Image / Rio Vista Avenue, Boyle Heights

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Title: Rio Vista Avenue, Boyle Heights
Alternative Title: Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection
Date Created and/or Issued: Circa 1935
Contributing Institution: Los Angeles Public Library
Collection: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information: Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description: The Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building, located in Boyle Heights, was built in 1927 as a distribution center for the company's mail order department. It was designed in the Art Deco style by the architectural firm of George Nimmens Company and was constructed by Scofield Engineering-Construction Company in record-breaking time: a mere 6 months, at a cost of $5,000,000. On completion, the building had nine stories and a basement, a 226-foot Art Deco tower, and a total floor area of approximately 11 acres. The Sears building was one of the largest in Los Angeles, and it attracted more than 100,000 visitors in the first month of operation. In May of 1991 after 64 years of operation, Sears announced that it would close its regional distribution center in Boyle Heights, and its doors were officially closed in January 1992 - eliminating 585 full-time, and 775 part-time jobs. Considered to be one of the iconic landmarks of LA's Eastside, it has been the subject of several renovation proposals since the mid-1990s. The Boyle Heights Sears building was designated Historic-Cultural Monument #788 in August 2004, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 21, 2006 - #05001407.
In the foreground is Rio Vista Avenue, with a partial exterior view of the Sears store on Soto Street and Olympic Boulevard, Boyle Heights, at left. A few cars are parked on the street.
Type: Image
Format: 1 photograph :b&w
Photographic prints
Identifier: 00067321
Security Pacific National Bank Collection
L.A.-Streets-Rio Vista.; G-000-188 8x10
CARL0000070382
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/109637
Subject: Sears, Roebuck and Company
Department stores--California--Boyle Heights (Los Angeles)
Streets--California--Boyle Heights (Los Angeles)
Warehouses--California--Boyle Heights (Los Angeles)
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Boyle Heights (Los Angeles, Calif.)
George Nimmens Company
Scofield Engineering-Construction Company

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