Good find on that photo of Western Avenue, HossC.

The perspective is confusing. An insert of your insert:

http://i.imgur.com/TPLsaGn.jpg

shows an "UG CO" (red arrow), which is actually on the far side of 1st Street. This is the Ridgway Drug Co. at 101 N. Western.

excerpt:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/uyYpnn.jpg
tangentgroup.org


Late night drug store open 24 hours in the subway terminal lobby at 6th & Main.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/901/9wRbxW.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/people/metrolibraryarchive/

That young lad on the left might be participating in 'The Run'. (let's go full-noirish and say there's a good chance he's a gay hustler)
-if not, I apologize to whoever he is.




..and here's the lobby today
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...538/MhplZv.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/2229714931/

I'm impressed they kept the unique ceiling lights. (the furniture not so much)

__

Movie night...AMG style
 

Here is the AMG movie ''studio''. I outlined it in Red. When it was operating, it was all fenced in tightly for high security. The little red arrow is the door where you were buzzed in if they knew you or were there for your photo shoot. The place had been burglarized more than once by naughty model-hustlers who would hang out there.

It was only after the death of Bob's mother that nude photos were taken. She was always told by Bob that the models were 'art models' and that this was all ''fine art photography''.

Yes, Martin, this is the place where the photos were taken that ER posted above.
Saturday Night movies were by invitation only for about 25 people at most. No drinking was allowed. Bob screened a Hollywood classic film such as ''Sunset Blvd''. This was followed or preceded by several of his newest beefcake films. You had to bring your own folding chairs as he provided no seating. There were usually a few of the models lounging around...probably looking for a date. There were always a few of the models living inside the compound.
The atmosphere was a bit ''outré'' to say the least. Bob was very affable and polite to all. This was around 1973. No, I was not one of the models....at least at this location....;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psd28c626a.jpg


This is Bob Mizer when I knew him. He was a good looking physique model in his younger days.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps67e979af.jpg
AMG
LAPD image.

In reality, AMG Studio was noirish to the nth degree.

Wow, Socony-Vacuum. And here I was thinking that the age of utterly irrelevant and unexpected corporate conglomerations didn't come until several decades later.

New treasures
 

I just recently returned from my first visit to Los Angeles in two years.

First stop on my pilgrimage was to pay homage to the Hammel/Arcade Depot palm on the 100th anniversary of its transplantation to Exposition Park. Upon my arrival, I was a bit alarmed to see that it had recently been the recipient of a rather severe crown trimming...

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/hammel...lapast_sky.jpg
All photos by Yours Truly.

Left over from the arborists' perhaps overzealous labors, however, was this shorn fragment of the oldest living thing in the City of Los Angeles. Needless to say, it instantly became an addition to my humble little L.A. history collection.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/DSC09222_lapast_sky.jpg

Next stop was Bruno Street in Sonoratown. Just over a month ago, MichaelRyerson posted here about the last extant in situ granite paving setts in Los Angeles, and I was eager to see if I could acquire one for myself. As you can see below, I was successful! (Don't worry, I didn't remove it from the street itself. I'll be telling the whole story of its acquisition in my own blog soon.)

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/DSC09131_lapast_sky.jpg

It just so happens that a couple of weeks before, MichaelRyerson graciously gave me one of the paving bricks that he recovered from the last, now-obliterated relict of old Mignonette Street.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/DSC09277_lapast_sky2.jpg

His brick and mine make a rather nice pair, I must say.

https://otters.net/img/lanoir/DSC09206_lapast_sky.jpg

:previous: It's good to see the hundred year old Arcade Palm again JScott, despite it's really bad haircut. ;)



Wow CityBoyDoug, that's some amazing information you just posted. Your memories are invaluable to the history of early gay culture in L.A.

I see that I was on the right track, but the studio 'compound' was much larger than I could have imagined. Instead of one rooftop, there were no less than four!
My biggest surprise was that the house next to Delia's (seen below) was within the confines of Mr. Mizer's enterprise.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/56hbCP.jpg
GSV

...and all this taking place within feet of the Bonnie Brae Historical District. I wonder if any of the neighbors knew what was going on at the end of their block?
__
I see that the black & white aerial of the studio is from the LAPD archives, so I assume it was under survelliance.
...and again, thanks for sharing your memories CBD.

