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-   -   noirish Los Angeles (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170279)

ethereal_reality Oct 29, 2013 11:09 PM

:previous: This is very cool CBD, but I'm not sure if it's 100% correct.
I had a blue California license plate in the 1980s (it's still hanging in my parent's garage).


Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 6319861)

The wrought-iron fence along the perimeter of the Plaza has been replaced by a wall. -right GW?
__

GaylordWilshire Oct 29, 2013 11:19 PM

You got it, ER Your prize is a rooftop sign:


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1...2520PM.bmp.jpghttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U...2520PM.bmp.jpg


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2512

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7802


Looks like it's now open... www.hotelnormandiela.com/

ethereal_reality Oct 29, 2013 11:28 PM

:previous: THANK YOU!


A 1934 cloudburst!
http://imageshack.us/a/img853/3245/52xx.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img198/5223/qzxf.jpgebay

Anyone recognize the large building on the left?
__

ethereal_reality Oct 29, 2013 11:33 PM

At least this one has an address.
http://imageshack.us/a/img15/7558/gfnp.jpgebay

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/3162/7pza.jpg
ebay
__

MartinTurnbull Oct 29, 2013 11:38 PM

Hey guys, I'm hoping you could help me out here. A while back (as in "quite a while") there was a posting in this forum of a collection of startlingly beautiful shots of the interiors of the Richfield Tower. As I recall, they were of the public foyer and elevators and showed the amazing deco detailing. I've been searching and searching for them again but have come up empty handed. Can anybody point me to them???

MartinTurnbull Oct 29, 2013 11:42 PM

Hi guys, I was hoping you could help me out here. A while ago (as in "quite a while ago") I came across a series of beautiful interior shots of the Richfield building - as I recall it was the public foyers and elevators. They showed the incredible deco detailing. I've been searching and searching but have come up empty. Can anyone here help point me to that page? Thanks much!

ethereal_reality Oct 29, 2013 11:54 PM

-still more rain in 1941.
February 21st to March 4th! (in these two examples)

Western Ave. Airport?
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/379/e00t.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img405/3673/797n.jpgebay



going on a second week. -deeper and deeper!
http://imageshack.us/a/img194/148/vf5f.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img199/844/qz9h.jpgebay

-5 square miles -now thats a lot of rain! I wonder what area they're talking about.
__

GaylordWilshire Oct 29, 2013 11:58 PM

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4...2520PM.bmp.jpgGSV


That's the California Club--looking south on Flower Street. (#%&$* trees)



http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics26/00047666.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics26/00047670.jpgLAPL


Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6320067)
:previous: THANK YOU!



http://imageshack.us/a/img853/3245/52xx.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img198/5223/qzxf.jpgebay

Anyone recognize the large building on the left?
__


ethereal_reality Oct 30, 2013 12:25 AM

:previous: -thanks again GW. I should have known that one.
__

A glimpse inside the Tower Theater at Broadway and 8th. (hard to believe it's Los Angeles)
http://imageshack.us/a/img19/9245/c5j2.jpg
jericl cat at http://www.flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/3499394471/



-and the tower itself with a clock with no hands. (takes me back to my college years and my first screening of Wild Strawberries)
http://imageshack.us/a/img27/1411/ytzt.jpg
jericl cat at http://www.flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/3499394471/
__

HossC Oct 30, 2013 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull (Post 6320083)
Hi guys, I was hoping you could help me out here. A while ago (as in "quite a while ago") I came across a series of beautiful interior shots of the Richfield building - as I recall it was the public foyers and elevators. They showed the incredible deco detailing. I've been searching and searching but have come up empty. Can anyone here help point me to that page? Thanks much!

sopas ej posted some great black and white shots back in 2010 - are these the ones you're looking for?:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1324

ethereal_reality Oct 30, 2013 12:58 AM

-for Jeff_Diego.

