:previous:
I did post something about old signs and have made other references to old signs on various posts, but I don't remember when that was and where in this thread they'd be...

One post about street signs:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...gn#post4568783


Here's an interesting sign--hope it hasn't been seen here before. Fargo
Street, Echo Park:

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067297.jpgLAPL
Who was D.B.?

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics44/00071509.jpgLAPL

Another shot of the Mandarin Market--this time, "landscaped", awnings decorated. NE corner Vine and LaMirada.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics33/00066387.jpgLAPL

Another market, a few centuries ahead in design. Beverly Boulevard.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics23/00046409.jpgLAPL

Inspiration for LAX?

^^^Those are great finds GaylordWilshire.

I love the extreme shadow effect on the lettering at MERLO'S.

The old sign on Fargo Street is wabi-sabi coolness.

Thanks for the sign link!

Being a traffic engineer, I love signs, especially old ones. I found a fenced in building and lot in Phoenix that has a TON of old signs (from Phoenix) I'd love to get my hands on. It's like the perfect "american pickers" lot, but the owners don't sell anything.

Aside from street signs, there are old stop signs and warning signs that have the old "cat's-eye" marble reflectors, just laying around. Those things go for a lot of money. Do you notice any of these type of old stop/warning signs with cat's-eye marbled reflectors still in existence in LA?

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/phxrep/sign2.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/phxrep/sign.jpg

(in that lot I saw an "S Curve" sign, a "Slow" sign, among others, just like the above pictures).

PHX31, here's a link to an earlier post by 'Los Angeles Past' that you might find interesting.


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=613



Sopas_ej had also posted a very cool photo of a stop sign that was actually embedded into the middle of the roadway.
If I'm not mistaken, it lit up as well.

Do you remember this sopas_ej? I looked for the post but was unable to find it again.

Thanks!

I remember that post now (and his story of trying to steal the sign). I think having the "Los Angeles Motor Club" logo on that stop sign (or any old sign) would make it even better.... how much did you pay for the stop sign on ebay, los angeles past?

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051434.jpgLAPL

"Close-up view of a the back of a flashing stop sign powered by a one-year battery. It is manufactured by Pacific Signal Co."--per LAPL photo notes. A one-year battery back then must have been revolutionary. I wonder how long the battery actually lasted? Interesting precursor, however, to today's self-contained devices along the road--solar-powered ones. (In northern climes with less sun such as in Scotland, some signs are even lit by tiny windmill generators.)


http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics33/00051433.jpgLAPL

Ethereal--here's another stop sign with a striped pole-- the sign obviously bigger than the little one you showed us. Now that I look at it and see the flasher, I think this must be the front of the battery sign above. Btw I've noticed here in the East that pole-painting is being revived--highway departments have taken to applying red reflector tape on stop-sign poles from sign to ground, and yellow tape on yellow signs.

I think the street sign might say Figueroa. The cropped handwritten caption at the bottom also appears to read something "at Figueroa," but I can make out what the something is. Appears to end in an "l" or a "d."

On second glance, it looks like it may read "2nd at Figueroa." That'd make some sense seeing the bus reads "Beverly Blvd."

LA Times Dec 1951
 

Looks like 2nd and Fig is likely the location.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/5...mesdec1951.gif

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-4129-B?v=hrUSC

A 1936 aerial of Figueroa & 2nd--I think the building at the lower right of the intersection must be the one housing the U.S. Cut Rate Store--the size seems right, and the trolley-wire pole on 2nd Street set back from the corner seems to be the same one in ethereal's 1952 downpour shot.

Excellent, Pete! It's great that there just happened to be that number 44 bus in the picture.

Now that I think of it, west of the 110 freeway and east of the the overpass that connects to Beverly, that stretch of 2nd street still has those lamp posts, which I assume, also used to hold the trolley wire for the streetcars.

Pete_R & GaylordWilshire, you two could be sleuths!
I stared at that photo for a long time and missed every clue you found.

It seems the lack of information on these old photos sometimes works in their favor.
Instead of being quickly forgotten, they are perused and discussed.

I think that kind of interaction in this thread is what makes it so interesting.

:previous:
I agree; this thread is very interesting because it's like putting a puzzle together.

Yes I do remember posting that, but I'd have to look for the photo. The stop sign didn't light up; it's all metal, but it is indeed embedded into the roadway. I took a picture of one that actually exists in my town.

FYI: This coming Monday, August 30th, TCM is showing Thelma Todd half hour shorts all day long.



http://a.imageshack.us/img99/1024/11toddthelma02.jpg
unknow



link to a previous post on ill-fated Ms. Todd.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=1094

I paid $200 for it! No regrets! :tup:

More gas
 

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...NG-1289-B?v=hrUSC

Another filling-station shot--note the initials "VCT" on the door of the roadster. She coulda been in pictures--is she a Hollywood star? Vilma C. Tanky? (Don't know what she's mooning about--he's not exactly Ramon Novarro.) Or is she a debutante from Berkeley Square? Note the Pan-Gas station across Figueroa and the standardized corporate architecture, including lighting and fencing, seen before at Washington and Gramercy in ethereal's post #1685. Also note the street signs--white stenciling on black.