noirish Los Angeles - Page 2896

ethereal_reality · #**57901** Posted **Dec 7, 2021, 8:07 PM**

surfing-heritage

Meyers Butte

The swastika board is at far right.

.

ethereal_reality · #**57902** Posted **Dec 7, 2021, 8:23 PM**

.

You all - no doubt - are having a difficult time deciding what to get me for Christmas.

These Aimee Semple McPherson bookends would be perfect.

Bruce's wish list.

.

GaylordWilshire · #**57903** Posted **Dec 7, 2021, 11:08 PM**

Hope you get them. I'm sure Aimee would love you to have them. Merry Christmas.

Speak of swastikas--

I wouldn't usually post anything not having to do with LA but anyway...not LA but rather NYC--how this bit of parquet has survived in this 1840s Village brownstone in NYC continues to amazes me. (It's a friend place)

JimCraig · #**57904** Posted **Dec 7, 2021, 11:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.

You all - no doubt - are having a difficult time deciding what to get me for Christmas.

These Aimee Semple McPherson bookends would be perfect.

Bruce's wish list.

.

No home should be without!

Joe Gillis · #**57905** Posted **Dec 8, 2021, 7:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

Hope you get them. I'm sure Aimee would love you to have them. Merry Christmas.

Speak of swastikas--

I wouldn't usually post anything not having to do with LA but anyway...not LA but rather NYC--how this bit of parquet has survived in this 1840s Village brownstone in NYC continues to amazes me. (It's a friend place)

https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-...stika-20564717

We even put them on the Tube stations over here, but I digress

sopas ej · #**57906** Posted **Dec 8, 2021, 9:43 PM**

I might've mentioned this on this thread years ago, but many old Glendale lamp posts have swastikas:

hragvartanian.com

Link: Glendale’s Odd Lamppost Swastikas

GatoVerde · #**57907** Posted **Dec 9, 2021, 1:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I might've mentioned this on this thread years ago, but many old Glendale lamp posts have swastikas:

hragvartanian.com

Link: Glendale’s Odd Lamppost Swastikas

The swastica was introduced to the Nazis as artwork on an essay about Geopolitik written by Karl Haushoffer. This occurred around the 1920s. Prior to this there is no meaningful German or Facsist association to the swastica. Haushoffer borrowed the icon and the name from Japanese Budhism.

GatoVerde · #**57908** Posted **Dec 9, 2021, 2:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Of course you're both correct.

The 'good luck' swastika is found on a wide variety of unlikely objects. . .

. . .like this 11 ft. surfboard.

"Pacific System(s) Homes was an early 20th century Los Angeles-based construction company that specialized in prefabricated houses. Meyers Butte, son of the owner, became hooked on surfing during a trip to Hawaii in the 1920s, and convinced his father to build a Pacific System Homes surfboard to market to local surfers. In the early 1930s, Pacific System Homes introduced the Swastika model surfboard, the first commercially produced surfboard line, so-named for the swastika design that marked each board. Although a symbol of harmony and good luck in various cultures around the world, the swastika disappeared from Pacific System Homes surfboards with the rise of Nazi Germany, and the company changed the name to Waikiki Surf-Boards in 1938. Pacific System Homes innovated the use of multi-wood laminates to lighten the board. This board is redwood-edged balsa held together by recently invented waterproof glues. The small swastika design is visible at the base of the tail."

detail

Link
.

I think it is safe to assume that due to both the orientation of the swastika, and the era, that its use in this case was connected to Nazi use of the swastika, and not borrowed directly from Buddhist or other religion. There did exist supporters of Nazi Germany in the United States prior to World War II.

Earl Boebert · #**57909** Posted **Dec 9, 2021, 3:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatoVerde

I think it is safe to assume that due to both the orientation of the swastika, and the era, that its use in this case was connected to Nazi use of the swastika, and not borrowed directly from Buddhist or other religion. There did exist supporters of Nazi Germany in the United States prior to World War II.

Er, with respect: The Nazi swastika was pretty uniformly aligned 45 degrees on flags and emblems. The German-American Bund (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_Bund) followed suit.

Earl

ethereal_reality · #**57910** Posted **Dec 9, 2021, 8:49 PM**

.
Quite some time ago I happened upon this rare rppc (real photo postcard) of Tom Mix's vacation home on Catalina Island.

ebay

If you look beneath the peak of the roof there is a triangular with the letter M. .and the M is no doubt for Mix!

but if you look closer there's some. .um. .jabberwockery going on. The sign, for whatever reason, appears to be dangling.