-more ingenues...with names! :)
http://imageshack.us/a/img22/710/df6p.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img89/849/676c.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=38857




http://imageshack.us/a/img69/1226/viu5.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img6/8241/8yjx.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=38856
__

Noircitydame Oct 30, 2013 2:01 AM

Boo!
 
What to do in Noirish Los Angeles for Halloween 1925-1930? So many options :hell::hell:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k..._halloween.png
Clara Bow

There's the Vernon Country Club (featuring a Clara look-a-like); dancing 'til 4am, could be fun:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...e/vernon26.jpg LAT 1926

But over at the Moulin Rouge, they're having confetti fights:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k.../moulin-28.jpg LAT 1928

The kiddies might like ice and balloons:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...cecarn26-1.jpg LAT 1926

Coffee Dan's always has a good show, and there is that slide...
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...offeedan29.jpg LAT 1929

But Muller's has pajama clad waitresses:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...ullers30-1.jpg LAT 1930

The Oak Tavern has a whoopee cabaret (and free parking):
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...lle/oaks29.jpg LAT 1929

Want to get out of town? There's always Mt. Lowe:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...e/mtlowe25.jpg LAT 1925

Or take a red car to Venice...
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...e/venice29.jpg LAT 1929

...Where there's the Ship Cafe. If you're going, better call AT ONCE (or else)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...p-venice28.jpg LAT 1928

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...pcafe-lapl.jpg LAPL

Some people had a good time, too good...
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k.../25-venice.jpg LAT 11-2-1925

It all sounds swell, but I think Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club is my pick. Those costumes, THREE dance floors (yet, only two bands), and ham 'n eggs at sunset (so, what do they serve at sunrise?)...
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...cottclub28.jpg LAT 1928

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...lubnight-2.jpg LAPL

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...lemel-lapl.jpg Ethel Le Mel; LAPL

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...sebctclb-2.jpg LAPL

Finally, if any of you boys were thinking of pulling some innocent pranks, like putting horses and cows on the roof of city hall - forget it. Two-gun Davis is on to you:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k.../pranks-26.jpg LAT 1926 http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...925-lapl-1.jpg
City Hall c. 1925 (LAPL)
:daz:

ethereal_reality Oct 30, 2013 2:12 AM

:previous: FUN post Noircitydame! -kudos to you my friend. :)

Martin Pal Oct 30, 2013 5:02 AM

DANdy
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Noircitydame (Post 6317112)

I don't have any other photos of Coffee Dan's - I remember coming across some but don't seem to have saved them. (as far as I could gather, the later coffee shops had no connection other than the name to the older speakeasy-ish ones).

Thanks! (And I love the Clara Bow shot above!)

I searched this thread, but found little in the way of more Coffee Dan's photos...

This wonderful photo taken of Vine Street shows the [Co]ffee Dan's sign jutting out over the sidewalk on the far lefthand side of the photograph:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger (Post 5477559)
More vintage Vine Street, from 1953.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/...2b06117b_o.jpg
[source: Flickr

In this 1961 photograph on the far right you can see part of the street level sign Coffee [Dan's] and atop the building, behind the street lamp, you can make out the start of their neon sign on the roof: Cof-

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5479105)
below: Extensive use of banners over Hollywood Blvd. as late as 1961.
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1...oodblvd196.jpg
unknown
__

Here's one of a souvenir collection of postcards from the late 1950's where you can see this sign a lot clearer:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/...c088b2c4c5.jpgFlickr

Taken from the exact opposite direction is this small size photo--the man on the sidewalk is standing under the Coffee Dan's sign jutting out over the sidewalk. You can also see the "Dan's" neon sign on the roof area. This photo is from 1960.

http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/...hmb/HB-299.jpgBruce Torrence

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger (Post 5479894)
In the 1953 color photo of Vine I was intrigued by the Coffee Dan's sign at the far right and have been looking for more photos of the restaurant itself. Not much luck yet.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M.../s512/menu.JPG
[source: eBay]

