noirish Los Angeles

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Yes, good research, odinthor.


Thanks to all you fine noirishers who helped solve the location from No Man's Woman. I appreciate it.




X PO

Today we have a mystery building, circular with art deco touches, repurposed into a porn theater in Wilmington, Cal. (photograph taken in 1977)


eBay

I'm completely stumped by this unique building. Do you think it was originally built as a movie theater. . .or perhaps a skating rink? . . .a ballroom?





update:

I just noticed a big clue. There's a street number!



I see they're serving lunch and dinner.


.

e_r, in 1950 it was evidently being used as a store:


LA County Bldg. Permits

. . . And it looks as if it was called the "Congo Bldg." By 1973, it had become a tavern, and was being altered from that to become a "mini-theatre," according to a Certificate of Occupancy of that year.

[HossC]

The 1952 San Pedro CD lists the DeCola Cafe at 3131 E Anaheim, but my searches are yet to turn up any references to it.

The Xpo Theatre gets a page at cinematreasures.org, but there are no photos or comments. The only information is from the overview, and says "This short-lived storefront adult cinema opened on July 4, 1973 and closed in 1974".

[Beaudry]

Now I know we have some Anna May Wong fans and supersleuths here on NLA, so thought you might be interested in something I just wrote over on the Bunker Hill blog...

https://bunkerhilllosangeles.com/202...-of-the-stars/

[ethereal_reality]

.
She's huge! .. I pictured her being much smaller.
.

[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
She's huge! .. I pictured her being much smaller.
.

Little-known fact about AMW, she was over 75' high. The studios quietly kept that under wraps (and on film, they used a lot of lighting gimmicks and photographic trickery to make her appear normal-sized) but the fact remains she was almost as tall as the high school tower.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Today we have a mystery building, circular with art deco touches, repurposed into a porn theater in Wilmington, Cal. (photograph taken in 1977)


eBay

Originally Posted by HossC

The 1952 San Pedro CD lists the DeCola Cafe at 3131 E Anaheim, but my searches are yet to turn up any references to it.

The Xpo Theatre gets a page at cinematreasures.org, but there are no photos or comments. The only information is from the overview, and says "This short-lived storefront adult cinema opened on July 4, 1973 and closed in 1974".

Two of the later iterations of 3131 E. Anaheim Street in it's more adult guise.


In 1968 it's Norm Brown's.


archive.org - Independent Press Telegram (1968-10-19)



By 1972 it's Papa's Speakeasy.


archive.org - Independent Press Telegram (1972-03-25)


Despite what the cinematreasures site says, the Xpo Theatre appears to have been still operating in August of 1975.


archive.org - Independent Press Telegram (1975-08-03)


An aerial from 1944, three years after it was built.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

[Lwize]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

An aerial from 1944, three years after it was built.


mil.library.ucsb.edu

Anaheim is now a flyover (grade-level frontage probably inaccessible).



(GSV hosted by me)

[odub]

I realize this isn't a photo of the city but it is related to older Los Angeles places. The scan above is from the 1918 Japanese Auto Club of Southern California member book. Specifically, it's the first page of the member list for the Club and it includes people's names, the car they owned at the time, and a mailing address.

I'm trying to map all the member locations but I'm running into a situations where some of the street addresses either 1) don't exist anymore because those roads have been renamed or were developed over or 2) they were entered wrong to begin with (typos).

So, for example, there's an arrow there pointing to a street address of "1034 El Marino St" in Los Angeles but in consulting old maps of L.A. from 1920, I can't find an "El Marino St" listed anywhere. Closest I found in a 1921 Baist street index was "El Moleno" (I haven't been able to find where that is on the Baist map but I think it's somewhere mid-city).

A friend of mine found a 1947 newspaper clipping where someone living on an El Marino Street in the La Crescenta area was quoted but in looking at a vintage map of the La Crescenta/Montrose area from that era, there was an "El Moreno" street but not "El Marino".

Likewise, I thought maybe they meant San Marino St. but other addresses in the same member guide are listed as being on "Sanmarino St" and more to the point, in modern L.A., there aren't any "San Marino St" addresses that go as low as 1034.

And just to complicate this further, in both the 1920 and 1922 L.A. City directories, "El Marino" shows up as an address in both places, but only once in each case (and not for the same person/business).


So...I'm hoping folks here might point me to any other resources I could check out. I found this forum specifically because I was trying to figure out where "312 Ameria St" was in L.A. and that was a typo: they meant "312 Amelia St" which is located in present day Arts District and called N. Garey now. So thank you all for that!

