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-   -   noirish Los Angeles (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170279)

ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 3:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albany NY (Post 6093909)

I refuse to believe it until I unearth a monkey bone with my bare hands. ;) (I'm kidding)
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MichaelRyerson Apr 17, 2013 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albany NY (Post 6093909)
The exact location of Monkey Island always seems to elude us, but I found something interesting on laist.com. They have posted a flyer for Monkey Island (date unknown) that shows the address as 3300 Cahuenga Blvd.
http://imageshack.us/a/img51/3518/mi...slandflyer.jpg
laist.com

Additionally, HistoricAerials.com has aerial shots of that address from 1948 and 1954, both of which seem to show the plastic "mountain" at Monkey Island (though the park may have been long-since closed by then).

1948
http://imageshack.us/a/img803/2041/1948e.jpg
historicaerials.com

1954
http://imageshack.us/a/img90/2854/1954v.jpg
historicaerials.com

And finally, by 1972, all traces of Monkey Island seem to be gone. A small park is located there now.
http://imageshack.us/a/img845/1200/1972z.jpg
historicaerials.com

So....does this finally end the mystery, or are we still looking for the monkeys?

Nice compilation, Albany but I'm afraid every smidgen of your post has been done on the thread before. I believe, as you do, that what's left of Monkey Island shows in the '48 aerial. But we still have skeptics among us. Here, I'll post an actual picture of Monkey Island while it was open for business...


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7...f5280479_o.jpg
Aerial view of Cahuenga Pass, December 30, 1939

Kinda hard to see but it's still there and at a minimum this image serves to finally put to rest the Barham Boulevard phantasm, there being no visible construction in the area immediately northeast of Barham and Cahuenga. There you have it, Monkey Island. Lol.

USC digital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 3:37 PM

930 Albany Street (not sure if we've seen this before)

http://imageshack.us/a/img16/6469/aabapt930albanyst.jpg
gsv
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ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 4:18 PM

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/6638/a...restinghol.jpg
ebay

At lower right, is that the brick apartment where the kidnapped school girl was brutally murdered back in the 1920s (or was it 30s?)

I don't remember her name, I just recognize the odd shape of the apts. (with two wings, angled front) We've covered the murder earlier in the thread.
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tovangar2 Apr 17, 2013 4:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6094561)

At lower right, is that the brick apartment where the kidnapped school girl was brutally murdered back in the 1920s (or was it 30s?)

I don't remember her name, I just recognize the odd shape of the apts. (with two wings, angled front) We've covered the murder earlier in the thread.
__

I remember the name but I'm not going to post it. That noir episode is enough to put one off the subject for life. I'll concentrate on the "Brew 102" billboard instead.

(930 Albany looks like another of those four-plexes built for winter tourists.)

Here's a nice muscular four-plex on 11th at Albany. More to my taste. So much of LA is still quite old. Not our image elsewhere.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...95648%2BPM.jpg

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

I used to regularly drive by this house on Burlington between Olympic and 11th. There would often be an ancient woman sweeping the second-floor balcony, which had long since lost its railing. I haven't been by for a decade now. I see they've replaced the door to the balcony with a window:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...54711%2BPM.jpg

This is a plan book house. If one spends enough time around here, one starts to see repeats among the big homes in this part of town. Here's one of its siblings on Westlake Avenue just above 11th St (and it's also lost its porch-top balcony railing and had it's second-story door converted to a window):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...55004%2BPM.jpg

all gsv

PHX31 Apr 17, 2013 5:33 PM

161 N Mission Road

Didn't find much info about it, nor could I find it searching this thread. It sticks out in an area with mostly industrial and recently built apartments.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...asdfasdfae.jpg
google street view

It has a ghost sign on the side, but I can't make it out.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...dfasdfadsf.jpg
google street view

WS1911 Apr 17, 2013 5:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6094494)
930 Albany Street (not sure if we've seen this before)

http://imageshack.us/a/img16/6469/aabapt930albanyst.jpg
gsv
__

Nice building. Looks like it dates from around 1900 and built as a multi-family structure.

