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ethereal_reality Oct 28, 2011 4:54 AM

One more post from me about Taix French Restaurant.


http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6...tinglablog.jpg
eatingla

Check out this link. There are several comments that reminisce about eating at Taix back in the day.
http://eatingla.blogspot.com/2008/01...inal-taix.html

Those Who Squirm! Oct 28, 2011 5:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaudry (Post 4856617)

But I do see yet another parking lot. It's little short of astonishing, the ability they had to put parking lots in every conceivable spot in the area. We bemoan the lost of our architectural history because it's almost all lost--and they utterly ignored the value of what they had because they needed parking lots.

The consolation is that by the time we get to about 1925 or so, we find that hundreds of buildings from that time, both residential and commercial are still to be found all over the city, but particularly in the older districts surrounding downtown proper. In the 1970s, when I became interested in this, many of demolished or soon-to-be demolished buildings around the Plaza and Bunker Hill, were or would have been no older than the "hundreds of buildings" are now, to which I alluded to above. And it seems likely these buildings will remain, because the forces which led to all the demolitions and the exodus from downtown have largely abated, if not reversed.

And, of course, another bright spot is the Old Bank District (TM), which largely escaped the notice and destructive zeal of the CRA, and is still there today.

gsjansen Oct 28, 2011 11:27 AM

a very noirish image of downtown with the taix sign

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


FredH....You're aerials are amazing! keep em coming! my favorite current pasttime is studying the incredible detail of your posts! thank you so much for sharing them. :)

Fab Fifties Fan Oct 28, 2011 2:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 5459479)
below: FredH here is a photograph of the Taix restaurant circa 1954.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9...ix1954lapl.jpg
LAPL_________

It looks like our friends have an incorrect year on this photo. It should be 1959 or later as there is a '56 Lincoln in the parking lot and a '59 Ford rounding the curve. I'll send them a lil e-mail.

~Jon Paul

GaylordWilshire Oct 28, 2011 8:29 PM

:previous:

Maybe a little later than '59.... The '56 Lincoln--a Premiere with factory air--appears to have the narrower-band whitewalls (with a black band between whitewall and rim) that became standard by the fall of 1962 with the introduction of the '63 Detroit offerings... just a little Aspergerian addition to the knowledge...

malumot Oct 28, 2011 9:48 PM

Re: French Quarter
 
Well we know (from some of the posts on the previous 254 pages! :cool:) that many French were involved in the early development of LA.

Was probably subsumed by the overall growth of LA. Betcha by the 50s the "French Quarter" was more like "the one block of Commercial Avenue that Taix sat on". (Not unlike NYC's "Little Italy", which is now no more than "three blocks of Mulberry Street north of Canal".)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 5459404)
Thanks sopas ej. I remember the French Hospital in Chinatown and always wondered about it. I had never heard anything about the French quarter in L.A.


Those Who Squirm! Oct 29, 2011 5:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire (Post 4870893)
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb8489p4z1/FID5
A Germain Seed & Plant Company commemorative map. (See bottom for link to a larger version.)

The name "Germain" ...

Germain's also ran a pet shop, or as they so cleverly styled it, a Pet Shoppe.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YlTcjdZrbh...0/Germains.jpg

They were across the street from the P.E. terminal in this building:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YlTcjdZrbh...oppe+today.JPG; both buildings are still here and, I believe, are now converted to residential use.

Those Who Squirm! Oct 29, 2011 6:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 4892004)
some cold war noir image

Los Angeles mayor Fletcher Bowron and civil defense director Admiral Robert W. Berry declare the city hall air raid shelter open, July 2nd 1951

The Amestoy building is still standing at market and main on the left

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1394/...19d44ff5_b.jpg
USC Digital Archives


LAPL

Is it just me, or does Mayor Bowron look almost exactly like Curley-Joe DeRita?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Curlyjoe.jpg

FredH Oct 29, 2011 7:09 AM

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/328/taix1964lapl.jpg
LAPL

According to the Taix website, they moved out to Sunset in 1962. If this photo was from 1964, maybe Eddie had moved in but was to lazy (or too cheap) to have the Taix sign taken down.

