noirish Los Angeles

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I think this is the first time I've heard of TODD'S, too.
Lot's of first names down there. I wonder if Jack, Todd and Harold all knew each other?

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

So, in HossC's photo above this is the Harold's?

Check out your earlier post, Martin :

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The Harold's establishment mentioned above and in the last couple pages at 555 S. Main St. is seen in the following undated photo:


http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2013/06/eric-s-blog.html

There are more pictures of the block in post #22168.

[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location (maybe)


I'm not sure if we've seen this photograph on NLA. (I don't recognize the building across the street)


old file of mine


The Carrell Speedway poster sent me googling.


Here's an aerial of the Carroll Speedway in Gardena. One source says it was located at 139th & Western, while another source says it was at 174th & Vermont.


http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/showthread.php?p=653
Note the drive-in theater next door. (and the Future Ascot Park Site at upper right)



http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-history-of-los-angeles.446547/page-15

Carrell Speedway 1940 to 1954

Garden (Western) Speedway 1954 to 1967

Ascot Park 1957 to 1990
_____

Here's the Carrell site in 1962 (note the drive-in theater is still there in the middle)

http://www.autoracinglegendsofcalifornia.com/california-speedways-of-the-past/1962_ascot_park/

_______


Cheesecake promotional photos.



http://nostalgiaonwheels.blogspot.com/2012/04/if-youve-ever-been-to-hawleywoods-shop.html




http://hotrodcraft.com/index.php?topic=49.192



http://hotrodcraft.com/index.php?topic=49.192



Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!



http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/author/dan/page/256/?refer=blog




http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/09/sunday-sunday-sunday-stock-car-racing-in-gardena/




http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/09/sunday-sunday-sunday-stock-car-racing-in-gardena/




http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/09/sunday-sunday-sunday-stock-car-racing-in-gardena/


Bardahl?

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/09/sunday-sunday-sunday-stock-car-racing-in-gardena/
__

refreshment stand, ferris wheel...etc.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/09/sunday-sunday-sunday-stock-car-racing-in-gardena/

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

Was this the Severance Building? The 1921 Baist map shows this location as the Severange Building, which turns up in a few listings in the Los Angeles Herald.

Sorry for the confusion. I picked that spelling up here

The 1921 Baist has Harold's (at 555 S Main) on the ground floor of the Howell Hotel/Edgeman Block

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

I wonder if Jack, Todd and Harold all knew each other?

very funny

[bighen]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;7019234]'mystery' location (maybe)


I'm not sure if we've seen this photograph on NLA. (I don't recognize the building across the street. Do you?)


old file of mine


This looks like where the street car went west from Hoover into an access way near 47th street. I remember the street car going west to around Normandie (?) and then later going on 48th street. My Google Earth is not working on this computer so perhaps someone could check.

[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by Matt Maxwell

The tense send-off/reception at the transit station is always a dependable setting for a mystery/thriller/noir.

Here's Union Station on an afternoon in 2003 (not quite a vintage photo yet, but getting there). Taken by me on my second digital camera, a Fuji FinePix. I will always shoot atmosphere over pure documentary, so apologies if this isn't what we're usually getting on this thread.

Union_Station_Desk.jpg by maxwellm, on Flickr

Noirish Los Angeles demonstrates a perfect mix of atmosphere and documentary. Please carry on like this. Your photograph is beautiful and... this is the first time we see this reception desk.

[oldstuff]

Originally Posted by Tourmaline

Not all awnings have seen their last sunset.


3630 West Third Street (What was once "Sharps Drugs" is currently "#2 Fashion of Echo.")

http://s3-media1.fl.yelpassets.com/bphoto/GB_UGu3BLD8ufLBE9Q3emw/348s.jpg












When it comes to car polish and/or chrome, this car has likely - never enjoyed any.

I am a sucker for names in the old pictures that I can look up. So I checked out the O.J. Nordeen Dentist sign and found, to my surprise, that his first name was actually "Oral". ( some records have it spelled "Orol") Great name for a dentist.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by HossC

Check out your earlier post, Martin :

There are more pictures of the block in post #22168.

I guess I knew it, but I was awed by the full frontal neon photo that E_R posted and I had to ask to be sure what I was seeing!

