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tovangar2 Jul 27, 2015 6:00 AM

"Venice in the Snow" Mural by Los Angeles Fine Arts Squad
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7108423)

...odd that the article doesn't include the address.

Los Angeles Fine Arts Squad's page on the mural is here. It was painted by Victor Henderson and Terry Schoonhoven who also did "The Brooks Ave Painting" (15 cents Wash, 5 cents Dry) you just posted about (it also came a cropper).

The mural was at 1905 Ocean Front Walk on the side of artist, Ed Moses' then studio.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...02837%2BPM.jpg
los angeles fine arts squad

The building the mural was on is now retail. The mural was painted out long ago:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...10527%2BPM.jpg
loopnet

The Speedway (back) end of the building:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0...12016%2BPM.jpg
gsv

Another Schoonhoven idea: Study for "Downtown Under Water" (1979)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0...13858%2BPM.jpg
artslant

Flyingwedge Jul 27, 2015 6:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7108287)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/qypYix.jpg
gsv

:previous: I'm curious about this tiny room facing the street.
Is it the tiniest apartment ever, or a 'store-front' type of space?

__

It had been a storage room but with the 1940 addition of a half bath measuring 7 feet, 6 inches by 4 feet, 3 inches, it was transformed into a Caretaker's Room (apparently including the garage space on the end, since the garage wall looks patched up). The plans give the dimensions of the bath addition but do not show it:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...w.jpg~original
LADBS -- http://ladbsdoc.lacity.org/idispublic/

The building's single apartment was added onto the 2nd floor deck in 1941:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...s.jpg~original
LADBS

The plain roof line at upper right appears to belong to the 1941 construction; the Certificate of Occupancy for the three-room addition is dated December 10, 1941:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...6.jpg~original
my photo previously posted by me

ethereal_reality Jul 27, 2015 6:27 AM

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/iFBrhb.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge (Post 7108501)
It had been a storage room but with the 1940 addition of a half bath measuring 7 feet, 6 inches by 4 feet, 3 inches, it was transformed info a Caretaker's Room (possibly including one of the garage spaces?).

Mystery solved!! Thanks so much Flyingwedge.

I can see the patched over garage bay that was incorporated into the caretaker's apartment..

Noircitydame Jul 27, 2015 6:58 AM

More murals
 
These were at the Hollywood USO, the 1531 N. Cahuenga location- featured in the February 12, 1945 Life magazine. It says they covered square feet and served as not only decoration but a sort of "fun map" of the Hollywood/LA/Beaches area for the visiting servicemembers. Like the Hollywood Canteen murals, they were done by studio artists. It also mentions the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce was planning to make color postcards of them for souvenirs; I've never seen one. Another unicorn.


The back wall is brick, and those seats look like old train station waiting room benches.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...usomurals5.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...usomurals6.jpg

Details
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...usomurals3.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...usomurals2.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...e/usomurls.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...lle/USO3_1.jpg
same picture as up top, a little better, from here

Tourmaline Jul 27, 2015 1:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug (Post 7108450)


Thanks for the link. The history of the beautiful car is fascinating, especially Hughes Aircraft's alleged use of the car to tow gliders. The narrative could be a little less blurry though.

Perhaps a misprint, the text gives Brown's age as 29, when he received the car in October 1931. If Brown was born in 1891, he would have been 39 or 40 in October 1931. The catalog states the vehicle was restored "exactly" as it appeared when new. The accompanying pictures show the car with wide whitewall tires. The publicity shots from USC Digital are dated 1931, when the car was presumably still new. There may be a back story regarding McDonald Dootson Tires and/or D. Zanuck, and tires are easily changed, but the car in the photos is shod with Vogue blackwall tires. It is also unclear that Hughes Aircraft's ownership and use of the vehicle means ("the enigmatic but exciting") Howard Hughes had much, if anything, to do with the versatile tow car. :rolleyes: :shrug:



Quote:

The original owner of 2456/J-444 was noted comedian and actor Joe E. Brown. Brown’s career had begun on Broadway in the 1920s, but by the end of the decade, he found himself working for Warner Brothers. His big break came in 1929 with the release of the first color talking movie, On With the Show. A series of other films followed, all major studio productions, including Song of the West in 1930. He was 29 years old and at the top of his career when he took delivery of this car, after it was delivered to him as a surprise gift at the Los Angelese (sic) Union Station on October 13, 1931.

