The "Perry Mason Courthouse", that's how I think of it too. That should really be its official name. :D

The Perry Mason Courthouse: the entrance at right is at Hill and 1st.
Note the clock, which echoes the clocks on previous L. A. County Courthouses.
http://www.paulrwilliamsproject.org/.../CHS-31367.jpg
USC/Doheny Library/California Historical Society

And here is Mr. Mason in his courthouse annex at the studio:
http://edhird.files.wordpress.com/20...ry-mason-1.jpg

More on the courthouse:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thed...se_of_the.html

http://www.paulrwilliamsproject.org/...vic-buildings/

Noir images of and from city hall
 

all images are from the UCLA Library Digital Collections

war time dim out images October 29th, 1943

North
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/...dbdef681_o.jpg

East
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/...86edbba6_o.jpg

West
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/...e3ce3dcf_o.jpg

North/West
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/...5a1d2045_o.jpg

Christmas Night 1947
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2534/...d34a3e07_o.jpg

New years 1951
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/...a3e38b61_o.jpg

Winter time snow fall February 1944 Spring and 1st
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...e8f07ee0_o.jpg

here's a 1950 presentation for a great new better tomorrow bunker hill, featuring the new auditorium for 4th street
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032503.jpg
LAPL

It appears that clay street remains, olive street becomes the main North/South artery, hope street becomes some kind of vista permiter road which links up with 2nd, (nice trick, how did they plan on dealing with the tunnel......or is there no hill left in this plan to require a tunnel :whatthefuck: ) and grand street disappears entirely......very strange indeed. i hope the CRA bought enough Kool-Ade for everyone, or at least whatever she appears to have had!

Dangerous Noir
 

There is a scene in Criss Cross where Yvonne De Carlo is walking down hill street to visit Burt Lancaster at his home. In the scene she is noticeably having difficulty walking down Hill street .

This photo of the house 215 N. Hill street, clearly shows that Noir performed in heels can be quite the treacherous business

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics14/00026605.jpg
LAPL

http://dlproj.library.ucla.edu/deriv...0060804a_j.jpg
UCLA/L.A. Times

In his great book L.A. Noir (Three Rivers Press, 2009),
John Buntin suggests that the look of film noir was influenced
by the smog attacks of the '40s that began on July 26, 1943--
so after seeing gsjansen's pictures of the Civic Center during
wartime dimouts, I wonder if the noir mood was sparked
by both the dimouts and the smog....

http://dlproj.library.ucla.edu/deriv...0061583a_j.jpg
UCLA/L.A. Times


Another smoggy day, this one as seen from the Perry Mason courthouse at the corner of Hill and First, March 1962. (Take note of the peripatetic statue of Stephen M. White in the foreground--more to come on that.)

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006...oldcthouse.jpg
MetNews Photo

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006..._statue-mn.jpg
MetNews Photo

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006/Statue--SP.jpg
MetNews Photo



The 8-foot bronze statue of Stephen M. White, onetime Los Angeles D.A. (preceding Hamilton Burger by about 75 years) and later state senator, lieutenant governor, and U.S. senator, was originally placed at the southeast corner of Broadway and Temple, in front of the 1888 L.A. County Courthouse. Senator White stayed there even after the 1888 building was demolished several years after the Long Beach earthquake, eventually winding up on the northwest corner of 1st and Hill at the 1958 Perry Mason courthouse. Then the poor old guy was put in storage before being moved back to the courthouse, this time to the Grand Street end. He finally wound up in San Pedro, which, though a loss for the Civic Center, seems appropriate since he was apparently responsible for getting the breakwater built there, giving the city its great port. Let's hope the old man can finally rest by the sea.

More at:
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006...ives103006.htm

It still is lit up at night, as well as the fountains. But there was a period a few years ago when they had drained the moat around the building to refurbish it. Now it looks pretty brand new. And of course it's now officially called the John Ferraro Building or something.

