Hollywood : Landmark Status Sought

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to decide Sept. 19 whether to help protect an Art Deco-style Hollywood gas station by placing it on the city’s list of historic and cultural landmarks.

Efforts to save the 55-year-old Gilmore gas station at 859 N. Highland Ave. have been supported by the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission, a Melrose-area neighborhood association, and the Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit group that advocates the preservation of culturally and architecturally significant buildings.

The conservancy describes the gas station, located near the corner of Melrose Avenue, as one of a few remaining gas stations designed in the Art Deco style. Also, the building is one of two intact gas stations that was built and operated by the Gilmore Oil Co., a prominent local distributor owned by the Gilmore family, according to conservancy official Teresa Grimes.

The building until recently was occupied as an auto repair and snack shop, but its lease was not renewed, Grimes said.

If declared a landmark, the station could be protected from demolition for up to one year. City historic landmark laws also make it difficult for builders to obtain demolition permits.