I think the first pic is looking southwest, from approximately the location of today's Savoy Street as it approaches Bishops Road. And the second pic looks from the same general direction, but from further up Radio Hill, and turned to look more to the left (southerly).

I finally saw it tonight. I actually thought it was kinda fun. Yeah, dramatic license when it came to Mickey Cohen and the real LAPD gangster squad, but I liked the location shots. I also liked the use of old postcards for the end credit sequence.

From what I heard, the movie was supposed to have come out last September but because of the Aurora, CO movie theater shooting, they pushed back the release date to January 11. Also, because of the Aurora shooting, they deleted a major sequence where there's a shootout inside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and so they chose to re-shoot that scene in Chinatown.

:previous:

O.K. So here are a few quick screen grabs...

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/5736/capturewqs.jpg
Gangster Squad, Warner Bros.

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/185/capture1ix.jpg
Gangster Squad, Warner Bros.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5547/capture2lw.jpg
Gangster Squad, Warner Bros.

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/2351/capture3ga.jpg
Gangster Squad, Warner Bros.

Thanks guys. I guess I'm looking thru the lens of hindsight when evaluating that accident-waiting-to-happen traffic signal. After all, it seems to work perfectly in this c. 1930 postcard:
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psada218ec.jpg
LMU Library (http://digitalcollections.lmu.edu/cd...chgface/id/368)
Text with postcard says this traffic signal was developed by Auto Club of So Cal between 1928 and 1931, so you were right about that.

ive bought some silver from inside the warners...its not too bad,i was surprised at how small the lobby was,its like as soon as you walk in from the street your in the the "house",if you go in further you step down into the main level where you can see the stage,and if you look up you see a balcony.Most of the interior is safeable,but it as a operating house i dont see it anytime soon.I was just surprised at how small it seemed in such a large building.

Another Sorry Cemetery Story
 

Along with the sad tale of the remains of the city's founders being uprooted and transferred here...

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/2...rycemetery.jpg
Google Maps

...we also have the even more disgusting saga of the early Chinese inhabitants of Los Angeles:

Per Wikipedia:
"Prior to the Chinese Cemetery's founding, the only place that allowed burial of Chinese persons was an indigent graveyard or "Potters Field" at Lorena and 1st streets, adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery. At the time, it was owned by the City and then County of Los Angeles. The founders of Evergreen Cemetery gave the city a 9-acre parcel of the proposed cemetery in 1877 for use as a potter's field in return for a zoning variance to allow the cemetery.
The Chinese community was allowed to utilize a corner of the city's potter's field and erected a shrine in September 1888. Unlike white indigents, who were buried at no charge, the Chinese had to pay US$10 to be interred.
Ownership of the indigent cemetery passed from the City to the County of Los Angeles in 1917. At the time, it was clear the potter's field would have burial space for only a few more years. The Chinese community responded by purchasing land and opening the Chinese Cemetery."

The "Potter's Field"

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1...ttersfield.jpg
Google Maps

Per Wikipedia:
"During the summer of 2005, Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) construction workers widening First Street for the Gold Line light rail extension uncovered the skeletal remains of 174 people buried near the south side of the Los Angeles County Crematorium, adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery. Archaeologists working for the agency determined that the excavation site was likely the Chinese section of the potter's field. The majority of the remains were Asian males found along with rice bowls, jade bracelets, Chinese burial bricks, Asian coins and opium pipes."

The Chinese Cemetery:

Per Wikipedia:
"Due in part to anti-Chinese zealotry in the United States along with the inability to bury their dead outside the soon to be full potter's field, the Chinese community through CCBA purchased land in 1922 for its own cemetery at the corner of First Street and Eastern Avenue.
After World War II, additional parcels adjacent to the cemetery were purchased and annexed to the cemetery. Even then, the cemetery is small and neatly arranged with tight lines of mostly 2–3 foot headstones, etched in Chinese and English."

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4306/chinesecemetery.jpg
Google Maps

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/2...bberstamp1.jpg




For some reason the "L. A. Stamp & St. Co." on the fob above got me curious. Apparently sometime in the mid '30s that became the new name of the venerable Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company.... Perhaps this same tag was made by it for the Biltmore from its beginnings and was stamped with the old name originally. Curiously, and luckily for us, the stamp company didn't bother to change the lettering on its own building, built the same year as the Biltmore.


http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9...ompleteart.jpg



http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7590/stampbldgnow.jpg


The expansion of the building seems never to have happened, but here is some good history...

