Naughty, naughty Ethereal. LOL.
Great photo of wonderful houses & Willys Station Wagon. Please don't let any of them having been "updated" or replaced by dingbats. Nice pic also of what I assume is East Hollywood....as is usual of circa 1950 photos of L.A., it's very smoggy. Keep 'em coming.

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Is anyone aware of a movie studio built near the Mexico border?..I ask because of this very intriguing snapshot currently on eBay.


Seller's description:.."Movie Studio Near Mexico Border San Diego La Mesa Universal Studio California"

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/tKsdGo.jpg
eBay



Let's take a closer look.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/hDvF61.jpg

The reason the seller included Universal Studios (in the description) is because the snapshot was found on the opposite page of a 1922 photo of movie sets at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

The seller writes: "This may possibly be another Universal studio or another one near the Mexican border out of San Diego or La Mesa."

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First of all, woodies are beautiful things.

The house at left is 658 S Bronson Avenue; to its right are 666 and 672, all of which still stand. (Apparently the owners of 666 have not had Ron & Nancy's superstitions.)

658 was built in 1913 by Allan W. Black, who in 1907 had built 4128 Wilshire Boulevard to the left of 658 on the corner, having hired Frederick Soper to design both. More on Black's houses is here.

And of course there's a little noir in the story: "By 1930 [4128 Wilshire] had become an illicit club described by the Los Angeles Times after a raid as "an ornate replica of a Tia Juana gambling house."


https://i.postimg.cc/0yFndw4b/WB658-...ntoday-bmp.jpg
GSV

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Simply amazing, GW. ..Thank you. :)

I can imagine him sitting there on his little crate.

Thank you, Mackerm.



Here's Soochow from a different angle.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/ULB7QU.jpg

oops. I just realized this is in the link you provided.


This earlier photograph is even more interesting.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/dUXhLt.jpg

So the angled corner was obviously filled in. (or am I see things?)

Go back up and look at Mackerm's first photograph again. It almost looks like an optical illusion. (esp. where the utility pole blocks out part of the S)



Maybe I just need more COFFEE.
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Speaking of optical illusions.


Seller's description:.."1979 VW Beetle Bug Los Angeles California City Pacific Street 35mm Slide."

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/6wC0zm.jpg
eBay

At first glance the slide seems perfectly normal (expect for the terrible parking job) but then I noticed that things in the distance seem a bit 'off'.



Let's take a closer look.

So what's going on here?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/VxONwl.jpg
detail

The angles are a bit jabberwocky, the church looks slanted and one dimensional, and the whole thing looks -dare I say- painted.



:shrug:
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Yeah looks like a painted wall mural, you can trace the bottom line of the wall running at bumper level on the car

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Thanks, Joe Gillis, now I know I'm not delusional.


Here's a mystery photograph dated May - 1972.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/qBYovZ.jpg
eBay

The seller mentions Wilshire Blvd. but I'm not so sure.


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Let's return to our noirish roots for a moment.


Mugshot 1954.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/JFN6vX.jpg
eBay


There is writing on the back but it's fairly difficult read.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/5ZsYDs.jpg

I thought someone here might be able to figure it out. I hope it's the woman's name.

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Pacific Indemnity was at 3200 Wilshire Boulevard. The building's still there.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...lshireBlvd.jpg
GSV

I lived a block from this mural and its subject matter back in ‘86. It’s Windward avenue in Venice just west of the traffic circle. It was a huge mural on the side of 21 Windward painted by Terry Schoonhoven

Houses on Bronson
 

Bingo! Thank you, Gaylord.

Hoss identified it as definitely Wilshire. I was going to say that perhaps it was an Easter Parade or something. There's a whole Jack Benny episode about going down to Wilshire to see the Easter Parade. And, no, Easter isn't in May, but back in the days of film processing the date stamped on the photos was when they were processed. I remember in our family some photos outside in the snow in winter are stamped "June."
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ETA: Well, I just looked up the eBay link and the seller has two other photos of this parade and the other two don't say "Easter" to me. There's one with a band and people holding "oars."

:previous:

Thoroughly Modern Millie premier?


;)

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This afternoon we have a mystery location...A large junkyard in Los Angeles.


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...923/c8UGIK.jpg
eBay

If you look in the distance there appears to be an earthen retaining wall...And yes, the starlets are beautiful!



https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/esBCmp.jpg




Here's a better look at (what I think is) an 'earthen retaining wall'.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/NXhqy7.jpg

See what I mean? :shrug:


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Here are some more photos from the same set as the carload of flappers, marked May 72.

Parade with banners reading Kotekitai. The banner in the second photo says Seattle.

Group of people in white uniforms, outside Imperial Bank.

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Thanks, Mackerm.

At first glance I thought they were astronauts.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/wDu0hX.jpg
eBay


The seller mentions something called Nichiren Shoshu of in America.


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This photo may have been taken at Universal Studio. I don't know about the dog, but both Ms. Knox and Ms. Lord made
pictures at Universal in 1942, and here's an article about Hollywood studios contributing to a scrap metal drive which
mentions Universal and the sign in the photo:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag..._Universal.jpg

October 21, 1942, Daily News @ Newspapers.com

Thanks, Ethereal, for the delightful publicity photo of Elyse Knox (mother of Mark Harmon) and Marjorie Lord (lifelong Christian Scientist, married to actor John Archer and mother of actress Ann Archer, a prominent Scientologist - no relation at all to Christian Science). Inside the front seat of the junked car at the far left is what appears to be a ghostly, mask-like face, surely an optical illusion)
Another interesting photo also that mentions Nichiren Shoshu, a Bhuddist chanting organization, that had a big L.A. headquarters bldg. overlooking the beach at Santa Monica. Is it long-gone? I well-recall being stopped by a Nichiren Shoshu devotee in a Santa Monica parking lot in the 70's...when I politely declined his invitation to an orientation, he called me "stupid." I had an odd neighbor in Ocean Beach, a devotee of Nichiren Shoshu, who would chant creepily like someone in a drug trance for hours at a time. Those were the lovely days when most everyone, (except for the elderly) in Santa Monica, Hollywood & environs was frequently accosted by "Moonies," Scientologists.," (would you like to take a survey?, they would endlessly ask passerby) "Hare Krishna" chanters, Nichiren Shoshu followers, and Tony & Susan Alamo "Jesus Freak" cultists. They all wanted you to come to their "meetings." Don't forget all of the weirdness going on at the huge Synanon Bldg (I believe it's the Casa del Mar Hotel today & as Synanon was finally shut down as a criminal organization) and there was another big drug rehab/halfway house called Tu'em Est (I think that means "It's Your Choice.") in a rambling brick structure in Venice. A strange time.

Universal Studio
 

The background hill in the photo is an unique feature of Universal Studio before houses were built on top of it.