noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

.
Noir Noir, thanks for posting the 1982 Los Angeles Times article on Carrie Janes Collier and her caretaker, Guy Miller.

Unbeknownst to me, a photograph that I once considered for my avatar shows two of Guy Miller's skyscraper creations!


gettyimages


"A young visitor at Guy Miller's Miniature City display in Coney Island. On the left is the Chrysler Building, and the right the Empire State Building. circa 1955."


The caption is incorrect. The building model on the right is a building in downtown Manhattan.



..........................This one in the middle.


I used to know all the building's names - but not anymore.
.

[CityBoyDoug]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Noir Noir, thanks for posting the 1982 Los Angeles Times article on Carrie Janes Collier and her caretaker, Guy Miller.

Unbeknownst to me, a photograph that I once considered for my avatar shows two of Guy Miller's skyscraper creations!


gettyimages


"A young visitor at Guy Miller's Miniature City display in Coney Island. On the left is the Chrysler Building, and the right the Empire State Building. circa 1955."

Guy Miller was a friend of mine for many years, I met him in San Diego in 1967. He made a model of Manhattan with all of the buildings. He took a year off of school to make the models. A certain person in NY paid him to make it. Guy later had a tiny store on Hollywood Blvd. back in the 1970s. He sold his placemats [called...Vocabumats, he gave me several of them] there, which were done as a foreign language tutorial. I never saw any of his model buildings at this location. The little store was owned and on the property of Carrie Collier. He lived for a time in one of her home's rooms. In Guy's later life went to live with his sister until his passing. I have several photos of Guy and will post if I can find them.

When he was in Los Angeles he made latex molds of a few of the buildings and then made plaster casts for sale. When he lived in Hollywood he mainly worked at a local printing company as a typesetter.

[GaylordWilshire]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

..........................This one in the middle.


I used to know all the building's names - but not anymore.
.

That's the Cities Service Building--70 Pine Street. Apartments now.

[ethereal_reality]

That's it! Thanks GW.



Now back to Los Angeles.

Here's a slide - taken in Nov. 1974 - of 'Don the Beachcomber' in Hollywood.



recently found on eBay / no longer listed

If you look beneath all the flora I believe you would find an apartment building.

I know that we have discussed this D of B location on NLA and if I'm not mistaken one of the posts included a black n white photograph. (but I wasn't able to find it.

In this view we're looking at the northwest corner of Mc Cadden Place and. . .! need to check google-earth / be right back!
If you look in the distance you can see the tower of the Methodist Church on Highland Ave.



I decided to add this.

LAPL
.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I know that we have discussed this D of B location on NLA and if I'm not mistaken one of the posts included a black n white photograph. (but I wasn't able to find it.

Is this the one you were looking for? It was part of one of Martin Pal's posts from 2013.

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

By the way, if you turn left on McCadden and go up a building or two you'd see the famous Don the Beachcomber's restaurant. It was first a bar on the east side of McCadden and then a restaurant and bar opened across the street in 1937. A famous "studio publicized date" took place there with Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe. I ate there a few times in the 80's and they had a booth with a picture of Joan Crawford above it. She apparently used to take lunch there on occasion and sign autographed pictures for the publicity department. The bar contained photos of celebrities and military men of the 1940's making up drinks that became famous, like the Zombie and Navy Grog. It is said the first pu pu platter was served there.


http://travilla.blogspot.com.html

Alas, it's one of those places that in 1985, like the Wilshire Brown Derby, was closed for remodeling, which meant they tore it down after no one was looking.

[ethereal_reality]

Yep, that's it. (but it looks waaay different than how I remembered it) Thanks Hoss.


I happened upon this amazing photograph of Joan Blondell in her Hollywood home yesterday on eBay. (although I can't find it again)

I was particularly struck by her enormous picture window!


eBay

I see she's about to play Twister.




Here's the information on the reverse.




Does anyone know Ms. Blondell's address in 1932? I'd like to check out the home on Google-Earth and see if I can spot the huge picture window.



joshing about twister

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Yep, that's it. (but it looks waaay different than how I remember it) Thanks Hoss.

Flyingwedge found this zoomable version a few years later. I'll keep looking for a different view.

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

MP, here is a closer look at that photo of Don the Beachcomber's on the west side of McCadden Pl., just north of Hollywood Blvd.:



488166 @ Huntington Digital Library


The entrance:




A lani lei is made from flowers of the vanda joaquim orchid (see page 27 at the link).

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent Hoss. (and FlyingWedge)



Let's briefly return to Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters' redoubt in La Canada.

Originally Posted by Mackerm

23 Video Road - Weathervane Drive - La Canada-Flintridge

This is a very interesting 'before and after', Mackerm.

The building without Golden West Broadcasters' bold colors now looks strickly utilitarian.....It's amazing what a little color can do.

