No. 138 - Coca-Cola Building

Coca-Cola Building
1936 – Robert V. Derrah
1334 South Central Avenue – map
Declared: 2/5/75

What was the deal with Robert V. Derrah and ships?

Architect Derrah created this manufactory for Coca-Cola right around the same time he designed Crossroads of the World, also ship-shaped, on Sunset. For this landmark Coke plant, Derrah built the project around a handful of existing buildings, including the company’s 1927 plant, so I reckon it’s more of a re-design. Streamline Moderne in design, it’s got all the boat things, with portholes, catwalk, promenade deck, hatches, rivets, and the confounded bridge.

Make sure you celebrate Coke’s 122nd birthday next Thursday. May 8, 1886 is the accepted date for the drink’s discovery by Dr John Pemberton in his backyard in Atlanta.

The first Coke syrup plant in Los Angeles opened in 1895. Seven years later, the Los Angeles Times tackled one of big issues of the day with its front-page exposé evocatively titled, “They Thirst for Cocaine.”

Soda Fountain Fiends Multiplying.

Slaves to the “Coca Cola” Habit.

Los Angeles Physician Says it is as Dangerous as Any “Dope.”

Soda-fountain proprietors struck a bonanza when the drink known as coca cola was introduced, for of all the beverages sprung on a public desiring variety and change it stands first in favor, and its popularity, instead of waning, is on the increase…

A well-dressed business man yesterday dropped into a Spring-street ice-cream parlor, where soda water may be had in all its alluring variety of concoctions. As soon as he had entered the door, one of the white-coated attendants said to another, “There comes one of our coca cola fiends…”

It is perhaps not statistical, but the statement is made that three-fourths of the men who drink soda-fountain concoctions call for coca cola. Also, that of these, a large percentage are brain workers…

… it is conceded by those who understand its nature that coca cola contains a small percentage of cocaine. This accounts, they say, for the hold it has upon its drinkers. It is also claimed that very few women indulge to any great extent.

“brain workers”?

In September 1915, the company was finishing constructing a brand new, three-story, $35,000 plant at the northwest corner of Fourth and Merrick Streets. It would serve as headquarters of Coke’s west coast’s business. George H. Reed had been running the local operations for more than a dozen years. The new plant replaced the facility at 612 San Pedro Street.

In October 1926, the John M. Cooper Company announced it had recently completed a $75,000 bottling plant for Coca-Cola at the corner at Fourteenth and Central. What’s odd is that six months later, the same outfit announced it was going to start construction immediately on a new plant for the company. The $100,000 factory would be three stories and rise on the northwest corner of Fourth and Merrick – the exact size and location of the 1915 building. Conclusion? Something’s wrong.

In any event, L.A.’s 1929 city directory lists the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles at its current site, 1334 South Central, at 14th. S.N. Barbee was president, A.P. Pratt served as vice president, and the secretary-treasurer was D.E. Slocum.

I heard a long time ago there are basically three tastes in a cola soda: the cola, citrus, and vanilla. If citrus is your thing, you choose Pepsi, and if you prefer vanilla, Coke’s your drink. All I know is, if all the Coca-Cola I’ve drunk were in 8-ounce contour bottles laid end-to-end, they would reach to the moon and back 1,677 times.

I did call in advance to see if I could get a look inside Monument No. 138. Transferred a few times, I finally wound up leaving a message with the maintenance department. I never heard back and quickly gave up, lacking determination as a rule. Had I gotten inside, I might’ve seen this view, from the city’s Department of Planning website:

One last thing. A Coca-Cola security guard came out when I was taking shots from across the street. A nice guy, just doing his job, of course, but he needed to know the purpose of my taking pictures. “Are you a tourist?” Thinking quickly, I answered, “Yes, I am.” While he was fine with that, I wondered later what would’ve been an unacceptable answer (graffiti artist on recognizance, al Qaeda representative, or Indra K. Nooyi operative) and what my punishment would’ve been (despite its shipliness, the building showed no signs of planks for walking).

Sources:

“They Thirst for Cocaine.” Los Angeles Times; Feb 25, 1902, p. A1

“New Housing for Coca Cola Plant” Los Angeles Times; Aug 15, 1915, p. V1

“Five Structures Finished” Los Angeles Times; Oct 23, 1926, p. E9

“Structure for Coca Cola Company” Los Angeles Times; Apr 3, 1927, p. E12

Up next: Shrine Auditorium

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No. 137 - Finney's Cafeteria

Finney’s Cafeteria
1914 - Plummer & Feil
217 West 6th Street – map
Declared: 1/15/75

Okay, if the Beckett Mansion is #1 on my list of the most tragic Los Angeles landmarks I’ve visited so far, what there is to see of Monument No. 137, Finney’s Cafeteria, is a close #2.

