Martin Turnbull's blog and website

For those who love Hollywood history, a swan dive into Martin Turnbull's incredible collection of early Hollywood photos and ephemera could easily take up a few hours, or several days.
Turnbull is the author of the Garden of Allah novels that cover the famed Sunset Blvd.hotel from 1927 to 1959. Eight novels so far, with a ninth scheduled for publication this November. The first novel (right) starts in 1927 as fictional characters arrive at the Garden of Allah--characters that populate all the books.
Even if you're not looking for books to read, though, you might want to visit the website--just to look at the pictures.

Here's what you can find on Turnbull'ss website:

• Timelines of each decade. What songs were playing on the radio? What was the news out of the big Hollywood studios? What world events affected people?
• A photo blog of the area over the years, where I found the picture above of a Red Car on Hollywood Blvd in the 1950s. Or the one at left of Cathay Circle Theatre in 1931, all decked out for a movie premier. 
• A bibliography, listing all the books about Old Hollywood that you might want to read.
• An alphabetical list of Hollywood places -- restaurants, studios, hotels, theatres, and all sorts of hangouts, some with pictures or menus 

Seriously, there is everything here that you'd need to sink into a wild fantasy of life in Hollywood during its most exciting times. All you need is a glass of scotch and a sofa to stretch out on, and you're set. Go enjoy!

The Lassie House in Pomona

This historic, rebuilt and restored home will be dedicated in the afternoon of July 1, 2018, so you still have time to rework your schedule. The address is 1195 Washington Blvd in Pomona.

It IS a lovely house -- all that river rock and the craftsman touches. 7000 square feet, 8 bathrooms and 8 bedrooms (huge, huh?) and built in 1900.
It's owned by Ray Adamyk, who heads Spectra Company and owns the YMCA of Pomona, which he's also restoring. 
Why is this called the Lassie House? 

It's because of Timmy. If you remember the Lassie TV series, Timmy was played by Jon Provost from 1957 1950s to 1964. As the Facebook page spells out, this was Jon Provost's home once.
At the right is the house in 2008; clearly, lots of work has been done. In fact, older online MLS listings say it had five bathrooms and six bedrooms, and much less square footage. 
When Timmy joined the Lassie cast in 1957, the Provosts had to go to a neighbor's to watch it -- they didn't own a TV yet. (Although Lassie had debuted in 1954, different actors played Lassie's family. In 1954, the cast changed and Lassie became Timmy's dog.

According to Provost's own website, the checked shirt and bluejeans he always wore in the TV show (one set of them, anyway) is in the Smithsonian, next to Archie Bunker's chair.
Back in the 1950s,Provost's father was an aerospace engineer at the Convair Division of General Dynamics. The family moved into this home when Jon was four, and moved out to Beverly Hills when he was nine -- after only two years on the TV show. . (People Magazine says Jon and his Mom moved; Dad and siblings stayed in Pomona.)
By then Jon Provost was Timmy Martin to everyone in American ... Let's face it, he's still Timmy Martin to all of us. His role ended in 1964, but the Lassie show continued, with different stars and scenarios, until 1973, nearly 20 years. 

Rooms with 18.5 Million Dollar Views

This doesn't have much to do with history, but I'll put it in anyway. Maybe in a bit this place will become iconic. Maybe it is already, because from the outside, this home is as stunning as the Case Study home of 60+ years ago.

The home on the Sunset Strip (home doesn't seem the right word. Luxury living space?) is for sale at $18.5 million.
Usually I roll my eyes at such properties and move on. Bungalows built in the 1920s or classic homes designed by Paul Williams are more interesting and accessible, and have such personalities and tales attached, often with movie star tie-ins.
But the photo of this place on Blue Jay Way is arresting and stopped me in my internet-strolling tracks. You can see more pictures here.

The interiors? Mostly white in flat or shiny textures, ornamented with large sheets of glass.
Not my cup o' tea and I've spent a few pleasant moments imagining the place with stacks of books and unread mail, a broom in the corner, hand prints all over the glass surfaces, and shopping bags of things not put away yet. Yeah, This is the reason I don't live in a pristine palace. In fact, in all those pictures, the only article of furniture I could relate to was the popcorn maker in the movie room, which probably never gets used because that would result in, you know, mess.

Los Angeles' past and future ... and theatres

Two wonderful essays about Los Angeles that must be shared:

The first appeared in the March 3 Los Angeles Times. Under the guise of talking about the upcoming local election, Thomas Curwen gives us a summation of how Los Angeles has grown over decades and what that growth means to those who live here, and those who want to live here.

