I’m a fan of mimetic architecture – buildings intentionally made to look like something, often in the shape of what it sells, like an ice cream store in the shame of a waffle cone. Yes, they’re kitsch, and but they’re fun and memorable. This one was called the Bulldog Café, and opened at 1153 West Washington Blvd in 1928 and lasted until 1955 or 1966 (sources differ.) Not unsurprisingly, it’s no longer there, but a replica of it can now be found at the Idle Hour in North Hollywood. (The replica was built by the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Blvd, but was removed during their 2017 remodel.)
A second doggie-themed café called The Pup stood at 12728 Washington Blvd. They both looked similar but it’s The Bulldog that had the pipe sticking out of his mouth.
“The Pup” by Ansel Adams, circa 1940
Well, dog lover from way back that I am, I had to respond. Here’s an interesting article from December 2014 about the iconic bulldog being saved from demolition with several pictures:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/12/03/petersen-museums-bulldog-cafe-saved-from-demolition/
This one shows the bulldog’s pipe pretty clearly along with I’m assuming a cook with a hand-on-hip “c’mon inside for tamales and ice cream” inviting smile haha
http://scontent-a.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xpa1/t51.2885-15/10542016_742499752471324_1833629799_n.jpg
I remember seeing the Bulldog when I lived in Venice in the 1950’s. It was located on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which was, at that time, was named “West Washington Boulevard”. The street name was changed to recognize the founder of Venice and to eliminate the confusion with Washington Boulevard off from which it branched. I believe that the name change resulted in a renumbering of addresses. All the sources show its location as 1153 West Washington Boulevard which does not equate to 1153 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which would place it on the east side of the street near San Juan Avenue. I recall it being on the west side of the street approximately one block northwest of its junction with Washington Boulevard.
Oh wow, John, so you remember seeing the Bulldog yourself! As for street numbering, I’ve found that the city does renumber streets from time to time for various reasons, which must have annoyed residents and business owners!
Yes. I attended Westminster Avenue Elementary School and know that the Bulldog building wasn’t near that location. I also remember seeing the Pup Cafe on the south side of Washington Boulevard in culver Cityy west of its intersection with Zanja Street and Washington Place. I noted the similarities but would sometimes confuse the two.
Hi John — hope you see this comment. I’ve been looking into the history of the Bulldog Cafe and have been struggling to find a primary source confirming its location at 1153 West Washington Boulevard (now Abbot Kinney Boulevard). I’ve looked at some old aerial photos of the area and the section that’s currently the 1100 block of Abbot Kinney Boulevard looks too dense to match the background seen in the photos of the Bulldog. Your memory that it was closer to the junction with Washington Boulevard matches the aerial photos a lot better, but one thing that’s been confusing me is that according to some old address directories I looked at, the numbering of this street has actually been relatively unchanged since at least the 1930s. In these directories, addresses starting with 1100 were still close to Westminster Ave and San Juan Ave. Do you recall anything else about the Bulldog’s location that might clear this up?
Additionally, I found this archival video (https://youtu.be/WEOB1iEiv4E) that appears to show the same building being used as a real estate office, with a sign mentioning “Ramona” and “Garvey Ave.” Even more confusingly, the building now has a number “638” on its side — a different address? Does the scene in the video bring up any memories?
Thanks so much for your time!
Henry–Your comments raise more questions to which I wish that I could provide comprehensive answers.
1. Regarding the address numbers, my 1957 Westminster Avenue School report card shows the address for the school as “1030 West Washington Boulevard”. So, the address numbering has not changed since the 1950’s.
2. In order to for more fully investigate why the adress number, “1153”, is shown above the door, we might have to look at official City maps to see the street system as it evolved after Venice became part of Los Angeles in 1926. During the 1920’s and 1930’s boulevards for through traffic were created by connecting segments of local streets, which at the time may have had a different zero starting points in their addressing. Note, that Marr Street, which parallels the most southerly segment of Abbot Kinney Boulevard (old West Washington Boulevard), has east-west addressing starting with 800 just northwest of current Washington Boulevard, whereas Abbot Kinney Boulevard has north-south addressing starting with 2800 just northwest of Washington Boulevard.
3. I don’t recall seeing the real estate office. The advertised locations and the “638” address suggest that the building may have been re-used and relocated to Monterey Park before disappearing.