[odinthor]

Welcome to the thread, odub!



No luck yet as to any K. Asaka on Marino/Molina/Molino/Moleno/Moreno . . . but perhaps I have found the man in question in the yearly City Directories, which might help someone with better luck than I:

A Kingo Asaka, gardener then nurseryman, lived at:

1539 N. Bronson (in 1920)

1583 W. 37th Place (1924, 1925, 1926)

By 1927, was using the given name Frank, but continued at 1583 W. 37th Place at least to 1928.

Just to be thorough, as we're dealing with a 1918 publication, in 1916, an "I. Asaka" lived at 990 S. Normandie, occupation Porter.

I find nothing useful on Mr. Asaka nor any of the potential addresses in either the LA Times or in the LA Herald.

[odub]

Originally Posted by odinthor

Welcome to the thread, odub!



No luck yet as to any K. Asaka on Marino/Molina/Molino/Moleno/Moreno . . . but perhaps I have found the man in question in the yearly City Directories, which might help someone with better luck than I:

A Kingo Asaka, gardener then nurseryman, lived at:

1539 N. Bronson (in 1920)

1583 W. 37th Place (1924, 1925, 1926)

By 1927, was using the given name Frank, but continued at 1583 W. 37th Place at least to 1928.

Just to be thorough, as we're dealing with a 1918 publication, in 1916, an "I. Asaka" lived at 990 S. Normandie, occupation Porter.

I find nothing useful on Mr. Asaka nor any of the potential addresses in either the LA Times or in the LA Herald.

Thanks for all this. A friend found a 1918 draft card for a Kingo Asaka (same person you found, I assume) with an address on Winston St.

It may be that Kingo moved around a lot!

For my address database, I may just have to file K. Asaka under "Los Angeles" without being able to narrow him down any more precisely.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by odub

Closest I found in a 1921 Baist street index was "El Moleno" (I haven't been able to find where that is on the Baist map but I think it's somewhere mid-city).

I found El Molino Street on the Baist maps. It's between Fedora Street and Dewey Street (now Avenue), so it became S Kenmore Avenue.

Another possibility is 1034 San Marino Street which is only a few blocks from S Kenmore Avenue.

BTW I'm also assuming that the address 233½ E Fist St is also a typo!

[robeach11]

Yes we all received quarters. I got two.
It was a wonderful night.
Anna's two nieces were there along with her 91 year old sister-in-law. Talk to one niece (Anna) who couldn't have been more friendly & accomodating to nerd like myself.

[robeach11]

This is fantastic AND accurate (I know my Anna trivia).
Great job!!
You know that garden next to 241? I say there should be a plaque/statue of Anna there. Put up a statue in Chinatown as well (she deserves it more in Los Angeles than Bruce Lee).
And don't get me started on an honorary Oscar for Anna May Wong...
We need to make these things happen.

Originally Posted by Beaudry

Now I know we have some Anna May Wong fans and supersleuths here on NLA, so thought you might be interested in something I just wrote over on the Bunker Hill blog...

https://bunkerhilllosangeles.com/202...-of-the-stars/

[robeach11]

I believe she played King Kong as well, opposite Fay Wray.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by odub

Thanks for all this. A friend found a 1918 draft card for a Kingo Asaka (same person you found, I assume) with an address on Winston St.

It may be that Kingo moved around a lot!

For my address database, I may just have to file K. Asaka under "Los Angeles" without being able to narrow him down any more precisely.

I think you can narrow it down to 1034 El Molino Street - nowadays S. Kenmore Avenue as HossC pointed out.

Here's another listing from 1918 where hopefully there were no typos.


archive.org - Register of Motor Vehicles and Names of Licensed Chauffeurs 1918


1034 El Molino was a popular house with gardeners - Kingo Asaka was the third one there that decade.



rescarta.lapl.org


In 1921 Kingo was staying with Ford but had moved ... about 50 yards up the street.


archive.org - California Automobile Registration (1921)

[Snix]

There has been a larger-than-life statue of Anna May Wong at Hollywood and La Brea for almost 30 years. The CRA hired artist Catherine Hardwicke for the project in 1993.
GSV
http://www.crala.org/internet-site/O..._hardwicke.cfm

Originally Posted by robeach11

This is fantastic AND accurate (I know my Anna trivia).
Great job!!
You know that garden next to 241? I say there should be a plaque/statue of Anna there. Put up a statue in Chinatown as well (she deserves it more in Los Angeles than Bruce Lee).
And don't get me started on an honorary Oscar for Anna May Wong...
We need to make these things happen.