I love this line:

Chicago was lucky. San Francisco was lucky. One had a fire, the other an earthquake, each triggering a makeover, allowing each city to rethink its layout and identity.

Dang. We haven't been blessed enough to be destroyed and given the opportunity to rebuild.

Ed Ruscha remembers moving to LA in 1956 and having a neighbor tell him that around 1942, the place was paradise. Paradise!

Find an old man today, and you'll probably hear that in 1980 this place was paradise, says Ruscha. He's so right.

Curwen goes into the tunnel of the Hall of Administration to find records going back a century, showing how neighborhoods were laid out and prized properties designed back then. Los Angeles, where everyone had cars, could afford space for homes with yards, hundreds of them. Thousands of them.

But ... hundreds of thousands of them? Eventually, we hit a limit.

The second story is called "Inside LA STAGE History: Edwin Booth and Child's Grand Opera House," and takes us all the way back to Gold Rush Days and a teenaged Edwin Booth. Who becomes an adult Edwin Booth and saves Robert Lincoln, the son of the president that Booth's brother will assassinate a year later, from falling off a train platform.

Yes, this story is full of exactly the sort of digressions that I love.

But it's mostly about Los Angeles' opera house. This picture was taken shortly before the structure on Main Street was demolished in 1936.

For Your Weekend Reading: Millard Sheets, Ronald Reagan, Concrete & Ladies' Finery

The New York Times interviewed Professor Adam Arenson, who is writing THE BOOK on Millard Sheets and his artwork, especially the mosaics, stained glass, and murals connected with the Home Savings and Loan buildings. You can read the article that just appeared: The Artist Who Beautified California Banks.

The piece gives a brief overview of Sheets and his accomplishments, and of Arenson and his research. It's been a few years since I was able to meet both Professor Arenson and Tony Sheets (son of Millard, and himself an artist), and since Westways ran my article on the same topic. But I remain fascinated by his work. This picture is from a bank in Claremont, the city most closely associated with Sheets since Claremont is where his studio was. Today it's a US Bank, at the corner of Indian Hill and Foothill.

Another interesting story, this one from LACurbed, tells the history of the Reagan Ranch. Remember that? All the news media wanting to get pictures of the President on a horse, being, well, Western - but no one could call it the Western White House.

The adobe house where the Reagans lived was built in the 1880s, by a homesteader with the same last name as another governor of California: Pico, but there was apparently no real realation. The place was a true cattle ranch from the 1940s through the early 1970s. The Reagans redid the roof, the floors, and more - you can read all about it.

One very poignant line about why the ranch was put up for sale after the former president was beset by Alzheimers; "The wide open spaces that had once so inspired Reagan now frightened him."

If you've been hearing about the new concrete being poured in Hancock Park, you no doubt know by now that it lasts much longer than asphalt. You can learn more about the advantages of concrete in detail here, where civil engineer answer a few questions. I have seen concrete street like Hancock Park's (and concrete alleyways) in several old neighborhoods in the South Bay--and never realized why those streets looked so different from others. Clearly, I'm not a civil engineer.

And if you've missed the news stories and are wondering why neighborhood street repair is a major news story, here's the CBS take.

And if you could care less about streets but go "Ahhh" over historical clothes (like me), I have two treats for you (though they are not Los Angeles related):

• Godey's Lady's Book, probably the first women's magazine in the USA and a very important resource for ladies throughout the 19th century, is actually online, with all its beautiful color fashion plates - meaning the metal etched plates as opposed to just calling the ladies "fashion plates." You can access the archive here.



• A ship that sank in 1642 was actually a "baggage ship" for ladies in waiting of the queen consort of King Charles 1 of England. It carried parts of their wardrobe. When the shipwreck was discovered by divers in the North Sea recently, many of the exquisite clothes had survived and are now on display in a Dutch museum. Read more at the National Geographic site.

Mosaic in a Paul Williams Home

So I'm looking through a photo essay and story about a beautiful private home in La Canada Flintridge (the article is in Los Angeles Magazine), scrolling through the pictures, and Whan! A mosaic!

The home, backed by an acre of gardens,  is just as astounding. Paul Willimas designed it in 1927.

I am shy of putting up any other pictures from the magazine's online spread, so I urge you to go there and read about the place.

The address pops up several places: 5200 Alta Canyada Road.

