Thanks for the earlier picture of Crawford's, CBD. The Facebook page I linked to mentioned the original store being opposite the runway, but didn't have any photos showing the two together.

Staying in Alhambra, here's today's Julius Shulman post. It's "Job 4529: Allison and Rible, Southern California Edison Company (Alhambra, Calif.), 1969".

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

The first floor is like a bunker, but there are windows on the second floor.

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

Here's the parking lot. I've left out the final image as it only shows the same corner as the first picture, but from the other side of the fence.

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

All from Getty Research Institute

I had to put a lot of gas in the Googlemobile to find this one. The building is still standing in the Southern California Edison facility at 501 S Marengo Avenue.

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

I stand corrected MR. I didn't realize he was rescuing a dog.
___



I wrongly assumed the mammoth 'sculptures' at the La Brea Tar Pits were pretty much immobile and secured to the bottom of the tar pit.

Not true, this one started to float away!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/VsXfhw.jpg
http://www.tarpits.org/blog

"Rescuing the floating lake pit mammoth. It had drifted south from a broken anchor and ended up mired in sediment by the sidewalk bridge.
First, the 'wranglers' had to unstick the mammoth by pulling on it with a rope and nudging it with a pole. The mammoth was then dragged
to its normal area with the rope tied off to a stake to wait for its re-chaining." -January 28, 2013







Installation of the mammoth sculpture in June of 1968.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...921/MN5E1f.jpg
http://www.pacificstandardtimepresen...nsiders-lacma/







http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...923/0t0eiB.jpg
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/500744052291917509/


I wasn't able to find out how deep the main tar pit 'lake' is. (still searching for an answer)
_

:previous: Thanks for the photographs and information on the Highland-Camrose bungalows SheriffPaul. You're a lucky man to be able to work in such a serene setting.
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So far I haven't been very successful in locating vintage photographs of the bungalows.

A friend of mine grew up in a house on Wonder View Dr., that's in the hills over by Lake Hollywood. Like a lot of folks that lived in houses in that area he was told as a child that a prior owner was in the picture business, he vaguely recalled that she was maybe an actress in the silents. So of course I was intrigued, I told him that I would go to the city's online building search and see what I could find. I ran the address, 3333 Wonder View, and came up with a 1938 new construction permit for a woman named Margaret Cummings. Researching her I found no connection to the movie business.

But I decided to do a little more digging. I pulled up the 1940 census. I found that Wonder View was not even listed as a street. So maybe the house Margaret was building was unfinished when the census taker came around. I still did not want to give up so I located the census enumeration district (60-114) and started browsing it, searching for her name.

This turned out to be a thoroughly fascinating exercise. I'm not finished going through all the pages (there are 46 total), but what I'm finding is a remarkable view into the industry circa 1940. This census district basically starts at Barham/Cahuenga, then goes over in the hills to Beachwood. Down to the flats along Franklin, over to Highland Ave by the Bowl, and those hillside streets adjacent. This is Barton Fink territory. So many of these people show as actors, dancers, screenwriters....many showing NYC as previous address, with Jewish surnames. You really get a feel for the draw the film business had become by then. If you had made it at all you got a house in these hills. If you were newly arrived with no contract you took a room in a building down by the blvd.

A couple of pages into the browsing, who turns up but the Godfather of Noir L.A., the man who started it all. Author of "Double Indemnity", "Postman Always Rings Twice", "Mildred Pierce"... Mr. James M. Cain :

http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/...psd159mwzf.png

Cain is misidentified here as James "N" Cain. He's at 2966 Belden Dr., Beachwood Cyn. His wife, shown here as Eline, was actually Elina. According to Wiki, Cain was devoted to the two step children listed. He also had Elina's mother, Sofia, in the house. Cain divorced Elina and re-married in 1944.

A couple of doors down from the Cain household, at 2986 Belden, was a residence headed by Frank O. White, age 72. In that house was a 23 year old step daughter, Marie Wilson:


http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/...psz1bzlbyz.png



On the other half of the page Marie lists her occupation as actress, and the name kind of rang a bell, so I looked her up. It appears Marie bought 2986 Belden for the family (from Wiki):

"Wilson was born in Anaheim, California on August 19, 1916. Her nickname at Anaheim High School was Maybelle.[1] Wilson graduated high school in 1933. At age 16, she soon moved her family of nine – including her mother, sister, grandfather, step-father and his four children to Hollywood after she inherited $11,000."

