I'm sure we've seen the wonderful Casa de Cadillac here before, but, as we know, the "search" feature here objects to small
words such as "Don" and "Lee" if not "casa." Anyway, what I did not know about the Cadillac dealership I first noticed in Tom
Petty's "Free Fallin'" video is that it started out as a branch of Don Lee's operations in 1949. It became the Casa sometime
in the '50s--some sources say within a year of opening. At top, '49 models appear in the Don Lee showroom, followed by '59s
in the second shot, and recent models in the third.
Something else I hadn't noticed was the larger "Casa de" theme at the corner of Ventura Blvd and Beverly Glen in Sherman Oaks:
And finally, I guess there never were anything so tacky as "used-car" departments at Cadillac dealers... looks like before they were
"previously owned," they were offered for "resale." Someone seems to have traded in a '57 Lincoln convertible...
The dealership itself is remarkably intact 63 years later, doubly remarkable in the age of factory-dictated dealership design. The Cascade
building and its waterfall remains recognizable. That the Casa threesome is as "together" as it is is nothing short of amazing:
Fuller story
here.
First and third pics:
Alden Jewell; all others except last,
Palm Springs Automobilist; last, Google Street View