You can learn more about Paul Williams, the brilliant architect who happened to be African American at the Paul Williams Project.  There, I learned he designed thousands of homes and buildings, including the homes of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Bert Lehr, Luise Rainer, Zasu Pitts, Johnny Weissmuller, Lon Chaney Sr., and Frank Sinatra. Unfortunately, I don't see this house listed there.

LACurbed, reporting on another Paul Williams home being sold last year, says this:

A very young Paul Williams got to be friendly with the future senator and real estate developer Frank Putman Flint from selling him newspapers on the corner of First and Spring downtown. Per the PRWP site: "After he became a licensed architect in 1921, Williams designed scores of the homes either directly commissioned by Flint or as a result of Flint's referrals. Eventually the Flintridge area would have one of the largest concentrations of Williams' designed residences in Southern California.At least ten of his designs were either model homes or spec projects commissioned by Flint."

I think I spot the house on this Flickr site belonging to Michael Locke, called the Degnan House. Great pictures of the outside, but you'll have to follow the link to see them.

This closeup of the mosaic at the "Guerra Estate" (those are the current owners) ornamented an article by Diane Keaton in C-Home.

In an NPR story I learned that Paul Williams was a good friend of Danny Thomas, and designed St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis without charge, as long as Thomas agreed to keep his involvement a secret.

And in this LA Times story I learn that the house, built for one James Degnan, was the site of a 2002 "Gatsby Picnic"

However, I haven't seen anything indicating who created the mosaic. I don't think Williams dabbled in that art form; he either commissioned it or bought a mosaic somewhere and had it installed.

The Times apparently reported on the restoration of the house, and a letter from a  gentleman who has the original drawings of the home refers to the mosaic--but no artist.

So we have a minor mystery, and some lovely pictures.

Eucalyptus Trees and WIlliam Wolfskill (and a couple other guys)

A while back . . . a serious while back, 2008 to be exact, I wrote a post on Jacaranda trees in Southern California. And just two months ago, watching the link I shared of a talk on the Olympics in Los Angeles, I learned that many (25,000, to be specific) of our palm trees were planted in the months leading up to the 1932 Olympics.

So I was truly interested in this new KCET SoCal Focus story: "Who Eucalyptized Southern California?" by Nathan Masters. (Lord, what a cute title. Not in a dozen years could I have come up with that!)

(OK, maybe in a dozen days of hard thinking.)

Eucalyptus trees were not here before 1865. They are native to Tasmania and a corner of Australia, not California.

One name is going to crop up in this story, the name of a man who had nothing to do with eucalyptus trees: Hugo Reid.

Scotsman Hugo Reid came to California in the first half of the 19th century, did well, and was awarded a land grant by the Mexican government: Rancho Santa Anita. He made his home there, in an adobe building. He is mainly known to historians for the articles he wrote describing Tongva culture, because Reid's wife, Victoria Bartolomea Comicrabit, happened to be Tongva. Those articles appeared in the Los Angeles Star in the early 1850s, and they are treasured and poured over by academics today.

So. Reid died and his property passed into other hands. And the drawing of Reid looking very gaucho-ish is from Wikipedia, and was apparently done in the 1880s to accompany a biography.

According to the KCET SoCal Focus piece, the landscape of our area back then was desolate. ". . . although conifers grew in the mountains, the lowlands of Southern California were mostly treeless plains, broken by isolated copses of live oak and sycamore." 

William Wolfskill was just the man to change that panorama. He came to California as a trapper, and started out buying 100 acres in Los Angeles, between 3rd and 9th Streets, and San Pedro and Alameda, where he planted grapes and citrus trees. He became the biggest citrus grower in the US and owned 3/4 of California's citrus trees before he died. His land and grapevines were producing 50,000 gallons of wine per year.

This is the man who first brought our blue gum eucalyptus trees to Southern California. He knew plants and trees, and he knew our climate.

The library's brief online biography of Wolfskill tells me that in 1865 "he purchased Rancho Santa Anita, where he planted eucalyptus seeds that he had imported from Australia. The eucalyptus trees, which still stand today, were the first of their kind in California."

I don't know if they really still stand today; I've come across dissenting views.

KCET reprinted a 1920 photo of those trees around the Hugo Reid Adobe. You'll have to go to the KCET site to see it. Wolfskill imported and planted the seeds in 1865, so by 1920 they were tall and lovely.