4. I will inquire of my brother and my 91 year-old mother to see if their recollection of the location of the Bulldog Cafe agrees with mine. If they do recall I will report it back to you.
5. I would like to see the aerial view that you have that suggests/confirms that the cafe was near Washington Boulevard. Can you scan and send to me? Thanks.
Note: I was unable to post this comment from my own computer, as it kept getting caught by a spam filter. Martin Turnbull kindly agreed to post it for me. This is part one:
Hi John, thank you so much for your detailed response! I appreciate the concrete detail of the address on your report card. I think it is definitely worth looking into the specific history of the address numbering scheme of West Washington Boulevard. My main source for that so far has been the LA Public Library: https://rescarta.lapl.org/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebBrowse.jsp. The Santa Monica City Directory 1915-1916, page 434 and the Santa Monica and Venice City Directory 1936, page 624 both seem to show addresses on West Washington Boulevard that are similar to the current scheme.
I’ve been using the UCSB FrameFinder (https://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_indexes/FrameFinder/) to look at aerial photos. Some of the better ones that cover this area are https://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_images/c-2773/c-2773_10.tif (dated October 1933) and https://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_images/c-6330/c-6330_31.tif (dated March 1940). Those links are to .TIF image downloads and are on the larger side. I also cropped and reuploaded the relevant sections of each image to an image hosting site in case that’s easier to look at: https://ibb.co/VS5hSZC (1933), https://ibb.co/WxFX9Rw (1940).
This is part two:
The 1933 image shows the section of West Washington Boulevard surrounding Westminster Avenue Elementary School. To me, the area doesn’t really look like what’s seen in the photos of the Bulldog — there doesn’t seem to be enough open space anywhere. The 1940 image shows the section of West Washington Boulevard that’s further southeast and branches off from the main east-west street. This area looks sparse enough that it seems like the Bulldog could have fit in there somewhere. Since I imagine it would just look like a white blob from the air, it’s a lot easier to find areas where it couldn’t have been than where it could have been.
This is part three:
Your idea that the building could have been moved to Monterey Park is really interesting. I have heard of a few small buildings being moved around in the past (for example, the “Hoot Hoot I Scream” owl-shaped cafe seems to have moved at least twice.
Yes I used to buy hot dog there after school let out at venice high. Diner was right buy royal market on washington blvd.
I think that Rudy might be thinking of the Pup Cafe on the south side of Washington Boulevard west of Wade Street, opposite Zanja Street and a short distance from the Venice High School athletic field. I remember their corny advertisement “Hot dogs, super-duper collosal but not atomic”.
I fondly remember walking past a Giant Bulldog on Washington Blvd going to and from Venice High School in the 70’s. My memory says it was where the 2 Washington streets merge on the South side of the street. I believe it was just east of Washington and Wade. I was so thrilled to see the replica at the Idle Hour in North Hollywood. It brought back such a cool part of my history.
What you remember was the Pup Cafe, which was similar to the Bulldog Cafe, but without the pipe. The Pup Cafe was on the south side of Washington Boulevard west of Wade Street and opposite Zanja Street. I remember one of their corny advertisements circa 1958 that went something like–“Super Dogs, super duper colossal but not atomic”.
“Super Dogs, super duper colossal but not atomic.” – I love that!
Hi!
I lived on Moore Street and distinctly remember seeing this big dog when I was about 5 years old. We used to buy groceries at a now destroyed market, Triangle Market. This was on Washington Boulevard near Zanza as stated above. I think I bought candy there as a child, but, this building was definitely near Moore Street near “West End Park” where I played as a child. This is solid witnessing. I was just telling my husband as we passed my old childhood area a few days ago that there was a big dog that used to stay there. It was on the Southside of Washington Blvd.
I, too, remember seeing “it” in the 1950’s on the south side of Washington Boulevard, west of Wade Street and east of Zanja Street just outside Venice and in Culver City. But “it” was the Pup Cafe, a similar building without the pipe in the mouth, as shown in this attachment.
Here it is: http://eatingla.blogspot.com/2009/12/pup-cafe-in-venice.html
I wanted to clarify that The Pup Cafe was what I was writing about above. But, after rereading realized that there is not a question of The Pup’s location. It was kind of a scary building as a child, but, always think of it whenever I drive past this area.
