Resource Report

Historic Resource Summary

Names
Oasis Motel Sign (Primary)
Oasis Motel Sign (Historic)
Important Dates
1956-01-01 (Built Date)
Images
Oasis Motel Sign - PHOTO
Resource Types
Object
Architect
Builder
Owner

Location Information

Addresses
Location Description
No descriptions recorded
2200 W Olympic Blvd
Administrative Areas
Westlake Community Plan Area (Community Plan Area)
Los Angeles City Council District 1 (Council District)
PICO UNION NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL (Neighborhood Council)
PICO-UNION NEIGHBORHOOD (Neighborhood)

Resource Description

Classification
Type: Commercial-Sign, Pylon, Pole, Stantion   Use: Historic     Style: Googie    
Type: California OHP Resource Attribute - HP39. Other          
Features
No components recorded
Architectural Description
Two-sided motel sign mounted on free-standing metal poles; composed of multiple sections, including a parabolic section reading "Oasis" in stylized lettering, and a rectangular section reading "Motel" in block letters; topped by a cactus with neon tubing and incandescent bulbs; sections are tied together with a metal curving element with backlit yellow circles.
Alterations
No major alterations

Resource Significance

Evaluation Details

Date Evaluated
2013-09-17
Context/Theme
Commercial Development, 1850-1980
Commercial Signs, 1906-1980
Pylons, Poles, Stantions, and Billboards, 1920-1980
Commercial - Sign
Freestanding Pole
Eligibility Standards
  • Often serves to advertise and visually link the building and parking lot to street frontage
  • Evokes commercial ethos of its period through forms, typography, materials, and/or imagery
  • May exemplify design features of Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, exaggeratedly modernist/“Googie,” or thematic architectural styles—streamlines, angularity, offset composition of intersecting forms, fanciful or programmatic pictorial illustrations
  • May exemplify design features of sans-serif modernism; scripted and slanted typefaces of post-World War II period; askew, modernist or “Googie” styled forms and features; thematic or exotic imagery; or bubble-type, psychedelic
  • Often bear signs on both sides and may include other intersecting shapes and forms that jut from the primary structure at different angles
  • Pylons, poles, stantions, or towers support metal or plastic boxes (in varying dimensions and shapes), cutouts, spheres, statuary, or other three-dimensional forms
  • Retains most of the essential character-defining features of its type
  • Usually freestanding steel poles, rectilinear stucco-faced pylons, towers, or stantions that extend vertically, separate from and usually (especially in post-World War II years) rising to a height above that of the building it advertises
  • Evokes iconic cultural associations with period- or regionally specific commercial establishments, personae, or multiple-family residential properties, and/or is an excellent example of an architectural style or promotional technique from its period
  • Originally constructed as freestanding support for advertisements to be read from a distance by moving audiences
  • May support a combination of backlit plastic, incandescent bulbs, neon tubing, and/or fluorescent tubing
    • Integrity Aspects
    Workmanship
    Location
    Design
    Setting
    Materials
    Feeling
    Association
    Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance
    California Historic Resources Status Codes (explanation of codes)
    5S3
    Significance Statement
    Excellent example of a 1950s Googie-style pole sign, with neon and incandescent light bulbs. Evaluation is for the sign only; building is substantially altered. Signs appear to meet local criteria only and may not meet significance thresholds for National Register or California Register eligibility.
    Periods of Significance
    From: 1956-01-01

    External References

    External System References

    SurveyLA ID: 90121957-8d59-4c88-afa5-61ff6f77a1ae

    Related Resources

    Related Historic Resources

    None

    Related Historic Districts

    None

    Related Activities

    SurveyLA - Westlake Survey (was assessed in / assessed)

    Related Historic Events

    None

    Related People/Organizations

    Historic Resources Group (Surveying Firm, was surveyed by / surveyed)

    Related Information Resources

    Images
    Documents
    SurveyLA: Westlake Historic Resources Survey Report (Document/Text, is referred to in / refers to)

    SurveyLA

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    Office of Historic Resources

    Office of Historic Resources
    Department of City Planning
    221 N. Figueroa Street, Suite 1350
    Los Angeles, CA 90012
    (213) 847-3676 phone
    Email: planning.historicplacesla@lacity.org
    http://www.preservation.lacity.org
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