1930's Hollywood showroom

What a great interesting story. I have been to these locations but had no idea what they were part of. Now I understand why I felt being drawn to the Brown Derby and the ACD building. Funny how that works. Thanks for all this great history of old L.A.

If you were standing on the curb front of the ACD dealership on Wilshire looking south across the street you would see this view of the famous Ambassador Hotel.

Another interesting view of the Fuller Building. Notice the antenna logo. Showroom sign.

in the twenties? showroom would have been where house is. No air pollution, clear sky.

later in the fifties? radio tower gone, ACD cars long gone. Ambassador still on left. White building in center, next to church former showroom. Rare photo angle.

you can just see the KLAC letters on the right side of the Fuller building on Wilshire going west in 1939

You guys may know better but I think Cliff Henderson and E.L. had some sort of partnership in the Pan Pacific that was near the LA ACD dealership showrooms where the Cord debuted in 1935? Here is a picture noted, Crowds arrive for the silver jubilee auto show, held in October 1937 at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium.

Actually Great cars parked out front. The foremost car is a 1931 Cadillac 355 V-8 Town Sedan - it is in pretty base model trim with rear mount spare and wood wheels. The Ford Model A's are also nice body styles as well.

The original Hillcrest Motor Co. and Auburn Cord dealerships on the 200 block of North Canon Drive, on the east side of the street, 1931.

It brodcasted at 1330 KHZ.

In 1945, the station's owner, E.L. Cord (the F.A.C. in the station's call letters stood for "Fuller Auburn Cord", the Auburn Cord & Duesenberg dealer in the Los Angeles area, and western region headquarters for the Auburn Automobile Co. The transmitter was located on the roof of the building), was touring the station when he saw for the first time the huge collection of discs (a full symphony might take up twelve 78 rpm discs) KFAC owned. Cord decided to make better use of this investment by switching to all-classical music. Management tested the waters on this idea by asking the audience if they wanted another nighttime program, "Lucky Lager Dance Time" (which played pop and swing tunes) to continue or if they would prefer more classical. Classical won by a slim margin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFAC_ (defunct )

Thanks Josh, I could have sworn it was KLAC. It must have also changed the prefix, was the AM transmitted frequency the same,570 KFAC? I think it may just go by FOX now.
www.am570radio.com/main.html

"K" is the prefix on radio stations west of the Mississippi. ("W" in the east.) So after the K the call letters stood for "Fuller Auburn Cord".

View looking east. KFAC painted over AuBURN CORD sign.

Dealer closing so AUBURN letters have been removed from the towers and all that remains is KFAC. AC for Auburn Cord. The palms have grown above the roof line. Directly across Wilshire was the Ambassador Hotel where Robert Kennedy was slain.

This market was not to far from the dealership in that timeframe. There is a sedan that may have been serviced at that dealership.

That would be one of the legendary Brown Derby restaurants.

Look closely at the antenna letters, sign to left of eat in the hat, CORD.

I came across these and posted them before I forgot, vacant lot

I dont think this one has been posted before?

this is how I remember it

Tom_Parkinson wrote: Hi,

I am uploading a photo of the fire that destoyed this beautiful wood-construction Art Deco building. Although it had fallen into bad decay, its destruction remains a great cultural loss.

When I see those (pre-fire) horizontal lines of windows and trim, what I think of is, "CORD!"

--Tom

Because the Pan-Pacific building was used in the 1980 movie Xanadu you can Google "Xanadu building" to get more info on the two fires that destroyed it and what has become of the site since then.

Randy;
No surprise that once the wooden roof started to deteriorate from age, that renovation costs might be impractical. I've been reading through all this material, and it is amazing what could be done in those days. The Pan Pacific Auditorium (there were a whole range of OTHER major buildings in the Pan Pacific Village complex, such as the bowling alley, theater, ice rink arena etc etc) was constructed in 1000 hours! Only six weeks time from breaking ground to ready to open for the first Exhibition in 1935! At roughly 110,000 sq ft, it was the third largest auditorium in U.S. It was booked solid, for years, and most of the basketball games, hockey games, Ice Follies etc were sold out events. Two of the (Many) Annual events were the Automobile Show and the Aircraft & Boat Show. I have a whole album of 8 x 10 professional photographs of the Aircraft and Boat Show. Alas, I do not see a similar album for any of the Auto shows.. Here is a circa 1940 image from one of the Auditorium's brochures. (There is even a 1943 Original UNCASHED! check in the PP Auditorium files, for $1000! Fun stuff!) But cannot find Cord info?yet..

