Lou Reed Chrysler Plymouth, Newport Beach, CA.
Tex Brotherton Chrysler Plymouth, Walla Walla, WA.
Tex Brotherton Chrysler Plymouth, Walla Walla, WA.
Capital Chrysler Plymouth, Tallahassee, FL.
Newman Motor Sales, Dolgeville, NY.
Bright Leaf Motors, Greenville, NC.
Northside Chrysler Plymouth, Indianapolis, IN.
Canoga Chrysler Plymouth, Canoga Park, CA.
So where is Canoga Chrysler Plymouth?
Canoga Park, California in the San Fernando Valley. The building was still in use as a Chrysler dealership (resurfaced in the current corporate architecture) until pretty recently, though it’s closed now.
2019 Google StreetView image below:
That “convert” , in front of the building, would a been calling to me.
I have a photo very similar of my dad and this exact car in our driveway when he worked for Chrysler Plymouth!
Community Street, Canoga Park, June 1966-June 1968. That was as far west as the Valley went back then.
Assume this was Roscoe Blvd near Canoga if I recall
Yes, 21422 Roscoe Blvd., just west of Canoga:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gq5eGw41igdGNnTZ7
I may be losing my mind. Coming around on the ’61 Plymouth thinking they’re rather beautiful. The rear view certainly is.
I can just see the ad: “Take A Walk On The Wild Side at Lou Reed Chrysler-Plymouth!” 🙂
I also love the Ford-Chevy-Plymouth comparo at Capital. I wonder if they chose a 4 door sedan for the Chevy to make it look extra dumpy in contrast to the other two.
Finally, Northside Chrysler was actually in Indianapolis, on Keystone Avenue just below 52nd Street. The O’Briens had a second dealership in Greenwood later, but Greenwood is on the south side of the city. O’Brien Northside was where Mrs. JPC bought her 1983 Colt. The O’Briens were (are) a large family that was heavily plugged into the Catholic parishes of Indianapolis going back to the 1930’s, and they sold a lot of cars on those relationship alone. In the 90s they relocated from Keystone Ave. to E. 96th Street on the border between Indianapolis and Carmel, Indiana, and are still in business with multiple locations and brands represented. Below is another shot of the Northside location, taken right around the same time, probably when that location was new.
I believe THE Lou Reed meant something entirely different with that phrase.
Or ‘Just A Perfect Day – at Lou Reed Chrysler’. 🙂
The first Velvet Underground album sold only 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought one went out and started a new car dealership…
Great mid-century modern signage!
I remember Lou Reed Chrysler-Plymouth. Located on Dirty Boulevard.
These photos are pure magic. I’ve now been sent down the rabbit hole of finding a book of vintage car dealerships.
More great pics. Interesting, to compare the very modern dealer buildings and architecture in affluent and urban locations, to the small town dealers, with limited budgets. Lou Reed’s showroom fully accentuated the modernity of Chrysler’s lineup then. Tex Brotherton’s facade and architecture, looks straight out of the 1910’s through 1920’s. As the new Chryslers sitting inside, look so out of place. With the emphasis on futuristic and space-influenced design in 1950’s marketing in general, it’s easier to see why historical architecture, would be carelessly destroyed.
I’m not sure if Tom Halter has already covered this topic in his automotive advertising ‘trope’ series. But I used to cringe as a little kid, as so many dealers would have their full staff gather, and wave in their marketing pics, and commercials. Always looked so thoroughly insincere, and contrived. While car makers themselves always used top ad agencies to promote their image, dealers often used the P.T Barnum-like marketing ideas fermented in the minds of the dealership owner and sale department. Some customers, apparently ate that schtick up.
Some Chrysler, Plymouth, and Dodge dealers in northern Wisconsin were nothing more than gas stations. They may have had only 1 or 2 cars on the lot. You tried them out then ordered yours.
“Bright Leaf Motors” appeared to be well stocked.
Keep these old dealer photos/stories coming. Love them. Takes me back to a more simple time in life.
Thank ypu for these wonderful pictures ! .
I don’t really ken how to research vintage pictures and these not only bring back memories but they make me want to make a bee line to Canoga park C.P. and score a new Valiant .
