noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by Jungmann

This picture brings back memories.

In 1964, I was working in the mail room at Universal Pictures. This parking lot--as Hoss's aerial shows--was around the middle of the lot. The Universal Studio Tour with its red and white striped trams had started around a year before I got there, so I'd say it's a 63-64 photo.

All those doorways and buildings you see had meaning for me. There were about eight of us in the mailroom. We had to deliver incoming mail, pick up outgoing mail, and distribute company stuff--call sheets, cast lists, scripts, budgets, interoffice mail--four times a day.

We divided up the lot into routes, circuits of certain offices and outlying buildings. The Black Tower was a route in itself, but there were maybe five other routes covering the lot, the Casting department, the Production department, Props, Lights, Construction, Vehicles, on and on.

Out weapons of choice were either those three wheel mailman carts for close in work--the mailroom was in the basement of the Black Tower--but for the outlying routes to distant departments, we used old-fashioned heavy cruiser bikes with a big wire basket mounted to the handlebars.

If I remember right, that road in the picture the tram is descending came from some of the old permanent sets further up on the hill, including the Psycho house, always a crowd favorite. But there were departments up there as well. If memory serves, one was the Staff Department--staff is a movie term for phony walls of brick or stucco or marble for sets, made, I think, from plaster and straw. Sweating the noontime delivery up that hill to Staff with the two-ton bike heavy with scripts and call-sheets in mid-August in the Valley was not considered a plum job.

The one story grey building on the right holds a row of was what was categorized as a "bungalow", meaning a single inner-outer office suite with a bathroom. Contract producers and contract actors--stars--got those. Some were much more lavish than what you see, decked out as charming little stand-alone houses. As I remember, that most-right hand black door was where I delivered mail to Alfred Hitchcock Productions, although it might have been an identical black door a few feet out of the frame to the right. The two story grey building behind it, if I remember right, housed Pennebaker Productions, Marlon Brando's company. We mail boys saw Hitchcock often, enough to say hello to him and get a nod back.

Thanks for describing your days as a mail runner at Universal Studios Jungmann.
You were probably on the job when my family visited from Illinois. the studio tour was one of the highlights of our trip (and my dad captures it all on an 8mm home movie camera)

So when you say the 'Black Tower' do you mean the MCA Building?

this one?

eBay

I remember seeing this as a kid and thinking it was soooo tall.



This tourist wasn't sure what it was either.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Colo...8AAOSwOVpXbJWl


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[John Maddox Roberts]

The Black Tower was used as the lower part of the skyscraper in "The Towering Inferno"(1974). In the upward shots, the upper stories were matte-painted in.

[HossC]

Thanks for the reminder of tovangar2's post about the Good Shepherd Convent, Flyingwedge. My searches didn't find it.


--------------


Today's Julius Shulman post is "Job 1300: J.A. McNeil Inc., Office Building (Alhambra, Calif.), 1952".



The number over the door proved useful.



I wasn't expecting those seat coverings.



At least the curtains give this dark office a lift.



I wish I could see what they're designing.



I'll finish with this meeting room which has a different jazzy pattern on its curtains.



All from Getty Research Institute

I found an address of "3U5 W Mission Road, Alhambra" in newspaper transcript. Luckily, the second picture above told me that it should read 3115 W Mission Road. Other than gaining a few plants, I think building is looking remarkably similar. It's even kept its blinds.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

Nuns await the arrival of Senator Robert F. Kennedy during a campaign stop in the Los Angeles area." [June 02-04 1968]


https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Vie...-C021-003.aspx

Does anyone recognize the building being renovated in the background?






Kennedy Girls (dig the blue hosiery)


https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Vie...-C010-001.aspx

Awaiting the arrival of Senator Robert F. Kennedy at Los Angeles Valley College, 15 May 1968
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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Nuns await the arrival of Senator Robert F. Kennedy during a campaign stop in the Los Angeles area." [June 02-04 1968]


https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Vie...-C021-003.aspx

Does anyone recognize the building being renovated in the background?

The arches look like Pico House.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

I thought maybe Pico House, but I decided the building looked too pristine. I see I was wrong.
_____






detail / my apologies to Shulman

Originally Posted by Bristolian

The '64 Caddy takes center stage among the cars but that is a pretty sweet AMC Gremlin behind it.

I noticed that Gremlin too Bristolian.


Just for fun here's a parked Gremlin in a scene from Remington Steele (Ep 3.02)


http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_485121-...mlin-1970.html

No street address was given, so I took the googlemobile out for a spin and found the street.

Looking west on E. 3rd Street.


gsv





The biggest clue were the circles with the cross in it. (I remembered seeing them in the early days of the thread)


detail

At the time, I remember asking if this building had something to do with the Santa Fe Railroad because of the similarity to the train company's logo.

this one

old file

I can't remember the answer.
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[HossC]

I had a look around the E 3rd Street area a couple of weeks ago when I found that the video below was filmed at E 3rd and Traction.

Jodie Abacus - I'll Be That Friend (Official Video)

• Video Link

We've seen the Joannes Brothers Company building at 800 Traction Avenue before (see post #12905 and post #13985), but I think this 1932 photo is new to the thread. The building is visible in the video, and only a stone's throw from the building posted by e_r.


USC Digital Library

[FredH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I thought maybe Pico House, but I decided the building looked too pristine. I see I was wrong.
_____






detail / my apologies to Shulman


I noticed that Gremlin too Bristolian.


Just for fun here's a parked Gremlin in a scene from Remington Steele (Ep 3.02)


http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_485121-...mlin-1970.html

No street address was given, so I took the googlemobile out for a spin and found the street.