Joe. I visited with Charles Cord several times and the family owned the Pan Pacific during all those years of visits . One thing I remember Charles telling me was it was cost more for a new roof which was shot than the property was worth at the time. I think it was around 1938 that Cord bought contoling intrest in it. Randy

Anyone know E.L.Cord's exact title, in relation to his ownership of The Pan-Pacific Auditorium? The Henderson Brothers, Cliff and Phil (who also ran the huge National Air Races, numerous other auto and aviation events, basketball games, Ice Capades, even major planning roles in the Los Angeles Olympics, and many other Extravaganzas.) had the Pan-Pacific Village, including the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, designed. They had it built in 1935, and it was reported sold to E.L. Cord in 1937. I have several cartons of Cliff Henderson's original archives, full of original Pan-Pacific design photos, and financial reports (It generated hundreds of thousands of dollars profit, during the Depression) But in the reports, photos and programs for all these major events held there, there is usualy at least a full page with the "views" of Pan Pacific Auditorium Prorgrams with Cliff as President and Managing Director, and Phil as Vice President and Business Manager, all the way through the forties. So is it safe to assume that Cord was jut the "owner" and had no "active" role in the auditorium? Cliff has "E.L. Cord" as one of the listees in his personal phone book/directory, as early as a dated page for November 1930. Cliff Henderson owned or used (or had promotional loan of) at LEAST 20 different magnificent Cords and Auburns, using them extensively for his personal use, or as V.I.P. vehicles and parade cars for many of the earlier years of the 1929-1939 National Air Races. A couple of 8 x 10 photos show groups of three-four open Cords & Auburns together in parades, and possibly MORE in the backgrounds.From L-29s, to various open Cords and special Auburn Speedsters, with famous air racers, especially the rare photos of the Cords with famous Women pilots and air race winners. Sometimes called "The Master of Ballyhoo" he had professional photographic records and press releases of many of these Cords and Auburns at the races with such as Mary Pickford, Governors etc etc. *They even had novelty races of "mini" Auburns, at the National Air Race events. He said it took a combined effort of 7000 people to put on the national Air Races, and a healthy proportion of the prize money and support services came from ALL of the big names in the oil companies of the time. so LOTS of great photos of the various Oil Company fuel trucks servicing not only the race planes, but "Giving the Cord a drink." too. The original 80 year old photos are so sharp that one can read the license plates easily, on many of them, which greatly helps with dating them!
But it would appear that Cord left all Pan-Pacific Auditorium matters in the very capable hands of the Henderson Brothers. Still have more boxes to go through. Acquired 400 lbs of Hendersons material, years ago.

I just saw this on a metal kiddy lunchbox.
The 1976 Star Wars landspeeder is a copy of the DiDia. Cord in the future.

Wow! That must have been a very enlightening visit.
To have these giants of design working in the same Auburn studio building cars.
At least we still have examples of their art to enjoy.
The only time I met anyone of that stature was completely by accident. I was called to the Santa Monica home of Dutch Darrin to do some work. We chatted all day about old cars and he told me of his whole life in styling.
He was also ill and when I returned at a later time I was greeted by his son with the news.
Anyway, I was listening to 1950's music, a change from the 1940's Horace Heidt, Harry James, Glenn Miller that sound so good around the old cars.
It got me to thinking of what the cars may have evolved into. Not so much the Duesenberg 1963 but a fifties version.
The song Dream Lover by Bobby Darin was playing.
He only lived to age 37. He bought the DiDia 150. Quote," Darin's car was built by Detroit native and clothing designer Andy DiDia; the car took seven years, from 1953 to 1960, to finish. Two engines are listed as power plants; I assume the present 427 came later. Originally the car cost $153,647.29 to create; today it's worth $1.5 million."
It has an instrument control cluster that looks as if it was inspired by the Cord 810 dash levers. Hidden headlights possibly inspired by the original Cord design <!-- s:?: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_question.gif" alt=":" title="Question" /><!-- s:?: -->

Nope, never visited Tremulis's shop. Did visit with him and Chrissie at his home in Ventura. The last time he was deep in the throes of Alzheimer's.

Very talented designer, very talented crafsman, very talented storyteller.