Yes, wonder why we have had little luck in finding some full on photos of the Coffee Dan's restaurants, particularly Hollywood? (The above was first posted two years ago.) It seems they were known for their distinctive designs, which I think of as a cross between art deco and the Jetsons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger (Post 5479894)
This one has been marked as being in Los Angeles, but I have no clue which location it might be. Still...great atmosphere!

http://blog.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/w...coffe-dans.jpg
[source: Stuttgarter Zeitung]

I thought this might have been the one locatedin Van Nuys, but I found out it was designed by different architects. Sources list it as one located on Wilshire Blvd. in
Beverly Hills and that's the first i knew there was one in Beverly Hills! No address given, though. An equal number of sources list it as 1948 or 1950. The photographer,
Julius Shulman, lists it as 1948, so I'll go with that.

There seems to be several photos of the Van Nuys location. A date of 1957 is mentioned, which could be when it was built, or when the photos were taken.

6576 Van Nuys Boulevard
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8310/7...36d18943_z.jpg
Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/7...1ac3948a_z.jpg
Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/7...f8c6f4fb_z.jpg
Flickr

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8446/...db930664_z.jpg
Flickr

Postcard / back
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6MggQOTP9t..._Dans_back.jpg
San Fernando Valley Blog

front
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mk0V331cGD...offee_Dans.jpg
San Fernando Valley Blog

what's located there now
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/7...c52625f9_z.jpg
Flickr

Downtown Dan's
http://ladailymirror.files.wordpress...ng?w=624&h=435Columbia
L.A. Daily Mirror

This photo is from a Coffee Dan's in Downtown, Los Angeles. (The one on Broadway or West 8th?) It's from some process footage that was filmed about April 1946 for the Columbia feature "Down to Earth." The link above has still shots and also links to the actual footage that runs about 11 minutes.

Ta Da! I just TODAY found this wonderful color photo posted on a blog recently! I've never seen it before!
It's not "head on" but it's getting closer! It's dated 1959. The First Federal Bank Bldg. is on the right, replacing the Hollywood Hotel. It opened in Jan. 1959. The spire of the Chinese Theatre is in the distance.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...eDans-1959.jpgGoGoGorilla

sportbiker Oct 30, 2013 6:17 AM

A guy just can't get ahead here!
 
I'm up to about page 150 in my trip down dual-memory lane (one for the history of this thread, the other for the history of L.A. therein) when a post caught my attention, leading to some independent sleuthing. That lead to my discovery that there was apparently a 4-block long viaduct from the rear of the P.E. Building, ending at-grade at San Pedro street. Several rounds of photo searches confirmed the viaduct but not its size. Finally, I uncovered a schematic of P.E. tracks in and out of the P.E. Building and, indeed, the viaduct was four blocks long. Who knew?

I thought I had something original to post here. Until I looked at the photo credit.

This very thread. Page 256 (still in my future). Post 5115.

Damn, you guys are good! :cheers:

Martin Pal Oct 30, 2013 6:19 AM

I've noticed that posters have at times often related a story of their own or others that go along with the photographs. I'll delete this if inappropriate, but here's:

Why I've been interested in COFFEE DAN'S

http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...5QkDGi1jmw.jpgEbay

I had been interested in what "Coffee Dan's" was ever since I met an aging man at a Halloween dinner party about a decade ago. I don't know the whole story, but a gay couple in their thirties or early forties had become friends with him. I guess he was in his 70's.

As a young man he worked at the Bank of America on Hollywood Blvd. near Highland Ave. He said that when the Dodgers first came to town in 1957-58 the team set up bank accounts for them at that bank branch and that he often helped them. He said that one of them recognized him from a (gay) bar he'd been at. The man didn't remember his name or many details about that. (Dang!) You know how things happen in one's life that years later other people find more interesting than you did at the time? Sometimes "we" even find things we've done a lot more interesting later on. (***see SIDEBAR below)

Anyway, during dinner one of the couple who had invited him that night said, "Tell them about the time Montgomery Clift asked you out!" Now how interesting was that question? The man modestly said he wondered if any of us would be interested in that and if we even knew who that was--!!!