_

Even though my Midwick View Estates post didn't arouse much interest, let's briefly return to Monterey Park.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/909/wtfuxc.jpg
http://www.markkeppelhighschoolreuni...buildings.html

El Adobe restaurant and motel at the southwest corner of Atlantic and Garvey Avenues.




today it's an empty lot
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/G5HUBI.jpg
GSV






below: Bank of America building at 100 W. Garvey Avenue and Safeway grocery store, Monterey Park CA

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/p1HfjL.jpg
http://www.markkeppelhighschoolreuni...buildings.html



In the photo below, the bank has expanded into the Safeway space next door.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/4UyhPK.jpg



The bank building still stands today minus the architectural ornament.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/743/TshZeK.jpg
GSV



Just for fun, I thought I'd go ahead and post this 1939 map to show newcomers to the thread how close Monterey Park is to downtown L.A.
It's just above the red illustration of the 'Standard Oil Beacon'.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/633/deE7qe.jpg
http://socalregion.com/highways/maps/1939-california/

Now I'm intrigued by that Standard Oil Beacon. Does anyone have any information on it? It's the only beacon on the map.


__

The only reference I've found so far is on geocaching.com. I assume "NGS" stands for the National Geodetic Survey. Here are the relevant details:

The site also gives the location's coordinates as "N 34° 01.809 W 118° 05.717". Enter those into Google Maps and it gives you the position below. Apart from a few oil pumps, there's not much to see.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...elloBeacon.jpg
Google Maps

In the "Michigan Technic" dated February 1929, on Page 17, there is a section of an article which states that "Two revolving beacons now being erected by the Standard Oil Company for the guidance of West Coast Fliers are said to develop 10,000,000 candle power each. One will be place on top of Mount Diablo, twenty five miles southeast of San Francisco at an altitude of nearly 4000 feet and will be visible from points within a radius of 100 miles. The other is to be located among the Merced Hills in Los Angeles Basin, just north of Montebello. These two installations will be similar.

An article in the Berkeley Daily Gazette, dated Monday evening, April 16, 1928 we also find an article which indicates that there was a ceremony to mark the lighting of the two beacons, mentioned above. This indicates that Charles Lindbergh, in Denver, pressed a button which lighted both these beacons at once and that they flashed at ten second intervals. They were both turned on April 15, 1928.

Another article, found in the Chevron Corporate Archives in Concord indicates that the two beacons were lighted until Pearl Harbor and thereafter, once a year on December 7.


From the magazine "Flying", November 1963 there is a picture of one of the beacons. It does not identify which one.

:yes: The Hammel/Arcade Depot palm is actually at least 180 years old, it's just been in Exposition Park for a whole century now. :)

I think the tree will be OK, though. I've seen other palms have their crown cut back like that and they grow out again just fine. And actually, because of that 'crimp' in the middle of its tall trunk, it might be a good idea to keep this palm's wind resistance down to a minimum.

:previous: I stand corrected. 180 years! ...I like your bricks as well.

Thanks for digging up information on the Standard Oil Beacon HossC and oldstuff.
I've searched for a photograph without any success so far.

10,000,000 candle-power...I wonder how that compares to the Lindbergh beacon atop City Hall? I'll have to do some googling.

I am interested!!!

I'm planning a Ralph D. Cornell event for the Cultural Landscape Foundation, for the weekend of November 8-9. Ralph D. Cornell was considered the Dean of Landscape Architects in Southern California, practicing from 1919 until the time of his death in 1972.

He was part of the firm Cook, Hall and Cornell when they designed Midwick View Estates. I'm co-curating an exhibit on Cornell for UCLA, as part of this event. I found the original site plans for Midwick View Estates, as well as photographs and a few other documents. I was happy to see your post!

Here's a group of sepia photographs I found on ebay of the Von's Supermarket at the Crenshaw Shopping Center.
The shopping center was built in 1947 and I believe the Von's followed one or two years later...so these photos are probably around 1949.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/i7zGTe.jpg
ebay



candy counter
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/NmD9Mv.jpg
ebay


...the view out of this transom window looks like rear-projection.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/909/OZNMFG.jpg




meat counter
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/pRUyiH.jpg



detail / note the sans-serif V's on the collars of their smocks. pretty cool!
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/Ywf60q.jpg
ebay




frozen foods (in 1949?)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/5rtluF.jpg




curb side
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...902/qpLPm2.jpg
ebay




underground loading dock
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/IOUsBv.jpg
ebay



We've seen the Crenshaw Shopping Center numerous times on NLA, but I don't remember this particular photograph.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/908/HYi9Ux.jpg
http://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/...m-of-the-1950s

I believe that is the same gas-o-meter that appears in photographs of the body of Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia.