The KCET story traces eucalyptus tree popularity from there, By 1876, there was 200-acre groves in Santa Barbara and in Downey, and tens of thousands of trees planted in Highland Park. Abbott Kinney came along in the 1880s to take it from there, planting and promoting the tree everywhere--including the Westside, Lots of old pictures adorn that story--I encourage you to visit.

Back to Arcadia and the Rancho Santa Anita, where Wolfskill planted his seeds. The Hugo Reid Adobe is not the structure that you see at the Arboretun today. The original adobe, built in 1839, was gone even by the time that William Wolfskill took ownership in 1865. Which was fine, since he never meant to live there. The building there today is not even in the same location, according to this story in Arcadia Weekly. 

Wolfskill died only a year after planting the eucalyptus seeds, so he was one of many owners who didn't last long. He never saw his trees grow tall. The Hugo Reid Adobe was rebuilt a decade or so later by a later owner of the property, Lucky Baldwin,

So it is the rebuilt adobe we see in the photo above, and the lady in the picture is Ethel Schultheis. Her husband, Herman, took the photo. More on him in a moment.

Lucky Baldwin also built the Queen Anne Cottage on the grounds in the 1880s, which still stands and is quite famous. The entire place, the original Rancho Santa Anita, has been parceled off and whittled down, starting in Lucky Baldwin's day. Now, what is left is the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens.

And that gives me a chance to show this photo, also taken by the same Herman J. Schultheis.

Schultheis was a brilliant and creative man who worked for Walt Disney on such classics as Snow White, Fantasia, and Pinocchio, and he was also a photographer, traveling the world, You can read a bit about him on this post, but you'll have to scroll down to the last third of the article.

So, we have eucalyptus trees all over SoCal, but the first were out in Arcadia,

This last picture is the Wolfskill Adobe--the place Wolfskill called home. Remember that his original land purchase was that 100 acres in Los Angeles, between 3rd and 9th Streets, and San Pedro and Alameda.

His adobe--this place--was at 239 Alameda, and the library says that 239 Alameda was actually between 3rd and 4th today. Of course it's gone now. And if Wolfskill ever planted his eucalyptus seeds there, they are gone as well.

I don't know why, in 1865, Wolfskill decided to sow those seeds out in Arcadia rather than Los Angeles, but imagine if he hadn't. Our landscapes might look very different.

Downtown Building Projects and the Hall of Justice

I was going to blog aboaut a mosaic on Monday but my fingertips melted and got stuck to the keys. I managed to knock over a glass of ice to cool and unstick them, but then the ice and water got into the keyboard and you know how that goes.

Making up a more credible story, or making up anything at all, takes too much effort when it's this hot.

However--I did find a splendid list from LA Downtown  News that updates every downtown project you could think of, and then some. Did you know, for example, that the Hall of Justice, so often pictured in Perry Mason, is about to be reopened, twenty years after red-tagging due to the Northridge earthquake? The ribbon-cutting is in three weeks.

Updates on no less than 93 other projects--from Amp Lofts to the Wilshire Grand replacement--are included in the LA Downtown News list.

Did you know further that the Hall of Justice was made of the same stone, from the same quarry, as our City Hall? It is and the stone is Sierra Granite. That tidbit is from D. J. Waldie, who writes at KCET's website that the "inspiration for the hall's tall base and upper stories of columned walls seems to have been the tomb of King Mausoleus at Halicarnassus."

That tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World--it's the one I never remember. Helicarnassus stood in what is now Turkey, but the tomb was destroyed at least 800 years ago. It's middle third (in terms of height) had 36 columns with statues between them--reportedly--and that's the part that may have inspired the design of our Hall of Justice.

No one really knows what it looked like because it's in ruins now. That's one model at left, but there are many more elaborate portrayals.

To me, the building evokes the 1950s, which is silly since it went up in 1926. Blame Raymond Burr.

The KCET article is a fun read, with pictures and a brief history of the building and its famous, though transitory, residents--like Charles Manson, whose holding cell may be a historical attraction when the Hall reopens. Ghosts are mentioned, as are a local whorehouse, and mice that got high from marijuana held in the evidence room of the Sheriff's offices. If that doesn't pique your curiosity nothing will.

County offices--including the Sheriff and the District Attorney will be moving back into the Hall of Justice around the end of the year.

I'm signing off with my name. I've just learned that when this blog goes out to subscribers, the entire post appears in an email. That's great, but since the email does not include the side column showing me or my book (The Boomer Book of Christmas Memories) or picture, or any of the other features there, I was advised that I should at least sign my name so that people associate the post with me. So until next Monday--Adieu from Vickey Kall.