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/937...ncomplwpic.jpg


LAT/GoogleSV

Hey, I know that last place. That police station is on York Blvd. about 3 blocks west of Figueroa, in Highland Park. It is now a Police Historical Society museum. Wikipedia says it's the oldest police station in LA.

Google Maps link

Wikipedia link

Wow, what a great find GW!
__

I'm outta town for a few days- see ya.

The Black Dahlia is back in the news today. Steve Hodel is still trying to prove that his father was the murderer. This time he used a cadaver dog! See story at this link:

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_225...e?source=email


~Jon Paul

Chinese Memorial Shrine - 1888
 

Hidden in the trees in the Google Maps view is the Chinese Memorial Shrine built in 1888. Almost unbelievably, as it was threatened many times over the years, it still exists in the original location. Although Chinese labor built a great deal in Los Angeles and the state, with the destruction of Old Chinatown the Shrine is almost the only thing left to commemoration the enormous Chinese contribution or even their presence.

1890s:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X...543%2520AM.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F...803%2520AM.jpg
huntington library photo archives

"The Chinese Memorial Shrine in Evergreen Cemetery was built by the people of Los Angeles' Old Chinatown in September of 1888. It consists of two 12-foot-high "kilns" or furnaces that flank a central altar platform. A memorial stone or stele once stood atop the platform; it was removed from the ground where it had fallen and is in storage.( A replica replaces it.) The monument is approximately 1,000 square feet.

Los Angeles' Chinese American pioneers burned gold and silver paper-symbolizing money-and the deceased's personal effects and favorite clothing in the Shrine's furnaces. This was said to encourage a comfortable transit to the next life or afterlife and the well-being and abundance of the departed. Elaborate presentations of foods such as a whole roast pig, poultry and other meats, fruits, potable spirits, and joss sticks were placed on the altar at burial and during seasonal rites such as Ch'ing Ming (Chinese Memorial Day), and Ch'ung-Yang Chieh (Hungry Ghosts or All Souls' Day)."
asian pacific american historical timeline details (1875 to 1899)
http://us_asians.tripod.com/timeline-1875.html

In 1937 all recorded Chinese graves that could be found were excavated and the remains repatriated to China. In 1964 Evergreen Cemetery bought back the Chinese Section/Potter's Field from LA County. The Shrine underwent restoration in 1997. Lengthy negotiations with the owners of the cemetery resulted in the purchase of the Shrine by the Chinese community in 2003. Evergreen Cemetery, in its entirety, came under Chinese ownership in 2004.

Although anti-Chinese sentiment ran high among Anglos in Los Angeles, there was also a fascination with, and even respect for, Chinese customs and the beauty of their ceremonies:

The Los Angeles Times August, 1888 (the month before the Shrine was built):
"[They] repaired to the graveyard at an early hour with all manner of Chinese delicacies . . . besides a great amount of prayer papers to be burned to keep out the devils. Heretofore, when [they] have had this annual feast or celebration, they have taken precautions against the fire from these piles of paper spreading. This year, this was omitted from some oversight. Some of the residents became alarmed, lest there should be a grass fire and reported the case to police headquarters. Officer Berry was sent out, and compelled them to extinguish their fires, after which they were allowed to finish their exercises. They finally concluded, and it will be another year before the ghosts are again fed."

And this from the Los Angeles Daily Times in 1905:
"Uncommon homage was paid to the leader of the Hop Sing Tong. Lighted candles of various colors stood on one side [and] clusters of flowers made of coral. A group of soldiers of the Chinese Reform Association, under command of General Homer Lea, appeared as escort. The parade started for the Chinese Cemetery which adjoins Evergreen Cemetery on East First Street. There were 50 carriages in line. Two beautiful Chinese lanterns were among the articles tossed into the furnace."

A City of Los Angeles Historic Plaque, the first ever in Chinese, lies at the foot of the Shrine, together with another in English.

More info:

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL TIMELINE DETAILS (1875 to 1899)
http://us_asians.tripod.com/timeline-1875.html

Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
http://www.chssc.org/history/shrinefull.html


P.S. And, LOL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj
No RIPping for anyone.

Looks to be for sale and can be yours for slightly less than $1.5million!