I don’t what was originally located on the ground floor of this four-story building built in 1898, but around 1914 architects Plummer & Feil converted the space into a soda parlor called The Chocolate Shoppe. (While 1914 is the date usually given for the establishment, I should point out Allan L. Leonard, attorney for future owner Sam Finney, later wrote that he had wooed his future wife in the space as early as 1908 when, according to him, it had been known as Petitfils Chocolate Shoppe.

In any event, the owners hired tile-designer Ernest Batchelder to deck out the parlor in a Dutch motif, and deck it out he did.

Ernest Allan Batchelder was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, in 1875. From 1902 to 1909, Batchelder was Director of Art at Throop Polytechnic Institute (i.e. CalTech), after which he set up The Batchelder Tile Company in Pasadena. He relocated the company twice, expanding it each time. In 1926, he tackled the interior of the Fine Arts Building, landmark No. 125. At its peak, Batchelder’s company employed 150 men. Shortly after he finished one of his biggest projects, the Hershey Hotel (a parenthetical recommendation: you owe it to yourself to drive through Hershey, Pennsylvania, at least once in your life; the town literally smells like chocolate, and the street lamps are shaped like Hershey kisses), Batchelder shut down his business in 1932, irreparably damaged by the Depression. The Arts and Crafts leader continued to make pottery in his small shop on Kinneloa Street in Pasadena until the early 1950s. He died in 1957.

The Chocolate Shoppe, which was Batchelder’s biggest commission up until that time, was/is completely covered in his chocolatey brown work. I’m talking floor, walls, and ceiling, with larger tiles – around 4” x 4” – laid into the walls while bigger murals beneath the groined arches (really, that’s what they’re called) are more mosaic. The Shoppe was to serve as a prototype for a whole chain of soda parlors, each with a different European country as its theme. For whatever reason – some say it was the high cost of Batchelder’s work – this never came to pass, and the 6th Street location was the first and last Chocolate Shoppe.

Samuel Finney later converted The Chocolate Shop into his eponymous cafeteria. When? I don’t know. A 1956 city directory lists Finney’s Cafeteria at 631 South Hill, but it had to have been long before that. In fact, I can’t even explain the South Hill address. A little help, anyone?

In 1986, eleven years after Finney’s received its landmark designation, Net Investments Co. sold the building to the 217 West 6th St. Partnership for $750,000. (Funny, 1986 doesn’t seem that long ago, and – I can’t believe I’m even thinking this – but $750,000 doesn’t seem like all that much money.)

Flash forward to 1997, when the former Finney’s/Chocolate Shoppe was defiled into the arcade of today (no offense to the employees there, one of whom gladly lent me a ladder to get some of these blurry shots). While this site hasn’t been updated in a long time, you should still visit it to get a few shots of the interior right before it was obliterated (it's also from where I pilfered the black and white shot below).

Take look at what's visible today, and then, below that, see what it was like back in the teens.

You know, I think this might be the clearest case, yet, of how a Historic-Cultural Monument status from the city doesn’t guarantee its preservation. Maybe because the changes don’t seem to be necessarily permanent that the city allowed such a thing to happen. I don’t know. Believe me, though, standing in the old Chocolate Shoppe, it takes just a sliver of imagination to see the space’s potential. Hopefully, with plans afoot to revitalize the Broadway corridor, a small incentive will be offered to the person with funds, motivation, and good taste to rehabilitate this L.A. landmark just a couple of dozen yards away.

Sources:

“Downtown L. A. Landmark Sold to Partnership” Los Angeles Times; Jan 26, 1986, p. 7

De Wolfe, Evelyn “Chocolate Shoppe for Lease” Los Angeles Times; Jul 13, 1986, p. 10

Up next: The Coca-Cola Building

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No. 136 - St Mary of the Angels Church

St Mary of the Angels Church
1930 – Carleton M. Winslow
4510 Finley Avenue – map
Declared: 12/4/74

Father Neal Dodd, born in 1879, made his way from Nashotah, Wisconsin, to California in 1917, and began to hold small services in a rented barn or store on North Vermont, just above Hollywood Boulevard. Soon after, when he was introduced to the movie business following a studio’s take-over of the space by leasing it for more money, Fr Dodd got the idea to establish an Anglo-Catholic church primarily for folks of the film world.

