Union Station at night, downtown Los Angeles, 1956
It’s atmospheric photos like these that makes it easy for us to see how the whole film noir thing came into being. This is Los Angeles’ main railway terminus, Union Station, one foreboding night in 1956. I’m almost surprised we can’t see William Bendix staggering along that wall in front, one hand clutching the bloody stain seeping from his chest, in his other hand an envelope containing the damning evidence that could bring down the entire Vice Squad . . .
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Martin, love these LA film noir nighttime pics!
How I wish we could still see this (circa 1929) !
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8564/la0627hollyland.jpg
Jean
The trailer vans carry Southern Pacific emblems and are probably part of the Pacific Motor Transport fleet. The other bus like thing on the left is odd, but they did start using “Highway Post Office” mail sorting as the Railway Post Office services were being discontinued along with passenger trains. The lines from open end exposure seem to track its’ progress up and around via the surface ramp. I just don’t see Alan Ladd riding from San Francisco on a pile of mail bags holding Veronica Lake hostage…”Don’t move or I’ll cancel your envelope!” No wonder the post office had a special stamp known as a “killer”.