Quote:

The restoration was completed in the mid-1970s by new owner Frank McGowan, returning the Joe E. Brown Tourster exactly as it appeared when new.


Quote:

[The car] will always be admired for its long history of enthusiast ownership and for its legendary owners, not least the smiling figure of Joe E. Brown and the enigmatic but exciting Howard Hughes.






http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...2/brownjoe.jpghttp://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...2/brownjoe.jpg

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/.../brownjoe2.jpghttp://image2.findagrave.com/photos/.../brownjoe2.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




http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IhKpY7Tok_c/hqdefault.jpghttp://i.ytimg.com/vi/IhKpY7Tok_c/hqdefault.jpg

tovangar2 Jul 27, 2015 6:46 PM

Thomas P. Higgins, Bisbee Inn / St George Hotel, The Higgins Building
 
Thomas Patrick Higgins (1844-1920) was born on a farm outside Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the year before the onset of an Gorta Mor ("the Great Famine"). County Roscommon suffered terribly during those years. As a result of an Gorta Mor, Ireland lost one quarter of its population to death and immigration, changing it forever.

(Coincidentally, actor Maureen O'Sullivan,1911-1998, was also from Boyle)

During the last year of the American Civil War, not able to afford an education and with few local opportunities, Higgins emigrated to Troy, New York, joining an older, married sister there. A robust young man, he found work in Troy at the iron mines, then as a lumberjack in Wisconsin. Next he labored building docks in Chicago, levees in Louisiana, on the railroads and as a miner in Washington and Oregon. All hard, dirty, low-paid work. Higgins then fetched up in Bisbee, Arizona where he staked a copper claim in 1877. Lacking the money to buy the mechanized equipment needed for copper mining, he dug the ore by hand. The work was still hard and dirty and he was barely making a living, but at least he was working for himself. Finally, in 1900, after he'd proven the worth of his claim, a mining company bought him out.

Quickly switching gears, Higgins, now 56 years old, moved to Los Angeles. After 36 years of toil, Higgins had just 20 years left, and part of that would be lost to his final illness. But first thing, after arriving in LA, Higgins bought a 1890 frame home at 1153 Magnolia in middle-class Pico Heights.

The pretty house still stands on the corner of W 12th St and Magnolia:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...03404%2BAM.jpg
gsv

Higgins had Albert C. Martin, Sr (1879-1960) add so much space to the home (in increments), to accommodate extended-family members, that it was turned into a hotel after Higgins died, then a sanitarium and is now apartments.

The home continually got wider and bulkier (Martin kept it looking good though). Even the carriage house was expanded and a third small building put in. Here's the signature line on a May 1912 building permit to add yet another "room, bath, closet" to the second floor. A Higgins relative was the contractor on that occasion:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...12644%2BPM.jpg
ladbs

As one can see from above, the Higgins house grew like Topsy:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...05558%2BAM.jpg
google maps

A.C. Martin, Sr, even after he had designed many large commercial buildings, continued to take residential commissions

Higgins' great interests were the Roman Catholic Church, including Catholic education, and his extended family (he never married). With the money he received for his copper claim he supported St Thomas the Apostle RC Church. (The parish was founded in 1903. Their building, by Maginnis, Walsh and Sullivan, at 1321 S Mariposa, just a mile from Higgins' home, was dedicated in 1905.) Higgins was very generous with his many family members who followed him to California. He gave out scholarships to young people who, like himself, could not afford an education and paid for the land for the new location of St Vincent's College on Venice Blvd (now the site of Loyola High School), also a mile from his home. He supported the Boyle Heights Orphans Home as well, perhaps in memory of the suffering he'd seen as a child, back in his hometown of Boyle.

Higgins invested downtown too, in a hotel and later the Higgins office building, just a little over a block from each other. First was the Bisbee Inn on W 3rd, three doors east of Main in 1903 (because of street widening and realignment, it's now, sort of, the corner building). A remnant of Werdin Alley, which once dead-ended on the south side of St Vibiana's, borders the east side of the Bisbee. The name was soon changed to "Hotel Manhattan", "Bisbee" not having a lot of cachet in Los Angeles. Called "Girard's House" by 1910, since 1912 it's been known as the St George Hotel. Arthur L. Haley was the architect. Grandson, son and brother of architects, Haley was born in Malone, New York in 1865, arriving in Los Angeles in 1890. Haley designed the Bisbee the same year he built the Powers residence on Alvarado Terrace. Haley took both residential and commercial commissions. (He is probably best known today for the 1914 Lanterman House), a lovely craftsman home rendered in reinforced concrete.

