Thank you, CityBoyDoug, for bringing Richard Lamparski - author of the "Whatever Became Of?" series of books and host of a long-running New York radio show of the same name - to the well-deserved attention of readers here at Noirish Los Angleles. Richard is a longtime friend and I agree that he is a Hollywood treasure, and a national treasure. He is in his 80's now and happily living in Santa Barbara.

(Before sharing some information on Richard, I'll mention that a few days ago I was logged in here at NLA and wrote a lengthy piece about him in reply to CityBoyDoug's request, but when I finished and clicked "submit reply," an instant message appeared saying that I was no longer logged in and BOOM, every word I'd written was instantly deleted. Pretty frustrating. I'm not aware if there is a word limit or a time limit on posting replies, but in the hope I don't get spontaneously logged out & deleted again, I'll write this piece in two or three segments).

What makes Richard a "last living link" to an almost-vanished world and the preeminent authority on "people who were once famous" is that he actually met, interviewed and often befriended the countless hundreds of "celebrities of yesteryear" profiled in his books and on his radio show. He interviewed more than 800 celebrities just on radio between 1965 and 1972. (I know I sound like his press agent but nearly all his books have been out of print for decades and scores of his radio transcripts can be listened to free at the Old Time Radio Archive & Pacifica Radio online).
He has an almost photographic memory and can recall the details of an afternoon 40 or 50 years ago spent with Gloria Swanson ("Sunset Boulevard"), Darla Hood ("The Little Rascals"), humorist & writer Dorothy Parker, or Mary Miles Minter, the silent-era actress involved in the 1922 William Desmond Taylor murder.

To be continued...

Richard is from Detroit. He came to Los Angeles at age 19 in 1952, moved to New York on his birthday in 1960, then returned to Los Angeles in 1973, moving into a house on Carse Drive in the Hollywood Hills across the street from wisecracking movie comedienne Iris Adrian.
When he was 20, with the help of a well-connected aunt, he began meeting old-time movie stars and such people as Lady Sylvia Ashleigh, ex-wife of Clark Gable and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. He got the idea of interviewing "forgotten" celebrities in the mid 50's. One of his first informal interviews was with Evelyn Nesbit, "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" (huge scandal in the early 1900s), then living at a retirement home in Santa Monica. For years he received almost no encouragement to market his interviews. "Who cares about has-beens?" was the usual response from publishers.

By 1965, with a growing interest in "nostalgia" and classic films, he started broadcasting live interviews in New York and the popularity of his radio show and television appearances led to a book contract. In the late 1980's he was including British celebrities (Honor Blackman, Googie Withers, Peggy Cummins, Belita, a British star of Republic Pictures in Hollywood) but felt he'd covered the field.
About ten years ago Richard published two more books, "Hollywood Diary" and "Manhattan Diary," containing more personal and detailed stories that would not have been appropriate for the "Whatever Became Of?" series. Example: the grotesque last years of handsome TV Western actor John Smith ("Cimarron City," "Laramie"), living in a Crenshaw district bungalow with his former beauty queen girlfriend, both of them passed-out-in-the-dirt drunks who had knocked a big hole in the wall between a bedroom and the living room so they could yell out to each other if needing help.

He has a wealth of unpublished material on everything from an odd encounter with Charles Manson (who was supplying young men for sex to a wealthy older antiques dealer Richard knew), the bisexuality of Bette Davis' handsome third husband, William Grant Sherry - something never mentioned in any book about Davis, and the sensational murder of the founder of Panavision in Bel-Air in 1982, certain details of which were wiped from the Los Angeles Times archives, according to Richard's source at The Times.

Occasionally Richard's interviews were unpleasant. His least favorite people included Buffalo Bob Smith of "Howdy Doody" fame and old-time Western star Ken Maynard, a "hopeless drunk" living in a shabby trailer in the San Fernando Valley. He was treated rudely by "Tico Tico" organist Ethel Smith ("if one more person asks me the story behind "Tico Tico" I'll SCREAM"), glamorous black pianist Hazel Scott ("she hates white people, simple"), and fashion writer/actress Ilka Chase ("Now, Voyager"), whose odd behavior suggested the early stages of mental decline.
1930's actress Sally Eilers went on a drunken tirade in front of Richard at her Beverly Hills home, screaming epithets at some neighbors from a balcony.