The fast back four door sedan used to appeal to me, but as I get older I prefer the four doors and the larger trunk. I cant even see it anymore. I guess thats why ice cream comes in two flavors.

Hi Josh, question, I saw mention of his shop here, wmspear.com/bill/Bantam/40hly.html
did you ever get to see Tremulis' Beverly Hills shop and did you ever get to meet and interview him?

< Tremulis, Alexander Sarantos b. January 23, 1914 d. December 29, 1991>

Hi,

I know this is all opinion and personal preference, but to me the flat back is the greatly better styling. It's the [i:lhegtdw5]flat-back [/i:lhegtdw5]that was born on the highway...



Anyway, who cares about minor issues such trunk space and convenience when you have a [i:lhegtdw5]CORD??[/i:lhegtdw5]

--Tom

Compared to the original Buehrig styling vision, it is an addition, but as an addition it is not an abomination as it could have been. The stock body?s were converted to ambulances and such. Had the company survived many models have come in other designs from the cowl back. I actually feel it is very attractive and well done in the light of 1937 styling. Usually different is better in the old car world and the bustle never seems to have endeared itself as a styling cue. They seem to have be the first body?s cannibalized, scrapped and ignored. The Tremlus connection is very forgiving as well. Not sporty but classy and very impressive to the untrained eye of doorman at the Copa.


www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/body ... carID=9090

I sometimes think I'm the only person who likes the bustlebacks (or humpbacks, as I usually accidentally call them). It comes from favoring Custom models, I think.

This a probably a 1937 812, not an 810. Lots of photos indicate that the bumper guards on the 812s were installed pointing down.

The taillites had to be outboard in order for the rear spare to work. All 812 bustlebacks and some later 812 fastbacks had outboard lites. Seems unlikely that the dealer would do the needed bodywork to move the lites from the deck lid. So either the rear spare was a factory installation or the dealer kit could only be installed on a fastback with outboard taillites. More likely the latter.

The bustle trunks were added to provide some luggage space. This was the major customer complaint (bodywise) about the fastback sedans. The bustle trunks were hardly an improvement esthetically, IMHO.

Would you fair to say this was an 810 model in 1936? The tire carrier looks like it was well done. The trunk bracket looks like a gas filler neck attached to the trunk skin when the tire is lowered. Was there a good survival rate on these carriers on the sedans and how many still exist? The interior of the trunk seems muck larger without the spare. All the tire carrier parts appear to be bolt on.
A trunk or spare tires and side pipes on a luxury car in the thirties was a considered a special treat to view. Looking at the amount of cars from the thirties with hump trunks they seemed to be preferred by buyers.
The Cord bustle trunks that were designed after the accessory bolt on trunks and designed by Alex Tremulis creator of the Tucker seem to mimic a tire carrier.
Trunks must have been favored by buyers as it was popular with buyers of the 812 Beverly. Possibly inspired somehow by how well the spare was carried on this model.
I was pondering the question of reversing the bumperettes. Cord never considered the car in the rear view mirror. The Cord was the only car on the road. Now consider the car on an assembly line. The front bumper is 12". The rear would be slightly higher 14", especially in the 812 with the extra leaf. So if a Cord front bumper would bump a Cord rear bumper it would not travel underneath. Locking and possibly damaging the rear fairing and bending the spare wheel. So reverse the bumperettes preventing under travel? Fun to speculate. <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> notice how the taillights are not in the lid... www.coachbuilt.com/des/t/tremulis/tremulis.htm

Great photo. Very likely a car as yet unsold. No license plate, stands across the street from the Fuller dealership. Supports the "812 rear bumper guards point down" school. And a rear-mounted spare!

Maybe the spare had just been installed and they drove the car on to the street to take a good photograph. Since all the rear-mounted spares look the same, the factory must have supplied a kit. Anyone have any evidence?

There do not seem to be many images of the dealership. I remember going down there with dad when a kid for some unrelated business and was impressed by the underground garage, something important happened there before. Just an empty cement structure back then.

Is there a link to a high resolution photo?

There is a hidden image in this one, check the hubcap reflection carefully, there is the Fuller transmitting tower.

A better scan of a better image may provide more details.

Hi,

I am uploading a photo of the fire that destoyed this beautiful wood-construction Art Deco building. Although it had fallen into bad decay, its destruction remains a great cultural loss.

When I see those (pre-fire) horizontal lines of windows and trim, what I think of is, "CORD!"



--Tom

If you are at Disneyland soon you will be treated to a new sign resembling the Pan Pacific building, scroll down the page for drawing of new gate.
www.gadling.com/2010/12/10/disne ... k4%7C30477

heres a bunch of interesting photos, takes a while to load,
www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/p ... teresting/

"Recently Completed Auburn-Fuller building on Wilshire Boulevard at Mariposa Avenue, one of E.L. Cord's building projects."

"Auburn-Fuller building at Wilshire Boulevard and Mariposa Street, costing $500,000 with all home materials and equipments used, as specified by builder, E.L. Cord." -- Mariposa Avenue extends northward from the image.

2 April 1932


oop's I forgot this,

balinwire wrote: Did the building have a southern exposure?

Definitely, since Wilshire runs east-west, these windows would be facing the south....

Did the building have a southern exposure? The reason the walls were walled off was for security and shade as the glass probably let in excessive sunlight. With no air conditioning it must have been unbearable.
In your photo there appears to be a new building to the east. The palms seem to have been removed and replaced with large, quick growing shade trees.
Without the angle iron towers on the roof, the facade is a lot less imposing.
The street lamps were also changed. I guess there is a lot less flat glass breakage maintenance.
The block window fillers have been opened to 8' and filled with standard glass panes with granite siding.
An flat overhanging walkway awning was added to provide shade.
All changes very well done but the remodels erased the vintage look except a few scroll details that remain on the tops of the towers parapets,
Coppola's.
The building looks a lot like the old city hall does now. Amazing pictures, thanks.

cph, thanks for a great update! This is the type of research we have had so much fun with in AMC land. I don't have Josh's book (yet) but I do have one called [i:2mm8rwfn]The American Car Dealership [/i:2mm8rwfn](Motorbooks, 2004) which includes a different photo of this one, from 1932, plus other ACD dealerships. All photos are attributed to the ACD Museum.

About this time last year, I took a couple of pictures of the building. Again, there's plenty of leafy trees blocking the much lower part of the building. But the Art Deco upper floors are still visible....

These two shots were made across the street on Wilshire.





Next time I'm out there, I'll see if I can get a shot of the ramp area (assuming it still exists and hasn't been walled off, etc.)

This is the Fuller dealer building in Los Angeles, it had cinderblocks covering where the display glass is at in this photo.

I think the radio tower was still there on the roof.

The gray building had no markings, but it was a very distinctive building, some thing important must have gone on in there.

I thought it was on Sunset Blvd but I am told it was on Wilshire.

If you could, please get a disposable camera or digital and take a picture of the front and side views, possibley the ramp to the garage area.

Maybe there are some dealership clues on the inside? If these wall could talk! before the earthquake...........

Ron Irwin Photo from Joshs book

Auburn/Cord Parts wrote: Yes, the old Auburn/Fuller Dealership building is still standing at 3443 Wilshire Blvd. in LA. It is used by Atlantic Richfield Petroleum and the windows are all covered and the building is a rather drab gray. It would be nice restored as many buildings in the area are. An example is the Wiltern Theater on Wilshire and Western!

Stan

Actually, now the building is occupied by the Indonesian Consulate (3457 Wilshire). It is also surrounded by trees making it hard to see some of the detail (as well as being overshadowed by taller buildings in the area)....

Here are some pictures of the Pan Pacific building, sorry to hear it burned in 89.

65.254.59.194/~vstapf/vasc/ppa.htm

balin'-

I think you might have some of your information mixed up. Rockerfeller owned Standard Oil, Marion Davies was sweetheart to Wm. Randolph Hearst. The old 4334 Wilshire building being used by Atlantic Richfield was a part of E.L. Cords operation as he was a principal in Atlantic Richfield. E.L. is given credit for inventing off shore drilling for oil. It seems that he bought a bunch of land scripts from various Indian tribes. These had been given to the Indians by the government but they couldn't use the land since it was offshore or tide water holdings. He found ways to perfect these rights and drill for oil off shore. We have a retired school teacher here in town that grew up in L.A. during the depression. In 1932-33 he worked on a W.P.A. street project in Hollywood. He said he was running a jack hammer at the corner of Hollywood and Vine and just loved to see those beautiful Auburns and Cords in the show room. He said it took his mind off the work and economic times. He's around 85 today and loves to come in and look at the cars. J.W. Culbreth, a club member that has passed on, used to live in L.A. and told me he walked to school past the Wilshire dealership. He said more than once that his parents had to come and drag him home as he just stood in front of the windows looking at the cars. You could see them on the Wilshire front and side street that was lined with palm trees. They also had a lower level garage that cars came and went from for service. I have several pictures taken in that level of the building. Of course, the radio station on the roof competed wth the station owned by Bob Lee the Cadillac dealer. Mr. Cord was in radio and later TV to the end.

