Are those the same gas-o-meters as seen in the photo below, which is a screencap of the opening of the I LOVE LUCY episode titled "L.A. AT LAST?"



As many times on NLA as I've seen photos of these all over Los Angeles, I did not know the
following information, unless I forgot or overlooked it on here, but I read this a few days ago:

The tanks are collapsible to the limit of the supporting frame, so as to maintain a constant pressure.

That means these things could be of varying height in any given photograph.

It never occurred to me!

Great Alco ABBA unit, probably bound for Union Station to head up the east-bound Super Chief.

You're correct GW. Sometimes I get my spelling wrong. Thanks for posting that interior shot.
Douglas

posted by Martin_Pal


I thought perhaps the reflection in the window on the right, might offer a clue (by showing us the building across the street).



So I enlarged M_P's photo. pan right---->to see the reflection of the building across the street.

detail

That's when I noticed the building down the street and how closely it resembles the 'Blue Palm' building.
Notice that the second story window in the Drug store building (above) is nearly identical to the 2nd story windows in my initial photograph (below).
And both have a large blade sign at the corner of the building.


eBay


_________


Added bonus:

By sheer coincidence, I recently found this photograph of the Music Box's tiny parking lot, showing an interesting building in the back.



found in an old file of mine

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Once, when reading up on the Bradbury Mansion, I found its style called "California Renaissance" (or maybe it was "American Renaissance"), something about an attempt to celebrate the flora of the state (I cannot find the reference now). There are certain similarities between the mansion and the school, particularly the tower. Maybe that's what they were trying for.


pinterest

I could not find the address of the school or even another photo of it, which seems odd, given how active the historical society is out that way.

Read, but now cannot find, that Pio Pico, near the end of his life, lived in rented rooms at the Sentous Building. And that during this time, perhaps contemporaneous with him being there, the lower floor on the Main Street side was used as a rendering plant. Anybody else ever see that? Can't find the source now to save my life. The author made the rather obvious observation how unpleasant it must have been to live over a rendering plant. Reportedly Pico died at Whittier but this source seemed to dispute that. Anybody? Mr. Bueller? Anybody?

That, and their sheer size, is what makes them so fascinating.


http://americanfilmnoir.com/page21.html

You may be referring to my post here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=13733

One of the USC photo descriptions quotes Christine Sterling as saying, "For awhile, Governor Pio Pico spent his declining years in an apartment there (the Sentous Block)." Only the '06 Sanborn shows a rendering kettle in the building, so we can't be sure if it was there during Pico's time.

That must be it. Although in my imperfect memory of it, it's in a book. I wonder what the source of Ms. Sterling's comments might be. Nice post, by the way. typical.

1939 - 2100 Main Street, Alhambra.

Quaint Pacific Electric pueblo-style office/station. Per source, it was operational from 1902 though 1941 and later demolished.
Wonder about the phone booth design and age. Pyramid-style roof?

http://jpg1.lapl.org/00102/00102597.jpg


1940 - 10891 Garden Grove Boulevard.


Garden Grove Pacific Electric Railway Co / Southern Pacific RR Co. Station. Demolished in '66. Another contemporary phone booth with pyramid style roof.

Garden Grove Station.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00102/00102615.jpg



Another pyramid roofed phone booth.

1940 - Parkhouse Brothers service station at Slauson Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue, Huntington Park.

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/94347/rec/2

Suspected car thief, January 1960.



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Can any of you eagle-eyed sleuths read the street name on the corner lamp post? I'd like to see if the building with the three 'garage-like' doors is still there.
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I never expected to find another vintage photograph, let alone two, of this exact same corner.


http://www.metro.net/about/library/a...ation-studies/



12 years later, after the widening of the street.

http://www.metro.net/about/library/a...ation-studies/





I've been trying to figure out the name of the motel down the street.



Unless I'm mistaken, I believe it also says 'motel' at the top of the 'belfry-like' tower. -interesting.

El Adobe Motel, maybe?

These photos are interesting to me, being that that corner is now a vacant lot. I've always wondered what was there before, I assumed it wasn't always vacant. I thought maybe it was a gas station or something.

It is the El Adobe Motel, a Monterey Park "landmark" the old timers know well. The corner building was a eatery while the upstairs eventually housed a dance studio. The motel complex consisted of a series of bungalows. The actual entrance is on the opposite side of what can be seen here, but there was a concrete stairway from the Garvey side that went up the slight rise that can be seen in the pics. The motel came down I believe in the 70's and the lot is vacant at the moment. There are plans to build a new hotel on the lot. There is also a local legend about a group of WWII soldiers who went up the stairs towards their rooms but never arrived at the top of the hill...there are remnants of the stairs still present, as well as bits of debris when the motel was razed.

It's the El Adobe Motel, a Monterey Park "landmark" that was razed in the late 70's. What's also interesting in the first, initial photo you posted, ER, is the barn-like structure in the upper left of the photo. Local rumour is that "The Red Barn" was once owned by singer Tennesee Ernie Ford. It's still there, but obscured by present day trees and some condos built along that ridge.

Historic Aerial - 1964.

Makes for a stunning 'Then & Now':


gsv

It appears that Dave's Townhouse has served their last sandwich.

Oh, but that nondescript building on the right has a Shinsengumi restaurant, which is pretty good. After work a few times, my co-worker friends and I went there and had some pitchers of Sapporo and yakitori. Good eating, and fun times. And eastward on Garvey, on North Rural Drive, is a great Burmese restaurant. Gone are some of the landmarks of yesteryear in Monterey Park, but in the here and now is some pretty good Asian food.

A lot of the credit for this post goes to Martin Pal.

I got a PM yesterday from Martin Pal with a link to a post about 8'2" Max Palmer (I'm taking his height from a dubious Wikipedia page). The post has a small picture of Max in the doorway of the Blue Palm Cafe. After copying the image and enlarging it, the border reminded me of some of USCDL's images, so on a hunch I did a search. The photoset I found contains seven images, with the doorway picture in the middle. The number 6124 is clearly visible over the door. The images are dated at 1952.


USC Digital Library

The other six images in the set are all similar to each other, and show Max Palmer on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk outside the Blue Palm Cafe. Anyone for shrimp?


USC Digital Library