Oversized photograph. Two customers conduct business inside the Post Office Terminal Annex, also known as Los Angeles Terminal Annex Post Office. A man stands in front of the "Money Orders" window, flanked by three small girls, while a woman stands at the "Postal Notes" window. Postal money orders are payment orders for a pre-specified amount of money, cashable only by the recipient, which provide a safe alternative to sending cash through the mail. One of the popular reasons for using a money order is that, unlike a personal check, they are pre-paid and therefore cannot "bounce" due to insufficient bank funds. Postal notes, on the other hand, were specialized money order successors enabling Americans to safely and inexpensively send sums of money under $5.00 to distant places. The Post Office Terminal Annex was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the California Mission style and was built in 1938; the supervising engineer was Neal A. Melick. This 400,000 square feet building served as the main mail distribution center for the Metropolitan Los Angeles area from 1938 until 1994. Approximately 1,700 Post Office employees handled over four million pieces of incoming and outgoing mail on a daily basis. The Post Office Terminal Annex was added to the National Register of Historic Places - Building #85000131, on January 11, 1985. Although no longer used as a post office, the building is used occasionally as a filming site.
Type
Image
Format
1 photograph :b&w ;35 x 28 cm. Photographic prints
United States Post Office Terminal Annex (Los Angeles, Calif.) United States Postal Service Post office buildings--California--Los Angeles Postal money orders--California--Los Angeles Historic buildings--California--Los Angeles Postal service--California--Los Angeles Postal service--Postal notes Underwood, Gilbert Stanley Melick, Neal A
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
