An Art Deco style branch office of the Department of Water and Power on Brooklyn Ave (Cesar Chavez Ave), Los Angeles 1933

An Art-Deco style branch office of the Department of Water and Power on Brooklyn Ave (Cesar Chavez Ave), Los Angeles 1933This is the version of Los Angeles I wish I lived in. This was a branch office of the Department of Water and Power—not a commercial business, but a government utility!—and this is how they decorated it: with beautiful Art Deco flourishes. Imagine walking down a street and this is the sort of thing you pass every day. The caption for this photo said it was on Brooklyn Ave which took me a while to figure out is now part of Cesar Chavez Ave. However, I don’t know the cross street so I don’t know if this building has survived intact.

Suz M says: “The So CA Edison also sold gas ranges. They often had test kitchens in the building as well where you went fir cooking demos and classes. All were geared to promote Gass cooking, heating etc A long time gal pal of mine from college, graduated in Home Economics and first went to work fir tge Gas Co as a food stylist and cooking instructor that was late 40s. I can remember their having demo kitchens into the 60s at least.”

** UPDATE ** – This building sat at 2536 East Cesar Chavez Ave. Below is how that site looked in January 2022.

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6 responses to “An Art Deco style branch office of the Department of Water and Power on Brooklyn Ave (Cesar Chavez Ave), Los Angeles 1933”

  1. David R. Ginsburg says:

    This DWP office was at 2536 Brooklyn Avenue (now 2536 East Cesar Chavez Avenue) at the intersection of North Fickett Street in Boyle Heights. It has been demolished.

  2. I don’t believe it’s been demolished, there’s a laundromat on the other corner of N Fickett St. and E Cesar Chavez ave that has been altered but the windows are undeniably the same. Check it out.

    • David Ginsburg says:

      That other intersection of the disjunct North Fickett Street is both the wrong address (and an odd number), and its roofline and plaster appliqué details simply do not match. In the posted picture, the next building over from the DWP was Ziegler Motors Ford. Finally, the power pole and street lamp positions in the DWP image and at the empty lot today match.

  3. Earl Gandel says:

    These are probably all over LA and Southern California. Two I know of are on Cahuenga Blvd. at Camarillo in North Hollywood and on Sunset in Pacific Palisades. Interesting to know; were these built during the Depression with WPA help? All together, they’d be a fascinating architectural story.

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