{"nrhp_refnum":"92000969","name":"Ralphs Grocery Store","other_names":["1142--54 Westwood Boulevard Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1142--54 Westwood Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Angeles","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.06006293000007,"lon":-118.44442903499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-07-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1929 L-shaped Mediterranean-style commercial building at 1142-54 Westwood Boulevard in Westwood Village, Los Angeles, built as a Ralphs grocery store and designed by architect Russell E. Collins.","why_significant":"It was one of the first six buildings constructed in Westwood Village and served as its southern anchor and gateway. Its Spanish Colonial Revival/Mediterranean design set the model for later construction, and it is tied to Ralphs, an early Southern California chain that pioneered self-service supermarkets. It retains a high level of exterior integrity.","narrative":"Built in 1929 at the corner of Westwood Boulevard and Lindbrook Drive, this L-shaped Mediterranean-style building is dominated by a stout cylindrical tower at its apex. Designed by architect Russell E. Collins and built by contractor S.N. Benjamin, it opened as the sixteenth Ralphs grocery store, just after UCLA's new campus began enrolling students. Its facades combine scored stucco imitating stone, cast-stone ornament, a five-bay arcade on Tuscan columns and red tile roofs. It was one of the first buildings in Westwood Village, a planned district that required a uniform Mediterranean theme, and its corner tower helped orient motorists heading toward the university. It influenced the brick commercial buildings later built along Lindbrook and Glendon. The store also reflects Ralphs' shift to self-service, cash-and-carry shopping, an early step toward the modern supermarket. The exterior retains a high level of integrity, though the interior has been altered and now holds shops, a restaurant and a theater.","period_of_significance":"1929-42","architect_builder":"Collins, Russell E.; Benjamin, S.N.","architectural_style":"Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current functions include specialty store, restaurant and theater; the interior has been repeatedly altered and contains no original historic fabric.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.495346-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/92000969.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000969/0878641b33-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000969/0878641b33-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Alexis Doine","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralphs_Grocery_Store,_Sept._2024.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Alexis Doine</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralphs_Grocery_Store,_Sept._2024.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859438","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralphs_Grocery_Store_(Los_Angeles,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7288347"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/ralphs-grocery-store-92000969/"}