Back in 1967 it was featured in a Nancy Sinatra music video (if it can be called that) for her cover of "This Town." In it you can also see the now gone Richfield Building in the background, and the Union Bank Building as well, which was brand new then. It also shows her at LACMA when it was only a few years old and had the moat with fountains. Notice the landscaping around the DWP building back then with the birds of paradise (LA's official flower). It's all different now, probably more drought-tolerant.

• Video Link

I just love those old long-gone street signs, with the curlicue thingies added to them.

GaylordWilshire
Perhaps smog did play a role in 'film noir'.



Below: Smog in Los Angeles 1947.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/780...4smog1947a.jpg
usc digital archive





Below: More smog in 1947.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8...smog1947bh.jpg
usc digital archive





Below: More smog in 1948.


http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/145...smog1948a1.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: Again.....smog in 1948.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1...14smog1948.jpg
usc digital archive






Below: Two unidentified men pointing at the smog in 1948.


http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6...og2men1948.jpg
usc digital archive

Even with the help of Miss Smog Fighter 1951, the smog persisted.


http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2...ssmogfight.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: Smog from City Hall tower in 1951.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3...og1951view.jpg
usc digital archive




Below: More smog in 1951.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6...og1951hofr.jpg
usc digital archive






Below: Another view in 1951.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2...smog1951h2.jpg
usc digital archive

It's fun to post the old smog photos.

But my personal experience is just the opposite.
I felt L.A. was most mysterious in January, when the warm Santa Ana winds swept the smog away.

Everything seemed magical....the lights of the city sparkled and the trees and bushes rustled in the breeze throughout the night.
It was beautiful and scary all in the same breath.



It's my fondest memory of Los Angeles.

I remember visiting LA as a kid in the 60's and I remember pink skies and burning eyes. And going into la one would often see the pollution above LA way before you would get there....same thing for the Bay Area driving in from Sacramento. It was bad back then.

I wonder if people still burned their trash in the 1960s; to think that used to be a common practice. When I was a small kid in the mid-1970s, my family lived in a house in the Miracle Mile that was built in the 1920s. In the backyard was an incinerator, but of course we weren't allowed to use it; by the 1970s, burning trash had already been banned. Of course some people converted their incinerators into barbecues. But even into 1980, I remember some days during school when we couldn't go outside during recess or lunch because the air quality was very unhealthful, so we had to spend lunch inside the cafeteria and we couldn't play outside.

Fort Moore Hill and the Broadway tunnel
 

Sopas EJ, your fabulous then and now series looking south from the intersection of Broadway and Sunset, as well as all the postings i had missed earlier on the Los Angeles School building, got me interested in the leveling of fort moore hill and the demolition of the broadway tunnel fro the construction of the 101 freeway

all images are LAPL (except where noted)

this 1871 view is on top of fort moore hill. the tunnel would be excavated directly below where this photo was taken. This view is of Sonora Town looking north up broadway past sunset

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/...8dd8cab9_o.jpg

This 1881 view is on top of Fort Hill looking south down broadway past temple. Note the Los Angeles School building on the left prior to it's relocation to the top of fort moore hill

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2281/...02d2e55c_o.jpg
USC Digital Archives

This 1902 image is looking north west from the old courthouse building at the los angeles high school building on fort hill. The tunnel has either opened os is close to opening

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/...e38df5af_o.jpg


1903 view of fort Moore hill and the broadway tunnel

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/...1a5b9764_o.jpg


This image looking east at the south portal shows the stair system to provide access to the top of the hill

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2781/...903cea47_o.jpg


This 1925 view is looking south from on top of the tunnel past the hall of justice building

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...9e10f337_o.jpg
USC Digital Archive


1940 view looking north at the south portal from temple Note the historic examiner sign

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/...352deef1_o.jpg

This 1948 north looking view of the south portal is taken in the waning days of the hill and tunnel's existence

