noirish Los Angeles

[ethereal_reality]

In my earlier post I described the old Universal City sign as being a bit "underwhelming".

Well I just found another photograph from a different angle.


[url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/universalstonecutter/

It was much more substantial than I remembered!

(I believe the MCA Building, aka Black Box, is under construction in the foreground)


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[Blaster]

ER, you slipped. You mean "The Black Tower," dark fortress of corporate greed from which the King of Hollywood (Lou Wasserman) ruled over the entertainment world for many years. I believe the building, known orginally as MCA Tower, was officially renamed the Lew R. Wasserman Building.

But everyone still calls it the Black Tower.

[ethereal_reality]

yeah, I meant the Black Tower.
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Plane Crash in Culver City, 1941.


eBay

"Two youthful flyers were killed yesterday when their privately owned plane crashed as they attempted to land at Culver City Airport.
The victims were identified as Roy Hawthorne, 24, of Culver City and Lloyd Miller, 22, of Santa Monica, Calif." [9-29-41]

When I first read 'Culver City Airport' I thought they were talking about Hughes Airport.

I had all but forgotten about the much smaller Culver City Airport. (originally Baker Airport)


1940 Los Angeles street map


and a closer look.


1938 Rand-McNally Texico Map




Here's a rare aerial showing a single (but very wide!) grass strip surrounded by an asphalt ring. (1940s)


Photo is courtesy of Larry Leaman, nephew of Paul (Pete) Leaman, owner/operator of the Culver City Airport.

"An amazing number of aircraft (over 70) are visible parked around the periphery of the field." -P. Freeman

By most accounts Culver City Airport was closed in 1950, and by 1951 a Mayfair Market had opened on the site of the former Culver City Airport,
and behind it Sunkist Park Housing.

The airport had been replaced by streets on a 1957 road map.
_______________________


Here's the reverse of the top photo.


Special thanks to Paul Freeman at his amazing abandoned airfield blog.
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/...ds_CA_LA_W.htm

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[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

When I first read 'Culver City Airport' I thought they were talking about Hughes Airport.

I had all but forgotten about the much smaller Culver City Airport. (originally Baker Airport)


1938 Rand-McNally Texico Map

By most accounts Culver City Airport was closed in 1950, and by 1951 a Mayfair Market had opened on the site of the former Culver City Airport,
and behind it Sunkist Park Housing.

The airport had been replaced by streets on a 1957 road map.

I was hoping that Historic Aerials had a 1948 view of the area, but it finishes just to the north. Here's the 1953 image showing all the new houses. The red line marks the airport boundaries from e_r's 1938 map.



Some of the new houses didn't last long. By 1963 there was a freeway and a waterway running through the site.



By 1972 there was a second freeway. I wonder if the 1950s houses were originally meant to the be permanent, or if they were just to meet the post-war housing shortage.



All from Historic Aerials

[ethereal_reality]

I didn't realize how much of the former airport is now under freeways.

Thanks for posting the aerials Hoss.
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[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Culver City Airport was closed in 1950, and by 1951 a Mayfair Market had opened on the site of the former Culver City Airport,
and behind it Sunkist Park Housing.

Originally Posted by HossC

I wonder if the 1950s houses were originally meant to the be permanent, or if they were just to meet the post-war housing shortage.

According to this....I believe they were permanent Hoss.


http://blogging.la/2015/01/07/archiv...ouses-in-1951/

Sunkist Park developers built about 315 homes in the area, about half of which were sold before construction began. You could pick a house in one of fifteen different styles (including the super cute storybook ranch-style house pictured above), and they came pre-decorated: “early buyers have a selection of tile, wallpaper, linoleum, and paint colors.” -1951 L.A. Times article
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Today, Sunkist Park extends way beyond the boundaries of the former airport.



google_maps



for comparison, here's the boundaries of the airport again.

Originally posted by HossC

1972 aerial

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just for fun, here's another map that shows the Culver City airport (upper right)---->



The 1950 USGS topo map depicted Culver City Airport as an irregularly-shaped property outline, with a few small buildings.

note that Hughes Airport is simply labeled as 'Industrial Airport'.
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[ethereal_reality]

I don't believe we've seen this image on NLA.

"A Los Angeles Railway A Line streetcar no. 65 heads into a street Y-merge situation in Hollywood. The destination board reads "Adams & Alsace."


Jack Finn Collection

There doesn't appear to be a consensus on the location.

