noirish Los Angeles

[Scott Charles]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Coincidentally, the house directly across the street from Noir Noir's "castlely" house is Amelia Earhart's last home.

... and the house directly below it (with the red roof) was previously owned by both Frank Sinatra and Mary Astor (from The Maltese Falcon).

[ovens]

Originally Posted by ovens

Hey all. New user here, long time lurker. I live in the valley (Valley Village, which is technically North Hollywood)... and work in West Hollywood. I love driving around and imagining which buildings are older than the others -- and this thread has been simply tremendous in making me say "ohh man thats cool" so many times. Thanks you guys.

I have some questions about the building i work in -- but I need to prepare my layup with some context and photos. Stay tuned! haha

First meaningful post- please excuse any formatting issues, I will fix this as I learn. (Curious how to control image width of hi-rez photos)

So I am currently typing this post, from inside the building shown here, photographed in 1931:



(USC library) http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/4143

The building was supposedly constructed in the early 1920s, but I can't seem to find building records. The rumor I am fascinated with (and which has been circulating for decades)... is that Norma Talmadge used this building as her film studio for some time in the 20s. IN 1956 Tony Duquette moved in (verified) and had lots of events and parties here, and he used the space to do his studio work. After that... Tony sold it to Margo Leavin, who ran a wonderful art gallery from the 70s onward.



(personal records from building purchase)



(personal records from building purchase)


Curious if you hawks could find any more intel on this building. While I would love to believe the Talmadge history -- I simply cannot find any hard evidence. I will post more on this in another post.

I've also turned up this building as a location of the Cristoefelles Lace Factory... here, on page 58.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

By jove you found it Noir Noir.

Update:

By jove...we might be wrong.


It appears the home was built in 1999.


realtor.com

I can't find a build date for 10045 but it's there in the 1927 aerial and here in this 1928 one - the only house on the south side of the lake with the Amelia Earhart house across the street. It has that distinctive roofline which you can still see in the present day extended house.


mil.library.ucsb.edu - Flight c-235x_d-1


It was the home at one time of actor John Harron.



https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366002/



I'm thinking it's in the right spot and the tower, although modified, on the left hand side facing the lake looks good. This listing says the house was renovated in 1999.


redfin.com




Here's the Mary Astor/Frank Sinatra house next door in the 1930's. Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee lived there in the mid 1960's.


Facebook - Valley Relics

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by corriganville

This is the Paramount Ranch in Agoura showing the set built for the movie "Wells Fargo" (1937) on the flatten hilltop on the right side and a western set on the left side.
____________________________________________________

The news has been reporting tonight that the historic Paramount Ranch, recently used for filming Westworld, has been destroyed by one of the uncontained fires (Woolsey Fire) now raging in Southern California.

Among other things, the ENTIRE city of Malibu has been evacuated.

Good news: Another fire in Griffith Park that had threatened the L.A. Zoo has been contained and halted.

It's those Santa Ana's...

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's one more photograph for this evening.

Depression Era:

"Hundreds of the unemployed gather outside the Biltmore Hotel while the California Relief Commission was meeting inside."


EBAY

"Police were summoned as the marchers attempted to enter the hotel." [1935]



info / It's difficult to read.


__

Wow...that's a big crowd....lots of interesting faces from the past.

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ovens

So I am currently typing this post, from inside the building shown here, photographed in 1931:



(USC library) http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/re...coll65/id/4143

The building was supposedly constructed in the early 1920s, but I can't seem to find building records. The rumor I am fascinated with (and which has been circulating for decades)... is that Norma Talmadge used this building as her film studio for some time in the 20s. IN 1956 Tony Duquette moved in (verified) and had lots of events and parties here, and he used the space to do his studio work. After that... Tony sold it to Margo Leavin, who ran a wonderful art gallery from the 70s onward.


(personal records from building purchase)

Curious if you hawks could find any more intel on this building. While I would love to believe the Talmadge history -- I simply cannot find any hard evidence. I will post more on this in another post.

ovens, although I could not find a Norma Talmadge connection to your building, I located it on the 1926 Sanborn Map,
just above center at 8936-38 Keith Avenue (Swall is now Robertson):



ProQuest via LAPL


The map shows the activities in your building as "Moving Pictures" and "Water Bottling." The first LA City Directory I found
your building in was 1927, which showed the same address for the Sherman Theater and Mission Water Company:



LAPL





LAPL



This is the first mention of the Sherman Theater that I came across:



July 10, 1926, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL


On the 1950 Sanborn Map, the building is shown as 8936-38 Keith/812 N. Robertson and is labeled as a warehouse.


