SkyscraperPage Forum

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)
-   Found City Photos (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=23)
-   -   noirish Los Angeles (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170279)

ethereal_reality May 23, 2018 1:56 AM

After CaliNative mentioned the depression last night I decided to go through my old files for other photographs taken on the cusp of the Great Depression.
This one caught my eye.

If I'm not mistaken, the six young women posed by the Pierce Arrow are the same six women in the Montgomery Wards/arrow sign photograph. HERE

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/3lvQFO.jpg
EBAY

The date is the same and the women are even wearing the same dresses.
__


hmmm...so I wonder if the building behind them is the Montgomery Wards Plant?

Very nice car too. (but it has a leak)
_____

ethereal_reality May 23, 2018 2:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir (Post 8196442)

Noir Noir :D

I wonder who this women is? She doesn't look too thrilled to be there.

Could it be WeeGee's secretary....or is wife? (I don't even know if he was married during his time in L.A.)
__

Flyingwedge May 23, 2018 4:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 8196467)
After CaliNative mentioned the depression last night I decided to go through my old files for other photographs taken on the cusp of the Great Depression.
_____

On that theme . . .

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psuf1hhmw5.jpg

April 12, 1929, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL


This is the M. F. Norton home at 834 W. 28th Street, almost certainly in the summer of 1929:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psba2zvrh9.jpg

DW-1929-08-27-158 at USC Digital Library


Here is another summer 1929 photo of 834 W. 28th Street (demolished in 1984):

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...k.jpg~original

USC Digital Library


The stock market crashed seven weeks after the auction date -- September 11, 1929 -- advertised on the sign
in front of the house:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...6.jpg~original



The next day, as the sign in the lower right corner indicates, there was an auction of another M. F. Norton Estate home,
7804 Vista Del Mar (demolished in 1968):

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge (Post 5976367)

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...tside/7804.jpg
7804 Vista Del Mar @ Patterson (later Palace Street), 1929.
USC Library (http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/13010/rec/1)


CityBoyDoug May 23, 2018 7:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 8195345)
:previous:


sopas, your GSV reminds me of what was there--my little story on the Butterfield house is here: http://losangeleshistory.blogspot.co...histories.html




https://s7.postimg.cc/5t9cwqdyz/HLAsolarwalltoday.jpg

:previous: sure, why not....I certainly agree.

GaylordWilshire May 23, 2018 12:28 PM

https://s7.postimg.cc/s7osbdo6j/felixgrand.jpg



Looks like the end is nigh...


https://s7.postimg.cc/ocle8ns4b/bendixurbanize.bmp.jpg

http://urbanize.la/post/10-story-apa...sed-12th-grand

HossC May 23, 2018 1:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Charles (Post 8196447)
My pleasure, ER!

For what it's worth, mannikin is an accepted spelling of the word:

https://i.imgur.com/RdApOeP.jpg

Dictionary.com also lists the word mannikin.

Although many of the online dictionaries seem to imply that the "mannequin" and "man(n)ikin" variants are interchangeable, there does appear to be a difference if you look a little deeper. The following excerpts are from www.engeniumstaffing.com:
Manikin’s are similar to mannequins where they are human shaped models used to simulate the human body. Instead of being used to show off clothing, manikins are used to help simulate medical, surgical, or clinical scenarios.

...

The purpose of these manikins is to give students, healthcare givers, and surgeons a safe environment to learn and practice their skills, without the use of a live patient.

...

Both manikins and mannequins act as human simulators. Their uses are a bit different but why are their names very similar? The word comes from the Dutch term “manneken”, which literally means “little man”. The French form of the word, mannequin, was used in English to mean “artificial man”. Store front mannequins were later introduced as artificial models to display clothing.
Given this information, I'd say that the dummies in the Weegee photo are mannequins, albeit manufactured by the Decter Mannikin Co. I don't know if the company is still around, but there's a 1991 LAT article about their new range of "gym-chiseled" male mannequins here.

oldstuff May 23, 2018 8:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 8196467)
After CaliNative mentioned the depression last night I decided to go through my old files for other photographs taken on the cusp of the Great Depression.
This one caught my eye.

If I'm not mistaken, the six young women posed by the Pierce Arrow are the same six women in the Montgomery Wards/arrow sign photograph. HERE

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/3lvQFO.jpg
EBAY

The date is the same and the women are even wearing the same dresses.
__


hmmm...so I wonder if the building behind them is the Montgomery Wards Plant?

