The History of the Short Stop Bar, 1455 Sunset Boulevard, Echo Park, Los...

WARNING:  THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CRIME SCENE PHOTOGRAPHY NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS

On the far eastern end of Sunset Boulevard, hidden from prying eyes by the ivy-covered cliffs made by the railroad in the 19th century, sits one of the most notorious bars in Los Angeles...

The Short Stop.

In honor of opening day at Dodger Stadium, let's lift a pint to this neighborhood mainstay, a building that's stood since 1925 and its strange and disturbing history.

Share it with anyone you've shared a drink with at the Short Stop!


Follow the Echo Park Historical Society on facebook at www.facebook.com/historicechopark


written & directed by Rory Mitchell  (valleyspringlane.tumblr.com, facebook.com/valleyspringlane)
music by Adrian Arnold  (soundcloud.com/ad-arnold)

Mack Sennett's Cyclorama

The next time you're stuck in traffic on Glendale Blvd, try picturing Mack Sennett's Cyclorama in its original location just behind OJ Plumbing on the southwest corner of Glendale Blvd and Effie.

Here's a short (13 seconds) video that tries to do just that:


 

Actors ran on treadmills as the matte painted background of the Cyclorama whirred behind them.

You can watch a child and a monkey escaping on a sailboat with the Cyclorama in action here:

http://youtu.be/IIeDCgvrVlA?t=1m33s

The two houses and the retaining wall at the top of the frame are still there on the east side of Glendale Blvd., silent witnesses to the Keystone Kops and the birth of film in Los Angeles.

2012 was the centennial celebration of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, but the coming years will bring the centennials of Chaplin's Tramp, Cleopatra, Triangle Films and Intolerance among others, providing ample opportunities to explore and celebrate the legacy of the silent films in Echo Park and Silver Lake.

Fatty Arbuckle: The bittersweet story of one of Hollywood's earliest funnymen

A century has passed since Keystone Studios opened its doors in the part of Echo Park once known as Edendale. But one of its enduring legacies is the movie career of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, one of the earliest kings of Hollywood comedy.

Fatty Arbuckle showed up at Keystone in 1913, causing comedienne Mabel Normand to remark that he was "the fattest thing" she'd ever seen. According to Betty Harper Fussell's "Mabel: Hollywood's First 'I Don't Care' Girl," Arbuckle was determined to show Keystone employees what he was capable of, plunging down stairs and then bouncing back up again to ask for a job. It didn't take long for other silent film performers, including actress Minta Durfee, to take note. Fussell wrote:

When Roscoe came to Keystone, he was twenty-six, 5' 10" tall and weighed 260 pounds. "Not soggy fat" Minta said, "but hard as nails." Like Mabel, Fatty was a skilled athlete -- a swimmer, acrobat and tumbler -- and as light on his feet as Zero Mostel. Dancing with Fatty, actress Louise Brooks remembered, was like dancing with a floating doughnut. With his blue eyes, blond hair and wide sunny grin, Fatty played the overgrown all-American boy that he was. For the first time, Mabel had a partner as young-looking and innocent as herself, and together they developed a style of kid comedy a decade before Laurel and Hardy or the real kids of Hal Roach's Our Gang.

Normand and Arbuckle became a potent comedy duo, performing together in 36 comedies together between 1913 and 1916 -- Fatty's Wine Party, Fatty and Mabel's Simple Life, Fatty and Mabel Adrift and Passions, He Had Three. One of those comedy features literally made movie history, according to Fussell: In 1913's A Noise From the Deep, Mabel Normand threw a pie into the face of Fatty Arbuckle, making movie history.

Edendale Film History: Keystone Studios turns 100

Charlie Chaplin filmed the opening scene for his first Mack Sennett movie, a 1914 production called “Making A Living,” according to the Silent Locations blog.

As you approach the 2 Freeway onramp, Glendale Boulevard is a pretty discouraging drive. North of Montana Street, it is a corridor marked by empty lots, little-used industrial buildings and brick storefronts that have seen better days. Yet 100 years ago, that same stretch of road was a hub of early Los Angeles movie-making. It was in 1912 that director Mack Sennett teamed up with two producers, Adam Kessel and Charles Bauman, to form the Keystone Film Company, a silent comedy factory that made stars of the heavy-set Fatty Arbuckle, diminutive spark plug Mabel Normand and a budding genius named Charlie Chaplin.

Signs of old Echo Park

Photo from The Eastsider

We love it when pieces of Echo Park's historic charm are restored, saved and appreciated. That applies to old signs, like the familiar giraffe sign on Temple Street. The Eastsider reported on how the new tenants of this brick building fixed up the old sign and had fun in the process, adding an "X-ray" of the giraffe's neck. Does anyone remember what business installed the giraffe? We would like to know. 

Echo Park Rising-Historic Downtown Tour

Explore the history of Echo Park, the Sunset Boulevard Business District and Washington Heights, Angelino Heights younger sibling during a  trio of walking tours that will be held in conjunction with the Echo Park Rising music festival on Saturday, Aug. 25.

 History, storytelling and urban archeology combine to transport 21st century Angelenos to the Los Angeles of the 19th and 20th century. Three tours will be held on Saturday, Aug. 25 at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Meet at the United Methodist Church at the corner of Alvarado and Reservoir streets. RSVP to ephs@HistoricEchoPark.org.

Donate now to the Save Elysian Park-Stop Barlow Hospital Project Fund

Members of the the Echo Park Historical Society are working with a coalition of neighborhood groups opposed to a proposal by Barlow Hospital to build more than 800 homes on its property, which would demolish many of its historic structures and create a mini city right next to Elysian Park. But we need your help and financial support to help defray the costs of experts - from attorneys to traffic engineers - that have been hired to challenge this develpment as it is reviewed by government agencies.

Please donate what ever you can to protect Echo Park's historic legacy and character. Just click on the Donate button below to contribute online through PayPay or with a credit or debit card. Visit SaveElysianPark.org for more details.