I CONTINUE TO BE SAVORING Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, the Annotated version. Like an eager Bible student, I’m reading portions of it repeatedly seeking new tidbits about Los Angeles and its environs.
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The Annotated Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler, annotated and edited by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Dean Rizzuto, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2018.
Marlowe was off to meet Agnes Lowzier just after Harry Jones had died lying to protect her whereabouts.
“I’ll meet you in half an hour,” she tells Marlowe. “Beside Bullocks Wiltshire, the east entrance to the parking lot.”
A Beacon for Motorists. The annotation described the Bullocks Wiltshire: “Iconic art deco building at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, completed in 1929 as part of the street’s development. The first department store with its main entrance at the back—opening onto its large parking lot—it was designed to be a beacon to motorists. Levin Starr calls it ‘a temple to the automobile.’ ”
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A street view. Image by Antoine Taveneaux in Wikipedia.
Its Design. Wikipedia recounts, “The building was designed by Los Angeles architects John and Donald Parkinson; the interior design was by Eleanor Lemaire and Jock Peters of the Feil & Paradise Company; the ceiling mural of the porte-cochère was painted by Herman Sachs.”
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Ceiling mural. Image by Melissa A. Rendsburg, Linkedin.
“The exterior,” Wikipedia continues, “is notable for its 241-foot (73-m) tower whose top is sheathed in copper, tarnished green. At one time, the tower peak had a light that could be seen for miles around. The stylized relief, above the Wilshire Boulevard entrance, was designed by George Stanley, designer of the Oscar. Among the workers laboring on the project may have been Sam Rodia, builder of the Watts Towers.”
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Bullocks Wiltshire, south façade. Image by Jrkagan at English Wikipedia.
Befitting an Automotive Culture. Wikipedia confirms The Annotated Big Sleep’s view of “a beacon to motorists.” “It was located in a then-mostly residential district, its objective to attract shoppers who wanted a closer place to shop than Downtown Los Angeles. Traditional display windows faced the sidewalk, but they were decorated to catch the eyes of motorists. Since most customers would arrive by vehicle, the most appealing entrance was placed in the rear. Under the city’s first department store porte cochere, valets in livery welcomed patrons and parked their cars.”
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Art Deco elevator doors.
Art Deco Splendor. In The Brantford Expositor, April 25, 2019, Ruth Lefler wrote about “John G. Bullock: Merchant Prince from Paris.” Paris, Ontario, by the way. “The art deco style,” Lefler recounted, “carried into the store making it almost like an art gallery. The six elevator doors were copper, gunmetal and bronze. Art deco clocks, chandeliers and exotic woods were displayed. One department, the Doggery, was set aside for pets. The Saddle Shop carried fashions for the equestrian including a life size plaster horse named Bullock’s Barney. When people came in to be fitted for their riding breeches, they climbed onto Barney while the tailor checked the fit. Because the store carried high-end fashions many well known people shopped there, including Walt Disney, John Wayne, Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. Angela Lansbury, of Murder She Wrote, worked there in June, 1943. Bing Crosby shot his Christmas special there in 1969.”
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And some thirty years before that, Agnes Lawzier met Philip Marlowe in the parking lot and said, “Give me the money.” “The violet light at the top of Bullocks’s green-tinged tower was far above us, serene and withdrawn from the dark, dripping city.” ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025