Very nice car too. (but it has a leak)
_____

Here's another one for you car enthusiasts and also for building enthusiasts: Google image search April 16, 1929 Pierce Arrow and about midway down the page is a black and white photo of a Pierce Arrow with a man who appears to be a chauffer. He is holding a blanket and a pillow toward someone out of the frame. The car has California plates. In the background is a five story building with an arched doorway in the center. It is at the bottom of a small hill. OK all you experts, where is this one taken? And what model and year is the car?

HossC May 23, 2018 9:06 PM

:previous:

I think this is the photo you're referring to, oldstuff. The website has the picture captioned as a "1929 Pierce-Arrow". No location is given.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...erceArrow1.jpg
carstylecritic.blogspot.com

Earl Boebert May 23, 2018 9:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 8197384)
:previous:

I think this is the photo you're referring to, oldstuff. The website has the picture captioned as a "1929 Pierce-Arrow". No location is given.

[snip]

The lettering on the blanket is ONITA or ON TA depending on whether you interpret the center vertical as the letter "I" or a divider. The badge between the headlights appears to be a Bell Telephone System logo.

Edit: Also possibly DNITA or DN TA, but I doubt it.

Cheers,

Earl

GaylordWilshire May 23, 2018 10:43 PM

:previous:


A rare Pierce-Arrow with "divorced" headlights, rather than the trademark P-A fender-mounted lamps, apparently illegal in some states.

The grille item is this:
https://s7.postimg.cc/am07sgke3/AAAemblem.jpg


Diamond monograms usually have the last-name initial at center...but this is probably not a person's monogram..unless a long-named royal maybe....

Scott Charles May 24, 2018 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 8197384)
:previous:

I think this is the photo you're referring to, oldstuff. The website has the picture captioned as a "1929 Pierce-Arrow". No location is given.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...erceArrow1.jpg
carstylecritic.blogspot.com

Wow, what a great mystery! Will anyone be able to solve it?!?

Well, the car does have California plates, but that could mean the photo was taken in San Francisco or anywhere else in the state... but it looks like L.A..

There are no reverse-image-search results found by Google or Tin Eye... there are no Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo results for “Onita Los Angeles”.... nor are they any results for “Onita” anything...

Here's all I can tell from looking at the photo:

• The street we're standing on ends in a T. The building on the top right stands at the juncture of the T street.

• We are also looking over a hill. The street rises, and falls, before it reaches the end of the street, at the apartment building.

• From what we can see of the other buildings on the left, they are above street level, on a hill themselves. If you look through the car's rear window, you seem to be able to see steps leading to a house, a Craftsman-esque column on the porch, and a plant and some grass, all angled as if going up a hill:

https://i.imgur.com/diSJtsM.jpg

The only area I can think of offhand that has all of the above qualities is Carroll Ave, at it approaches Edgeware Road - the houses on the left are above street level; the elevation of the street rises, then falls (though it's difficult to tell in this photo); and the street ends in a T:

https://i.imgur.com/t0WA7x4.jpg

However, various details reveal that this is not Carroll Ave - for example, the street in the old photo is far too wide to be Carroll Ave.

I don't know if this one can be solved... it could be in San Francisco... it could be in LA, but on a hill that's been leveled decades ago...

...now what other streets go over a hill and terminate in a T..?

ethereal_reality May 24, 2018 1:44 AM

quite intriguing Scott Charles.


Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 8197384)

It should have occurred to me earlier that the photograph is severely cropped. :embarrassed:

It didn't...occur to me... until I right clicked on the pic at carstylecritic.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/ANOhpt.jpg

If we can locate the uncropped version perhaps we'll see, and hopefully recognize, the person the chauffeur is handing the pillow and blanket to.
(as well as see more of the streetscape)
___________



I also found out today if you google "ONITA" in google images or books you get alot of hits on BONITA Granville.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/XA8bjV.jpg


so obviously... THIS is driving me crazy.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/Z1j510.jpg


And if you consider the l as a devider, as Earl Boebert suggested, you get
the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America based in Florida.

*pulls hair out*

ethereal_reality May 24, 2018 2:06 AM

...speaking of Pierce Arrows.



Fatty Arbuckle and his 1919 Pierce Arrow

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/PEyQvV.jpg
mybirdie

I wonder if this is the car he drove up to San Francisco on that fateful weekend in 1921.

