:previous: Welcome to 'noirish Los Angeles' Matt! -your SMOKETOWN project sounds very interesting.

Street view along Vernon Avenue in 1954.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/M64X5U.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-NOSTALG...item3f4ad10e3c

I've tried to find the church for a comparison photo of the street corner, but I haven't had much luck yet in locating it.

I just spotted another clue. While trying to figure out the image on top of the Chop Suey sign (I thought it was a bee with huge eyes. lol),
I see at the bottom of the sign it says Owl Café.

__

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/B3Qlvs.jpg
eBay



and today
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/2ZBy0E.jpg
gsv

Hmmmm...or maybe she was on the other side of P.C.H.
__

Hullo folks,

Perhaps you remember my recent shout out to the Central Library's ongoing exhibition about noirish mainstay Bunker Hill. There, I mentioned that at the upcoming opening shindig on the 13th, you could buy the accompanying book—

—well, just a quick note to let you know, the book is available on Amazon now, for those of you so inclined. (If you like that sort of thing, it's the sort of thing you'll like!)

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8877/...778667c3_o.png

'Beware the woman in comfortable shoes'

...or dressed to the nines.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...912/BbSnU8.jpg
eBay

Los Angeles 1960s, Kodachrome slide.
__

The 1956 CD lists the Owl Cafe No 1 at 1060 E Vernon Avenue. The sign behind the Owl Cafe sign appears to say "JEWELRY", which could be Parry Jewelry, and the dentist whose sign is in the shadows on the left could be Dr William J Gay. Additionally, Capitol Radio and TV could well be the owners of the "RADIO" sign on the right.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LAOwlCafe1.jpg
LAPL

If I sound a little unsure about the location, it's just that E Vernon now looks like this, and I can't match a single building. Looking at Historic Aerials, the stores on the left, and the church on the right, seem to disappear between 1964 and 1972, but the earlier images are too blurry to be certain.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LAOwlCafe2.jpg
GSV

Ennis House
 

Not noir at this point, but more a crumbling reminder. Shameful that Frank Lloyd Wright's work would be allowed into this kind of disrepair:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8487/...9e4f5c2d_c.jpgDSCF1687.JPG by maxwellm, on Flickr

Taken in 2004. Shudder to think what it looks like now.

Stop shuddering...

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8835/...bca959a3_h.jpgEnnis House restoration

Wikimedia.org

still an ugly 'house'

1956 city directory
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...901/DoPMMg.jpg

:previous: I see that it says the Owl Cafe' on Vernon is No.#1, so I take it there were numerous Owl Cafes.
I was thinking something noirish had happened at one of the locations, but then realized I was thinking about the fictional Nite Owl Café in L.A. Confidential.


The Nite Owl Café was filmed at 119 E. 6th Street, downtown.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/EMA3zV.jpg
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2010/0...-confidential/

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/5eLJ5S.jpg
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2010/0...-confidential/

J & J Sandwich Shop, 119 E. 6th Street
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/kLMOi6.jpg
gsv



It's directly across the street from Coles.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...909/DKtCk6.jpg
gsv


__

Thanks for the Ennis House update! I'll have to stop by again for some before and after action.

Also, Cole's is pretty good if you want a French Dip (specially after shopping at the Last Bookstore) but I really dig Phillippe's more when I'm in the neighborhood.

Miss living close to LA. I really do.

Chateau Du-Val
 

I really like William B David's Chateau Du-Val, 3748 W 9th,. It looks like the little tomboy sister of Leland Bryant's 1930 La Fontaine at Fountain and Crescent Heights.. Tougher, smaller and less elegant. To enter the La Fountaine one must mount rather grand stairs to a raised terrace and wend one's way through the landscaping before passing a fountain-graced reflecting pool to arrive at the front door. To get into the Du-Val, one just walks in off the street.

The Chateau Du-Val was built in 1929 and I'm suspecting both it and the 1930 La Fontaine of being built of used brick, maybe City Hall's. The buildings are certainly the right era for it and there was plenty of brick to go around. The softly-worn bricks are a lovely rosy color.

