Sadly Ironic



With some time to kill before meeting up with the iaal•maf near LaFayette Park for a downtown art ride followed by some barbecue and beers at Spring Street Smokehouse I rolled around the way a bit, snapping

I’ve long admired the Bullocks Wilshire building and equally appreciated the Southwestern School of Law for taking possession of it and keeping it intact, but this was my first time this close to it and the bas relief above its front door, whose inscription reads “To build a business that will never know completion.”

That “completion” started when Bullocks left the building in 1988. Retail operations continued under the I. Magnin name until 1993 when the completion became permanent.

One might argue that the legal profession is a business much better suited to never knowing completion and thus it’s appropriate that Southwestern has assumed ownership, but still… I don’t think this is quite what John G. Bullock and P.G. Winnett had in mind when they conceived this landmark.