gsjansen Oct 29, 2011 12:43 PM

"Midst the lily pads of a little fish pond watched over by the statue of a mysterious old gnome, death today had ended the life of Mrs. Mary James, three months the bride of Robert James, who found her lying face down in the pond when he returned to their West Eighth street home with friends last night. Arrow points out where Mrs. James' body was found. Standing is Viola Lueck, who had come with James to visit his wife. At right is the statue of the gnome, the only eye-witness to the tragedy, smoking his pipe silently."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094154.jpg
Source: LAPL


In 1935 Mary Busch, 27, answered an ad placed by beauty parlor/barber shop owner Robert James, who was looking for a manicurist for his shop. Soon after she was hired, she and James were married and she became pregnant three months later. On the evening of August 3, 1935, Busch became ill while working at the shop and was sent home. On Monday, August 5th, with Busch still "ill" and unable to work, James ran the shop on his own; after closing at 7:30 pm he invited two friends, Viola Lueck and her boyfriend Jim Pemberton, over for dinner. When they arrived at their home and didn't find Busch inside, they went out back and found her lying face down in the fishpond. Police and a physician arrived at the home, where they pronounced Busch dead at the scene, victim of an accidental drowning. It was surmised she had become dizzy due to her pregnancy, had fallen, and struck her head on one of the rocks used to rim the pool, though no evidence of a head injury was found. When Robert James filed a claim to collect on his wife's insurance policies totaling $21,400, he launched a chain of events that would lead to his downfall. After further investigation, it was determined that he and another man, Charles Hope, had concocted an elaborate scheme to murder Mary Busch. James convinced Busch to have an illegal abortion procedure, but instead, had her consume several glasses of whisky as "anesthesia", and strapped her down to a table with her eyes and mouth taped shut, he then stuck her foot into a box containing two Colorado diamond-back snakes who immediately sunk their fangs into her big toe. Hours passed and Busch still had not died, so James decided to drown her in the bathtub, and with Hope's help, arranged her body in the fishpond to make it appear as if she had tripped and fell in head-first. When confronted with evidence, Hope and James turned on each other. Hope agreed to turn states evidence and pled guilty to first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence. James went to trial for the murder of his wife, where the jury returned a guilty verdict and sentenced him to death by hanging. On May 9, 1942, Robert James became the last man to be hanged in California (capital punishment became more "humane" with the adoption of the gas chamber soon after).

Photograph shows a see-through crate with two large Colorado diamondback snakes, which appear curled and ready to strike. These snakes are similar to those that allegedly were used by Robert James and Charles Hope to poison James' wife, Mary Busch James in an attempt to kill her.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094172.jpg
Source: LAPL


"Charles Hope is shown at right watching officers re-enact his story of how James assertedly put his wife's foot into a box that contained deadly rattlesnakes, shortly before he allegedly drowned her."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094164.jpg
Source: LAPL


"White and wan, Robert S. James, marrying barber, shown standing up in court, was sentenced today to be hanged on the gallows for the rattlesnake torture and bathtub drowning of his seventh bride, Mary Busch James. He scarcely batted an eye at the "jolt."" Note: Pictured with James is his lawyer, Samuel Silverman (left), and a Deputy identified as George Perdue.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094210.jpg
Source: LAPL


"Robert James, barber shop Casanova convicted of the dastardly rattlesnake torture murder of his seventh bride, is shown in jail holding the two hack saws that were sent through the mail addressed to him in a daring and desperate escape plan. Arrows point out the two 14-inch black steel saws. The saws were found by attaches who inspected the mail."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094183.jpg
Source: LAPL


"Doomed to swing high on the gallows tree, Robert James is shown when he slept fitfully on the cot in his jail cell early today after jailors had taken a razor blade from his bedding. Officials believed he planned to end his life after the jury returned its verdict finding him guilty of first-degree murder in the rattlesnake torture and drowning of his seventh bride. James was wan and haggard on his cot and officials said he reminded them of a man already hanged."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094176.jpg
Source: LAPL


"In this fish pond at the rear of the La Canada home of Robert S. James, his pretty wife, Mary Busch, was found dead seven years ago. Today, this scene was recalled as James, convicted of using rattlesnakes to help kill his wife, was hanged at San Quentin Prison."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094184.jpg
Source: LAPL

gsjansen Oct 29, 2011 1:23 PM

we've done the car crash, the bus crash, the train and truck crash...........what's left?......oh yeah!