To be continued...

Wonderful stories Jeff.

I remember hearing Richard on the radio here in Los Angeles. He recalled that he lived either on or near Vine Street in Hollywood.
The famous Ranch Market was nearby and he would shop there for his groceries. Many times he said he would see old-time movie stars at the market. ''I sometimes got up the courage to say hello'', reported Richard. This ignited his interest in them and their stories....which later turned into his interviews and books.

I shopped at the Ranch Market myself a few times but to me the place was too tacky. But they did have great cooked chicken at 2:00 AM.!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps1hulx9fu.jpg
hollywoodphotos

Here is Gloria Swanson and Richard Lamparski....
.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pskn14ugkq.jpg
theshowbizwizard

:previous: What the heck is Gloria doing with her right hand.....
are those her fingers?
_________________________________________________





odinthor, I think you'll like this one too.

I found this slide a couple nights ago on eBay. It's dated June 1957.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/8bjCVS.jpg
eBay (I tried to find it again for the link, but it must have sold)

This is obviously Long Beach, but I'm unsure about the two cross streets.*




The first thing that caught my eye was the roof-top sign for Vivian Laird's.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/mA6sUe.jpg
detail

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/tTu0rY.jpgeBay

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...923/2NHbVP.jpgeBay

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...921/5BSIOC.jpg
inside matchbook



I was pretty much shocked to see the Vivian Laird nightclub building still standing!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...922/fKqRNB.jpg
gsv


For comparison, here's the 'modern/international style' front entrance as it looked in the 1950s.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/921/jXTKWe.jpg
eBay

I can almost hear the martinis being shaken.


Vivian Laird had numerous establishments in the greater Los Angeles area.
-I believe we might have discussed some of them earlier in the thread (but I couldn't find any previous post)
________________________







....back to the top slide.

Did anyone notice the huge sign on the tallest turret of the Villa Riviera Apts? I don't recall that being there at all.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...922/zwaFIb.jpg
detail/1957

I'm not sure of the name of the building with the large L on top.

-note 'Lucky Boy' Sandwiches.





There's also a Kennedy Hotel sign visible in the slide.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...923/sfkEY9.jpg
detail

And a little farther down the street there's another blade sign...but I can't quite read it. (it looks like it starts with W)
____



*by using the directions on the Vivian Laird sign, I've deducted the intersection in the 1957 slide is probably Long Beach Blvd. and 1st Street.

**oops....I just noticed the arrow on the VL sign says, "Then turn right"....so maybe it's Long Beach Blvd. and Broadway.

__

When a radio listener asked Richard about Judy Canova, the "Hillbilly Songbird" of 1940's Republic musicals, he joked that she was probably slopping the hogs at that moment. Canova was offended by the remark and thereafter made a point of snubbing Richard. Another time, Richard was a guest on The Merv Griffin Show and when he asked Merv if there was someone he'd really like to meet, the answer was Gloria Jean, a pretty teenage soprano of 40's B pictures. Richard made arrangements with Gloria to meet in the Valley and go together to Merv's show, but she failed to show up & later made a lame excuse (Richard thinks she was scared). It was embarrassing for Richard to show up without the promised Gloria and Merv was disappointed.

One of his more enjoyable interviews was with the down-at-the-heels but personable Veronica Lake, the "Peekaboo Blonde" of the 40's. Another 40's blonde whom Richard befriended was Susanna Foster, soprano star (lots of girl sopranos then) of the 1943 Technicolor re-make of "Phantom of the Opera." When Richard first interviewed her in the 1960's she was already sinking into destitution and emotional crises. Back in Los Angeles in the 1980's, Susanna spent nearly a year living in her car ("It's great, better than living in some cheap apartment"), then a succession of squalid motels ("The Bell Motel") and shared homes while dealing with a heroin-addicted son who died at age 33. The last time Richard phoned Susanna, she was living at a New Jersey show-business nursing home. She didn't recognize his name and hung up on him. One of the sadder Hollywood stories.

