Here’s something we don’t see much of anymore: the open-air grocery store. This A&P (a popular chain) stood at the southwest corner of Sunset Blvd and N. Fairfax Ave. With the summers in LA being so long and hot, I’m kind of surprised that these stores existed at all – didn’t the celery wilt and the tomatoes shrivel? But stores like this did have greater curb appeal, along with the Streamline Moderne decoration on the roof. This particular A&P shared space with a Thrifty drug store, which possibly made for convenient one-stop shopping. Apparently the newest car in this shot is a 1939 Pontiac, so let’s call it circa early 1940s.
Looking northwest from that corner in 1962:
This is how that corner looked in August 2022. The Rite Aid Pharmacy has zero curb appeal, but it continues the Thrifty tradition (Rite Aid acquired them in 1996.)
Surprisingly, the open front markets were usually pretty good. We used the one on Fountain by Normandie into the Spring of 1964 before moving west by the old Ralphs on Hollywood. (Became Pier 1 when they left later.) With a north facing front like this one in the image, and hanging fans, the air circulation was fine. The butcher area had an upper wall exhaust fan to aid the outflow of hot or stale air. And you rarely found problem dry goods as the turnover was rapid. Some of the small closed walls corner stores were another thing..you wouldn’t believe what you might find in a cereal box.
One is a world you can walk in, the other is a world you have to drive. I prefer the former!
There’s an awful lot of cars in the b&w photo!
In the view d’ ‘62, down on the right well past the Triumph dealership we can spot the frontage and sign (redish/pinkish) for a “Dog House” stand that was a local chain.