December 16th, 1962

"Flying Tiger cargo plane was flying east before crashing at Laurel Canyon Boulevard between Hart and Vose streets. After hitting signboard (black arrow) it left wreckage in area some 1200 feet long and 85 feet wide. Major portion of fuselage was embedded in ground (white arrow) before plane slammed to halt (circle). Eighty feet more and the plane would have smashed into apartment house where 100 persons, including 41 children live."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094065.jpg
Source: LAPL


December 13, 1978

"Beer drinking pool player gawks at single-engine Cessna that crash landed outside this bar in Lomita yesterday." The location of the bar is 2257 Pacific Coast Highway. .....(i'm hopin' the beer guzzler at the pilot)

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094046.jpg
Source: LAPL


February 4th, 1978

"Single-engine plane lies near Marina del Rey after crash killed unidentified pilot."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094051.jpg
Source: LAPL


June 11, 1979

Police and fire fighters examine the wreckage of a Cessna in the northbound lane of the San Diego freeway, where the planed crashed.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094034.jpg
Source: LAPL


July 8th, 1981

"This tangled mass of aircraft represents only two-thirds of the problem that resulted when a would-be thief, who apparently didn't know how to fly, climbed aboard a Piper Aztec at Santa Monica Airport today. According to Police Lt. Robert Thomas, the thief leaped out when it went out of control on the ground, crashing into two other planes. The wreckage at left and center is from the twin-engine Piper. On the right is a damaged single-engine Piper Cherokee."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094036.jpg
Source: LAPL

July 4th, 1980

"To the California Highway Patrol officers, if it's not one thing, it's another. As if they didn't have enough trouble with traffic on the ground at the start of this hot holiday weekend, yesterday afternoon a single-engine Cessna bellyflopped on the San Bernardino Freeway near the busy downtown interchange. Miraculously, neither the pilot of the plane, 28-year-old Leonard Adams of Eagle Point, Ore., nor any drivers were seriously hurt when the plane crash landed in the right lane. No cars were struck, but the plane was demolished. A CHP spokeswoman said Adams was en route from Oregon to Orange County when the 'engine just quit on him.' Adams was taken to White Memorial Hospital where he is listed in satisfactory condition. 'He really had an immense amount of luck,' said CHP officer Bruce Mauldin."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094026.jpg
Source: LAPL


August 23rd, 1982

"A small plane sits atop two parked cars in West Los Angeles following a fatal crash yesterday. Kenneth Jackson, 50, the pilot of the Piper Comanche 250, was killed when his plane skimmed across a rooftop on South Edris Street and crashed into the two cars. Authorities believe Jackson of Los Angeles had been in touch with the Santa Monica airport control tower just before the plane went down. A witness, Kevin Shea, said, 'We heard a crash and came running out to find the plane on top of my dad's car.' Shea said he and his brother, Brian, attempted to free the Los Angeles city employee from the small plane. Jackson, however, apparently died just moments before paramedics arrived."

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00094/00094020.jpg
Source: LAPL

"if God had wanted to man to fly, he would have given him wings........."

gsjansen Oct 29, 2011 1:36 PM

in 1952, the hall of records loses it's "gingerbread" onramentation due to damage and loosening by earthquakes.

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093284.jpg
Source: http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093284.jpg

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00093/00093285.jpg
Source: LAPL

sopas ej Oct 29, 2011 1:56 PM

Fascinating post about the Mary Busch/Robert James case, gsjansen! I had never heard about it before. I'm still confused about where his house is/was located, being that in the first post it's mentioned as being on West 8th St. (which made me assume Los Angeles), but then later on it says that his house was in La Cañada; I don't recall any numbered streets in La Cañada. That town is so boring, too--nice, somewhat upscale, and home to Descanso Gardens and all, but for the most part, a boring place. And now I know it has a noir aspect to it. Cool!