Here's the shopping center outlined in red, and the location where Ms. Short's body was found in 1947. The gas-o-meter is located somewhere between the two.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...631/jdnWXJ.jpg
google_maps

__

Good luck with your project srk1941! After the exhibit, maybe you can share the site plans with us here at noirish Los Angeles. :)
__

When I originally did a search for the Standard Oil Beacon, I found a lot more information about the one at the Mount Diablo, but didn't realize they were linked. Maybe there's more information because the Mount Diablo one still stands. I wonder if the Montebello Beacon looked like this.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...AMtDiablo1.jpg
www.mtdiablocam.com

The 1948 and 1953 images at Historic Aerials both show buildings at Montebello which aren't there any more. Based on the picture above, my guess for the beacon would be the structure in the center of this 1948 view. Back in 1948, the whole area looked pretty much like this.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...lloBeacon2.jpg
Historic Aerials

To add to oldstuff's info - from www.mtdiablocam.com:

This picture shows the Mount Diablo Beacon illuminated, although it doesn't give a great idea of how powerful the light is. Incidentally, I did a quick check to see how bright a 10,000,000 candle power lamp might be, and found that a well-known online retailer is currently selling an "18 Million Candle Power Rechargable Halogen Spotlight" for just over $60.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...AMtDiablo2.jpg
www.mdia.org

Please forgive my tardiness in responding to ER's earlier thread, but I second your enthusiasm. My wife and I grew up in Monterey Park, within walking distance of El Encanto, the El Adobe (where my father spent a few happy hours in his later years) and the Bank of America Building (where my best friend's mom worked).

We'd love to see your exhibition, srk1941, so please do share the details as November draws nearer!

Candlepower
 

I apologize if these have been posted before.

http://i.imgur.com/VEnTV3q.jpg

http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/vie...198/zz00288b0t

This is a most remarkable image, from the negatives of the Los Angeles Daily News collection at UCLA. To me, it is as noir as it gets.

The date is October 9, 1936. I think the view is from the site of the Los Angeles Transit Lines building, looking north up Broadway.

Frank Shaw is mayor, his brother Joe in the corner pocket is the man to see at City Hall. Buron Fitts is running scared in his last (successful) campaign for DA against Judge Palmer and the reformers. Roosevelt is about to win a second term.

The occasion is the Hoover Dam Inaugural Festival, celebrating the arrival of a new source of electricity for Los Angeles. The caption states: "Downtown Los Angeles was flooded with 7.2 million candle-power lights, and engineers claimed that the display was visible from 100 miles away."

Not having the knowledge of DTLA that many of you possess, I was puzzled by the diagonal street angling into to Broadway from the lower right. I looked more closely at the Google street map of the Broadway/Olympic area and saw a very faint diagonal property line mimicking the missing street. A check of a contemporary street map explained what had happened. Broadway Place has been discussed here by BifRayRock and MichaelRyerson and others.

There are many, many things of interest in the photo.

I will only note the billboard at the lower left, urging a "Yes" vote on Prop 4 to "Stop Tideland Drilling Forever."

The Tidelands Controversy was a long-running public policy dispute between coastal states and the Federal government over who owned the Outer Continental Shelf, which oil companies sought to lease for drilling.

The Federal government viewed the oil as a valuable national resource, not to be controlled by a few (easily corruptible by Big Oil) state governments. The coastal states saw the federal position as yet another encroachment by an overbearing tyrant on free enterprise and States' Rights. Eventually in the early 1950s, a Congress sympathetic to States' Rights (on this and other matters) quitclaimed the oil rights within 3 miles of the coast to the states. It left the rest (which ironically turned out to contain the vast bulk of the resources) to be managed by the federal government.

1936's Prop 4 belongs to a long line of doublespeak ballot initiatives in California.