Here's the link to the pic with comments.
http://www.pacificelectric.org/los-a...ne-y/#comments



One person suggested "The intersection of Hoover, Burlington, and 20th Street, near the 10 freeway."

I drove the google-mobile over there.


gsv

If this is correct, the lovely houses are gone, and the Shell station is now a Mobil station.



aerial

google_earth

So what do you guys think, is this the correct location?
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[HossC]

Here are some of the loose ends from Julius Shulman's "Job 2110: Miscellaneous buildings, 1955". After finding a couple of buildings from this set on Bellanca Avenue, several of the others seem to have been clustered closely together in Pasadena. I found an address for Consolidated Engineering Corp at 300 N Sierra Madre Villa Avenue, very near to Wiancko Engineering and William Miller Instruments. Yet again the building has been replaced.



I found several addresses for Stanley Home Products Inc, but none of them match this picture. Does anyone recognize it?



The signage around the door tells us that this is a company called Gilco with a street number of 404. Given the previous locations, I think it's likely that this is Gilco Inc at 404 N Halstead Avenue.



All from Getty Research Institute

This is a recent picture of 404 N Halstead Avenue. It doesn't look much like the Gilco building, but the property sites give a build date of 1955.


GSV

Next door at 380 N Halstead Avenue is this building which dates from 1956, so it was built a year too late to be captured by Mr Shulman (unless he returned later).


GSV

Before I leave the area, the old aerial views show what looked like a drive-in theater behind the buildings above. A bit of Googling found the Hastings Drive-In at 445 N Rosemead Boulevard. It apparently opened in 1950 and was replaced by an indoor facility in 1968. Halstead Avenue (now Halstead Street) is the one nearest the camera. The Gilco building is the one below the structures in the drive-in parking lot.


cinematreasures.org

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

"A Los Angeles Railway A Line streetcar no. 65 heads into a street Y-merge situation in Hollywood. The destination board reads "Adams & Alsace."


Jack Finn Collection

There doesn't appear to be a consensus on the location.

One person suggested "The intersection of Hoover, Burlington, and 20th Street, near the 10 freeway."

So what do you guys think, is this the correct location?

Here's the intersection in 1961, during the construction of the Santa Monica Freeway. Hoover is the street at the bottom. I think the service station (minus its Shell sign) and the house across Burlington Avenue match e_r's picture.


Detail of picture in USC Digital Library

[ethereal_reality]

Originally Posted by HossC

I think the service station (minus its Shell sign) and the house across Burlington Avenue match e_r's picture.

I believe you're right Hoss!

That's quite an aerial.....excellent sleuthing.
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[ethereal_reality]

'mystery' location #2



"Large 4" x 2.5" Negative, Pacific Electric railcar #1407, 1930s/40s Street Crossing"

It's currently listed on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Negative-USA...gAAOSwFe5X2CSx
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[Ed Workman]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location #2



"Large 4" x 2.5" Negative, Pacific Electric railcar #1407, 1930s/40s Street Crossing"

It's currently listed on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Negative-USA...gAAOSwFe5X2CSx
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Not PE but LATL. My guess is east of Taylor Yard, and roughly parallel to San Fernando Rd south of Glendale - can't name the streets over there but maybe those clues will suffice for Mavens

[Lomara]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

When I first read 'Culver City Airport' I thought they were talking about Hughes Airport.

You got me thinking about a visit I made last year to the old Hughes property in Playa Vista, now occupied by YouTube and some other tech companies. It is now called the Hercules Campus, after the Hercules H-4 flying boat.

Website for the Hercules Campus: http://www.herculescampus.com/

Location via Google Maps

The LA Conservancy arranged a tour of the property, and the giant assembly building was the reason I went. (My Dad worked for Hughes Aircraft, but at the GSG campus in Fullerton)

I searched the forums but don't see any mention of this building.

Fuselage of H-4 peeking out of the west door on the north side of building 15.

Photo from SlashGear article on recent sale http://www.slashgear.com/google-buyi...-why-27343097/

Google bought the property in 2014, but haven't yet moved in.

This article dated June 6, 2016 suggests their move is impending, but no date is announced

http://la.curbed.com/2016/6/6/118723...e-spruce-goose

There are photos better than mine which attempt to show the scale of this hangar building. It's massive. It is building 15 on the campus.

North side of building (fuselage assembly side)

photo sourced from http://la.curbed.com/2016/6/6/118723...e-spruce-goose

East side of building

google street view

The green fence is new, and was not there during last year's tour.

