ER, thanks for the before pictures, with matching angles no less!

Cheers,
Jack

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/DuQsTV.png
courtesy of HossC via USC

Also of interest (to me at least) in this photo: that circular imprint on the opposite corner where Simon's Sandwiches once stood. I'd prefer to have had that structure preserved over Johnie's. While I am a fan of Googie architecture, I think the empty diner that now stands there is not a particularly noteworthy example of the style.

A friend and I ate at Johnie's once when it was still operational. We both experienced the worst diner food and the worst service of our lives.

:previous:

I'm sure we've seen this 1940 picture of the May Co before, but it ties in with recent posts.

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

On the right is the Simon's, as mentioned by Handsome Stranger. There's a better picture of that in post #212. On the left is the building that became Geller's Theatre Workshop. I can't read the signage, but the text on the pylon seems to be three letters and then four, so going by the clipping I posted yesterday, I'm guessing it says "Ben Bard".

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...LABenBard2.jpg
Detail of picture above.

I found this 1925 aerial view which includes the Hotel Cordova. It's still hard to spot, so I've arrowed it. Along 7th Street at the base of the picture are the Martz Flats and early construction on the Barker Bros building.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ovaAerial1.jpg
Detail of picure in USC Digital Library

Here's the full picture.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ovaAerial2.jpg
USC Digital Library

Octagonal tiling outside the Vine St Brown Derby
 

We've probably seen this shot of the Vine St Brown Derby before (Life magazine, 1937) but I'm posting it for a detail I've never noticed before: the octagonal pattern carved into the sidewalk out front. Does anyone know if that went all the way up Vine Street? Or throughout Hollywood? Or was it just a "Brown Derby kinda thing"...?

http://www.martinturnbull.com/wp-con...ywood-1937.jpg

Very cool. Ben Bard's wife, until her death, was actress Ruth Roland and she owned some real estate on Wilshire, called Roland Square. I think his theater was built on part of her holdings but am not sure.

Following on from the picture of the mule yard on Lyon Street that I posted yesterday, here are the U.S. Stables at 355 Aliso Street. The building can be seen near the top of the 1921 Baist map above. The seller dates the picture at 1923. I'm sure the mules and horses would've been traded at the nearby markets.

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

Here is a view of Vine Street just north of the Derby. I suspect that octagonal pattern was a Derby innovation. I lived in Hollywood for a while and I don't remember that pattern as typical.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps5c12b206.jpg
water and power .org

While I was going through the possible locations of a house in a picture I found on eBay, I spotted a roof sign from the Googlemobile. It turned out to be atop Jensen's Recreation Center on Sunset at Logan. A quick search didn't find any previous mentions.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...RecCenter1.jpg
GSV

Jensen's Recreation Center opened in 1924, and originally included 46 apartments, a bowling alley and a billiard room. It was built by Henry Christian Jensen, a German immigrant who made his fortune making bricks. His other buildings include Jensen’s Theatorium in Echo Park and Jensen’s Raymond Theater in Pasadena. The clipping below is from the Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1924.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...RecCenter2.jpg
LA Times via www.kcet.org

Here's a picture of the bowling alley as it used to be.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original
Mary-Austin & Scott on flickr

I can't keep e_r in suspense and longer - here's a close-up of the roof sign.

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

The text still lights up, but the animated bowler has seen better days. I found a couple of videos of it on YouTube - see here and here.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...RecCenter5.jpg
www.roadarch.com

The provisionally good news is that the building was sold just a couple of weeks ago for $15 million, and the new owners have pledged to fix the sign. Despite the building escaping the attention of NLA, there's been quite a bit written about it. Here's a small selection:

la.curbed.com - Echo Park's Jensen's Rec Building Has Sold, Sign Will Be Fixed

www.latimes.com - Echo Park landmark Jensen's Recreation Center sold

historicechopark.org - Jensen's Recreation Center

www.kcet.org - Sign of the Times III: Henry C. Jensen, the Cunning Capitalist of L.A.

:previous: That rooftop sign is about as good as it gets. I hope they restore it to the point where the bowler rolls the ball and strikes the pins. That would be fantastic to see again. :)
__



below: Grauman's Chinese Theater 1955

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/s3gY6M.jpg
eBay

I see someone wearing Jane Russell's hat from 'Macao'.

:previous:

LOL, e_r!