It was sponsored by the "California Beaches Association," which was funded in turn by the Standard Oil Company. It proposed to "save the beaches" from drilling by preventing drilling on land (that already had been determined not to contain oil!). It set a generously low price on state oil royalties, and as a sweetener, proposed to spend half the resultant money to revive the moribund state park system, in bad shape due to the Depression. The other half was to go to the general fund. The Times, unsurprisingly, was all for it but on November 3, 1936, Prop 4 was narrowly defeated.

This next photo, from the same source, could stand some photoshopping by the experts here :) The caption says it is "an Electrical Display" from the same occasion. One hopes it was planned.

http://i.imgur.com/mLUG50Y.jpg
http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/vie...198/zz00288b2v

The Richfield Oil Company took this idea even further as a promotional tool, and erected a whole series of beacons along the entire west coast in 1928-29 to guide both flyers and drivers. Each was 125 feet high with a revolving beacon of 8 million candlepower, and most had a service station at the base, which were downright opulent compared to any other gas station of the day. Even the pumps featured specially designed encasements, including - instead of the typical logo globe topper - a miniature version of the Richfield racing car sculpture that has been pictured many times on this thread. This was placed atop the regular gasoline pump, while a similar airplane sculpture topped the Ethyl pump.

I happen to have a short book on the subject right now, as I have been making a Google Map of all the Richfield beacons. The tower & beacon on top of the long-lost beloved Richfield Building in DTLA was a part of this chain. As you might guess, the Great Depression put an end to plans to complete additional service stations at the towers that didn't yet have them, as Richfield soon entered receivership. Also scrapped were plans for an entire travelers' community with dining and lodging at each site. Only the beacon in Barstow ended up with the full treatment.

Though the tower on the Richfield Building was 4-sided, the other towers were 3-sided, with 'RICHFIELD' spelled out vertically on two sides and a two-letter code on the third side to indicate the location to flyers. All but one of the California service stations were of an identical design in the Mission Revival style. The northernmost CA station, and all of the ones in OR and WA, had the same footprint but were of an English Norman design. The tower usually sat directly in front, between the station and the road.

The operational life of the towers as aids to navigation was short; within 10 years they were essentially obsolete as radio navigation matured. Many remained for decades as promotional tools however, with some being used to advertise other businesses at the sites long after the Richfield lettering was removed. A few of these station buildings survive, including one mission-style station that still has its tower in Willows, CA, and one English Norman station with tower and two-letter code in Mt. Shasta, CA. The closest remaining building to Los Angeles is in Paso Robles, which retained its tower into the 1990s until a road widening and redevelopment of the property. The beacon from atop the tower at Capistrano Beach now resides at the Dana Point Historical Society's museum. The tower once located at Castaic Junction (just north of Six Flags Magic Mountain) was purchased by the LA County Fire Department in 1943 for reuse as a broadcasting tower in the mountains north of Chatsworth, near Michael Antonovich Regional Park. It may still be there today, or the current tower could be a replacement.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...ichfieldAD.jpg
Auto Club of So. Cal's Touring Topics, November 1928

Recent "Beacon" discussion beckons further inquiry. In San Pedro, the Beacon Street name is clearly derived from a (waterfront) navigational beacon. But what about further inland (e.g., Beacon Ave. near Olympic Blvd., close to MacArthur Park)? Was there a "designated" "pre-Lindberg" beacon somewhere at or near Westlake or Bunker Hill? Guessing the Elks' 1925-Park Plaza Lodge had a beacon adorning its roof. Or, maybe there was a family named Beacon?

http://hdl.huntington.org/utils/ajax...con&DMROTATE=0http://hdl.huntington.org/utils/ajax...con&DMROTATE=0
http://hdl.huntington.org/utils/ajax...con&DMROTATE=0http://hdl.huntington.org/utils/ajax...con&DMROTATE=0 http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single...4/id/53/rec/14




LA City Hall Beacon
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018357.jpghttp://jpg2.lapl.org/pics17/00018357.jpg



February 1927 - Beaux Arts Bldg. Eighth Street and Beacon [Ave] - 1709 W. 8th Street.
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/cdm/re...oll44/id/91423




1978 - 1032 Beacon Avenue
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...7DRUJKTGJI.jpghttp://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...7DRUJKTGJI.jpg



Beacon Laundry in Beverly Hills> http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...postcount=6488