEY ISLAND opened 75 years ago
 

Well, E_R, I hope the palpitations are worth it! As I’ve been going through the thread, I, too, have been intrigued by this Monkey Island that I had never heard of before. And many years ago, for over five years in fact, I rode past the area it is “alleged” (Lol!) to have been located in almost every day.

Using the search function, which we all know has it’s limits, I have read three dozen posts and links about this place and find it amazing that it’s still steeped in mystery. There’s relatively few photos of the place and information of it’s exact location seem to vary from person to person and source to source.

NLA poster Michael Ryerson even began to wonder about the exact location even after he posted his 1943 road map image where it’s pointed out.

I don’t know if my post will cause added confusion or clarity and I can’t assume that I’ve read every post now about Monkey Island, as the search function seems to waver in its accuracy as other posters have corrected, but I am going to post a few things that I found that I didn’t know, so I think are new here, with the “search engine” caveat. I’ll start with this photo I originally found on an LAPL blog about favorite photo discoveries of the year.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8...4704acf5_z.jpg Herman Schultheis, 1939, LAPL

The caption states:
Orangutan tug o' war at Monkey Island, Herman Schultheis, 1939
Paul Palmentola with assistance from architect George Sprague and engineer R. McBeanfield designed the amusement park, which opened Thanksgiving Day in 1938. A six story building housed the offices, hospital and laboratories.

I searched Michael Ryerson posts, but didn’t see that he’d posted this photo, even though he had on his Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelryerson/8535024002/

As for the caption, it’s the first I’d heard that there was a six story building associated with this place. The reason for the hospital and laboratories may have been because the managing director apparently let others use some of his monkeys for testing and research. (Although when I had read that in one of the links I assumed it was not done on or near the premises, but by other facilities.)

I found this entry on a Yahoo group dedicated to the Pacific Electric Railway. Someone on there had asked about a post someone made mentioning Monkey Island and a link to some info about it (nothing that wasn’t on NLA) and Raphel Long posted this memory:

Monkey Island was located on the north side of Cahuenga Boulevard just west of Dark Canyon Road. The Cahuenga Parkway ended just west of the Barham-Dark Canyon Bridge where it crossed the Pacific Electric at grade. Cahuenga became Ventura Boulevard at Lankershim Boulevard. As I recall, Monkey Island folded around December of 1941. The "mountain" was visible all through the War.

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/P...ns/topics/4410

Then I found this in a post on the Los Angeles Daily News site which was an article about the San Fernando Valley’s history and such.

Depression easing in region
By Kelly Corrigan, Correspondent

As the San Fernando Valley entered the 1940s, the area gave every indication that the Great Depression had loosened its grip on the community.

Stories in The Van Nuys News, the predecessor of the Los Angeles Daily News, told of an unprecedented building boom in the Valley, which also continued to draw more than its fair share of celebrities.

From the mundane to the remarkable, the paper offered a compelling look at Valley life in 1939-40. Here are select excerpts:

The excerpt of interest to this NLA subject:

Monkey Island Resort Popular

Over 30,000 persons of all ages have visited Monkey Island, 3300 Cahuenga boulevard, since it opened December 9, according to Louis Weiss, managing director of this unique simian zoo ... Many unique features are daily being added to Monkey Island's anthropoid ape performances and among the small monkeys on the "island" itself.

Bert G. Fisher, curator, is teaching "Jimmy," his "high school" chimpanzee, a "Ferdinand the Bull" act, with a trained goat doubling as the "bull" ... "Bennie," notwithstanding her name, is a female Java monkey and an expectant mother. While waiting for the monkey stork to bring her baby, "Benny" has adopted four small Rhesus monkeys, which she feeds all the food she can collect - or steal. "Benny," who looks like a small male lion, can be very ferocious whenever any of her adopted babies are molested. (Jan. 12, 1939)

http://www.dailynews.com/20110123/de...sing-in-region

So, we have a discrepancy in it’s opening date: The LAPL photo caption said it opened on Thanksgiving in 1938 (November 24th) and this article says December 9th. (Maybe it
had a trial opening, a pre-opening?)

Lastly, I found a Pacific Electric Magazine dated November 10, 1938, Vol. 19-No.5, that has an article titled:

TWO NEW PLACES OF INTEREST COMPLETED
Novel attractions for ourselves and for our railway and L.A. Motor Coach patrons scheduled for November opening.

