noirish Los Angeles

[Martin Pal]

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

The curious fountain appears to be a figure of a tyke dressed as a firefighter, with a trickle of water continuously flowing from the firehose he's holding.


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Thanks so much for doing this!

That statue reminded me of Billy Barty in his rain slicker in The Gold Diggers of 1933!

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by HenryHuntington

________________

Concur enough with CaliNative that I'll climb out on a limb and state my belief that the photographer is standing with his (likely) back to Valley Blvd. (note the billboards halfway up the right edge of the frame) just beyond Eastern Ave. and is shooting northeasterly across the SP Sunset Route main line (note the signal bridge halfway up the left edge of the frame) and across Alhambra Ave. (note the low white posts for the guard rail) toward the low buildings at the bottom of the knoll in the center of the image.

I'm not sure what the photographer was trying to capture, let alone why. Santa Fe wines were popular in L.A. back in the day, but there doesn't seem to be anything more solid than labels for sale on-line. I wasn't able to turn up a "Dee" commercial reference in the neighborhood via the CD. But the railroad location with respect to streets and the knoll look to me to be about as definitive as I can get. As near as I can make out the license plates on the cars in the "Dee" lot, the image seems to date from about 1941.

Further thoughts?

That would place it near modern northern end of Cal. St. L.A. & end of Long Beach Freeway, correct? Photo looking north? I guess that would be near south border of El Sereno? Southern boundary of El Sereno is Valley Blvd., correct? Could it be in a more central or northern part of El Sereno, like along Huntington? Or is Valley pretty definitive? I guess the RR tracks makes it pretty sure. The area looks familiar to me because I got a masters degree at CSULA about 30 yrs ago.

We students used to go to a tasty hole-in-the wall pizza joint on Valley but I forget the name. The name started with a "G", all I remember. I think it was an Italian name. The place looked like a dive but had good fresh made brick oven pizza and beer.

[ethereal_reality]

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mystery location found.

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

etherealreality


The Pacific Apartments building these days at 2500 Pacific Avenue in Venice.
GSV

Thanks, Noir Noir!

...We've lost so many notable buildings and yet this nondescript, rather cheap looking, apartment building survives.....There is no God.


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[ethereal_reality]

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We have feet on the ground, folks!

Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger

Here's the results of my surveillance mission.

You are hereby awarded - - - -> this guy - - - >






..........................Did you kill the poor bee?

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

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

That would place it near modern northern end of Cal. St. L.A. & end of Long Beach Freeway, correct? Photo looking north? I guess that would be near south border of El Sereno? Southern boundary of El Sereno is Valley Blvd., correct? Could it be in a more central or northern part of El Sereno, like along Huntington? Or is Valley pretty definitive? I guess the RR tracks makes it pretty sure. The area looks familiar to me because I got a masters degree at CSULA about 30 yrs ago.

We students used to go to a tasty hole-in-the wall pizza joint on Valley but I forget the name. The name started with a "G", all I remember. I think it was an Italian name. The place looked like a dive but had good fresh made brick oven pizza and beer.

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Garfono's Pizza was a rite-of-passage for generations of CSULA students back in the day. I was on campus 1967-8 (undergrad) and 1971-2 (grad school) wrapped around a couple of years taking care of Uncle Sam's business, mostly out of the country. If you know what I mean.

As to the location of the photo, IMO, it's a tad west of campus, but not far. And I think it's looking NNE. Zen master: "We'll see."

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by HenryHuntington

____________

Garfono's Pizza was a rite-of-passage for generations of CSULA students back in the day. I was on campus 1967-8 (undergrad) and 1971-2 (grad school) wrapped around a couple of years taking care of Uncle Sam's business, mostly out of the country. If you know what I mean.

As to the location of the photo, IMO, it's a tad west of campus, but not far. And I think it's looking NNE. Zen master: "We'll see."

Yes, Garfono's was the place. Ate and studied there quite a few times, or grabbed some pizza after class. Better than the food on campus back then. Always lots of students and some of the profs ate there too. One time in 1990 our prof. took our small seminar class there for pizza and we held the seminar there over beer and pizza. We were all over 21. Good memories. Thanks.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Mystery location.

