A message from David, (3940dxer).

http://imageshack.us/a/img252/9246/a...ailfeb2013.jpg

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Welcome to the thread gus37, Nomad13 & Mr. Swink!
New people that are excited about noirish Los Angeles...priceless.

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http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/915...vtcomplpic.jpgLAT


That house was another owned by G. Allan Hancock of the corner house until he sold it in 1921 to Elias A Heffner, and, apparently, a Mrs. Gertrude Ozmun, who seems to have wrested it away from Mr and Mrs Heffner in 1938. Though he built it in 1909, Allan Hancock seems never to have lived in it, renting it instead to Otto Sweet of the Hamburger Department Store. There seems to have been no other house ever built on the east side of Vermont between the Hancock house at the Wilshire corner and 6th Street, as late as 1930... presumably the Hancocks owned all six lots behind them toward 6th. By 1930, of course, the commercialization of Wilshire and Vermont was in full swing and there never would be another single residence built on the block. 626 S Vermont may have outlasted the big Hancock house, but it probably wasn't for very long. Mrs Ozmun no doubt made a bundle when she sold it to commercial developers; after losing out to the old dragon, the Heffners rented a modest place in Santa Ana.


http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6172/ozmuncompl.jpgLAT

Feb. 17, 1938.

http://imageshack.us/a/img152/6808/aabgunfire.jpg
ebay





http://imageshack.us/a/img189/9711/aabgunfirer11938.jpg
reverse

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The name Caryl Chessman rang a bell through the fog in my (now official) senior citizen memory. Chessman was an early cause célèbre for the anti-capital punishment movement. His many appeals and stays of execution gave him almost 12 years on death row.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/1...a53ef0133e.png
L.A. Times

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4...essmantime.jpg
http://lamorguefiles.blogspot.com

Full story is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryl_Chessman

Psst ER...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=5382

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=5386

:previous: sorry GW.




This fire brigade seems to be foreshadowing Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451.

http://imageshack.us/a/img443/6846/a...carf2a1951.jpg
ebay


reverse
http://imageshack.us/a/img209/9257/a...re1951info.jpg




The car fire on West Olympic Blvd. circa 1951.

http://imageshack.us/a/img441/4030/a...eolympicbl.jpg
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...showing the damaged light pole.

http://imageshack.us/a/img402/5210/a...estolympic.jpg
ebay

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http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/4...wilshcompl.jpgLAT


3143 Wilshire: The house was remodeled to extend westward after 1910 and, it appears, before the time of the Chaplin shot. The entrance was modified after that.

It must have smelled pretty sweet walking down the east side of Broadway toward Los Angeles City Hall in 1912.

http://imageshack.us/a/img717/4396/a...perfume191.jpg
ad/ebay





The Copp Building, 218 S. Broadway, home of the 'Sunset Perfume Company' is pictured on the right. (to the left is the Crocker Building
at 212 S. Broadway)

http://imageshack.us/a/img6/8296/aaa...perfumecop.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=25694




Out of view in the photograph above is Los Angeles City Hall (directly south of the Copp Building).

http://imageshack.us/a/img607/8296/a...perfumecop.jpg
http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal6.html

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http://imageshack.us/a/img834/7784/aapcfoothillres.jpg
ebay
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Intersection mystery
 

I can find only 1 Jon Haimowitz on Facebook and his I also found his wife, Julie Robertson Haimowitz. Mrs. Haimowitz' photos are set to public view and there are many photos of her father, Bob Robertson there. Many are of him in uniform in China during WWII. There is one family photo taken shortly before Mr. Robertson's death and Mr. and Mr. Haimowitz are in the photo. The man in the photo with Elizabeth Short is identical to the photos of Mr. Robertson, Mr. Haimowitz' father-in-law, right down to the ears.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...98807721_n.jpg

Progress is not always linear? I am not a traffic historian or traffic engineering expert, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.

The series of photos do provide a window into the evolution of traffic control. The earliest image (late '20s earl '30s) shows diamond signs that we cannot read. Diamond shaped signs were probably stop signs. (See below). The headless street post was probably being fitted with a free standing electric traffic signal as seen in your touched-up photo.

