noirish Los Angeles

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

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The Cinematour website says that the Los Feliz Drive-In could accommodate 500 cars and:
Opened: March 24, 1950
Closed: October 2, 1956

This Facebook page says:
The Glendale Blvd off-ramp goes through what used to be the Los Feliz Drive-in -- apparently it was a twin.

And from Cinema Treasures:



1952 photo, © HistoricAerials.com


From the comments section on Cinema Treasures, courtesy of Michael Kilgore:

From the March 11, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:

“Booking and buying for the Los Feliz Drive-In, new 600-car ozoner owned by Marvin Chesebrough, will be handled by Jim Finkler’s booking service. The operation is set for a March 15 opening with Tom Osa as manager.”


From the June 24, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:

LOS ANGELES – Because flood lights used to illuminate a playing field in the municipally owned Griffith park are blinding patrons of the nearby Los Feliz Drive-In, the city’s park and recreation commission has been given a “reasonable time” to erect an adequate shielding device.

That order was contained in a ruling handed down in superior couts as part of a preliminary injunction granted in an action filed against the city by Marvin M. Chesebro and Frank and Ernest Sbicca, owners of the drive-in, which opened March 15.

Chesebro, an attorney, held that the city should either stop using the flood lights or construct a baffle, which he estimates would cost approximately $3,500. The city’s plea that the cost would be closer to $7,500 and that the theatre should build the shield was denied in the court’s ruling. Chesebro charged that the drive-in is losing $300 worth of business every Friday night, when the Griffith park baseball field is open.

Chesebro is the son of Ray L. Chesebro, city attorney, who disqualified himself from representing the municipality because his son is a stockholder in the drive-in enterprise.

From Los Angeles Magazine:

Starting in 1950, the Los Feliz Drive-In’s two screens flickered for six years just southeast of today’s Friendship Auditorium near Riverside and Hyperion. Half the site became part of the Golden State Freeway, and half is now the five-acre Sunnynook River Park, with a walking path, native plants, and the occasional outdoor movie screening.

I worked at Griffith Park Pool two summers in 1959 and 60 I did not know that there was a drive in close by previously. Pickwick and SanVal were my drive ins at that time. No wonder I love this site so much...

[Snix]

Originally Posted by HossC

The 1925 CD has the following entry:

EGYPTIAN SALT WATER SWIMMING CLUB INC, Ben D Harris Pres. G W Simpson Sec, R E Hafer Mgr. 401 Metropolitan Theatre Bldg, 323 W 6th, Phone Trinity 2617.

However, the June 4, 1925 edition of the New Castle News from New Castle, Pennsylvania has the following information:

"Another new swimming palace, which is soon to be opened is owned by the Egyptian Salt Water Swimming Club. The plunge is 100 by 300 feet and is located 900 feet behind the breakers on Exposition."

I didn't find any other mentions.

Looks like the Egyptian Salt Water Swimming Club MUST have opened. This article describes the grand opening a day before it happened, and then it seems to disappear. If Angelus Mesa is Crenshaw and this is at the corner of Angelus Mesa and Exposition


(Daily News 5.15.25)

This 1928 map from UCSB shows only the Northeast corner developed.


Flight C_300, Frame K-95
(1.1.28) Flight ID: C-300h

https://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_indexes/FrameFinder/

[Flyingwedge]

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether it was a grand opening or a ground breaking that occurred on May 16, 1925:



May 16, 1925, Los Angeles Record @ Newspapers.com


The Los Angeles Times also described the event as a ground breaking, so that's two against one. I think whoever wrote about the pool for the
Daily News messed up.

I also have a hunch that pool was never built. The intersection of Angeles Mesa/Crenshaw and Exposition is about eight miles from the ocean.
That's a long way to build a 12-inch pipeline to carry seawater for a swimming pool.

[CityBoyDoug]

https://youtu.be/5fL8n_aAisQ............... LINK 10 min. of fun.

This is up and down Wilshire Blvd. There's LOTS to see Summer 1951.

Many of these buildings are still there.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether it was a grand opening or a ground breaking that occurred on May 16, 1925:



May 16, 1925, Los Angeles Record @ Newspapers.com


The Los Angeles Times also described the event as a ground breaking, so that's two against one. I think whoever wrote about the pool for the
Daily News messed up.

I also have a hunch that pool was never built. The intersection of Angeles Mesa/Crenshaw and Exposition is about eight miles from the ocean.
That's a long way to build a 12-inch pipeline to carry seawater for a swimming pool.

https://youtu.be/5fL8n_aAisQ............... LINK 10 min. of fun.

This is up and down Wilshire Blvd. There's LOTS to see Summer 1951.

Many of these buildings are still there.

[ethereal_reality]

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..............L O C A T I O N... S O L V E D



Thanks Hoss, Noir Noir and GW.

I never expected the Florentine Gardens to be lurking in the eBay slide!



As for the Hawaii Theater. . .


IHTC

Here's a look at the rooftop sign from the opposite direction. (undated)

"The Chase"



If you look closely you can see a Zanzibar sign. If I remember correctly, it was located in the same building as the Florentine Gardens.
.

[ethereal_reality]

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A mystery location, Bunker Hill.

This cabinet card was just listed on eBay.





Here's a closer look.


eBay

"In pencil on back: N. Bunker Hill Ave. Tom Jones below, with Jean Ashe, Inez Jones (left) on porch, Anna Jeanette Davies standing. In good condition."

Do any of the names sound familiar?