With his St Mary of the Angels at 1724 North Vermont, Dodd became “the Padre of Hollywood,” beginning to serve as technical director of religious scenes on films and even appearing in them as members of the clergy, maybe as early as 1917. The first clergyman to hold a SAG card, Dodd went on to appear in lots of features, including It Happened One Night, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Sorry, Wrong Number. He further solidified his standing in the Hollywood community by marrying Jack Pickford to Marilyn Miller and William S. Hart, “the two-gun Romeo of wild-west motion pictures”, to Winifred Westover, “a blonde of striking beauty.” And Dodd was there to preside at the funeral of Wallace Reid.

A fund-raising campaign for a new church building was announced at the end of 1919 with “all the money for the church … to come from motion–picture folks.” Carleton M. Winslow had already drawn up plans for the building that included a community center, a gymnasium, and a pool and billiard room – in other words, your ordinary church. The cost was estimated at $100,000. Something went wrong though, because a year and a half later, the church was still trying to get together some money, including by holding a benefit carnival somewhere on Highland. It was announced at that time that earlier plans to build an exact replica of Manhattan’s “Little Church Around the Corner” (a church well-known for its ties to the theatrical community) had been scrapped with Winslow now designing a “Neo-Spanish” building to cost about $250,000. Now, plans included “a community center, with a great auditorium, a gymnasium, shower baths, pool and billiard room, bowling alley and extensive library.” Your ordinary church, but with a bowling alley.

Renaissance Revival entrance

By 1923, though, the new Our Church of St Mary’s of the Angels, “The Church of the Motion-Picture People”, consisted of “just one large room and one little one in a white-painted wooden building” with folding chairs serving as pews. Located at 1743 North New Hampshire, it was here where what became the Motion Picture and Television Fund was first housed.

Altar dedicated to St Genesius, Patron Saint of Actors

Now, for the landmark. Designed by Winslow, whom we’ve already met at Nos 46 and 66, the church stands on donated land off the corner of Hillhurst and Finley. The new St Mary’s celebrated its First Mass on May 18, 1930 and received its consecration on July 10, 1932. When I was there, I noticed neither a billiard room nor a bowling alley.

Dodd, “the motion picture people’s friend”, passed away in 1966, about fifteen years after his retirement.

Upset over changes in the Episcopal Church's General Convention in 1976 – namely, approving the ordination of women along with changes to the Book of Common Prayer – the parish split from the Episcopalians in 1977. Today the still Anglo-Catholic church is presided over by the Rev. Fr Christopher Kelley, SSC, the parish’s fifth rector.

Sources:

“Plan Church for Filmdom People.” Los Angeles Times; Dec 27, 1919, p. II2

“To Launch Campaign for Funds.” Los Angeles Times; May 29, 1921, p. V4

“Bill Hart is Married Here.” Los Angeles Times, Dec 8, 1921, p. II1

“Filmland has Ideal Church” Los Angeles Times; Nov 22, 1922, p. II3

Lipke, Katherine “Our One-Man Churches” Los Angeles Times, Mar 4, 1923, p. III13

“Services Held for ‘Padre of Hollywood’” Los Angeles Times; Jun 1, 1966, p. A2

Slide, Anthony. Silent Topics: Essays on Undocumented Areas of Silent Film Scarecrow Press 2005 Lanham, Maryland

Up next: Finney’s Cafeteria

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No. 135 - Canoga Mission Gallery

Canoga Mission Gallery
1936
23130 Sherman Way, West Hills – map
Declared: 12/4/74

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 135 is a former stable built in the Mission Revival style in 1936 by actor Francis Lederer. You really need to know, as authentic as the building may appear, it’s only about seventy years old. It doesn’t date to the Spanish colonial days.

Even more importantly, you need to know Lederer got to make it with Louise Brooks, at least on screen, in Pandora’s Box.

Czech-born Francis Lederer and his wife, Marion (correction: Lederer didn't marry Marion Irvine until 1941; he had been married twice before - FBB), built these stables for his horses (well, for her horse, Gypsy, mainly) on their 300-acre Canoga Park ranch. Lederer, who would later serve as Honorary Mayor of Canoga Park, has more than seventy credits on the IMDb, most notably the afore-mentioned Pandora’s Box, directed by G.W. Pabst. Having made a ton of dough in real estate, he also founded the National Academy of Performing Arts in Studio City. He died in 2000 in Palm Springs where he and his wife moved after their home was damaged in the Northridge earthquake (the house, HCM No. 204, still exists as a private residence). Lederer reached the rip old age of 100.

