The Perino's Apartments are almost complete -- and I can't help but be reminded of what happened to the famed Brown Derby on Wilshire.
When the Brown Derby was torn down, the developers promised to save the famous derby hat structure and incorporate it into the new strip mall they were building. Well, they did... and the derby is still there (located on the second floor, and painted a burnt orange). But it's hardly a real preservation -- and it's quite tragic to see what became of it.
Of course, Perino's was never iconic like the Brown Derby building -- and I suppose you can give the developers some credit for at least trying to incorporate the old with the new. But let's face it, it just doesn't work. Painting the front the familiar Perino's pink and installing the old Perino's sign on the front (which isn't visible on Wilshire, by the way, so most motorists won't even see it) isn't the same as preserving the old, legendary restaurant.
I'm thankful that we got to see the inside of Perino's at least once (I managed to see it twice, thanks to a Fox party in the late 1990s) before its destruction. Here's our 2005 post on the Perino's demolition.
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