1958 Los Angeles ad touting its lack of skyscrapers.

http://imageshack.us/a/img840/3156/a...ngnoskyscr.jpg
ebay
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court house corner stone
 

While I can't prove it, I think that the current courthouse (Stanley Mosk Courthouse) has a piece of the "Red Sandstone Courthouse" of which we have frequently seen in this thread. it is located on the Hill Street side, to the left of the steps. The stone is definitely red sandstone and there must be a connection, especially since they moved the bronze clock hands and numbers from the first courthouse to the red sandstone and then to Stanley Mosk as a nod to history.

http://imageshack.us/a/img62/9984/hotelwillardn.jpg
ebay


http://imageshack.us/a/img824/1686/hotelwillardmap.jpg


Hotel Willard? I always knew this simply as the Bible Institute. (shown below in 1915)

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/686/ho...ibleinstit.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1348075093191




below: The 'Hotel Willard' is just to the right of Bertram G. Goodhue's brand new library, circa 1926.

http://imageshack.us/a/img835/8867/hotelw1926.jpg
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search...=1348075093191

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East Los Angeles Union Pacific Station at 5480 Ferguson Avenue. Somehow we've overlooked this charming little train station.


http://imageshack.us/a/img7/2050/eas...cstationea.jpg
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt167nd7x0/





It still stand today....behind a wire fence.

http://imageshack.us/a/img7/1425/eas...cificstati.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8426355...5911/lightbox/





http://imageshack.us/a/img515/3945/e...cificrrlaa.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39252242@N07/4851328387/

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The following photos were taken in 2001.




http://imageshack.us/a/img829/5823/eastlarevisited1.jpg
http://losangelesrevisited.blogspot....bello-and.html







http://imageshack.us/a/img834/5240/eastlarevisited.jpg
http://losangelesrevisited.blogspot....bello-and.html
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Just to be sure that it's still there I checked Google Earth. Yep, still there! :)

http://imageshack.us/a/img32/6523/ea...npacaerial.jpg
Google Earth

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wow,thats just amazing,i wonder if its protected? i didnt even know east la had a station.

I can't make out what movie is showing at the Admiral . . . that would be a easy way to date the card. I agree . . . it's a great shot!

I think Lana drops her husband off at the East L.A. station in The Postman Always Rings Twice.... Can anyone come up with a screenshot?

Yes, I see it. I went streetview surfing and thanks to you it jumped right out at me. I have to agree there isn't any other explanation that seems as reasonable. If that is the case, isn't it maddeningly obtuse to put it there without any apparent notation as to what you're looking at. I hope there's some plaque that just doesn't show up in streetview.

bif is that richfield neon sign from the service station near malibu? i remember about 10 yrs ago me and some friends got lost going to a palisades high school football game and ran into this retro service station that sold gas but mainly had older cars,i spoke with the owner and he sold lead in a can or something for older cars,so they would go there get lead and then fill up.the last time i was in la i couldnt find the place and i dont know the name or street it was on,but we were heading west from santa monica and ended up at the station towards a base of a hill,after we left we ended up on pch.:shrug:

:previous:Sorry, unable to place neon sign location. You may be right about the coast, but Richfield covered many western States.

There's a cool article in the LA Times about Glen Creason, the map librarian at the downtown Central Library.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...4236916.column

http://www.trbimg.com/img-505a5e43/t...g-20120919/600

Bif, great shots of Westwood. Really great. Interesting to see it laid out and be able to appreciate what the unifying architectural vision had been. So obvious before the urban clutter intrudes. As for the outside cash box at our favorite Airplane-cum-GasStation, it used to be a standard feature at service stations to have a cash box mounted on a post at each of the pump islands. I don't remember how they were secured to the post but they would be carried out at the start of the shift or when the station opened for the business day and could be accessed with a key each attendant carried (usually on a retractable chain on their belt or waistband) in order to make change and later to issue the ubiquitous green (or blue chip) stamps. My dad worked at several gas stations as he was coming up and I have some early memories of how it all worked. He was robbed once when he worked at a station on Western Ave (around third street) and a week or so later managed to help in finding the robbers when they thoughtlessly drove by on his shift again and he and another guy flagged down a police cruiser and my dad rode along with them down Western for a mile or so until they found the car (at another gas station). The story became part of family lore.

