good catch A NY! it does appear that the santa rita still exists, (well kinda........)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/...a23d6e87_b.jpg

there are other examples of building throughout los angeles that have had their upper floors lopped off for varying reasons. mostly due to earthquake damage.

here's an image looking east on 11th street from main, past the north elevation of the santa rosa

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...-3-8-ISLA?v=hr
Source: USC Digital Library

the same view today using googlemaps

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6193/...df270e80_b.jpg


the way to capture an image from google maps, is to hit print screen, (hold the control, (Ctrl) key and the print screen, (prntscr) simultainuosly). this copies the image to your clipboard. then paste the image into any image editing program, (paint comes with all windows os). then save the image as a jpg........viola!

Mesmer
 

I quote an essay on Mesmer City in "Los Angeles in Maps" p. 162 but also found mention of Louis and the first U.S. Hotel when he purchased it during the Civil War, 1864 from Mr. and Mrs. Strassforth and flew the Union flag which was controversial.(Pioneers and Entrepeneurs: french immigrants in the making of LA 1827-1927) Even though Louis was Catholic he made his pile baking matzo for Jewish angelenos which lead to his buying the hotel. He made a lot of dough off the hotel and in 1869 he rented it to mssrs. Gray and Adams. He also built St. Vibiana cathedral in 1874 and built the new U.S. Hotel in 1886. There is an extensive obituary on him in the Times August 19, 1900 The estate is described including the hotel on August 30.

:previous:
Thank you for the fascinating information!

-Scott

Thank you Cleats! More items for me to locate and read:D

~F3

Ciro's was THE place to be seen!
 

I was poring through the amazing collection of Maynard L Parker photographs on Calisphere and found these beautiful noir shots of Ciro's from opening night in 1940

We have already seen this exterior shot on the thread, but it is definitely worth repeating!
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4...terior1940.png

Dining Room
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1881/...terior1940.png

Dancefloor
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5...efloor1940.png

Bar
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7...rosbar1940.png

Stage
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7...dstand1940.png

The interior was designed by one of the city's most in-demand designers, Tom Douglas. In the late 30's or early 40's the decor was changed to more of a subdued ambiance with substantially darker textiles and furnishings.

~F3

Calisphere

and this was HER place!
 

A few great Maynard Parker shots of the Paul Revere Williams designed Perino's on Wilshire, 1964.

Exterior
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6826/perinos1964.png

Dining Room and Lounge
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1395/...terior1964.png

Lounge
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3...lounge1964.png

Much more Margaret Drysdale French Provencial than I thought it would be.

~F3

Calisphere

Wow, I am amazed the Santa Rita Hotel still exists as a one story building. Kudos to Albany_NY for his initial discovery.



below: Another survivor...the Doria Apartments at Pico & Union circa 1971.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/115...counionin1.jpg
lapl




http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5...nionsocalm.jpg
SO CAL METRO

above: I am delighted that "The Doria Apartments" sign (upper right) has survived after all these years. I wonder if it still lights up?!?


__________

Also...I love those interior photos of Ciro's and Perino's Fab_Fifties_Fan.

Somehow I doubt if The DORIA lights up. (It probably didn't even back in '71, but at least the building looked as though it had some life). Kind of reminds me of the Angels Flight Pharmacy, right down to the typeface of the signage and the market next door.

Looking at that present-day photo, (especially that charming first-floor retail) The Doria should just be put out of its misery.

I see they planted a few trees and put utilities underground over the past forty years! Yippee!......like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.)

:previous:

IMHO L. A isn't the Titanic-- if it was I wouldn't bother to visit this site.... I for one don't think the Doria is in any sort of misery that it needs to be put out of... it looks good, in fact.

Isn't the decor what they used to call "Hollywood Regency"?

Some friends took me to dinner at Perino's on a visit to L.A. in 1971. I remember the dining room as being a pale, salmon-like color and surprisingly well-lit. Anthony Quinn and his party were seated at one of the booths in the center of the room ("This is MY table at Perino's!"). I remember the food being what was then called "continental" - vaguely French and grandly presented. The service was excellent in spite of the fact that we were all young (mid- 20s) people who had never been to Perino's before and clearly weren't celebs. It was a very pleasant evening.

There were definitely pieces that would fit in with the Hollywood Regency style, but not all. HR is usually a mixture of Italianite, Deco, Provincial and Streamline Moderne. Perino's was just all French Provincial and the color story was pink, gold and ivory! Not saying it was bad design at all, it was just surprising to me as it was fairly atypical for a Paul Revere Williams design.

