Automobile entrance to Bullocks Wilshire department store, Wilshire Place, Los Angeles, 1935
The iconic Bullocks Wilshire department store on Wilshire Blvd didn’t have bad angle – it was and still is striking from every side. In this view, we’re seeing its all-important automobile entrance (Bullocks Wilshire was the first store to orientate its focus on the “carriage trade” – i.e. customers who drove to the store rather than walked or took public transit.) This photo is from 1935, by which time the store had weathered the worst of the Great Depression (it opened the month before the stock market crashed) and was well on its way to becoming one of the great stores of Los Angeles.
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My grandmother would take me to tea there in the 40s. Thanks for the memory.
Lucky you, William!
Magnificent!! When will they tear it down?
Don’t even ask such a thing, Jim!
Geez. Bullocks– a living testimonial to a time when America still created things of beauty and greatness– and that’s your comment? Surely, you’re being ironic.
Yes, Rich, I do believe Jim was making an ironic comment on LA’s propensity to tear down old and often beautiful buildings.
Back in the 1980’s Mom called asking where she could get a hat for an LA wedding. Without a second thought response, Bullock’s Wilshire! Also recall once waiting at the back entrance and seeing a chauffeur driven 1940’s Packard limousine pull up and an appropriate Grand Dame emerge from the back. Shades of Sunset Boulevard!
Oooooo, Matt! Now you’ve got me wondering who it was!
Not a clue, but assume an old school Hancock Park dowager. Mr. Lewis’s comment wasn’t so far off the mark.TG Southwest Law School came along to use it as a law library. Fanaciting history on Wikipedia. Had no idea it was looted and torched in the ’94 riots. Amazing only saved because escalators were never installed & the very smart staff shut off elevators so looters couldn’t access upper floors!
That is an amazing story. I sure hope those staffers were recognized for their quick-thinking efforts.