Also, I am a bit skeptical about the first image being located on Washington Boulevard because the background indicates a mountainous looking range which this area in Venice does not have. The closest thing to anything resembling this would be south where Loyola Marymount University sits perched above Playa Vista, now.
The reverse would be this bull dog facing south and could perhaps be the Santa Monica mountains in the background?
We had a similar dialogue a few months ago and another person conducted extensive research. Based on several sources he determined that the Bulldog Cafe was originally installed at 1153 Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel just west of Rubio Wash. I have a vague but uncertain recollection that it may have been later relocated to West Washington Boulevard near Washington Boulevard in Venice.
If anyone is interested, the research I did ended up in these two blog posts:
https://technospinach.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-secret-history-of-bulldog-cafe.html (1), https://technospinach.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-pup-bulldog-and-maddox-family.html (2).
The most surprising thing I learned was that the Bulldog and Pup were actually built by two members of the same family!
Hi Henry,
My comment below on this thread was in reference to your 2 blog posts and the incredible research. you did! Has anyone else corroborated since you posted? I can’t see any way that your info isn’t 100% accurate. I even shared it with Bobby Green, who saved and restored the Bulldog replica from the Peterson Automotive Museum over to his (also restored programmatic building, The Idle Hour). So many people have shared the incorrect info (and many people’s memories confuse the Bulldog with the Pup after it was moved to Washington Blvd.) Just wanted to say thanks, and great job!!
Thank you Gary! I have yet to hear from anyone who remembers seeing the Bulldog in Rosemead or Monterey Park firsthand. Since it’s been almost 75 years since the building was probably demolished in Monterey Park, the odds are slim… but you never know.
For years, I thought the information I knew about the Pup and The Bulldog Cafe being built near each on Washington Blvd was correct. After reading his incredibly detailed research, I believe the author is correct about the history of both:
1929 The Pup (also originally called the Bulldog) built by Joseph Maddox at 5406 West Adams Blvd, LA, CA
1931 The Bulldog Cafe (with the pipe) built by Joseph’s son, Everett Maddox, at 1153 East Valley Boulevard, Rosemead, CA
1933-4 The Pup was moved to 12718 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City
1939-1940 The Pup Cafe is photographed by Ansel Adams
1940-1944 The Bulldog is moved from Rosemead to 638 East Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park, CA
1948-1949 The Bulldog is either moved out of Monterey Park or demolished
1969 The Pup Cafe, now Ugly Dog Records, appears in West Magazine of the Los Angeles Times
1969-1971 The Pup Cafe is demolished
Thanks for all this wonderful info, Gary.
The Pup Cafe was across the street from Royal Market which became the Triangle Market. The triangle was Zanja street, Washington Blvd and Washing Place meeting together. The Pup was just 100 meters east of Rosabel street (my home). The Pup was next door (west) to Brill’s Auto Supply in 1958 ( I worked there weekends and ate at the Pup). It stopped serving not long after.
Bob Davids
Hello All, I just got in on the excellent nostalgia from all the contributors. I was drawn to the Bulldog Cafe from the Rocketeer movie. It’s so much fun to hear about all your experiences. I had a similar experience with a landmark in Rhode Island when I was around 4 or 5. I always remember walking past it on my way to school. Years later I wondered if it were true or a dream. This would have been around 1956 or so. I happened to be in R.I. about yr 2000 and got curious. I was in a roadside rest stop that was selling candy, trinkets, and info about the area. There was a small book detailing some of the history in the area. And in it, lo and behold, there it was in the book. I was very excited to see I wasn’t crazy and it brought back a flood of memories. I can only imagine this happened for you all as well. Thank you for such interesting reading. Too fun!
Your pictures are immensely helpful in my work of digitally reconstructing a accurate 3D model of the Bulldog Cafe. I saw one photo, a close up where you can see the interior with a bar and stools lined in front. If any one has the faintest recollection of the floorplan. How many seat. Where the kitchen was, was there a public toilet, or if there was a second floor, or loft etc. Do tell.
[…] Tim provided is unusable for me, but here’s a fine one, to Martin Turnbull’s website (of 3/10/15) on the Bulldog Café, opened in […]