This gives more details about Robert James, who was a really seedy guy: http://murderrevisited.blogspot.com/

It said that the rope used to hang him was the wrong length--it took him over 10 minutes to die.

sopas ej Oct 29, 2011 2:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FredH (Post 5460773)
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/328/taix1964lapl.jpg
LAPL

According to the Taix website, they moved out to Sunset in 1962. If this photo was from 1964, maybe Eddie had moved in but was to lazy (or too cheap) to have the Taix sign taken down.

I was gonna say, because in this picture, you can see the Welton Becket-designed Federal Building in the background, which opened in 1964:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9512/000171971.jpg
LAPL

Here's that building today:
http://you-are-here.com/los_angeles/federal.jpg
you-are-here.com

Oh I see; Eddie's isn't in the same building as the Taix. The sign just advertises it, it's a few doors down, around the bend. I just had a thought; I notice even today, in San Francisco, that you'll see signs for names of motels that aren't on the actual motel buildings (they might even be half a block away) but they act sort of like directional signs for them. We've already seen examples of this on this thread in Los Angeles, like the sign for the Paris Inn on Sunset and Broadway:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics08/00013681.jpg
LAPL

GaylordWilshire Oct 29, 2011 7:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsjansen (Post 5460848)
we've done the car crash, the bus crash, the train and truck crash...........what's left?......oh yeah!


And let's not forget Howard Hughes crashing into Beverly Hills in 1946:


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P...2520PM.bmp.jpgCorbis

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...2520PM.bmp.jpgCorbis

http://www.aviatorhowardhughes.com/i...xf11-crash.jpgAviatorHowardHughes

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...ughescrash.jpgLenin Imports

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...2520PM.bmp.jpgEAA

Full story here:
EAA

Those Who Squirm! Oct 29, 2011 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality (Post 4888880)
300 block of N. Main St. (Thanks for the correction Beaudry)


http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/5...ofpicobldg.jpg
usc digital archive

Isn't that the old Bella Union Hotel, partly obscured by the right margin?

FredH Oct 30, 2011 1:12 AM

Another Photo Mural
 
I really like this photo, but the copy shot did not come out as sharp as some of the others. Looks like sometime before the Dodger Stadium dig began. Sorry about the quality.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1491/25532e2.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.


Stupid question alert :jester:
They say there is no such thing as a stupid question, so here goes:
What is this large building? I see buses. It seems very large for just a bus terminal.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg21/...jpg&res=medium
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc

ethereal_reality Oct 30, 2011 3:14 AM

Originally posted by FredH
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7285/paceeast.jpg
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service


The building in question is the Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main Street.
I believe this is a view of the elevated annex at the back (east side) of the terminal
where passengers entered the main terminal via an enclosed bridge over Los Angeles Street.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6...eleocaloia.jpg
Leo Caloia

In the 1950s the interurban rail service routes were gradually abandoned and replaced by motor coaches.


below: Another view of the Pacific Electric Building (originally the Huntington Building).

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9759/pacel.jpg
usc digital archive


FredH, the aerial you posted shows a bit of the Jonathan Club roof garden.
The private social club inhabited the top three floors of the P-E Building until 1925.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6290/pacelaplroof.jpg
LAPL



below: The club's enchanting ballroom atop the Pacific Electric Building.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/9169/paceballroom.jpg
shainla

http://shainla.typepad.com/photos/pa...ilding/jc.html

FredH Oct 30, 2011 4:28 AM

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg21/...jpg&res=medium
Earl Witscher, Modernage Photo Service Inc.


Thanks ethereal reality, It sure looked like the building was set up for rails, but there were only buses in the picture.

It is hard to tell from the aerial photo, but there doesn't seem to be much left of the roof garden. It almost looks liked they pulled everything out and put in Astro Turf or something. I would have loved to go up there when the Jonathan Club had the place.

gsjansen Oct 30, 2011 12:45 PM

for great images of the P&E building at 6th and main, check out the 2000 japanese gang flick Brother. the los angeles gang sets up their headquarters in the old ballroom space at the top of the P&E building.

http://www.musicman.com/moomoo/brother2.jpg
Source: Musicman.com


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