Bel Air Camera to close after decades in business

[Sirius Glass]

Bel Air Camera will close Wednesday due to declining sales, after 58 years in Westwood Village.
Bel Air Camera is the only camera store in Westwood and one of the Village’s oldest businesses. Fred Silvers, the store’s general manager and employee of 41 years, said the store’s management decided to close the store because sales weren’t high enough to maintain the store.
He attributed the store’s decline to rising competition from online retailers. He said he has seen more people buy cameras online or use their mobile phones to take photographs.

http://dailybruin.com/2015/12/22/bel-air-camera-to-close-after-decades-in-business/

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2015/12/bel-air_camera_in_westwoo.php

 

[AgX]

What was so special about this shop that its closure shows up in the industry news?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Another photo store closing, but this was one that I could walk to.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

What was so special about this shop that its closure shows up in the industry news?

How about that cool retro camera store signage and architecture? That façade is nothing less than a second cousin to tail fins on a 1958 Pink Cadillac Eldorado convertible. It's the In-N-Out burger of camera stores.



(I visited once or twice in the 70s, as I recall. Really sorry to read this...)

Ken

 

[BrianShaw]

All that, plus it's part of the camera industry and has been there for a long, long time. Its understandable but sad to see old timey business like BelAir and Kurts go away. Thanks Sirius for letting us know. I don't get to read the newspaper on a regular basis and probably wouldn't see this news until next week. I sure hope some historical society will preserve the sign and big film/camera!

 

[BrianShaw]

Ken... I always thought it was the Randy's Donut of the camera world.

http://randysdonuts.com/

 

[skorpiius]

Someone's got to snag that camera

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Ken... I always thought it was the Randy's Donut of the camera world.

http://randysdonuts.com/

:devil:

 

[Sirius Glass]

I had dropped in about a week before to buy filters and they told me that they were shutting down. If I had know it was imminent I would have purchased some of the used cameras displayed or sales in the cabinets. They included many Leicas including early Leicas.

 

[BrianShaw]

I wonder if they will sell them. Remember Sherman Oaks Camera? When they closed they were not willing to sell the historical display items.

 

[AgX]

How about that cool retro camera store signage and architecture? That façade is nothing less than a second cousin to tail fins on a 1958 Pink Cadillac Eldorado convertible. It's the In-N-Out burger of camera stores.

I did not realize that similaritay to a car tail fin (and still do not), but I very much like the cable release being part of the name at the facade.


My question at Sirius was based on the idea, that if we would report any closing camera shop, we could fill a sticky thread alone.
That might have a documentary meaning. But would list shops most members would not know.

But I also know shops that are going strong and even train new assistants.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

I did not realize that similaritay to a car tail fin (and still do not), but I very much like the cable release being part of the name at the facade.

It's an Americana thing. The name of the store—Bel Air—also plays into it.

Not exactly Route 66, but in the same ballpark...



Ken

 

[pbromaghin]

Not exactly Route 66, but in the same ballpark...




https://www.google.com/search?q=che...ved=0ahUKEwjPyrDl2JPKAhVP0GMKHct5BAUQ_AUIBigB

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Yep. That's the first cousin with tail fins all right.

I just picked the Caddy 'cause I wanted to hear The Boss one more time...

:w00t:

Ken

 

[Sirius Glass]

I did not realize that similaritay to a car tail fin (and still do not), but I very much like the cable release being part of the name at the facade.


My question at Sirius was based on the idea, that if we would report any closing camera shop, we could fill a sticky thread alone.
That might have a documentary meaning. But would list shops most members would not know.

But I also know shops that are going strong and even train new assistants.

I like the idea but that is up to the moderators.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Often the shop closings are posted in the relevant regional forum when there is one. It seems to me that it would be ok either way--Industry News or the regional forum. It might be hard to distinguish, since a major shop closing in a big city would seem like "Industry News," and some small local shops might rise above regional interest if they happen to be in photo hotspots where lots of photographers travel and buy film locally.

 

[lxdude]

What was so special about this shop that its closure shows up in the industry news?

There are some camera stores that have more prominence than others, and Bel Air was one of them. I remember their advertisements in the national photo magazines as well as in the Los Angeles Times. There were others in the LA area, like Frank's Highland Park Camera, that have warranted a mention also. These were around before there even was a Samy's, the big one now.
It signifies the passing of an era, when a person could go in and swing deals with them by saying, for example, that Olympic Camera offered the same thing for less. We all had our preferences, too. My own favorite was the long-gone Miko Photo in Santa Monica, lesser known but they'd match the big boys' prices.

It's like when the original Helix Camera in Chicago announced it was closing. It's national news to those of us who remember it as a prominent advertiser.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yes Miko Photo left us quite a while ago.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

There were others in the LA area, like Frank's Highland Park Camera, that have warranted a mention also.

Purchased most of my current major darkroom hardware at Frank's in the 80s with money I earned working at Disneyland during college. Enlarger, lenses, most of the other paraphernalia. And all of my original Nikon F2 stuff as well, including motor drive unit. Once had my wallet with $300+ pick-pocketed while rummaging through the bins at Frank's. Great memories.

Even called Frank's a couple years back from up here in the Seattle region during their sloooow final closing. Got a now late-middle-aged Jana on the phone. (The very young girl from the newspaper ads decades ago.) She actually put a very old Frank on the line for five minutes, so I was able to tell him thanks, and I'm still using the stuff I bought from him all those years ago. He seemed quite pleased with that.

Ken

 

[aoresteen]

Not a big deal. Camera stores have been closing for decades. I remember Altman's Camera in Chicago closing down in 1977. I still have Ralf's business card somewhere. Calumet has closed and that's where I got my Cambo parts from. Someone else will step in and fill the gap. I've been buying from B&H since the 80's. If they close I'll find someone else to buy from. Circle of Life.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I Los Angeles no one steps in, the survivors just keep on moving along. Calumet closed in Los Angeles and the other stores did not change. Bel Air was taken over by Willoughby's but they could not move fast enough to save it. Samy's and FreeStyle are holding on and I do not see them expanding.

 

[OptiKen]

Isn't the real reason they closed because they couldn't get film anymore for the camera on the roof?

Seriously though, this is sad news.

 

[ericdan]

Damn. I went to school there and used to always go to this store.
Was planning to go again on my next trip to L.A.
Really sad news.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

When I was a student at UCLA I'd walk past Bel Air Camera every day. The last thing I bought there was a box of variable contrast RC paper; I still have it - unopened.

Miko Camera in Santa Monica - owning no cameras at all, I went in there once to look at an SRT-100. Since the SRT-100 would always remind me of the SRT-101 I wanted but couldn't afford, I bought a Pentax SP500 instead at a different store nearby (Armenian guy, forgot his name and the store).

As for the big donut store, in the 1960's and 1970's there was one in Culver City somewhere that I'd go to.

 

[bdial]

Sad to see, I was in there a few times, way back when.