The May Co. department store opened its flagship building on the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave in 1940. (If anyone knows the specific date, I’d love to have it. (**UPDATE** This store opened on September 7, 1939 – see below) This photo shows the store under construction in 1939. A few things that catch my eye: the sign for Simon’s Sandwiches, the open-air double-decker bus on the right, and how wide and spacious Wilshire Blvd feels without all the current-day construction hemming it in. Also, Wilshire could have done with a repaving back in 1939.
This is roughly how that view looked in November 2023. Simon’s was replaced by Johnnie’s. The May Co building is now home to the Academy Museum, and that futuristic building on the right is the Petersen Automotive Museum.
This Los Angeles Times article from September 7, 1939 talks about the store’s opening that day:
And here’s an ad dated September 6, 1939:
I love that AMPAS has restored the May Co. building for their museum. I also like that the Petersen Automotive Museum is another attraction there, but does anyone else get a repellant unsettling feeling when you see both of those buildings in the same photograph? (Or in person!) wonder what the upcoming soon to be Metro subway stop design nearby will look like in the mix?