The LA Conservency trained docents to guide us around the property, but they weren't prepared to answer questions comparing the size of this hangar to the old blimp hangars at Tustin. (The Tustin hangars are 1072 feet long by 292 feet wide by 192 feet tall according to Wikipedia)

Still, this building is massive. The entire structure was divided in half, with the fuselage being assembled on the North side, and the wings being assembled on the South side. Offices were constructed down the center of the building.

Wing assembly inside of the South side of building 15

Sourced from 2008 article about the property being put up for sale
http://www.playavistahomesales.com/n...ngar-for-sale/

My photos with people for scale. Everyone looks tiny.

View from entrance on West end of South side of building 15 (wing assembly side)

photo: mine

Roof detail of center of building, over the offices

photo: mine

People in giant doorway on East end of South side of building 15 (wing assembly side)

photo: mine

View from the East end of the South side of building 15 (wing assembly side)

photo: mine

LA Times article about the campus closing in 1994

From article above:
"Building 15, as long as 2 1/2 football fields, with a ceiling eight stories high, was thought to be the world's largest wooden structure when it was finished, according to Hal Klopper, a McDonnell public relations official and the plant's unofficial historian." This building was built in 1943. The H-4's first and only flight was in 1947.

Here's a great account of the property from someone who was on the Hercules campus during the filming of Independence Day in 1995. He's posted a lot of photos of the condition of the property at the time.

http://www.placesearth.com/usa/calif.../hughes1.shtml

[Tourmaline]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

I found this photograph of the Princess Hotel on ebay yesterday.




After looking through several city directories, I finally found the Princess in the 1915 directory.




It still stands, minus all the elements that made it attractive, at 722 S. Bonnie Brae

gsv
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There was another "Princess" (Apartment - Hotel) previously posted on NLA. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=4618 The structure was once known as "The Queen" as indicated on the building facade. Consulting the City Directories, it appears that the structure was renamed or demoted "The Princess Apartment-Hotel" sometime after 1922 through 1942, yet the name "Queen" was left on the facade, as pictured by the Ansel Adams' ~1940 photos. As noted in ER's earlier post, this somewhat confusingly ornamented structure was located at 529 California Street (part of the Ft. Hill Tract - somewhere near Hill and Grand) until it became a casualty of the 101 Freeway. Of note, the property is said to have been named "The Queen" by Emma Summers, who has been mentioned several times on NLA. 1906 and 1908 building permits indicate the building's age. The '08 permit lists the owner as Emma A. Summers, who apparently resided at 517 California Street. A 1948 demolition permit indicates the final straw. How or why it became "The Princess" while the "Queen" name was left intact, is a minor mystery.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=8516
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=16911

http://wilshireboulevardhouses.blogs...ire-place.html




Emma and her Wilshire Blvd. home, circa 1911
http://aoghs.org/wp-content/uploads/...ueen-AOGHS.jpg


More on Emma Summers here: http://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/...ers-oil-queen/ And here: http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/11/local/me-54981


1940 - Princess Apt-Hotel
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085654.jpg




http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085655.jpg





The top of the structure says "Queen." The sign advertising room rates says "Princess."
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00085/00085656.jpg

































On an unrelated note, the LA Times published an article about proposed skyscrapers for the so-called Arts District bordering Alameda St. and the LA River. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...htmlstory.html The same issue contains an article about how celestial alignments may trigger big quakes. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...nap-story.html The one thing that does not seem to receive much attention is how concrete and glass structures along with plenty of pavement tend to create their own micro climates and how so much massive vertical LA construction might affect prevailing LA climate. Cities such as Phoenix have recognized "urban heat islands" that can influence temperature and weather. One wonders whether there aren't lessons that have yet to be learned by the proposed vertical sprawl envisioned for the not-to-distant future. Was it that difficult to predict that heat reflected from the stainless Disney Hall might warm nearby surroundings? Setting aside the issue of quakes and reflected energy, instead of so-called normal Santa Ana winds will there be super Santa Anas?

[Flyingwedge]

Originally Posted by Lomara

You got me thinking about a visit I made last year to the old Hughes property in Playa Vista, now occupied by YouTube and some other tech companies. It is now called the Hercules Campus, after the Hercules H-4 flying boat.

There are photos better than mine which attempt to show the scale of this hangar building. It's massive. It is building 15 on the campus.

North side of building (fuselage assembly side)

photo sourced from http://la.curbed.com/2016/6/6/118723...e-spruce-goose

East side of building

google street view

Your photos are great, Lomara! Thanks so much for posting them. Building 15 is very impressive.

