:previous:

fairly recent photograph
http://images.thecarconnection.com/l...00351955_l.jpg
Source: Disaster wise blog


just prior to opening 1960

http://www.jewishjournal.com/images/...ion_070811.jpg
Source: Jewish journal

this one you can really appreciate the height!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6149/...efa4d148_o.jpg
Source: Interstate guide

405 under construction at the mulholland over pass

http://thesource.metro.net/wp-conten...v2-590x567.jpg
Source: The source metro

view looking from sepulveda at the embankment used in the construction of the overpass, prior to removing it for the 405 freeway

http://thesource.metro.net/wp-conten...1960-rev11.jpg
Source: The Source Metro

the 405 under construction beneath the mulholland overpass

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6023/...f963cfc5_o.jpg
Source: The Source Metro

.

Tales of the 405
 

Nice pics! Thanks gsj!

When the 405 opened, it was a huge deal to us folks who lived "out of town," whether in the Valley or elsewhere. I remember my mom rejoiced when the northern section of the San Diego Freeway opened. Before 1960, it took practically all day to drive from our house in the east SGV to Mom's sister's place in Manhattan Beach. Consequently, we didn't go there very often - until the San Diego Freeway opened over Sepulveda Pass, that is. From 1961 to 1963, the fastest way to get from points east to the beaches was actually to take the Golden State Freeway from the San Bernardino, then take the Ventura Freeway west to the new San Diego Freeway, and then south over the Santa Monica Mountains. (Notice I use the names of the freeways, not the highway numbers. It wasn't until the 1970s that people started using the numbers more often than the names. In the '60s there were fewer than ten freeway routes, after all; it was just easier to call them by their names.) When the Santa Monica Freeway was completed in 1963, though, that marked the end of us taking the northern route through the Valley to the beaches. After that, we went to Aunt Lorraine's house a lot. (Oh, joy.)

After freshman year in college (1973), my friend Richard and I went to summer school at UCLA. We got an apartment on Kester in Sherman Oaks and drove over the Sepulveda Pass every weekday. More often than not, though, we'd avoid the freeway and take old Sepulveda Blvd. to and from school. Generally it was lots quicker! We'd barrel along the curvy road either in his '66 Pontiac 2+2 convertible or in my '67 Mustang. Man that was fun, just blowing by all the stop-and-go folks on the freeway. We always wondered why lots more people didn't take Sepulveda Blvd. over the hills. Just because a road's called a "freeway" doesn't necessarily mean it's the fastest way!

-Scott

a very nice 1953 image of nbc looking south on sunset across argyle

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1622629_n.jpg
Source: Photo posted by Richard Wojcik on Face Book

The Hellman Mansion
 

The beautiful Marco Hellman mansion once stood proudly at 3350 Wilshire Blvd. An L.A. landmark built in 1902, the mansion played host to many a social gathering of the rich and powerful.

The Hellman family was considered the oldest and most influential Jewish family in Los Angeles, having first settled there in 1859. Marco Hellman was born in the original family mansion that was at the corner of Fourth & Spring Streets, where the Hellman Building (now Banco Popular) has stood since 1897. The Hellman Building and the Hellman mansion were both designed by Alfred Rosenheim.

After Marco Hellman's death in 1920, the mansion changed hands twice before being razed in 1950 to make way for an office building. During the mansion's last life, it was a commercial enterprise that was rented out for private functions. It must have been in that period when they hung that ugly fire escape off of the side. The pictures below were taken just prior to the start of demolition.

Side view
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/5...onsideview.jpg
Partial front view
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/727...npartialfr.jpg
Foyer fireplace (one of nine fireplaces)
http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/1...nfireplace.jpg
Grand Staircase & Foyer
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9...nsionfoyer.jpg

3350 Wilshire Blvd. today
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/2...shiretoday.jpg

USC Digital Library

Now this is LA Noir!
 

From the Los Angeles Herald Examiner December 9, 1951. Fisticuffs between two women in a Burbank cocktail lounge early today led to the death by beating of one man and the suicide of his assailant, the husband of one of the women, police reported.

Dead were George R. Wolter, 37, of 1616 East Garfield Avenue, Glendale, and Douglas H. Slover, 34, of 519 1/2 East Providencia Avenue, Burbank.

