What happened to Felix the Cat?

In 2007, the city of Los Angeles almost declared the historic Felix Chevrolet neon sign and dealership an official landmark. Then Mayor Villaraigosa's office asked the Cultural Heritage Commission to stop the process, claiming it would be bad for business. Darryl Holter of Felix Chevrolet promised to maintain the sign for future generations. Five years later, Felix Chevrolet partnered with General Motors to rip out the vintage neon tubes and illuminate Felix the Cat with LEDs. If you want Felix Chevrolet to honor its promise to the city and restore this great neon sign, please sign the petition.

Monday, April 12, 2021

What's Next For Felix The Cat?

Over on Instagram, @purelycoincidental had some good questions about where we stand on preserving the no-longer-neon Felix the Cat sign, and if we are advocating for the property to remain a low rise car dealership. We're sharing our answer here, since this is such a complicated preservation issue, without simple answers.

Every preservation campaign reveals different facets of public policy, land use, cultural legacies and how the law works, or doesn’t work. 

Felix is a preservation failure, but we think an important story that reveals in stark relief how money can buy City Hall and the fundamental dishonesty of developers. 

We don’t have a particular interest in preserving the Felix sign in its current state—although if dealership owner Darryl Holter wanted to try to redeem himself and pay for a full neon restoration, then donate it to the Museum of Neon Art, that would be okay. And we don’t have the bandwidth to get involved in discussion of highest and best use for this parcel. 

We do care about the fact that Angelenos love this sign, and that most of them don’t know or aren’t too bothered that it’s now LED. So the fact that the buildings are being demolished with no public announcement of what’s going on, and photos circulating that make it appear that the sign might be coming down next makes amplifying the true story of how we got here matter to us. 

If the Felix sign was landmarked, the public would know what was planned, and would have a voice. We don’t, and it’s messed up. That’s our position.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Documenting the Partial Demolition of Felix Chevrolet


Today we visited Felix Chevrolet to get a better sense of how much of the 100-year-old auto dealership has been demolished, and to confirm that the 1950s sign, which was converted from neon to LED in 2012, is undamaged. It is a little rusty, but fine.


The dealership, not so much. Note the damage to the east wall and roof of the dealership. Everything past this point has been demolished. The annotated aerial photo below shows the location of the Felix sign at the corner of Jefferson and Figueroa, with the demolished buildings noted.


Approaching the site from the East, most of the city block has been cleared for new construction. 


At least the crew is saving the old bricks for reuse.


Gee, Felix... hope you've got some extra powerful magic in your bag of tricks, because your familiar world is shrinking fast. This is a feeling all too familiar to Angelenos who love Los Angeles history and architecture. Make it stop! (Signed, your pals, Kim & Richard, Esotouric - read more about what the problems preserving Felix can teach us here.) 





Thursday, April 8, 2021

A Shocking Scene at Felix Chevrolet

 

  

















Gary Leonard captures the long anticipated demolition of Felix Chevrolet. 

As documented on this blog, the neon sign was to be landmarked, but the owners got then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to halt the process, made false preservation promises and put in LEDs. 

It is an important reminder that Los Angeles city government has different rules for citizens and for powerful business leaders who donate to keep politicians in power. Felix Chevrolet's long range development plans were protected, and Angelenos lost a great neon sign and got an LED copycat in return. If they want to, the property owners could tear it down at any time.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

In the first two weeks of October 2020, multiple demolition permits were pulled for buildings on the Felix Chevrolet property at 3330 South Figueroa. What this means for the un-landmarked Felix the Cat sign is, at this moment, a mystery. 

We believe that even with the non-historic LED lights that replaced the original neon tubes, the sign is a cultural landmark that should be preserved in place. Stay tuned for more information, and opportunities to get involved.

Monday, December 19, 2016

From Bad To Worse

Four years on since the landmark Felix the Cat neon sign was destroyed and replicated in LED, and we were shocked to see how bad it looks from the northbound lanes of the 110. The cat, which has long been outlined in white, is now a nasty shade of yellow, with a pair of sinister froggy green eyes floating in the haze.


Thursday, August 1, 2013

A Cautionary Tail

We regret to report that there has been no response to our petition which was submitted on February 11, 2013, asking then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that he work with Felix Chevrolet, General Motors and then-Councilwoman Jan Perry to undo the damage that was done to the historic Felix the Cat neon sign in transforming into a partially burned-out LED sign.

While we are dismayed that the Mayor would ignore the wishes of hundreds of constituents, and go back on his own written promise that this community landmark would be preserved and protected, we do see one positive thing about the loss of this beloved landmark.

Historic preservation happens when official policies are followed. In this case, politicians made special provisions on behalf of a powerful donor, and stopped the Cultural Heritage Commission from proclaiming Felix the Cat to be an official landmark of the City of Los Angeles. The community was asked to trust the politicians and the powerful donor, whose promises were proven to be worthless within five years. Felix was permanently altered, with no public notice and no legal recourse.

Los Angeles, and preservation-minded people everywhere: remember the tail of Felix the Cat, and don't get fooled again.  

Thursday, November 8, 2012

What Happened To Felix the Cat? Compare / Contrast (updated 11/24/12)

Update 11/24/12: An entire letter "L" has now burned out, only 10 weeks after the new LED sign was installed.


Update 11/8/12: Place a photo of the neon Felix the Cat sign taken by Toby Hancock in August 2012 beside one of the LED sign taken by Chinta Cooper in November 2012, and you'll see how this classic Los Angeles sign has been ruined by the substitution of LEDs in place of neon tubes. Not only are the stripes of LEDs too perfect-looking and the colors and thickness incorrect, but less than two months after the LEDs were installed, individual diodes are already burning out. There is no way to replace individual diodes without replacing the entire row. (11/24/12: image updated to include missing "L")