Marie had started in the business in '34, but really did not break out until '47, when she got a radio series "My Friend Irma". In 1949 they made a film out of the series, it was the first Martin & Lewis picture. She got to reprise her radio character in the movie. "Irma" was then a TV series for a couple of years. Her career faded after that. Here she is in a photo dated the census year, 1940:

http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3o7k7h6x.jpg



I went a couple of pages deeper into the the census, and was jolted back to the literary side of the noir city, with the appearance of Nathanael West:

http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/...psisvc7pxc.png

Nathanael West, author of "Day of The Locust", a defining novel of L.A. Noir. He was at 6614 Cahuenga Terrace, over by the John Anson Ford theater. With him is wife Eileen, misidentified here as "Aileen".

Here's the other half of the census page with the Wests:

http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/...psinbq74k1.png

Nathanael is shown as "writer, motion picture studio". Eileen is listed just below him as "writer, cartoon studio". She was working as an assistant to Walt Disney.

Eileen West was raised in Ohio, maiden name McKenney. In the early '30's she and her sister Ruth moved to the bohemian world of Greenwich Village. Ruth wrote up the colorful tales of their years in the Village for the New Yorker in the late 30's. These short stories became a 1940 play directed by George S. Kaufman, "My Sister Eileen". Which then begat a 1942 film starring Rosalind Russell. And the 1953 Comden/Green/Leonard Bernstein show "Wonderful Town". And the 1955 Columbia musical, back to the "My Sister Eileen" title, with Jack Lemmon, Bob Fosse, Janet Leigh, Tommy Rall....Janet played Eileen, the "pretty" sister. Nathanael West ended up with the beauty, as Ruth was rather plain. Betty Garrett played Ruth in this version.

(A complete aside, about 15 years ago I went to a screening of the 1955 film at the Egyptian. Betty Garrett and Tommy Rall showed up to take questions. Rall has a "challenge dance" in the film with Fosse, it's on YouTube, really top shelf stuff. At the Egyptian screening Rall said that Fosse conceded Tommy was the better dancer of the two. I think someone here posted recently that Gene Kelly called Rall the best dancer in Hollywood. He's still with us at 86, Betty Garrett died in 2011).

Anyway, back to Nathanael and Eileen West, and the 1940 census. They would not live to see out the rest of that year. On Dec. 22 they were returning from a trip to Mexico, and were in El Centro, where West ran a stop sign. The resulting collision killed them both.

This occurred the day after West's friend, fellow novelist and screenwriter Scott Fitzgerald, unexpectedly died. The suspicion is that West had learned of Fitzgerald's death, and was distraught and rushing back to Hollywood, contributing to the crash.

The great irony in all this is that both men went to their graves thinking themselves failures. Recognition of their work was almost entirely posthumous.

The Cain and West houses are still with us. Old broker listings note their prior ownership, so really no revelation here in that regard.

I won't write it up here but I also found Dorothy Comingore (she was playing Susan Alexander in "Citizen Kane" at the time of the census) and her screenwriter husband Richard Collins at an apt court on Highland. Her story is textbook noir, has it appeared on the board previously?

:previous: Excellent post riichkay! -lots and lots of interesting information.
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Remember my two 'mystery' photographs from a week or so ago?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/bd18Rv.png
eBay



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/4ObhqH.jpg
eBay

Well, the mystery has been SOLVED!



Earlier today I spotted the structure in an aerial of the old backlot at 20th Century Fox.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...924/xsfOgd.png
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com...x-special.html

Do you see it?




Here's a closer look....outlined in red.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/dK9fZE.jpg
detail

It turns out, the mystery structure was called the Sersen Tank. (named after Fred Sersen, special effects artist)

:previous:"This photograph from the 1940s shows the location of the original Sersen Tank at a time when the sky drop was being replaced which is why the scaffolding is showing. Next to it was the Chicago Lake. That long white structure was the scene dock. Behind it you can see a smaller sky drop which was constructed next to a mock-up of an aircraft carrier flight deck used in A WING AND A PRAYER. Behind that smaller backing was the huge train shed built for CENTENNIAL SUMMER". - Ed Nassour


and this....

