Why the Carwash Is Worth Saving

Several reasons justify landmark status for the Studio City restaurant, gas station and carwash with its 55-foot boomerang tower.

Here are a few:

1. The Cultural Heritage Commission president, Dr. Anajit Marwah, has publicly stated: “The site meets the city’s cultural criteria. It doesn’t have to be a building or have historic or architectural significance. It can be something that is important to the community or something unusual.”

2. The gas station stands where this community has had a station for the last 60 years. It is a part of this community. The site offers a place to meet friends and neighbors and provides the only “gas up and wash” service available within Studio City. The Tiny Naylor’s restaurant (only two remain in our vast city) is unique with its 1950s architecture and special “Senior Citizens Menu.”

3. Landmark status was given to a gas station on Sunset Boulevard because, as included in the application, “It is customary to see your neighbors at the gas station.”

4. The 55-foot boomerang tower is pictured in Alan Hess’ “Googie” as one of the last remaining Los Angeles architectural statements of the 1950s and early 1960s.

5. Support for landmark status was given by Dr. Marwah and Commissioner Helen Madrid-Worthen after our initial presentation to the commission in late June.

Fifty years from now when most of the Studio City area will have a different architectural look--high-tech buildings, blackened windows--it would be a wonderful statement to see the “Gateway” tower still standing. It would be like an above-ground time capsule, an ever-present reminder of the 1950s, when our community was youthful and growing that a group of people wanted to save for those who would follow.

WALTER M. McINTYRE

Studio City

McIntyre is president of the Briarcliff Improvement Assn.