Post #336244 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Wed, Oct 3, 2007 12:12 PM

Boris,

Thanks for updating those pics. That building provides some of my earliest memories of Tiki culture from the 1960s that fueled my re-interest in the 1990s.

Under the arch of that A-frame, in that blank spot of concrete in your picture, there used to be an enormous, grotesque Tiki that was lit from below by spotlights at night. It was taller than the staircase pictured.

That whole stretch of La Cienega Blvd in the 1960s and 1970s was a playground for my imagination as a tiny kid. My family would attend Sunday evening services at a church in Ladera Heights. Driving home afterwards on La Cienega at night, you would first pass the ISLANDER restaurant with it's guttering tiki torches and huge tiki mask & shield sign. A little further and there was your Islander Apartments with that enormous flood-lit tiki in its grotto. Then there was the googie splendor of PANN'S coffee shop, all lit up with shiny 1960s cars parked outside.

Then La Cienega would dump you onto the 405 Frwy going South. If I was lucky, an airplane would fly low over our car as it crossed the freeway to land at LAX. I also remember three Drive-in Movie screens on both sides of the Freeway, their screens were clearly visible to cars travelling South on the 405 and I would always try to guess which movie they were showing. The freeway was also flanked by roving searchlights from car dealerships along both sides. I used to take in all these sights from the back seat of our little Volkswagen Bug like a happy tourist, even though I saw them every week. Besides PANN's and the jets arriving to LAX, those sights are long gone.

Sabu