Groceteria.com

hey guys! there is a biglots store on hollywood and vine street in hollywood ca....it looks like it used to be a supermarket since it has huge windows and doors that used to be automatic but are now blocked off....I'm thinking it used to be a safeway at one point....anyone have any ideas...?? thanks!

There isnt a Big Lots where you say. Do you mean the one that is down the street south of Sunset Bl?

LOL...yes that one! i jus used the main streets...i should have said it was down the street....lol...but yes that's the one...!! what are your comments on that store...??

This is a wild guess, I lived in West Hollywood during the late 70's early 80's so I'm not sure if I'm even close, but I think there used to be a Thrifty Drug Store at that corner. Forgive me if I'm wrong!

lol...well it isnt at the coner of hollywood and vine...its a few blocks down...its looks like it used to be a supermarket.....i dunno bout a thifty's tho....but thanks for helping!

Photo below, assembled from A9 shots. I'd say a Safeway was not out of the question, but I'm definitely not 100% certain:

thanks for the photo!! on the rightside facing the street, there looks as if the doors (which are now locked up and blocked) looked as if to be automatic doors.....i know most grocery stores use these doors plus i know back in the day ALOT of grocery stores were in the area! so I'm doing some research into this.....and yet still havent found anything!


p.s. the "nix check cashing" portion is on the wrong side since if u were facing the building head on the street would be to the right!

Should be very simple. All you need to do is hit the main library and ask to see the Polk directories from about 1970-1975. You can look up the address (any address in town, actually) to see what was there.

Just out of curiosity, is this the same store? I remember shooting this two or three years ago when I was down there. I didn't write down the address, but I know it was off Vine right near Amoeba Records on Sunset, becaause that was my next stop. The quality sucks because it's a video capture.

yep that's the hollywood and vine store...and the pic u put together i saw it wrong...that's the street side view u had put up when i had stated u had put it together wrong!! sorry bout that!!!

The Big Lots store opened as a Pic 'n Save in November, 1971. Prior to that it was FOOD GIANT. Designed by Maxwell Starkman and Assoc. and opening in 1962. In the 1930s the site was an auto repair shop. There is some discussion at the LA Conservancy Modern Committee board about it.

http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic ... =lots+vine

The status of this store is back in the news. AMPAS (the Oscar people) is planning on building a film museum complex next to its existing Pickford Center, and that's where the Big Lots is. Curbed LA reports that AMPAS has acquired 90% of the land it needs. See http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/03/o ... eum_up.php

A friend of mine works for AMPAS in the Pickford Center and he confirms that the Big Lots is going to be torn down but he doesn't think it will be until 2009.

AMPAS hasn't torn down the store (yet) but the Big Lots has closed. It's been turned into a temporary art gallery for a benefit show:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_bl ... orita.html