I was mixing up Lana with Barbara as far as whose husband was dropped off in East L.A.--Barbara dropped hers off at the Tropico station (rebadged "Glendale" for Double Indemnity). Lana's husband Nick was dead by the time of the train station scenes with Audrey Totter when Lana arrives back from Iowa... anyway, the station in Postman was indeed the East Los Angeles station. Here are some screenshots:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-p...2520PM.bmp.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V...2520PM.bmp.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...2520PM.bmp.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...2520PM.bmp.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...2520PM.bmp.jpg

All pics Warner Bros.

Kudos.

As noted, the not-always-infallible IMDB lists the station as being in Norwalk. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038854/locations Oddly enough, the only filming listed for the purported station is the 1946 version of "Postman" without a physical address. As I am unfamiliar with Norwalk, I expected to see a few shots of an overlooked or long forgotten depot that may have served that location. A cursory search reveals only a modern Metrolink station. Wiki mentions Norwalk as having a train station:

Quote:

"While a majority of the Norwalk countryside remained undeveloped during the 1880s, the Norwalk Station allowed potential residents the opportunity to visit the 'country' from across the nation."

Unfortunately, no address is provided, nor does there appear to be any photos of a station. Perhaps in later years the depot devolved into a series of streetcar stops, with "heavier" rail traffic being available in nearby communities or hubs like Grand Central?

Edit:
Norwalk Station, date and name of horse unk. Per comments, the station was demolished in the early '60s. Paralleled Foster Rd. previously known as Locust St (near San Antonio). (?)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3068/3...10aae63b_o.jpgFlicker

Burbank
 

The bones of the building are the original "Brick Block" from 1888, the oldest brick building in Burbank. Photos from the Burbank Historical Society show the building when it still had the dome at the corner. The elaborate cornices were put in somewhat later.

Are we sure this is San Fernando in Burbank? It really reminds me of Ventura Blvd. at Laurel Canyon...

On a side note, I LOVE this forum!!!!![/QUOTE]

It is taken from the south west side of San Fernando at Palm, looking north toward Magnolia which is just beyond the Thrifty sign. Both Thrifty and Newberry's next door had lunch counters in those days. Savon had an ice cream counter. It was not too many years later (about 1966 or so) that our city fathers in their "infinite wisdom" decided to give us the "Golden Mall" through this area which spawned the jokes about "beautiful downtown Burbank". My family has lived in Burbank since before it was incorporated. My Grandparents and Great-Grandparents farmed where the Burbank (Bob Hope) airport now is.

Beautiful downtown burbank
 

The previous color picture with Savon in the foreground was taken from Palm. This one is taken from San Jose looking back toward Thrifty which was at the eastern corner of Magnolia and San Fernando. The Thrifty building is still there but now is a store selling cell phones. The "Media Center Mall" now fills up the entire area that is shown in the picture up to Magnolia. They cleared the land for the enclosed mall, which was about 40 acres, and then let it sit for years and years. Around the time that this was going on the movie "Neverending Story" came out and we started to call the empty 40 acres "the Nothing" after the lack of imagination which caused all the trouble in the movie. Once they had the enclosed mall built, they took out the pavement, playgrounds and kiosks which had been part of the "Golden Mall" and opened the street to traffic, ending the "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" jokes.

Yeah but while you're down there take a gander at the city hall. a little jewel.

:previous:
Guessing this was at or near 912 S. Figueroa in 1941. Source indicates anticipated street widening required moving the pictured buildings. Wonderful early lighting still intact!
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...89FD2EDDE?v=hrUSC Digital

Bif, now my curiosity is piqued too.
 

