My great aunt lived in Lemert Park off Crenshaw, and I went to that store and the surrounding stores many times when I was a kid. . The May Company in the movie, though seems to me to be the one that was on LaBrea and Wilshire (a great art deco landmark). I may be wrong.
Watching that scene made me think back to those great days of department stores when they were classy wonderful places. I especially appreciated hearing the soft bell-tone code that could always be heard when at May Company, Bullock's, The Broadway, Buffum's and Robinson's. It wasn't until I actually worked at The Broadway as a teen that I understood that the 'thong-thong-thong' was a classy way of summoning an appropriate employee.
Those stores always smelled good and had great restaurants. Sandwiches always were served with frilly toothpicks with N an olive or carrot curl, the pickles were sour and crunchy, and the french fries were so hot they burned your mouth. None of my family would have been caught dead shopping in these stores in a pair of blue jeans and a tee-shirt. When we went to these stores, it was an event (fall school clothes, summer vacation wear or a new sofa). I really miss that, but times change. Thanks for reminding me!
"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"
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justmy2cents
12 years ago
I just watched this film on DVD (thank you, Netflix) and although they call it May Crenshaw in the film, this is actually the May Company Wilshire. Corner of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Avenue. The art deco building is still there and is now part of the L.A. County Museum of Art. But it soon may be leased to the Academy of Arts and Sciences for a museum. I recognized the store as she walked in, from the driveway that fronted the glass entrance -- and the escalator and layout of the store were so familiar as we used to go to that store all the time. It is also listed as the May that was on Wilshire and Fairfax in the locations.
A little more trivia -- at her agent's home the maid Annie, who comes up to ask Harry about the time for the caterers, is Marie Blake, aka Blossom MacDonald Rock, Jeanette MacDonald's older sister. Blossom later starred as Grandma in the 1960s TV "Addams Family"!
Wherever you go, there you are.
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