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| Coca-Cola Building (Los Angeles) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Coca-Cola Building (Los Angeles) |
| Address | 1334 S. Central Avenue |
| Location city | Los Angeles, California |
| Location country | United States |
| Opened date | 1939 |
| Architect | Stiles O. Clements |
| Building type | Industrial / Office |
| Architectural style | Streamline Moderne |
Coca-Cola Building (Los Angeles) is a historic industrial and commercial facility constructed in 1939 for the Coca‑Cola Company in central Los Angeles. The building exemplifies Streamline Moderne architecture by architect Stiles O. Clements and has served roles in bottling, distribution, office use, and media production. It occupies a prominent site near major transportation corridors and has been associated with regional corporate history, urban development, and popular culture.
The building was commissioned by the The Coca-Cola Company during a period of corporate expansion following the Great Depression and the New Deal era, contemporaneous with projects by developers linked to Henry Huntington and transit investments by Pacific Electric Railway. Designed by Stiles O. Clements—whose practice intersected with commissions for clients including Bullock's and Desert Hot Springs resorts—the facility opened in 1939 as a bottling and distribution center. Its operation paralleled national bottling consolidation trends involving entities such as Coca‑Cola Bottling Company of Los Angeles and later corporate reorganizations tied to families and firms like the Traylor Family and regional wholesalers. Over subsequent decades the site adapted to shifts in logistics, suburbanization, and container technology that affected bottling centers across the United States, reflecting administrative changes similar to those seen at other industrial properties owned by companies such as Pabst Brewing Company and Anheuser‑Busch.
The building is an exemplar of Streamline Moderne, a late iteration of Art Deco influenced by aerodynamic motifs popularized in projects like the Normandie (ocean liner) and commercial works by architects associated with the WPA aesthetic. Stiles O. Clements employed curved corners, horizontal banding, and glass block fenestration in a composition akin to contemporaneous designs by William Lescaze and firms like Schultze & Weaver. Materials include reinforced concrete, smooth stucco surfaces, steel sash windows, and terrazzo flooring in original public spaces—elements also found in structures such as the Los Angeles Union Station and the Bullocks Wilshire department store. Decorative treatment featured corporate signage integrated into the façade, reminiscent of signage strategies used by General Electric and Ford Motor Company for their industrial architecture. The plan accommodated bottling lines, administrative offices, loading docks oriented to rail and truck access, and a marquee lobby referencing commercial interiors by Waldo Von Erich-era designers.
Originally owned and operated by the Coca‑Cola bottling network, the facility passed through various corporate ownership arrangements reflecting privatization and consolidation trends that affected companies like Coca‑Cola bottling companies nationwide. Tenants have included bottling operations, regional marketing offices, cold storage providers, and, in later years, creative media firms and production companies similar to those operating in studios such as Sunset Gower Studios and Paramount Pictures. Property transactions involved real estate investors and trusts comparable to Equity Office and regional developers tied to the South Central Los Angeles redevelopment strategies. Leaseholds have occasionally been held by logistics firms and independent entrepreneurs active in urban revitalization, paralleling tenant mixes observed in converted industrial buildings across Downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights.
The Coca‑Cola facility has been part of Los Angeles’s industrial iconography and has appeared in photographic surveys of 20th‑century commercial architecture alongside landmarks like Griffith Observatory and Los Angeles City Hall. Its Streamline Moderne aesthetic has attracted filmmakers, photographers, and broadcasters; the site has been used as a backdrop in television productions and music videos produced in proximity to studios such as Warner Bros. Studios and CBS Television City. The building figures in oral histories and local archives documenting labor narratives connected to bottling workforces represented by unions like the Teamsters and community histories tied to neighborhoods chronicled in works about South Los Angeles. It has featured in architectural guides and preservationist literature alongside entries for Olvera Street and the Bradbury Building.
Preservation efforts have aligned with municipal and nonprofit advocacy similar to campaigns led by organizations like the Los Angeles Conservancy and policies enacted under the California Environmental Quality Act when adaptive reuse proposals were considered. Renovation projects emphasized retaining Streamline Moderne elements—façade articulation, window rhythms, and interior terrazzo—while upgrading mechanical systems to meet building codes and energy standards comparable to those applied in retrofits of the Eastern Columbia Building. Adaptive reuse proposals have included conversion to creative office space, light industrial use, and community-serving functions modeled on successful rehabilitations of industrial properties in Arts District, Los Angeles and South Park. Financial mechanisms used in renovation have paralleled federal and state historic tax credit programs and local adaptive reuse incentives promoted by the City of Los Angeles.
Situated at 1334 South Central Avenue, the property lies in proximity to transportation arteries including Interstate 10 and Interstate 110 and near rail corridors historically used by the Southern Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad. The surrounding urban fabric includes commercial corridors, light industrial zones, and residential neighborhoods with civic anchors such as Exposition Park, BMO Stadium, and cultural institutions like the California Science Center. The location is within a broader metropolitan context that includes nodes such as Downtown Los Angeles, Pico‑Union, and Vernon, and is accessible via transit services historically provided by the Los Angeles Railway and contemporary bus networks operated by Los Angeles Metro.
Category:Buildings and structures in Los Angeles Category:Streamline Moderne architecture in California Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1939