Nostalgia & History > Roundhouse Cafe:. Any takers as to location or history

A friend sent this Photo to me, which was forwarded to him by another friend.
Anybody want to take a shot at its location and time period?
I have no further information on the photo

Quite a construction project!

--Jim Baker

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The photo was taken in 1929 in Los Angeles County, California.

Heh, heh, that's pretty darn cute! === === = === JLH

olddude41 Wrote:
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> The photo was taken in 1929 in Los Angeles County,
> California.

Any closer ID than that? Maybe somewhere near Pasadena? Looks like a residential neighborhood with paved sidewalk but unpaved street.

Stock photo available from these folks:

http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/1035-890

No additional info on that site, unfortunately. See also:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozfan22/7091886223/

I understand the waitresses at that restaurant were very well trained and that the chef prepared the best tenderized meat around.

Posted from Android

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

They specialized in pit beef.

That's great! Sure beats some of the "themed restaurants" we have today.

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

fredkharrison Wrote:
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> I understand the waitresses at that restaurant
> were very well trained and that the chef prepared
> the best tenderized meat around.
>
> Posted from Android


That reminds me of an old song my dad used to sing called "Run for the roundhouse, Nellie! He can't corner ya there!"

Acrording to Flickr, located downtown Los Angeles at West 1st street and South Broadway. The LA Library did not have a menu in their files. Still looking.

West 1st and South Broadway in Los Angeles would be way too urbanized by 1929 to fit the area shown in the photo, At the very least, there would have been streetcar tracks. But there are other towns in LA County with streets named "Broadway"......

After much searching off and on today. I have found it! It was in the 1930 Los Angeles City Directory. They show a listing for Round House Cafe at 250 N. Virgil Ave.

Here is a street view of that location. Where the locomotive stuck out of the building, is where the pole for the KFC bucket is located.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=250+N+Virgil+Ave,+Los+Angeles,+CA&hl=en&ll=34.076186,-118.286812&spn=0.006087,0.011362&sll=34.076020,-118.286806&layer=c&cbp=13,149.4,,0,-3.11&cbll=34.076296,-118.286816&hnear=250+N+Virgil+Ave,+Los+Angeles,+California+90004&t=m&z=17&panoid=AfUcfDQcvwL1GfncEZVWZg


I love solving these kinds of mysteries!

BaltoJoey

PS: It is listed as Round House Cafe. (3 words)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/12 17:43 by BaltoJoey.

Interesting, it looks like the street numbering changed a little over the years.

Looking at historic arials, the building can be seen up until the 1980 images; it is gone in the 2003 shots that are next. Also, the building is a little to the left of the KFC, between Temple and Silver Lake streets. Google now lists that as 338 N Virgil.

If you look at the old image, you can see there is a street on each side of the cafe, so it is on a very short block on Virgil. The spot where the bank (or whatrver it is) seems to fit that placement.

lwilton Wrote:

> If you look at the old image, you can see there is
> a street on each side of the cafe, so it is on a
> very short block on Virgil. The spot where the
> bank (or whatrver it is) seems to fit that
> placement.

I think you're right:

http://goo.gl/maps/yHGTm

Here's the historicaerials.com photo from 1948 - the link probably won't drop you in exactly the right spot, but turn on the "All Roads" overlay and look for where Temple St. and Silver Lake Blvd. come together from the east at Virgil St., becoming Beverly Blvd. to the west.

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=4.22555746819947E-06&lat=34.0765807384076&lon=-118.286524481425&year=1948

BaltoJoey, where did you find the 1930 LA directory listing the cafe? I looked at the ones on the LA Public Library site for the 20's and early 30's and only came up with individual listings for fellows who were round house foremen.

http://rescarta.lapl.org/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebBrowse.jsp

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> lwilton Wrote:
>
> > If you look at the old image, you can see there
> is
> > a street on each side of the cafe, so it is on
> a
> > very short block on Virgil. The spot where the
> > bank (or whatrver it is) seems to fit that
> > placement.
>
> I think you're right:
>
> http://goo.gl/maps/yHGTm
>
> Here's the historicaerials.com photo from 1948 -
> the link probably won't drop you in exactly the
> right spot, but turn on the "All Roads" overlay
> and look for where Temple St. and Silver Lake
> Blvd. come together from the east at Virgil St.,
> becoming Beverly Blvd. to the west.
>
> http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=4
> .22555746819947E-06&lat=34.0765807384076&lon=-118.
> 286524481425&year=1948
>
> BaltoJoey, where did you find the 1930 LA
> directory listing the cafe? I looked at the ones
> on the LA Public Library site for the 20's and
> early 30's and only came up with individual
> listings for fellows who were round house
> foremen.
>
> http://rescarta.lapl.org/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebBro
> wse.jsp


Evan, I used the Vital Search web site to find it.

http://www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/ca/lan/landlink.htm

Like you, I couldn't find anything in the LA Library's directories.

BaltoJoey

PS: Their directories are a little tricky to use.