Los Angeles Conservancy | Preservation Issues

Los Angeles Conservancy, 523 W. 6th Street, Suite 826, Los Angeles, CA 90014
tel: 213-623-2489, fax: 213-623-3909

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DRIFTWOOD DRIVE-THRU DAIRY

On November 7, 2008, the State Historic Resources Commission voted unanimously to determine the Driftwood Drive-thru Dairy in El Monte eligible for listing in the California Register of Historic Resources. After demolition rumors surfaced, the Conservancy’s Modern Committee commissioned the nomination for the drive-thru dairy located at 10724 Lower Azusa Road.

Driftwood Drive-thru Dairy. Photo by Adriene Biondo.

Originally known as the Driftyland Dairy-Port, the drive-thru is a spectacular example of roadside architecture that the Los Angeles Times described as “space age” and “one of the most modern dairy drive-ins in the world” upon its completion in 1961. It reflects both the height of space-age design and the influence of the automobile in shaping retail methods and signage.

Driftwood Dairy is also one of very few drive-thru dairies that are still intact, with a very high degree of historic integrity. Although El Monte had several dairies from the 1930s through the ’50s, no others offered drive-thru service.

In fall 2007, Driftwood Dairy’s new owners announced plans to replace the drive-thru with a new retail strip and office development, prompting the Modern Committee to nominate it for landmark designation. Although the new owners had pledged to “vigorously oppose” the nomination,
they did not show up for the final hearing in Sacramento.
Conservancy staff testified at the hearing, along with Modern Committee representatives and the nomination’s author, Teresa Grimes of Christopher A. Joseph & Associates.

The drive-thru is not eligible for local landmark designation because the City of El Monte does not have a historic preservation ordinance in place (the city received an “F” grade in our new Preservation Report Card).

Wilshire May Company
1939, A.C. Martin and Samuel Marks

This Streamline Moderne department store with its prominent cylindrical gold tower signals the western entrance of Wilshire Boulevard's Miracle Mile district. The Conservancy swung into action when the May Co. building was threatened with demolition for office towers and a hotel during the early 1990s. After successfully nominating the building for City Historic-Cultural Monument status, the Conservancy worked with County officials to ensure the building's reuse by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Now LACMA West, the May Co. had a splashy reopening in 1999 when it played host to a blockbuster Van Gogh exhibit.

Photo courtesy of Julius Shulman

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