Officers said the trouble began when Slover's wife, Jessie, 34, and Mrs. Dorothy Vogeler Lee became involved in an argument about 'always being in the bar'. Verbal exchanges led to the trading of stinging slaps to the face, officers said, at which time Wolter assertedly moved in to shove Mrs. Slover. Slover, an aircraft worker, then knocked Wolter to the floor and according to the accounts of some witnesses, police said, kicked him about the head. The Slovers then rushed Wolter to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died.

Leaving Mrs. Slover at the hospital, Mr. Slover returned home, where police arrived a short time later. After knocking on the door without answer several times, the officers heard a shot inside, kicked in the door and found Slover in the bedroom, where he had killed himself with a bullet through his mouth. Officers said he apparently was writing a farewell letter to his wife when they interrupted him. Beside Slover they found a penciled note which admonished his wife 'not to think too harshly of this horrible way' The note added cryptically: 'Sorry for everything. I've failed...'".

Murderer/suicider Mr. Slover
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/5300/mrslover.jpg

Slap Happy Mrs. Slover
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4831/mrsslover.jpg

Ah, good times at the local watering hole:drunk:

USC Digital Library/ LA Herald Examiner collection

Thank Dog they knocked down that gorgeous old mansion to make way for a mundane, run-of-the-mill office building. I'll just be over in the corner over here, weeping profusely.

The Bireley's bottling plant was located at 1127 N. Mansfield Ave. in Hollywood.


http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/7...gnbireleys.jpg
lapl



http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1...nbireleys1.jpg
lapl



http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/5869/laplbi6.jpg



http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/963/laplbi6aebay.jpg


non-carbonated? Has anyone tasted this?


interesting link to a brief history of Bireley's.
http://armandsrancho.blogspot.com/2009/03/bireleys.html

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/994/laplbi5rem.jpg

I love old reminisces like this.


_____________

A noirish look at Ventura Blvd. circa 1960

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/425...vd1960geor.jpg
George Brich




http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4...vd1960geor.jpg
George Brich

I drank Bireley's drinks a lot when I was younger; I remember orange and grape. They were quite good, actually.

Downtown Today
 

I've lived in Los Angeles pretty much all my life and never thought much about downtown. This entire thread has definitely piqued my interest. I had some time after jury duty this morning and took a few pictures around the area. There appear to be things happening at the Hall of Justice. Apparently the study to form the committee to fund the task force to approve the process for determining if the building is worth saving is doing something, as the gate was open and a few worky looking trucks were inside:
http://imgur.com/X89GI.jpg
John Bange 2011


Too awesome looking a building to stand empty for as long as it has. The Clara Foltz building across the street (the one in the background that looks like a giant AC condenser) is such a monstrosity in comparison.
http://imgur.com/6b3rA.jpg
John Bange 2011


They're busy as bees building the new civic center park:
http://imgur.com/fm8d6.jpg
John Bange 2011


...but the lot with the foundation of the old State Offices building they tore down 30+ years ago, that apparently will continue to remain a fenced off "hobo park":
http://i.imgur.com/xOHc0.jpg
John Bange 2011

When I'm back downtown in 2 weeks for jury selection, I'm definitely going to make a list of places to snap pictures, and I'll bring my real camera instead of just my phone.

Hall of Justice
 

[QUOTE=jbange;5348674]I've lived in Los Angeles pretty much all my life and never thought much about downtown. This entire thread has definitely piqued my interest. I had some time after jury duty this morning and took a few pictures around the area. There appear to be things happening at the Hall of Justice. Apparently the study to form the committee to fund the task force to approve the process for determining if the building is worth saving is doing something, as the gate was open and a few worky looking trucks were inside:
http://imgur.com/X89GI.jpg
John Bange 2011


Too awesome looking a building to stand empty for as long as it has. The Clara Foltz building across the street (the one in the background that looks like a giant AC condenser) is such a monstrosity in comparison.
http://imgur.com/6b3rA.jpg
John Bange 2011


Welcome to the thread jbange! Great pictures!!! About the Hall of Justice, just day before yesterday the county board of supervisors finally approved the rest of the money to complete the retrofit and restoration. They are expecting occupancy in 2014. I am attaching a link to blogdowntown where I read about this latest development. Good News!:banana:

http://blogdowntown.com/2011/07/6314...ice-renovation

~F3

another movie where bunker hill gets a starring role!