Orig 1950s Los Angeles? California DEE 2.5" Photo Negative..(link below photo)


Link

Originally Posted by CaliNative

That would place it near modern northern end of Cal. St. L.A. & end of Long Beach Freeway, correct? Photo looking north? I guess that would be near south border of El Sereno? Southern boundary of El Sereno is Valley Blvd., correct? Could it be in a more central or northern part of El Sereno, like along Huntington? Or is Valley pretty definitive? I guess the RR tracks makes it pretty sure. The area looks familiar to me because I got a masters degree at CSULA about 30 yrs ago.

I think you're hot on the trail there CaliNative.


There was a Dee Market at 4645 Huntington Drive South.



cdnc.ucr.edu - El Sereno Star,15 September 1955


I think this is it arrowed red on a 1956 aerial.



mil.library.ucsb.edu


The photographer would have been facing along the blue arrowed line.

You can see V-shaped billboards similar to the one caught to the right of the original picture.


View nowadays in the same direction from Huntington Drive at the rear of 4645 Huntington Dr South.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

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You've done it!


I wonder if there are remnants of the house on the hill. ....salivates

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[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

I think you're hot on the trail there CaliNative.


There was a Dee Market at 4645 Huntington Drive South.



cdnc.ucr.edu - El Sereno Star,15 September 1955

I think this is it arrowed red on a 1956 aerial.



mil.library.ucsb.edu


The photographer would have been facing along the blue arrowed line.

You can see V-shaped billboards similar to the one caught to the right of the original picture.


View nowadays in the same direction from Huntington Drive at the rear of 4645 Huntington Dr South.


GSV

Sometimes wild guesses and race track long shots come in (how about that long shot in the K. Derby a couple of weeks ago?) and sometimes a blind pig finds a truffle. Maybe the RR tracks in the old photo are red car (Pac. Electric)? Wasn't there a line on Huntington way back in the 1950s & before? "Henry Huntington" my fellow CSULA alum came close to the location too, and he remembered the name of the pizza joint I used to eat at on Valley, Garofolo's. He deserves an equal share of credit, and of course you deserve the most credit for finding the actual address of Dee market.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

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Are there remnants of the house on the hill? ....salivates

There's a Flying Saucer up there.



Google Maps



Hang on a sec, I'll have a closer look ... it's a big trampoline.



realtor.com


The lot for sale is numbered 4747 Hillsdale Dr. but that does not bring up any permits for a house that would have been demolished.


As for remnants, there is some structure off to the left of the trampoline but I cannot make out what it is.



Google Earth



realtor.com

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

There's a Flying Saucer up there.



Google Maps



Hang on a sec, I'll have a closer look ... it's a big trampoline.



realtor.com


The lot for sale is numbered 4747 Hillsdale Dr. but that does not bring up any permits for a house that would have been demolished.


As for remnants, there is some structure off to the left of the trampoline but I cannot make out what it is.



Google Earth



realtor.com

El Sereno, the next Highland Park? Just a short drive up Huntington to chi chi South Pasadena.

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Sometimes wild guesses and race track long shots come in (how about that long shot in the K. Derby a couple of weeks ago?) and sometimes a blind pig finds a truffle. Maybe the RR tracks in the old photo are red car (Pac. Electric)? Wasn't there a line on Huntington way back in the 1950s & before? "Henry Huntington" my fellow CSULA alum came close to the location too, and he remembered the name of the pizza joint I used to eat at on Valley, Garofolo's. He deserves an equal share of credit, and of course you deserve the most credit for finding the actual address of Dee market.

____________

PE's four-track Northern District trunk line did indeed run in the median of Huntington Drive. Actually, the PE was there first. I didn't make out the overhead catenary that was partly supported by the signal bridges like the one shown, so that led me to Valley Blvd.

Congrats to Noir_Noir for getting the right answer! And thanks for sharing your experiences at CSULA, CaliNative! Brought back lots of memories.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by HenryHuntington

____________

PE's four-track Northern District trunk line did indeed run in the median of Huntington Drive. Actually, the PE was there first. I didn't make out the overhead catenary that was partly supported by the signal bridges like the one shown, so that led me to Valley Blvd.

