Los Angeles Miscellaneous - Internet to the Rescue
As a fan of vintage slides, I especially like views of Los Angeles from long ago. The trouble is, so do lots of other people - a particularly nice view of Wilshire Boulevard from the 1940s or 1950s can fetch well over $100. Those aren't for me! I don't even search for LA slides very often, but once in a while I'll think of it, and do a search - and sometimes I'll win one. Today I am sharing two such slides, along with the story of how the Internet helped me to figure out the locations in surprising ways.
We'll start with this one, from July 1959; a cute green car (help, Nanook!) is parked on an unidentified, rather nondescript street. Beyond the wall and oleanders is a giant "T" for Thriftymart. But there were LOTS of Thriftymarts, so that didn't help a lot. Was this even California? Just above the roof of the car we can see a business... COLEMAN CL...; "Coleman Cleaners", perhaps? Let's look it up!
After a brief Google search, I found THIS THREAD on SkyscraperPage.com, as part of the "noirish” LA" discussion. It was all about the slide I'd won! It's pretty fascinating. I recommend following the thread if you are at all interested. A very clever person suggested that the location was 12210 Santa Monica Boulevard. Looking at Google Maps Street View shows this - I am certain that it is indeed the same location, even the giant "T" is still there, though the store is now a Smart and Final. Pay no attention to the tents for the homeless.
Once again, Google took me to SkyscraperPage.com, and a discussion about an image that was clearly taken by the same photographer as the one I own. There's "Nothing But Ties"! To find the discussion, you'll have to scroll down, but I think that people who read this blog will enjoy it.
Here's a recent view of 628 1/2 South Hill Street, in downtown Los Angeles; that little sandwich stand is still there, though it is now a Mark Broumand jewelry store. I'm surprised how little this scene has changed over the past 70-ish years. I can't even truly say that it looks much worse than it did back in the old days!
I hope you have enjoyed today's Miscellaneous Photos and the Internet info!
17 comments:
The last shot is worse Major. Chuck Heston will drive by any second...
Wow, great sleuthing today! (By you, and the others at SkyscraperPage.com.) Soooo, there's nothing left for us Jr. Gs to do! (Not that I would've been any help anyway.) Just sit back and enjoy some nice late fifties views of Los Angeles.
It really is amazing that the coffee shop building is still there. I mean, it's not exactly the apex of architecture. Still, the 1959 photos have a lot more interesting charm than the present-day photo.
Thanks for the nickel tour of L.A., Major.
Major-
Well, I don't want to brag but... when I first looked at that Thriftimart image, I was fairly certain it was the location on Santa Monica Blvd. in West LA. (I lived in Brentwood as a kid, so am very familiar with that area). Oh... and that's a 1954 Ford Customline, probably in Killarney Green. Ah, the luck 'o the Irish-!
That downtown image is wonderful; right down to that [apparent] battery-operated yellow & orange 'caution light' sitting adjacent to the yellow construction cones. (So modern-!) Back in 1959, I'd more expect to see a round, kerosene 'highway torch', with its attendant plume of black, sooty smoke.
Thanks, Major for the images and your sleuthing.
These are great shots and comparisons. I love vintage Los Angeles. We can see the backside (the side facing the alley) of the S.H. Kress five and dime in your Hill St. shot, Major. The front of it would have faced Broadway. And directly on the other side of that "Nothing But Ties" building, would be the historic Los Angeles Theater, which is also on Broadway, and is still standing today.
I remember the Thriftymart stores with their giant "Ts". I wonder the Coleman Cleaners building is the same one which is now occupied by "Mom's Cocktails." My mom never served me cocktails.
Thanks for a taste of vintage L.A., Major!
Ha, ha! I just noticed that "Mom's Cocktails" has a neon sign out front which reads, "GET IN HERE!" It sounds like something a "mom" would say.
Major, this is fascinating, thank you!
“Nothing But Ties” sounds (and looks) very familiar. I wonder if Dad drove us by there on one trip. He would often detour through old downtown to look at his old haunts of the 1930’s. I remember downtown looking just like this. Might have been 6-7 years after the photo.
JG
Major-
Returning to the downtown images, I noticed Nothing but TIES in addition to having a 'tie bazaar', it also has a sign for BELTS-! (So much for 'nothing but' ties). Back in the day, downtown LA was also home to The Zipper Doctor and The Umbrella Doctor - I wonder if they were nearby-?
In the SkyscraperPage image, there's a Mission Pak store two doors down... "One of the world's largest shippers of fancy fruits". Who could forget their jingle:
♫Say the magic word, say Mission Pak
And it's on its merry way.
No gift so bright, so gay, so right,
Give the Mission Oak magic way.♩
Following the live on-air announcer spiel, the chorus returned with...
♫To find your nearest Mission Pak store call...
ADams 2-4184
Who could forget that useless information-!
walterworld, you make a good point! It does look rather deserted and spooky.
JB, yep, I did all the work! Well, other people did all the work, but I am taking all the credit, and that’s what is really important. I agree, I was shocked that the little building was still there, you’d think it would have been torn down years ago.