Looking west on E. 3rd Street.


gsv





The biggest clue were the circles with the cross in it. (I remembered seeing them in the early days of the thread)


detail

At the time, I remember asking if this building had something to do with the Santa Fe Railroad because of the similarity to the train company's logo.

this one

old file

I can't remember the answer.
__

Er - I kind of remember that old post too. I believe this building was office and/or warehouse space for the old La Grande Station at Santa Fe Avenue and 2nd Street.


LAPL

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

The biggest clue were the circles with the cross in it. (I remembered seeing them in the early days of the thread)


detail

At the time, I remember asking if this building had something to do with the Santa Fe Railroad because of the similarity to the train company's logo.

I can't remember the answer.

The name Braun appears on the 1909 building permit.


Online Building Records

On the 1910 Baist map the building is labeled Braun Chemical Company. The 1912 CD lists the California Drug & Chemical Co as "successors to Braun Chemical Co", but at a different address. By the early-20s, 912 E 3rd Street was owned by the H G Chaffee Warehouse Co, whose name is still on it in the 1969 CD.


www.historicmapworks.com

A few years ago the front looked like this. I assume it was for artistic reasons.


GSV

Now you can even "walk" inside.


GSV

[FredH]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;7561419]Nuns await the arrival of Senator Robert F. Kennedy during a campaign stop in the Los Angeles area." [June 02-04 1968]


https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Vie...-C021-003.aspx


Shortly after midnight on June 5th, Kennedy was shot inside the Ambassador Hotel after winning the California primary election.
On June 6th, he died. This photo was taken only a couple days before the assassination.

[ethereal_reality]

http://wikimapia.org/4472663/RFK-Com...dor-Hotel-site

I don't remember seeing this image before.

I have to say, the memoriam billboard looks a bit fake to me. (do you think someone might have superimposed it into the pic?)
__

If it's true, which building is the billboard mounted on......this one?


google_aerial

_

[ethereal_reality]

"First Elect. Car Line in L.A. 1886" (written on the reverse)


eBay

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

LA's first electric railway opened on January 2, 1887.

If your wonderful old photo shows opening day, e_r, this photo may have been taken at Pico and Main, where the tracks
appear to end, even though the sign on the car says "Maple Av":

Thanks for the information and posting that newspaper clipping FW.

I've often wondered where this photograph was taken. It's one of my all time favorites.
______________________________________________________________





Here's another transit-related photograph that I'm pretty sure it's new to NLA.

"Group of men beside streetcar office and barn, southwest corner of Downey Avenue and Hancock Street, 1890"


http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/si...id/12148/rec/7

One of the things that caught my eye was the banner on the streetcar at far right.---->

this one

detail

But I can't make heads or tails out of it. HERM_ _

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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

On the 1910 Baist map the building is labeled Braun Chemical Company. The 1912 CD lists the California Drug & Chemical Co as "successors to Braun Chemical Co", but at a different address. By the early-20s, 912 E 3rd Street was owned by the H G Chaffee Warehouse Co, whose name is still on it in the 1969 CD.


www.historicmapworks.com

Thanks Hoss.

"The name Braun appears on the 1909 building permit." -HossC

So it's probably just a coincidence that the architectural detailing on the building resembles the Santa Fe logo.

Oh, and I didn't realize the back of the building was curved (to accommodate the railroad spur) until I saw your Baist map.


google_aerial

(I was also surprised to see a Baptist Church on the Baist map)
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[FredH]

[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;7561812]"First Elect. Car Line in L.A. 1886" (written on the reverse)


eBay




ER - Does it look to you like these cars on the left are just sitting in the dirt? Maybe they only had one set of tracks.

[FredH]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Here's that corner today. (southwest corner of Temple and Hope)


google_aerial




There's a desert garden there now.


gsv






If you look closely there's a plaque in front of the rock. Does anyone know what it says?


detail/gsv
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ER - I accidentally ran across this 1974 photo of the rocks on the LAPL website


LAPL

Their description of the photo is as follows:

"A cluster of boulders from the Alabama Hills in the Owens Valley on display at the southwest corner of Hope and Figueroa streets, on the Department of Water and Power property."


So - I guess when you steal someone's water, you are allowed to take some rocks along as trophies. Sounds fair.

[ethereal_reality]

Excellent find FredH. I would never have guessed the rocks were from the Owens Valley!


old file / Shulman 1965 / waterandpower

I didn't realize the large rock in the current 'desert' garden (with the plaque) was the same rock as in this Shulman photograph from 1965.

So where were they situated before being moved to that corner garden on Temple and Hope? In the pic above it looks like they were along a freeway embankment.




Now I want to see what's written on that plaque more than ever.



-maybe Mulholland is buried under the rock

[ethereal_reality]

Before it all began:


William Mulholland with two unidentified men sitting in a car in Owens Valley in 1907.

All three men are contemplating the future source of L.A.'s water, the snow covered peaks of the eastern Sierras.


http://waterandpower.org/museum/The_..._Aqueduct.html

[Blaster]

"Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water."

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by FredH

ER - Does it look to you like these cars on the left are just sitting in the dirt? Maybe they only had one set of tracks.

I think you're right FredH. I never noticed that before.

-serious minds want to know these details. (where's all our rail-fans?)






I like the way that tough little boy is standing. Wouldn't it be interesting to know how his life turned out.

_

[ethereal_reality]

Here's a rare look inside the ladies' room at the J.W. Robinson Dept. Store, downtown.

I certainly don't remember seeing this fanciful fountain before. (I wonder where it ended up....someone's garden no doubt)


eBay

The upper stories of the building are empty now, right?

I just had a thought, wouldn't it be amazing if the fountain is still somewhere inside the building!

(I've been trying, without success, to read the two signs in the doorways) -there appears to be a row of chairs facing a line of mirrors in the room at far right.