noirish Los Angeles

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by John Maddox Roberts

We Noirishers are not ordinary mortals. Half a mustache is a trifle. Where else will you find people who can pinpoint a location by the contour of the hills in the background? Who but we happy few have among us those who can give you the street, block and address by the reflection of a passing bus in a storefront window? Look upon our gifts and despair.

I don't know about other city's noirishers, but LA noirishers are the best.

whenever I go through this part of ssp, this tune is always playing in the back of my mind...


• Video Link

[ethereal_reality]

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A mystery location that is definitely Los Angeles.

I've had this photograph in my files for quite some time but never got around to posting it.

The description is rather vague... "Bridge Const. Los Angeles 1948"


probably eBay but I can't remember for sure.

Do any of you fine noirishers recognize the bridge being constructed?


Did anyone notice something odd going on with the house being moved and the truck at lower right. - - - - >
The truck appears to be holding up the corner of the building. .but it's no doubt an optical illusion caused by the shadows.


Oh, and one more question. Does anyone know where the displaced building(s) were moved to?


.

[ethereal_reality]

.
Here's another mystery location for this Wednesday afternoon.

"Vintage Photo Slide 1981 Jesus Saves Church Los Angeles California"


Currently on eBay

Obviously this is a repurposed building which makes the image more interesting (to me anyway). There's a street sign but it's much too small to read.

.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
A mystery location that is definitely Los Angeles.

I've had this photograph in my files for quite some time but never got around to posting it.

The description is rather vague... "Bridge Const. Los Angeles 1948"


probably eBay but I can't remember for sure.

Do any of you fine noirishers recognize the bridge being constructed?


Did anyone notice something odd going on with the house being moved and the truck at lower right. - - - - >
The truck appears to be holding up the corner of the building. .but it's no doubt an optical illusion caused by the shadows.


Oh, and one more question. Does anyone know where the displaced building(s) were moved to?


.

I believe this is Dewap/Figueroa/Temple in downtown LA. I've seen "Dead Ringer" with Bette Davis too many times, haha. You know the movie where she plays twins, and Bette Davis acts like she's trying to outdo Bette Davis doing Bette Davis.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0601...4!8i8192?hl=en

• Video Link

[BDiH]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Did L.A. have any automat style cafeterias back in the pre-1960s, or were they mostly slide your tray cafeterias?

There was an automat on Hollywood Boulevard in the 1960s, but it didn't last long.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by BDiH

There was an automat on Hollywood Boulevard in the 1960s, but it didn't last long.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) just had a wonderful new 90 minute documentary on the Horn & Hardardt automats back east, most in NYC but some in other cities like Philadelphia. The places featured good food for low prices. Many of the items were just 5 cents, or sometimes a bit more. You put your coin in a little door with a window, and took out your pie slice or sandwich or Salisbury steak and hundreds of other items and took it to a table. They interviewed lots of celebrities like Mel Brooks and they all raved about the place. Most of the automats closed by the 1960s, although a few lasted somewhat longer. The last one closed in 1991. One problem was that homeless people would come in to keep warm or eat scraps left over on trays, or panhandle for coins, and ultimately paying customers stayed away.

[Handsome Stranger]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) just had a wonderful new 90 minute documentary on the Horn & Hardardt automats back east...

I happened to watch it last week and enjoyed it very much. It's called The Automat and it is currently available on Kanopy, a free streaming service available via many public libraries and universities.

[Handsome Stranger]

I caught part of a marathon of Highway Patrol episodes on TV recently. Not a great show, but they frequently shot on location and that always interests me. Here's some frame grabs from a 1959 episode with a scene at the Bronsonia Prescription Pharmacy. It sure looks like the interior was not just a set but the actual pharmacy.


[source: Decades TV]


[source: Decades TV]


[source: Decades TV]

[odinthor]

Handsome Stranger:


LA Times, 11/29/1959, in ad for "Coty's New 'Exciting Eyes'," location Franklin at N. Bronson.

[odinthor]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I believe this is Dewap/Figueroa/Temple in downtown LA. [...]

Yes, sopas ej, I think you're right. The view changed once the bridge was constructed!--something which was indeed projected to take place at this location in 1948.


gsv


LA Times, 1/2/1948

[ethereal_reality]

.


Figueroa and Temple streets.

"All of the structures seen here have since been demolished. Cars are traveling south on Figueroa Street near where it crosses Temple Street (center, right). Boardinghouses and a billboard are seen on the left".


calisphere Photograph dated September 12, 1940.




I believe this might be the clapboard house that is being moved (or demolished?) in the 1948 photograph.





The utility 'pole' on the roof would explain the odd wooden structure seen near the roof in the eBay photo, below.



This stuff. (it's falling over)



What do you think. . .a possibility?