Local TV news covered a 1980's party at The Hollywood Roosevelt where Richard invited 100 carefully-selected celebrity guests. (Richard says that no one is more fascinated by old-time stars than other old-time stars). Old-Hollywood buffs swooned while spotting the likes of Adele Jergens, the "Champagne Blonde" of the 40's, Lila Leeds ("the hit of the evening"), gorgeous blonde starlet arrested in 1948 with Robert Mitchum for Marijuana possession, slid into prostitution but returned to Los Angeles as a minister, the infamous Liz Renay of John Water's "Female Trouble" (on camera, Liz invited everyone to her home for an orgy after the party), and Virginia O'brien, deadpan singer and co-star of 40's MGM musicals.

I met Richard in the early 70's when I was a college student and had written to him via the old Mike Douglas show. He generously shared with me the addresses of 40's boogie singer Ella Mae Morse (she and I exchanged a few greeting cards), and Jane Frazee, "Queen of the 1940's B Musicals," who was then working as a real estate agent in Newport Beach.

I've mentioned Richard's 1981 book "Lamparski's Hidden Hollywood" here when the discussion was about actor Frankie Darro's "Raincheck Room" on Santa Monica Boulevard and "The Castle of the Fairy Lady" overlooking Sunset Strip. When Richard interviewed Darro, Frankie was living at the run-down St. Francis Apartments on Hollywood Boulevard near Western.
"Lamparski's Hidden Hollywood" abounds in odd ephemera: the house in the Valley where Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer was killed, the entrance to Barbara Payton's apartment courtyard where Franchot Tone and Tom Neal fought over her, the Russ Columbo "death house" on Outpost Circle, and various houses and apartment buildings where Judy Garland, Bela Lugosi, Ava Gardner, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Raymond Chandler lived when they were not famous. The book's first entry is about Beverly Aadland, Erroll Flynn's teenage mistress. Months after Flynn died in 1959, police were called to Aadland's apartment at 1780 North El Cerrito Place in Hollywood, where her 21-year old boyfriend had shot himself dead while playing Russian Roulette.

To be continued...

Most of Richard's celebrity friends and interviewees are gone: silent stars Louise Brooks and Aileen Pringle, 1930's "celebutante" Brenda Diana Duff Frazier, his old Carse Drive neighbor Iris Adrian and Venice Beach friend Lon McAllister (boyish 40's hearththrob in such films as "Stage Door Canteen," and the cult noir "The Red House,") whose companion was the up-and-coming William Eythe ("Ox-Bow Incident"), troubled alcoholic who died young. Lon invested in real estate & retired at 30 to an apartment building he owned near the beach, actors Gale Sondergaard ("The Spider Lady"), Ruby Keeler, star of Busby Berkeley musicals, and Tommy Rettig ("Jeff" of "Lassie"), author William Inge ("Picnic," "Bus Stop") and biographer Charles Higham. His pal Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen of "Superman") died recently, as has Noel Neill (Lois Lane.) Noel had to leave her Santa Monica Canyon home due to ill health several years ago and move near a friend/caretaker in Tuscon.

He stays in touch with TV western actor Will Hutchins ("Sugarfoot"), Richard Beymer, star of "West Side Story" (lives in Iowa and is devoted to Transcendental Meditation), 1940's actress Marsha Hunt, and a noted biographer in New York who has written acclaimed books about Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, and tortured jazz legend Chet Baker ("Baker was a talented but perfectly dreadful human being"). Richard chooses a quiet life in Santa Barbara, prays daily, rarely socializes, and prefers to keep in touch by phone or letter.

In 1957, the Kennedy Hotel and Apartments was at 206 American Avenue (shortly to become Long Beach Boulevard), so I'm guessing that the intersection in the original picture is now Long Beach Boulevard and 3rd Street.

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

On a separate subject, it appears that Photobucket is having problems AGAIN! The pictures of stear's that I posted yesterday aren't currently showing up. I hope they'll be back soon.

:previous:

MichaelRyerson, did you know Tony Giorgio (the actor who played Bruno Tattaglia in 'The Godfather') was a famous gambling expert and a magician?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/m6Aqz3.jpg
http://www.tonygiorgio.com/

He was also a technical adviser on 'Mission Impossible'.