Mosaic House in Venice

This one's no secret--it's got its own website and Facebook page, both of which proclaim the address and keep folks updated on public tour dates. The photo at right came from the website, and there are many more there--but I'm particularly fond of wisteria so we'll start with that.

The mosaic house sits on Palms Blvd, between Lincoln and Penmar. It's owned by Cheri Pann and Gonzalo Duran, both busy and successful artist. Lately, their work has been focused in Los Angeles, and a big part of that work is on exhibit in their home.

As you can see from the picture below left, from the AvoidingRegret blog, there's a great deal of pique-assiette in this home--as there was in the last two Mosaic Monday posts, which focused on works by Jolina Beserra.

But it's not all one style, and the artists, while whimsical, also consider the home a work of art first, and a novelty second. Since 1994, Cheri has created the tiles, and Gonsalo shatters and scatters, according to one post--but I'm sure it's more collaborative and less simplified than that.

Cheri Pann told blogger Sandi of AvoidingRegret that she considers her home different from, say, Simon Rodia's Watts Towers. "For them [Rodia et al] it's an obsession," she said. "In art, there's planning. We strategize everything."

There are many photo essays on the Venice Mosaic House, but my favorite is at AvoidingRegret, and I suggest you scroll through for the big photos and the small details. I think I like it best because the post starts out by admitting that photos cannot do the house justice.

The rest of the photos here come from AtlasObscura, from a blog written by Robert, whose signature seems to be RJHEMEDES. Hope I got that right. There are many more pictures in his article, so please go see it.

First is the kitchen, and I must honestly state that I can't tell what is real above the sink and what is mortared onto the shelf and wall. The bananas are real right? And most of the coffee cups and bowls. . . maybe.

Second is the bath. Third is the front porch. Such mundane words for such wondrous sites.

More pictures of the kitchen from other angles are on the other websites  mentioned, including this page from Cheri Pann's website.

Charles Phoenix' Mosaic

Today's mosaic is from a Facebook post by Charles Phoenix:

He bought this in the early 80s for $60 in Ontario, CA--close enough to Los Angeles!

If you are at all interested in mid-century kitsch and food, Boomer trivia, Googie buildings, Tiki restaurants, or anything along that line, you probably know about Charles Phoenix (and if not, pay attention!) His slide shows and talks are the stuff of legend. And he has written books, filled with pictures and funky facts.

So now you have his website and can check him out, or follow him on Facebook where he posts pictures daily that will delight and surprise you.

Afraid I don't know any more about this mosaic other than the fact it was bought and is now in Chez Phoenix.

Villas at Gower Mosaics

Today's mosaics were built by Piece-by-Piece, an organization founded to give the homeless and inner-city poor some supplemental income. It quickly became much more. Professional artists and art teachers come in and lead workshops, training folks young and old in mosaic arts, and many of those students are now selling their own creations.

The art focuses on recyclable projects, and there are plans to expand classes to include other art forms, not just mosaics.

The site of today's mosaic is the Villas at Gower--an apartment building conceived and raised as transitional housing for at-risk youth and families--the kind of place you'd expect to be seriously ugly. But of course it's not.

So when the chance came to create mosaic art to adorn the Villas at Gower in Hollywood, an element of synchroncity was in play. Here was an opportunity for the freshly-trained artists, some of them recently homeless themselves, to work on a big project that benefited at-risk youth and adults--some of whom were also recently homeless.

The picture below left (down a bit) shows the artwork--vines with leaves, bolted to the building. The leaves are actually mosaics of flowers--the photo left shows them being assembled at Piece by Piece.

Most of these pictures came from the Piece by Piece blog and website.

Instructors / artists Luz Mack Durini and Dawn Mendelson laid out the design and others contributed to fine-tune it. It took a year of paperwork before fabrication of the mosaics could even begin, but once the work started the team of mosaicists came in twice a week to assemble the pieces.

The 3-D leaves started with high-density foam shapes, reinforced by a skeleton and covered with layers of concrete and fiberglass mesh.Sculptor Sherri Warner Hunter designed all that, and helped students work with the shapes, and artist Matt Doolin of Topanga Art Tile came in to demonstrate how to make delicate-looking flower petals from clay.

In the end, over 15,000 bits of ceramic were hand cut and used. Piece by Piece then worked with the builders and specialists who bolted the vines and leaves into place.

