Groceteria.com

These are pictures of the historic Ralphs building in the Westwood area of Los Angeles. Built in 1929, it's located on the corner of Westwood and Lindbrook. The store is Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Landmark #360 and is registered with the National Register of Historic Places. Currently the building houses a Mann movie theater, and various food places (Peet's, Ben & Jerry's, Daphne's Greek Cafe).

Ansel Adams took these pictures in 1940
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013437.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics37/00038198.jpg

Not an Ansel Adams picture:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013438.jpg

Current photos from the management company:
http://www.topamanagement.com/dues_prop ... stwood.htm

This is a picture of the A&P, located on the corner of Gayley and Lindbrook. The building has been demolished and the Mann National movie theater is there now.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013436.jpg

Here is 1932 aerial picture showing the Ralphs in the lower right corner and the A&P in the lower left. The large building with the short tower to the north of the A&P was a Sears.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043060.jpg

For good measure, here's the Sears. It has also been demolished and was replaced by a retail center in the 70s with a large Bank of America which became a Thrifty/Rite Aid.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013435.jpg

For many years there were no grocery stores in Westwood until a Ralphs Fresh Fare opened in 2001 on the Le Conte side of the 1950's Bullock's Westwood and there is now also a Whole Foods on Gayley in the former Mann Westwood theater, which itself was a former Safeway.

I'm watching an episode of California's Gold and there's a story behind the Ansel Adams pictures of the Westwood Ralphs. The pictures were commissioned by Fortune Magazine for an article about Los Angeles in a time of looming war in the March, 1941 issue. At the time he made his living as a commercial photographer and he had the assignment of showing life in LA. The 170 pictures were acquired by the LA Public Library for about $150 in 1963 and today they are each worth several hundred dollars each.

There were a couple more of his pictures of a Vons (with Van de Kamps windmill) at the corner of Crescent Heights and Beverly:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058475.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058477.jpg

This windmill is probably from a different store:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058476.jpg

And as an aside, the National Theater which replaced the Westwood A&P has been demolished in the last few weeks.

When I was a student at UCLA in the 1970s the Ralphs building was a Bratskellar Restaurant. It was a happening place (as was all of Westwood Village back then) with seating on two levels and annoying waits for a table.

This was in the LA Times this weekend:

The Mann Festival was located in a former Ralphs grocery store -- listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- that opened in 1929 as one of the village's first six buildings. The theater had had many identities, including UA, UA Egyptian and Odeon Cinema. Opened in 1970, it featured a simplistic but comfortable auditorium -- not flashy enough for today's crowd.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... ?track=rss

Here's the Wikipedia listing...with pictures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralphs_Grocery_Store

This is interesting as the Mann Festival closed this past weekend. The marquee coming down could be good.

Interesting historical information about Ralphs:

Supermarket empire has local roots

http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_13196859 ... .sbsun.com

REALLY old picture

http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/SprN6b.jpg

Dean wrote:Supermarket empire has local roots

http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_13196859 ... .sbsun.com

Seems a little odd that the crucial second-to-last paragraph doesn't begin with something like "After suffering a serious arm injury..." to explain why a champion bricklayer left the masonry business to get into groceries. Which would also neatly remove the incorrect 1877 date -- I assume the writer had Richard Ralphs' death on the brain.