Helen Gurley Brown wrote a book called I'm Wild Again, published around '98 or '99. In it she describes living in L.A. in the late '30s and through the war-- and once actually working for Dolores's escort service. I found this excerpt: http://books.google.com/books?id=4Cz...page&q&f=false

Btw, it turns out that Helen once lived at 2400 S. Hope, apparently on the grounds of Orthopaedic Hospital (her sister was a patient there). Remember the famous Longstreet Palms? I refer you to the estimable blog of Scott Shannon, who also appears here sometime: http://losangelespast.blogspot.com/2...-trees-in.html

Somewhere else on the web is a story that, after her bust for procuring and jailhouse campaign against Bowron for mayor, the indefatigable Dolores became a psychologist.

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026266.jpgLAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026239.jpgLAPL

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026240.jpgLAPL

In the one-google-leads-to-another department, I found that Helen Gurley Brown (of Sex and the Single Girl and Cosmopolitan magazine fame, not to mention her stint as one of Dolores Gunn's girls) attended Polytechnic High School, which, before moving to the Valley in 1957, was at Washington and Flower. I don't think I'd ever seen a picture of this school, built in 1905--pretty impressive structure.

Speaking of neoclassical architecture, I was also unaware of this mini-Pantheon by Robert Farquhar (California Club, Clark Library, Beverly Hills High School among many others), the Barlow Medical Library, that once stood at 742 North Broadway:

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics30/00064916.jpgLAPL

^^^Now THAT is some great info GaylordWilshire!
I'm amazed Helen Gurley Brown admitted she worked for an escort service.

The Barlow Medical Library (the 'mini-pantheon') is extremely impressive.
Can you imagine tearing down something that exquisite?

Smoggy_1949

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6...smoggy1949.jpg
usc

Washington Irving Branch Library
 

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00086/00086121.jpgLAPL

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...65202%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View


http://jpg1.lapl.org/00086/00086122.jpgLAPL

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...65247%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View


http://jpg1.lapl.org/00086/00086123.jpgLAPL


Thens and Nows of the old Washington Irving Branch Library at 1803 Arlington Avenue (door faces 18th), built in 1926 to the design of Allison & Allison, architect brothers who are probably best known for Royce Hall at UCLA. Note the same house to the right, and the same tree to the left, which appears to have grown little and still has all of its major limbs. Sad to see the building in this shape.

^^^That's a great little library. Are there any plans for it's future?





Here's a little quiz.
Who can tell me what became of Willard's Far Famed Chicken at Los Feliz & Hillhurst?




http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1...schickenin.jpg
BDLF/



http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9...willardsad.jpg
ebay/matchbook


http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2...rdsderby01.jpg
unknown

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics24/00061956.jpgLAPL


It's still there:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...64621%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View


Apparently it's now an L.A. Historic-Cultural Landmark, as is the Washington Irving Library--which status, unfortunately, is no real safeguard against demolition. Sounds like the dome part--the original Willard's--sits empty. How long can it last with a highrise caddy-corner to it?

...and you are correct GaylordWilshire. :)

The two photos you included are better than the ones I have of the Los Feliz Brown Derby.

The google street view I found was from a different angle showing the dark blue/gray 'derby' part.
I would post it, but I can't seem to 'screen grab' (right click) from google street views.
Do you have any ideas what I'm doing wrong?




http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7...sintobrown.jpg
postcard/ebay



Below is a postcard from the other Willards on Pico blvd.


http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4...shugepceba.jpg
ebay


I don't know how the chicken's feet never touch the ground.
Am I just not getting their slogan?

Here are a series photographs from 1952 of a crane lifting something onto the Ritchfield Building.

I find them interesting. You get a glimpse of the surrounding area as well.



http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8...hfield1952.jpg
I'm going to say USC Digital Archive, but I'm not certain.





below: I would love to see inside Oscar's Cafe (I can smell the hamburgers and onions).