Your image is probably from the late '30s or early '40s and establishes that the intersection was controlled by electronic street signals. Although they may be there, I am uncertain that there are stop or yield signs present. I have to admit that there is a sign in the foreground next to a bus bench, but it might just be a simple bus stop post. Frozen it time, the traffic pattern looks like organized chaos, with a street car thrown in for good measure. If both belt and suspender posted signs and electronic traffic signals were deliberately placed together, I would guess that this had something to do with street car traffic. I am confident that Street Cars were given right-of-way priority in many instances, as they are today. The Vehicle Code provides rules for passing and safety zones, etc. Modernly, certain vehicles, e.g., fire trucks, can control traffic signals via radio. I doubt this existed, in practical form, at the time of the photograph. Is it possible that the two-way street car traffic physically triggered an override of traffic signals, normally controlled via timer? Possible, yes. Probable, very doubtful.

Maybe there is no mystery?
The color photo is supposedly from '54. There are two stop signs. There are no electric traffic controls that I can see. Bus traffic has replaced street cars. As a wild guess, the earlier electronic traffic signals were considered outmoded (no-Mode o Day?) and were in the process of being replaced/upgraded. The most expedient thing to do is place stop signs at each corner.

**Naturally, someone can argue that there was a conspiracy afoot to deter or delay traffic. This would benefit oil companies, auto companies and public transportation. It might even compel people to move downtown or spend time at the Mayfair Hotel waiting for Eliz . . . . ? Never mind. :koko::uhh:




1925 (Is there any significance to the rock? Is this woman's dress a bona fide traffic hazard? :shrug:)
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...440&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...440&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...440&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...440&DMROTATE=0USC Digital

More here: http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...e-see-our.html

Good research Roxy Dog. -thanks

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A welcome follow-up!

The subject of gland transplantation is interesting, if not controversial. Monkey and other glands were popular enough in Dr. Wheeler's day and one wonders if that had anything to do with the popularity of Monkey Island and the "real" reason for its eventual demise? :no: Don't get me started with Monkey Fur! :no: :no: :no: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=8832

Quote:

Pre-1920s 14-year old boy after having an ape thyroid gland grafted onto his own (right) Same boy at age 15.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...off_Jean_G.JPGWiki



LA Times owner, Harry Chandler is alleged to have been a proponent.

Quote:

Unfortunately the sex gland transplantation movement was tainted by those with more than scientific interest. Perhaps the most colorful among these is Dr. John R. Brinkley (1885–1942), who attended Bennet Medical College in Chicago but never graduated. He bought a diploma from Kansas City Eclectic Medical University in 1915 and by 1917 had established a medical practice in Milford, Kansas. Brinkley recognized early the fortune to be made in antiaging therapies. With Chicago con man James Crawford he created a company known as Electro Medical Doctors. Under this name the pair injected colored distilled water promised to rejuvenate for $25 a shot. Inspired by the work of Brown-Sequard, Steinach, Voronoff and others, Brinkley also began to experiment with gland transplants. His interest was certainly in large measure driven by entrepreneurial desire. The Brinkley operation to improve sexual function consisted of testicular gland transplants from goats (fig. 7). Testimonials from satisfied customers such as H. Chandler, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, led to considerable publicity for Brinkley. In addition, he started up the radio station KFKB where he lectured on his rejuvenation therapies. The Milford Messiah, as he was sometimes called, was said to have performed more than 16,000 transplants. With his rise to fame came increased scrutiny from the medical community. The American Medical Association ultimately revoked his license on the grounds of immorality and unprofessional conduct. In 1930, in an effort to regain public favor and his license, he organized a massive write-in campaign to become governor of Kansas. The race was close but Brinkley ultimately lost to H. Woodring. Following 2 more unsuccessful attempts for governor he moved his family to Del Rio, Texas where he operated a radio station from Mexico, speculated in oil and studied for the Methodist ministry. Although wealthy during the 1930s, income tax problems left him bankrupt upon his death in 1942. http://www.urologichistory.museum/co...ainofyouth.pdf

Quote:

Visitors could pick up the 500 monkeys because there were no cages or bars at Monkey Island, located at 3300 Cahuenga Boulevard just north of Barham. Art director and set designer Paul Palmentola together with 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, while the "island" was a concrete structure featuring a mountain that served as the sleeping quarters for the monkeys, tropical planting and waterfalls all surrounded by a moat. This complex has been demolished.

Circa 1939 - Monkey Island.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101647.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101648.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101646.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101641.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00101/00101644.jpg All from LAPL

From the Bureau of Missing Persons...
 

Thanks Ethereal for sharing news from 3940DXer. He was so involved, so active (photographing out in tunnels...) that his sudden disappearance would have led Philip Marlowe to start suspecting something and to begin investigating.
Now, where is Gsjansen ?

I've tried to reach gsjansen without success.
I know he lived in Florida and I've tried to contact him with his personal email address.

I hope he's ok, and hasn't become ill.