Nanook, oh well, Brentwood, la dee da! ;-) I go to that general area of Santa Monica Blvd. now and then, but I’m paying attention to the traffic and not the Smart and Final store (which I truly don’t recall ever noticing). If I drive through Brentwood I start to itch and have to get out because I don’t belong there. It’s too snooty! Thank you for the ID on the car. I do like that old photo from downtown, and was glad that I could verify that it was, in fact, Los Angeles.
TokyoMagic!, I have some really good vintage LA pix coming up! Which would you rather see, the back side of S.H. Kress, or the back side of water? Thank you for giving a better sense of where that old photo was taken. I don’t spend a lot of time downtown, though I used to go down there a lot when I did work for the LA Times. But I usually stuck to a few specific blocks. “Mom’s Cocktails”, ha ha.
TokyoMagic!, “Get in here!”, I love it.
JG, apropos of nothing, I remember a woman who made coats out of old neckties - she’s split them open and sew them together, using a variety of colors and patterns. They were ugly as hell, but I appreciated her creativity! I wonder if you ever actually laid eyes on “Nothing But Ties”? I hope you didn’t see the store up the street, “Nothing But Underpants”.
Nanook, hey, yeah, what the hell! If I wanted a belt I’d go to “Just Belts”! “The Zipper Doctor”?? Nanook, this is a family blog. The “Noirish LA” stuff is fascinating, I have a few slide scans that I can’t identify, and I’m thinking of sharing them there to see if their smarties can figure out the locations. I don’t remember ever hearing the Mission Pak jingle, I hope it had a nice 1950s chorus singing the lyrics.
There must have been a store nearby that sold absolutely nothing! Maybe they existed by selling pictures of the storefront itself. Great sleuthing. I got intrigued on the referenced blog of the Thriftimart picture about a young lady who climbed the water-tower in the distance in 1953. Found her as a 7 year old in the 1940 census. Boy, you can really get lost in this stuff. KS
Fun! Thanks for Major sleuthing today.
I do think we have a ‘Snafu’ (perfect) in assuming the coffee shop still stands… it actually appears to be being demolished in this photo! There is no door, or front wall for that matter. and the lumber rubble looks like it just fell from Finest Linen down to even lower prices in the street. In fact…is that an insurance adjuster taking notes at the door? And the replacement structure will not be rebuilt with double concrete dividing walls behind one rollup door. The men in hats (cute name for a band someday) are not ordering sandwiches, but trying to figure put what the heck happened here (an event that drew photographers!) The second ‘other’ photo is slightly later as the excavation pile is now a bit bigger. They have a piece of pipe. Did the whole place blow up? No joke, this happens in DTLA a lot these days.
Also, SO L.A…what else once stood on this driveway/lot BEFORE, leaving that ugly scar all over the big building by the 1940’s? It’s barely patched up decades later (SO L.A.) The area is still hard at work though…as a filming location, naturally; and inspiration for imaging all sorts of noir-ish background stories.
MS
Major-
"I don’t remember ever hearing the Mission Pak jingle, I hope it had a nice 1950s chorus singing the lyrics".
HERE YOU GO. (The jingle begins about 5-seconds in). It was sung by the Mellomen - so it doesn't get any more 'mid-century' than that... AND then there's that Disney connection - did someone say Thurl Ravenscroft-?
I live about 4 blocks from the location in your first slide, and have driven and walked past it many times over the past 28 years I've been here, so it looked pretty familiar, even with the different signage.
Wild coincidence!
[And I miss Thriftimart.]
Nanook, Wow, that really IS a catchy tune! Good thing it only lasts a few seconds or I'd NEVER get it outa my head!
Ev-e-ry day's a special day at Thriftimart
Ev-e-ry day is special just for you
Whatever you put in your shopping cart
You'll save and save at Thriftimart
Ev-e-ry day's a special day
Yes ev-e-ry day's a special day
Ev-e-ry day's a special day at Thriftimart!
@ Hogarth-
I know that jingle well. I can't find it anywhere on-line, but it's certain to be buried in a 1960's aircheck from an AM radio station in LA.
As always, the Jr. Gorillas never disappoint. I love learning about old LA, especially first-hand from our group.
Thanks!
When I was a very wee one: this "T" only meant one thing: CIGARETTES! Yes....I truly thought the T was the only place to buy cigarettes. I am not sure why we packed up the car and drove to Lomita, CA to get cigarettes...I can only think there was probably some arterial motive: probably a jug of burgandy. We were not allowed to go into the store (generally) but when we were in tow...I finally figured out that there were other things besides cigarettes in the "T" store. I found the toy aisle: and there they were: "WISHNIKS"...as a Norseman I suppose trolls are in my DNA. I think at one point I saved enough pennies to buy one very small Wishnik. So: the visceral reaction to the "T" compelled me to contemplate memories from 50+ years ago: and I can still smell the nicotine and the freshness of the tobacco when the plastic was unfurled from the packaging. Thus my response today. I looked up the site of that old T store: which the bones still exist: amongst many other things in a crappy strip mall in a not so great part of town. In true LA fashion: just a few miles away is probably some of the most expensive properties in Southern California: gated no less, and every home site is zoned for horses. Thanks Major for the trip to 1968.
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