Bullocks Wilshire
A department store built for the automobile, entered from the car park, not the street. Bullocks Wilshire made shopping an Art Deco event under a copper-green tower.
At a glance
Bullocks Wilshire is a 1929 Art Deco department store on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, designed by the father-and-son architects John and Donald Parkinson. Built of buff terra-cotta crowned by a green-copper tower, it was one of the first major stores planned around the car, welcoming shoppers through a porte-cochère at the rear with a ceiling fresco overhead. After the store closed in the 1990s it was acquired by Southwestern Law School, which restored and reuses it.
Key facts
- Architects: John and Donald Parkinson
- Completed: 1929
- Materials: buff terra-cotta with an oxidised copper tower
- Original use: luxury department store
- Status: National Historic Landmark; now Southwestern Law School
History
The store opened in 1929 as a bold bet that wealthy shoppers would drive west from downtown rather than walk to it. Its planning reflected that: the grand entrance faced the rear motor court, so customers arrived by car beneath a sheltered canopy.
For decades it was among the most fashionable stores on the West Coast. Changing retail patterns and damage during the 1992 civil unrest hastened its closure in 1993. Southwestern Law School, already the owner, restored the building and adapted the selling floors for teaching and library use while preserving the historic interiors.
What you see
The long terra-cotta facade rises to a slender tower that has weathered to soft green, a marker visible far along Wilshire Boulevard. The detailing is restrained Deco: vertical piers, stylised ornament and a calm, monumental rhythm.
The showpiece is the porte-cochère ceiling, a mural celebrating modern transport, that greeted arriving motorists. Inside, the salons retain their period fittings, lighting and finishes, conserved by the law school that now occupies them.
Practical information
- Function: Southwestern Law School; interiors seen on occasional tours
- Setting: Wilshire Boulevard, between downtown and Koreatown
- Time needed: 20–30 minutes for the exterior
Getting there
The building stands at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, west of downtown Los Angeles. The Metro rail Wilshire/Vermont station is a short distance away, and the store is on major bus routes along Wilshire.
Nearby
- Wiltern Theatre, west along Wilshire Boulevard
- Eastern Columbia Building, downtown Los Angeles
- Los Angeles — Eames, Schindler, Neutra and the California Case Study (CHO city guide)
Sources
- Los Angeles Conservancy, Bullocks Wilshire (laconservancy.org)
- National Park Service, National Historic Landmark documentation
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Art Deco”
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