Lost in 2008: Another Rough Year for Preservationists, With a Few Bright Spots

(Flickr pic by Neonspecs.)

2008 marked another tough round of disappearing buildings and signs for Los Angeles preservationists. Gone were buildings such as Lou Ehlers’ Cadillac dealership on Wilshire (and the Bob’s Big Boy across the street). The year ended with a new threat: This time, to the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City.

Also, above: Our friend Eric Lynxwiler gave us the sad news that the cool old Dan-Dee Shoe Repair sign in Hollywood has vanished. The Museum of Neon Art had hoped to save the sign — following the mysterious fire at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, which shut down the store for good — but wasn’t having any luck getting ahold of the proper people. And then… one day, the sign was gone.

(Flickr photo by eyetwist.)

Ditto the huge neon sign for the massive Glendale/Atwater Village branch of furniture outlet Levitz. Seen for years off the 5 freeway, the sign recently disappeared from view, Eric notes at the ModCom message boards.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t all doom and gloom in preservation land: The nearly demolished Harvey’s/Johnie’s Broiler in Downey was ready to live again, now as a part of the Bob’s Big Boy chain. And two more L.A. landmarks, the Hollywood Palladium and Downtown’s P.E. Cole’s restaurant, reopened with what appear to be generally high marks for their renovation/restoration. (I know there are some objections to the Cole’s changes… but they seemed to be tempered by the fact that the place wasn’t completely altered.) And Macy’s also got raves for its restoration and retrofit of the old Bullock’s location on Lake Ave. in Pasadena.

"Mad Men" Gets Its L.A. Logos Right

Gotta love the attention to detail on AMC’s critically acclaimed “Mad Men.” On one of the second season’s final episodes, Don Draper is seen retreating to San Pedro — and the home of the widow of the man whose name Don took after the war. In one scene, Don is carrying a bag of groceries from Ralph’s — and yes, the chain’s old, mid-century logo is featured on the bag.

Meanwhile, above, Don is given a bag of clothes… from now-defunct department store The Broadway. Nice touch.

Variety Lights Up

I took a momentary break from my all-Jay-Leno-all-the-time coverage to join in the Wednesday night festivities formally welcoming Variety to its new 5900 Wilshire home.

City Councilman Tom LaBonge said a few words — and handed a loaf of pumpkin bread from Hollywood’s Monastery of the Angels (it’s famously LaBonge’s calling card) to 5900 Wilshire developer Wayne Ratkovich.

Ratkovich spent $34 million renovating the skyscraper, which as of last night now features a fully-lit Variety logo on the top, facing north and south.

Also attending the sign lighting: L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart and Variety publisher Neil Stiles.

Variety has more here. The building, meanwhile, noted a few facts about the sign:

Size of the Variety Sign: Overall layout is 11.6 ft. x 44.2 ft. with the ‘V’ being 11.6 ft. and the remaining letters at approx 8 ft. in height.

Weighing the Variety Sign Letters: The ‘V’ is the heaviest letter at approximately 300 lbs, not including the ‘V’ swoosh that was fabricated in sections and assembled on the building. Letters were kept as light as possible using all aluminum construction and no steel framing. Also, LED lights were used to illuminate the sign, which is much lighter than neon components.

Hanging the Variety Sign: It took three crew workers two weeks to haul the fourteen sign letters for the north and south side signs to the top of the 31-story tower, install them and complete wiring and test illumination.

Lighting the Variety Sign: Signs are illuminated with red mini LEDs from SloanLED, Inc. Each set of letters utilizes approximately 1400 LEDs and 15 power 60 watt power supplies, or about 900watts (7.5 amps at 120v). In comparison, neon illumination would have required approximately eight and a half times the power or about 64-70 amps. LEDs are also more energy efficient than neon lighting.

The building had previously sported a sign for People’s Bank on the west and east sides; those letters came down a year or so ago.

Marilyn/Spock Gets Prominent L.A. Times Display

On the front page of the LAT web site right now, a story about a recent string of robberies on Melrose over the past week. But look who pops up unannounced in their Melrose photo: That Marilyn Monroe/Spock lovechild!

If Spock and Marilyn Monroe Had A Love Child

As spotted on the streets of Los Angeles. Spock never looked so good.

Style Inconsistency: $90 Milk At the In N Out

(Flickr pic by Cormac70.)

I’m a fan of design — hey, I even married a designer — and sometimes inconsistency really bugs me. Take the In N Out menu: Throughout, the prices are listed with the dollars in large type, and the cents in superscript.

Pretty consistent… until you get to the milk and coffee. The price is 90 cents — so it should be listed in superscript, right? Yet the prices are listed in the same large size reserved in the rest of the menu for dollars. If I were a literal vistor from another part of the globe, I’d wonder what kind of milk and coffee shortage forced the price to $90.

And that concludes nitpick theater. Next time: Is it “Kabob,” “Kabab” or “Kebab”? Somebody, please make up your mind.

Style Inconsistency: $90 Milk At the In N Out

(Flickr pic by Cormac70.)

I’m a fan of design — hey, I even married a designer — and sometimes inconsistency really bugs me. Take the In N Out menu: Throughout, the prices are listed with the dollars in large type, and the cents in superscript.

Pretty consistent… until you get to the milk and coffee. The price is 90 cents — so it should be listed in superscript, right? Yet the prices are listed in the same large size reserved in the rest of the menu for dollars. If I were a literal vistor from another part of the globe, I’d wonder what kind of milk and coffee shortage forced the price to $90.

And that concludes nitpick theater. Next time: Is it “Kabob,” “Kabab” or “Kebab”? Somebody, please make up your mind.

Inappropriate-Sounding Businesses

A few recently spotted, strangely or inappropriately-named businesses around Los Angeles:

Rubby’s

Toe Bang

Loco Computer

That last one isn’t as disturbing as the first two, but I still don’t get why you’d call your company “Crazy Computer.” Although, at least there’s alliteration there. But if you’re gonna go with “Loco Computer,” shouldn’t it be “El Computer Loco”? I dunno.

I’m not even going to discuss those first two. Uh, yuck.

Inappropriate-Sounding Businesses

A few recently spotted, strangely or inappropriately-named businesses around Los Angeles:

Rubby’s

Toe Bang

Loco Computer

That last one isn’t as disturbing as the first two, but I still don’t get why you’d call your company “Crazy Computer.” Although, at least there’s alliteration there. But if you’re gonna go with “Loco Computer,” shouldn’t it be “El Computer Loco”? I dunno.

I’m not even going to discuss those first two. Uh, yuck.

Traveling Sepulveda Blvd., End to End

(Flickr pic by Candice (Bessie Smith).)

Bob Timmermann has put together a talk this August on Sepulveda Boulevard, and as preparation, journeyed up the street from Long Beach to Sylmar this weekend. He writes:

I’ve got my camera ready and, more importantly, a hand clicker to count the number of traffic signals along the way. Would you care to enter a guess in how many there will be?

Pedestrian crosswalks count as regular interesections with a signal. Stop signs and rail crossings don’t.

You want to venture a guess? I’ll compile them all and send to Bob — and he’ll reveal the real number at his August talk at the Central Library. (Bob put together a talk on the origins of the Dodgers in Los Angeles this past April.)