"The Serson Tank was originally on the Fox lot in West LA at what is now Century City. It remained there until it was dismantled after the vast backlot was sold to Alcoa. That was back in 1961. A brand new Serson Tank was constructed out at Fox's ranch in Malibu Canyon. It was built sometime in 1962 and first used for CLEOPATRA. Today a parking lot marks the spot where it was located. This is a photo (see below) showing the original Serson Tank with its sky backing on the Fox lot. That's Joseph Welch standing in front of it". -Ed

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/k43zsS.jpg
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com...x-special.html

I believe the warning sign should read 26" DEEP instead of 26' DEEP.:previous:

"The depth of the Sersen tank allowed for 3 feet of water. This was designed in the days when waders were the optimum wear for tank technicians. With the development of wetsuits it was decided to add an extra foot of depth to 4 feet for the Tora* shoot. A hinged false weir was attached over the original overflow to increase the depth. Blue vegetable dye was added to the water to help hide all the underwater rigging and detergent was added to produce the white water in the storm sequence. To create the wind and surface wave effects six massive converted aircraft fans along with four large truck mounted fans and 15 wind machine fans were strategically placed around the tank. Fog was created with a mix of black and white smoke pots as well as oil based smoke machines."

*OK, if they're talking about the 'Tora, Tora, Tora' shoot (1970), then they're talking about the 2nd Sersen Tank out at Fox Ranch in Mailbu.

information from http://modelshipsinthecinema.com/wp/...ag/sersen-tank

Hotel Windemere, Santa Monica: Bamboo Cabana Room
 

LA has had so many "tropical" Bamboo- and Tiki-style rooms. I don't think we've seen this one before:

The Hotel Windemere's "Bamboo Cabana Room" with a very in-character piano:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E4...bnc=w1366-h768
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oR...Fc8=w1366-h768
tiki central

:previous: Now that's a surprise. I had no idea the Hotel Windermere had the Bamboo Cabana Room. Good find T2!


& thanks for the additional information you posted on the Peck-Judah Travel Agency. -much appreciated.
__

The property is owned by Helen Mirren and her husband (or a company owned by them). It's actually two parcels that both go all the way back to that point from La Brea Terrace. Both parcels are identified as 2003 La Brea Terrace in the LA County GIS. A skinny third parcel, just 5 feet wide and stretching along the entire right hand side of this pair, is marked as 2001 La Brea Terrace.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/op...rOizL0r8=w1400


Upon searching for the first address I came upon this blog post from 2007 stating that Ms. Mirren and her husband were to offer the property for lease:

http://www.bergproperties.com/blog/h...lywood-estate/

It states that they have owned it since 1986; the tax base year listed in the GIS app is 1987 for all 3 parcels, so I assume that they still own it. The main house was apparently built by silent film star Dustin Farnum; subsequent residents included journalist and producer Mark Hellinger, and actress Gail Patrick.

Most interesting post ER.!!

Here's the men from the Fox Art Department...1938. [photo below]

Fred Sersen is in the middle of the group wearing glasses and a striped tie.

"Czechoslovakian born Fred Sersen was the soft spoken, cigar smoking head of the scenic art department for more than thirty years. He joined Fox in 1918 in the silent era and was one of the giants in pioneering scenic (matte) special effects for many hundreds of films. Sersen was a well known watercolourist and executed many of the paintings on the walls of the Fox studio commissary".

Sersen's career was one of exclusivity to his long time employer Darryl F.Zanuck at Fox where he worked from the mid twenties till his retirement in the early fifties. Retired he may have been on paper, but Sersen was retained in a 'consultant' arrangement with the studio well beyond his departure and was involved with many film effects requirements throughout the fifties, although long time associate Ray Kellogg was by then heading the department.

Although primarily a matte painter Sersen was to become one of the industry's great effects visionaries with an uncanny ability to design, photograph and assemble some unique and truly memorable photographic and miniature special effects shots throughout his tenure at Fox. Under Sersen, the effects department at Fox was one of the biggest and strongest in Hollywood, with a substantial staff of painters, cameramen, miniaturists, effects editors and optical cameramen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psc2itcxez.jpg
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/

Re: riichkay's great post about the houses around Wonder View Dr., and slightly off-topic: the deaths of Nathanael and Eileen West supposedly inspired the characters of George and Marion Kerby in Thorne Smith's novel "Topper," later, of course, a film. Smith is now a largely unknown writer whose works are well worth looking for. My two favorites are "Night Life of the Gods," in which statues of Greek gods come alive, and "Turnabout," where a bickering husband and wife have their bodies switched. Both of these exhibit Smith's delightfully bent, alcohol-fueled sense of humor.

Cheers,

Earl

Well, this answers a question posed at one time.