__

Many thanks, e_r--you don't know how to the point that slide is: Acres of Books is on the other side of the partition dividing the two segments of the Red Car: You can see the top of one of the "tongue depressors." I nearly mentioned the Kennedy Hotel earlier: It was on the other side of the very noir alley I mentioned. What I remember about it was that it had a very large old-fashioned lobby--the type where the guests would lounge around and read newspapers or books, or chat with their guests.

The building under the Vivian Laird's sign in the slide housed the bar I mentioned earlier as being to the left of Acres of Books. I vaguely remember it as having--at least, by the 1970s-- fake coats-of-arms lined up along the outside, at about the seven-foot level, and having a general air of being an English (or Irish) pub.

And you're hitting on yet another event in my life: The building with the "L" is the Lafayette Hotel, where [boasting mode on] I won first place in a pianist competition (by the way, in passing along the preceding to others, it's very acceptable to pronounce "pianist" in a slovenly way ;) ) in the Southwestern Youth Music Festival. :notacrook: [boasting mode off] --which so terrified me that never again have I played or done any presentation whatsoever in front of a group of people. [shudder]

Thank you for the posts, JeffDiego - very interesting reading!

Arnold Apartments, 1500 W. 9th Street (now James M. Wood Blvd.)
 

July 3, 1915, Southwest Contractor and Manufacturer:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...o.jpg~original
Google Books


LADBS Certificate of Occupancy, April 3, 1916:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...m.jpg~original
LADBS


Valencia Street (top) and 9th Street (bottom) elevations; there is a January 1953 building permit to remove the
five towers/domes on the roof corners:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...9.jpg~original
August 1917 The Architect and Engineer of California @ HathiTrust


Floorplan; the tennis court at left is on the roof of the garage:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...o.jpg~original
August 1917 The Architect and Engineer of California @ HathiTrust


Looking SW at the Arnold Apartments on the SW corner of Valencia and 9th Streets, November 1947. The markings on the photo
indicate where a seven-year-old boy was struck (white arrow) and killed by a driver in a speeding car who ignored the crossing
guard (black arrow). The boy landed at the X, 159 feet away.

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...o.jpg~original
00095716 @ LAPL


Looking SW at the corner of Valencia Street and James M. Wood Blvd, May 2014:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...b.jpg~original
GSV


The garage on Valencia Street no longer has a tennis court on the roof:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...e.jpg~original
March 2015 GSV

On the far right is the servants' entrance:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...f.jpg~original
May 2014 GSV


The servants' entrance:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...b.jpg~original
March 2015 GSV


The same servants' entrance; in the last paragraph, the first sentence refers to the tennis court, and the second
sentence refers to the apartment court:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...m.jpg~original
August 1917 The Architect and Engineer of California @ HathiTrust


The court, with the statue of Fr. Serra at the end:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...y.jpg~original
August 1917 The Architect and Engineer of California @ HathiTrust


Father Serra, the fountain, and the steps leading up to the tennis court:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...0.jpg~original
August 1917 The Architect and Engineer of California @ HathiTrust


The court in March 2015; Father Serra is still there:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...s.jpg~original
GSV


However, the fountain at the end of the court looks dry:

http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...y.jpg~original
2016 Google Earth

Fantastic stuff, JeffDiego; thanks for posting about Richard Lamparski! I enjoyed reading it all.

I once got to go Christmas caroling with Ella Mae Morse in the early 1970s. She was a member of the community church I was brought up in, and she tagged along with our youth group one year as we set out to sing at the doorsteps of a selected few. Sadly this was long before I developed an appreciation for 1940s pop music; I knew that she had been a known singer some years before but didn't really know anything beyond that. (She was one of the only two celebrity encounters I had in the 1970s; the other was TV horror movie host Seymour.)

A few priors-- and a little more noir re the Arnold... another reckless driver who lived there, a Lilliputian resident, etc.


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17215


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=17213

Excellent post on the Arnold Apartments Flyingwedge.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...924/HCnQ4Z.jpg

:previous: It looks like Father Serra has sprung a leak.
___




Here's something I wasn't aware of....

