I remember one evening trying this club with a luuded up pal - were accosted in parking lot by author Paul Monette who attempted to give us a spaced-out lecture about wasting our little lives ---

Artist Gronk has converted most of the 3rd floor into a mindblowing art studio-- Quite a scene---

Magnolia Park (Burbank) 1925
 

I first saw this image a few weeks ago in the window of a dry cleaners in the Magnolia Park section of Burbank, then found it on the web.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/Burbank/magnoliapark.jpg
Mike Laroque
http://la.curbed.com/uploads/2007-02-magnoliapark.gif

It's interesting to me for a number of reasons...

Most starling are the "proposed tunnels" to Hollywood. Not only could you duck under the Hills as a handy short cut to Hollywood, but you could come into town on Bronson, Western, or Vermont. (There are a number of fire and access roads on the Hollywood side, but only one on the Burbank side. it starts near Travel Town in Griffith Park and is closed to motor vehicles about a mile up.)

Having hiked the "straight over the hill" route, I can tell you that it's very steep and would would be a difficult route to Hollywood, with or without the mega-tunnels!

It's notable is that the tunnel route is an extension of Whitnall "Super" Highway. I had always wondered about this odd diaginal street, which is very broad, little used, and is basically a route for high voltage electric towers, with some park space below. (I had never seen the term "Super" used with it before.)

The western section of Hollywood way that intersects with Cahuenga is now called Barham of course, not Hollywood Way. I'd always wondered How Hollywood Way got it's name, since it dead ends at Olive, and does not go to Hollywood. I guess it did, before the Western section was named Barham.

Barham crosses the L.A. River (barely visible in the image) and then veers to the right at what is now Warner Brothers. However, Olive does not turn north, near Riverside, the alignment is much different.

I didn't know that Mack Sennett studio was off Magnolia, and not sure what "propsed Sterling Studios" was. Maybe this is what's now The Warner Brothers "Ranch" lot west of Hollywood Way?

The Burbank airport is about where "Proposed Victory Studios" is shown. But Hollywood Way actually bends northwest, about 2 blocks past Magnolia.

By the way, my little house in Burbank, built in the late 20's, is almost at the exact center of this map -- it's in the middle of the little triangular section, to the right of the word "Super".

I have no idea why it was called the "white spot".

333 S La Cienega, cont'd
 

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t...Y/s564/333.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P..._3852483_n.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7..._2165139_n.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r.../s595/333x.jpg


Apparently 333 had many, many incarnations--there was 1520 A.D., Cabaret, Climax II, Gaslight... commenters on various sites attribute all sorts of names to it. I'm still determined to find pics of its original state. Pics above from: La Cienega

I'm afraid "White Spot" refers to exactly what many hoped Los Angeles would not become... ie., multiracial. Among the books about this is Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight by Eric Avila, and I think it's referred to in John Buntin's L.A. Noir.

The ironic thing is that basically when Los Angeles was founded, it has always been multiracial. It wasn't until more white Protestant midwesterners and east coast folk started moving to LA that it started really becoming a segregated city. And if any Bay Area snobs (I say that cheekily, being that I love the Bay Area) are thinking that LA had a long "backward" period, San Francisco wasn't always a liberal metropolis; I've read accounts of SF's Chinatown residents who as children growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, knew not to wander into neighboring North Beach or they'd get beaten up. Even Chinese-American San Franciscans as recently as the 1950s and 1960s had trouble buying homes in other neighborhoods because of either deed restrictions, or homeowners just wouldn't want to sell to them.

Which brings me to your post from last month, Gaylord:

I remember wanting to comment on this but it got pushed back and it skipped my mind, but I found the ad for the Bel Air development "funny" for its blatant openness of being a "restricted" community. As a teen, I remember reading how Beverly Hills early on allowed movie people to move in, being that early Hollywood and later on, Bel-Air, didn't allow movie people to move in--- possibly because of the "wild lifestyle" they led, but also more likely because many movie moguls and people in the movie industry were Jews.

Hello to all and thank you!
 

Hi everyone,

I stumbled upon this forum a few months back. I've never seen anything like it. I'm a recently displaced 5 year downtown industrial/Little Tokyo resident but still feel like this is my home. Thanks to all who have so graciously contributed their time and stories.

Some screenshots of Little Tokyo from last nights viewing of director Samuel Fuller's, "The Crimson Kimono", 1959, Columbia Pictures.

http://www.echosmusic.com/crimson1.bmp


http://www.echosmusic.com/crimson2.bmp


http://www.echosmusic.com/crimson3.bmp


http://www.echosmusic.com/crimson4.bmp

Bun-kado is still there, with the same great sign (unfortunately minus the records part).

http://www.echosmusic.com/crimson5.bmp


http://www.echosmusic.com/crimson6.bmp

Wish I was there to do before and afters shots; I've got them all in my head.:cool:

"White Spot"
 

Regarding the comment about San Francisco and multi-racialism: When I was in High School in Fresno in the late 60's, someone brought to a history class several 1943 San Francisco newspapers they had found somewhere. A surprising and interesting feature was that in the "Apartments for Rent" section of the classifieds, there were racial categories for certain apt. buildings - "Filipino," "Negro" and "Mexican." Obviously if there wasn't a category, that meant that only Whites need apply.
If someone has similar Los Angeles papers, wonder if there were restrictive racial categories for apartment houses here? Wouldn't be surprised.

SilentLocations (or anyone), do you know where the "shack" scenes in Chaplin's Modern Times were filmed? That part the movie is so poignant to me. And Paulette Goddard must be the most stunningly radiant street urchin ever seen through a camera lens.