Same owner since 1982 (someone who owns a lot of other properties around by the looks of it), but it seems like it's been a revolving door for tenants lately. Live Art Plantscapes (plants, interior/exterior design), Access Print & Copy (Commercial Printing, Lithography), K. Chocolatier (chocolatier, apparently), T.V. Travel Services (travel services, at a guess), and Coup de Tete (either commercial photography/motion picture/video production or "one-stop provider of chiropractic care" or some bizarre combination of the two) all show that address in the last several years.

The building listing says "Multi-Purpose Building" and "Retail/Studio and Showroom"
Looks to be in pretty good shape inside:

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/7582/11517santamonica1.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img845/770/11517santamonica2.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img221/9859/1...ntamonica6.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img51/5175/11517santamonica5.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img845/9826/1...ntamonica4.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img837/4093/1...ntamonica3.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img22/3958/11517santamonica.jpg
Photos from loopnet

Haven't turned up anything on what it was earlier in its past life so far.

I wish someone would write about the noirish pathology of a person who is so maniacally determined to prove that his own father was a sadistic killer. In his bizarre need to claim such a dubious distinction for his father and himself, he doesn't seems to care about the actual victim (Short) one bit other than that she gives a brand name to his tiresome exploitations. While clearly a sleazebag of epic proportions, George Hodel's biggest crime seems to have been his contribution of such a creepy (and ridiculous) child to the world.

I agree completely G_W!

~Jon Paul

For better or for worse, more Stanford Wholesale...
 

No argument here :haha: I just saw it in "driving" down the street from BifRayRock's beautiful Hollywood Clothes building, after discovering the great disappointment that had been turned into.

I had the brief thought it may have been someone's well-intentioned but poorly executed attempt to remodel something that was once great. A few minutes more searching would have saved me the embarrassment:

http://cdn.archinect.net/images/1200...fq492azafg.jpg
archinect.com

I'll still give them the benefit of the doubt that the design was well-intentioned but poorly executed, even if it's a new one. I prefer seeing a failed attempt at something interesting to the drab boxes that've been the norm for so many decades now.

Nine firemen on a ladder, carrying a heavy hose up to the top floor of a burning building...these guys were not paid enough.

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3...rosfire970.jpg
L.A. Times

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/1...rosfire260.jpg
L.A. Times


L.A. Times story:

Nov. 29, 1928: Los Angeles firefighters climb a ladder to fight a blaze on the top floor of the Newmark Bros. building.

Fire that burst with the force of an explosion through the top floor of the six-story building occupied by Newmark Brothers, coffee importers, at 312 East First Street, shortly before 3 p.m. yesterday, developed into a spectacular blaze that caused damage estimated in excess of $100,000.

Raging through roasted coffee chaff and about machinery the fire gained considerable headway before the fire department, working under the handicap of a five story climb, was able to bring it under control.

Approximately 700 150-pound bags of coffee were destroyed by the fire and a large amount damaged by water it is estimated by S.M. Newmark, member of the Newmark Brothers and A.P. Lazarus, secretary-treasurer of the company. Newmark placed the stock and fixture damage at $75,000.

Huge clouds of billowing smoke and flame belched from the top story of the building, according to witnesses, when the fire began, apparently in the roasting room.


Does anyone know if this is the same building today at First Street and San Pedro?

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/6669/newmark.jpg
Google Street View

Old Calvary Cemetery
 

Thanks ProphetM :-)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...428%2520PM.jpg
http://lashp.remap.ucla.edu/visual/m...g2_itemId=3284

Info is a little confusing, but it's not the same building.

Listing in this Downtown LA Neighborhood Council building list says:
Name: NEWARK BROTHERS BUILDING
Alternate Name: UYEDA BUILDING
Construction: 1906-
National Register Status: Appears eligible for National Register

But looking a little more:
Metro.net

The Factory evidently took shape a few blocks away at 3764 South Broadway Place. The then-modern building no doubt offered more space, but any resemblance to mission style is in name only. It looks as though the replacement building still exists, but may have been renumbered as "3766." It is also possible the second "original" was demolished and two similar buildings were erected next door. A similar building exists at "3750" South Broadway Place although it has an extra floor.

December 15, 1952
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ery&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ery&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ery&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...ery&DMROTATE=0USC Digital

Thanks gus37 - It appears to be about the same size as the original building, so I thought it
may have been an extensive rehab project. I used to work in the area, but I don't recall that building being constructed.

I do recall this building on Second Street in Little Tokyo being stripped down to the frame...

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/558/littletokyo2.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage photo Service

...and this being built on it without a complete tear down:

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5...ttletokyo4.jpg
Google Maps