The building itself as well as the art project was originally funded by the California Hollywood Redevelopment Agency, but that went bye-bye. PATH Ventures and A Community of Friends stepped in as the developers. PATH Ventures is now the lead service provider for the buildings' occupants, which means they are not only the managers but also coordinate outreach, volunteers, medical & dental services, employment and training--the works.

The Villas at Gower opened in 2012 and offers over 70 apartments, from studios to suites, to families and individuals who are either homeless or have special needs, and whose income falls far, far below the median income of the area. The building features lots of areas designed to foster community--brightly lit community rooms, and enclosed patios where the mosaics are visible.

The LEED-platinum certified building was built by KFA (Killefer Flammang Architects) a firm specializing in public buildings, and the picture  below came from their website. The cost of this project was $20 million.

By an odd coincidence, they also built apartments in Los Angeles with the name of "Mosaic," but those do not have mosaics on them.

Santa Monica Mosaic House

Been meaning to blog about this private home at 26th and California in Santa Monica--but I'm rather a Johnny-come-lately (do people still use that phrase?)

I'm the latest in a long list of bloggers who've taken note. The house was mentioned in Mosaic Art Now, on the LA Is My Beat blog (from whence this first picture came), ExperiencingLA Blog (which posted pictures of the apple tree, below left), 365LosAngeles, and more--as well as  a YouTube video (actually, several).

And the TV show Home and Garden has featured the house.

The house belongs to Louise and Aziz Farnam, who moved in when they immigrated from Iran in 1979. They raised six children here--but the house sat quietly, unnoticed and downright nondescript until 2002.

That's when Louise started creating the mosaics, after participating in a craft class at her son's school. Aziz jumped on the ceramic bandwagon very quickly so tiling the house with tiles they cut and placed themselves has been a joint effort.

Aziz estimates that 15 million pieces of tiles were used, starting with the apple tree, left. That apple tree--with not just red tile, but shaped, round, red tile apples--was the first picture they created, and more trees, fish, landscapes, abstracts, and religious figures followed.

And they kept going. Is there a 12-step program for mosaicists? Louise and Aziz have covered their house, garage, retaining walls, chimney, alcoves, patio, and pathways. They've added fountains and statues.

There are also mosaic portraits of Shamu the whale, a unicorn, an angel, exotic parrots (the family owns some live ones, but the mosaic images are larger than life). And that's just the outside.

Inside, according to the Travels with Two blog (which has a feature called "Weird Houses of LA") (I'm sure they mean that in the nicest way), there is a mirrored mosaic fireplace, mosaic pillars, and the furnishings are covered with chips and tiles and grout--the writing tables, coffee tables, lamps, benches, vases, trays, mirror frames, and picture frames.

Travels with Two also links to the Flickr stream, with even more pictures.

The back of the house, facing an alley, is a tribute to Hollywood, as well as mountains, rivers, and deco-ish doorway in greys, golds, and sand. Not a real doorway, though, just the image of one.

At this point, Ma and Pa Farnum have run out of wall space to play with (the kids have apparently battened down the hatches to their rooms) so the Farnams started a business, Custom Mosaic Art.  This unicorn picture came from that website.

State of the Art Recording--1940

Courtesy of Shorpy.com, here is a 1940 photo of Artie Shaw and Lana Turner in their Beverly Hills home. The caption reads: "Lana Turner and Artie Shaw with audio recording system in their Beverly Hills Home." Possibly rehearsing a movie script. Photo by Earl Theisen for the Look magazine article "Lana Turner and Artie Shaw at Home."

Shorpy has been running a lot of Look photos lately, and I think it's because the Library of Congress has received or at least revealed a huge cache of them on its website. Lots of shots from the 40s and 50s of celebs at home and on the set.

My mom had a suit very much like this; I've got a picture of her in it when she visited my dad at a Colorado Army base in 1942.

Boiler in a Craftsman Home

Just a quickie:

When a new owner took over a beautiful Victoria Park (West Adams) Craftsman less than ten years ago, there were five ancient boilers in the basement.

The new owner replaced them with this (obviously) strapped water heater, but I find myself wondering--as most Los Angeles area homeowners would, because we knew the changes we've had to make as earthquake safety regulations are passed--five ancient boilers standing on their wrought iron legs on the cement floor?

Were they original? (the house was built in 1911)

Were they ever strapped and secured? Did anyone ever check?

Since the house was bought and sold several times over the years, and since it was only given historical landmark status very recently, this puzzles me. But in a good way, because obviously nothing bad happened due to the boilers, and they do present an interesting piece of history.

I'll write more on this house later, when I've had a chance to look up more facts about the original owner.

Hollywood History on Eye on LA (ABC)

Caught an Eye On LA show this Sunday afternoon--a repeat of a January 19, 2013 show--all focused on Hollywood History, with commentary from Marc Wanamaker and others. It was so interesting I want to provide these links to the show, so you can see it yourself.

(Actually, all of these segments have the same URL--you just have to click on the video you want to see.)

But who knows if they'll broadcast it again? And since it's a local show, if you live near, say Detroit, how would you see it at all?

The ABC website breaks the show up into these segments:

• Hollywood's basic history and the arrival of the movie studios is summarized in "Studios Arrive, Set up Shop in Hollywood" with tons of pictures. De Longpre, Wilcox, D. W. Griffith, Universal, Paramount, Raleigh Studios, United Artists all get mentioned. Also--Walt Disney explains his 7 Dwarfs and their names, and the early Oscars appear.

"Old Hollywood Hot Spots Still Thriving" is my favorite 7-minute segment. It starts with the Hollywood and Highland Center and its link to D.W. Griffith's sets, then goes to Ye Olde Max Factor Building, now the Hollywood Museum. That place has the Hannibal Lector jail cell set from Silence of the Lambs (who would've guessed that?), plus a room dedicated to Lucille Ball. A new exhibit dedicated to Loretta Young started January 2013 is pictured at right. The segment finishes up with visits to Musso & Franks and the Formosa Cafe.

• More on the first Oscars at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (which begins and ends the segment), Whitley Heights, Harold Lloyd's estate, Greyhall and Greystone, and the Beverly Hills Hotel (below left, circa 1945) are in the segment, "Classic Hollywood Estates Maintain Their Beauty." The Beverly Hills Hotel just celebrated its 100th birthday six or seven months ago and produced a great 5-minute video summarizing the history of Beverly Hills and the hotel here. Guess who did the commentary? Stars like Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty, Jimmy Fallon, and more.

• Finally, the Hollywood Forever Cemetary dominates the last segment. "Stars Live On at Hollywood Forever Cemetary." Although it starts at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

The photos of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in the 1930s and the Beverly Hills Hotel Pool circa 1945 are from the Los Angeles Public Library Collections, btw. The The Loretta Young exhibit photo is from the Hollywood Museum website.

Tour University Park in West Adams Area June 9th

‘PATHWAYS TO YESTERYEAR: STROLLING THE STREET OF DREAMS’ is the title of the June 9th walking tour of the University Park neighborhood of West Adams. That's just over a week away, on a Saturday.

What will you see?

A portal to the past. Mansions like the one at right, which is the Dockweiler-Stearns residence. This is the last true mansion in University Park, completed over 110 years ago. Only two families have owned the place since and they haven't changed much.

There's even a DS monogram on the chimney that you can see in this Flicker photo.

Flicker says there was a murder-suicide at the mansion in 1924--hopefully, that story will be part of the tour.

A centerpiece of the self-guided walking route is Chester Place, our city's oldest gated community. Today it's Mount St. Mary's College, but in 1899 it opened as an enclave for the city's elite.

Another highlight is the Queen Anne cottage at right: the John B. Kane residence of the 1890s, designed by architect Fred Dorn. It still has stables in back!

Here's how the West Adams Heritage Organization describes the tour:

A century ago, Adams Boulevard was Los Angeles’s Street of Dreams – the main artery of a “Bon Ton District” that included Chester Place, St. James Park and the Belgravia Tract, home to some of the City’s finest residences. 

There will be a sign-in tent at St. James Park, your starting point.

The tour runs from 10 am to 4 pm, but the last $30 ticket will be sold at 1pm. If you order in advance (before June 6th) tickets are $25.

Additional information: 323-732-4223 or tours@WestAdamsHeritage.org or www.WestAdamsHeritage.org.

February 17, 1962...wazzup?

Huzzah! My internet has remained connected for nearly three days! No funky screens with diagrams of broken components, no flashing red light on the modem. No wondering if I should post Mosaic Monday on Wednesday or just wait till next week. I'm going to celebrate by finding out what was being reported by the Los Angeles Times 50 years ago.