~F3

How lucky you got to experience it Perino's personally!!! I am quite happy that what the article I was reading called pink was actually a pale salmon....phew!!! When I lived in L.A. in the mid '70s, I was a broke student and treated myself to a once a month extravagance of all-you-can-eat fried clams at Howard Johnson's:D That was the extent of my fine dining back then!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6205/...55394e07_o.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6194/...f7608fd1_o.jpg

Couple hundred feet east of Lyon, on Macy (now César Chávez) looking south toward the backend of Becket's Federal Bldg, Union Station et al, 1971...

...this view is now of the backend of the '77 Piper Technical. Which is a cool place to cruise around and look at all the smashed-up cop cars. Largest rooftop airport in the world to boot! (And home of the City Archives, God bless 'em.)

Now this is Hollywood Regency!!!
 

Another incredible over the top design by Tom Douglas (Ciro's).

The Coty Paris Salon at 3150 Wilshire in 1938
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1...nexterior1.png

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/4...ninterior2.png

Staircase detail
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/5...ninterior1.png

....and 3150 Wilshire today via Google street view. sigh
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/8...50wilshire.jpg

Calisphere

That Coty interior is amazing!

_____

Perino's (painted blue!) and the Los Altos Apartments in 1978.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9684/s1978.jpg
lapl / Marlene Laskey Collection



below: The Los Altos Apartments in the 1920s. On the far side is the building that eventually would become Perino's. I had no idea it used to have a rather striking art deco pylon.



http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/3...os1945lapl.jpg
lapl



below: After a bit of searching I found out it used to be a Thriftymart.....shown here in 1938.

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/1...tymart1938.jpg

So is this the same building or not? Why lose the impressive pylon?


_________

below: Perino's even had their own cigarettes.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8...ackage1955.jpg
jimsburntofferings

Here's the link to the cigarette story.
http://www.jimsburntofferings.com/packsperino.html




below: One of those cigarettes became lodged in an upholstered chair causing this fire in 1954.

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/9...fire1954ci.jpg
lapl

A few more photos of the beautiful Los Altos Apartments on Wilshire Boulevard.


http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3...12wilshire.jpg
lapl




below: n o i r.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2...saltosnoir.jpg
lapl



below: Color photographs from 1978.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5...in1978lapl.jpg
marlene laskey collection/lapl



http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5...n1978lapl1.jpg
marlene laskey collection/lapl



We're lucky this wonderful building survives!

_________

An astonishing photo of the Los Altos Apartment garage located at 626 S. Bronson Avenue, circa 1978.


http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/2...ein1978loc.jpg
marlene laskey collection

A treasure trove of abandoned automobiles. Are these remnants of long dead residents?



below: The garage is still there.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6...aragetoday.jpg
google street views




below: Another photo from 1978.


http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2...ein1978loc.jpg
marlene laskey collection at lapl

Now this is fascinating!!! I've got to check around with all the LA car club guys and see if anyone knows what that was all about. It's so interesting in that there were such unusual vehicles as a WWII military ambulance, 20's limousine and what seems to be a 30's taxi among the collection!

and F3 heads off on another obsessive fact gathering expedition :banaride:

Great stuff ethereal_reality!!! I kind of remember Perino's being more of a dove grey in 75-76 with charcoal trim. But it could have been a blue gray. Details are fuzzy 36 years later.

What I just found out is that Perino's also had a restaurant that was actually inside the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills from the late 30's to mid 40's. I'll post some pictures of it shortly. Who knew???

Perino's at Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills
 

do you think this was HER place when shopping???

I'm simply exhausted from all this shopping! There's Perino's, over to the left dear. Let's go have a nice lunch!
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5016/perinossfa5.png

Martini before lunch dear?
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/17/perinossfa2.png

Bar or booth dear?
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/3853/perinossfa3.png

It is so dark at this booth, I can barely find my olive. Why don't we order another and move to one of those better lit booths dear.
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4949/perinossfa1.png

Now why don't we have our lunch over by the pretty courtyard, can you still walk dear?
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9518/perinossfa4.png

ahhhhh the ladies who lunched!

Calisphere

Just ran across this bittersweet article on the final auction of all Perino's furnishings. The article does say that it was indeed the Thriftimart building heavily remodeled by Paul Revere Williams. Mr Williams must not have liked that incredible pylon. On that, I can't agree.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jun...al/me-perinos5

Fantastic photographs of the Perino's at Saks Fifth Avenue.
I knew there was once a location at Saks because of this matchbook I found on ebay several months ago.
This is the first time that I've seen photographs!! Great research F3.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/568...saks5thave.jpg
ebay

All....
 

I wanted to take a minute and thank all of the contrbutors to this thread that have posted so many wonderful images and stories of Los Angeles past and present!