The former Broadway Dept. Store building downtown was rededicated as the Junipero Serra Building in 1999.

photograph taken at the time of the dedication
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...924/hNCE4U.jpg
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/F...olNumber=36970

In 1973 The Broadway closed this location and the building sat vacant for over twenty years, during which it faced extensive vandalism and damage. The State of California purchased the building in 1995 a part of Governor Pete Wilson's plan to move 3,500 state workers into the historic core of Downtown. In 1999 it reopened as the Junipero Serra Building, a modern 350,000- square-foot office building, occupied by 1,700 employees. It was the lowest-cost California State office building in three decades and received a Conservancy Preservation Award in 2000.




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/q2VyCm.jpg
http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/resd...serra_bldg.pdf



Tasteful renovation.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/AzSJDQ.jpg
pdf







http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...921/gKGY9n.jpg
http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/resd...serra_bldg.pdf


__

Here's an especially sweet photograph of Ella Mae Morse.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...922/xdBTxO.jpg
http://www.sativapeterson.com/wordpr...lamaemorse.jpg

Thanks for sharing your memories JeffDiego & HandsomeStranger!

__

Thanks JeffDiego
 

Thank you for the enlightenment about Lamparski. He had the foresight to do those interviews and save them for posterity. As time goes by we forget names and faces, he has helped save some of those for us and future inquisitive minds.

:previous:Back in high school I had the lead role in 'Arsenic & Old Lace' (yes, the Cary Grant role, thank you very much :)) and experienced the worst panic attack in the history
of the world. To this day I shudder at the thought of speaking in front of more than two people. Right now, typing this,...I......can't......breath. [passes out on floor]



Here's the aforementioned Lafayette Hotel in 1952, with an emphasis on it's modern addition.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/W1c0yg.jpg
http://www.ioffer.com/i/vintage-1952...tcard-68367901




and a wonderful illustration.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/gMjlzJ.jpg
https://www.cardcow.com/228997/lafay...ch-california/
__




This one is probably closer to the time from your piano recital.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...921/uNikAN.jpg
http://www.thelafayettelb.org/

Is this your parent's car..........................................:previous:?

__
Taking off for Illinois....see ya all in a couple days. Have fun noirishers.

Hoss, Great work finding the location of Walter's Furniture. I couldn't help but notice the "SLIATKCOC" reflection in the window
Detail:
http://i.imgur.com/WmULfad.jpg?1
and figured the most likely suspect is this place still standing across the street although it looks like the last cocktail was served there some time ago.
http://i.imgur.com/IUYs0VE.png?1
GSV
I also like how Google captured the airliner approaching LAX.

It is now an adult daycare place but this end certainly looks like it could have been a cocktail lounge in the past
http://i.imgur.com/YTScx1M.png?1
GSV

:previous:

Well spotted, Bristolian. I think that deserves sliatkcoc for everyone ;).


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


As promised, here are some more Julius Shulman pictures of the Academy Theatre in Inglewood. The job description gives the address as 3100 West Manchester Boulevard, but it's actually 3141 West Manchester Boulevard. You can read more about the theater at cinematreasures.org. This is "Job 5905: Academy Theatre (Inglewood, Calif.), 1940". NB. This is just a selection of images from the photoset, but I don't think I've missed anything significant.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original

Now on to the daytime views.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original

The wonderful curves continue around the sides. The additional lettering on the sides on the pole says "PREVIEW".

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original

The ticket booth at the front.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original

Here's the auditorium.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...5.jpg~original

And a reverse view.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...6.jpg~original

Somewhere to check your dress and make-up.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...7.jpg~original

The last Shulman photo shows the projectors.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...8.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute

Here's the theater today. The information at Cinema Treasures says it's been a church since 1976. As well as losing its neon spriral, the sides have acquired some stone cladding. On the left is the old Walter's Furniture store which I posted yesterday.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...9.jpg~original
GSV

Okay folks
You figured out a similar pic onnacounta Vivian's
The photographer was standing in the same spot, but rotated 90 degrees for a 'here it comes' shot and a 'there it goes shot'

As for Acres of Books
As a teenager I'd drive from Orange to go there and lose all sense of time while looking thru the shelves- a wonderful place