The Bisbee Inn when new. It opened in 1905. The cornice no longer exists, nor do the balconies, but the rippling grid of fifteen east-facing bay windows, overlooking Werdin Alley, remains intact:
Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge (Post 6117894)

A 1909 birdseye map of the Bisbee, now named the "Hotel Manhattan". The land across Main St from St Vibiana's has not yet been cleared for the Higgins Building:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z...95906%2BAM.jpg
historicmapworks

The 1910 Baist Map shows the Higgins in place and the Bisbee/Manhattan renamed "Girard's House":
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-W...01855%2BAM.jpg
baist, 1910, plate 2

The Bisbee Inn today, known since 1912 as the St George Hotel:
Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 4925672)

The St George has a terrible history of fires. Conflagrations in 1912, 1952 and 1983 have killed 14 and injured scores. Flyingwedge tells the tale here. After the 1912 fire, Higgins turned to A.C. Martin, Sr to supervise the needed partial demo and repair. The name change to "St George Hotel" was made when the work was completed.

The St George fell to a very low estate before being rehabbed recently for low-cost housing. It's had its share of noir, as this example illustrates

Haley and Higgins must have hit it off, because, also in 1903, Higgins asked Haley to design a large office building for the SW corner of W 2nd and Main, directly across from St Vibiana's (Ezra F Kysor & WJ Matthews, 1876). People encouraged Higgins to build on more fashionable Spring St, but Higgins believed in Main and hoped to make a suitable home for the Chancery Office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese with a splendid view overlooking the facade of the cathedral. He was determined to accomplish this and spent $200K to acquire the two relatively new buildings that would have to be cleared.

St Vibiana's facing the future site of the Higgins Building across Main St ca 1887:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j...33939%2BPM.jpg
csulb

Architect/engineer Albert C. Martin, Sr joined the project as structural engineer. Both Haley and Martin favored reinforced concrete construction for strength and its fireproof qualities. However, the city didn't quite trust it. Finally, fire codes were changed and LA's first reinforced concrete building (the Homer Laughlin Annex/Grand Central Market) went up in 1905. The Hotel Hayward (6th and Spring) went in in 1906 and the annex to Hamburger's Department Store (8th and Hill) was in place by 1908. Finally, in 1909, as the site for the Higgins building was cleared and ground was broken, the Hotel Baltimore was rising at 5th and Los Angeles St and the Consolidated Realty Building at 6th and Hill, all of these were of reinforced concrete. But the city still balked at this construction method. During construction, and after agitation from Haley and Martin (who had organized his own architectural/engineering firm in 1906), the height limit for a reinforced concrete building was raised from 120 feet to 133 feet to allow the Higgins to be built to ten stories instead of eight, but that was still 17 feet shorter than similar steel structures were allowed to rise. Higgins, no stranger to construction, enthusiastically backed his architect's and engineer's ideas.

Arthur L. Haley told the L.A. Times in April of 1910, “I have nothing to say against steel, but I object to the senseless discrimination against concrete. The builder in steel pays a tribute to the steel trust and neglects a home product."

The Higgins was a handsome, innovative, proto-modernist building in a Beaux-Arts skin. Martin and Haley really turned the page with this one. Except for heating, the Higgins was all electric (the city's first private power-generating plant was in the subbasement). City water was re-filtered for tenants' health and enjoyment. An effective system of shafts and vents ensured constant fresh air in every office. Elegant materials and finishes were used throughout and masses and masses of glass. And, of course, structurally it was more than sound. It was built to be "absolutely fireproof and earthquake proof" and has remained so. Beautiful retail space lined the Main and 2nd St street frontages. The Higgins, along with Haley's Powers residence and Lanterman House, is listed.