____________

Two more interesting homes

I've driven around Pico-Union, but it's been years. Your post lead me to Google the area and I found these two very interesting houses. I'm going to have to get over to that area and take some photos.

Northwest corner Constance and 14th. Looks like it dates from about 1895. Was not listed on Zillow and may be commercial.http://imageshack.us/a/img7/5821/lac...thnwcorner.jpg

Northeast corner Constance and 14th. Built in 1910.
http://imageshack.us/a/img560/7825/l...thnecorner.jpg
GSV (both images)

MichaelRyerson Apr 17, 2013 5:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6094561)
http://imageshack.us/a/img547/6638/a...restinghol.jpg
ebay

At lower right, is that the brick apartment where the kidnapped school girl was brutally murdered back in the 1920s (or was it 30s?)

I don't remember her name, I just recognize the odd shape of the apts. (with two wings, angled front) We've covered the murder earlier in the thread.
__


With an apology to tovangar, the Hickman case has been discussed here before and at some length. In fact, it was the reason I found my way into the thread in the first place, searching for a picture of the apartment building in which he'd lived and murdered that little girl. As luck would have it, just out of frame to the bottom of your image is a short street named Marion Avenue. Ironic, I guess.

Also, is that Stevens Place I see over there at the western slope of Fort Moore Hill in the shadow of that big, white school district monolith? That's a pretty good shot of it considering how elusive it is. And although 215 N. Hill has been swept away, I see the Majestic is still over there holding on at Temple and N. Hill.

Nice pic.

ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 6:03 PM

:previous: Hickman case, thanks MR. I think that was one of the most 'noirish' cases in all of L.A. I should have remembered the name.



Quote:

Originally Posted by WS1911 (Post 6094672)
I've driven around Pico-Union, but it's been years. Your post lead me to Google the area and I found these two very interesting houses. I'm going to have to get over to that area and take some photos.

Northwest corner Constance and 14th. Looks like it dates from about 1895. Was not listed on Zillow and may be commercial.http://imageshack.us/a/img7/5821/lac...thnwcorner.jpg

What a find WS1911...such a beautiful house. And yes, please go and take some pictures. :)
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ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 6:34 PM

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/2760/aabhickmanapts.jpg
detail

today (amazing the amount of 'infrastructure' that has been added on the roof/compared to the earlier pic.)
http://imageshack.us/a/img585/8923/a...anapttoday.jpg
google earth



The former Belleview Arms is being renovated and marketed as The Brownstone Lofts. (in the aerial above they're putting in a pool)

http://imageshack.us/a/img827/6330/a...naptslofts.jpg
gsv

Do they have to disclose the 'murder unit' when they go to sell it? Is it a law in California?



The building is quite large. This is the view along Boylston Street
http://imageshack.us/a/img10/4985/aabhickmanaptt1.jpg
gsv



originally posted by GaylordWilshire
http://imageshack.us/a/img201/848/aabhickmangw.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1884
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MichaelRyerson Apr 17, 2013 7:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej (Post 4608647)
I like this picture too:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7...tyhall1952.jpg
USC archive

In the center you can see a 3-story apartment building; it has a sign on top that I can't read, "????? APT-HOTEL." Anyway, in 1927, a notorious, shocking murder occurred here. Back then, the apartments were called the Bellevue Arms. In December of 1927, 19 year-old William Edward Hickman kidnapped 12 year-old Marian Parker, the daughter of an LA banker. He murdered her in his apartment, which was in this building. The crime was particularly shocking and gruesome because he dismembered her but used her armless and leg-less body as a decoy to pick up the ransom money, pretending that she was still alive and fooling the girl's father, who dropped off the ransom money. The apartment building still exists and is being converted into expensive condos.

The house that the Parkers lived in also still exists. I wonder whatever happened to the family...

You can read about the crime here; the website misspells her name as Marion Parker: http://markgribben.com/?p=288

Here is the image and post that brought me to these shores originally. Ah, sopas ej, Beaudry, Gaylord Wilshire, some of the old gang. And by the way, sopas it turned out was wrong about the little girl's name, it was Marion after all.