The entrance has a terrific pair of lanterns and what looks like excellent stained glass in the transom and the windows either side of the door:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2...44325%2BAM.jpg
laurban

Flipping retro-fitting bolts. Now it says, "Chateau Du-Va":
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...91756%2BAM.jpg
pinterest

The NE corner:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E...21021%2BAM.jpg
gsv

The west wall:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-A...20914%2BAM.jpg
gsv

West wall detail:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...22053%2BAM.jpg
gsv

The SW corner:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z...20733%2BAM.jpg
gsv

The north front. There's three brick chimneys across the roof and a very picturesque vent coming out of the tower:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S...21138%2BAM.jpg
gsv

The upper facade. The basement is all yours e_r, I'd love to know what goes on in the attic. It's got operable windows:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...21951%2BAM.jpg
gsv

Like the La Fountaine, the Chateau Du-Val's back faces south. They're missing a great opportunity not opening the back of the attic up for a penthouse with terrace as was done at the La Fountaine in the 60s:

Interiors:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...44350%2BAM.jpg
laurban

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...44257%2BAM.jpg
laurban

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8...44415%2BAM.jpg
laurban

My favorite: metal-framed, multi-paned casement windows:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-d...21535%2BAM.jpg
gsv

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-P...15454%2BPM.jpg
wikimedia

Don't miss GW's follow-up post

:previous: Excellent post on the Chateau Du-Val tovanger2.
The worn bricks certainly have a lot of character -so perhaps you're right about the 'used' bricks.
(and I still want to go down in the basement ;))

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...2520PM.bmp.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...2520PM.bmp.jpg

Times June 7, 1929

Matt, your photograph of the Ennis-Brown house has inspired me to post some screen-grabs I took a few months ago while watching the late, late, late show.
Pretty much everyone knows the house was used, most famously, in 'Blade Runner' (1982), and as the exterior façade of the 'House On Haunted Hill' (1959), among others,
but I had no idea it was used years before, in a Ruth Chatterton movie called 'Female' (1933).




'Female' (1933), Warner Bros.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/pCRLmS.jpg
warner bros.



a car zooms in.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...537/L9thC4.jpg
warner bros.


After the above scenes it's a bit difficult to tell the real Ennis house from the Ennis inspired movie sets.



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...537/nIf8Yx.jpg
warner bros.



this definitely looks like a set.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...537/8yFvfB.jpg
warner bros.





One extravagant scene takes places around the pool. (the Ennis-Brown house does have a pool, but I'm pretty sure this is a movie set)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/sH9T4d.jpg
warner bros.



swan dive!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/B4FHdx.jpg
warner bros.



Joe Roig?
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/MumMgy.jpg
warner bros.


close-up of the edge of the pool. (note the art deco sculpture)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/CqhefT.jpg
warner bros.


here's a better look. pretty impressive isn't it.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...633/O0tILh.jpg
warner bros.


There's no trace of the Ennis house in the striking art deco interiors. Ennis is all blocks, squares and right-angles, so I doubt there would have been a curved staircase.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/TlKAv0.jpg
warner bros.


What's this?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/J9pQyj.jpg
warner bros.


A later scene shows a man sitting up there. It's a pipe-organ! Only in the movies! ;)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/EuPYbE.jpg
warner bros.

:previous: How do you suppose the organist got up there? -a step-ladder? lol.
_____________



Here's an aerial of FLW's Ennis-Brown House showing the pool.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/633/bFisSS.jpg
google_earth


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...905/n2UHix.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennis_House

Not all awnings have seen their last sunset.;)


3630 West Third Street (What was once "Sharps Drugs" is currently "#2 Fashion of Echo.")

http://s3-media1.fl.yelpassets.com/b...Q3emw/348s.jpghttp://s3-media1.fl.yelpassets.com/b...Q3emw/348s.jpg



http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0



When it comes to car polish and/or chrome, this car has likely - never enjoyed any.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0

re: The Wild Party (1956)


Here's the 'Near 'N Far' in 2014.:( I meant to post this earlier.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...537/KR8tvy.jpg
gsv


__

Chateau Du-Val
 

That's great. The attic is (or was) being used (I'm not sure how that works as there's only 4 small windows and they're all on the front). Maybe the squares grouped in the center of the roof are skylights(?), but that still doesn't seem like enough light:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a...71247%2BPM.jpg
google maps

The furnishings sound incredible. I wonder what happened to all that.

"The large rear yard will provide a 9-hole putting green and a beautifully landscaped and furnished garden for tea and bridge parties"


A pity that's no longer in place (if it ever actually happened):
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...44216%2BPM.jpg

"Sanitas walls"

There may have been excellent Owl Cafe's in LA, but those in the know, there is only one transcendental establishment by that name: The Owl Cafe in San Antonio, New Mexico, inventor of the green chile cheeseburger.

Just sayin'

Cheers,

Earl

Chateau Du-Val, La Fountaine and the Heinsbergen Studio
 

I don't really know. Perhaps my propensity for speculation has gotten the better of me (again).

The La Fountaine
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j...35017%2BPM.jpg
lafontainewesthollywood.com

The Chateau Du-Val
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K...34645%2BPM.jpg
gsv

The beautifully laid bricks of the Heinsbergen Studio. The faces of the bricks stand proud of the mortar which gives texture and visual interest
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-D...33013%2BPM.jpg
gsv



Thx e_r for your post on Ennis House and Female (1933)