I have spent countless hours studying the thread and conducting my own searches all around the web. I have been having a blast!

It has been incredible for me to not only, in a sense, connect with the Los Angeles my parents experienced during the war years but also for me to relive the memories of my life there in the '70s. It was an awesome time for me and this thread has made me reconnect with parts of every day life in L.A. that I had somewhat forgotten.

During my first couple of weeks attending design school at FIDM, I decided that to really feel at home in Los Angeles, I needed a fedora. Why I made that decision, I'm no longer sure, but I think it was just my obsession with old Hollywood, especially noir. A man had to have a fedora in Los Angeles.

At lunch, a friend from school and I walked down 8th street to the Salvation Army thrift store and I found exactly the hat I wanted. It fit me perfectly and was in primo condition, really looking like it had never been worn. Best part, it was a $1.25 and soon to be mine! Immediately after paying for it and leaving the store, I had it out of the bag and on my head.

When we got back to school, my friend grabbed the camera that was kept around to photograph our work and snapped a picture of me and my hat. For the next two years, while I still lived in Los Angeles, I wore that hat pretty much everywhere!!!

Me with my fedora 1975
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/5...fedora1975.jpg
(not the best picture of me but a great picture of my hat)

So anyway, I have kept that hat for all these years as my favorite Los Angeles memento. I've not worn it in over 30 years and have just kept it packed away in a hat box with an old cowboy hat of my dad's and miscellaneous other sentimental items. That is until a couple of weeks ago, I dug it out and took it to the local hat shop to be cleaned, repaired and blocked. I am sure I would have never done it if it hadn't been for this nostalgia inducing thread!

I picked it up today and it looks great! Yep, that is it below. Hard to tell its the same hat because of 70's color film vs today's digital image. I am wearing it out tonight!!!
[IMG]http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7361/mefedoranow.jpg[/IMG]

So, thank you again for all your contributions and especially you ethereal_reality for starting this incredible thread over two years ago! I tip my hat to you!

That is such a great story Fab_Fifties_Fan. You are quite handsome in that fedora.

Haha...thank you etheral_reality!

I sent that picture home to my grandmother who always thought everyone should wear hats. She phoned me after she received it. Her response was, "I love the hat but you need a haircut and why do you have such a strange expression on your face? Why aren't you smiling, your parents paid a lot of money for your straight white teeth!"

Gotta love grandmas!

I knew I had color photos of that amazing spiral staircase at Coty. I FINALLY found them this afternoon on an old cd.


http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6...4cotycolor.jpg




http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1...cotycolor1.jpg




http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9...otycolor1a.jpg




http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/271...otycolor1b.jpg



I absentmindedly failed to label where I found these color slides. My guess would be Calisphere (or ebay). :)

Omg!!!!!
 

Those color photos are exquisite ethereal_reality! Thank you for finding them!

I absolutely love the color story of blush walls, oyster details, grey carpet and charcoal banister! and with all the venetian and veined mirrors AND that candelabra!!! (Can you tell great design excites me????)

I can so picture Norma Shearer descending those stairs dragging her mink coat behind her.....ahhhhh those were the days!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-h...2520AM.bmp.jpgHotel & Motel Red Book 1965

I love the impression given in this ad of a Palm Springs resort right in downtown L.A....

pre-1900 wood apartment buildings
 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6079/...97f37143_z.jpg
446-448 Lake in Echo Park near 101
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6062/...5ed16c86_z.jpg
730 Beacon in Westlake
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6064/...5387aaba_z.jpg
2408 Grand ave. south of downtown
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6202/...15752597_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6063/...e185c60937.jpg

Please excuse my ineptitude but I am trying to post some photos given to me to post by Bunker Hill scholar Rick M. for the amusement of Noirish folk

http://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/...1071-cover.jpg

Last add Perino's: several menus on the LAPL webpage

Sadly, the vegetative charm has been stripped from the Amy:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k...2520PM.bmp.jpgGoogle Street View


And let's not forget ethereal's find from earlier this year:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2505

i got nothing to add, just wanted to say this is the best thread on SSP :D really informative and fascinating stuff, thanks guys.

SL! i am digging your site! your investigations into silent filming locations around los angeles is superb! keep up the great work!

i particularly love this screen capture of shemp running east on market street between main and los angeles in soup to nuts. (u.s. hotel on the left, amestoy on the right)

http://silentlocations.files.wordpre...05/image28.jpg
Source: Silentlocations

your comparison of the filming locations of the stooges soup to nuts with Keaton's cops is fabulous!

once again, thank you for your great work!

a great noirish image looking south west from the San Bernardino Freeway towards downtown 1962

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008233.jpg
Source: LAPL

Your blog is incredible.

