Firestone Tire Building

800 S La Brea Avenue at 8th Street

Los Angeles, CA 90038

Year Built: 1937

Engineer: R.E. Ward

Case Number: CHC-2012-195-HCM, ENV-2012-196-CE

The FIRESTONE TIRE BUILDING

Adopted as HCM: 2012

HCM No. 1020

In 1937, the nearby intersection of La Brea and Wilshire was one of the busiest in the city with 11,071 cars passing by in an eight-hour period. Tires had become a necessity and when this stylish Moderne garage opened that year, Firestone Tire was one of the largest and most influential tire companies in the world. An early contract with Ford Motor Cars made the small Akron Ohio company a major player in the world of the automobile. All Model “T”s and Model “A”s came equipped with Firestone tires. Firestone continued to supply all Ford factory equipped tires until the mid-1990’s.The company had been marketing most of its tires through local gas stations and repair garages, but by the mid 1920’s had also begun to open its own retail stores. This store at 8th and La Brea was built to replace an earlier outlet at 9th and La Brea.

 For their new flagship building, Firestone chose a streamline modern design with its low horizontal lines and curved edges, often associated with motion and the machine. They coupled this with the use of porcelain enameled steel panels as the main exterior finish material. The use of porcelain steel panels in automotive buildings dates back a decade before this with the material first appearing in service stations in the 1920s, usually in prefabricated designs. This use in a custom designed building is rare and rarer still that it survives today almost completely intact. Like many companies in this era, Firestone used state of the art architecture and materials to make their building a working billboard, calling attention to itself and the products that were sold there. This design is unique and appears just as fresh today as it was in 1937. It stands as a visible reminder of what was once the cutting edge of commercial design.

The ADSLA Preservation Committee identified Firestone Tire as a building under unique threat as it sits at the center of a high density redevelopment district.  Proactively, we sponsored its nomination as an LA Historic Cultural Monument. In 2012 it was designated LAHCM #1020. The building was owned and operated by the parent company of Firestone Tire until it was sold to its current owner in 2016.  It has undergone a 4 year restoration and adaptive reuse conversion and now operates as All Season Brewing Company.

 John Thomas, past ADSLA president, was the preservation consultant for the property.