Barnard Way at Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica. The beach is behind the cameraman. Looks like most buildings are still there, with some remodeling. There is a street sign at far right that reads "Ocean P" so that was the main clue. Also at far left is a one-way sign. Thankfully I started at the ocean end of Ocean Park, and discovered the one-way Fraser Ave. right there at the beginning of my search.

:previous:

Here's a similar view today, although I moved slightly north for a better angle. Barnard Way is in the foreground, with Ocean Park Boulevard on the right. A fence now partically hides the white building, but it looks to be the same as the one in e_r's (Joe's) original picture.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...arnardWay1.jpg
GSV

The background house, roughly in the center of the original picture, is on Fraser Avenue.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...arnardWay2.jpg
GSV

The distinctive sign of the Park Plaza Lodge at 6001 W Third Street is just visible in the background. I wish I'd spun the Googlemobile around to see e_r's two buildings when I posted the GSV image below.

Like any billboard, superimposing a large face on the side of a Santa Monica garage makes for good publicity. It's placement might also invite the type of attention that would interfere with business. Assuming the face is JM's and even assuming the neighbors were accepting, the exterior garage image does not seem in keeping with JM's persona. Sunset Blvd., yes. Ocean Park, maybe not. :shrug:

Surprising number of parked cars to the left? This would be in the undeveloped area of Park La Brea (see aerial below). Can't tell if this is paved or dirt. Assuming this was late '40s early-mid '50s. Overflow parking?

I recall pictures of tennis courts probably to the left of the parked cars, out of the frame. Don't know when they were constructed or ultimately deconstructed.


http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics42/00040734.jpghttp://jpg1.lapl.org/pics42/00040734.jpg

I wondered about that as well Tourmaline. It's hard to tell, but I don't think the painted face looks anything like Joni Mitchell.


Here's lovely Joni at her cottage in Laurel Canyon. (8217 Lookout Mountain Avenue)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...633/DkseBj.jpg

Joni bought the small house in the Spring of 1968 with the royalties from her first album, SONG TO A SEAGULL.





http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/odJEaD.jpg
https://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpr...-bernstein.png

"James Taylor reading a Kool-Aid packet (read: stoned) with Joni Mitchell on the porch of her Lookout Mountain cottage, 1971."



I' tried to spot Joni's cottage on GSV but I couldn't quite tell which one it was (lots of plant life).

but while searching, I met this wonderful old car driving up Lookout Mountain Avenue.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/gngOo7.jpg
gsv

Laurel Canyon is a magical place.

__

And a block east of the 'Dog House' there is this intriguing art deco building on the northeast corner of W. 3rd Street and S. Poinsettia Place.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...910/mSMnDk.jpg
gsv

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...901/YcvETp.jpg
gsv


I'm afraid it's only a matter of time until the deco 'obelisk' crashes onto the roof.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/ZvT4Nu.jpg
detail

So refresh my memory; was this an old Department of Water and Power office building?
I vaguely recall it, but numerous NLA searches brought up nothing.

__

:previous: OK, I just located two photographs of the interior.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...661/43gFxv.jpg
http://www.loopnet.com/Property-Reco...&PgCxtDir=Down




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...538/xG6yIp.jpg
http://www.loopnet.com/Property-Reco...&PgCxtDir=Down

So now I'm thinking it wasn't offices for the Water & Power district. The trussed roof makes me think it could have possibly been a garage.


At another site I found out it was built in 1931.
http://www.fastaddressinfo.com/5873_...5512022023.htm

5873 W. 3rd Street
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...910/mSMnDk.jpg

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:previous:

Hollywood Girl sent me this color image of Patsy D'Amore's Villa Capri.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...538/GYXBaO.jpg
courtesy of Hollywood Girl

Here's another photograph by 'Joe' on flickr.