[ethereal_reality]

.
I gleaned something from Noir Noir's 1944 aerial.


We're looking at at least two oil wells.



And judging by the photographer's field of vision in the 1977 photograph



The oil well should be visible behind the theater. . .



. . .but it's not.

so. .um. .now we know that the oil well was removed sometime prior to 1977.





Hold the applause.
.

[odub]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

I think you can narrow it down to 1034 El Molino Street - nowadays S. Kenmore Avenue as HossC pointed out.

Here's another listing from 1918 where hopefully there were no typos.


archive.org - Register of Motor Vehicles and Names of Licensed Chauffeurs 1918


1034 El Molino was a popular house with gardeners - Kingo Asaka was the third one there that decade.



rescarta.lapl.org


In 1921 Kingo was staying with Ford but had moved ... about 50 yards up the street.


archive.org - California Automobile Registration (1921)

This is fantastic and you've now given me other databases to cross-check addresses against. Thank you so much!

[ethereal_reality]

.
Wilmington, again?

Yep...

Seller's description:..1930's Dollar Lines officer's 3 photos of Los Angeles, street scene, train.

#1

eBay

I'm guessing the small building is the Wilmington Depot. ..I'm still looking for its location.








The following two photographs (of the three) are of different locations.

This next one is obviously Union Station. . .

#2

eBay

. .and a wide expanse of blacktop.



I'm not sure of the location of the third photograph.

#3

eBay

Glendale?


P.S. I didn't mention the "Dollar Line" because. .um. . I don't know what it is.
.

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Snix

There has been a larger-than-life statue of Anna May Wong at Hollywood and La Brea for almost 30 years. The CRA hired artist Catherine Hardwicke for the project in 1993.
GSV
http://www.crala.org/internet-site/O..._hardwicke.cfm
_________________________________________________________________

I thought I'd mention all of the ladies portrayed in this sculpture. From the Art Inventories Catalog-Smithsonian American Art Museum

Description:

This sculptural four-sided gateway is an art-deco style gazebo with four stainless steel full length portraits of Hollywood actresses supporting an open roof structure. The actresses portrayed are Mae West, Dorothy Dandridge, Anna May Wong, and Dolores Del Rio. All four figures wear glamorous long gowns. Each figure stands on a square base. A spire rises from the top of the rounded, open gazebo roof. Neon lettering runs vertically down the four sides of the spire. At the top of the spire is a small gilded wind vane of Marilyn Monroe holding her billowing skirt in place. The plaza floor within the gazebo is granite tile mosaic patterned in the shape of a star.

Alas, I recall hearing on the news 2-3 years ago, someone late at night climbed up and sawed Marilyn Monroe off the top of the gateway.



I remember hearing about it on the news. Apparently a tourist who was in the vicinity reported it to police and said that it took him quite along time to get it off there, but no police arrived in time to get him. Let me see if I can find info about that now.
___

https://losangelesexplorersguild.com...-of-hollywood/

From the Los Angeles Explorer's Guild: Despite the nickname Four Ladies of Hollywood, there are actually five women in the sculpture. At least there used to be. For 25 years a small, bronze-colored figure of Marilyn Monroe stood vigil atop the gazebo’s spire, cast in her famous “billowing dress” pose from The Seven Year Itch.

But on June 16, 2019, a man climbed up the gazebo, sawed poor Marilyn off at the ankles, and absconded with the diminutive Norma Jean.



Caught: Austin Mikel Clay, 25, of Glendale, is facing one felony count each of grand theft of property valued at more than $950 and vandalism causing over $400 in damage following the heist caught on video June 16 at the Hollywood and La Brea Gateway, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Clay is accused of scaling the artwork shortly after 11 p.m. and sawing off Monroe’s likeness. Surveillance video captured a man climbing down from the gazebo, grabbing a backpack and walking away.

The man was then joined by another man, and the two were seen walking east on Hollywood Boulevard with a woman trailing behind. The group ended up at the The Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, where they met up with a third man in the lobby, video shows.

The perpetrator was arrested five days later and sentenced to a year in prison.

So far I have not found out what happened to the statue. It's never been restored or replaced to the Gateway since then in any event.
___

A year earlier this guy was arrested for something else in Hollywood: KTLA