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2782/...cb956e54_o.jpg

The last train exiting the north portal. The leveling and grading operations on the left side of the photo, (where justica street used to be), is providing a new level area to re-rout the trains around the tunnel demolition

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2792/...bea06a02_o.jpg


In this 1949 photo, the hill leveling operations are in full swing. The south portal of the tunnel has been barricaded

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...d0e7dd58_o.jpg

1949 looking north west at the south portal

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2776/...5b76b23d_o.jpg

1949 looking north east at the south portal. note the re-routed rail lines to the east of the tunnel

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/...d0c2905e_o.jpg


Rerouted yellow car around the tunnel and hill demolition operation

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2681/...993cce5f_o.jpg

1951 view looking north up broadway where the tunnel used to be. The remainder of Fort Moore hill will be leveld in the next 3 years

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/...60c18a8e_o.jpg

Fort Moore Aerial 1947

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/...90619617_o.jpg
LAPL

The North portal of Hill street tunnel No. 2 at sunset is visible in the upper right hand portion of the photo

the same aerial view, 2009 bingmaps
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2689/...09337585_o.jpg

The south portal is visible at right in this shot from the '20s. There's the old WCTU at center.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...A0EEB00C1?v=hr

From farther south, higher up, and before the Hall of Justice was built in 1925.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9130/latimesbldgm5.jpg
Calif State Library

The Dave Clark Five
 

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...2520PM.bmp.jpgUCLA Special Collections

I came across this 1931 shot of the notorious deputy D.A. "handsome Dave" Clark--second from right--strolling southward on Broadway alongside the Hall of Justice (note the union-jack railing at left). In the background is the south portal of the Broadway tunnel. This picture looked familiar to me--I went to my bookcase and found that I'd seen a cropped version of it before in another must-read for L.A. noir fans: A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner (Doubleday 2009).

Ethereal: You MUST stop whatever you're doing and watch the DVD "Atomic Filmmakers", produced by Peter Kuran of VCE (the company you linked to in your post). It tells the story of the Lookout Mountain facility, and the men behind it. What a fascinating little corner of L.A. cinema history that place was.

Kuran made several other "Atomic" movies, my favorite of which was "Trinity and Beyond". All of the films include some absolutely spectacular A-bomb footage, and are narrated by William Shatner (FTW).

I love all of the VCE films. My only minor criticism is that some of the footage was enhanced by visual effects post-processing. VCE started out as a visual effects house, after all. But all of the DVD's are well worth viewing. They used to be available from Netflix, but they don't appear to be at the moment (although they're still in the catalog; you can "Save" them to your queue).

You can also purchase "Atomic Filmmakers" from VCE here.

I thought I'd post some then and now pics of Venice; I went there this past Sunday.

Windward Avenue at Pacific Avenue, looking west, circa 1920s
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2787782_n.jpg
USC Archive

Windward Avenue at Pacific Avenue, looking west, April 11, 2010
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8122012_n.jpg
Photo by me


Arcade along Windward Avenue, 1906
http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs451....1_363014_n.jpg
USC Archive

Arcade (what's left of it) along Windward Avenue, April 11, 2010
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs451....2_258977_n.jpg
Photo by me

View looking east along Windward Avenue towards Pacific Avenue, 1929
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2119955_n.jpg
USC Archive

View looking east along Windward Avenue towards Pacific Avenue, April 11, 2010
http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs451....3_465047_n.jpg
Photo by me

Windward and Pacific Avenues looking northwest, 1927
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...6_756343_n.jpg
LAPL

Windward and Pacific Avenues looking northwest, April 11, 2010
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1884367_n.jpg
Photo by me

Pacific Avenue looking north from Windward Avenue, 1953
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5551865_n.jpg
LAPL

Pacific Avenue looking north from Windward Avenue, April 11, 2010
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs471...._2789735_n.jpg
Photo by me