That Aug 19 posting about the AF observation tower is an amazing piece of detective work. (Didn't know it was still up in '24. I think it was removed not long after.)

Olive looks like a pretty wide street. I can only imagine how many pedestrians got off at the top of the Flight, perhaps a bit tipsy, passed by the ornate entrance and were immediately mowed down by cars as they tried to cross Olive.

Perhaps yet ANOTHER Bunker Hill angle....In the early years of the 20th Century it was primarily a pedestrian neighborhood. I'm betting that later on (and certainly by the 50s) the number and the speed of cars made it far less safe for residents.

L.A., after all. Car is King.

http://silentlocations.wordpress.com...noir-its-true/

I am stuck on this website. It is amazing. Noir. Raymond Chandler. Ross Macdonald. Chinatown, the movie and the place. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley during 1946-1963, but I spent a lot of summer time in Boyle Heights where my grandparents lived. They were there from the early 20s through the early 60s. Calvary Cemetery was one block over. I remember the oil derricks, the tunnels, the oil storage tanks by the Brew 102 brewery. I have a life but it is being sucked up by this forum.
Wonderful pictures and posts. You guys are great.

tending to the garden once again...........................

an authur by the name of Martin Turnbull has written several novels that revolve around the garden of allah. on his web page he has posted the following aerial image of the complex that i had never seen before.

http://www.martinturnbull.com/wp-con...unsetariel.jpg
Source: The Garden of Allah Novels by Martin Turnbull

Sparkly noir
 

Very cool photo by the great Dick Whittington.

Fireworks over Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Undated)
http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/3...eworkslamc.jpg

USC/Dick Whittington Collection

News Stand... Los Angeles.



http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7...ybodiebail.jpg
lapl or usc

Bulletin from the Berkeley Square Publicity Department
 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_RJaHF8q8a...colofulmap.jpgHistoric Map Works

Well, BERKELEY SQUARE: Historic Los Angeles is now complete. I'll add any new information that
comes my way, but all houses have now been covered as have other related stories. Clicking on
the links here will bring you to an overview of the project, with a photo index linking to individual
posts. Hope you enjoy it all. http://berkeleysquarelosangeles.blogspot.com/

DAD BAILEY'S.....

What a slice of time that is! Check out the pulp!

Based purely on hairstyles, I'm guessing 40s.

Tried to make sense of headline on that paper to the right-
no luck. Is that a newspaper or the Racing Form?

Wonder how many times Dad said:

"Hey! No reading here!

Either buy it or move along!

Whaddya think this is, a damn library?"

Absolutely terrific job on the blog GaylordWilshire! I have enjoyed it tremendously since I first found the link on this thread. I certainly appreciate all the hard work and diligence required to author something so thorough. Thank you!!! ~F3

1940s Film of Bunker Hill
 

Anyone seen this little jewel yet? It's 6 minutes of B&W 35mm movie film taken from the back of a car driving around bunker hill in 1940.

http://www.archive.org/details/ADriv...ngelesCa.1940s

http://www.archive.org/download/ADri...rHill1940s.gif

I recognize a lot of structures I've seen in pictures here.

EDIT:

YouTube video of 1920's Los Angeles:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAUlD7-sIPM" target="_blank">Video Link

It has to be later than 1940. There's a billboard advertising televisions north of Fifth and Flower, and the TV pictured looks much more like one from 1950 than 1940. Also, I see several post-WWII-model cars in the film. I'd be curious what our car expert, F3, can come up with in terms of a date. My own guess is 1948.

-Scott

I think you nailed it Scott. There is a 1949 Buick and a 1949 Studebaker but no cars later than those, so I would say Autumn '48.

:previous:
Neat! What's that gorgeous car tailgating the camera down Grand? I think my dad had one of those. (At least there's one that has a similar grille as that in our family album.)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v...2520PM.bmp.jpgInternet Archive

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-O...2520PM.bmp.jpgInternet Archive


Phenomenal 6 minutes of film--the most evocative piece of film I've ever seen of the place and the time.
The Minnewaska, the Frontenac, the Lovejoy, the Angels Flight Pharmacy, the Zelda, the Mutual Garage,
the Richfield Buoilding, the library, the California Club--it's all there. The Packard taxi (MUTUAL 1234) and
the Dodge cab with the "RPM" ad on the back, the Lincoln-Zephyr--is that the car your Dad had, Scott,
or was it the '46-'47-'48 Mercury? Ah, and the classic hot-rods-- Amazing, every millimeter.

It's the one on the right here. :) I'm also curious about the car on the left. Is that the Packard? Talk about style! ^^

Totally stylin! That appears to be a '42 Packard Super 8 :tup: