VAN NUYS SAVINGS, PANORAMA CITY, CA, 1957
It’s a quarter past high noon in the very midst of the San Fernando Valley. A futuristic high tech digital clock tells us so. But the clock isn’t as futuristic as the curvaceous creation it marks. This is the Tomorrowland of Van Nuys Boulevard.
A man and a woman pose together beside the flying nun- shaped awning shading the entrance to this outer space-age, science fiction style house of money. By any architectural standards before or since this is extreme. The design is simple. Part igloo and part flying squirrel. Really this giant steel, concrete and glass construction is as much a sculpture as it is a building. The two relaxed arched beams crisscrossing over the top remind me of the icing on a delicious hot cross bun or a cross stitch on a handmade patchwork quilt.
Spirit and pride beam from this sure-footed sculptural structure. It’s unfathomable for us today to appreciate just how much of a contrast it was when it was new to the far more traditional mid-century suburbia that was blossoming around it in every direction. But what defines its true greatness is the fact that it still looks futuristic more than fifty years after it was created.
All that is a tribute to the man who designed it, Mr. Wenceslaus Sarmiento, one of the world’s great champions of architecture as art and art as architecture. (And don’t we love the name Wenceslaus!) He was born in Peru in 1922 and studied with the granddaddy of South American modernism, Oscar Neimeyer.
From 1951 through 1961 Sarmineto was the head designer for the Bank Building Corporation of America. Over the course of his three-decade plus career he designed hundreds of one-of-a-kind, out-of-this-world bank buildings. He retired form his St. Louis based architectural firm in 1980. In the realm of architects working when he did, in an era when banks were both able and inclined to showcase their egos in the form of creative architecture, he had one of the greatest gigs an architect could ever have.
Today he lives in Santa Monica, California not far from the site where this building still stands. I wonder if he’s driven by it lately. “…Mr. Sarmineto, wanna go for a ride?”
Here’s to Van Nuys Savings, space age style, Mr. Sarmineto and YOU!
I’ve driven past this former bank many times over the years on my way to H.D. and have wondered what it once was. Thanks Charles for letting me in on this Valley treasure. Although the building is intact, it is now a tacky discount furniture shop. I hope for Mr. Sarmineto’s sake that he doesn’t take a trip to this building. He’d be crushed like the giant outdoor velvet chair advertising the building’s new occupation.
Where exactly is this building and what is it now?
I am looking forward to opening night at the Fox Pomona! Who did the bank building 2nd & Main in the Pomona Art Colony? It is a 1960 building? Dee
Hi Charles!
I would like to know the address as well/nearest cross street.
I am so pleased to see how loved and busy you are!
Cheers!
Kathy
It’s at 8201 Van Nuys Blvd. Google Maps has panoramic photos of it.
It’s on Van Nuys Blvd, a block or two south of Roscoe. It looks like a dump now but the building is still intact. I’d love to see a photo comparison to today’s view. Thanks for posting it and for the history.
BTW- If Mr. Sarmineto lives in Santa Monica, there is no reason for him to go to this neighborhood. All that is there now is a Walmart and a lot of mom and pop discount stores.
The building is at 8201 Van Nuys Blvd and like Mark said, it’s now a furniture store. It’s called “Su Casa de Descuento”. Which means “Your House of Discounts” in English.
In the 1970s, I grew up in a town adjacent to Panorama City, called Mission Hills. My family and I would go to that area very often and I remember that building as a bank. I was fascinated by it!
In those days Panorama City was a destination. All the best was there … Ohrbach’s, Robinsons, The Broadway were all there … along with Montgomery Ward and many of the Valley’s best restaurants. The town was pretty much all built in a 50s and 60s mid century modern theme. The most chic apartment buildings and lovely small tract homes on winding streets.
There were googie coffee shops, like Biff’s and Bob’s Big Boy too. I remember Bob’s had a huge palm tree growing from a planter surrounded by terrazzo in it’s lobby. The tree grew straight out of a hole in the ceiling. As a child it was all so magical.
There was also a 6 screen “walk-in” movie theatre called the “Americana”. At that time a multi screen modern theatre like that was rare. There was also a fabulous 1950s mid century modern bowling alley, The Panorama Bowl.
This area was where one would go shopping for sundries at the TG&Y five and dime, buy a fancy outfit at The Broadway, then get a soda a the huge counter/fountain of the Thrifty Drug Store.
This neighborhood also had the largest Santa and his reindeer display anywhere around.
Today, I live in San Francisco, and it’s hard to go back to that area because it’s so heartbreaking. All of it, and I mean ALL of it, is gone. The Broadway was replaced with a WalMart. Ohrbach’s was turned into an indoor swap meet. Robinson’s was torn down and Montgomery Ward sits empty. The Americana Theatre, along with the Bowling Alley and the faboulous Bob’s Big Boy are all gone too and the once chic apartment buildings are now decayed. But I am very happy to see that this former bank building still graces a corner of this once beautiful and exciting neighborhood.
Panorama City was once quite pretty, not anymore. It’s a shame this building wasn’t in a better area it might be better preserved.
It may be just a tacky furniture store, but the fact that it still exists, and looks to be in pretty decent shape gives me hope. I can’t tell you how many times I have run across a building like this, pulled over, and let the architecture and the spirit of the time engulf me for a few minutes. I always climb back in the car a happier person!
