Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger (Post 9634850)

The curious fountain appears to be a figure of a tyke dressed as a firefighter, with a trickle of water continuously flowing from the firehose he's holding.

https://i.postimg.cc/TYqtXZ7C/Fountain-2.jpg
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Originally Posted by HenryHuntington (Post 9634801)

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Concur enough with CaliNative that I'll climb out on a limb and state my belief that the photographer is standing with his (likely) back to Valley Blvd. (note the billboards halfway up the right edge of the frame) just beyond Eastern Ave. and is shooting northeasterly across the SP Sunset Route main line (note the signal bridge halfway up the left edge of the frame) and across Alhambra Ave. (note the low white posts for the guard rail) toward the low buildings at the bottom of the knoll in the center of the image.

I'm not sure what the photographer was trying to capture, let alone why. Santa Fe wines were popular in L.A. back in the day, but there doesn't seem to be anything more solid than labels for sale on-line. I wasn't able to turn up a "Dee" commercial reference in the neighborhood via the CD. But the railroad location with respect to streets and the knoll look to me to be about as definitive as I can get. As near as I can make out the license plates on the cars in the "Dee" lot, the image seems to date from about 1941.

Further thoughts?

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir (Post 9633141)

etherealreality
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/3NkGSz.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/seJa9e.jpg
The Pacific Apartments building these days at 2500 Pacific Avenue in Venice.
GSV

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger (Post 9634850)

Here's the results of my surveillance mission.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/ORKjfE.jpg

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 9635543)

That would place it near modern northern end of Cal. St. L.A. & end of Long Beach Freeway, correct? Photo looking north? I guess that would be near south border of El Sereno? Southern boundary of El Sereno is Valley Blvd., correct? Could it be in a more central or northern part of El Sereno, like along Huntington? Or is Valley pretty definitive? I guess the RR tracks makes it pretty sure. The area looks familiar to me because I got a masters degree at CSULA about 30 yrs ago.

We students used to go to a tasty hole-in-the wall pizza joint on Valley but I forget the name. The name started with a "G", all I remember. I think it was an Italian name. The place looked like a dive but had good fresh made brick oven pizza and beer.

Originally Posted by HenryHuntington (Post 9635577)

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Garfono's Pizza was a rite-of-passage for generations of CSULA students back in the day. I was on campus 1967-8 (undergrad) and 1971-2 (grad school) wrapped around a couple of years taking care of Uncle Sam's business, mostly out of the country. If you know what I mean.

As to the location of the photo, IMO, it's a tad west of campus, but not far. And I think it's looking NNE. Zen master: "We'll see."

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 9632659)

.
Mystery location.

Orig 1950s Los Angeles? California DEE 2.5" Photo Negative..(link below photo)

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/Tvitkp.jpg
Link

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 9635543)

That would place it near modern northern end of Cal. St. L.A. & end of Long Beach Freeway, correct? Photo looking north? I guess that would be near south border of El Sereno? Southern boundary of El Sereno is Valley Blvd., correct? Could it be in a more central or northern part of El Sereno, like along Huntington? Or is Valley pretty definitive? I guess the RR tracks makes it pretty sure. The area looks familiar to me because I got a masters degree at CSULA about 30 yrs ago.

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir (Post 9635634)

I think you're hot on the trail there CaliNative. :tup:


There was a Dee Market at 4645 Huntington Drive South.


https://i.imgur.com/FmYz3wH.jpg
cdnc.ucr.edu - El Sereno Star,15 September 1955

I think this is it arrowed red on a 1956 aerial.


https://i.imgur.com/HOrvllw.jpg
mil.library.ucsb.edu


The photographer would have been facing along the blue arrowed line.

You can see V-shaped billboards similar to the one caught to the right of the original picture.


View nowadays in the same direction from Huntington Drive at the rear of 4645 Huntington Dr South.

https://i.imgur.com/of9P7KR.jpg
GSV

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 9635692)

.
:previous: Are there remnants of the house on the hill? ....salivates

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir (Post 9635825)

There's a Flying Saucer up there. :eek:


https://i.imgur.com/pdylq5M.jpg
Google Maps



Hang on a sec, I'll have a closer look ... it's a big trampoline.


https://i.imgur.com/ECy4EsW.jpg
realtor.com


The lot for sale is numbered 4747 Hillsdale Dr. but that does not bring up any permits for a house that would have been demolished.


As for remnants, there is some structure off to the left of the trampoline but I cannot make out what it is.


https://i.imgur.com/3AuMr0j.jpg
Google Earth


https://i.imgur.com/Wur0ihc.jpg
realtor.com


:shrug:

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 9635748)

:previous:
Sometimes wild guesses and race track long shots come in (how about that long shot in the K. Derby a couple of weeks ago?) and sometimes a blind pig finds a truffle. Maybe the RR tracks in the old photo are red car (Pac. Electric)? Wasn't there a line on Huntington way back in the 1950s & before? "Henry Huntington" my fellow CSULA alum came close to the location too, and he remembered the name of the pizza joint I used to eat at on Valley, Garofolo's. He deserves an equal share of credit, and of course you deserve the most credit for finding the actual address of Dee market.

Originally Posted by HenryHuntington (Post 9636131)

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PE's four-track Northern District trunk line did indeed run in the median of Huntington Drive. Actually, the PE was there first. I didn't make out the overhead catenary that was partly supported by the signal bridges like the one shown, so that led me to Valley Blvd.

Congrats to Noir_Noir for getting the right answer! And thanks for sharing your experiences at CSULA, CaliNative! Brought back lots of memories.

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 9636256)

When did the last PE train run on Huntington Drive? Mid '50s? The trains to Long Beach from L.A. ran until about 1960, right? I remember seeing them when I was a small child, and a few if the "yellow car" trolleys as well downtown. I think I saw them on Slauson as well, before the "Roger Rabbit" conspiracy took them all away. My fondest memory is of the Richfield tower all lit up on cold winter nights. That was a special building. Getting the 52 story ARCO twins seemed exciting at the time, but we gave up an art deco masterpiece to get them. I also remember going to a Dodger game with my parents in the Colosseum around 1959. That short fence with the netting was something. Saw Wally Moon hit a "moonshot" over it.

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir (Post 9635825)

Originally Posted by CaliNative (Post 9636677)

"City Boy" Doug hasn't posted for a while. Everything OK Doug?

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 9636851)

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Newsboy Strike / mystery location.


"Orig 1950s Los Angeles Newsstand Newsboy Strike LA CA California Photo Negative"

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...921/EYk4yn.jpg
eBay

Perhaps we can figure out the location by using the See's Candy Store as a clue.


update:

Or perhaps not. There were 124 stores in the 1950s. :stunned:

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