As far as I can tell, this shot of a line of stores in the West Hollywood stretch of Sunset Blvd near San Vicente Blvd was taken in the early to mid 1930s, back when developers built stores with more individuality, like adding a turret or those triangular decorations above the doorway. It’s a sign of the times that Western Union has the biggest storefront of the lot. Next door is “Roberti French Dry Cleaners.” Does anybody reading this know if French dry cleaners differ from regular ones?
That same view in May 2019. A version of one of those triangular decorations above the door has survived:
Hi! maybe the word “French” was used to differenciate fro the usual (?) Chinese ones. You have probably noticed, for years, that adding something like a nationality, or an origin (ex. vegan, nowadays), adds someting to what was commercials, and renamed “Marketing” 🙂
Someone told me that the French are the ones who invented the solvents used in the dry cleaning process so the process was generally known as “French Dry Cleaning” but over time the “French” was dropped for convenience.
As far as I can tell, this shot of a line of stores in the West Hollywood stretch of Sunset Blvd near San Vicente Blvd was taken in the early to mid 1930s, back when developers built stores with more individuality, like adding a turret or those triangular decorations above the doorway. It’s a sign of the times that Western Union has the biggest storefront of the lot. Next door is “Roberti French Dry Cleaners.” Does anybody reading this know if French dry cleaners differ from regular ones?
Great shot back when it had charm, today is just blah!
Thanks for sharing
Shots like this ooze charm, don’t they, Brian?
Absolutely, and imagine a strip mall doing that LOL
Lived 3 block from throberti em. High end and busy. Roberto was italian
An Italian dry cleaner who specialized in French Dry Cleaning!
French dry cleaners add a scoop of garlic butter.
Sounds delish!
Hi! maybe the word “French” was used to differenciate fro the usual (?) Chinese ones. You have probably noticed, for years, that adding something like a nationality, or an origin (ex. vegan, nowadays), adds someting to what was commercials, and renamed “Marketing” 🙂
Someone told me that the French are the ones who invented the solvents used in the dry cleaning process so the process was generally known as “French Dry Cleaning” but over time the “French” was dropped for convenience.
GQ agrees with what you were told.
https://www.gq.com/story/french-dry-cleaner