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

This picture was taken slightly further up S Main Street. USC date it as 1938-1958, but it's clearly from a similar time to the one above. I guess that must be the Optic that's showing Dick Powell's 1939 movie, 'Hard to Get'. The five-story building appears as Your Hotel in the 1936 and 1942 CDs, but is not listed in the ones in between. In Martin Pal's earlier pictures it's become the Dover Hotel, still with 100 rooms. In this picture they're severly undercutting the nearby Rosslyn - I wonder if the Rosslyn was worth twice the price?


USC Digital Library

Hey look at that. It's the Brennan:

Originally Posted by tovangar2

One hundred years ago:

Brennan Hotel, 529 S Main:

lafdblogspot.com

Seven more photos: http://laist.com/2013/01/24/historic_photos_famous_brennan_hotel_fire.php

The LA Examiner's thrilling account:
http://lafd.blogspot.com/2013/01/100-years-ago-today-los-angeles.html

The Silver Republican Club ended up behind the 1911 Optic:

Originally Posted by HossC

Could this be the old clubhouse to the left of The Brennan on the 1910 Baist map? In 1911 the Optic Theatre opened at 533 S Main. Two years later, the Brennan suffered a devastating fire - see post #11832 by tovangar2.


www.historicmapworks.com

For anyone who's interested, USC has a zoomable version of the original picture.

Now I know exactly where we (and Todd and Jack and Harold) are

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Matt Maxwell

And while we're in Union Station.

That's a great photo of the skylight at Union Station, Matt.

Speaking of Union Station, a couple months ago when I was looking up information about the First Interstate Bank
building fire in 1988, I found this LINK which had this intriguing item:

"A Yuletide Disaster at Union Station" -- The fire that took place at Union Station on December 12, 1942, may not
have caused the same sort of damage the First Interstate blaze did, but it must have put a damper on Downtown's
Christmas spirits. 7000 bags of mail -- more than 35 tons -- went up in smoke that day when a carelessly tossed
cigarette set fire to a canvas tent under which they were being stored. Both incoming and outgoing mail was included.
Sleds, dolls, baby buggies, boxes of candy, clothing and jewelry were found when fire crews sorted through the packages
looking for any lingering embers.

I haven't had any luck finding anything else about this occurrence (especially photos) which must have been covered
in the newspapers. I had never heard about a fire at Union Station before, has anyone else?

[Matt Maxwell]

I've been hitting this thread pretty hard for two and a half days and I'm not even 200 posts in (granted, I'm noting sources and making notes, but still). The scholarship going on in here is pretty impressive, if not overwhelming. And very appreciated.

Here's some closeup texture of the Spring Arcade Building facade, taken by me in 2012

L1000962.JPG by Matt Maxwell, on Flickr<script async src="//widgets.flickr.com/embedr/embedr.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I have a second one showing the address nameplate, but Flickr is being a butt right now. Check the album if you're interested.

Note that the originals are MUCH bigger.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by bighen

This looks like where the street car went west from Hoover into an access way near 47th street. I remember the street car going west to around Normandie (?) and then later going on 48th street. My Google Earth is not working on this computer so perhaps someone could check.

Thanks for the tip bighen.

Hmmm....could it be this building?


gsv

47th & Hoover

gsv

But these buildings are on the west side of Hoover, so maybe not.

*This is actually the east side. I was corrected by HossC.

[ethereal_reality]

This is an interesting view, circa 1950.

174 Kinney Street

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30993133@N04/

"Looking out from the inside of the building at 174 Kinney Street part of Pacific Electric Railway Company's bus yard at Ocean Park.
This block was bounded by Neilson Way, on which the Venice Short Line trains ran, Kinney Street, a small alley behind Main Street
which contained the single track for the Santa Monica Air-Line, and Ashland Street."

"Although Los Angeles Motor Coach (owned by Pacific electric Railway Company) buses shared this yard,
Ocean Park was not considered a los Angeles Motor Coach division."


Here's a better view of the buildings in the distance.


detail



google_earth
__


*postscript: I just realized 174 Kinney Street is still there...and it's a doozy!


gsv


looking toward Main Street from Neilson Way.

gsv
__



before 'n after

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by Matt Maxwell

. Check the album if you're interested.