Ed Henry Apr 17, 2013 7:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHX31 (Post 6094666)
161 N Mission Road

Didn't find much info about it, nor could I find it searching this thread. It sticks out in an area with mostly industrial and recently built apartments.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...asdfasdfae.jpg
google street view

It has a ghost sign on the side, but I can't make it out.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...dfasdfadsf.jpg
google street view

I suppose it was only a matter of time... I live here! (the 2nd floor). Oddly enough, I only recently deciphered the faint signage on the side: Sprague Meter Company. I've lived here a dozen years and every time I walk up to the place and look at that sign I've scratched my head. A couple months ago it just suddenly jumped out at me. Google tells me that Sprague made coin-operated home gas meters. You put in a nickel (or whatever) and it gave you a nickel's worth of natural gas.
My landlord tells me this building used to be a chili factory (processing chili peppers). But I don't think it is/was related to the El Pato hot sauce factory which is just up the road. Also said the place was built in 1917 or 27, I forget. He had some photo he found when he bought the place (I think)... I'll see if I can get my hands on that and scan it. In fact, I'll sit down with him next week and see if I can get the whole story from him (take notes, etc.).

I haven't been able to find any older photos online of this building. None. And very very few from this area of Mission Rd. This part of Mission Rd used to be called something else. I'll dig that up and post again another day.

Man, the place kinda looks like hell in these google street view pictures... :P It's taken some damage at one point or another, and has, within the last 20 years or so, been retro-fitted with additional structural supports. The landlord, who is an architect and specializes in earthquake retrofit, has an office on the ground floor, so I assume the place is relatively safe.

MichaelRyerson Apr 17, 2013 7:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Henry (Post 6094915)
I suppose it was only a matter of time... I live here!


Oh man, that is great! Welcome to the thread Ed Henry. We're going to have to put some effort into Mission Road now. That is so cool we posted your house! By the way, is that your bike out front? Please have that sit-down with your landlord and find out what you can. Scan that old pic if he can find it, too. Welcome.

ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 8:29 PM

I finally solved a mini-mystery I had regarding the building below.

http://imageshack.us/a/img689/7360/a...dagmar1949.jpg
found on an old cd of mine

I had this labeled 840 Dagmar (for obvious reasons ;)). For the life of me I could not locate a 840 Dagmar (except in Long Beach)
Then today, in an El Paso newspaper of all places I found this ad among others advertising hotels in sunny California.

May 1914
http://imageshack.us/a/img801/4007/a...odagmaronh.jpg
http://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas

It's long gone but it's still fun to finally place it. The large hotel that you see behind the Dagmar in the photo above is the
old Trinity Auditorium/Embassy Hotel building.


site of the Dagmar at 840 S. Hope Street
http://imageshack.us/a/img805/262/aa...hopelonggo.jpg
google earth



The Dagmar
http://imageshack.us/a/img836/3840/aabdag1.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=198


the back of the Trinity building/visible first photo (I'm looking for a ghost sign along the roof line) -hard to tell.
http://imageshack.us/a/img853/8117/aabdagmarsitew2.jpg
gsv



The impressive Trinity Auditorium Building/
http://imageshack.us/a/img703/4710/a...rtrinity1a.jpg
gsv



This has been posted before, but it's one of my favorite photographs on 'noirish Los Angeles'.

Trinity Auditorium
http://imageshack.us/a/img577/786/aa...ityauditor.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=198
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Welcome to the thread Ed Henry!
__

tovangar2 Apr 17, 2013 8:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson (Post 6094696)
With an apology to tovangar....

Lol, no apology needed MR. I'm usually not squeamish at all (I love a good, grisly organized-crime murder) but that one really got to me. Originally fascinated (and repelled), I ended up having bad dreams about it (oh, the power of noir). My apologies for being such a girl about it.

What ever did happen to Beaudry, gsjansen, et al?


Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 6094789)

Do they have to disclose the 'murder unit' when they go to sell it? Is it a law in California?

__

I doubt there's a law. I recently read an interview with one of the successful flipper/developers. He said that he never buys a property where a suicide has occurred. He didn't mention murders.



