Crossroads of the World

Crossroads of the World has been called America's first outdoor shopping mall. Located on Sunset Boulevard and Las Palmas in Los Angeles, the mall features a central building designed to resemble an ocean liner surrounded by a small village of cottage-style bungalows. It was designed by Robert V. Derrah and built in 1936.

"Crossroads of the World" is also a nickname for Times Square in New York City and Gander International Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Crossroads of the World
Crossroads of the World
Location6671 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California
Coordinates34°5′53.48″N 118°20′8.27″W
Built1936
ArchitectRobert V. Derrah
NRHP reference No.80000805
LAHCM No.134
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 8, 1980
Designated LAHCMDecember 4, 1974

Once a busy shopping center, the Crossroads later became private offices, primarily for the entertainment industry with a variety of music publishers and producers, television and film script writers, film and recording companies, novelists, costume designers, publicists, and casting agencies. The owner is planning on redeveloping the site.

History

In 1931, after Charles H. Crawford's death, his wife Ella decided to build a multi-national outdoor market - that would feel like «a permanent world's fair with a cosmopolitan atmosphere» - on the land where her husband was shot. She hired the Streamline Moderne architect Robert V. Derrah (who was finishing his work on the Coca-Cola Building) to design the complex.[1]

Derrah designed a ship-shaped structure in the center of the complex. The surrounding buildings represented different countries of the world. The complex originally held 57 shops and cafes, and 36 offices on the upper floors. The Crossroads of the World was inaugurated on 29 October 1936. The new shopping center was not a full-blown success, but it became an excellent model for outdoors malls across the world.[1]

In the 1950s, the Crossroads of the World was converted into an office complex. The Screen Actors Guild, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jackson Browne and Alfred Hitchcock used to rent offices there. The property was purchased in 1977 by the real estate investor Mort La Kretz and restored.[1]

In January 2019, the Los Angeles City Council approved the project to revamp the Crossroads of the World in a move to revitalize the district.[2] New buildings are planned to bring 950 apartments and condos, a 308-room hotel, and 190,000 square feet (18,000 m2) of commercial space. 82 Hollywood Regency garden apartments are to be demolished in the project.[3][4] The preservationists called the redevelopment project a "Manhattanization of Hollywood".[5]

Films:

TV shows

Commercials:

Reproductions

A reproduction of Crossroads' iconic tower and spinning globe can be seen just inside the entrance to Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida.

See also

References
  1. Kim Sudhalter, Have you ever wondered... What the Crossroads of the World is all about?, Onlyinhollywood.com, 1 December 2014
  2. ZAHNISER, DAVID (2019-11-29). "AIDS group faces third defeat in six months, with judge tossing Hollywood high-rise lawsuit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  3. Bianca Barragan, Hollywood’s Crossroads of the World project approved by City Council, La.curbed.com, 22 January 2019
  4. Jenna Chandler, The apartments are slated to be torn down to make way for a new hotel and hundreds of new apartments and condos, La.curbed.com, 22 August 2018
  5. Elijah Chiland, Preservationists raise concerns about Crossroads of the World redevelopment: ‘We’re headed to Manhattanization of Hollywood’, La.curbed.com, 7 September 2017
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