Click the photo for a larger view.
In 1940, the May Co department store turned the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Fairfax Ave into a landmark corner with its curved, gold-painted flagship store. As with most landmarks, it can be hard to imagine how that site looked before. This 1938 photo, however, shows is what was there prior to the May Co moving in was a just empty land with plenty of room for a billboard. In this case, it was a billboard advertising how great it is to advertise: “I always feel SAFER buying advertised product.” I do love that open-air double-decker bus and to the extreme left we can see Simon’s Drive-in restaurant on northwest corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, the site now occupied by the (closed) Johnie’s Coffee Shop.
The old May Co store building is now home to the Academy Museum. This image is from March 2025:
Scan right of the Eastside Beer sign and you’ll see S. GRAUMAN on the corner building (Sid, Charlie’s brother.).
Yeah,that makes no sense. Don’t ask me why I’ve got Chaplin on the brain. Sid Grauman, of course, of theater building fame.
Billboards of the 1920’s and 1930’s are so attractive, tasteful messages, wholesome art work, attractive framing and positioning at ground level. In contrast, the billboards of today are a blight on the City landscape.
It is CRAP, another name for Progress!!!