Anyone have the 411 on the bank building that has been The Surplus Store at Venice & Motor near Culver City for decades?

Address: 10341 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, Ca 90034

http://www.surplusstoreonline.com/images/storefront.GIF
http://pics3.city-data.com/businesse.../1/7981931.JPG

Thanks.

Thanks for the information ProphetM. I'm still trying to spot it.
I haven't been able to located the tunnel entrance.

I'll keep trying. :)
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It should be right in the middle of the picture in my link - the base of a pillar in the foreground, with some rust-colored construction stuff next to it on the right, and the tunnel is right behind that.

Edit: Here's a quick zoomed-in screen cap of the Google Street View - a little bit of black circular tunnel entrance with the right side of the concrete surround visible:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...729%2520PM.jpg

:previous: Oh my God ProphetM! I would never have found it on my own.


How in the world were you ever able to spot this tunnel?

http://imageshack.us/a/img31/4676/aabbtunnel1a.jpg
google street view

I thought the tunnel would still be in service. Are there still tracks down there? It doesn't look like it.
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:previous:
I live a few miles from this spot. Twice a day for years I have driven on the freeway never knowing there was a tunnel below.

E_R I will sometime in the coming week stop under there and if possible climb down to get some photos.

BTW, in the last big earthquake in '94 that section of the freeway collapsed. I wonder if the tunnel was damaged?

Yes, there are. As I mentioned it's even used for Metrolink service. The problem is that the railroad bed is so much lower than everything else right there, that it's impossible to see the tracks from any Street View. And you can't even really make out where the ground drops off down to the track.

Looking at the train icons with Google Maps, the station south of the tunnel is Sylmar/San Fernando. A northbound Metrolink train takes about 20 minutes to go from there through the tunnel to the next station at Newhall. On the 45-degree aerial picture of the north end of the tunnel (near Newhall south of Santa Clarita), you can see an engine right outside the tunnel entrance.

Some nice pictures of Angels Flight on Gorilla Blog.

Southern Pacific began Construction of the San Fernando Tunnel on March 27th, 1875 from both the north and south. Construction crews met on July 14th, 1876. The completed bore was 6, 966 feet long and was designated as Tunnel No. 20. At the time, it was the longest railway tunnel in the world.
The Southern Pacific was merged into the Union Pacific system on September 11, 1996.

The track running through the tunnel, which runs from Los Angeles to Sacramento, is known in railroad circles as the San Joaquin Valley Line and is used by Union Pacific for freight service, Metrolink commuter trains and occasionally by Amtrak when rails of the Coast Line are out of service due to a derailment or maintenance.

Cheers,
Jack

That's pretty amazing Jack. I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't know it existed.
That said, it was fun learning about it now. Kind of exciting actually.
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Mayor Shaw, I'll be waiting for those photographs. ;) ..but I'm not sure how you'll do it.
You might have to feign a flat tire or runaway hubcap. Goodluck

I just found this. Oldest known photograph of the San Fernando Tunnel (1877?)

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/4381/aabtunnel20.jpg
http://www.crescentavalleyweekly.com/

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Anyone?

:previous:

According to the LAPL, it was once a branch of the Security-First National Bank and later became the Palms Station of the US Post Office.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...2520PM.bmp.jpgLAPL


According to this, it was built by a predecessor of Security-First:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...2520PM.bmp.jpg


PS There is more info on the origins of Citizens State if you google Clarence E. Coe and the history of Sawtelle.

Pig-shaped estaurant
 

Hey super sleuths, a friend of mine just sent me this one, asking me if I knew where it was. I'm drawing a complete blank. He said it was from the 1920s. Any ideas?

http://imageshack.us/a/img22/7277/pigrestaurant.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6...2520PM.bmp.jpgMarc Shur


Haven't found any vintage shots of 811 S Los Angeles St, but have found that during the '40s and '50s it was home to Kramer Bros, which manufactured Trimfit Hosiery in both NY & LA. Prior tenants included dry-goods wholesaler Isidore Levitt and his Superior Mills (late '30s); manufacturers' agents Granas & Kaufman (early '30s); and during the '20s, the building was occupied by the Columbia Phonograph Co, presumably a branch of the East Coast company that would become Columbia Records. At one time the 800 block of S Los Angeles St was home to a number of hosiery makers. At top is what looks like--but isn't--a noirishly vintage shot of one of the signs on the Beverly Hills Hosiery Co at 801 S Los Angeles, which has been in the neighborhood since at least the mid '50s.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogle SV

:previous: Very interesting GW.
Remember a couple yrs ago we discussed that GIANT LEG that was used to advertise a hosiery company. Off hand I can't remember the name.
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:previous:

Sanderson...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...on#post5145295

And there was this of yours, ER:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2661

While we're on the subject...

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00097/00097840.jpgLAPL

A Herman Schulthies pic with this info: "A billboard attributed to Cooke Co. encourages women not to be "leg shy" by wearing Mission Hosiery (3764 Broadway Place), stockings made from "fresh new silk"."


http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9...hosieryint.jpgLAPL

Not attributed to Schultheis, but with this info: "Employees of the Mission Hosiery Mill appear dwarfed by thousands of model feet."


Mission Hosiery was once in this very interesting building...
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/3...nbwayplace.jpgUSCDL

I am sure all of you know by now that I have a real shitty memory. Thx for digging that up GW.
I must say...the before & after of Theme Hosiery is pretty cool. :)
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Here's that GIANT LEG if anyone is confused.

http://imageshack.us/a/img193/4876/aableggsjansen.jpg

and the link again
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2669

There was also that rooftop GIANT SHOE in downtown Los Angeles around the turn of the century (last century that is).
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below: Here she is riding the wave of popularity of 'Ken Murray's Blackouts'.
http://imageshack.us/a/img42/6586/aablegmariewilson.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2669

....I couldn't resist. :) Thank you gsjansen wherever you are.

The Retail Clerks Union/AFL-CIO, Local 770 (no address given)

http://imageshack.us/a/img402/5896/f...ldingretai.jpg
http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-Hist...story-Timeline





Could this possibly be the old Florentine Gardens Nightclub?? (a favorite haunt of Elizabeth Short a.k.a. the 'Black Dahlia')

http://imageshack.us/a/img341/6170/f...ardenslapl.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...rolNumber=7993




Imagine a stripped down version of the Florentine Gardens Nightclub.

http://imageshack.us/a/img171/293/fl...denspctanw.jpg
Bruce Torrence Collectionhttp://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/




http://imageshack.us/a/img838/5728/f...ebay122001.jpg
ebay



http://imageshack.us/a/img507/420/florentineebaymb1.jpg
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