I hope this information is helpful to you, and welcome to NLA!

[Otis Criblecoblis]

Originally Posted by unihikid

I really wanted to check out the Biltmore Bowl? I didn't even know it had a theatre!

It's actually a very nice ballroom with a stage. It was, as I recall, the home of Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra for some time during the heyday of the Big Bands. One of my great-uncles was an arranger for the band, reportedly.

I went to a senior prom there in 1979.

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

Here's the Mary Astor house next door in the 1930's.


Facebook - Valley Relics

Is that Mary waving at us?

_

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ovens

The rumor I am fascinated with (and which has been circulating for decades)... is that Norma Talmadge used this building as her film studio for some time in the 20s.

I've heard this rumor as well. I found some information on the subject.....but that was several years ago.
I'll see if I can it (the info) again. [don't hold your breath..my filing system leaves alot to be desired]

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Beaudry

I believe that's the Sunset Hotel back there—notice the tower

My bad. I drew my red line through the tower.

I didn't see it.

detail / ebay pic

thx Beaudry
_

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I find this very interesting as well.

"Amelia Earhart working in her Toluca Lake garden."


Margot DeCarie Collection



oops. here's the ending.


I picture her relaxing in the shade, under the Carob tree, dreaming of crossing the Pacific.
(and we all know how that story ends]





Later I found this photograph that shows a bit more of the garden..& with writing in the borders. (pretty cool huh!)



Okay odinthor and oldstuff, or anyone else for that matter, is it possible to pick out a Carob tree from a google-aerial?

__

e_r, it would be pretty difficult, in my estimation. Something distinctive in structure, such as a palm tree or maybe a Deodar could be picked out at a distance from above, shadows often helping quite a lot, and (to state the obvious) plants which have foliage with a distinctive color would stand out; but otherwise we're just dealing with clumps of green. Oh, well!

[ethereal_reality]

That's what I was afraid of.


so I guess I can quit looking at this aerial.

google earth

"It is rumored that a carob tree on the property stills stand...
it was under this tree that Earhart began to make plans for her infamous journey across the Pacifc."

Thanks of your help odinthor. always appreciated buddy.

_

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

I can't find a build date for 10045 but it's there in the 1927 aerial and here in this 1928 one - the only house on the south side of the lake
with the Amelia Earhart house across the street. It has that distinctive roofline which you can still see in the present day extended house.


mil.library.ucsb.edu - Flight c-235x_d-1

By jove...you've convinced me Noir Noir.

__

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

ovens, although I could not find a Norma Talmadge connection to your building, I located it on the 1926 Sanborn Map,
just above center at 8936-38 Keith Avenue (Swall is now Robertson):



ProQuest via LAPL


The map shows the activities in your building as "Moving Pictures" and "Water Bottling." The first LA City Directory I found
your building in was 1927, which showed the same address for the Sherman Theater and Mission Water Company:



LAPL





LAPL



This is the first mention of the Sherman Theater that I came across:



July 10, 1926, Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL


On the 1950 Sanborn Map, the building is shown as 8936-38 Keith/812 N. Robertson and is labeled as a warehouse.


I hope this information is helpful to you, and welcome to NLA!
_________________________________________________________________

Flyingwedge, great stuff! I've not come across this info before!

And welcome ovens.

There is lots of conflicting information concerning this Norma Triangle area of West Hollywood and possible relationship to Norma Talmadge.
Here's some of it.

From IMDB: (Link HERE.)

Talmadge Street in Hollywood, California, USA is named for Norma and her sister Constance Talmadge. It ran along the west side of Vitagraph's west coast studio where the Talmadges made some of their movies in the 1910s. The studio is now the ABC Television Center, west coast home of the American Broadcasting Company and its Los Angeles station, KABC-TV.

