Max Factor
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
Just south of Hollywood Boulevard, the Max Factor Building recalls a time when movie glamour came with its own address. Max Factor opened his celebrated makeup salon here in 1935, with specially designed rooms for blondes, brunettes, brownettes, and redheads. Getting ready for a close-up was serious business, and even the room colors played a part in finding the right look.
Behind the familiar name was a business that helped shape how stars appeared on the screen. The salon brought Hollywood’s makeup expertise beyond the studio gates, giving customers a chance to sample a little movie-star treatment. Not everyone could land a leading role, but a visit here offered another way to get into the picture.
Max Factor
Hollywood, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
After years of restoration led by Donelle Dadigan, The Hollywood Museum opened in the building in 2003. The restored makeup rooms became part of a larger collection of costumes, props, photographs, and entertainment memorabilia. There’s plenty to explore beyond the powder and lipstick, though the old salon remains an attraction in its own right.
UPDATE: The Hollywood Museum operates in the historic Max Factor Building, preserving its makeup rooms alongside exhibits of entertainment history. That museum once described here as a future possibility has been welcoming visitors for more than two decades. A fitting second act for a place that helped Hollywood put on its best face. 10-26
Asahi Building (Now Samsung)
Los Angeles, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Look above Wilshire and La Brea and you’ll find the E. Clem Wilson Building, better known to some motorists by whichever advertisement occupied its rooftop. Mutual of Omaha, Asahi, and Samsung have all had their turn getting the message across. Depending on when you drove past, the same building might bring a different name to mind.
Built in 1929–1930 and designed by Meyer & Holler, the Art Deco tower has plenty worth a look beneath the advertising. Its setbacks and decorative crown give the corner a distinctive profile, rising above the smaller storefronts along the boulevard. The architects also designed Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre, so making a building catch the eye was familiar territory.
Television viewers may recognize another identity altogether. The tower appeared as the Daily Planet building in the first season of Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves. Before the Asahi and Samsung years, this Wilshire Boulevard landmark was helping stand in for Metropolis. Apparently Clark Kent had a Southern California office.
UPDATE: The historic tower survives at Wilshire and La Brea. Its rooftop advertisements have supplied several familiar nicknames over the decades, but E. Clem Wilson remains the name behind the building. A good reminder to take a look below the billboard, too. 10-26
Wilshire Boulevard (1940's)
Los Angeles, CA Photo courtesy Jeff Pace
Take a look down Wilshire Boulevard in this view from the 1940s. Zinke’s shoe repair occupies the near right, while the blue-green Wiltern Theatre and Pellissier Building rise farther along the street at Western Avenue. A familiar landmark helps place the scene, even as the smaller storefronts recall a different boulevard.
There’s plenty to study in an old street view like this. Signs, shop windows, and everyday businesses record the things that rarely make it onto a postcard by themselves. Getting a pair of shoes repaired was just another stop along Wilshire.
UPDATE: The Wiltern remains a recognizable landmark at Wilshire and Western. This stretch lies east of the Miracle Mile, rather than within it. 10-26
Bono's Deli (Gone)
Fontana, CA Photo courtesy Chris & Ginger
Along Route 66 in Fontana, Bono’s Deli offered a roadside stop with something a little larger than the usual fruit display. The giant orange beside the business belonged to the days when a building shaped like the product was a perfectly good way to catch a driver’s attention. Hard to pass this one without knowing what it once served. 06-07
The Bono family’s business dated to 1936, when Foothill Boulevard carried travelers through a landscape of farms, vineyards, and roadside businesses. The deli became part of that familiar Route 66 scenery, giving motorists a place to stop long before the freeway offered a quicker way through town.
Bono's Deli
Fontana, CA Photo courtesy Chris & Ginger
The orange came to the property much later, after serving elsewhere in Fontana. Its small service window recalls the juice stands that once dotted California’s highways, tempting passing drivers with fresh citrus. Park one beside an old deli and there’s plenty of reason to pull over, even if the camera comes out before the lunch money.
UPDATE: The giant orange was removed from the property in 2022 for preservation and planned restoration. It is no longer standing beside the former deli as shown here, leaving this view as a reminder of the pair’s years together along old Route 66. 10-26
Bendix Building
Los Angeles,
CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Look up over the Fashion District and check out the rooftop lettering for the Bendix Building. The towering, three-sided sign gives this corner of downtown Los Angeles a landmark that can be spotted well beyond the sidewalk below. Relit in 2003, the old marquee brought a familiar name back into the nighttime skyline. 04-08
The building dates to 1929 and once housed the Bendix Aviation Corporation. Architect William Douglas Lee and builder Florence Casler gave it Gothic Revival details that reward a closer look from street level, too. Carved figures and words including “Progress,” “Education,” and “Invention” decorate the facade. Apparently the big rooftop name wasn’t the only message worth putting on the building.
These days, artists, galleries, and designers work inside the former industrial building. The Gothic figures overhead give the place a little atmosphere after dark, though they seem content to keep watch from the facade.
UPDATE: The Bendix Building continues as a home for creative businesses, with its familiar rooftop sign remaining a defining feature above the surrounding streets. The tenants have changed, but that big name still gives motorists a reason to look up. 10-26
Asahi Building (Now Samsung)
Along Route 66 in Fontana, Bono’s Deli offered a roadside stop with something a little larger than the usual fruit display. The giant orange beside the business belonged to the days when a building shaped like the product was a perfectly good way to catch a driver’s attention. Hard to pass this one without knowing what it once served. 06-07
