noirish Los Angeles

[riichkay]

"Three Billboards Not Outside Los Angeles, California"




At the May Co. building, 1950....an Ida Wyman photo (we just saw her work in the San Antonio, TX. "Transette" picture).....Cresta Blanca was one of the first California mass-market wines.






4100 block of W. Olympic Blvd., 1950.



gsv




It seems to me we may have seen this one before, but I searched every which way and nothing came up....apologies if it has been posted.....


artsy.net

The photo was taken in 1981 by Grant Rusk, it's titled "4th St., Los Angeles".....clearly the billboard had not survived from 1936 when the picture was released (it's not a location where a billboard would have been feasible anyway) so I figured it had to be for a film shoot...I ran "Love Before Breakfast" on IMDB, scrolled down to the "movie connections" tab, found this:

Pennies from Heaven (1981)
Billboard shown. 


To get the shot Rusk would have been standing right around the street light.... 





500 Mateo St.....the building now houses the trendy Bavel restaurant and Verve Coffee.....

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by riichkay

"Three Billboards Not Outside Los Angeles, California"

It seems to me we may have seen this one before, but I searched every which way and nothing came up....apologies if it has been posted.....


artsy.net

The photo was taken in 1981 by Grant Rusk, it's titled "4th St., Los Angeles".....clearly the billboard had not survived from 1936 when the picture was released (it's not a location where a billboard would have been feasible anyway) so I figured it had to be for a film shoot...I ran "Love Before Breakfast" on IMDB, scrolled down to the "movie connections" tab, found this:

Pennies from Heaven (1981)billboard shown. 

Good detective work. I used to drive by that billboard frequently when working. The film crew had also taken over the gas station up the street and recreated a 1930s scene with cars and extras milling around. It was like stepping back in time a few minutes every day.

[Martin Pal]

^^^

I watched Pennies from Heaven recently and knew that billboard was from that before I scrolled down to see that you (riichkay and BDiH) did, too. You could see that billboard in the background when they had a scene under that bridge that the photographer took the photo from.

[ethereal_reality]

.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I just noticed a very good clue in the second slide. I'll see if anyone catches it.

Originally Posted by HossC

Sunset Boulevard looking west across Londonderry Place to Mel's Drive-In (behind the "Service" canopy on the left)...condensed

That's what I spotted too Hoss but I remember it as Ben Frank's.



charles phoenix

Late at night he place was packed with the famous and the infamous.

An exemplary example of mid-century googie architecture. We're lucky it has survived.

[ethereal_reality]

.
mystery location SOLVED



OFFICERS CLUB OF LOS ANGELES / PHOTO ALBUM / EBAY

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

E_R, the photographs makes me think this location is where the Clover Club was on Sunset Blvd.

"On October 27, 1950, it was announced that it would become the new home of the Army & Navy Officer’s Club, which still occupied the building
when it burned down, January 28, 1952."

So the scrapbook photos were taken less than a year before the place burned down.

Fantastic sleuthing Martin Pal! I thought the entrance looked vaguely familiar but I wouldn't have guessed the old Clover Club on Sunset Blvd.

Thanks for your help.

.

[ethereal_reality]

.

Here is a very interesting photograph available on eBay



It shows the southeast corner of Sunset and Vine in 1930.


Link


We know this because it's written on the reverse.








The sleuth in me has been trying to decipher the large billboard.


detail

What I see (what I think I see) is. . .umm. . .Clara Bow(?) in a clown outfit and the word "SWEETIE". What I don't see is the title of the movie.








And lastly let's examine the left side of the photograph.



As you can see there are still private homes along Sunset (I'm not sure how long they'll last after 1930). There's a "For Lease" sign in front of the narrow white building next to the house.


.

[ethereal_reality]

.
This next photograph is a rare snapshot of Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevards taken in 1901. It's a bit blurry because the photographer might be dangling from a tree. (where else could he be?)


Link

The location doesn't include which corner. If I were to wager a guess I'd say the hills we see in the distance are the Baldwin Hills
which would make this the. . .*thinks real hard*. . .the southeast umm. . .no. . .the southwest . . .the southeast corner. ...(hell I don't know which corner this is)




Here's what is written on the reverse.












I'm intrigued by something that is going on in the lower left corner.


detail

It's obviously a man digging a mass grave.


I'm kidding. Your guess is as good as mine.






Oh, and one last thing.




What type of utility is this?...I've never seen anything quite like it.

It reminds me of something you might use to dry your clothes. (if you were really tall.





.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The sleuth in me has been trying to decipher the large billboard.


detail

What I see (what I think I see) is. . .umm. . .Clara Bow(?) in a clown outfit and the word "SWEETIE". What I don't see is the title of the movie.

I think it's a Beckman Furs billboard.

Here's another one on Wilshire Boulevard circa 1937.


tessa.lapl.org

[Snix]

Here is the same billboard on Vermont near Wilshire

Order Number 00009303
Title Rail lines on Vermont near Wilshire
Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

I think it's a Beckman Furs billboard.

Here's another one on Wilshire Boulevard circa 1937.


tessa.lapl.org

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Thanks for your help. .
_________________________________________________________________

And thanks for finding all the wonderful treasures you locate on eBay!!! How many fascinating things have we gotten to discover! I really am quite serious about that, E_R!

