I can only imagine (with this help of photos like this) what it must have been like to drive around Los Angeles in the 1930s. This is the Selig Commercial Building that went up on the northwest corner of Western Ave and 3rd St, four blocks north of Wilshire in 1931. The sight of those black and gold terracotta tiles shining in the sun must makes me wonder if it was inspired by the black-and-gold Richfield Oil building that went up in downtown Los Angeles in 1928. I don’t have a date on this photo, but by the looks of the cars on the far left, I’m guessing 1970s?
Remarkably the Selig building is still intact. This is how looked in June 2024 when it was home to a waffle restaurant called The Dolly Llama (which is rather an ingenious name, if you ask me.)
And look at all of that stuff in the front windows.I’m not exactly sure what that is?
They are blown-up pictures of what look to me like waffle cones.
Beautiful pix, Martin. The password is Tarracotta! Being a movie buff also, I believe the building got its name from the Selig Film Company, although by the 1930s they were long out of business. That said, Selig was a distinguished film company, one of the first to set up operations in LA in the teens. Western Avenue got its name due to all the poverty row film companies that produced westerns there. That is a fact. So if this is on Western and 3rd, there may have been a film company or office in this building at the time. If only these places could talk! The things they’ve seen.
And there’s the long established “Deli Llama” sandwich shop in the Hillcrest area of San Diego.