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3...ld1952cosc.jpg
usc



below: The Traveler's Hotel, another cafe, Hotel Cl.....something, The Jonathan Club, and the Hotel Victor in the distance

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1...field1952b.jpg
usc




below: Another greasy spoon. This one looks like Nesbitt's.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/61/...ield1952cp.jpg
usc





below: I'm not sure if these poor people were looking up at the action and crashed,
or if the photographer came across this accident further down Flower Street.
I found them in the same group as the photos above.

below: He's gonna have a headache. :(

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/677...effersonwr.jpg
usc



below: Crutches at the scene with one already in the backseat...perhaps this wasn't the lady's first accident.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/367...ffersonwrq.jpg
usc


After researching a bit, I believe the 3300 S. block of Flower Street (as seen in the first accident photo) puts the car crash down by Jefferson Blvd.

I'm guessing this means that Willard's was taking pride that their chickens were raised in cages and never ran around in dirty pens--funny that nowadays it's the other way around--now of course the boast is "free-range" and all that.

I see that at least one of the pics in your first Willard's post is of the Pico branch. Great pictures, all of them. Now let's see if I can tell you how to post Street View pictures--I sort of stumbled on the process, and it will sound long and complicated here, but it really is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. First, it seems you need Picasa (not sure if some other such program will work, but Picasa is connected to Google somehow). With it, you then find the street view you want; hit "full screen" and wait a moment for the address bar (often not precise) at the upper left to disappear; then click the "FN" and the "PRTSC" ("Print Screen") simultaneously, after which a small box will appear at lower right; clicking on that will bring up the Picasa version of the pic; then you need to click on "upload" under the picture, and "upload" again after that; yet another box will appear with a button to click to see the "online view"--what I do then is right click on the picture you see at this stage and click "Properties" to get the http address to cut and paste onto the forum "insert image" bar. Now after writing that I need to head to Ciro's or the Grove or maybe the Mocambo for a martini. Join me?

PS Just saw your Richfield shots--they are great. When I was a kid in New Orleans, Nesbitt's was a brand of orange soda, with that logo--the sign in the pic is advertising like the Coke sign below it. As for the car wreck-- that guy definitely will have a headache, and his poor late-model Rocket 88 Olds is done for. And the poor woman in the Plymouth wagon does appears to already have been on crutches! And curiously enough, in both your second and fifth shots, apparently taken about 28 blocks apart, note there are ads for Dr. Brinkley and his asthma cure.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TJ...e_Exiles_2.jpgdvdbeaver.com

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/protectedi...1.jpg_17112009dvdtimes.co.uk


I watched The Exiles on TCM, thanks to ethereal's--or was it jansen's?--reminder. Amazing on a number of levels--certainly the luminous b&w scenes of Bunker Hill are astonishing, as are those of downtown streets at night (the pics here do not do the film justice)--here is noir Los Angeles in, oddly enough, a non-noir film.

Thanks for the tip GaylordWilshire. I'll have to try it out. And of course I would join you for a martini. :)

In my earlier post about the damn chickens I meant their slogan, NOT there slogan. oops.
Your answer is what I thought as well.
I just couldn't believe they were actually advertising that their chicken were raised in cages!??




Here is another view of the general area around the Richfield Building.

You can see Rex Arms in the distance, along with the Statler Hilton and the Gates Hotel.
To the extreme right you can see an edge of the Richfield Building.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5...hotelrexar.jpg
usc


I love the building in the lower left corner. Wouldn't it be great to have your office or studio in that room on top.
Does anyone know the name of this building?

I'm sure many of you know that this building was also used in "Happy Days" for the establishing exterior shot of Arnold's Drive-In:

http://www.womansday.com/var/ezflow_...09-Arnolds.jpg
womansday.com

I didn't know that--I really didn't watch Happy Days much, but I know that this was used as the exterior of the family's house:

http://ts.realestate.com/resized-ima...2D00_today.jpgtsdotrealestatedotcom
565 North Cahuenga, Hollywood

Right now, I'm watching Sunset Blvd. on TCM and I caught something I've never heard before.