Another street, Norma Place in West Hollywood, California, is also named for her. The street was originally an easement road that led to the entrance of a tiny studio Norma's husband, Joseph M. Schenck, built for her when she joined his company, First National, in 1919. The studio was used solely to produce movies made by Norma's and Constance's production companies. It was abandoned in 1926 when the production company owned by Norma and her sister Constance Talmadge moved to First National's new home, the Burbank Studios (now home to Warner Brothers). The studio, too small to be properly converted to sound production, was torn down in the 1930s. Norma Place was lengthened, making it a through street, and houses were built where the old studio once stood. Dorothy Parker and her husband, Alan Campbell, lived on Norma Place for most of the years they worked in Hollywood.
___

Article about the Norma Triangle on WeHoVille: (Link HERE.)

Legend has it that the silent movie star Norma Talmadge had a film studio in the area and the homes were originally dressing rooms for the stars after whom she named the streets (Cynthia Street, Lloyd Place, Dicks Street, Phyllis Street, Keith Avenue, etc).

However, historians say the homes in the area were built for the people who worked for the streetcar company, Los Angeles Pacific Railway, which had a depot where the Pacific Design Center now stands. Those historians say the streets were named after children and friends of Moses Sherman, who founded the area (West Hollywood’s original name was Sherman).
___

From an article about WeHo street names: (Link HERE.)

Historians, who couldn’t establish any connection between Talmadge and the neighborhood, believe Norma, and streets like Clark, Lloyd, Cynthia, Dicks, Hammond and others "were named after senior executives of the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad Company or their spouses or children. Those executives, Moses Sherman and Eli P. Clark, built the streets prior to Norma Talmadge's arrival in Hollywood.
___

A West Hollywood Historic Resources survey form dated 1986-87, lists info about the Tony Duquette property thusly:
Link HERE.

Since its apparent construction in 1924*(1), this early industrial building has seen a variety of uses. Built for the lace factory (Cristoefelles Lace Factory) of Cornelius and Edith Christoffeles*(2), the building is reputed to have been the sound studio for Norma Talmadge but as she never had a studio of her own, was probably only used for a location in a film. By 1930, it was sold to George McGlagan and in 1932 housed the Beverly Hills Water Bottling Company. Natural springs are common on these southwestern slopes of the foothills, and several bottling companies operated in this area. In the late 1930's the building was also used for light manufacturing and a sheet metal works and in 1949, woodworking. In 1956, costume and set designer Anthony Duquette took over the building for his studio, from where he designed for many Hollywood films including Camelot in 1952*(3).

* Notes:
(1) -- Though it says "apparent" here, it's listed as factual on the West Hollywood Historic Resources survey form, but the builder and architect are listed as unknown.
(2) --The various spellings of "Cristoefelles" are the way they were spelled in the survey entries.
(3) --Anthony Duquette won a Tony for the costume design of the original Broadway production of Camelot, 1960.

The current West Hollywood Cultural Resources database says:
LINK HERE.

Architectural Description: This is a 2 and 3-story commercial building in the Utilitarian style built in 1921.*
* Date source: Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor

__________

--It's worth noting that the boundaries for the "Norma Triangle" area vary in different sources. (And aren't always triangular.)



--Not much of the information, gleaned from the above sources, is itself sourced to anywhere else.

--The IMDB info indicates the studio in question was torn down and on Norma Place itself, if I read it correctly, and then that street was extended. Wonder where the source for this info came from.

--Though several of the street names in the area are attributed to actual people, the one most in question (Norma Place) never is. (That i've found.)

[Martin Pal]

P.S.:

--It is true that Dorothy Parker lived on Norma Place for many years. I've always found it interesting that two people (F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker) who were greatly associated with NYC and the 1920's, spent an awful lot of time in California.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Another street, Norma Place in West Hollywood, California, is also named for her. The street was originally an easement road that led to the entrance of a tiny studio Norma's husband, Joseph M. Schenck, built for her when she joined his company, First National, in 1919. The studio was used solely to produce movies made by Norma's and Constance's production companies. It was abandoned in 1926 when the production company owned by Norma and her sister Constance Talmadge moved to First National's new home, the Burbank Studios (now home to Warner Brothers). The studio, too small to be properly converted to sound production, was torn down in the 1930s. Norma Place was lengthened, making it a through street, and houses were built where the old studio once stood. Dorothy Parker and her husband, Alan Campbell, lived on Norma Place for most of the years they worked in Hollywood.

