Re: Pickwick Stages Bus Company ad campaign
 

I realize they're shooting this in front of a police station, but those uniforms on the men look more like typical bus driver outfits of the day.

I was looking at this aerial from the 1960s of the Bunker Hill area.....
and I am intrigued by the building that is almost dead-center and shaped like a 'less than' sign ( < ).


http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/2...unkerhilli.jpg
LAPL

What is this building?

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Culver Hotel
 

The Culver Hotel was closed for years until the overall revival of downtown Culver City neighborhood beginning around 2000. There's a Wikipedia article here; for some further pictures and commentary you can check out my blog post on the subject here.

ETA 2012-09-11: Walking by there a week or so ago I got a couple of close-up shots of the building's cornice:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8320/7...c94ce88fc5.jpg

Here's one more showing a period street lamp.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/7...ecb05483c3.jpg

I cropped these shots as usual for inclusion in this thread, but you can see the full-sized versions in the blog post.

That is the beginnings of what is now called Bank of America Plaza. It originally opened as Security Pacific Plaza. Another SkyscraperPage forum member posted a thread about it: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=175769

Hi e_r,

I've concluded the photo above cannot be from the 60's as Arco Plaza appears topped out and almost near completion (perhaps only missing some roof-located infrastructure). From what I can find, it opened in '72. Also, it looks like the UCB tower is rising just to the south, and perhaps a year or less from topping out itself. It opened in '73. Considering these facts, I would date the photo at the '71 to '72 time frame.

Forgive me if I've already said this in the thread, but I think it can be argued that L.A. today is in much the same situation as NYC a century ago. Unlike the post WWII era, we no longer have huge tracts of vacant land ready for development, and the attractiveness of suburban living decreases in proportion to the length of one's commute. We now have a situation where a given building may well be replaced by a taller building with the same footprint and the same purpose, whereas 60 and 70 years ago building were replaced by parking lots, and at the turn of the last century private houses and farms were replaced by business districts.

Politics have also moved to the left; remember all those failed mass transit initiatives of the 1960s and 70s? People forget that in the 1960s, L.A. was a lot like the OC in terms of its political and cultural establishment.

This thread is truly incredible.

We're all familiar with George Mann's color photographs of Bunker Hill from the 1950s.

Earlier in the thread numerous Mann photographs of Bunker Hill were featured in post #1431.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1431


below: This George Mann Bunker Hill photograph of the backsides of several apartment buildings wasn't included in that earlier post.

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/8...ingsgeorge.jpg
George Mann


Much to my surprise George Mann was a former vaudeville performer (a very TALL vaudeville performer).
Here is a photo of Mr. Mann with two friends taken in Santa Monica in 1927.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/689...antamonica.jpg
George Mann/AKG-Images


below: George Mann with his beautiful wife Barbara Bradford poolside in 1937.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/6...ithwifebar.jpg
George Mann/AKG-Images


Here is a link to more of George Mann's photographs.
http://www.artfinder.com/artist/george-mann/works/


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A tourist snapshot looking west at Hollywood and Vine in 1959.


http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4...nhollywood.jpg
I believe I found this on ebay.




below: The same view at Hollywood and Vine two years earlier (1957). Starlet Joan Bradshaw walks her dog.


http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9...alksdogonh.jpg
http://www.kitschy-kitschy-coo.com/b...dames-dogs-30/

I've always imagined these 'novelty' attractions as static architecture.
Much to my surprise the owl's head actually moved....among other things. See below for a more in-depth description.


http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8590/hootlakitschy.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/361/h...restudiod1.jpg
http://futurestudio.typepad.com/phot...hoot-hoot.html


The street number is above the doorway....1201....but the actual street is a mystery.
Does anyone have a guess where this ice cream stand was located?

Hi e_r,

I have some additonal information on the Hoot Owl Cafe in my files. It was built in 1926 and located on E.Valley Blvd. in Rosemead (I think that would be the location pictured). Less that a year later it was moved to Long Beach Blvd. in South Gate just north of Seville St. and in 1949 it was moved to another location on Long Beach Blvd. in South Gate, just south of Firestone Blvd.

The original move was because of a lack of customers in Rosemead and the opening of the new Firestone plant in South Gate. The second move was necessary due to Firestone buying the land and expanding their plant.


~Jon Paul

Now for a big shot of Los Angeles Noir
 

One of the most noir tales ever to come out of Hollywood has to be that of Barbara Payton. A blue-eyed, peroxide blonde sexpot who had everything going for her, her life eventually completely disintegrated, and she only herself to blame. Things started out well enough for Barbara Lee Redfield, born on November 26, 1927 in Cloquet, Minnesota and raised in Odessa, Texas.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8...onasachild.jpg
Barbara at age six

From a modest, blue-collar background, she grew up to be a drop-dead gorgeous young woman and, following a quickie marriage and birth of her only child, a son, at age 19, she decided to leave Texas for good to try to capitalize on her good looks and great figure in Tinseltown. She headed for Hollywood in 1948 and, within a short time, was placed under contract by Universal, where she began the typical starlet route of bit parts. She reached her peak with routine but promising co-star work opposite James Cagney in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), Gary Cooper in Dallas (1950) and Gregory Peck in Only the Valiant (1951).
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2...tonstarlet.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9...onstarlet2.jpg
Early publicity shots (Universal Pictures)

Although her talent (5) was overshadowed by her brassiness (10) and looks (10), her slightly lurid appeal seemed to be enough to carry her through. Caught up in the glitz and glamour, however, her career started taking second place to a reckless life full of capricious romances involving a number of top stars and producers, most of them married.
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5...franchotto.jpg
with Franchot Tone arriving at a Hollywood premier 1950 (LA Herald Examiner)