Former presidential candidate Richard Nixon refused to endorse a couple of Republican congressional candidates who were members of the John Birch Society. Remember them? I see on Wikipedia that they consider themselves anti-totalitarian and strict original constitutionalists (meaning what? that they believe in counting slaves as 3/5 of a person? or that only white men can vote?)  Hmmm...Wikipedia says Fred Koch was a founding member. Where have I heard that name before? Anyway, the John Birchers were very much against the Civil Rights Movement, believing it was riddled with Communists.

Since Nixon was mulling a run for governor--and shaking hands and kissing babies as he toured gold country up north--that was news. He made that run and lost--this picture is from October. (what is that stuffed animal doing on the ladder?)

We were getting ready to shoot John Glenn into space--that anniversary will be on Feb 20--fist man to orbit earth!

Conductor Bruno Walter died in Beverly Hills on Feb. 17, 1962--at his home, and the address was thoughtfully given on the front page of the paper. TV actor Joseph Kearns--Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace--died also, after spending a week in a coma following a cerebral hemorrhage.

Our population was up by 58,870 in one year. The city of Los Angeles boasted 2, 572,616 people, and the county: 6,332,538.

The photo on the left is not from the Times, but from the Hollywood Citizen News/Valley Times collection of the Los Angeles Library. I include it because it's dated February 15, 1962. It shows the Lenack family of Reseda stocking their backyard fallout shelter.  Seriously. "Their underground shelter houses a TV set, phone, canned goods, lanterns, and furniture," according to the library notes. And pillows.

Kronish House Saved!

Happy Endings are so very in right now.

About 3 weeks ago I blogged about the 1955 Kronish House in Beverly Hills--a Richard Neutra-designed residence that Dion Neutra was trying desperately to save.

The house, sold ten months ago in a foreclosure auction, was to razed. A date of October 11 was said to be demolition day.  But apparently a new owner has closed escrow on the property.  The LA Conservancy is announcing that the house will be restored, not destroyed.

Yay! If you follow the LA Conservancy link in the previous paragraph and scroll down, you'll find more photos, the address on Sunset, and a description of the house.

Neutra's Kronish House Endangered

Dion Neutra is desperately trying to save this house from the wrecking ball. And in this case, the wrecking ball is slated to swing in late September!

The Kronish House was designed by Richard Neutra and sits in Beverly Hills. Unless funds can be raised to buy it from its current owner, plans are in place to raize the house.

What to do? Donate if you can. Dion Neutra feels that this location would make a wonderful Neutra Library...I tend to agree, just based on this picture. Donate here.

Or sign the petition, here. My impression is that the petition will be presented to the Beverly Hills City Council and other bodies that might be able to save the house.

Pantages Home, Lafayette Park

This is the Lafayette Park mansion that theater owner Alexander Pantages built for himself in the early part of the 20th century. It sits on the corner of Buckingham Road and Washington Blvd. Not sure when it was built--my channel to Proquest is down right now. Boo!

And below is the biggest ficus tree ever--I think it's a ficus. Just beyond it is Washington. Was it there since Pantages' day? Maybe he planted it himself? Quien sabe?

Pantages was living here in 1920 according to census records; by 1930 the owner of record was Edward Cline--which makes sense, because by 1930, Pantages had been ruined--some say by the machinations of Joseph Kennedy.

Kennedy's motivation?

Well, if he was the man who destroyed Pantages' health and reputation, as well as forcing him to liquidate his homes and theaters to defend himself against rape charges, Kennedy benefitted because he bought many of Pantages' theaters for pennies on the dollar.

Here's 7 things you may not have known about Alexander Pantages:

• His given name was Pericles. He starated calling himself Alexander after hearing about A the Great.

• He's buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale, according to Find-a-Grave.

• He went to the Klondike in search of gold in the late 1890s and ended up becoming a theatrical producer while working in Dawson, first producing shows in restaurants and then in a real theater.

• Pantages moved to Seattle in 1902 and began building vaudeville theaters up and down the Pacific coast. At one time, he owned 30 outright and controlled another 42 theaters. For over 20 years, he WAS vaudeville--at least out west.

• By the time OUR Pantages Theater was finished in 1930, the man and his fortune had been drained and destroyed by sensational rape charges. Pantages was found guilty in 1929, got a retrial, and was found innocent in 1931.

• The stock market collapse finished him off. Our Pantaages Theater was originally planned as a twelve-story building, but construction had barely started when Wall Street Laid an Egg (as Variety put it.)

• Some Pantages Theaters were sold off in late 1929; ours was sold to Fox West Coast Theaters in 1932.