Stan

PS - There is/was a grand old Episcopal church next door. Of course, he probably didn't have much to do with it!

Hi KS,

I had no idea that he had an interest in the Derby. If the cars were still for sale what a way to showcase the Auburn line to the stars. During those times the area must have been very glamorous like the autos he represented.

When I was a boy growing up there I could see many of the shadows of the bygone era and heard many stories of the Duesenburg but never saw any. I did work for a lady that had a 31? dual cowl LaSalle touring with wood spoke wheels in perfect shape in her garage, also her sons 1930?s? Lincoln was in another, he was KIA in WW-II but she saved the car.

I understand J Paul Getty owned Standard Oil. Marion Davies; his sweetheart was given a Duesenburg. I guess he just bought 4334 Wilshire as well.

In an issue of the newsletter it mentioned the building was powered, heat and light by Lycoming power plants, convenient since you own the oil wells! I don?t suppose those are still in operation due to emissions and maintenance either.

I never noticed the dealer on Hollywood and Vine but I wonder if there might still be a sign painted on the brick exterior surviving. Maybe even under a hundred coats of paint.

Well guess I will just have to be happy with a picture of my Westchester in front of a hay pasture with a bunch of grazing cows instead of a big time holly picture show premiere, balin?

balinwire wrote: Thanks KS for the info,

I was sure it was on sunset or hollywood blvd but there was just so many landmarks there. Do you remember seeing the Pan Pacific Auditorium? It is a huge building sporting a faux deco exterior reminicent of a luxury liner.
It is from the thirtys and I believe it was there that the new Cord was displayed in Sept of 1935. It may be on Wilshire and Fairfax area but I am not sure. I remember it as having being abandoned and weeds growing thru the asphalt.

I would like to see a photo of my old Cord standing in front of that auditorium, maybe someday, balin'

********************************

Mr. Cord also owned the Pan Pacific and son Charles managed it for years. After it burnt they left the front wall standing for many years. I understand that it is also gone now? There was a small dealer on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Mr. Cord developed a lot of the area along Wilshire and Beverly Hills. How about the Ambassador Hotel and Brown Derby? He had a hand in those also.

You may have to go to Auburn Indiana and park in front of the former Administration building for a photo op. Boy, ACD cars and art deco buildings sure do look good together.

Stan

Thanks KS for the info,

I was sure it was on sunset or hollywood blvd but there was just so many landmarks there. Do you remember seeing the Pan Pacific Auditorium? It is a huge building sporting a faux deco exterior reminicent of a luxury liner.
It is from the thirtys and I believe it was there that the new Cord was displayed in Sept of 1935. It may be on Wilshire and Fairfax area but I am not sure. I remember it as having being abandoned and weeds growing thru the asphalt.

I would like to see a photo of my old Cord standing in front of that auditorium, maybe someday, balin'

Yes, the old Auburn/Fuller Dealership building is still standing at 3443 Wilshire Blvd. in LA. It is used by Atlantic Richfield Petroleum and the windows are all covered and the building is a rather drab gray. It would be nice restored as many buildings in the area are. An example is the Wiltern Theater on Wilshire and Western!

Stan

In the early 60?s I would see the reminents of a huge ?art deco?
&lt;We did not know of that designation at that time :+) !?&gt;
old building with huge windows that were cinder bricked up.

I would admire that awesome building from the bus stop on my way to school back then. Having no idea of what purpose it had I was always curious. Marilyn and the Kennedy?s were gone and there were only the shadows of old Hollywood but one could see some of the glamour of bygone days in the structure.

Thru the ACD club newsletter I saw a picture of the Los Angles building as the Duesenburg Auburn dealership. What a revelation. Does this building still exist? If it does is there any idea if it could be restored to its former glory as is the factory building in Auburn has been?

I understand there is an effort to revitalize the Hollywood area and what better idea than have that building showcasing the autos that had the golden eras stars, Rudy and Clark etc. mesmerized.

Still under the ACD spell, balin?