Thank you for posting this! I remember walking past the wedding chapel on a walking tour last month but had no idea what the building used to be or how old it was.

Also, I'm guessing the parking lot across the street was where the Old City Hall was located?

On dangerous ground
 

Thanks, HossC. Great stuff.

Hollywoodland Sign with Burbank in Background
 

I don't think this image has appeared here before. It's quite meaningful to me because I've done a lot of hiking in all 3 of these mountain regions, and the Magnolia Park neighborhood where I live is clearly visible in the background, though this rusticated view shows more orchards than homes.

I've indicated many streets, along with their names. My own little house is on the east side of Niagara St., near Verdugo. The sign was built in '23 and my house in '26, so it may or may not have been there when this aerial shot was taken. I do see one small home in about the right place, but who knows...

The map is from '24 and closely reflects what is seen in the aerial, though several streets still have their older names. Burbank airport doesn't exist yet, Buena Vista still ends at Burbank Blvd. (then called Central), and there's no Riverside Drive. The L.A. River appears to "begin" around what is now Forest Lawn Cemetery. A few short blocks of Victory Blvd. have been built north of Central Ave., though Randy Newman won't immortalize that street for another 60 years. In the aerial, San Fernando Road and the adjacent railway tracks would be about halfway between Burbank Blvd. and the base of the sloping Verdugo hills.


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/HlwdSign_Burbank.1400.jpg
http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05705/facts.los_angeles_portrait_of_a_city.htm


http://wwww.dkse.net/david/BurbankMap1924b.jpg
personal collection

This is fabulous!! My grandparents and great-grandparents farmed leased land at Central ( now Burbank Blvd) and the end of Buena Vista. The "Ranch" as they called it, is probably where the silo-like structure appears next to the fold of the picture. My father was born on that ranch in 1913. His parents and grandparents came to Burbank in 1910. I have never seen such a clear picture or one from that angle. Most are from the Verdugo Hills instead. Part of the ranch was taken for the Burbank Airport in about 1930, not long after this was taken. Thanks for the great find!

LA Noir history
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps383297b0.jpg
Bygone days

http://i.imgur.com/Z24aEIt.jpg?1?8254LAT July 28, 1940
http://i.imgur.com/FcjIWXj.jpg?1?6305GSV


Looking like something on the Universal back lot, this great example of a Los Angeles house of its size and period appears to be beautifully preserved.

Fingers crossed that this is a renovation. The original house and castle-like "annexes" are both unique in their own ways. Would be such a shame to lose one of the few remnants of the era in this part of town. :(

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/856/tbsu.jpg
ebay

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/850/9s45.jpg

This happened one day before the "Battle of Los Angeles", in which American artillery was discharged over Los Angeles
for several hours due to the mistaken belief that the Japanese were invading.

Here's some further info:
http://www.history.com/news/history-...g-world-war-ii

and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Ellwood

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As far as I can tell, this our first look at Richlor's on NLA.

134 N. La Cienega
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/850/7wjk.jpg
ebay


It appears on this map.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=21030


Richlor's 'planked' hamburgers are discussed here.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17742

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It is with a heavy heart I must report the loss of one of our children. The ModernCraft, RIP. 1930-2014.

Mole-Richardson sold her in December for 9.3mil; that should have been a red flag right there. Then the demo permits were applied for, granted, pulled, and she came down in the blink of an eye. These images are from 10 June:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3860/...42e7f6c8_c.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3850/...8b0485f6_c.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/...a404dc77_c.jpg

Now while I realize NLA is nobody's personal soapbox, I'm going to rant away anyways, so forgive me --

Hey everyone, you know what? YOU DON'T TEAR DOWN A MORGAN, WALLS & CLEMENTS. I don't care if you did it legally, hell, I don't care if you're Godzilla on one of your Godzillan rampages. You leave it alone.

Morgan, Walls & Clements are shockingly important; a partial list of their structures reveals that. Anything touched by Clements, who opened his own firm in 1937, is important in its own right.

What's become LA's arguably best-known teardown is the Morgan, Walls & Clements Richfield Tower. Ten years later the streamline wonder of Coulter's was felled. Stiles Clements's KEHE was demolished by the LAUSD -- Godzilla's less intelligent, more inelegant sibling -- despite maintaining a facade that could have been worked into the new structure. We recently lost a Clements in the form of the wonderful Late Moderne Mullen & Bluett, and people will kick themselves in twenty years when they realize what Late Moderne was. And Hollywood Park is Clements and has a date with the wrecking ball.

