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Saturday, April 8, 2006

Going, Going, Gone

Doesn't it seem like every few days we're hearing about another L.A. institution biting the dust?

And I won't even bring my Ambassador Hotel obsession into it. But like I've mentioned before, this has been a pretty tough year or two for long-running, beloved L.A. spots. Record stores like Aron's and Rhino. Bookstores like Dutton's. The threatened closure of Trader Vic's and the Derby. The who-knows-if-its-returning Tail o' the Pup, not to mention the shuttered Jay's Jayburger. (Plus more I'm forgetting at the moment.)

Then there's the impending disappearance of L.A.'s last homegrown department store, Robinsons-May (actually, of course, the result of a 1993 combo of JW Robinson's and May Co.).

We've been following Robinsons-May's slow march toward death (all traces of it will be erased by September) here at Franklin Avenue -- some of which has already begun.



The 24,000-square-foot Beverly Hills Robinsons-May (once a J.W. Robinson's, opened in 1952) has already shut down, and the remaining pieces are being sold this weekend, the LA Times reports:

The Beverly Hills Robinson's was the chain's showpiece. It was built in 1952 from travertine stone from Peru, rose marble from Portugal, black granite from Brazil and rosewood from Madagascar.

"When it was the old Robinson's we had the best clothing designers and the best customers," said a wistful Augie Marin, an East Hollywood resident who for 33 years worked on the sales floor.

"I did ladies' shoes and later men's shoes and clothing. Now I'm doing demolition. We're taking metal shelves apart."

Designer suits saleswoman Marie Velasquez, a 19-year store veteran who lives in Brentwood, said she was selling $10,000 worth of clothing a day right up to the end.

"I'm heartbroken. This was my home. These people were my family," Velasquez said. "Customers were so loyal. On the last day, some came in just to say goodbye. I was crying."

Merchandise was liquidated when the store closed March 18. Eventually, the four-floor, 240,000-square-foot building will be replaced by condominiums. But for the last three weeks, employees have been emptying out equipment rooms and storage areas and tossing away the remnants of what had thriving retail careers at one of America's most glamorous department store sites.

Read more about the condos here.

By the way, how cool are these door handles (R for Robinsons, of course!), as posted over at Lotta Living:



In other tear-down news, get over to Ontario before the end of the month. The last A&W Drive-Inn in Southern California with carhop service is closing April 30. Writes the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:

Owners Larry and Sherrill Roan are retiring after devoting more than half their lives to the restaurant at 1267 W. Holt Blvd. With sales down, and corporate interest waning, the root beer specialists can no longer stay afloat...

The really unique offering has been there since the beginning: carhop service.

Motorists pull up under the canopy and place an order through a speaker system. Food is brought out on a tray, if you're eating there, or in a sack, if you want it to go.

The Roans' daughter, Teresa, who worked there in the mid-1980s, used to wear roller skates. Employees don't wear skates anymore.

"Now we've got workmen's comp to worry about,'' Larry said.

The setup is still unusual enough to draw attention. A retro-style date on TV's "The Bachelor'' involved a carhop dinner at A&W after a movie at Montclair's Mission Drive-In. The restaurant was a film location for the 1987 comedy "Body Slam'' with Dirk Benedict and Tanya Roberts.



PreserveLA, which provided the pointer, also notes that Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake/Burbank offers carhop service on Saturdays & Sundays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

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