The Proposal. A line of trim memorializes the change from eight to ten floors (a hard-won victory):
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M...04657%2BPM.jpg
condopedia

The Higgins going up as the ninth floor breaks the barrier (this view is looking west on 2nd St). Note the paint store on the left. It's an unusual view of the one (Scriver & Quinn) which took over St. Vibiana's then-school building:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...01615%2BAM.jpg
uscdl

The Higgins (at center). Child's Opera House is on the left (with flag). The Natick Hotel is on the right at 1st and Main:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S...34325%2BPM.jpg
csulb

Another postcard view, showing only eight floors. (The publisher must have been very eager to get any image of the not-yet-finished Higgins in the shops.):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...35010%2BPM.jpg
csulb

A.C. Martin, Sr was so pleased with the result that he moved in and stayed for 35 years (until his retirement). Martin's two sons took over management of the firm after WWII. Two grandsons run the firm now out of the A.C. Martin Associates-designed 444 S Flower St building (originally built as Wells Fargo's HQ in 1981, it replaced the Sunkist Building and its parking lot) . The Higgins Building made Martin's career. The construction innovations he developed then are still cited.

Other tenants at the Higgins were the Chancery Office of the Archdiocese (of course, that was the whole point), Clarence Darrow (while defending the McNamaras) and the Women's Progressive League.

Progressives were very successful in the West and rated a distinctive address. This 1915 Puck drawing by Hy Mayer shows the Movement inspiring women in the rest of the country:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N...10302%2BAM.jpg
wiki

n.d., but pre-1925 (no Arrow Theater). Levy's Cafe is just left of center:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...4%252520PM.jpg
csulb

General Petroleum (Mobil Oil) was an early tenant. They started with a single office, No. 402, but by 1934 were renting six of the ten floors, giving them signage rights at the top of the building. This view is from 1939 when Main St was beginning its years as the home of honky-tonks, dive-bars and discount stores:
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fab Fifties Fan (Post 5437166)

Also in 1939 the Higgins was sporting a neon blade sign on the W 2nd St side. W 2nd was much more genteel that Main St:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...01827%2BAM.jpg
uscdl/dickwittington

The back of the Bisbee/St George (just above center), St Vibiana's and the Higgins Building (ca 1934)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...11545%2BAM.jpg
first posted by NoirCityDame on pg 1501 (detail)

1941. Awnings and some of our better-known chain stores:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G...00452%2BAM.jpg
lapl

By 1949 General Petroleum/Mobil, pressed for space, decamped to their new, reinforced-concrete, Welton-Beckett-designed office building, then the largest in the West, at 6th and Flower (now the Pegasus Lofts).

Thirty years after Thomas Higgins' death, the Los Angeles County Department of Engineering bought the 40-year-old Higgins Building for one million dollars. The department was cognizant and proud of the fact that the Higgins was one of the strongest buildings in the county. But, 27 years later, in 1977, after a reorganization of county departments, Engineering left (after several moves, they are now in Alhambra).

Engineering memorialized themselves with a new threshold at the Higgins. It has been retained:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1...14805%2BAM.jpg
dtlalofts

Now aging and careworn, the Higgins was sold at auction in 1977 for $275K. Both the building and the neighborhood were derelict. (In 1996, to add insult to injury, the Archdiocese attempted to illegally destroy St Vibiana's. A wrecking crew knocked the lantern off the tower before they were stopped.) The Higgins stood empty for almost 22 years, doors welded shut, until 1998, when it was resold and restored for residences, reopening in 2003. It now looks much as it did when it opened in 1910.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M...21414%2BPM.jpg
wildbell

Day:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-m...15116%2BAM.jpg
gsv

Night:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R...35312%2BPM.jpg
liliya

Circa first half of 2007 (this was taken shortly before Vibiana's lantern was restored in August). The construction pit for new Parker Center is in the foreground:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9...11904%2BAM.jpg
toplacondos

The interior lightwell:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-N...85715%2BAM.jpg
dtlalofts

The south wall from Harlem Place (once known as Center Place):
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...85306%2BPM.jpg
gsv

Outside, looking in, from W 2nd St
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...32935%2BPM.jpg
mls

Inside, looking out:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...15304%2BAM.jpg
mls

The stairs:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...15314%2BAM.jpg
mls

The elevator bank:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...33636%2BPM.jpg
mls

One of the penthouse spaces:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C...94309%2BAM.jpg
https://loftla.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/20140125_125547_hdr.jpg"]loftla

2nd-floor space with interior courtyard terrace:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...12053%2BAM.jpg
dtlalofts

The Higgins with Vibiana (now a venue):
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7...25817%2BAM.jpg
vibiana.com


More info on the Higgins:

The application for Historic-Cultural Monument status
Wiki
NavigateLA
Cecilia Ramussen in LAT
Condopedia

Earl Boebert Jul 27, 2015 10:23 PM

^^^ Terrific, fascinating essay, tovangar2. Many thanks.