A poster was confused about the Dustin Farnum house at Crescent Heights and Fountain and an article he found saying that Gail Patrick had lived in his house, but the description of that house was in the Hollywood Hills. Now we know where it was.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=35464
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=35465
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=35468
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=35470

The above links are the posts about this, including some Gail Patrick info from E_R.

Camrose Park
 

I had a patron stop by the office a few years ago with pictures from 1940. His grand parents lived in one of the homes. The driveway was also a road going all the way through.

I wish I would've taken pictures of his pictures.

Earl, thanks for the kind words on my post.

Re: "Topper" and the Wests', I looked up Thorne Smith and the book was published in 1926, so the timing doesn't work. Smith was dead by '34.

As a kid I remember seeing the "Topper" TV series in re-runs, with Leo G. Carroll and Robert Sterling. Just read on Wiki that the pilot and some of the early episodes were written by a 23 year-old who had come out here from New York, guy named Stephen Sondheim.

This is a picture of my office/bungalow in Camrose Park, Hollywood.
[IMG]http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psqhotdnwo.jpg[/IMG]http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/...psrqr9gwx5.jpg

I just want to note that today Kirk Douglas, who acted in many noirs, is 100 years old.

We had an electricity facility from Julius Shulman yesterday, and today it's a gas plant. The only problem is that I don't know the location of this subject. It's "Job 1083: Kemper Nomland, Southern California Gas Company Plant (Bellflower, Calif.), 1951".

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

There's nothing particularly distinctive about the buildings...

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

... and no address is given.

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

All from Getty Research Institute

Does anyone know where in Bellflower this was, or if the buildings are still there?

I stand corrected. And I can't even blame the internet for that goof -- I heard it decades ago :-)

Cheers,

Earl

:previous:I wasn't expecting anyone to take the time and answer my question.
Thank you so much ProphetM! I really appreciate it.

I love this description in the link you provided.

Last October, the New Yorker brilliantly described Mirren’s L.A. digs with the following opening paragraph: “If you go east on Sunset Boulevard and take a left onto one of those burned-out stretches of arterial road which cut across the main drag like stitches on a baseball, you pass Laundromats, motels, gas stations, pawnshops, and burger stands, until the road abruptly dead-ends at the base of the foothills beside Runyon Canyon. Towering bamboo plants block any glimpse of what lies up above. To the side are the gates of a private road, a terrace hidden behind palm fronds and hibiscus. This vertiginous landscape is one of the places that the actress Helen Mirren calls home. To enter her driveway is like going from black-and-white to Technicolor.”


And here's a line for odinthor.

"The estate has various trees including “Mexican palms, Italian cypresses, birds-of-paradise, jacaranda, oleander, carob, coral, eucalyptus, and Chinese lantern trees.”

OK, I just have to ask, what is a Chinese lantern tree? It sound beautiful.

And the mention of carob, reminded.....

In the video Martin_Pal posted, the two property owners mention that C.E. Toberman planted Carob trees throughout the Outpost tract.

They mention it when pointing out the tree shown (below) in front of Dolores Del Rio's house.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...924/9rIIAI.jpg
video

side-note:
You can no longer see the Del Rio house because of the high wall and garage 'Dallas' actor Ken Kercheval built in the 1980s. :(


Here's the home with Dolores in front (from the same video)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...924/lI1pR0.jpg
video



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...921/e4M8DN.jpg
video

:previous: I take then, the tree in her front yard is carob, right? (even though it looks 'wackier' than the one out by the street)
_______



Back to the Mirren/Hackford property.

So will this tiny strip of land always be considered a separate parcel? Why wouldn't it be 'consumed' by the adjacent parcel since it's owned by the same person?
-or am I just not understanding how this property stuff works?

__

Thanks for the follow-up on the Sersen Tank CityBoyDoug.


Judging by the near-by hills, this is the 2nd Sersen tank, located out at the Fox Ranch in Malibu.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...921/gp3hsg.jpg


http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...921/8tFDcq.jpg



http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/qyCNI7.jpg

:previous: I would have LOVED this job! (remember I'm the person who used to blow up his models with firecrackers ;))
__


side-note:

The tank was named 'Sersen Lake' out at the Fox Ranch, Malibu.



The three images are from from http://modelshipsinthecinema.com/wp/archives/1548

'mystery' structure


Can anyone tell me what's going on in this photograph taken at Fox-Malibu Ranch?

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...922/jTzNJV.jpg

I know the answer, but I thought it'd be fun to see if anyone can figure it out ;).
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