In a photo reminiscent of the one I posted last week of Donahue Real Estate on Wilshire Blvd, this one also reminds us of how many unique and beautiful commercial buildings Los Angeles had. The Don Lee Cadillac and LaSalle car dealership stood on the northwest corner of Green St and El Molino Ave in Pasadena in 1927. These days, Don Lee is mostly remembered as a radio broadcaster. From 1929 to 1936 he ran his 12-station network of radio stations affiliated with CBS and known as the Don Lee-Columbia Network. But it was only possible because he made a fortune in the automobile biz.
The building is down the block from the Pasadena Playhouse. To my surprise, it’s still there, albeit not quite as ornate. This image is from June 2022. The current tenant is Jacob Maarse Florist.
The original reminds me of a building you might find down South in Ol Mexico. Very nice!
There’s so much more to the story! Check this out:
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/don-lee
BTW – Jack Symes, who worked for Don Lee, bought that store and renamed it Symes Cadillac. Symes is still in business selling Cadillac, Toyota and Land Rover
It was Symes Cadillac when I was in college at the Pasadena Playhouse next door from 1967-1969.
Aside: The Pasadena Playhouse is receiving the Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre this year.
I wonder what happened to the ornate items I think you are mentioning? I am so pleased the building is still there and I would like to see more pictures of it perhaps with some cadillacs out front or on the showroom. Wish they would put back the items on the roof again. Still a pretty building.
They were probably a safety hazard during an earthquake.
Check out the tile work from Pasadena and San Francisco locations: https://newcadillacdatabase.org/static/CDB/Dbas_txt/mascotsj.htm
The Van Ness showroom in SFO:
https://photojottingsmedia.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/dlc3.jpg
Pasadena service dept: https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll2/id/2874/