Standout Structures With Unusual Shapes
During the 1920s and ‘30s, one could find in Los Angeles a real estate office in the shape of a sphinx, an ice cream shop shaped like a giant ice bucket and a florist’s shop in the shape of a flowerpot.
Although no longer standing, those roadside buildings, shaped like merchandise being sold or a related product, were meant to stand out to passing motorists, amuse them and, merchants hoped, lure them in to buy whatever the shop had to offer. This concept became known as programmatic architecture, and usually the buildings were designed by the shop’s owners.
Sometimes they were constructed of stucco over a wood frame and sculpted wire mesh, and because they were not built using the best materials, many have vanished. Some are pictured in “California Crazy” (Chronicle: $8.95) by Jim Heimann and Rip Georges, and a few are in “L.A. Lost and Found” by Sam Hall Kaplan (Crown: $27.95).
Here are 10 interesting “representative buildings” sure to attract roadside attention:
The Shutter Shak, 15336 Golden West St., Westminster, (714) 897-4777. The hardest part about building this 8-foot-wide, 14-foot-long black-and-silver camera that serves as a photo-developing shop was getting legal permission, said co-owner Michael Bel Monte. “We had to fight City Hall. They thought it looked too much like Disneyland,” he said. Wife Susan Bel Monte designed the free-standing camera-shape building, “but we couldn’t find anybody who would build it,” he said. So Michael constructed it himself during four months in 1977. Complete with a 2 1/2-foot lens, flash cube and knobs, this 1,000-times-enlarged camera is made of lumber and sheet metal.
United Equipment Co., 600 W. Glenwood Road, Turlock, (209) 632-9931. This 2,400-square-foot yellow tractor that appears to be bulldozing a pile of rocks is a two-story office building for a heavy-equipment company. Patterned after a Caterpillar D6 tractor (it’s about 2 1/2 times larger than the actual thing), this “Cat” even copies the details, including large heavily treaded undercarriage, seat and gearshift. “The owner saw a scale model of a tractor on top of a 25-story building in Tokyo, and got the idea for his own tractor-shaped building,” said Brenda Schmidt, secretary/bookkeeper and daughter of Harold Logsdon, who owns the building. The building, constructed in 1976, is made mostly of plywood. It has six rooms, including a conference room and employee lounge where the diesel engine would otherwise be.
Deschwanden’s Shoe Repair, 931 Chester Ave., Bakersfield, (805) 324-7292. This white oxford shoe measures 30 feet long, 14 feet wide at the sole, 12 feet wide at the heel, 10 feet high at the toe and 20 feet high at the heel. The 50-foot-long shoelace is a three-inch-wide oil-field rope, dyed black. A window is by the instep of the shoe, and the door is by the toe. Owner Don Deschwanden’s father designed and built this repair shop in 1947. “It was made like a model airplane is made, with ribs and wire and plaster pushed into it,” Deschwanden said. “It has stood through a lot of earthquakes.” The shoe repairer said he doesn’t spend any money on ads. “The shoe advertises for itself.”
Bear Tree in Hobby City, 1240 S. Beach Blvd., Anaheim, (714) 527-1411. A shop for stuffed teddy bears is, naturally, shaped like a giant oak tree. “We decided to go for the natural-type setting,” said Jason Walker, who, with his wife, Michelle, helped design and now owns the Bear Tree. The Walkers, who built the tree in 1983 with stucco and wood, once lived upstairs. The inside, made from plywood, looks like the inside of a tree. Located between Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland, the unusual building is 38 feet high and 30 to 35 feet wide.
Donut Hole, 15300 E. Amar Road, Hacienda Boulevard and Elliott Avenue, La Puente, (818) 968-2912. A giant brown half doughnut lies on each end of this building. Customers drive through the hole of the doughnut and order their pastries from one side of the building while doughnuts are being made on the other side. This 24-hour landmark shop with the two 46-foot-long, 26-foot-diameter doughnuts was built in 1962 and was originally part of five Donut Hole establishments. But only this one was shaped like a doughnut.
Tail o’ the Pup, 329 N. San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 652-4517. This huge stucco stand is shaped like a giant hot dog, complete with mustard and bun. The 17-foot-long, six-foot-round hot dog was moved from its original site at 311 N. La Cienega Blvd. about a year ago for the construction of the 11-story Ma Maison Hotel, said Dennis Blake, who owns the stand with his father, Eddie. “Believe it or not, it was moved on a flatbed with a ‘seat belt,’ ” Dennis Blake said. Built in 1946, the stand gained fame in commercials, TV magazines, shows, music videos, TV series and the movies “Ruthless People,” “Body Double” and “The Main Event.” “It’s one of the last in Pop Art Deco, a dying phenomenon,” he said. “You just don’t see these places anymore because of building codes and regulations.”
Capitol Records Tower, 1750 Vine St., Hollywood. This 13-story building was not designed to look like a stack of records with a phonograph needle on top, but it does. Architect Welton Becket dreamed up this circular building as an architectural innovation and skyline attraction in 1954. Upon completion in 1956, it became the new headquarters for Capitol Records, although much of it was occupied by other tenants. A beacon on the spire used to blink the word Hollywood in Morse Code and will again soon, according to a Capitol spokesman, who says the building is being renovated and is now totally occupied by the record company.
Randy’s Donut, 805 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, (213) 642-8632. The carry-out doughnut stand with the giant, glazed brown doughnut on top is an L.A. landmark. It’s a popular background for movies, including “The Golden Child,” “Breathless” and “Love Letters,” said Larry Weintraub, who is a co-owner with his brother Ron. The shop has had three ownerships in the past eight years. Open around the clock, the establishment was started in 1952 by Russell Wendell, who also opened Pup ‘n Taco.
Wigwam Village Motel, 2728 W. Foothill Blvd., Rialto, (714) 875-0241. Hiawatha probably would have felt at home in this three-acre, tree-filled village built in the 1930s. It is comprised of 20 individual wigwams, each about 25 feet high. Nineteen wigwams serve as motel rooms, the other is the manager’s office. The exteriors of the conical dwellings are white cement with two or three windows and a flared triangular door. The insides are wood. A room goes for $35 a night.
The Dinosaur Gardens, 50800 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, (714) 849-8309. A 150-foot-long, 45-foot-high brontosaurus that menacingly overlooks Interstate 10 is a museum of the Prehistoric Era. A stairway on the side allows entrance to the 4 1/2-story building, which houses bones and teeth from the extinct monsters, as well as arrowheads, cave paintings, tools and other artifacts. The museum took 11 years to build and opened in 1980, said Ida Rowing. She runs the exhibit hall, which was designed by her 90-year-old father, Claude Bell. Next to the brontosaurus is its cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex, which is only a statue, because “it won’t hold the weight of the people,” Rowing said.