This August 1, 1927 aerial seems to show Norma Place (arrowed) as a through street. Note the pretty dense housing east of N Doheny Drive, but nothing yet to the west.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The news has been reporting tonight that the historic Paramount Ranch, recently used for filming Westworld, has been destroyed by one of the uncontained fires (Woolsey Fire) now raging in Southern California.

___________________________________________________________________

A minute of atmospheric CBS News footage of the Paramount Ranch on fire in the Agoura Hills.

• Video Link

[ethereal_reality]

Dorothy Parker lived at 8983 Norma Place.


google_earth


Dorothy Parker lived in Los Angeles, off and on, from 1934 to 1964. I believe she, and her husband, began living in this bungalow in the 1950s. dorothyparker.com


GSV

“The apartment was one of three carved out of the former offices of a silent movie studio owned by the Talmadge sisters,” he said. The street is named after Norma Talmadge, a silent film star. “My landlord, who bought the fridge from Parker, was once a bit player at MGM and the front porch of my apartment was the front porch from the Aunt Pittypat house on the Gone With the Wind set. The three pieces of property adjacent to my former apartment, No. 8954, used to be owned by Nina Foch.” Los Angeles resident Olen Earnest

On June 14, 1963, Alan Campbell died of an apparent suicide at 8983 Norma Place [age 59]. On the day of his death, Alan had been drinking Bloody Marys all day. Dottie came home from a salon and found her husband dead. Around his bed were capsules of Seconal and a plastic bag was draped over his neck and shoulders. The coroner’s report stated he’d died of “acute barbiturate poisoning due to an ingestion of overdose” and listed his death as a probable suicide. But Dottie and her friends didn’t believe Alan had intentionally killed himself; she reported it as an accident.
from dorothyparker.com



Here's Dorothy with her husband, Alan Campbell, in better times. (at the time, they were a highly-paid screenwriter team)


flickr

The photograph was taken on the Paramount lot around 1935.

__

[riichkay]

Several photo sets from the Life Magazine archives have been posted, but I don't recall these....and I searched the thread with multiple keywords, nothing came up...but as always, apologies for any re-posts.

The photog here is Ralph Crane, we've seen his work before...recall the shapely woman with the backless dress at Hollywood & Vine.

The photos are dated Dec. 1957....the conceit was Hollywood's New Breed (as represented by Dennis Hopper, Nick Adams & Natalie Wood) at work and at play...the set starts out with the usual Hollywood puffery: the trio at Hopper's home (he was sharing it with Adams) in Laurel Canyon...eating take-out Chinese, reading aloud to each other, and some spontaneous hijinks:





and some shopping....




But then, the story takes a more somber turn, as the youngsters decide to spend an afternoon and evening downtown...to mingle with (and "observe") the commoners in their natural surroundings...all in furtherance of their craft.

Here, Wood ascends the speaker's podium at Pershing Square, in advocacy of lowering the voting age to 18...




Hopper anxiously scans the crowd reaction, for future reference in his work...




Adams gets up as well...




Then, darkness falls...





















Here, the trio blends in seamlessly at Cooper Do-Nuts...Hopper with some intense eavesdropping in an effort to gain some insight into the lives of the underclass:




Dennis heads to either the cigarette machine or the jukebox...




OK, this one is pretty much textbook noir...what with the none too pleased counterman peering up at the camera through the donut case...




Probably covered here before, but Cooper's was raided a couple of years later, and a kind of mini-Stonewall ensued:

"In May of 1959, with laws against cross-dressing on the books, the police entered Cooper Do-Nuts to arrest anyone whose gender on their identification did not match their appearance. Arrests were made and patrons fought back, throwing doughnuts, cups and plates at the officers, who retreated and came back with a bigger army. The skirmish grew into a riot that closed down the street for a day. It was one of the first LGBT uprisings in American history."


Back to our story...












Adams negotiates the purchase of a tin mask....









Safely back at the canyon house, the staging of a tableau vivant in the front window:

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

P.S.:

--It is true that Dorothy Parker lived on Norma Place for many years. I've always found it interesting that two people (F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker) who were greatly associated with NYC and the 1920's, spent an awful lot of time in California.

It has probably been mentioned on NLA that Carolyn Jones reportedly made her home on (8967) Norma Place too.

http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/7671997/...olyn-jones.jpg