Including that photo above of the 1930 southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine!!!

Good job, Noir Noir and Snix, of deciphering that billboard!!! Amazing!

E_R, you had written: What I see (what I think I see) is. . .umm. . .Clara Bow(?) in a clown outfit and the word "SWEETIE". What I don't see is the title of the movie.

Clara Bow's last film release, Hoopla, did take place in a carnival! But it was released in 1933. She didn't like her voice, but, really, she's quite appealing in her sound films, and Hoopla is excellent. Her voice wasn't all that different than, say, Jean Harlow's.

[Engineeral]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Oh, and one last thing.




What type of utility is this?...I've never seen anything quite like it.

It reminds me of something you might use to dry your clothes. (if you were really tall.



.

It's a support for two lines of streetcar wires. Presumably one track per direction. The rails are faintly visible on the street.

[Earl Boebert]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

I think it's a Beckman Furs billboard.

Yes, definitely. Very "arty" lettering shows up when you put it in an image processing app and reduce the gamma.

Earl

[odinthor]

Beckman Furs was at 521 W. 7th.

Its building began as the Bronson Block/Bronson Bldg.:


credit contained in image

In 1915, E.R. Brackett entered into a twenty-year lease of the building ("The structure had been empty from the day of its completion," quoth the LA Times on April 23, 1916), and made some alterations to create shopping space on the upper floors to create the "Brack Shops."


LA Times, April 23, 1916

[HossC]

I found this picture of Beckman Furs at 521/523 W 7th Street which I think is new to NLA. It's dated 1933.


USC Digital Library

The building's still recognizable, even if some of the details have been lost/covered - see Google Maps.

[Bristolian]

Originally Posted by riichkay

At the May Co. building, 1950....an Ida Wyman photo (we just saw her work in the San Antonio, TX. "Transette" picture).....Cresta Blanca was one of the first California mass-market wines.

I love this shot and had nothing better to do than see how close I could get using GSV. This is the best I could do and it's from 2011. Apologies for the lack of focus but that's what happens when you mess around with everything else. It always seems impossible to get the same perspective and I was unable to frame it with the May Co canopy cutting off at the top and also show the building across the street, which was leveled in 2016.
Some things I noticed that were present in both 1950 and 2011 are school kids, bus stop, shotgun style Fairfax Ave sign and the newspaper rack. The Wilshire Special street lamps are gone as is the mail drop box and May Co, obviously, although the building remains.

GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

I found this picture of Beckman Furs at 521/523 W 7th Street which I think is new to NLA. It's dated 1933.


USC Digital Library

The building's still recognizable, even if some of the details have been lost/covered - see Google Maps.

I was curious about the two paintings of the tiger and lion. They seem a bit odd. I mean, surely they're not advertising tiger and lion fur coats, right?
I also wondered if it was a good idea to have the paintings outside on the exterior of the building. (they wouldn't last long in a harsher climate / one Chicago winter would be the end of them)

So I decided to take a closer look at them.. .. .. ..


If you look closely there is neon encircling the paintings.


detail





same with the tiger painting.




The neon would give the paintings a somewhat surreal, glowing effect at night.


And then I had an epiphany.


Considering the irregular shape of the panels I believe the paintings are from an old. . .drum roll please . . .Merry-Go-Round. ...


Whaddya think?

Did Mr. Beckman scavenge the paintings from a circus?



.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Considering the irregular shape of the panels I believe the paintings are from an old. . .drum roll please . . .Merry-Go-Round. ...

Whaddya think?

Did Mr. Beckman scavenge the paintings from a circus?

The paintings appear to be flush with the rest of the sign panel, so while they may have been inspired by merry-go-round artwork, I don't think they were actually taken from one.

I found an advert for Beckman Furs in a Mayan Theatre booklet from the 1930s. Mink coats were on sale for $880, reduced from a regular price of $1200-1300. I knew fur coats were luxury items for the wealthy, but assuming that the advert is from 1935, $880 would be around $17,000 in 2021 and $1300 would be around $25,000!

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by riichkay

At the May Co. building, 1950....
_________________________________________________________________

The boys in these two photos (1950 & 1951) have similar stances. Don't know why I felt the need to point that out.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

eBay

The boy is hip. (All the photographs are dated 1951.).
_________________________________________________________________

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by HossC

The paintings appear to be flush with the rest of the sign panel, so while they may have been inspired by merry-go-round artwork, I don't think they were actually taken from one.

[...]

Right, frequently they are curved along with the curved frame of the merry-go-round; but sometimes carousel artwork along the edges of the main structure (and decorating the inner core/axle) can be flat rather than curved:


pinterest

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Right, frequently they are curved along with the curved frame of the merry-go-round; but sometimes carousel artwork along the edges of the main structure (and decorating the inner core/axle) can be flat rather than curved:

Yes Odinthor, sometimes things can be so confusing and strange. The other day I was looking at the cloudy sky over Hollywood and one of the clouds looked like a bunny rabbit and another one looked like a lion. Can you imagine that?

I usually don't talk about it on NLA....I just keep it to myself.

I guess we have a new topic on NLA...carousel artwork.