-Nate
I miss these showrooms with their picturesque streetside picture windows. Much more inviting than the big suburban buildings sitting a block back from the road behind a sea of cars.
I started my working career in downtown Omaha, and the city’s only Cadillac dealer was still downtown, and had big street level windows just a sidewalk back from the street. Very old school, neon lighting, fun to peak in during the day, and beautiful to look in at night.
Today, our only Cadillac dealer sits backed away from an 8 lane road that sits under a flyover – providing a glimpse of the roof of the dealership building.
The suburban shopping-mall-like isolation not only makes the Cadillac dealership appear uninviting, but also sharing this detached football-field sized environment with a Chevrolet dealership (and a third dealer), doesn’t help.
Cold and disconnecting, for sure. Sad to see.
It’s been shown here previously, but there’s still the Cadillac dealer on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks that resisted various generations of GM corporate architecture or moving to a more spacious location. It was remodeled back to its original look after an earthquake and small fire.
https://lamag.com/news/vintage-cadillac-dealership-restored
I’ll bet Bright Leaf was stocked up on expensive Chryslers for tobacco harvesting/market season. That’s down in the Eastern part of NC which at the time was tobacco country (maybe still is). My great grandfather owned a large shoe store in downtown Winston-Salem NC from about 1900 to 1965 (he lived to be 102 and died in 1975, took the bus to work every day into his 90’s, quit driving after he totaled a new ’57 Chevy at age 84).
His big profit maker was when everyone brought their tobacco harvest to market in W-S, which had row after row of tobacco markets/warehouses at the time (now mostly hip housing and shared work spaces). RJ Reynolds was centered there (Winstons, Salems, and Camels). People from all over would bring their tobacco to market, get paid on the spot, and buy shoes for the whole family to last the next year with the cash in their pocket. Different times.
I went to RJ Reynolds High School from 1984-88. Smoking was allowed on campus (but not inside the building, of course).
A good friend of mine from college went to RJ Reynolds HS during the same period. Small world.
Also, I was telling my kids recently that my high school near Philadelphia had a “smoking quad” where kids could smoke during the day. That was eliminated when I was a student there, so the smoking kids just walked across the street to smoke, which wasn’t popular with the school’s neighbors.
North Carolina’s tobacco culture was interesting – fading by the time I lived there in the 1990s. Just that fact that a business such as a car dealership would be named after tobacco leaves is fascinating from a modern standpoint.
I’m pretty sure this is the site of Bright Leaf Motors – the garage on the far end of the property matches, as does the general site layout, though the main building is gone. The site is used as a tire and auto repair shop now:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4c4gxgWiaE7cJxSU9
The HS my kids went to, built in the 70’s, had a couple of smoking areas “inside” the building. It was pretty interesting in the middle of a hallway there were a couple of large floor to ceiling windows and a door. It opened into a courtyard with built in benches around the perimeter. Interestingly on at least one of them there was a small window to the adjacent class room that did open. Of course by the time my kids went there the areas were kept locked but they still gave a good bit of natural light in the hallway.
The building was repurposed as a middle school when a new HS was built several years ago.
Was it called a “breezeway?”
One of those Chevy dealer films from 1961 trolled that the new Plymouth’s front end looked just like the rear end of a ’58 Chevy. The Newman picture certainly agrees with that assessment!
I’ll bet Newman Motor Sales was glad to have that Valiant “sideline”, I doubt those pug-ugly ’61s flew off the lot.
I remember this era when dealerships had some character and individuality, particularly in smaller towns. Here in Western Canada it seems the single dealership is almost extinct, most of them are generic “syndicate” chains now.
I really enjoy these glimpses into the past!
Here’s the site of Capital Chrysler-Plymouth in Tallahassee. The Chrysler dealership moved to a bigger location on the west side of town in the 1960s, and then this building was used as a Dodge dealership for a while (moving down in the world?).
