This aerial photo gives us a wonderful bird’s-eye view of the busy intersection of Fairfax Ave and Wilshire Blvd in 1954. The May Co. department store, which opened in 1940 on the northeast corner, dominated the corner then as it does now. We can see their huge parking lot. The popular Simon’s drive-in that stood on the northwest corner during the 30s and 40s is now gone, and not yet replaced by Johnie’s. On the other side of the May Co, there is a long flat building I don’t recognize—does anybody know what it was?
This is a satellite view of that same intersection in January 2020. The May Co is now the Academy Museum, the Johnie’s building is still there but is now empty, and the flat building is now LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art.)
My father worked at the May Co. (the large building on the corner). Looks like they were just starting to build Johnnies on the opposite corner and Farmers Market was just down the road.
The flat building just east of the main May Company building on Wilshire was the “May Company Annex”, used for large appliances and built in 1945. It was demolished and its site was eventually taken over by LACMA.
Another angle, circa 1963:
https://miraclemilela.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/may-company-building-and-appliance-store-1963.png
I believe the flat building was a parking structure for overflow parking for the May Co.
The building fronting the street is the May Company Annex (for appliances). The structure behind it to the north was for parking.
The long flat building next to the May Company at Wilshire and Fairfax was an annex of the May Co. I don’t remember what they sold there.
The building behind the long flat building was a parking structure. As a child, I went with my mother to the annual May Co. parking lot sale in that parking structure. We had to walk through the Wilshire entrance to the annex to get to the parking structure.
They sold large and small household appliances after the war until, I think, the 70s.
Looks like Thrifties is still on the southwest corner. Milk shakes and French fries at their lunch counter, mid-Sixties.