Cheers,

Earl

Wig-Wag Jul 28, 2015 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7108474)
Del Mar Race Track postcard, 1940s.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...911/qlNgrS.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1940s-photo-...item23557379e7


some interesting tidbits:

"In 1946 the Santa Fe Railroad began offering a racetrack special bringing spectators, bettors and horses to Del Mar from Los Angeles."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/ccv61K.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Ma...Race-Track.jpg

As a kid I had loved those race track specials. Attached is a personal reminiscence of my experiences with those trains written for a railfan publication. Also, Today Amtrak runs to to the races at Del Mar but unloads it's patrons at Solana Beach and shuttles them by bus to the track. http://www.amtrak.com/ride-pacific-s...h-solana-beach

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psim5253zn.jpg

BECAUSE MOM LIKED TO PLAY THE PONIES

My mom liked to play the ponies. And because she was a single working mother on a limited income, she took me along to avoid the expense of a babysitter. Unfortunately, as an outing for a young child, the excitement of the “Sport of Kings” somehow failed to capture my interest, and the time between races produced periods of excruciating boredom. Moreover, as a small boy standing in line at the $2 pari-mutual window, I always felt like a trash receptacle for beer and ashes dumped by obnoxious and inebriated handicappers trying to juggle cigars, cigarettes, paper cups of beer, a Racing Form and their rapidly shrinking wallets.

But getting there is half the fun, they say. And indeed it was. Trips to Hollywood Park in Inglewood, required the services of a PE 5050 class car from our home in North Hollywood to downtown LA, where we would transfer to a Los Angeles Transit Lines H-class car on the 5 Line for the run down to La Brea and Arbor Vitae, and our date with the thoroughbreds. Quarter Horse racing could be found at Los Alamitos, and while one took a bus to get there, the top row of the grandstand offered an occasional chance to watch a PE local perform it's switching chores. From the track at the LA County Fairgrounds, it was just a short walk to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s locomotive exhibit. However, the "Big Adventure" was always the Trip to the Del Mar Racetrack, "Where the Turf Meets the Surf".

At least once each racing season, (they ran from July to September), we would board Santa Fe’s “Del Mar Race Track Special” at LA Union Passenger Terminal for the run to Del Mar. These were popular trains, and sometimes as many as three sections full of rabid horse racing fans blasted their way south down the coast, trailing air conditioned heavyweight cars behind a set of ABBA F-units or, even better, Alco PA's!

When I was younger, the thrill of this ride was tempered by my view of the destination - a purgatory whose main staple was boredom. In addition, as the train slipped out of the station my personal version of "To Hell in a Day Coach" would start to emerge. The environment inside the coaches would almost immediately begin to deteriorate. Clouds of cigarette and cigar smoke would rise and mingle with loud voices of the race fans discussing the relative merits of the “bobtailed nags vs. de bays” over all those frapping furlongs. Once the lounge car opened up and the alcohol began to flow, the din would get even louder. It did not take long for all this to drive me from my seat to the sanctuary of an equally polluted environment far, more to my liking - an open vestibule window, and I would usually make my break just as soon as the train began to glide out of the station. Here was an entirely different sensory experience. One filled with the heavy clunk of the wheels over rail joints and switch points as the train negotiated the terminal and yard trackage, the idle of a switcher on an adjacent track, the sound of it’s prime mover rising and falling as we approached and rolled past, the Doppler effect on the bells ringing at a grade crossing, and the smell of diesel exhaust from the power on head end. As the train gathered speed the end of the coach would begin buck and rock over switches and crossovers, and it wasn't long before a high-speed meet would fill the vestibule with an incredible cacophony of buffeting air, slamming steel and dust from the right-of-way. And this could go on for over a hundred miles, or until a member of the train crew passed through and with a polite “You’re not allowed to stand in the vestibule son”, and closed the window. Yes, the destination may have been a form of Purgatory bordering on Hell, but as for the ride, I'll happily give the Devil his due.