This all happened in the late '50's...'57 or '58 probably. He told us that he worked at that bank and that next door to the bank was Coffee Dan's. It was a coffee shop restaurant and he said that Montgomery Clift could often be found there early on many mornings sobering up after a night on the town. Having walked around that area a few hundred times over the years I found this quite interesting. I didn't know anything about a place called Coffee Dan's, but for some reason I loved that intriguing name and wondered what it would have been like to go in a coffee shop like that and see Montgomery Clift there!

The man told us that one day Clift came into the bank and he waited on him. I don't recall exactly what the details were, but Monty either asked him for a date right there or he asked for his phone number and called later on, but the man was asked out on a date by Montgomery Clift. The man said he replied that he wasn't sure, but that he'd think about it. ("Think about it!") He said that during the next week Monty called him at home a few times. It happened that the man came down with appendecitis that week and was not in the mood for a date and nothing really happened after that as he was recovering and not feeling like a date. I know some people might be like "was he crazy, it was Montgomery Clift" but we can't judge others and the situations in their lives. The man didn't seem to particularly have cared that nothing ever happened, in one of those "if only I'd done this" sort of ways, so who knows. It was one of those conversations that you wished you could have dwelled on longer.

Then, on occasion, I've wondered about Coffee Dan's. What I know is that Coffee Dan's was a small chain of restaurants. They were mostly in California, and a few other western states. Los Angeles area had at least five of them. They were distinctively designed in what I described above as a sort of combination of art deco and the Jetsons.

I know there were two in downtown Los Angeles, one on West 8th and one on Broadway, and also one in the valley in Van Nuys. There was also one on Hollywood Blvd. and one on Vine Street near Sunset, but in trying to research this there seems to be a discrepancy whether or not they both existed at the same time or that the one on Vine relocated to Hollywood Blvd. at some point. In either case, I have not been able to find any photos of either one of them head on. The Hollywood street photos, like the ones above, have a bit of the signage in them, but no head on pictures have I found.

On Martin Turnbull's site (he's an occasional contributor here--in fact he just posted on this page) he has a "Hollywood Places" section where he lists places and establishments that he's come across in his research and what they've said about those places, with the proviso that he cannot vouch for the accuracy of these statements, he is only referencing them.

http://www.martinturnbull.com/hollywood-places/

Coffee Dan's:

--A Hollywood coffee shop that catered exclusively to homosexuals, especially underage gays who lacked the proper ID to get into the Hollywood Blvd. bars.
--It's neon signage is generally visible in all of the great night pictures of Vine street in the 40s.
--By the '60's it is said that transvestites had taken over the place.


Note that the references are for the Hollywood Coffee Dan's location(s), but whether they existed at the same time is something I have not clarified. The "transvestite" reference appears to refer to the Hollywood Blvd. location.

Anyway, that's why I've been interested in seeing photos of those restaurants.

***SIDEBAR: Speaking of the Dodgers, another gentleman I used to know and frequently talked to who was a customer at my employment and who was also a young man at that time (late 50's), told me about going to a party with gay friends of his where Sandy Koufax was in attendance. I told him I had heard rumors that he was gay and his response was affirmative. "Well if you'd seen Mrs. Koufax, you'd know." In the '80's and '90's talking to gay men who had grown up living in ways where you had to be extremely careful and watchful and mindful of anything you spoke, there was always a kind of indirectness in their divulging of information. As though if someone brought it back up to them they could claim it was a misunderstanding or something. Nowadays everyone's business is all over the internet if not at the NSA. It was a different time.