Ran across this little jewel of a building a while back and now I can't find it! Jesus, I hate when that happens. I should have captured it when I saw it the first time but thought it would be easy to go back to later, and now, here we are. I can't really seem to bring back what I was doing when I ran across it or I would simply recreate that search and voila! But alas, even that escapes me. It is a smallish, Streamline Moderne sitting on the northside of an east/west street/blvd somewhere in the great, flat, dairy-farm plain to the southeast of the civic center. Norwalk, Paramount, Downey, Artesia,...? None of those, it turns out. But I saw it on google streetview so it was a very recent shot, so I think it's still there...but where? I'll keep looking today. Maybe someone else knows what I'm talking about. And, by the way, next door to the east sits a little moderne commercial building, apparently vacant, with a for sale/lease sign on it.

:previous:


"...smallish, Streamline Moderne..." My fantasy is that you are thinking of this mystery building:

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1...iedbuildin.jpg

This LAPL shot has been on the thread a few times, posted by ethereal and myself:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=5846

The Thomas Jefferson idea is a longshot... but maybe it's out there somewhere... rack your brain, Ryerson. Could it have been the one you saw?


FOUND: See its story here: https://wilshireboulevardhouses.blog...e-see-our.html

Got it! Pic up in a minute (building the drama!) and
 

you won't believe how close you are Gaylord! Sorry for the wild goose chase, Bif. Give me a sec.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...Maywood California!!
 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8301/8...40641157_o.jpg
Maywood2


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8435/8...0a0eca5a_o.jpg
Maywood1


And just down the street this little beauty sits empty and alone...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/8...0a75d364_o.jpg
Maywood3

Wow, that was a frustrating day...I will never again pass up an interesting building thinking I can always go back any old time. Is it happy hour?

:previous: Amazing find MichaelRyerson! We have been trying to find the location of that building for a couple years now. Good job!

I could be wrong, but I believe the second smaller building used to be the library. Also notice the faux brickwork... probably added later.
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Great screengrabs from the 'Postman Always Rings Twice', and thanks for clarifying the scene GaylordWilshire.

When I first saw the East Los Angeles Station I immediately thought I was looking at the old Tropico (Glendale) Station.
The designs are similar and they are about the same size and time period. So I was amazed when I realized I was looking at an entirely different station, one that hasn't been discussed on this forum (even after 3 years). I hope that there are other gems out there just waiting for us to find them (as MichaelRyerson found the Maywood City Hall).

"Long live noirish Los Angeles!" :)

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Nice catch. Often the treasure is worth the effort. hic'p. :cheers:

If you hadn't found it, Mr. Hughes had employees looking for it. If they couldn't find it, he'd have put on his favorite tie and built it.:haha:

1951
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...347-019~3?v=hr
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...347-019~2?v=hr
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...347-019~5?v=hrUSCDigital

Thanks for the information!




http://imageshack.us/a/img339/9915/a...urbanksanf.jpg
http://wesclark.com/burbank/


below: oldstuff, here is an earlier photograph with the dome/turret.

http://imageshack.us/a/img818/3343/a...888burbank.jpg
http://digital-library.csun.edu/cdm/...n/SFVH/id/4172

After comparing the two photos, the building didn't simple lose the corner turret, it looks to have been redesigned as well.
Notice the addition of ionic 'columns' and the loss of the traditional triangle pediments. Even the size and spacing of the windows is different. Are we a hundred percent sure this is the same building?

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Whoa e_r--are you referring to the building below? Am I missing something? (Could be--it's been a long week.) Anyway, I'm not sure we've found that one. I naturally had to check for it at 4032 East Slauson, on the chance that the street was one long dream of Streamline--not there now if it ever was. I think I once checked every major east-west boulevard--and alot of north-south streets too.

http://imageshack.us/a/img204/1619/l...iedbuildin.jpg.

...I was. :( In my haste I thought we had found it. My bad.

It's the Noirish LA Unicorn

Great find, BifRay......that shot of Fig looks new to this site.

