Quote:
Originally Posted by lemster2024
Thanks for posting the pic of 49th and Figueroa, HossC! I grew up a block away and would walk past those buildings on the way home after elementary school! Back in the 1960's the large building housed a number of small office business and a notary. This is the NE corner; on the SE corner there was a Mobil gas and service station up until the early 1970's. The duplex next to the office building is one of several that are found all along Figueroa heading south from the Coliseum. They all appear, for the lack of better description, Florentine/Mediterranean in design, and if I could speculate, perhaps part of a grand scheme to build a "Mediterranean-style" corridor down Figueroa to almost Slauson. Another factoid: directly across the office building is another structure that once housed an early "super" market; my parents once told me it was an early Safeway.
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If you checked out the other pictures in the set, they show a couple of gas stations in the area in 1929. It looks like there was a Shell station almost opposite the corner store, although this picture only catches the edge.
USC Digital Library
Just south of W 49th Place there was also a Hercules Gasoline station.
USC Digital Library
Here's a closer view. Both Shell and Hercules offered to grease any car for 75 cents!
Detail of picture above.