the 1957 Mike Hammer flick, My Gun is Quick starring Robert Bray as Mike Hammer

Running up the stairs from clay street to olive street between the Hillcrest and the Astoria

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6138/...c06a0e4b_b.jpg

Emerging from the steps on olive street

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6009/...de40f063_b.jpg

Turning right on third street from olive street

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/...21040607_b.jpg

looking east on the 6th street overpass towards the monarch hotel and bunker hill

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6010/...493488b4_b.jpg

Any of those locations from "My Gun Is Quick" still there? I saw it about a month ago and thought it was pretty good. I remember those steps and the car making the turn. There were some other interesting locations. Any idea where the house on the bay was? Oh yeah, Whitney Blake was pretty easy on the eyes!

Welcome to the thread jbange!
Looking forward to your photos from the next time you're downtown for jury selection.
The area with the old foundation was a big surprise for me.

After day one of "Carmageddon", I'm more convinced than ever that the best thing to do with the 405 is just to blow it up - all the way from the northern San Fernando Valley down into Orange County - just blow it up and plow salt in the ruins. This has been a glorious day on the westside of Los Angeles.

O.c.d.
 

Is it weirdly obsessive that I am answering a question that etheral_reality posed, almost two years ago, on the thread??? Probably, but I'm good with that!

e_r posted this picture way back on Page 17
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1959/club17.jpg
with this text/question "Below: NE corner of Hollywood and Las Palmas.
I wonder where the 'passageway' led to? A mystery for sopas_ej to solve perhaps"

Tonight, as I was continuing my dig through 50 years of LA Herald-Examiner archives, I found that Club 17 was busted for having an illegal gambling parlor in a large hidden room at the back of their building. It had gone undetected for a number of years because, as the owners knew, police monitored all bars for gambling so they had theirs set-up to where gamblers entered through the innocuous little typewriter shop, rather than the club. There was a hidden passageway at the back of the TW shop. The shop owners were, of course, in on the scam and got a small cut of the gambling proceeds. It was suspected that this was one of Mickey Cohen's operations.

and there you have it!:D

Great detective work fab_fifties_fan!! That is a fascinating bit of history.

Wrigley Field
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley...Los_Angeles%29

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ng_Day_LOW.jpg
Wrigley Field's opening in 1925, a full year before the Cub's stadium in Chicago changed its name to "Wrigley Field".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wr...ng_Day_LOW.jpg

In 1925, the Angels moved from their former home at Washington Park (which was also known as Chutes Park) to the brand new Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles, on the block bordered by 41st Place to the north, South San Pedro Street to the west, 42nd Place to the south, and Avalon Blvd to the east. (Speaking of Avalon, at that same time Mr Wrigley also owned Santa Catalina Island, and the Chicago Cubs were holding their spring training in that island's city of Avalon, whose ballfield was located on Avalon Canyon Road and was also known as "Wrigley Field.")

Left Field - 340 ft, Left Center Field - 345 ft, Center Field - 412 ft, Right Center Field - 345 ft, Right Field - 339 ft, Backstop - 56 ft. Capacity was 22,000 seats.

The Angels played at Wrigley Field until 1957. The park was closed in 1965 and demolished in 1966. The site is now occupied by the recreation facility called Gilbert Lindsay Park which was originally the parking lot. The park has a ballfield in the northwest corner of the property. The original site of the Wrigley diamond and grandstand is occupied by the Kedren Community Mental Health Center and parking lot.

Wrigley hosted many other things, including both versions of the Hollywood Stars, the original (who became the San Diego Padres in 1936) and the second version (the relocated Mission team from San Francisco; it used Wrigley in 1938 before Gilmore Field in Hollywood opened in 1939), as well as the initial season of the American League Angels in 1961 (they joined the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine in 1962). Wrigley was the site of the first NFL Pro Bowl in 1939, long before the Rams moved in from Cleveland, and there were a number of professional boxing matches there as well. Martin Luther King spoke at a civil rights rally there in 1963.

A correction: Wrigley wasn't razed until 1969.