I was pretty darn shocked that a MW&C this good wasn't landmarked, or at least it didn't get flagged and went up before the OHR for review; the ADSLA released this statement that addresses some of my disbelief. In short, the building was demolished because it was my fault. It's true: I should be better at landmarking buildings into HCMs. We all should. Yes it's a pain. Most of the time when someone wants to landmark their house or business they hire out to do it. ModernCraft was certainly on the Hollywood Survey that's on file at the Conservancy -- my God, with a brain trust like NLA we could go through that and knock out a landmark application a week. Optimistic, but point being, HCM status could have saved ModernCraft; it might save the next one coming down the pike.

Esotouric writes similarly on their Facebook page: "We believe there needs to be an organized mass effort by preservation groups like ADSLA to nominate landmarks. Teach-ins, editing sessions, etc. Enlightened individual property owners are doing the majority of the HCM applying, for single family homes, and paying professionals to help them. These are not the buildings we need to worry about. Let the loss of Mole-Richardson be a wake up call. HCM nomination is hard work to do alone--why not crowdsource and simplify it?"

OK, rant over. Big thanks to Margot Gerber of ADSLA for use of her demo photographs. Margot also just told me that apparently the demo crew has left the back wall. Perhaps the new construction will get breaks and benefits for retaining historic structures! (OK, NOW the righteous pique is over. I promise, the next post will be full of shots from a giant collection of RBKs that I don't think any y'all have gotten into yet, exempli gratia...)

:previous: That is such terrible news. :(


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/856/zc0c.jpg
ebay

That ball room is pitiful.
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postcards of the lobby are included in this noir article: (scroll down)
http://www.1947project.com/the-winte...t#.U5vUN5RdWSp

Missing person at the Armondale (one of a multitude of lurid events)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19019

Does anyone remember Clock's in Inglewood?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/843/hgn44.jpg
http://books.google.com/books?id=uYi...lewood&f=false

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/841/ul8eo.jpg
http://books.google.com/books?id=uYi...lewood&f=false

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The article about the Armondale is much more readable on this version of the 1947project site, IMO.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/843/80gy.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituar...614-story.html

I just came across this extremely interesting postcard on ebay.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102.../823/ktb6r.jpg

All that in a basement! -which building I wonder.
__

:previous:


http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics18/00018908.jpgLAPL

It seems to have been at 126½ W 1st St, in the Wilson Block...

Looks like it went bankrupt in 1900, though it may have come back after that.

:previous:

The 1900-1901 CD lists the Palace Billard [sic] Parlors and the Palace Cigar Store at 128 W 1st. As well as the picture posted by GW, LAPL also has this sketch of the Wilson Block which includes The Palace.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ilsonBlock.jpg
LAPL

The Los Angeles Herald has an extensive article about the Wilson Block in the 8 August 1886 edition. The first paragraph says:

"In the Wilson Block, West First street, near the corner of Spring and between Main and Spring streets, Los Angeles has had another handsome addition to the needed accommodations for her rapidly growing business. The location is in ths heart of the city and of course one of the most desirable for business purposes. The lot has long been owned by Mrs. C. Wilson, and it is greatly to her credit that she has put up a structure which is not only an ornament to the city but one which will long be of substantial benefit. With the Wilson and Bryson Blocks rapidly approaching completion, the junction of First and Spring streets presents a lively spectacle. Both will doubtless soon be occupied from top to bottom."

The full article can be found at the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

Noir at the Armondale
 

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;6618138]:previous: That is such terrible news. :(




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...0/856/zc0c.jpg
ebay

That ball room is pitiful.
__


postcards of the lobby are included in this noir article: (scroll down)
http://www.1947project.com/the-winte...t#.U5vUN5RdWSp

Missing person at the Armondale (one of a multitude of lurid events)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19019[/QUOT]

This hotel hits me like a bowl of cold leftover Malt-O-Meal. Lots of cool noir ambiance to soak up in that ''ballroom'' and ''billiard room''.

:pissed:

When the movie was out a couple years ago I remember reading a local article that said Richlor's was the favorite west coast haunt of J. Edgar Hoover!

That marquee area and port cochere look awfully familiar, I wonder what is there now?