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[GaylordWilshire]

2530 SOUTH FIGUEROA STREET 1892-1929

A friend of my residential-histories effort recently sent me a found postcard depicting a house once at the NEC of Figueroa & Adams--now the site of a Popeyes and a mini-mall. It has provided me with a much better image of the house than I'd been able to find before. Doubly interesting is that the card was written by someone who lived in the house and very likely wrote it there. Full story here.

[ethereal_reality]

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That's such a fantastic house and postcard, GW. Thanks for sharing it with us.

You did an excellent job covering it on your blog.

Go to 2530 South Figueroa Street
.

[Mstimc]

Great historical overview of the house and the site, Gaylord. Thank you!

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Here's another mystery location for this Wednesday afternoon.

"Vintage Photo Slide 1981 Jesus Saves Church Los Angeles California"


Currently on eBay

Obviously this is a repurposed building which makes the image more interesting (to me anyway). There's a street sign but it's much too small to read.

.

I was able to read "Community Bible Church" on the side of the building above the mailbox. The 1987 LA Street Address Directory
lists that church at 1431 West Vernon Avenue, which is shown here in August 2022:



GSV (NWC of Vernon and Brighton)


It was built in 1911 as "store and living rooms above":



LA Department of Building and Safety

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I caught part of a marathon of Highway Patrol episodes on TV recently. Not a great show, but they frequently shot on location and that always interests me. Here's some frame grabs from a 1959 episode with a scene at the Bronsonia Prescription Pharmacy. It sure looks like the interior was not just a set but the actual pharmacy.


[source: Decades TV]
_________________________________________________________________

Originally Posted by odinthor

Handsome Stranger:


LA Times, 11/29/1959, in ad for "Coty's New 'Exciting Eyes'," location Franklin at N. Bronson.
_________________________________________________________________

The current GSV of Bronson and 5889 Franklin Ave. has that block of Bronson with 1800 street numbers, but the Highway Patrol Photo has the Bronson street numbers with three digits.

[corriganville]

Originally Posted by Martin Pal

The current GSV of Bronson and 5889 Franklin Ave. has that block of Bronson with 1800 street numbers, but the Highway Patrol Photo has the Bronson street numbers with three digits.

5889 Franklin Ave is the location where the pharmacy used to stand, now a Gelsons Market. If you check the addresses in the block to the west, you will see that the numbers are in that correct range. As for the "three digits", there was no address on the pharmacy building. I think you are looking at the street sign for N. BRONSON AVE believing that the ave is a 3 digit number.

I wrote and published a book on the locations used in the Highway Patrol series. There are over 500 pages in the book with most of the 600+ locations used on the series included in the book with then and now photos of each. Each episode was filmed in 2 to 3 days, with the equivalent of 1 day being used for interiors at the studio, and the rest of the time on location or on the studio's small backlot.

Jerry

[nealberke]

Originally Posted by corriganville

5889 Franklin Ave is the location where the pharmacy used to stand, now a Gelsons Market. If you check the addresses in the block to the west, you will see that the numbers are in that correct range. As for the "three digits", there was no address on the pharmacy building. I think you are looking at the street sign for N. BRONSON AVE believing that the ave is a 3 digit number.

I wrote and published a book on the locations used in the Highway Patrol series. There are over 500 pages in the book with most of the 600+ locations used on the series included in the book with then and now photos of each. Each episode was filmed in 2 to 3 days, with the equivalent of 1 day being used for interiors at the studio, and the rest of the time on location or on the studio's small back lot.
Jerry

Very interesting! What is the name of the book? Is it still in print? My first stop would be Amazon.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

I happened to watch it last week and enjoyed it very much. It's called The Automat and it is currently available on Kanopy, a free streaming service available via many public libraries and universities.

Thanks. I missed the first 30 minutes on PBS, so I'll try to watch it on Kanopy. Can I access that for free on my tablet? Did L.A. ever have an "automat"? Is the Clifton's cafeteria reboot still open, or did the pandemic shut them down?

Maybe a way to bring automats back would be to purchase an entry card at the door for, say $10 or $20, and you could place the card in a card reader at the windows of the items you want, and you get the items. If you spend less than $10 or $20, you get your money back at a card reader as you exit in one hour or less after arrival. Doing it this way would keep the place for paying customers, not freeloaders and hangers on. This is the way FedEx stores work. You get a card, put money on it at a machine, and you go make your copies or send your faxes with your card. System should work at a new automat.

[corriganville]

Originally Posted by nealberke

Very interesting! What is the name of the book? Is it still in print? My first stop would be Amazon.

HIGHWAY PATROL LOCATIONS THEN AND NOW and MORE HIGHWAY PATROL LOCATIONS are not available on amazon at this time. They are available on barnes & noble as well as my own web site at this link: https://www.angelfire.com/film/locat...ormingarts.htm