How did I miss this when I lived in LA? It’s because I hated shopping, and shopping malls most of all. And then it was built in 1986, just a year before we departed Southern California. This looks to be have taken fairly soon after it opened, given the vintage cars.
Feedtime, is what it looks like.
I can’t unsee that. It is still a super-cool creation that I wish I had visited when it was convenient.
The building is still there — as seen in the current StreetView image below.
It’s hard to tell in the featured image here, but I think it was originally painted pink; it’s since been repainted a more subtle (though ‘subtle’ hardly seems like the right term here) off-white. It is sort of creative how the upper-story windows are integrated into the grille.
Thanks to Google Maps, it appears that Fleetwood Square is alive and well…
It was pink, I lived nearby and went to the high school down the street. Certainly distinctive but somehow it didn’t stand out quite as much as you’d think. Maybe because there were a lot of Cadillacs still roaming the area then but that was shifting more every year.
Tarzana is where Edgar Rice Burroughs lived, hence the name. It’s in the Western part of the San Fernando Valley and fairly high end. Ventura Blvd is of course one fo the main streets and a literal divider, as in you lived on one side or the other of Ventura. (Our “tracks”). We, uh, lived on the other side. Actually we lived on the other side of the actual tracks as well, come to think of it… 😀
Nice. It ends up resembling the Art Deco buildings common in LA. Cars imitated the buildings for a few years, now a building is imitating a car and completing the circle.
They forgot the Fleetwood wreath around the crest.
1970 was one of my favorite years for postwar Cadillac exteriors. The interior was marred by the high seatbacks (why Grandma traded for a ’72) and deep, hollow plastic binnacle.
It would seem to be correct for a 1970 model. Crest only, no V or wreath.
I was wrong. The Fleetwood alone DID have a wreath. Oops,
Amen, brother! ‘70 was my favorite year, too!
“Once a man had a dream . . .”
How quirky! Looks to be little changed apart from being a bit dingier. I am struck by the change in occupants. Where once there was a fairly large kids’ clothing store and an insurance agent and lots of cars in the lot, now is several small shops with only a couple cars. In addition to medical supplies, you can get Lana to alter your cloths while you go get your hair and nails done, then get an acupuncture session and a full body massage (according to the sidewalk sign). I have no idea what an energic family is.
Is this a reflection of a substantial change in the neighborhood? Can large specialty stores like the Kids Collection even exist anymore in the online shopping era?
It was (is) a somewhat weird spot for it, it’s not a neighborhood where people walked the sidewalks. It’s all destination shopping in this area and there are several very large malls within a few miles of this that would cater to the kids clothing stuff, those malls were there at the time this was built. The mall featured in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Predator is one of those (Sherman Oaks Galleria, about five miles away from this location, since torn down and reconfigured significantly, but think that scale and there are a couple of those still nearby (Westfield and Topanga Plaza, both have also been featured in movies as backgrounds). Tarzana is bordered by Woodland Hills, Encino, and Sherman Oaks, all fairly high-end enclaves with plenty of entertainment and sports figures as residents. But Ventura Blvd is sort of up and down with shopping centers both large and small and bunches of stand alone shops or offices too. That photo series that Paul has been doing of Sunset Blvd in the 60’s, that’s sort of how Ventura Blvd. is/was as well. For Valley kids such as myself it was THE cruising street, we spend many weekend nights going up and down it for miles, I assume it still is today. The offices upstairs would have been occupied by perhaps a few travel agents, accountants, maybe a lawyer or two and also something like the valet company I worked for back then. Just everyday types of ventures.
Lawyers yes, but not the Lincoln Lawyer – just the home of the Cadillac of slip ‘n falls…
I’ll show myself out.
This 1986 building facade makes a much more convincing Cadillac than that 1986 DeVille behind the fence.
Haha!
Yumpin’ yiminy!
It was pink, but now it is once again white. I dare speculate that it was originally white, judging by the vintages of the cars in the provided photograph. Of course the Los Angeles Conservancy website didn’t do any research before protesting the change back to the original color.
https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/fleetwood-center
I love this!
Perfect facade for a new-money Miami Vice-era Miami area waterfront mansion.
They could bring in some real Coconut Palms from Florida, not those scruffy California Fan palms. It’d look very S Beach.
Can’t believe I missed it, too- shows you how vast LA is. Definitely on my list, already been to the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo.
Off topic, but the Farmer John’s slaughter house murals was my last cool find out there. The pigs are flying up to heaven…
I wonder how long it was before the Cadillac emblem was stolen off it?
Reminds me of this parking garage in Chicago.
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/parking-garage-loop-rolls-royce-stanley-tigerman/Content?oid=9517777
Dan – Thank you for that link. I had known about the Cali Cadillac and don’t much like it; the building purpose has no relationship to vehicles. However the building you cited in Chicago looks like a car and serves cars. Ideal and maybe unique.
Are there any other buildings that both look like and serve cars?
I love architecture that serves the automobile business. This includes classic showrooms all over the USA. My favorites are the Fiat building with the race track on the roof in Turin; the Palacio Alcorta Chrysler dealership in Buenos Aires (also with a track on the roof) and the FLW Mercedes showroom on Park Avenue in New York (commission swapped for a 300SL).
Believe it or not, it really doesn’t stand out that much as you pass by. Of course, maybe that’s because of the crazy LA drivers. If you dare slow down to less than 10 mph over the speed limit on Ventura Blvd they will honk, cut you off and flip you the bird. So you kinda need to keep your eyes on the road 🙂
Never saw or noticed it. Lived in LA area continuously since 1980.