Looking back, I think it was the noise and speed that seduced me. These trains were fast and they were noisy as they raced over the old, heavy, jointed rail of Santa Fe’s Coast Line. I don't know what the authorized track speeds of the day were, but to my young mind, these trains always went like a scalded cat! And yes, I know this is subjective, but it seemed like they went even faster on the return trip.

I am also sure this preoccupation with speed was directly related to the fact that for the next five hours after arriving at the track, a total of only 35 or so minutes would be devoted to anything remotely approaching speed. And this would involve a group of poor, witless horses being unmercifully flogged around a giant, meticulously gardened oval by a bunch of sadistic, miniature male adults, some of whom were no taller than I was. "Mommy, why are the riders beating their horses?" "To make them go faster honey". Somehow, it seemed to me that Moms horses never got beat enough.


In my pre-teen years I was no longer required to accompany my mother on her periodic forays into the world of horse racing, and declined offers to tag along to the local tracks. Del Mar, however, was the one big exception. I was now at an age where I could forsake the oval track, for the railroad track, and hang out in the cabs of the locomotives sitting on the wye across from the beach. Yes, they occasionally left the cab doors unlocked in those days. After all, who would steal a damn train? And so, I sometimes had a grandstand seat for viewing the passage of the San Diegan's, an occasional freight, surfers, surfer girls! and the roll of Pacific breakers on the shore. And in 1959, I also had a Kodak Brownie Holiday 127 camera loaded with Kodacolor. I used one of the eight precious frames on a passing San Diegan with a set of F’s, and another to capture the wye filled with heavyweight cars on all three legs, and a set of War Bonnet PA's ready for the return run. A scene I might have otherwise never recorded but for the fact that mom liked to play the ponies.

The 127 neg is nearly 45 years old. It has two really evil light streaks, and is scratched, and dusty, not to mention a bit soft. I wish it were better, and thanks to modern technology, (and an hour or so of work in Photoshop), I was able to improve it. But even in it’s original condition, it is in one sense a perfect snapshot. It doesn't need Photoshop to restore the memories.

Cheers,
Jack

tovangar2 Jul 28, 2015 3:33 AM

Del Mar
 
:previous:
That was heaven Jack. Thank you



Years ago, I had taken my children to see my mother, for what I knew would be the last time, in north San Diego County at a sister's house. We waited at Oceanside for the train home, longing for Union Station. It had been hot that day, but now the cold damp was rolling in off the ocean. There's no "real" station at Oceanside, just an open pavilion. The train was late. The Station Master came out of his cozy kiosk to tell us that our train was being held at Del Mar, waiting for the races to finish. Cursing the punters for keeping us from our beds, my four cranky tots and I were left to huddle together like refugees. We were told about half an hour later that the train was on the move, but then, almost immediately, that it had struck and killed someone (later reports said a woman, not quite right in the head, had wandered across the tracks, oblivious to the approaching train). My first thought was that my mother had outlived somebody.

After a death on the tracks a new driver must be found. Also, the cleaning crew had to come out to power-wash the front of the train. The Surfliner finally slid into Oceanside. There wasn't a seat left.

Slauson Slim Jul 28, 2015 3:59 AM

How did you know about this mural Slauson Slim?

I used to walk by it...spent time in Venice, mid '60s to mid '70s. When Venice was a junkie infested dump. My mom told me it was a dump when she was a teenager and later.

CityBoyDoug Jul 28, 2015 6:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wig-Wag (Post 7109487)
As a kid I had loved those race track specials. Attached is a personal reminiscence of my experiences with those trains written for a railfan publication. Also, Today Amtrak runs to to the races at Del Mar but unloads it's patrons at Solana Beach and shuttles them by bus to the track.
Cheers,
Jack

My aunt took myself and siblings by train from Los Angeles to San Diego to visit some of her friends. I do recall that the passenger cars reeked of cigar smoke.
By the time I rode them in the mid 1950s they were beyond worn out. To me they seemed just plain nasty.


This is the family we visited, their secretary, my grandmother, Dr. Newton, Gil, Dana and their mother. The middle boy Dana took charge of my brother and I for the day. He got his rifle and
we shot up some tin cans in their 3 acre backyard. [This photo was taken about 5 years before our visit.]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psn9noupv0.jpg
personal file

UphillDonkey Jul 28, 2015 6:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 7108449)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/909/Uukmu8.jpg



:previous: That's a good possibility CBD. I wish the TWA Skyliner was flying a bit higher.