You can find this treasure at: 8201 Van Nuys Boulevard, panorama city, ca.
52 Years LATER… Wenceslaus Sarmiento’s SOARING DESIGN “still looks futuristic”. However. according to Mark Taylor’s entry… the spirit of the building may have been killed JUST LIKE THE BRAVE CZECH KING IN THE SONG, “THE GOOD KING WENCESLAUS”.
“God bless good King Wenceslaus and his PERUVIAN NAMESAKE for having the imagination & courage to stand up for thier beliefs!”
Thank-you Mr. Wenceslaus Sarmiento! I HOPE MORE OF TODAY’S IMMIGRANTS LEARN FROM YOUR EXAMPLE AND PROUDLY INTEGRATE THEIR GIFTS INTO “AMERICAN CULTURE” INSTEAD OF DEFIANTLY WAVING THE FLAGS THEY RAN AWAY FROM BUT NOW SHOW GREATER RESPECT FOR THAN OUR OWN.
The normally eagle-eyed Phoenix (it’s an adopted name, right?) misses the somewhat mysterious white orb visually hanging over the building like a waxing moon, translating the frame of reference from the terrestial to celestial. But it seems as likely to have its origin on the pink/orange (the sand of Mars?) building behind the bank. The science-fictional character of this vision – is it all design, or part serendipity?
Thank you Charles for, as usual, finding the interesting, extraordinary and forgotten places in the Southland.
I work a few blocks from this building, it always has a huge chair out in front . Love it!! just not the area haha.
Hi charles, I have been enjoying your slide of the week pics for about 9 months now. they’re great! It would be really cool to show a comparison to today’s view, when applicable, either with a side-by-side photo, or even a link. I’d love to see what the building looks like now. Thanks, Dan
Charles, you need to stop by your namesake building next time you are in Phoenix. Also designed by Wenceslaus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslaus_Sarmiento
After reading this entry about the Van Nuys Savings -
reminded me of the time I met Oscar Neimeyer in Rio. This was in 1971 (such a long time ago). I was visiting my brother-in-law who is a brazilian journalist and knows everyone. Anyway Neimeyer was in a little cafe on Copa Cabana beach with a group of friends. When I was introduced, he jumped up to give me hug and I
was shocked to see that he was in a speedo. He was pretty old at that time and it just seemed so funny that an older man would be in a bikini inside a restaurant. But that’s rio for you. wish I had taken a picture. But of course that would have been, uncouth to say the least.
They had digital clocks in 1957?!!
Panorama City also had the Panorama movie theater on Roscoe and Van Nuys blvd which is now a church.
CORRECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Panorama theater was at Nordhoff and Van Nuys.
They did have digital clocks in 1957!
I live not too far off from the area, in Arleta, and I pass by this building all the time. I remember back in the late 80s through the 90s that it used to be a bank. I think it was a Great Western bank. It had a great big staircase inside there, and I remember going up and down it when I used to go there with my parents. I always thought it was a wonderful building to look at. It really is heartbreaking to see how Panorama City has gone so downhill. There’s so many buildings around there that could be developed into something wonderful, but I think nobody wants to invest in what’s become a poor area.
Charles, another of W.A.’s buildings was featured in your July 2004 slide. You wouldn’t know it by the design then and certainly not now as you pass it on PCH in Newport Beach.
Correction. It’s on Via Lido & Via Oporto, not PCH; off PCH to Newport Blvd. to Via Lido.
Yes, Newport Savings and Loan, another BRILLIANT Sarmineto creation, that i featured as a slide of the week maybe found here: http://www.charlesphoenix.com/2004-07-22/
I didn’t think digital clocks came around until at least the 60s or 70s.
Charles, I have your books, and I love your work. Great stuff! Watching the Halloween video on Martha Stewart on your website, I hope you’ll consider doing a Christmas themed book and a Halloween themed book because I think the demand is there. People have much nostalgia for the way these holidays were celebrated in the 1950s and 1960s.
Follow this link for more information about this space-age building: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/12/van-nuys-boulev.html
Dear Charles,
Great building, and thanks for the background info. It looks rather similar to the early 1960s City Hall of the City of Orange, on Chapman Blvd a few blocks east of the Circle of Orange. Check it out.
There’s a more modern photo of the bank online…
http://www.you-are-here.com/modern/panorama.html
Hello, Thanks for your great site.
In later years, it was our bank, I forget, maybe Wells Fargo?
I grew up in Panorama City, when it was clean. I have seen photos of it now, and it’s trahsy with signs you can’t read. I always remember this building, wanting to climb up on the sides, dad wouldn’t let us even try
Many fond memories of Panorama bcak in the 60′s. Lennie’s Toys, Gold’s furniture, Broadway, Robinson’s, Mike’s Pizza, See’s Candy, Hughes’ Market , Americana 5 cinemas, and all the little stores along Van Nuys Blvd. I lived right off Chase Street near the elementry school.
There was a Bob Hope and Lucille Ball movie filmed in Hughes, I wish I could find the name of that film. Showed much of the surrounding area.
Thanks for the memories, and by the way, the photo of the IHOP was not the one in Panorama. That location is still there, but it has a street in front of it. Parking was across the street or on the sides.
If you have any other slides from Panorama City, We would love to see them.
Best regards, Gary.
I love this place