One of her more famous trysts ended up making headlines for her and none of them were favorable. She was juggling two boyfriends at the same time, classy "A" actor Franchot Tone (ex-husband of Joan Crawford) and muscular "B" actor Tom Neal. They fought almost to the death for Barbara's affections. On September 13, 1951, the men engaged in a deadly brawl and when it was over, Tone was in the hospital with broken bones and a brain concussion. Barbara ended up with both a black eye and a tarnished reputation. She married Tone after he recovered, but left him after only seven weeks and returned to the violence-prone Neal. That abusive relationship lasted four years, though they never married.
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9...tonsonjohn.jpg
with son John and Franchot Tone 1951 (Los Angeles Herald Examiner)

During that time Barbara's career had plummeted to the point where she was making such dismal features as Bride of the Gorilla (1951). She went to England to try to rejuvenate her career, but no dice; it was over and her life was skidding out of control. Her once beautiful face now blotchy and her once spectacular figure now bloated,
Barbara sank deeper and deeper into the bottle.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/601...towardscar.jpg
Barbara in England during the filming of Bad Blonde 1953
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9508/badblonde.jpg
Bray Studios

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5...lastknownp.jpg
The last known publicity shot of Barbara. Bray Studios 1953

She returned to Los Angeles in 1954 and no studio wanted her. From 1955 to 1963 there were various brushes with the law - among them passing bad checks, public drunkenness and, ultimately, prostitution. Overall, she was arrested 14 times. She became well known for turning $5.00 tricks on the Sunset Strip. She was forced to sleep on bus benches, was beaten and bruised by her Johns, and lost teeth in the process. In 1966, two policemen found what they first thought to be a bloated corpse at the back of the parking lot for the Thrifty Drug Store on Sunset. Barbara was barely alive and clad only in a filthy slip and torn shoes. She was covered in bruises and sores. She was hospitalized for a short time but checked herself out and returned to her old haunts on Sunset Blvd.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2...nteethgone.jpg
Barbara with her teeth knocked out by a John 1958 (LAPD)

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/4773/rottenbabs.jpg
Police booking photo 1957 (LAPD)

In 1967, after failed efforts to curb her drinking, she finally moved in with her parents in San Diego to try to dry out. It was too late. On May 8, 1967, the 39-year-old former starlet was found on the bathroom floor - dead of heart and liver failure. Somehow through all this misery she managed a tell-all book ironically entitled "I Am Not Ashamed" (1963). When Barbara and her ghost writer negotiated with the book publisher, Barbara asked to be paid in red wine and not cash because there were still outstanding judgments against her and she was afraid the money would be taken from her.
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/3...shamed1963.jpg
I recently found a copy of the book at a yard sale for a buck and that's what started my interest in Barbara's tragic story.

Barbara was cremated and her ashes interred at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park here in San Diego. I plan on visiting soon.

~Jon Paul

:previous: Excellent post Jon Paul.
I've been wanting to do a Barbara Payton post but you beat me to it.

A photo of Barbara Payton in 'Four Sided Triangle' 1953.
She had three more films after 'Four Sided Triangle'.....and then her descent into alcohol and prostitution.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/401...sidedtrgzp.jpg
Hammer Films

Here is a layout of the Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main Street.


http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3...nlayoutmet.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/people/metrolibraryarchive/



below: A view of the viaduct from the main building. Sorry for the bad quality of the photo.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8...tedcolorpe.jpg
metro transportation archive





below: A portion of the P.E. viaduct.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4...gmetroflic.jpg
metro transportation archive




http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/6...hotelcecil.jpg

above: Notice the Hotel Cecil on the left.


http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3...l636lounge.jpg
postcard/ebay

above: The 636 Lounge in the lower left looks like a cool place.

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Gentleman,

I have stumbled across your outstanding thread while researching those behemoth natural gas tanks located to next to the old Friedman Bag Co. As an avid film noir fan, there are countless wonderful background shots in the Los Angeles area that I always wondered about.

I am a 16 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. With all of it in the field and not behind a desk.

I will point out details on some photographs with a police perspective.


To all the contributors, please keep up the wonderful postings!

:previous: Welcome to the thread 'The Fuzz'.
I look forward to your posts from a policeman's perspective.



http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/712/gasfriedman.jpg
LAPL



http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2321/gasfq.jpg
LAPL


It seems these gargantuan gas tanks have become a beacon for film noir enthusiasts.

_________

Welcome, The Fuzz! (Great screen name!)

By odd coincidence, last night I happen to have watched a 1951 film noir called Cry Danger. Lurking in the background of the opening reel is one of the tanks! I'll post some frame grabs.

In the movie, Dick Powell has just been released from prison. He takes up residence in a funky little trailer park on Bunker Hill. Could some of the experts here please tell me if that trailer park actually existed? Or was it simply invented for the movie?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...s800/CD-01.jpg
[source: TCM]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...s800/CD-02.jpg
[source: TCM]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-O...s800/CD-03.jpg
[source: TCM]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-i...s800/CD-04.jpg
[source: TCM]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...s800/CD-05.jpg
[source: TCM]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...s800/CD-06.jpg
[source: TCM]

Cry Danger Trailer Court
 

SUPERB screen captures! Loved 'em. Thanks.

The American Film Noir Site has a page dedicated to the filming locations of cry danger.

It's part of their Bunker Hill Section