Here is a not very good photo I took in Feb 2012 of Building 10, the old Hughes cafeteria. There is a plaque on the wall
just right of center (the plaque has since been removed):




This is a close-up of the photo (looking west) and map on that plaque, which I think you can still discern despite the problems with
reflections. Building 15 is at top center of the photo, and it's also on the map at the bottom. South of Building 15 on the map are
(in blue) Building 17 (now YouTube Space LA), Building 18 (the fire station), Building 10, and Building 11 (the paint shop):



Feb 2012 Photo by me


Here is the text from that plaque, which describes Buildings 10, 11, 17, and 18. The text for Building 11 says Hughes may have passed
from Building 11 to Building 10 via the roof:



Feb 2012 Photo by me


In this March 2012 photo, I managed to cut off part of the fire station's hose-drying tower on the left side of the photo. Behind the
fire station are the east side of Buildings 15 and 16. The rear of Building 10, the cafeteria, is in the middle, and the paint shop,
Building 11, is at right. If the story about Hughes is true, there is a short set of stairs on the roof that he may have used, above
the right end of the pile of broken asphalt:

[Lomara]

Originally Posted by Flyingwedge

Your photos are great, Lomara! Thanks so much for posting them. Building 15 is very impressive.

Here is a not very good photo I took in Feb 2012 of Building 10, the old Hughes cafeteria. There is a plaque on the wall
just right of center (the plaque has since been removed):




This is a close-up of the photo (looking west) and map on that plaque, which I think you can still discern despite the problems with
reflections. Building 15 is at top center of the photo, and it's also on the map at the bottom. South of Building 15 on the map are
(in blue) Building 17 (now YouTube Space LA), Building 18 (the fire station), Building 10, and Building 11 (the paint shop):



Feb 2012 Photo by me


Here is the text from that plaque, which describes Buildings 10, 11, 17, and 18. The text for Building 11 says Hughes may have passed
from Building 11 to Building 10 via the roof:



Feb 2012 Photo by me


In this March 2012 photo, I managed to cut off part of the fire station's hose-drying tower on the left side of the photo. Behind the
fire station are the east side of Buildings 15 and 16. The rear of Building 10, the cafeteria, is in the middle, and the paint shop,
Building 11, is at right. If the story about Hughes is true, there is a short set of stairs on the roof that he may have used, above
the right end of the pile of broken asphalt:

These are great Flyingwedge! That map is so helpful. I remember Konami is now in bldg 10, and that broken pile of asphalt is now a nice patio area. I didn't notice any stairs during the tour, but I definitely see them in your photo! How interesting! I also didn't take photos of much outside of building 15. They took us through a small part of YouTubeSpace, and buildings 1, 2 and maybe 3. We were walked through some of the businesses that now occupy buildings 1 and 2, and we were asked not to take photos inside, so the camera got put away. It was a really hot day, that much I definitely remember.

[HossC]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

'mystery' location #2



"Large 4" x 2.5" Negative, Pacific Electric railcar #1407, 1930s/40s Street Crossing"

Originally Posted by Ed Workman

Not PE but LATL. My guess is east of Taylor Yard, and roughly parallel to San Fernando Rd south of Glendale - can't name the streets over there but maybe those clues will suffice for Mavens

Could this be looking south where Eagle Rock Boulevard crosses Verdugo Road and becomes Cypress Avenue? There was a right-of-way down the eastern side of the street at this point, and San Fernando Road is very close.


Historic Aerials

Here's an up-to-date view of the intersection.


GSV

[ethereal_reality]

I think you're right Hoss.



I've circled what might be the angled billboard that appears on the left edge of the 'mystery' photo.


originally posted by HossC






this one...


detail

Whatta' ya think?

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[Lomara]

So, if you decide on using Photobucket for image hosting, start uploading stuff, link to your images here on the forum, AND THEN decide to organize your photos into different albums, ALL of your images you moved that you have linked in posts will be broken. You'll have to go back and fix every image link in every post.

Signed,

The person who decided to move everything around in her Photobucket account after posting image-heavy stuff.

(Don't do it this way. Organize your stuff first before you put the pictures into posts, signed Someone Who Definitely Knew Better)

(why is there no facepalm smiley?)

[ethereal_reality]

Good to know Lomara.
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re: the 'mystery' pic

Hoss, I forgot to add....

I believe the hill that's visible in the distance on the right matches as well.

detail


eBay/gsv
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