Martin, no, this photo has not been posted before! On Dec. 3rd I did a post about the Brown Derby where I wrote:

I have been looking for a LIFE magazine photo that I saw once (I remember it said LIFE in the corner) that was taken on the sidewalk outside of the Brown Derby at night, close, and showing from the sidewalk angle both the Brown Derby neon and the Bamboo Room neon. What was interesting to me that I did not know...if you look in the arch of the entrance in the above photo, you see white squares. Those are all lights that lit up the arch and are beautifully visible in that photo. Not sure why I can't find it.

This is the photo, you found it! Thanks for posting it!

I went back to my original post and inserted this photo into it:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=24904

Well, I did say "someone got it wrong" and I was totally willing to believe it was BBC. Great follow up! Great new photo! Also, wouldn't it be great if the Peterson had a recreation of that old service station as a display? I don't recall seeing something like that last time I was there.

amy!

You can take a 2012 tour of three floors of the Petersen Automotive Museum using Google Streetview. They don't have a recreation of the service station that was once on their site, but they do (did?) have this Richfield service station.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...APetersen1.jpg
GSV

Until recently you could also have seen their slightly scaled down version of the Bulldog Cafe.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...APetersen2.jpg
GSV

Just like the original, the Petersen's Bulldog has had to make way for something more modern. That could've been the end, but preservationist Bobby Green stepped in and saved it. You can read the story at blog.hemmings.com. The Bulldog Cafe's new home will be the patio of the restored Idle Hour Cafe on Vineland Avenue when it reopens next year. We discussed the Idle Hour Cafe in October - see post #24095, post #24100 and post #24107.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...ulldogCafe.jpg

Somewhat obscure . . .
 

[QUOTE=Wig-Wag;6846986]jtown's post on the One Santa Fe residential/commercial complex reminded me of a piece I posted to a railroad site a while back and I thought it might amuse some NLA viewers.

This is easily one of the main reasons I keep coming back to this forum. Man, what a treasury of knowledge you all have. Thanks for the Terminal Cafe pics, Wig-Wag!

Around the corner from my office are a set of brick buildings which seem to have a long history in LA. The Newberry Lofts, as they are now called was once the warehouse of the JR Newberry Company.

In a 1909 hand-drawn map, the Newberry's Groceries identifies the building on First and Vignes, just west of the 1st Street bridge.
http://i.imgur.com/MIgwPm7l.jpg
Detail from: http://www.bigmapblog.com/2013/birds...angeles-calif/

The magazine Out West: A Magazine of the Old Pacific and the New, Volume 1 By Charles Fletcher Lummis shows a Newberry's handbill from their 1910 edition. Notice the final listing on the handbill for their warehouse and shipping department:

http://i.imgur.com/AbDDKdO.jpg

https://books.google.com/books?id=yN...201910&f=false

The current structure remains a fixture at the corner of 1st Street and Vignes and has been converted to the Newberry Lofts.

http://i.imgur.com/p7ikbd8.jpg
http://www.newberrylofts.com/gallery/

I seem to be surrounded by bits and pieces of Old Los Angeles. In part because of the proximity of my office to the LA River and to the tracks. But also, I think that this section of town seems to have been overlooked by the "progressives" of the 50's and 60's. The Arts District is the focal point of much of the current redevelopment of LA and will hopefully bring new life into the community that is the civic center, Little Tokyo, the River District.

I hope to do some exploring over the next weeks when the Christmas rush slows down. There's a lot to see around here.

:previous: That's such a nice looking building jtown. I look forward to seeing what you discover during your Christmas slow-time. :)
_______




"21318 S. Alameda Street, Carson CA. -1935."

There are three photographs in this series at USC. -be sure to pan right to see the third photo--->

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...540/MvxLip.pnghttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...661/H5gzx3.pnghttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...661/1nb6bT.png
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/78595/rec/1
______


Believe it or not, a majority of these somewhat ramshackle buildings have survived.

The Dutch Inn
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/AHQbMM.png

..and today.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/cFGfkJ.png
GSV

The side windows convinced me that this is the old Dutch Inn. There are 3 large windows followed by two smaller windows.



below: A 'front on' view.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/907/u1tEpG.png




http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/uVgz8A.png
GSV

above: The building I've circled (at far left) is the old McGehee Market



-here's a closer view of the market back in 1935.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/633/kFkqvr.png

and today.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/910/8gaQX4.png
GSV
___

Now let's look in the opposite direction.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/LP8u8s.png


below: The building that I've circled is still standing as well.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/633/0EBXWr.png

-here it is today.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/k9J5Kv.png
GSV

-fun little discoveries. ;)
__

...I almost forgot.

