Cats And Cars

It's just a sign to some, and for others it's a marker after a long trip in or out of Downtown Los Angeles. Someone is making a case that the the Felix Chevrolet Showroom and Sign is a legacy of commerce that starts at the end of Word War I and should be an official landmark.  As the application waits to hear if it will be designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, let's look at "Critera-2":  How the sign and the lot is also about “people important to local history.”  After the jump is an very edited version (for length) about the players that brought Felix to Figueroa.

Pat Sullivan: The creator of Felix the Cat was an immigrant from Australia who came to Los Angeles in 1914 and opened a small animation studio. After a few box-office flops, Felix the Cat character was born and achieved immediate success as an international favorite. The King Features Syndicate approached Sullivan with an offer to adapt Felix the Cat into a comic strip. It made its debut in the Sunday pages on August 14, 1923. A daily strip followed on May 9, 1927. Over 100 animated cartoon with Felix were produced prior to his death in 1933. 

Winslow Felix: This Arizona native arrived in Los Angeles after serving in World War II. The L.A. City Directories of 1921 list his occupation as just “Chevrolet salesman” but by 1922 he was the owner of a Chevrolet dealership and marketed cars in ways others in the automobile business emulated. He came up with "trial purchase plan," founded the Greater Los Angeles Motorcar Dealers, organized the annual Southern California auto shows, and staged midget-car races.

It was his personal friendship with animator Pat Sullivan that enabled him to gain the use of the already famous cartoon character as a merchandising symbol. After Winslow’s death in 1938, the Felix
dealership continued under the ownership of his wife, Ruth Felix, until she sold it to Nick Shammas in 1955.

William and Thomas Tupman: Migrated from Kentucky in 1913, these “wildcat oilmen” were drawn to the Southland and saw the automobile, rather than oil, as the avenue for success. When they opened their new Ford dealership in 1920 at 3330 S. Figueroa at Jefferson, a grand Beaux Arts Style showroom and garage designed by architect Richard King, there were over 100,000 cars registered in Los Angeles. The Tupman’s dealership, located across the street from the University of Southern California, would anchor the southern end of what become the Figueroa corridor’s “Automobile-Row”.

The Spanish Colonial style headquarters of the Automobile Club of Southern California, designed by Summer Hunt in 1923 at Adams Boulevard, became the centerpiece as new showrooms, garages, service stations and associated facilities sprang up all along Figueroa. Victorian mansions that once symbolized a by-gone era were systematically demolished to create opulent sales and model showrooms dedicated to a growing middle class’s new status symbol; the automobile.   

The Tupman brothers continued their family business operation at this location through four decades. During The Great Depression, Tupman Ford survived and by 1939 they were able to introduce Ford’s new Mercury line.  In 1941 they offered the luxury Lincoln Zephyr line. William Tupman died that same year, leaving his brother Thomas to carry on. The end of the WWII and the return of the troops created an immediate demand for cars. Tupman responded and had the aging showroom redesigned in 1946 by architect A. Godfrey Bailey.

The postwar modernization of the showroom included full-height canted glass “glare-free” windows, chamfered corners, curvilinear canopy   and neon signage.” This “modern” design was effective at accenting the showroom’s interiors at night with the illumination of the new car models. Thomas Tupman continued operating the dealership until he retired at age 81 and sold the building to Nick Shammas in 1958.

A. Godfrey Bailey: Tupman’s choice architect for the remodeling of his showroom was fortuitous. Bailey’s early career included other auto dealerships executed in the same Beaux Arts vernacular style as the original 1920 facility, an experience that enabled him to effectively transform the auto showroom into the new “Modern” architectural idiom. Bailey’s career work embraced a multitude of styles as seen in his 1927 Mediterranean Revival Style “Woman’s Christian Temperance Union home” in Eagle Rock (LA Historic Cultural Monument No. 562).      

Nickolas Shammas: Born in Pittsburgh, he started his career in Los Angeles after World War II as a car salesman, just like Winslow Felix. However by 1955 he was able to buy out widow Ruth Felix and with the purchase of the Tupman facility in 1958 he houses became the Felix Chevrolet automobile dealership. In 1959 he had Heath and Co install the Felix the Cat neon sign that transformed the car dealership into a visual landmark. Shammas continued his expansionist vision until the 1980’s, buying out competing dealerships along the Figueroa-Corridor as they began to abandon downtown L.A. for the suburbs.  In addition to the original Chevrolet dealership his holdings would include: Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Nissan, Cadillac and Dodge. He also acquired the Petroleum building on Olympic Blvd in 1969 and expanded into the insurance business with the purchase of Workman’s Auto Insurance Group. Upon his death in 2003 the business passed on to the Shammas Corporation under the direction of his son-in-law, Darryl Holter.

Wayne E. Heath: The innovative designer of the Felix the Cat sign arrived in Los Angeles in 1948 from Chicago as a skilled sign painter. He quickly perceived the need to capture the attention of motorists speeding past traditional roadway billboard signs and began creating other possibilities. He used geometric shapes, bold colors, Plexiglas and neon to fashion eye-catching graphic statements. His distinctive designs brought him visionary Southland clients such as restaurant entrepreneur Harold Butler, the founder of the “Denny’s” chain, and Verne Winchell, the donut shop king. His success also brought him to the attention of Nick Shammas.  [Wayne E. Heath passed away on May 15, 2006, and was celebrated as a man who designs were made to be seen by passing cars, an important factor in Southern California culture. )

<snip>

The proposal states that to consider the Felix the Cat sign "individual accomplishments of any of these men are emarkable in-and-of themselves. The Felix the Cat sign can be viewed as a 20th Century totem-pole to not only the efforts of these visionary men but to the evolutionary transition of Los Angeles from an agrarian village to an automotive megalopolis."

 

Report courtesy of Jim Childs, Chair of the Adams-Dockweiler Heritage Organizing Committee
Photo: Felix Chevrolet-Cadillac, March 15, 2007: View From a Loft
Photo: Pat Sullivan, "Creator" of Felix the Cat

Comments

[chevrolet dealership chicago]

That was a really great article. I love felix the cat and always enjoyed watching his cartoons when I was younger. I need to head over to amazon.com or something and find some of the old cartoons so I can have them for my kids to enjoy. That is cool the whole tie in with cars. I am a Chevy person and usually I see calvin hanging around in the back windshield of cars than felix the cat. I will have to see what I can do to make that change.

[reparo de parabrisas]

Cool article. Im fond of this kind of history.