Amusingly, it’s now occupied by a foreign car services place called Furrin Motors, which is a great name for that business.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/eALoVFW9qwYxzix19
Amazing work Eric, researching the fate of these dealers, and pieces of land. I haven’t followed all of your before and after examples, but in most cases I’ve seen, the location fates have been fairly poor. Of course, some dealers thrive, and expand to better locations. But so many places of work and commerce, where owners and workers put in their heart and sweat for years to build a successful long term business, have completely disappeared. Seems our lives and work efforts must be sometimes measured in very finite terms. As so many business ventures, are so fragile. At the very least, I am impressed the buildings have managed to remain standing, in many cases.
I spent part of my childhood growing up at CFB Rockcliffe near Parliament Hill in Ottawa, a thriving base community at one point. As the entire base has been replaced with modern homes. No military personnel homes or administrative buildings were left standing.
CFB Rockcliffe air show in 1955. Every structure in this image, since demolished.
Same location today, facing southeast. Where the forest stands straight ahead, was the location of three large aircraft hangars, and the base supply and services. A thriving hub of activity. A visitor today, would think it was always pristine forest. When it was all tarmac. New home development just beyond this forest.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4561963,-75.6415031,3a,75y,103.97h,84.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0W4r9I7V7T6jb54ZiMf4PQ!2e0!5s20210501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?authuser=0&entry=ttu
The fate of this Tallahassee dealership and its environs seems like a familiar story. Located on a once-thriving commercial strip near downtown, the dealership moved to an edge-of-town location with more acreage – and slowly the area around the old downtown location got rougher and rougher.
Interesting about the Rockcliffe base – looking at a modern map, I’d never guess there was once a large military base there.
On the same subject, this Dodge dealer radio ad series was ubiquitous in the Denver area well into the 1980’s. Skyline Dodge closed probably in the late 80’s as Chrysler consolidated dealers.
https://www.broadcastpioneersofcolorado.com/mp3/skyline_dodge.mp3
Thanks for posting these pictures. Now if we could see some early 1970s Chrysler-Plymouth dealer snapshots while listening to Steve Karmen’s jingle “Coming Through” they used for the 1971 model year. 😉
Steve Karmen got around; the 1969 Pontiac “Break Away” jingle was also his work. It became an actual hit song in the UK.
The Brotherton family, formerly of Walla Walla is still in the auto business though they jumped to GM at some point. They now call the Seattle area home with a couple of Cadillac dealerships and a Buick-GMC. I believe they sold Oldsmobile too before it was discontinued.
The pictured building is still owned by the family, but hasn’t been used as a dealership since the 80’s and is now leased to the Dept of Corrections. It still carries the Brotherton name on a small plaque.
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.0645608,-118.3444758,3a,40y,220.99h,96.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slqtSW1SORTOgTl-QxkThpA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
I remember when Plymouth, Ford and, Chevrolet was referred to as ” the low price three”. Capital Chrysler Plymouth was just displaying them. Buick was advertising that just a few penny’s more a day you could drive a Buick Special. I miss those days.
I remember Canoga Chrysler Plymouth, and across the street was Dependable Dodge. They were on Roscoe and Canoga Ave. We also had Valley Plymouth, which later became Valley Chrysler Plymouth located on Reseda Blvd in Reseda, California. In 1960, my dad bought the first Valient sold in Los Angeles County.
Yeah Lou met Sweet Jane standing on a corner while he was Waiting for his man ! & She was a Fem Fatale with Pale Blue Eyes & yes it was a Dirty Blvd ! HA ok that’s it , you have yourself a Perfect Day
Thank you sir !
I just can’t imagine why Chrysler would be paired with Plymouth. The markets are completely different. You want to know why Chrysler’s image kept dropping? Gee – perhaps they needed to stop being in the same showrooms as Valiants and Crickets.
Sometimes, it seems that the head decision makers in Detroit just don’t think. No one is wanting an Imperial is going to a dealer selling both brands. Lincoln might have been teamed with Mercury, but at least there weren’t Continentals sitting next to Falcons. Cadillac never shared showroom space alongside Chevettes.
Then the radio song posted above – they just gotta tie Chrysler with Plymouth like it makes some kind of sense. It doesn’t. Trying to sell the dealers as Chrysler Plymouth was just dumb.
You had Continentals sitting next to Comets.
And Mercedeses sitting next to Studebaker Larks.