The Cat's Meow of Los Angeles Landmarks

One of my favorite local landmarks is the Felix the Cat neon signage at historic Felix Chevrolet, located at Figueroa and Jefferson. 

Strike that.  It's beloved by many, but not "officially" historic. Why?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district includes the dealership, opposed the historic-sign designation because they believed it could impede major development projects along the Figueroa corridor. ~ Los Angeles Sentinel article from 2007

Two years later, voila!  A huge, ugly monstrosity going up across the street from Felix, as photographed today:

Felix points out the crane, Los Angeles' official bird

Anyhow, I've always wanted to photograph good ole Felix, but never took time to pull over and just do it.  The way the wrecking ball is swinging around town recently, I decided I better hop to it. Righty-oh!

So while I was on a research run to USC today, I got my snaps. A lot of them.  Samples below. See all 110 archived on my Flickr site.

According to signs outside the building, Felix's creator, Pat Sullivan, gave his friend, Chevy dealer Winslow Felix, the rights to use Felix's image to help sell cars back in 1925.  The famous triad neon sign atop the building was installed in 1958.

Felix and his little bag of tricks has gone through various animated incarnations over the years. This is the version I grew up with and love the most, circa 1959, courtesy of Autochromex:

Comments

[Harry Martin]

I had a friend who had a "bag for tricks" -- is that the same thing? :-)

[James Taylor]

That's funny because I just passed by there today and the only ugly monstrosity I saw was the Felix sign. Given the proximity to transit and next the university, the best use of that area is mixed-used residential.