__

ethereal_reality May 24, 2018 2:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge
The stock market crashed seven weeks after the auction date -- September 11, 1929 -- advertised on the sign
in front of the house:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...6.jpg~original

Seven weeks? I'm confused FW. :shrug:

'Black Thursday' was on October 24, 1929, and the actual 'crash' occurred on October 29, 'Black Tuesday'.

oops. NEVERmind. you're correct...one day short.



But both auctions were before the crash FW. Were there signs/premonitions that the crash was about to happen?


__

ethereal_reality May 24, 2018 5:20 AM

'mystery' side street. Los Angeles 1950s

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/7LTTcT.jpg
EBAY

I don't expect anyone to figure out what side street this is. I just really like the photograph.

Noir_Noir May 24, 2018 8:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 8197384)
:previous:

I think this is the photo you're referring to, oldstuff. The website has the picture captioned as a "1929 Pierce-Arrow". No location is given.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...erceArrow1.jpg
carstylecritic.blogspot.com

Could this be it? T Junction. Apartment Building. W. 2nd Street and S. Kenmore Ave.

https://i.imgur.com/YOrIKu8.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/UTzX9Dj.jpg
GSV

GaylordWilshire May 24, 2018 11:39 AM

:previous:

Excellent find, NN


Lenses are tricky things...the Pierce-Arrow was waiting at the El Montalvo, 3835 W 2nd St...

https://s7.postimg.cc/9ak6v1i4b/nla10.bmp.jpg
https://s7.postimg.cc/kpgnzpch7/nla1.bmp.jpg
https://s7.postimg.cc/kpgo002a3/nla15.bmp.jpg
https://s7.postimg.cc/rtyh8mwkb/nla13.bmp-001.jpg
GSV


PS Perhaps the initals are of two people-- "DN or "ON" / "TA" ?

HossC May 24, 2018 12:27 PM

:previous:

I found this Dick Whittington picture which looks like it's part of the same photoshoot.

"Pierce Arrow car from Jack-Germond, 5600 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 1929"

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
USC Digital Library

The client is listed as "Hollywood Citizen, Mr. Engstrum". Thomas and Edgar Engstrum of the Engstrum Construction Co were living at 5114 and 5108 Franklin Avenue respectively in 1929. By 1930, they had moved to 544 Rossmore and 515 S Norton. Their company was at 4953 Hollywood Boulevard. Kenmore and 2nd is due south of this address, so could the man on the left be Thomas or Edgar?

I'm guessing that this is where the Pierce Arrow came from. It was built as an "Auto Sales Building and Garages" in 1925. Home Depot applied for a demo permit in 1995.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 6696313)

Here's a larger version of the same picture, which apparently dates from 1973. The caption describes it as "Roller Bowl on Sunset Blvd. & St. Andrews Pl." The 1973 CD lists Madame Kathryn Etienne's Ballet School at 5600 Sunset, with the Hollywood Rollerbowl at 5612 Sunset.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ollerbowl1.jpg
hollywoodphotographs.com


GaylordWilshire May 24, 2018 1:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 8197733)
...speaking of Pierce Arrows.

Fatty Arbuckle and his 1919 Pierce Arrow

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/PEyQvV.jpg
mybirdie

I wonder if this is the car he drove up to San Francisco on that fateful weekend in 1921.


Looks like Fatty's P-A was sitting on Adams Street (as it was them called), with the low stone-and-iron wall of Chester Place behind him. Below are a couple of other shots, apparently from the same sitting.... He was living at 649 West Adams at the time....


https://s7.postimg.cc/t0bnz1x3f/fattywall.bmp.jpgGSV

The wall to the left goes west to Chester Place; to the right, the brick wall, with the same ironwork, goes east in front of Fatty's house.


The full story of the Randolph Miner/Theda Bara/Fatty Arbuckle/Raoul Walsh & Miriam Cooper/Joe Schenck & Norma Talmadge house is here:
http://adamsboulevardlosangeles.blog...ease-also.html

https://s7.postimg.cc/jr9horo5n/WAD6...HDRFNL4_FB.jpg

Scott Charles May 24, 2018 3:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir (Post 8197961)
Could this be it? T Junction. Apartment Building. W. 2nd Street and S. Kenmore Ave.

https://i.imgur.com/YOrIKu8.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/UTzX9Dj.jpg
GSV

Amazing, Noir_Noir!

And GaylordWilshire's pictures show the other elements - the rising/falling slope of the street, and the elevated buildings on the left!

How on earth did you figure this out, Noir_Noir??


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:29 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.