Crossroads of the World is one of those LA landmarks that everyone recognizes but very few have visited. There’s not really much to see there these days outside of the beautiful architecture. But that wasn’t always the case. In the late 1930s and into the 1940s, this Los Angeles mall redefined how a shopping center could be designed… even if the end result wasn’t a wild success. It’s also the site of a double murder. In fact, it might not even exist if it weren’t for the blood shed on the grounds.
What is the Crossroads of the World?
Motorists caught in Sunset Boulevard’s traffic jams will be painfully familiar with the Crossroads of the World. Its tower proudly raises a miniature planet Earth to the sky above, extending from a Streamline Moderne reference to an ocean liner. For a moment, your bumper-to-bumper frustration might have melted away as you asked yourself, “What is the Crossroads of the World anyway?” You could have passed by it hundreds of times without knowing.
Constructed in 1936, the Crossroads of the World was… a mall. But it was an innovative one. Unlike other Los Angeles malls that preceded it, Crossroads of the World employed an open-air design for its 57 shops and restaurants and is often credited as the country’s first outdoor mall.
The most recognizable portion of the design is the steamship that bisects the entry of the former shopping center. It once housed a restaurant called the Continental Cafe where shoppers could enjoy a meal with a view from the “upper deck.” A tiny town of bungalows surrounded this “ocean liner”, each employing architecture distinctive of another country. And fittingly enough, Crossroads of the World promised shoppers items from around the world.
The Short Life of the the First Los Angeles Mall to Go Open-Air
Leading Streamline Moderne architect Robert V. Derrah was commissioned to design Crossroads of the World, hot off of completing the iconic Coca-Cola Building. His Crossroads of the World design was so memorable, it inspired Disney to recreate the entry tower for their Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. In addition to the central oceanliner and the surrounding cottages, Derrah worked in 36 units of office space in the upper levels of the mall. Despite its ambition, Crossroads of the World was not a resounding success as a Los Angeles mall.
By the 1950s, Crossroads of the World had transitioned to office space. Some notable names leased units at the complex, many working within the entertainment industry and drawn to its close proximity to studios. At one time or another, you could find Alfred Hitchcock, Jackson Browne, or members of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young leaving their offices for the night. Even the Screen Actors Guild rented office space at Crossroads of the World for a time.
In 1977, a real estate investor named Mort La Kretz purchased and restored the Crossroads of the World but continued to lease it out as office space. Just a few years later in 1980, the National Park Service added the mall-turned-office space to the National Register of Historic Places, preserving it so that future generations could also be perplexed by it when driving up Sunset.
What About That Double Murder?
You’re wondering about that double murder. It all starts with a man named Charles H. Crawford whose wife, Ella, would oversee the building of Crossroads of the World… at the site where he was shot to death. Before moving to LA, Crawford was a mover and shaker with heavy business dealings in dance halls and saloons catering to clientele with an appetite for gambling, prostitution, and all manners of debauchery. Possessing a knack for political networking, Crawford was able to keep his head above water for a time. But when the tide turned against him, he turned his sights toward LA.
Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, Crawford established The Maple Bar, a den of vice and iniquity frequented by the city’s upper crust. In the age of prohibition, Crawford and his political insiders, dubbed the “City Hall Gang”, kept the good times rolling. They also made plenty of enemies. By the late 1920s, Crawford was fleeing the U.S. in a panic, leaving his multiple business operations in the hands of his wife, Ella, and former LAPD officer, Guy “String Bean” McAfee. You can’t make this up.
After the smoke more or less cleared, Crawford returned to LA a new, reformed man. Or so he claimed. He teamed up with journalist Herbert Spencer to release a regular publication entitled Critic of Critics in which the duo lambasted LA lawmakers. But the new holier-than-thou Crawford wasn’t any more endearing than the man in his crime boss heyday.
“See You at the Crossroads”
On May 20, 1931, while at the Critic of Critics office at what would soon become the Crossroads of the World, both Crawford and Spencer were shot by an unknown assailant. Spencer died at the site, but Crawford survived long enough to be interviewed by police… not that it did any good. He refused to divulge the identity of the shooter and died mere moments later.
Perhaps the murders of Crawford and Spencer would remain unsolved to this day had ex-deputy district attorney David Clark not turned himself in weeks later. Clark had battled Crawford’s associates in the courtroom prior to the murder, so this was no random act of violence. But Clark claimed his actions were committed in self-defense.
According to Clark’s story, Crawford had attempted to bribe him with political favors. When the former deputy district attorney refused the bait, he alleged that Crawford produced a gun, leading to the shootout that claimed the lives of Crawford and Spencer. Despite investigators finding no firearms in Crawford’s office, a jury exonerated Clark. The lone dissenter who found Clark “guilty” was greeted with a live bomb on the front lawn of his home the next day. It’s worth noting that Clark would continue to rely on murder as a solution to his problems. In the mid-1950s, he pleaded guilty to the murder of an associate’s wife and later died in prison.
The Crossroads of the World from the Start to the Future
As we mentioned, Crawford’s wife built Crossroads of the World on the ground where he was taken out of this world. Perhaps she intended it to pave over what she no doubt viewed as a tragedy. Admittedly, it’s a pretty riveting origin story for a Los Angeles mall.
Today, the ghosts of that time have long since dissipated and the Crossroads of the World is an architectural curiosity that motorists momentarily consider as they travel to more relevant locations. That’s not to say the former mall is stagnating. In 2019, LA’s City Council approved an ambitious renovation that would convert the Crossroads of the World into a mixed-use commercial space. In addition to 190,000 square feet of retail space, the project will add 950 apartments and condos (including 100 units reserved for low-income housing) and a 308-room hotel. So, maybe Crossroads of Residential and Commercial Real Estate is more accurate at this point?
