Holy moly! Did this get posted and I missed it? Well in any event it's the first I've seen of it. Witness:
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll88/id/1440/rec/1
First off, I don't believe it dates to 1935 (leaving aside the 1939 Ford in the first twenty seconds, come on) because—if you've wondered why sometimes you see the Hotel Clift (L.A. Smith, 1924) at 148 S Fig look like
this
and then like
this,
it's because Figueroa was widened. The Clift pulled permit in October 1939 to chop 10' off its Figueroa side and do the remodel; so all that scaffolding indicates such. The remodel is designed by Clifford A Balch. Interesting that both architects on the original design and remodel were prolific theater designers. I tried to connect the
owners (who had originally portmanteau'd the Clift as the Whitmore, via their surnames,) (and indeed it's in the directories as the Witmore through '28) to theater construction, to no avail.
Across the street, 123 South Fig (Asher & Ponder) pulled permits in December 1939 to chop off 10' and remodel the facade, so they're a month and change behind the Clift in getting that accomplished.
What's especially nice is that while there are images of the facade of 123 S Fig
after the remodel (by
Webber & Nelson, engineers)—
getty research-->nadel-->west 2nd st area
—but shots of it beforehand (L. C. Maurer, 1925) are rare. I think this ad is the only one I'd seen, until this short film.
LA Times, 1926
We've seen some of this area before,
here and
here and
here.