The “$795 BOMB SHELTER” billboard in this photo of the May Company department store at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax caught my eye. I tend to think of bomb shelters as being a 1950s thing, but the 1948 Studebaker at the far indicates this is probably from the late ‘40s. At a not-cheap $795, I wonder how many of those bomb shelters they sold. We also get to see what stood at the opposite corner. It looks like a corner market was there before the Googie-style Johnie’s Coffee Shop was built in 1956. Back then, it was called Romeo’s Time Square.
The “$795 BOMB SHELTER” billboard in this photo of the May Company department store at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax caught my eye. I tend to think of bomb shelters as being a 1950s thing, but the 1948 Studebaker at the far indicates this is probably from the late ‘40s. At a not-cheap $795, I wonder how many of those bomb shelters they sold. We also get to see what stood at the opposite corner. It looks like a corner market was there before the Googie-style Johnie’s Coffee Shop was built in 1956. Back then, it was called Romeo’s Time Square.
Martin, I have another picture of that bomb shelter dealer on the same site, and it’s dated March 1951. See: http://68.media.tumblr.com/10a546099a0d697f3c3fe2f90df9d283/tumblr_oackt5fB3W1t3cxt2o1_1280.jpg