Congrats to Noir_Noir for getting the right answer! And thanks for sharing your experiences at CSULA, CaliNative! Brought back lots of memories.

When did the last PE train run on Huntington Drive? Mid '50s? The trains to Long Beach from L.A. ran until about 1960, right? I remember seeing them when I was a small child, and a few if the "yellow car" trolleys as well downtown. I think I saw them on Slauson as well, before the "Roger Rabbit" conspiracy took them all away. My fondest memory is of the Richfield tower all lit up on cold winter nights. That was a special building. Getting the 52 story ARCO twins seemed exciting at the time, but we gave up an art deco masterpiece to get them. I also remember going to a Dodger game with my parents in the Colosseum around 1959. That short fence with the netting was something. Saw Wally Moon hit a "moonshot" over it.

[HenryHuntington]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

When did the last PE train run on Huntington Drive? Mid '50s? The trains to Long Beach from L.A. ran until about 1960, right? I remember seeing them when I was a small child, and a few if the "yellow car" trolleys as well downtown. I think I saw them on Slauson as well, before the "Roger Rabbit" conspiracy took them all away. My fondest memory is of the Richfield tower all lit up on cold winter nights. That was a special building. Getting the 52 story ARCO twins seemed exciting at the time, but we gave up an art deco masterpiece to get them. I also remember going to a Dodger game with my parents in the Colosseum around 1959. That short fence with the netting was something. Saw Wally Moon hit a "moonshot" over it.

______________

Passenger service on Huntington Drive ended on September 30, 1951. PE built a connector from its San Bernardino Line in Baldwin Park to its Glendora Line in Azusa c.1952 to serve customers eastward from Arcadia so that it could abandon the Huntington Drive trackage altogether. The connector still serves the brewery adjacent to the 210 freeway and perhaps some other customers up that way.

Passenger service to Long Beach ended on April 6, 1961: the last of the Big Red Cars. The former "Yellow Car" streetcar lines in central Los Angeles were discontinued on March 30, 1963.

Sic transit gloria, etc.!

[ethereal_reality]

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Originally Posted by Noir_Noir

I was staring at Noir Noir's 'UFO' (trampoline) and thought, "I wonder what the Chemosphere looks like on Google Earth.", so I looked it up and noticed two round objects in neighboring yards.


Google Earth




Playing around with the image, (north is, now, on the right) I noticed a set of mysterious stairs.







And when I turned the image again (to get a better view) I realized that the stairs were much longer(!) than I first imagined.




Is anyone familiar with these stairs? . . .If so, are they public or private stairs? ....And what, pray tell, is the cube-like building at the end? (or is that the beginning?)


I'm stumped, folks....


You can checked it out for yourself Here
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[CaliNative]

"City Boy" Doug hasn't posted for a while. Everything OK Doug?

[ethereal_reality]

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Newsboy Strike / mystery location.


"Orig 1950s Los Angeles Newsstand Newsboy Strike LA CA California Photo Negative"


eBay

Perhaps we can figure out the location by using the See's Candy Store as a clue.


update:

Or perhaps not. There were 124 stores in the 1950s.

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[ethereal_reality]

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mystery apartment building.

Here's another negative. This one taken in Venice CA.

"Orig 1950 Venice Los Angeles Bridge California LA CA 2.5" Photo Negative"


eBay


I'm trying to figure out if the unique apartment is still standing. Does it look familiar to anyone?


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[AlvaroLegido]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

"City Boy" Doug hasn't posted for a while. Everything OK Doug?

He's been banned for being too much controversial however I miss his non-polemic posts which often brought a singular and informative stuff well matched to NLA.

[Noir_Noir]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

.
Newsboy Strike / mystery location.


"Orig 1950s Los Angeles Newsstand Newsboy Strike LA CA California Photo Negative"


eBay

Perhaps we can figure out the location by using the See's Candy Store as a clue.


update:

Or perhaps not. There were 124 stores in the 1950s.

.

He's right up by MacArthur Park on W. 7th St.

The See's Candies store was at 2030 W. 7th and the Citizens Bank at 2044.


The Olympic Hotel rooftop sign still peeking over now as then.



GSV