Hi Ed Henry. Cool coincidence. My building will never end up here. It's a nondescript stucco box from the 80s. Yours was built in 1921.

PHX31 Apr 17, 2013 9:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Henry (Post 6094915)
I suppose it was only a matter of time... I live here! (the 2nd floor). Oddly enough, I only recently deciphered the faint signage on the side: Sprague Meter Company.

HA! nice! And that's a pretty cool concept - coin operated utilities.

I'd be interested in seeing what the inside of a building like this looks like currently. If you end up tracking down more information about your building, add in some interesting current interior pictures if you can.

ethereal_reality Apr 17, 2013 11:19 PM

I was curious about the apartment building in the distance/and what was written on it.

posted by sopas_ej/MichaelRyerson
http://imageshack.us/a/img545/228/aa...ewareindis.jpg



The building's still there. The sign says Edgeware Apts.
http://imageshack.us/a/img27/8656/aa...ewareaeria.jpg
google aerial


It's located at 1324 Calumet Avenue.
http://imageshack.us/a/img688/9594/a...eware1324c.jpg




http://imageshack.us/a/img835/4615/a...nedgeware2.jpg
gsv
__




A better view of the old sign from Bellevue Avenue.

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/4593/aa...ewareaptfr.jpg
gsv





The vacancy sign is as old as the Edgeware Apts. sign
http://imageshack.us/a/img37/3128/aa...ewareaptf2.jpg
gsv

No sordid stories (so far) associated with this building.

tovangar2 Apr 17, 2013 11:47 PM

Still focused on Pershing Square, I was researching the Auditorium Building (1906-1985) again and wondered what else Charles F Whittesey (1867-1941) had designed besides that one (I was also wondering if Whittlesey was aware of and approved of the Streamlining of the Auditorium Building in '38) and the Mayflower (now Checkers) Hotel (1927). It turns out he did the 600-room El Rey Hotel (1924) too (which I don't think has been mentioned here) down on the Nickel at San Pedro and 6th:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-q...80825%2BPM.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zilf/4885926306/

Never meant to be grand (it was built as a "moderately-priced" hotel), it still has a lot of dignity:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X...82815%2BPM.jpg
gsv

Whittlesey also did the 1906 Hayward Hotel on the SW corner of Spring and 6th (built on the site of the first Ralphs store). It still operates as a hotel. The Parkinsons built annexes on either end of the original building:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--...81148%2BPM.jpg
gsv

Whittlesey was a draughtsman with Louis Sullivan in Chicago for many years. CF Whittesey's son Austin (1893-1950), also an architect, apprenticed for seven years with Bertram Goodhue. He was Allison and Allison's lead architect for One Bunker Hill (1930) and also did the Filipe de Neve Branch Library (1929) in Lafayette Park among other buildings when he had his own firm. He was also a contributing architect to City Hall and the Hall of Justice.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s...72649%2BPM.jpg
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mic...7632237642620/


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

Noticed the beautiful Young Apartments DTLA (Grand and Venice). Great typeface on the signage.

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


Quote:

Originally Posted by PHX31 (Post 6095113)
And that's a pretty cool concept - coin operated utilities.

During my years in London, coin-operated gas meters were a standard feature of bed-sits. Apparently the meters' coin boxes were quite easy to break into and proved too tempting for some flat-broke tenants. Gangs of petty thieves also used to break into bed-sits during the day to empty the coin boxes. I think the meters were finally all phased out when the country was retrofitted for North Sea gas.

ethereal_reality Apr 18, 2013 12:10 AM

:previous: The Young Apartments, one of my favorites T2!
__

Where was this located? (at first I had NBC & RCA confused) -sorry

Los Angeles 1940s
http://imageshack.us/a/img801/8453/aabrcasnap.jpg
ebay

Is it a pressing plant for lps? /distribution center?
__

ethereal_reality Apr 18, 2013 12:50 AM

Best church key ever.
http://imageshack.us/a/img14/5808/aabchurchkeyleg.jpg
ebay

Los Angeles Wine Co. (why isn't it a cork screw?)
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