Some people say that the Bunker Hill area was just a few low hills. I look at this scene and say that its almost Alpine.

Popping back in after a little time away. Still buried under research for SMOKETOWN and the day job and still trying to get through this thread, but wanted to share a couple pics:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8776/1...e19b0356_c.jpg
L1070662.JPG by Matt Maxwell, on Flickr
Not technically Los Angeles, but the Valley. Still, beautiful neon and sixties design probably most famous now for use as a setting in TRUE ROMANCE.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8761/1...60b8ff6a_c.jpg
L1070622.JPG by Matt Maxwell, on Flickr
Toluca Lake, CA, home of the original Bob's Big Boy, where I ate many times during my time as an animator (once saw Laura San Giacomo two tables away) though honestly I preferred Mo's, which was just up the street. But you can't argue with classic design.

More at the following photoset on Flickr, but it's not all LA. Some points further south, including the giant tombstone hangars of the Tustin air base:

SoCal 2013 photoset by me.

Should note that there's some photos in this set taken at a friend's studio space in the brewery building (which is now artists lofts and the like) that's been featured here. If it's of vinyl toys or motorcycle helmets, car parts or pinball machines, it's taken at his place.

Leonard Nadel Photographs - Getty Digital Collections
 

The saddest one of all. When the well-fed, disapproving suits show up to make catastrophic decisions about people's lives without asking them what they want or need. Such a clash of sensibilities and imbalance of power:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-h...85029%2BAM.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...85046%2BAM.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...85133%2BAM.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...85258%2BAM.jpg

http://rosettaapp.getty.edu:1801/del...s_pid=IE209411

Urban Redevelopment Commission, 1949-1955. Tour, April 26, 1949
negative 26


------------------------------------------------------


And speaking of complaining about what "they" are up to, it's a fine old tradition around these parts:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U...85106%2BPM.jpg
californiadigitalnewspapercollection Los Angeles Herald, Volume 44, Number 95, 15 July 1895

I remember that little park from the CC Pierce photo below. I remembered it particularly because of the way the palm had been tied down, like someone feared it might try to make a run for it. The park was cleared in the end for the City Hall annex (and is now smothered under the LAT parking structure):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...13724%2BPM.jpg
lapl

"1926 Hollywood CA. Camel Inn Had Stuffed Camel To Indicate No Booze. Press Photo"


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...537/qJbIiM.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1926-Hollywo...item418d29b8ea

I hope we can figure out where this establishment was located. Does anyone recognize the house?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/dvi30u.jpg

Or it could have been just ruse. ;)

:previous:

I could only find the Camel Inn in the 1927 CD, which fits with the date of the picture. The address listed is 5732 Hollywood Boulevard, which is now just east of the Hollywood Freeway.

:previous: thx :)


Movie actress Kay Francis says goodbye to Hollywood in a big way at the Vendome Café.


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...905/9VGcFr.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/p2T2rP.jpg
eBay

"To celebrate her projected vacation to New York, Kay Francis, Film Star, staged a spectacular party in the Vendome Café in Hollywood. The front of the café was converted into the deck of a luxury liner. A gangplank jutted out from the improvised steamer to the limousines bearing guests. The arrivals stepped on the gangplank and tobogganed down a fun-house slide to the festivities a floor below."

The press photo shows the converted front of the café. 2/19/35


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/9xEu5z.jpg



As a reminder, here's what the Vendome Café looked like under normal circumstances.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/gEVjX3.jpg
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt2t1nc5np/

The Vendome was located at 6666 Sunset Boulevard.







http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/DzGHZK.jpg
http://classicmoviesdigest.blogspot....1_archive.html

ER-- Maybe "Le Rendezvous" was another speakeasy-- a bridge club, or was it? It appears to have succeeded the Camel Inn. Other than that, I like this graphic:


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...dezvousnla.jpg
Times June 20, 1929




I guess the assumption is that men in suits are always up to no good, always ready to wreak havoc....

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...901/CkfwyE.jpg
eBay

Yesterday, while I was looking for the Mohr Pretzel Factory on Molina Street, I came across this eye-catching building on S. Hewitt Street and E. 5th (a block west of Molina).

At first, I couldn't believe my eyes!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...633/oSW1TW.jpg
gsv

I was flabbergasted that I hadn't noticed this 'art deco' building before.

