Quote:
Originally Posted by bighen
Here is a photo of BlueBird Laundry taken in 1925. It was located on the NE corner of Crenshaw Blvd and Exposition Blvd. I remember the building but not the signs from the 1960's. The area is now a church.
Source: Los Angeles Public Library
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LAPL date the picture above as circa 1925, but the City Directories still list the Blue Bird Laundry at 3600 S. Western Avenue as late as 1929.
e_r, you'll be pleased to know that as well as the blade sign, they also had a large roof sign (just visible in
bighen's 1935 picture).
Detail of picture at
USC Digital Library
Zooming out a little, we can see that Ralphs built a store nearly opposite the laundry. USC date this picture at 1940, but I found
a KCET article which says the Ralphs store opened on April 25th, 1942.
Detail of picture at
USC Digital Library
This better picture of Ralphs was originally posted by
sopas ej way back in
post #304 (NB. the original image is now missing).
sopas ej/
USC Digital Library
Going back to the picture of Ralphs and the Blue Bird Laundry, very few of the buildings survive. The Central Ice & Cold Storage Company at 3500 W 36th is long gone ...
Detail of picture at
USC Digital Library
... but some of the houses on S. Bronson are still there. The one on the corner (behind the Packaged Ice sign in the picture above) is probably the most interesting. It looks to be intact, but in need of some paint.
Both from GSV
Finally, here's the full USC picture that the details above were taken from.
USC Digital Library