Gilbert Hotel, Wilcox & Selma, 1995.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...911/lmjb03.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...910/j30Ysu.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/central1179/31544175


It's looking much better in 2015. The side lot has been paved and fenced and it looks like new windows in the Gilbert.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...673/xH7J25.jpg

gsv


"There's a place off the Drag called Gilbert Hotel.
There's a couple of letters burned out in the sign." -Tom Waits



tovanger2 had an great post on this area / be sure to check it out.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=27471


__

Building records indicate that "5877" started out as a gas station in 1931. This is probably where there are parking spaces in your picture. Without any serious research, "5873" may have been the adjoining address and later "conjoined," but in any event, by the early '30s the structure you have pictured was a commercial laundry.

:previous: Thanks for the information Tourmaline.

I was hoping it was something a little more exciting than a commercial laundry.
And like you said, I believe the gas station (shown below) was on the corner.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/9Xd3VV.jpg
gsv

:previous: I wonder if those buildings are fairly new? Notice the faint 'square area' in front of the one building.....perhaps that outline was where the old gas station used to stand.
-just a guess mind you.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...911/g8IzJv.jpg
google_earth

Balboa, July 27, 1923.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...537/Vg7FvF.jpg
eBay

Anyone have an idea what they're sitting on?



here's a closer look.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/8xtYRy.jpg

__

The short answer is "flotsam." :-)

Seriously, given the hinges and the sturdy construction, my guess is the sort of strong chest that would be on the deck of a ship to hold lines, fenders, and bits of rigging. The kind of thing that would come loose and wash overboard in a bad storm. Or float away after a sinking.

Cheers,

Earl

:previous: I thought perhaps it contained life-savers.

I thought of Beaudry when I came across this giant rubber stamp.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/clid0G.jpg
Corey Miller at https://www.flickr.com/photos/toomuchfire/5033603827




Valley Rubber Stamp Co.
1208 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank CA.

2011
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...538/zNenTe.jpg






....a 'for sale' sign appeared a couple years later.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...661/aZHD5D.jpg
gsv







and now the 'Rubber Stamp' sign is gone. :(

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...537/wx5fXb.jpg
gsv


I hope it's being preserved by the former owners of the Rubber Stamp Co.

Just think, that sign probably hung from that bracket for over 60 years...and then one day it disappears.



__

Here's Newport off to the right and Balboa Island in 1921. Of course today in 2015 the area shown is totally covered in upscale homes.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps7ycuy10o.jpg
onlinepics

I just came across this slide showing an unknown movie set. The seller dates it as 1940s.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...910/TX1WrU.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item5d5a1e68ab

seller info:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...540/VBuajC.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item5d5a1e68ab

Does anyone recognize this location? Is it Corriganville?
__

I was about to log out, when I realized the same seller had another vintage slide of interest.



I don't recall ever seeing a color photograph of 'China City'.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/A19Q0d.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Sli...item51d3208053
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...673/kZDYcr.jpg
______

*This early post by FredM shows the three different China City entrances. (all in black and white)
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=14501

The color slide above appears to show the 'China City' entrance near Macy & Main.

__

Gilbert Hotel, 1550 Wilcox Ave, Hollywood
 

Thank you e_r. I have a soft spot for Hollywood side streets and their many modest hotels. The Gilbert on Wilcox and Selma is no exception.

The hotel had about three years as a "nice" place (based more on its newness than anything else) before a rapid slide into all-things-grim brought on by the Depression:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...91028%2BPM.jpg
ranchodesperado

If you ever wondered about the odd spacing on the vertical sign, this is why: "Drive-In Hotel" (?)
The lettering over the entrance, plus the courtyard landscaping, is swell.
The tile-roofed eave over the entrance and the tile roof on the south wing, plus other details, are long gone:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9...3%252520PM.jpg
islandora

The checkerboard floor, which continues from the exterior into the lobby, was a good choice:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y...75149%2BPM.jpg
flickr

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...32633%2BPM.jpg
google

Now. Cleansed of grime, crime and any atmosphere the Gilbert may have once possessed:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-A...74028%2BPM.jpg
john kaliski, architect

The proposal:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C...72844%2BPM.jpg
john kaliski, architect

I hope they do a better job on the neon than they did on the windows:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-f...94037%2BPM.jpg
arcspace

The Gilbert Hotel is just out of shot to the right in this noirishly evocative photo of side-street Hollywood in the 30s:
Today:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...83615%2BAM.jpg
gsv