The left side of the sign is hanging in front of the eave support bracket and there appears to be a vertical rope at a slight angle running downward from the roof.
And lastly, the angle of the shadow on the right side of the sign is at a different angle than the angle of the sign.

ALSO. .it isn't just a M. There's also a T and a line running beneath the M so I believe it's styled like an old cattle brand.

This might help (or confuse

)

Are you seeing what I'm seeing

I just had a thought! Are the little round things lightbulbs?..Do you think the sign lit up?

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

With help from odinthor, we found Tom Mix's home at 109 Maiden Lane in Avalon.

GSV

And, if you look closely, Tom Mix's triangular sign is still there! ! !

Here's a closer look.

detail

Now, as you can see, the sign is secured to the side of the house.

& here it is from another angle.

detail

I wonder if someone in Mix's family still owns the home. (It's possible, I guess)

I could be wrong but I don't think it's common knowledge that Mix's Catalina home still exists. I wasn't able to find it advertised anywhere. . .say, as a Bed or Breakfast (with Mix's name as a marketing tool)

postscript:

The house was built in 1917. (hmm. . .was Tom Mix a star by then?)

realtor.com

Redfin values it at $946,183. ..(it's off market)
.

Martin Pal · #**57911** Posted **Dec 9, 2021, 9:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.postscript:

The house was built in 1917. (hmm. . .was Tom Mix a star by then?)
_________________________________________________________________

I'd say so, his IMDB credits start in 1909!
166 of his 282 credits on IMDB are before 1917.

odinthor · #**57912** Posted **Dec 9, 2021, 10:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Quite some time ago I happened upon this rare rppc (real photo postcard) of Tom Mix's vacation home on Catalina Island.

ebay

[...]

.

e_r, I find an intriguing fragment involving this, incomplete because Google only allows me a snippet; the “they” in the following appears to be Western author Zane Grey with his wife:

“They soon bought a house near Avalon harbor. Unfortunately, it happened to be directly behind Tom Mix's house. Mix was flamboyant, loud, and king of the movie western. Grey was taciturn, understated, and lord of the western novel. The two did not get along. When Mix showed up at the Catalina Tuna Club, Grey's holy […],” from Maverick Heart: The Further Adventures of Zane Grey, by Stephen May and Stephen J. May (2000).

______________

Edit add:

"directly behind" in the above quote is a bit of an overstatement:

gsv, slightly altered for our purposes.

Noir_Noir · #**57913** Posted **Dec 10, 2021, 12:38 PM**

It appears Zane Grey must have lived on Upper Olive Street directly behind Tom Mix's house for a while before building the pueblo.

Here's the complete extract from that book.

Archive.org - Maverick Heart: The Further Adventures of Zane Grey by Stephen J. May

As well as the raucous parties and flashing lights, Mix also angered Grey by having an access staircase to his house torn down.

Google Books - Zane Grey: His Life, His Adventures, His Women By Thomas H. Pauly

Bristolian · #**57914** Posted **Dec 10, 2021, 6:30 PM**

The description here sure makes it sound like the Catalina Tuna Club was a strong inspiration, both in location and atmosphere, for Noah Cross' Albacore Club in the film Chinatown.

A good compilation of Chinatown filming locations, including a mention of one Tovanger2 - http://movie-tourist.blogspot.com/20...town-1974.html

Godzilla · #**57915** Posted **Dec 11, 2021, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I see that the dry cleaners is out of business...................

..................Thanks, GatoVerde and odinthor.

I don't believe we have seen this photograph although I noticed there reprints for sale.

World's Largest Mail Box, South Los Angeles 1917

eBay sold

If we haven't seen it - or discussed it - then it's a whopper of a mystery!... (I'm pretty sure I would have remembered it)
.

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ostcount=24072

Martin Pal · #**57916** Posted **Dec 11, 2021, 5:42 PM**

I tried searching for another possible post or reference about that on NLA and didn't find anything.

Godzilla!

Wow, that post was 7 years ago! Searching mail delivery's been slow.

Flyingwedge · #**57917** Posted **Dec 12, 2021, 3:37 AM**

It looks like "South Los Angeles" and the World's Largest Mailbox were somewhere just east of the 110/105 interchange,
around 117th Street and Main/Spring/Broadway (I'm not sure what happened to Moneta Avenue):

February 27, 1916, Los Angeles Times @ Newspapers.com