Maybe San Pedro or possibly around the Ballona Creek wetlands? Thanks in advance.

http://wwww.dkse.net/david/modern.times.jpg
http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/20...ern-times.html

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5189/5...36fa2ebc_z.jpg"Detective" Joe Musso! Thanks 3940dxer.

Welcome to the thread andini in St. Louis. Your screenshots from The Crimson Kimono were great !

An accident at Central Avenue and 49th Street in 1952.


http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6...49thst1952.jpg
LAPL




below: I am pretty sure these are the same buildings at Central Ave. & 49th St.


http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/282...lave49thst.jpg
goggle street view




http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/1...ralave49th.jpg
google street view


I love it when old wooden buildings survive against all odds.

[QUOTE=sopas ej;5511637]The ironic thing is that basically when Los Angeles was founded, it has always been multiracial. It wasn't until more white Protestant midwesterners and east coast folk started moving to LA that it started really becoming a segregated city. And if any Bay Area snobs (I say that cheekily, being that I love the Bay Area) are thinking that LA had a long "backward" period, San Francisco wasn't always a liberal metropolis; I've read accounts of SF's Chinatown residents who as children growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, knew not to wander into neighboring North Beach or they'd get beaten up. Even Chinese-American San Franciscans as recently as the 1950s and 1960s had trouble buying homes in other neighborhoods because of either deed restrictions, or homeowners just wouldn't want to sell to them.

snip


very true, grew up in S.F. in the '60's and that was the case, very difficult for non-whites to buy in some neighborhoods regardless of who they might be....was a block away from Willie Mays at the time and as a kid did not know that he had to buy a lot and build a house in order to to live in the neighborhood
http://www.outsidelands.org/sw5.php
and BTW thanks very much for your many posts and to all for the thread in general, worked my way through the entire thing awhile back and enjoyed it greatly...FWIW my employer put me up in the Biltmore for a week last year for training, spent a lot of time walking nearby while I was there and that made me appreciate the thread even more

Hi Andini
 

I enjoyed your screen shots of Little Tokyo. I spent almost 20 years working in the area, so I am pretty familiar with it.
Here is a "before and after" of one of your screen shots, using Google Street View:

Before, Weller Street:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg215...png&res=medium
The Crimson Kimono

Now, Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Street:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg683...jpg&res=medium
Google Street View

Mr. Onizuka was killed in the space shuttle Challenger accident and the street was renamed in his honor.
You can see a replica of the space shuttle at the other end of the street.

The Nisei Week Festival noted on the banner in the screen shot is still held every year, by the way:

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg221...jpg&res=medium
mymodernmet.com

Hey! If they're serving Kirin, I'm there. :cheers:

??????
 

It seems that an invaluable resource has been lost: http://www.latimemachines.com/

I won't throw myself off the Colorado Street Bridge, but I do think the loss of this site is truly terrible--I relied on it often to solve old-restaurant mysteries, even as late as recent posts on 333 S. La Cienega. I'm not sure why it wasn't left up even if it couldn't be attended to--seems such a waste of what was clearly a huge amount of research.

Unfortunately, I never visited that site (never even heard of it until your post), but sounds like it was a good resource. As for why it disappeared, could be that the webmaster could no longer afford the hosting fee (I assume there were a lot of pictures on the site, which chew up bandwith, so the costs may have been prohibitive). Hopefully, someone will revive it in the future.

Wow, I loved that website!

latimemachines.com
 

While over the years many have accused me of it, I'm sure I'm not losing my mind. This morning when I posted about the apparent demise of latimemachines.com, clicking on that link produced a two-line message informing followers of the site that "DUE TO HEALTH REASONS, I CAN NO LONGER CONTINUE THE SITE" or words to that effect.... Well, I should have taken a screenshot as proof of sanity, because now the link seems to work... although I tried a number of the main page's links and only two links are working... fortunately they are two of the four "LA OLD OR EXTINCT RESTAURANTS"--check them out while they last:

http://www.latimemachines.com/new_page_42.htm

http://www.latimemachines.com/new_page_43.htm

Very strange.

Maybe the site will return in full force, but if not, here's a sample of some of the great information that seems to be at risk:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c...5%252520PM.jpg

All the rest of the links seem to be dead.... including the one labeled "CONTACT ME"....

EDIT: 10 minutes after I posted that... we're back to this:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-t...2520PM.bmp.jpg
... although as of this moment, the two other links work. Allright--perhaps it's not my sanity that is in question, but that I
have too much time on my hands. Next noir story please!

http://jpg1.lapl.org/spnb01/00007141.jpgLAPL

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics18/00008773.jpgLAPL

Speaking of "White Spots," here's a restaurant I noticed listed on the aforementioned ailing latimemachines.

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

The location above is, of course, given away by the Wilshire Specials....


5467 Wilshire (at Dunsmuir) still stands, though pretty much ruined by alterations:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-c...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogel Street View

Can't tell if 7266 Beverly Blvd is the same building, but it could be.

From Ebay:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t...2520PM.bmp.jpg
Although there is no address on the matchbook, the logos on it and the building sign match....

Interestingly, Wikipedia mentions the White Spot, though only as the inspiration for the name of a Canadian restaurant chain:

"The [Canadian] restaurant was founded on June 16, 1928, by Nat Bailey. His first idea for a name for the eatery had been Granville Barbecue, but Nat instead took the advice of a friend who suggested he call it White Spot after a restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California—in part because the name sounded spotless and clean."