There is a mysterious poster in the window of the building between McGehee Market and the Dutch Inn.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/ADYbo0.png
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/78595/rec/1


I've been trying to 'decipher' it. (it's a bit scary looking)

-here's a close-up.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/0A0L61.png
detail

Do any of you noirishers have any idea what this is advertising? -remember the year is 1935.
__

HossC's Wilshire-Fairfax 1954 image shows a surprising amount of undeveloped area. Wilshire still has unimproved lots with billboards.


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0




Focusing on the area later occupied by Britts Department store (now possibly KMart) south of the Farmer's Market and west of the then-Market Basket Grocery Store. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9136 I am assuming that the area toward the bottom of the image is a large playground for the Hancock Elementary School (408 Fairfax, estatblished 1937). But if I did not know better, the "dots" resemble four-legged residents of a small dairy farm. (Have we seen images of the dairy farms that evidently "dotted" the Fairfax area?)


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/utils/...XT=&DMROTATE=0












Looks like Market Basket's architecture has been retained by Ross Store.

http://beverlypress.com/wp-content/u...0/10/Ross1.gifhttp://beverlypress.com/wp-content/u...0/10/Ross1.gif


Market Basket (Fullerton) for comparison purposes.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nHk4eRE8Qb...7%2BPC1259.jpg



Of course, the huge advertising broadside was not unique to Market Basket Grocery Stores.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/def...?itok=BqP6WRHlhttp://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/def...?itok=BqP6WRHl

http://wesclark.com/burbank/gelsons.jpghttp://wesclark.com/burbank/gelsons.jpg


McDaniels (Oxnard)
http://groceteria.com/forboard/oxnard.jpghttp://groceteria.com/forboard/oxnard.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img267/8921/a...antflickr1.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img267/8921/a...antflickr1.jpg http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9413

Further north on Fairfax Ave is the Silent Movie Theater (611 N Fairfax) which I believe has received NLA mention. I don't recall seeing this image on NLA. Notice the Fairfax Theater in distance.



CIrca early-miod '40s. Fairfax Ave looking south from Beverly Blvd.
http://waterandpower.org/1%20Histori...lent_Movie.jpghttp://waterandpower.org/1%20Historic%20Photos%201
/Silent_Movie.jpg

Silent Movie ca '42
https://secure.static.tumblr.com/793...atic__1280.jpghttps://secure.static.tumblr.com/793...atic__1280.jpg



http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/a...vietheater.htm

It looks like it was part of a 1930s/1940s craze for midnight ghost shows. They were basically spooky magic shows at theaters which included things like seances, spirit slate writing and ghostly apparitions. This poster appears to be for Dr U L di Ghilini, who was described as a Hollywood mystic on one site I found. I think the white word above his name is part of the phrase "in person". The text above the skeleton's head says "Do the dead return?". I can't decipher all the text at the top, but it looks like the venue was an unreadable auditorium, and the date was Sun Sept 15 (which is correct for 1935).

I found the quote below on www.redlandsdailyfacts.com. It gives a description of the same show just three days earlier:

Sept. 12, 1935

The time for a seance with "spirits" is midnight, and tonight at the zero hour of 12 o'clock, a frolic with "spooks" will take place on the stage of the Fox Redlands theater, when Dr. U.L. di Ghilini, famous investigator of spiritualistic phenomena reproduces two entirely different types of seances. No attraction in months is causing the comment, and the discussion that surrounds the appearance of the celebrated Dr. di Ghilini in person, on this occasion. The "ghost" show follows the usual theater picture program, and after the exit of the regular show at 11:15 p.m., the doors will be closed for 15 minutes and then reopened.

Here's a poster for another of Dr di Ghilini's shows:

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...iGhostShow.jpg
www.liveauctioneers.com

You can read more about this type of entertainment in an article called The Rise and Fall of the Midnight Ghost Shows.

Just to add a bit to HossC's masterful decoding of that poster, the venue was the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, from what I can decipher.

Oh, and to bring this back to things noir, the film Fallen Angel, a noir starring Dana Andrews, Alice Faye and Linda Darnell, features a di Ghilini-type character, played by John Carradine, who conducts a "spirit seance" much as HossC describes.