This 1-story building on the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Wilton Place was built in 1929 with four retail spaces addressed as 5655, 5657, 5650 and 5661 Hollywood Boulevard. The architect was Vincent Palmer.

Like its neighbor to the east at 5649-5653 Hollywood Boulevard built only a few months earlier, the architecture was modernistic- a style made popular by the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925. Today it would be called Art Deco, a term coined in 1968. Unlike period revival or more traditional architectural styles that took inspiration from the past, Art Deco reflected the fast-paced world of the present and future.

The Hollywood Daily Citizen’s reporter, struggling to describe this new addition to the Boulevard, wrote that it was “built along perpendicular lines that stress the upward movement of the structure. Iron grill work is coated with silver leaf, giving the white-metal effect that is preferred these days.” It was painted a silvery-grey.

This particular form of modernism was popular for a short time only; after 1934, its sharp lines would give way to the aerodynamic curves of streamline moderne style. Both would be very popular on Hollywood Boulevard.

A permit for the building was obtained in November 1929 and ground-breaking took place on December 21, 1929.

Druggist Charles W. Peters of the Hollywood Drug Company leased the key corner space, addressed as 5661 Hollywood Boulevard, while the building was still under construction.

Peters had been in Hollywood for 7 years and moved his Hollywood Drug Co. here from its previous location at 5600 Hollywood Boulevard with a gala grand opening on April 5, 1930.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 4/4/1930.

The interior of the store had a “velvety rose colored ceiling,” cream walls, walnut fixtures, and a Terrazzo floor. Like most drug stores at the time, it featured a large soda fountain.

Candy and stationary. Note the high windows, covered on the exterior by iron grillwork. Hollywood Daily Citizen 4/4/1930.

The soda fountain. Hollywood Daily Citizen 4/4/1930

Exterior of the corner store, 5661 Hollywood Blvd., as it looked in 1930. Hollywood Daily Citizen 4/4/1930.

5661 remained an independent drugstore into the late 1970s. The building remains extant. The corner space has been significantly altered c. 1960s, in such a different style that it almost appears to be a separate building from 5555-5559. The original silver leaf grillwork is probably still present under the current modification.

The original grillwork is present on part of the building’s Hollywood Boulevard facade. Google map image.

5657-5661 today. Google map image.