Ok, which one(s) of you was in a gay bar in Los Angeles?
http://d1g4sq00ps2bp3.cloudfront.net/sports/7988.jpgLewis Wayne Gallery

Flyingwedge Oct 30, 2013 9:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6320095)
-still more rain in 1941.
February 21st to March 4th! (in these two examples)

Western Ave. Airport?
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/379/e00t.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img405/3673/797n.jpgebay

__

There was an airport on the west side of Western Avenue just north of Rosecrans Avenue from about the late 1920s until the early- to mid-1950s. It was mostly known as Dycer Airport, Western Avenue Airport, and finally Gardena Valley Airport, although it also had other names.

1930 Inglewood USGS; the airport is in the lower right corner:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4328f53b.jpg
USGS -- http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/topomap...25509::NO:RP::

1930 airport flooding, looking north on Western from above Rosecrans:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6b6c44bf.jpg
USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/10234/rec/1

A rare dry view from 1931, looking northwest at Rosecrans and Western, with the hangars on the right:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps05a67ed8.jpg
USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/28299/rec/2

1938 airport flooding, looking east along Rosecrans. The hangars are circled. The diagonal line across the photo just below the circle is the slough (that section of the slough has since been realigned):
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...pse4eead69.jpg
USC Digital Library -- http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/3397/rec/252

February 1939 airport flooding, looking south on Western:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psb2932ac8.jpg
Huntington Digital Library -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/33695/rec/4

More February 1939; water up to the hangars:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps45adcd2d.jpg
Huntington Digital Library -- http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...id/33696/rec/5

Western Avenue Airport apparently became the Gardena Valley Airport on October 21, 1939:
http://www.aerodacious.com/Pix/Ded-CA-l155.jpg

This photo is dated 1940:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps434969a5.jpg
LAPL -- http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043320.jpg

1948 Inglewood USGS; now it's the Gardena Valley Airport, but it's still in the lower right corner:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps60f3561e.jpg
USGS -- http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/topomap...25509::NO:RP::

Close to the end, 1952. That's Rosecrans and Western in the lower right corner; the airport is bounded by Western, Van Ness, 135th, and 139th:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6c96f55c.jpg
Historic Aerials.com -- http://www.historicaerials.com/

Info from, and more info at: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/...#gardenavalley

ethereal_reality Oct 30, 2013 4:12 PM

:previous: Excellent Flywedge! -thanks for the additional information on the 1941 flood and Western Avenue Airport.

GaylordWilshire Oct 30, 2013 5:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pal (Post 6320461)
I've noticed that posters have at times often related a story of their own or others that go along with the photographs. I'll delete this if inappropriate, but here's:

Why I've been interested in COFFEE DAN'S


Ok, which one(s) of you was in a gay bar in Los Angeles?
http://d1g4sq00ps2bp3.cloudfront.net/sports/7988.jpgLewis Wayne Gallery


I won't say inappropriate, but to be honest I'm not sure what the big deal is about the ancient untitilating tales of old queens possibly or possibly not having actually crossed paths with
Montgomery Clift or Sandy Koufax. Clift's sexuality isn't exactly a newsflash--I guess I'm not surprised, but how sad that someone would think that passing up a chance to have sex with a movie
star was a big mistake in life. I don't know how long the rumors might have been around, but I think there was a not-so-big brouhaha 10 or 15 years ago about Koufax's alleged interest men.
I guess my point is... beware of star-struck old men flapping their gums at parties.... So glad we've gotten away from all that & wish Clift if not Koufax could have lived in a time of less fear
about being authentic.


"A Hollywood coffee shop that catered exclusively to homosexuals..."

Exclusively? Was there a bouncer with gaydar?


Vintage Noirish Clift:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1964

ethereal_reality Oct 30, 2013 6:02 PM

Los Angeles
http://imageshack.us/a/img844/449/d62y.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_...ry/7631104368/

I found this in the 1942 city directory
http://imageshack.us/a/img209/5665/oywt.jpg
http://www.lapl.org/


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