The LA area grew rapidly in the first half of the 20th century, and after WWII the population continued to climb. Spurred in part by the growth of the freeway system, subdivisions started springing up all over the place, and LA’s car culture kicked into high gear. Families went to see movies in drive-in theatres. Teen-agers spent Saturday night at drive-in restaurants.
And the car wash became a familiar fixture in these new communities. According to the LA Conservancy, the Lakeside Car Wash, located at Riverside and Hollywood Way, debuted in 1956. The architect is unknown, but the structure stands out for its surprising combination of rustic ranch style and mid-century modern. The Conservancy points out the connections to the Googie coffee shops that were popping up all over LA at the time.
But whatever its architectural merits, the Lakeside Car Wash is now closed and will almost certainly disappear in the not too distant future. In April 2022, the City of Burbank approved the construction of a mixed-use project on the site, which includes 49 condos and 2,000 square feet of commercial space and open space located at street level.
Remnants of the early days of California’s car culture have been disappearing for years. The Reseda Drive-In Theatre was shuttered back in the 70s. The Tiny Naylor’s at Sunset and La Brea, a Googie classic, was demolished in the 80s. Burbank’s Pickwick Drive-In Theatre went dark in 1989 and is now a shopping center.
But car culture isn’t disappearing, it’s just changing. These days more California households have access to cars than ever before. Check out this quote from Falling Transit Ridership, a study published by UCLA in 2018….
Census summary file data show that from 2000 to 2015, the SCAG region added 2.3 million people and 2.1 million household vehicles (or 0.95 vehicles per new resident). To put that growth in perspective, from 1990 to 2000 the region added 1.8 million people but only 456,000 household vehicles (0.25 vehicles per new resident). The growth of household vehicles in the last 15 years has been astonishing.
The Lakeside Car Wash will soon be gone, but cars are here to stay. They’ll just have to go somewhere else to get clean.
The Horizon and the Skyline 