& the supports to carry the weight of, what must be, a large antenna tower barely left enough room to allow the building to stay in place. ( i.e.. not torn down)



.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I happened upon this amazing photograph of Joan Blondell in her Hollywood home yesterday on eBay. (although I can't find it again)

I was particularly struck by her enormous picture window!


eBay


Does anyone know Ms. Blondell's address in 1932? I'd like to check out the home on Google-Earth and see if I can spot the huge picture window.

Try here.



rescarta.lapl.org



Google Maps

[ethereal_reality]

.
Thanks for the address Noir Noir!


If you look at the 1932 photograph again you will see that there is also a large window behind Ms. Blondell and, judging by the natural light on the right side of the photograph,
there is also a large window directly across from her.


So I'd say Ms. Blondell is sitting in the smallish 'room' that projects out from the house which would give us the three windows.




What do'ya think?

It's also facing south and I'm pretty sure I see the Baldwin Hills in the 1932 photograph. (unless that dark area on the horizon is smog)



EDIT:

I've already changed my mind.

What I circled above is an awning leading leading out to a deck.


Now I believe Joan's 'studio' with the large window(s) is to the right of the awning. . .ummm

This room


............




.

[Noir_Noir]

A bungalow section of the property is listed on airbnb. You should book and check out all the windows you can.



They have these old pictures of the house in the listing gallery.


Construction in 1925.


airbnb.com


And sometime later.


airbnb.com

[ethereal_reality]

Oh man, those are beautiful photographs. You always know where to look, Noir Noir....Thanks

.

[riichkay]

Add re: Joan Blondell, she wasn't up on Appian Way very long...in '36 she married Dick Powell, and moved in with his brood at 7919 Selma Ave....1940 census...





other side of the census ledger....





Presumably this was the Selma Ave. house....

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's a slide - taken in Nov. 1974 - of 'Don the Beachcomber' in Hollywood.


recently found on eBay / no longer listed
_________________________________________________________________

Here's a similar b&w view dated 1976.




Dated 1971: The Villa Capri at the end of the street.




Dated 1955:




Dated 1943:




Two interiors dated 1957:

[CityBoyDoug]

Guy Miller, Jan. 1955

Here is the model of NYC, set up in a New Jersey park, 1956. I believe this was the day that LIFE
magazine came to take photos. In the upper left we can see the many boxes where they were stored [long time
storage was in a garage.] For many years it was on display in a NYC Port building. From what I remember he lost track of it in his later life.


NYC views

[Mackerm]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

..........................This one in the middle.


I used to know all the building's names - but not anymore.
.

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

That's the Cities Service Building--70 Pine Street. Apartments now.

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

That's it! Thanks GW.


Now back to Los Angeles.

Not so fast, e_r.

Thanks to Wikipedia, we learn that the entrances to 70 Pine St. on Pine and Cedar incorporate 14-foot limestone models of the building itself.



Wikipedia (hotlinked)

[Hollywood Graham]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

Here's a similar b&w view dated 1976.




Dated 1971: The Villa Capri at the end of the street.




Dated 1955:




Dated 1943:




Two interiors dated 1957:

The 1971 photo of DTB shows a parking lot next to it, I worked for Grant Parking in '71 and operated that lot during the day. Mostly lot was for the Hollywood Medical Center, lots of older movie people had a Dr. there. Carlotta Monte, W.C. Fields girl friend was a regular, nice person. Many others. '71 was my last year then I went to work for City of L.A..

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Graham

The 1971 photo of DTB shows a parking lot next to it, I worked for Grant Parking in '71 and operated that lot during the day. Mostly lot was for the Hollywood Medical Center, lots of older movie people had a Dr. there. Carlotta Monte, W.C. Fields girl friend was a regular, nice person. Many others. '71 was my last year then I went to work for City of L.A..

^^^
Some may recall that Carlotta wrote a memoir of her time with Fields, and a film ("W.C. Fields and Me") was made starring Valerie Perrine as Carlotta and Rod Steiger as W.C. back in the 1970s or early '80s. One touching scene I remember from the film--when he lived in L.A., Fields missed the sound of rain on the roof at night that helped him get to sleep. Carlotta went out one night when W.C. was dying and sprinkled the roof with a garden hose to help Fields get to sleep. Ah yess...Carlotta had a sweet heart.

[Sakhal Nakhash]

W. C. Fields is one of my favorite comedians. However I was somewhat disappointed in the movie W. C. Fields and Me because it was almost nothing like her book.
From what I've read he used to be something of a regular at Boardner's in Hollywood, had an office near by in the old Warner Theater building, and for a time lived in a house in Whitley Heights. Finally I grew up about a mile from the "sanitarium" where he spent his final days.

[Handsome Stranger]

One of several places around Los Angeles where Fields lived. I've heard he never actually owned a home, preferring to rent instead. I don't know the address of this house and I wonder if it's still standing.