I think we can safely put this in the “They Sure Don’t Make ‘Em Like That Anymore” file. This glorious piece of architecture was the offices of James J. Donahue Real Estate and it used to stand on the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave. This shot is from 1925, which puts it 6 years before the glorious Wiltern Theatre opened its doors on the southeast corner. Imagine a Los Angeles where every other building looked like this. I know the city’s population growth couldn’t sustain smaller buildings like this, but they made for a much more human-scale cityscape, didn’t they?
And it’s neighbor, the McKinley building, wasn’t had either. The Los Angeles Conservancy fought hard to preserve it but ultimately where unsuccessful.
Display ad for James J. Donahue Real Estate in the Los Angeles City Directory 1925:
These days, a fairly modern mini mall occupies that corner, anchored by a Metro subway stop. This image is from February 2023.
What did they replace it with? it looks as if a child dropped a pile of white and gray blocks and called it good.