As for the landmark, in the mid-1960s the city extended Sherman Way, cutting a swath through Lederer’s property. His wife, along with friends Jody Hutchison and Mary and Obdulio Galeana, destabilized and remodeled the building as a non-profit and cultural center. The Galeanas managed the gallery for twenty-seven years. Since 2001, the former stables have been home to Jill Milligan’s Hidden Chateau and Gardens, an antique shop that’s also “a popular site for parties, weddings, teas, and corporate events.”

Horses lived here:

Up next: St Mary of the Angels Church

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No. 134 - Crossroads of the World

Crossroads of the World
1936 – Robert V. Derrah
6671 Sunset Boulevard – map
Declared: 12/4/74

Screw Times Square! The real Crossroads of the World is right here in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. Granted, Times Square can claim the Coca-Cola Sign, the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop, One Times Square, and the Naked Cowboy, while our landmark today boasts primarily a bunch of boring offices. But our Crossroads of the World looks like a big boat.

The project was conceived by a woman named Ella Crawford and designed by (a man named) Robert V. Derrah.

Born in Salt Lake City, Derrah was apparently a brainiac, for he graduated from both MIT and Harvard before coming to the area in the mid-1920s. He served as president of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1945, only to die from a heart attack in October of the following year at the age of 51. Derrah was responsible for a couple of other city landmarks, too, the Coca-Cola Company Building, No. 138, and Southern California Gas Company Building on Flower, No. 789.

In this case, what Derrah designed was an international shopping center of shops and studios, “a beautifully housed, permanent world’s fair.” One of the keys to the success to the set of buildings was its open spaces where pedestrians could wander about.

The development’s general layout is that of a docked Streamline Moderne ocean liner surrounded by two-story cottages done up in a variety of architectural styles – English, French, Swedish, Spanish, Algerian, Turkish, Italian, Persian, Mexican, and, er, Netherlandish. Derrah also tossed in bits of colonial New England and early California for you xenophobes.

Early on, plans called for building a theater for foreign films, something I can’t find evidence of ever materializing.

The ship’s aft is crowned with a thirty-foot Art Deco tower capped with a lighted eight-foot world globe, a literal Hollywood landmark.

Crawford, who was extremely careful in her selection of tenants who would bring in high-class shops keeping with the international theme, somehow had an in with Universal Studios (this was right around when Standard Capital took over the studio from Carl Laemmle) . The day before Crossroads’ October 29, 1936, grand opening, a quartet of Universal starlets showed up for photo-ops for the mall (and for themselves). For posterity, their names were Marjorie Gage, Emily Lane, Mary Alice Rice, and Polly Rowles. I mention this only because I’m thinking these ladies’ careers could use a bit of a boost.

Opening night for Crossroads of the World was akin to a big movie premiere. Included in the revelries were a master of ceremonies, “colorful foreign musicians, groups of native dancers and folk singers.” To boot, Universal went on to provide a bunch of international “film players” to act as hosts and hostesses. Just look who was scheduled to greet you with Ciao!, Hola!, or whatever (and the countries they were representing):

Cesar Romero (Cuba)
Binnie Barnes, Wendy Barrie, Boris Karloff, and Jack Dunn (England)
Ella Logan (Scotland)
Tala Birell (Austria)
Henry Armetta (Italy)
Mischa Auer (Russia)
Peggy Ryan and George Murphy (Ireland)
Gertrude Niesen (Scandinavia)

Opening day, the Los Angeles Times reported the shopping center had “accommodations for more than a hundred shops, cafes, bazaars and studios. These units will feature merchandise and foods from the four corners of the earth.” Today, the designated city landmark houses businesses including design firms, a hair care shop, production houses, magazines, talent agencies, religious institutions, and at least one art gallery. The Sunday afternoon I was walking around, it was all but deserted. Lots of parking in the lot off Las Palmas.

This Seeing Stars page says Diana Murphy and Sid Hudgens had offices here in Indecent Proposal and L.A. Confidential, respectively.

Sources:

“Hollywood's Unique “Crossroads of the World” Project Makes Bow to Public in Premiere Tonight” Los Angeles Times; Oct 29, 1936, p. 6

“Stars From All Nations to Be Present at Opening” Los Angeles Times; Oct 29, 1936, p. 6

“Architects’ Ideas Vie” Los Angeles Times; Oct 29, 1936, p. 6

Southwest Builder and Contractor Oct 18, 1946, p. 5

Longstreth, Richard. City Center to Regional Mall MIT Press 1997 Cambridge, Massachusetts

Up next: Canoga Mission Gallery

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