Herman Building

{{Short description|Building in Los Angeles, California, U.S.}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Herman Building | nocat = yes | nrhp_type = cp | partof = Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District | partof_refnum = 85000704 | image = Herman building hollywood.jpg | image_size = | caption = The building in 2024 | location = 1632 N. Vine St., Hollywood, California | coordinates = {{coord|34.101|-118.326|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Los Angeles | map_caption = Location of building in Los Angeles County | built = 1928 | architect = Carl Jules Weyl | architecture = Spanish Colonial Revival | designated_nrhp_type = April 4, 1985 }}

'''Herman Building''', also known as '''Bernard Luggage Building''', is a historic one-story building located at 1632 N. Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

== History == Herman Building was built in 1928 by Carl Jules Weyl<ref name=NRHS1>{{Cite web |title=Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/236d3254-47ee-4b31-9045-c2999cc465f2/ |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |date=April 4, 1985 |language=en-US}}</ref> and has been home to many businesses over the years, most notably a restaurant in the 1940s-1950s called Ham & Egger. Johnny Grant broadcast a live radio show from the restaurant, where he interviewed numerous celebrities, including Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, and Alan Young. In the 1950s, Bernard Luggage Company moved into the building, and the company's owners purchased the building twenty years later.<ref name="waterandpower6">{{Cite web |title=Early Views of Hollywood (1920 +) |url=https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views_of_Hollywood_(1920_+)_6_of_12.html |page=6 |publisher=Water and Power Associates |access-date=July 25, 2024}}</ref>

In 1984, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was added to the National Register of Historic Places, with 1632 N. Vine St. listed as a contributing property in the district.<ref name=NRHS1/> In the 2000s, when the city sought to develop the area into a W Hotel & Residences, the Herman Building's owner refused to sell. The city attempted to take the building by eminent domain, but lost their case. W Hotel was then built around Herman Building, which was reconstructed and restored to its original look.<ref name="waterandpower6"/><ref>{{cite web |title=W Hollywood Celebrates Milestone |url=https://www.nbclosangeles.com/local/w-hollywood-celebrates-milestone/1848353/ |publisher=NBC Los Angeles |date=January 26, 2009}}</ref>

==Architecture and design== Herman Building features a Spanish Colonial Revival design that includes a false gable parallel to the street as its focal point and Churrigueresque ornament along the edge of the gable. The building was compatible with Hollywood Brown Derby to its south.<ref name=NRHS1/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1928 Category:1920s architecture in the United States Category:Revival architecture in the United States Category:Buildings and structures in Hollywood, Los Angeles Category:Buildings and structures in Los Angeles Category:Historic district contributing properties in California