· Nathan Marsak · 2 min read
Pico Deco: The Pico Palace, 6081 W Pico
Pico Palace, a 1939 Art Deco bowling alley designed by master architect William Douglas Lee, sits just west of Crescent Heights at 6081 West Pico — and it's about to hit the landfill.
You may recall a couple days ago, in my post about vanishing Deco, I mentioned at the end it was but a preview of a Deco monument ready to hit the landfill.
That structure is Pico Palace, a former bowling alley from 1939, on Pico just west of Crescent Heights.
This structure was designed by master architect William Douglas Lee. Beside the myriad of important structures listed on his Wiki page, be advised he also designed Crenshaw Bowl, 2825 Crenshaw; Llo-De-Mar Bowl, 507 Wilshire; Magnolia Bowl, 10301 Magnolia; Trojan Bowl, 2800 S. Vermont; Van Nuys Bowl,14540 Friar St.; Victory Bowling Center, 6300 Sepulveda; and Western Bowl, 721 S. Western.
Western Bowl, Lee’s 1940 expression in Streamline, stood till recently, replaced with, you guessed it, a giant grey box with “accent colors”.
But the question today is, what is to become of the Pico Palace?
This, this is what is to become of Pico Palace:
What the hell. Did Syd Mead design this? Nah, it’s not good enough to be one of Syd’s. It’s like some Warner exec yelled down the hall “Hey kid! We’ve just greenlit a picture about robots enslaving the Mars colonists and forcing them to build ziggurats! I need some sketches stat!”
OfficeUntitled is designing this project, which will be about 100 feet tall. Is there anything 100 feet tall remotely nearby? Um, no. The flanking streets, Avila and La Jolla, are all one-story houses and two-story apartment buildings, who will now look out onto the looming backside of this:
And, once we’ve blanketed Los Angeles with giant 1979 space ziggurats, there will be everlasting peace between us and the robots. Just you watch.