When Artie Green is introducing Joe Gillis at the New Years Eve party, he jokingly describes Gilles as several things
(highly successful screenwriter etc). His last description of Joe Gillis is "Black Dahlia suspect".

O-K, I've seen this film so many times, and I can not believe I've never caught this before.
Am I hearing things or did Jack Webb's character actually say this?

not 1313 Mockingbird Lane
 

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assets...202-017~2?v=hrUSC
I see no smoke, but I do see hoses running into it--this picture is labeled "after a fire."

http://www.victorianhomes.com/images/_MG_9980new2.jpgvictorianhomesdotcom

Speaking of TV-family houses--here is an often-photographed house at 3115 W. Adams Blvd, which I've seen referred to as the "Munster house." There is somewhat of a resemblance, and I suppose this one could have inspired the designers of the house on the Universal back lot that still stands, but it wasn't used for that show. Anyway, in the Google Street View it looks a mess. I found it on the website whose link is below--asking price $1,900,000. Scroll down and click on "Picture Virtual Tour" for more pics--I know this is a huge house, but it looks like a wreck to me. Is there really a market for something like this in these times, in a neighborhood far from its heyday, for such a price? OK, it is by a famous architect, Joseph Cather Newsom, who did, among others, the Sessions House in Angelino Heights. According to the website, there are bungalows on West 30th St going for $850,000--and I know little about the r/e market in L.A.--but I'm amazed, even with what we pay in Manhattan for space. Notice the window through the fireplace.

http://www.victorianhomes.com/listin...a44b5e2f629de5

http://www.classictvhits.com/munster...front_view.jpgclassictvhitsdotcom
The Munster house, more recently.

I have it on myself--yep, Artie said that-- Norma is about to descend the stairs at 10086 Sunset Boulevard for the last time....

lol. Thanks buddy.

She's ready for her close-up.

THE END

from Desperate to Desperate
 

I feel I must somehow get a noir angle into this TV-architecture theme I've got going here. How about 1955's The Desperate Hours, starring Humphrey Bogart? If you squint, maybe that movie can been seen as sort of a suburban noir...maybe? Well, it's in black and white. Anyway, it turns out that prior to The Munsters, creators Mosher and Connolly had done Leave It to Beaver--which, beginning a season or two into the series, used the same Universal backlot house that was in The Desperate Hours:

http://www.retroweb.com/universal/un...rate_hours.jpgretrowebdotcom


http://www.retroweb.com/universal/li...use_w_cast.jpgretrowebdotcom


This house apparently went on to be used in Marcus Welby MD, several other TV series and movies, was altered several times, and is supposedly today on Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives. It's actually hard to tell from the many and various descriptions on the web if the current house is even the same structure or merely resembles the building in The Desperate Hours, but the most interesting thing I found in poking around on the web is that some claim that Leave It to Beaver was filmed using an actual house at 1727 Buckingham Road in Los Angeles--not true. Even still, it is interesting to speculate that the backlot house may have been modeled on this Lafayette Square home. It's hard to see behind all the vegetation, but the semi-dormer windows, the lower brick facade, and the bay window (on the left rather than the right in the set house) do make you wonder if the Desperate Hours set designer lived there or nearby....

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TQ...71437%20PM.jpgGoogle Street View


The house on Wisteria Lane--the dormers are different, and the proportions seem so too--but it is still down the street from the Munster mansion:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/84/21...558acc.jpg?v=0

:previous:

Interesting; I always assumed the "Leave It to Beaver" house was at the Warner Brothers Ranch in Burbank, the same lot where the exteriors of the houses/neighborhoods for "Bewitched," "The Partridge Family" and (possibly) the TV Sally Field version of "Gidget," were located.