Everything I love is in that photo......the billboards, the wires for the streetcars, the "Safety Zone" , streamlined cars, semaphore signals, the street lights, telephone poles at cock-eyed angles, the Coca-Cola stand, the hazy/smoggy sky.....heck I even like the wadded-up newspaper in the gutter and the chewing gum residue in the sidewalk.

I guess it just seems so different from the hermetically-sealed, perfectly-planned, round-edged, not a tree out-of-place environment I inhabit.

That's p0rn to me, quite frankly :haha:

I have a question despite it not falling into the 'norish' department: Do any of you have any info on LA's skyscrapers? I mean from inception to construction to completion? From what was there before and why it was torn down because I think LA's skyline has a bit of history: making room from what used to be there.

Skid row negatives, 1955
 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/8...294be84e_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Showing flop houses; Showing a renovated hotel at 518 San Julian St. and ramshackle structures at side. Fresh coat of paint on the boulevard of broken dreams.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/8...1cb800ed_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (2)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Showing Julius Willig in his neat, cheap hotel room. The trick is to have a routine and to not give in. I love this picture. The tan line tells me Julius just got a haircut. But what do they say about a hat on a bed?

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/8...e2e4dbd7_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (3)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Shot of San Julian Street, detail. Once it was shiny and bright and you could still smell the paint. Nice little Studebaker pick-up.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8301/8...06796674_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (4)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Showing San Julian Street. At least, in these parts you can sit on the stoop in January and talk about the earlier times. Two prosperous looking gents down the sidewalk (one guy pointing up at some important detail) are from the charity, the men with the money, a tour, as they say, a tour to see what can be done. Even brought a photographer, maybe do a spread in the paper, something to reassure the folks who read such things, that things could be worse.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/8...d1cd93a3_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (5)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Killing time. Once upon a time that suit spent time in an office. Now it waits with its friends for the men who are coming today to do a walk-through. Maybe they will believe we dress like this everyday.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8...d91ce8cb_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (6)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Killing more time. Some men are coming today to look at the building. Mind your manners. Hey, somebody turn on the TV.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8...2aabe631_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (7)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. The room.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8179/8...306d2b2b_o.jpg
Skid row negatives, 1955 (8)

Skid row negatives, 28 January 1955. Breath of air.

USCdigital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961

Re:
http://imageshack.us/a/img204/1619/l...iedbuildin.jpg

We will find it, dead, or alive!

Well if that's the case, then it must appear, at least peripherally, in one of the hundreds of shots of Wilshire. Is there a more photographed street on this thread? If it's there, or at the minimum, a shot of 4032 pre-'61 showing what was there if not this building.

The previous building does have a similar shape to the streamline in Schultheis' picture
http://www.historicaerials.com/aeria...6501&year=1954

___________________________

A more "noirish" view of the same area -in broad daylight.

February 26, 1958 "These are the mortal remains of ______, 39, who was a statistical analyst for Wilton Becket & Assoc. From sixth floor of Prudential Buliding, 5657 Wilshire.".

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...303-013~1?v=hrUSC Digital

San Julian - 56 years later.
 

That's where San Julian dead-ends @Fifth.

Wood frame houses to the left have been replaced by a park. A locked and gated park, but a park nonetheless. The three-story SRO with the arched doorway at the end of the street remains, as does the four-story bldg next to it.

Beyond that the neighborhood doesn't seem to have changed much. Poor people have been replaced by homeless people.

[google streetview image later]

:previous:

Eyes of a very nearsighted eagle:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q...2520PM.bmp.jpg

Above is a fragment of http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093844.jpg

Norton Ave is the angling cross street at left; 4055 Wilshire at the ne corner is still there as is 4041; it appears that the current 4045-49 and 4041 to its right were remodeled, with a little of the original still showing. And the building on the south side of Wilshire at the far right of the pic where the current 4032 Wilshire now stands... is this the unicorn?

PS Photo dated 1957 by LAPL