I've been trying to figure out this building (circled below). My first thought was 'Truck Stop'. ( I am from the Midwest you know ;))

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...909/WdA6KA.jpg
detail

Intersection of Colorado Blvd. and Figueroa St. in Eagle Rock, looking North.

HossC Jul 28, 2015 8:12 AM

:previous:

The earliest aerial I could get was 1952. I think that most of the features from e_r's image are still visible.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lorado1952.jpg
Historic Aerials

Here's Colorado Boulevard and Figueroa Street in 2012.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lorado2012.jpg
Historic Aerials

Tourmaline Jul 28, 2015 2:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BifRayRock (Post 6965074)






A familiar Wilshire residence?


1928 - Wilshire United Methodist in background (4350 Wilshire) and a lot of Wilshire dirt (in foreground)
http://windsorvillage.net/wp-content...uction1928.jpghttp://windsorvillage.net/wp-content...uction1928.jpg

"There it is, take it" ;)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2261/...791aedd59a.jpghttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2261/...791aedd59a.jpg









http://www.you-are-here.com/building/giralda.jpghttp://www.you-are-here.com/building/giralda.jpg



Don't recall a post of this 1936 - Wilshire Boulevard image. Includes the Wilshire Methodist Church and what is probably the Los Altos (on the right). Guessing the camera was east of Wilton. http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...d/5251/rec/192



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





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






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




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

Tourmaline Jul 28, 2015 2:38 PM

"At the Death Curve"



1915 - Venice Gran Prix


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C4mc0C7oM8...ntfull-sm.jpeghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C4mc0C7oM8...ntfull-sm.jpeg



Uncertain whether this image is connected with the above. Looks like part of a board track or a banked curve.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z6xCq5HpST...600/venice.JPG http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z6xCq5HpST...600/venice.JPG

Tourmaline Jul 28, 2015 2:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HossC (Post 6318117)
It's actually further north than Real Food Daily. There aren't many business names to work with here, but the enlargements provided by the Ebay seller helped out. The insets are from the 1956 City Directory.

The building on the right is The Diners' Club, which was at 910 N La Cienega in 1956. The address is now occupied by Szalon, a Hungarian Art Deco/Modernist furniture store.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LaCienega1.jpg
Picture: Ebay/Inset: rescarta.lapl.org

On the left is Canyon Cleaners & Dyers at 937 N La Cienega. The sign is on the sidewalk to the left of the truck. The current building was closed when the Google car went by, but it's now the OHWOW art gallery.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LaCienega2.jpg
Picture: Ebay/Inset: rescarta.lapl.org

There's a Motor Hotel sign to the left of the Old Crow billboard, but I can't see a name.




Looking for take out on La Cienega?




1969 - M Jagger is a little early for Midnight Rambling in a '68 Rambler.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d1...5.jpg~originalhttp://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d1...5.jpg~original

jg6544 Jul 28, 2015 5:08 PM

Reply to Tourmaline's post
 
Don't want to have to reprint the entire photo spread. I have just one comment. The first church is Wilshire Presbyterian. It's still there and still one of LA's largest churches, although it is run-down and the balcony has become unsafe and is closed to visitors. Wilshire Methodist is farther along the street, somewhere near the Ebell theater.

There were several big churches constructed along Wilshire in the 20s. In addition to those two, there's the Wilshire Temple (Jewish); Wilshire Christian Church, and St. James' Episcopal.

Tourmaline Jul 28, 2015 6:24 PM

:previous: Edited per jg6544's post. ;)

HossC Jul 28, 2015 6:28 PM

This wasn't the image I originally planned to use to celebrate 1500 pages of NLA, but when I saw this building with a prominent "1500" blade sign, I knew this was the one to modify :).

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...A1500Pages.jpg
Original image from GSV

You can read more about the former Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Co building in post #12249 by GW.

tovangar2 Jul 28, 2015 6:57 PM

1,500 pages?



Well done e_r :-)

I remember being very excited about 600 pages, then there was a blur, and now here we are.



Excellent image choice Hoss. Combined with the name of the business next door, they make a nice, apropos set:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6...14810%2BAM.jpg
gsv


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