Well, it turns out a good portion of the building is relatively new. Here's the building in 2007.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...912/uPou19.jpg
gsv



from 5th street
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/z6X6V8.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/JZx1HL.jpg
gsv


When I thought it was vintage I thought it was absolutely great, but now that I know it's fairly new, I have mixed feelings. So why is that?
Am I being unfair, just because it isn't old?


the details are impressive.....deco fountain design in color tiles.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/hWDvgy.jpg



here's a closer look the clock, and the pylon on top.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/8jjFFD.jpg
detail


Two large deco 'lantern/pylon' lights...and additional color tiles...etc.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...911/Fgbb6Q.jpg
detail

thumbs up, or thumbs down?

___

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...633/k5PrO2.jpg

A little discussion for my reasons/opinions of this:

Yes, but that photo of Hardy was identified as Hardy by others, not the photographer,
which is the case with these eBay photos that were hand written on. I'm more inclined
to think the photographer who was there knew what he was talking about (he knew "Sid"
but not the others?), though I feel it's possible to mix up which Barrymore was which. I
always have to check to make sure.

"I" was referring to the gentlemen in the photo that E_R describes as "the heavy-set
man with gray hair." I don't think the person who wrote the names on the photo would be
talking about the person behind him unless that was noted on the photo, as I didn't even
notice that man until E_R pointed it out.

Granted, the photo says "Barrymore" which might have been a suggestion to me, but when
I looked at the man in question I immediately thought of Lionel Barrymore in Devil Doll, which
is why I posted the photo from that film.

If you survey pictures of both John and Lionel, I find that Lionel's chin is more rounded and his
nose is flatter/wider at the base than John's is. They are all from the proverbial "acting" family,
so it wouldn't surprise me that in photos from film or stage or even appearances in public that
he might have his hair darkened. I surmised that he and perhaps, Stroheim, were just visiting the
gas station when those photos were snapped, after all GW's link proclaimed it the most famous
gas station in the world and celebrities from Valentino to Gable got gas there or worked
on their cars. What better place for a photographer to snap some celebrity photos?

He (Barrymore) certainly doesn't look made up or in costume for anything in the photo, though
the other man E_R alluded to might be, which means that's probably not John B. according to
what Handsome Stranger's research indicates. As for gray hair or looking older, I don't know
about 1922, but in 1906 a male's life expectancy was 46. (Look at some photos of Spencer Tracy
in 1944 when he was that age.) At that time Lionel was 44 and John was 40. One thing I am sure of
is that it wasn't Ethel, who was 43.

408 N. Hill Street, 2 blocks from City Hall, circa. 1927.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...540/mwghO5.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1927-APARTME...53010604&rt=nc

:previous: note the two arrows and circle denoting the photographer's room (apt. #6).

"Where I lived apt. $30 per mo."
"Walker Apt. #6, 408 N. Hill Street."
"Then moved to 121 N. Hill -same distance from city hall."

the vertical writing along the left border says something about the landlord selling out and moving to long Beach.

The vertical writing along the right border is a bit more mysterious. It says something about Japanese and Pearl Harbor, yet the photograph is dated 1927 (by the seller).
then at the top, it says..."Gym in ?"




"Mrs. Cern (landlady) and I"

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...905/6DE5HW.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1927...00363532&rt=nc

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...673/cw5rnf.jpg
lapl

On the left border of this second photo it says...."Where I lived most of....1942 (??) Now I'm really confused about the dates.

__

I just came across this amazing photograph.

"1950 Los Angeles Transit Railway, Track Curve Installation 8th & Vermont."

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/lfK6go.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5C203-RP-195...item5d58e91afc


and there's additional information on the reverse.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...540/lPQYhB.jpg

_

I think it says 'Gym in basement'

Greg Lemond used to train in the canyons of LA to prepare for the tour.

The Water Feature
 

This photo was captioned:

A pair of fashionable young women admire the water feature of a newly built home in Hollywoodland, 1930s

but is it still around?

http://www.martinturnbull.com/wp-con...land-1930s.jpg

Thanks for posting this photo, MT! Where did you find it?

The stairs are still there, and GoogleMaps calls them the Saroyan Stairs: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lo...4bcb!4b1?hl=en

But the water was shut off at some point in the past: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17614

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psa7715b46.jpg
USC Library

Regarding above-mentioned Downtown L.A Harbor Freeway ramps: big part of opening credit sequence of 1957 movie "No Down Payment" is filmed on those ramps.
I wasn't able to figure out what is the area the movie's two couples lives. The film has a quite realistic view towards life, at least for the major Hollywood studio production.
http://tinyurl.com/nbobcjq

If the film was already discussed here, I'm terribly sorry.

Yesterday, a suspect in this fire we talked about last December has been identified:

Suspect In Massive Da Vinci Apartment Fire Charged With Arson, To Appear In Court
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/05/28/669492/