Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinW
I've been looking for a picture of that hedge which would also have included the Gas Station we tried to find earlier in this thread. Here's a nice Ed Ruscha shot which shows the station. I'm convinced the hedge is there on 6th just east of the Gas Station.
Ed Ruscha
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I agree that the hedge is visible in the image you posted.
When I first explored this subject I discovered, per its advertising, that the May Co., like so many other department stores had an Auto Department that sold tires, batteries and the like. I can't be certain, but I believe the outlying building was constructed after the main building was operational. By 1960 (but possibly earlier)the Auto "Department" gave way to the May Company Service Station located at 600 S. Fairfax. WE-6-3600. This was apparently a joint venture with Standard Oil of California, since that is a separate listing for the same station, with the same telephone number.
http://rescarta.lapl.org:8080/ResCar...oc=fairfax+ave So, it is probably safe to say that the building started out by doing light service on cars but later operation was primarily gasoline sales.
Since BRR's original posting, I have noticed quite a number of wide shots that include, for lack of a better word, the "station." It is obvious that the building went through a few face lifts before being reduced to gas pump islands and a small office. The parking lot lighting clearly changed too. I would wager that the hedges may have come and gone a few times as well.
Something that I found interesting was the existence of second, single story, building - that bordered Fairfax and ran between the main building and the gas/auto department. I have only seen the one photo of the building, see first image below, from BRR's posts. The cars suggest the image and the mystery building date from the mid to late '40s. (Sorry if some of these are repeats, but it can be helpful to view things contextually.)
See:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7500 and
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7965
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The "Second" mystery building:
A larger version of your image:
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2011
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tortuga...l-1409234@N20/
Circa
1946-1947? (Park La Brea had not been built yet.)
Circa
1954 and one premier image!
Circa
1968
Aerials from:
USC Digital