The first paragraph:

This month two new enterprises will open to the public for their entertainment and amusement. One of them, “Tropical Ice Gardens” is located at Westwood Village, reached by the Wilshire-University Line of the Los Angeles Motor Coach; the other, “Monkey Island”, located at 3300 Cahuenga Boulevard, on the San Fernando Valley Line of this railway, between Barham Boulevard and Lankershim Boulevard.

The next ten paragraphs are all about the Ice Gardens, along with a rather large rendering of the facility. The last paragraph is about Monkey Island:

“Monkey Island”, modeled somewhat on the plan of the famous island in one of the Chicago parks, will undoubtedly be a lure for many people who find amusement in the antics of the little animals. The Builder, Mr. Weis, is authority for the statement that when in complete operation, the island will have 600 monkeys “on the loose”. Such a monkey business. Can you imagine how the price of peanuts is going to advance in that territory. Possibly he may not feed them on a strictly peanut diet, but what’s a monkey without a peanut. Anyway, there should be lots of fun and laughter around “Monkey Island”.

There is also a rendering of the place with the caption “600 Monkeys to Call This Home”.

Whether it was built like the rendering is unknown to me, but it shows the front building with the entrance (like the one in the photo above) and the neon sign which we’ve seen in previous posts, above it. On the right side of the entrance area is a location labeled a Restaurant. There is another on the left, but not legible, although it could be a gift shop or something like that. The “Monkey Island” itself looks to be behind this and the rendering shows it to be enclosed with a low-ish fence of some kind. There also looks to be a tall pole arising inside—some kind of night illuminating structure I’d guess.

This whole place has no other buildings in view and hills are in the background; it is not “on” a hill like those odd remnants people have wondered about. Of course, again, this is a rendering.

I have no means to post this photo, so if someone does, I, and I’m sure others, would appreciate it! It’s on this pdf link:

http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPG...g_1938_Dec.pdf

…the mysterious “Monkey Island” opened 75 years ago…

There used to be a very rickety and dilapidated foot bridge over the corn field over the rail tracks which was removed sometime in the 1980s. I believe the color photo was taken from this that foot bridge.

:eek: Wow! I've waited a long time to see Monkey Island! This matches the 1940s aerial photographs I've seen on NLA, so I think NLA already found the location.

I love the 1930s Streamline Moderne look too.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5492/1...e6c5690a_o.jpg
Monkey Island by matthew_dumont, on Flickr

Source: http://libraryarchives.metro.net

Monkey Island Moderne
 

Matthew, thanks so much for posting the Monkey Island rendering!

Yes, I was not expecting that.

Monkey Island
 

I know I'm just a New Yorker, but I have been following the "mystery" of Monkey Island's location on these pages for quite a long time. Countless sources list 3300 Cahuenga as the address, including period advertisements.

http://imageshack.com/a/img5/3972/erq1.jpg laist.com

Also, HistoricAerials.com clearly shows the remains of Monkey Island at 3300 Cahuenga Boulevard as being still there in 1948, including high walls to keep the varmints inside, the "mountain," the restaurant and admissions buildings, parking lots, etc.

http://imageshack.com/a/img7/1200/2tum.jpghistoricaerials.com

In the 1972 aerial, you can see Monkey Island has been replaced by a park.

http://imageshack.com/a/img541/1741/viqn.jpghistoricaerials.com

In the 2003 aerial you see the same park, which today we know as El Paseo de Cahuenga Park.

http://imageshack.com/a/img43/134/hfnw.jpghistoricaerials.com

So I guess my question is....why am I the only one that can find it? Or am I missing something? I think the most definitive proof is the ad from the 1930's listing the exact address. I love a good mystery, but golly gee, can't we put this one to monkey bed? :haha:

We did find it earlier. It's just that the subject came and went haphazardly and with the search not so great, some people caught the posts where we fleshed it out, and some people didn't. That's a nice aerial progression, though.

Thanks Martin Pal for that fantastic post on Monkey Island.

I had no idea about the streamline facade that surrounded the 'island'.
I was especially surprised by the mention of a 6 story administration building. (surely we can turn up a photograph).

The Monkey Island restaurant is a bit unsettling. I think I would avoid the daily special...especially if it's meat loaf.
__