The seller included this portion of the handwriting on the reverse.

eBay

With the disparate names I'd say this was probably a boarding house. ...(They don't call me Sherlock for nothin')




And finally, here's a closer look at the foursome on the porch.



Excuse the blurriness.


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[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug

https://youtu.be/5fL8n_aAisQ............... LINK 10 min. of fun.

This is up and down Wilshire Blvd. There's LOTS to see Summer 1951.

Many of these buildings are still there.

The former Dorn's House of Miracles/Sontag Drug Store is currently vacant, if anyone wants to chip in for a Noirish LA Secret Club House & Luncheon Counter.

[ethereal_reality]

.

Here's another mystery location.

I thought GaylordWilshire might recognize this fairly unique house.



eBay





There aren't too many clues except for a street number, 824.



And a dog!





A closer look at the rounded 'turret'. ...It appears the windows are shuttered.






And here's what is written in the lower left corner.



Good luck with that.




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[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

A mystery location, Bunker Hill.


eBay

"In pencil on back: N. Bunker Hill Ave. Tom Jones below, with Jean Ashe, Inez Jones (left) on porch, Anna Jeanette Davies standing. In good condition."

Maybe this Tom Jones on N. Bunker Hill Ave. in 1906.


rescarta.lapl.org

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

..............L O C A T I O N... S O L V E D



Thanks Hoss, Noir Noir and GW.

I never expected the Florentine Gardens to be lurking in the eBay slide!



As for the Hawaii Theater. . .


IHTC

Here's a look at the rooftop sign from the opposite direction. (undated)

"The Chase"



If you look closely you can see a Zanzibar sign. If I remember correctly, it was located in the same building as the Florentine Gardens.
.

_____________________________

Per Wikipedia, The Chase opened in New York on November 17, 1946. Also, the license plates on the cars in the photo are the 1946 style. So late '46 or early '47 for this image. And the film itself made it all the way to Cannes in 1947 after recieveing some critical acclaim in the Noir genre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(1946_film)

[ethereal_reality]

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A-ha! I thought the last half of the sign was missing. Thx, HH.


FYI: You can watch a restored print of The Chase on youtube

• Video Link


The Chase is based on the Cornell Woolrich novel, The Dark Path of Fear.




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[Martin Pal]

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NLA'ers have previously posted photos of some Mildred Pierce locations used in the film, like the house in Pasadena, for example.
Also, the beach house that was owned by the director, Michael Curtiz, and used in the film, located in Malibu.

This is a photo of that house. The same or similar photos may have been previously posted. The link I got this one from says:
Photograph provided by Marc Wannamaker from Images of America: Malibu by Ben Marcus and Marc Wanamaker (Arcadia Publishing, 2011).

WM Magazine

And there's this postcard view of it.

CardCow


Most of the photos taken of this beach house have been from the road side, but I don't think this photo I saw taken from the beach side has been posted:

HHP


What's NEW is that recently the film Moment by Moment (1978) has been made available on Blu-Ray and I noticed something in one of the beach scenes.
Lily Tomlin and John Travolta have a scene on Malibu Beach with the Mildred Pierce beach house in the background!!!

ScreenShot


Screenshot

There don't seem to be many photos of the house in any regard, and I could find no other reference to this house being in Moment by Moment, either, but there it is. I think I prefer the cream color and red roofed look in the postcard than the green look, but I love seeing it. It looks so small and dwarfed compared to the photos where no other buildings are around.

The home was destroyed and washed away by a series of bad winter storms in Southern California in 1983.

AdamsonHouseMuseum

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

As for the Hawaii Theater. . .


IHTC

Here's a look at the rooftop sign from the opposite direction. (undated)

"The Chase"



If you look closely you can see a Zanzibar sign. If I remember correctly, it was located in the same building as the Florentine Gardens.
.

The Marcal and the Hawaii were great theaters, but nothing like the Big Four:The Chinese, The Egyptian, The Warner Brothers and The Pantages. More like The Hollywood, The Iris, The Vogue and The Pix.

The Zanzibar was a cocktail bar at The Florentine Gardens.

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by HossC

However, the June 4, 1925 edition of the New Castle News from New Castle, Pennsylvania has the following information:

"Another new swimming palace, which is soon to be opened is owned by the Egyptian Salt Water Swimming Club. The plunge is 100 by 300 feet and is located 900 feet behind the breakers on Exposition."

I didn't find any other mentions.

Although there is an Exposition Blvd. in Santa Monica, it's nowhere near the beach. [The Breakers Beach Club was reportedly built in 1926]. Any theories?

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Here's the oldest post I could find with this extremely cool drawing. I'd love to know where it came from.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180206...-that-los.html

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

The former Dorn's House of Miracles/Sontag Drug Store is currently vacant, if anyone wants to chip in for a Noirish LA Secret Club House & Luncheon Counter.

https://larchmontchronicle.com/wp-co...circa-1939.jpg









Proposed development:
https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/wp-con...wilshire02.jpg

[Lwize]

I like it.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Here's an early glimpse of Echo Park.

This mounted photograph was listed a couple of days ago on eBay



eBay



. . and the back.




As you can see, the address is 1863 Echo Park Ave. (ca.1910). . .and it appears that the other scribblings denote the inhabitants of the homes in the background- as well as- the house to the left of 1863.
The vertical writing on the right mentions someone's divorce.


Interesting!
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[JScott]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

And here's what is written in the lower left corner.



Good luck with that.

At Home

[stanklem]

The renderings always make it look phenomenal.
Overpowering might be a good description.