Saving Felix

(Flickr pic by Orrin.)

One of my favorite signs in all of Los Angeles? That's easy -- the big, neon-lit sign for Felix Chevorlet, located at Figueroa and Jefferson Park near USC. (I like it so much that we made the Felix showroom a stop on our 2004 Halloween Race.)

A sign that cool is safe, right? No one in their right mind would ever try to take it down, yes? It's protected by some sort of landmark status, correct?

Nope -- at least not yet, but that may change. View from a Loft has the details:

The neon sign, and the showroom itself, received a site inspection from The Cultural Heritage Commission just last Thursday, March 15. It's the second of three steps needed to designate a landmark as an official Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The first is “consideration” based on merit of the application, the second is a tour of the site, and the third is a decision that may come as soon as May 3 when a meeting will take place during the 32nd California Preservation Foundation Conference being held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

The Felix Chevrolet showroom is also being considered for landmark status as the building is associated with the re-introduction of automobile sales following World War II and is a rare regional example of a postwar automobile showroom. And not for the original design, according to a report by Jim Childs, Chair of the Adams-Dockweiler Heritage Organizing Committee, who sent the August 2006 application to save the cat.

View from a Loft also reminds us how Felix the Cat wound up selling cars in the first place: "It was the agreement between two friends, the "creator" of Felix the Cat, animation studio head Pat Sullivan, who gave car dealership owner Winslow Felix full use of Felix the Cat to sell automobiles."