That's a nice shot of the south end of the Alexandria Hotel. Thx


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


Is everyone keeping up with the Master Plan for the makeover of Union Station?

There's a video here

And a page of LA curbed articles here

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location (maybe)

I'm not sure if we've seen this photograph on NLA. (I don't recognize the building across the street)


old file of mine

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

But these buildings are on the west side of Hoover, so maybe not. (bighen thought the streetcar is turning west in the vintage photo),
which means the building in question should be on the east side of Hoover. right?

The building you identified is correct, e_r. The building you posted is on the east side of Hoover. Your photo is part of the Jack Finn Collection - you can see it here. The description says:

Los Angeles Transit Lines (ex-LARy) 9 Line streetcar no. 190 turns from Hoover onto private right-of-way from the street. The destination board reads "9 / To 48th Str. & Crenshaw." Note the interesting billboards on the building side; one advertises a temperance issue in an upcoming campaign ("The Hour is 12! / Liquor Control / Vote NO on 2 - Yes on 12!" - obviously trying to reduce on- and off-sale liquor sale hours; the other promotes upcoming events at Carrell Speedway in Gardena (located at what is today the intersection of Vermont and Artesia), including "Indianapolis driver Rex Mays."

This is the same private right-of-way in color. The caption for this one says:

"Los Angeles Transit Lines (ex-Los Angeles Railway) car no. 1415 hosts an ERA fan trip on August 18, 1956. This image was captured on private right-of-way on the 9 Line."


ww.pacificelectric.org/L. Swanson Photo, Andy Goddard Collection

The building on the left is still there.


GSV

It looks like the right-of-way extended from Hoover to Normandie, even bisecting the grounds of the Vermont Square Branch Library. The red arrows mark the ends on the 1954 aerial below. Today. virtually no trace of the right-of-way exists.


Historic Aerials


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

Originally Posted by tovangar2

Sorry for the confusion. I picked that spelling up here

I wasn't trying to contradict you, tovangar2. Either or both spellings could be correct - I was hoping for some clarification. Maybe Severange became Severance in the reverse of the way that the recently discussed C M Hoff building became the G M Hoff building.

[tovangar2]

Originally Posted by HossC

Either or both spellings could be correct - I was hoping for some clarification. Maybe Severange became Severance in the reverse of the way that the recently discussed C M Hoff building became the G M Hoff building.

I wish I knew. Brian did say in his post that the building was "originally known as".

He has a nice 'then and now' post on the other side of the intersection of 6th and Main. It's here

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

August 18, 1956.

ww.pacificelectric.org/L. Swanson Photo, Andy Goddard Collection

The building on the left is still there.


GSV

I noticed this 'mini-skyscraper' earlier (it's so much taller than anything in the area, it stands out like a sore thumb),
but I didn't realize it made an appearance in the vintage photographs. Good eye Hoss!




It's rather eerie looking from the front...and looks like it's been sealed up for quite some time. I wonder if it's empty inside?


gsv

Maybe someone can dig up some history on it. (oldstuff? )

__




I also noticed this shingled 'arts and craft' four-plex just south of 47th street on Hoover.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I noticed this 'mini-skyscraper' earlier (it's so much taller than anything in the area, it stands out like a sore thumb),
but I didn't realize it made an appearance in the vintage photographs. Good eye Hoss!




It's rather eerie looking from the front...and looks like it's been sealed up for quite some time. I wonder if it's empty inside?


gsv

Maybe someone can dig up some history on it. (oldstuff? )

__

ER....do you know the approx. location of this building? I'd like to check it out.
Thanks....Doug

[ethereal_reality]

CBD, it's at S. Hoover and 47th streets.


google_earth

[lemster2024]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

CBD, it's at S. Hoover and 47th streets.


google_earth

I know that building at 47th and Hoover; I grew up 2 blocks from there (49th & Hoover). It used to be a Mayflower Storage facility, painted a light tan color, with the Mayflower logo painted on one side. I used to walk to the mom and pop grocery store on the SE corner; back in the early '60s it was owned & operated by a Chinese couple who were friends of my parents back in China. The streetcar would run past into that access road like clockwork....lots of memories of that area!