Ralphs Grocery Store (Los Angeles, California)
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Ralphs Grocery Store
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Tower on the former Ralphs Grocery Store, 2008
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| Location | 1142-1154 Westwood Boulevard & 10887-10889 Lindbrook DriveWestwood Village, Los Angeles, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°3′35.5″N 118°26′40″W / 34.059861°N 118.44444°WCoordinates: 34°3′35.5″N 118°26′40″W / 34.059861°N 118.44444°W |
| Built | 1929 |
| Architect | Collins,Russell E.; Benjamin,S.N. |
| Architectural style | Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial Revival, other |
| NRHP Reference # | 92000969 |
| LAHCM # | 360 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 30, 1992 |
| Designated LAHCM | June 21, 1988 |
Ralphs Grocery Store is a historic building in the Westwood Village section of Westwood, Los Angeles, California. Built in 1929 as a Ralphs Grocery Store, it was one of the original six buildings in the Westwood Village development. The building was noted for its cylindrical rotunda capped by a low saucer dome, with a pediment over the entrance and arcaded wings extending north and east. It was photographed by Ansel Adams in 1940, declared a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1988, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The history of Westwood Village began in 1925, when the Regents of the University of California purchased a large block of land from the Janss Investment Company for the construction of the new UCLA campus. The Janss family retained ownership of the land south of the campus and there developed Westwood Village — a carefully planned commercial center that was to be "a model college town." The university and the Janss family agreed to harmonize the architecture of the campus and the village in a "Mediterranean style."
The new Westwood Village began to open in 1929, and one of its original buildings was the Ralphs Grocery Store located on Westwood Boulevard, one block north of Wilshire Boulevard. The store's most prominent feature was its low rotunda, at the corner of Westwood Boulevard and Lindbrook Drive. The building's exterior walls were built with imitation stone, but were later covered with stucco. The building's style has been described as having Mission Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival elements, and is said to have served as a model for other low-rise commercial structures in the village. Early advertising materials for the Westwood Village development featured images of the Ralphs tower and the Janss dome, which became area landmarks. The opening of the store in the fall of 1929 was timed to coincide with the opening of the UCLA campus, and the Los Angeles Times proclaimed the store "one of the most beautiful exclusive grocery marts in the West." The opening was celebrated with a free food show, as Ralphs boasted a new feature at their Westwood store — "the employment of uniformed boys to wrap each purchase of merchandise while it is being paid for at the cashier's stand, and then carry it to the customer's car."
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