The Dismantling of the Frank Gehry Project You’ve Never Heard Of

For almost 20 years, an iconic Frank Gehry interior in Brentwood, Los Angeles, has flown completely under the radar despite having a small but mighty cult following on the Westside. Loyal customers admire New York Bagel Co. for not just its smoked salmon sandwich; in 1991, Gehry designed a chandelier that’s an exact steel replica of the Chrysler building, wood parquet interspersed with cement flooring, red banquette leather booths, long raised mirrors, and a 12-foot galvanized steel plate with "New York" cut out of it, hanging on the wall of the dining room.

As the Architect’s Newspaper first reported, the shop’s owners, Patra Kittichanthira and her husband, Ted Cichowski, tell Dwell they were blindsided by their landlord’s—L.A.–based Anderson Real Estate—sudden decision not to renew their lease in the summer, giving them until December to move out. They originally bought the business in 2003 from Gehry’s friend David Rosen, for whom Gehry had allegedly sketched out the design for the space on a napkin.

A Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety search reveals a permit for interior demolition approved in 2021 for the entire address, with no expiration date or suite indicated. "We heard from our broker that it’s going to be a Ggiata Deli," says Kittichanthira over the phone, referencing the New Jersey–based chain that’s on an expansion tear in LA. "It’s just rumors, but I heard they’re just trying to upgrade the whole shopping center into a really nice food court." Gehry’s firm in L.A. has offered to store the iconic Chrysler replica, as well as the enormous New York sign. Both Gehry and Anderson Real Estate, a family-owned group  whose name also appears on the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, did not respond to requests for comment.

The interior was a relic from Gehry’s early career in L.A. before he moved to Paris in 1961, when he was just starting to design popular restaurants, like the now-shuttered Rebecca’s in Venice. These projects, which incorporated contemporary working class elements like corrugated cardboard and steel exteriors, laid the foundation for Gehry’s rise as one of architecture’s most innovative but controversial figures. His Chrysler replica at New York Bagel Co. speaks to his use of outrageous scale while nodding to the region’s history of novelty vernacular—a rare convergence that shows his burgeoning process and architectural philosophy.

After moving to L.A. in 1947 and earning his degree at University of Southern California, he began his professional journey working for prominent local firms, including Victor Gruen, who all but invented the modern shopping mall as we know it, and Pereira & Luckman Associates, where Gehry briefly focused on commercial architecture.

Ken Bernstein, who oversees the Office of Historic Resources for the city of Los Angeles, says there just wasn’t enough time to historically designate and save the interior of New York Bagel Co. "Since the building does not have historic status today, a city council member under our cultural heritage ordinance could introduce a council motion to designate it as a local landmark or historic cultural monument," but because city council was in recess when the interior was "discovered," there simply was no time to save it. The multistep designation process is lengthy, takes up to six months to a year to go through, and is rare. In Manhattan, a similar fate recently befell a 63-year-old mural by artist Nikos Bel-Jon, which was designed specifically for Pfizer’s headquarters; after the company moved in 2015, the mural was saved but removed and placed in a private home.

So how did such an architecturally significant interior by a super-famous architect fly so far under the radar for so long?

According to local architect and historian Alan Hess, projects like these in commercial spaces are vulnerable in Los Angeles. "This keeps happening," he says, adding: "Gehry himself is not especially an advocate for preservation, even of his own work." In addition to New York Bagel Co., Gehry also contributed design to the Buena Park Shopping Mall in Orange County and even a now-defunct Joseph Magnin store at South Coast Plaza, which has since been renovated.

"For Gehry, Los Angeles is a city looking to the future, and it’s a very practical philosophy for an architect, architects like Gehry—who want to do new buildings," Hess says. As recently as 2021, for example, the Lytton Savings Bank building in Hollywood, designed by midcentury architect Kurt F. Meyer in 1966, endured a long battle between developers and architectural preservation nonprofit Los Angeles Conservancy before being demolished in 2021. The designer of the new mixed-use strip mall taking its place? Frank Gehry.

"We are unfortunately greatly influenced by the criticism of L.A. architecture by critics who don’t understand what’s really the character of Los Angeles, why these buildings are important, and how they could influence an architect like young Frank Gehry," says Hess, citing that early programmatic architecture like Tail o’ the Pup, the Brown Derby Dome, and the famous Arby’s sign in Hollywood, don’t get the same respect as new builds, despite being an integral part of Los Angeles architectural history.

Hess argues that the idea of the West itself is one of looking ahead to renewal and progress, which often means demolition of historic and architecturally significant sites. Conserving is an expensive and lengthy process, and without the financial protection of a firm or foundation, much of the region’s architectural history—and recently, historic structures in general—is cheaper to demolish than save.

According to Corrie Siegal, executive director of the Museum of Neon Art, the fate of certain relics, like the aforementioned iconic Arby’s sign, is tentative. "Sometimes even when there is an overwhelming will to preserve these treasures from most parties, the legal and economic considerations may win out," Siegal says, adding that preservationists and community members put in endless effort to save these relics, and that effort isn’t lost—even if the icon is. "We are building collective awareness and power to craft the cities and places we want to live in."

Perhaps the project's divergence from his later work is why Gehry’s mark on the space was so unknown. Or even more simply: why would anyone assume their local spot was designed by one of the most famous architects of all time? Historical designation or not—Kittichanthira says New York Bagel Co.’s final weekend in December was a neighborhood celebration. "So many families came in, so many young kids. They baked us cupcakes. They were crying in the car as they left," she says.

Literary agent Robb Rothman was a regular, among the likes of former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti and actor Benicio del Toro, who frequented the deli on a weekly basis for 30 years. "I kept telling people, ‘On January 1, we’re all going to be homeless,’" says Rothman over the phone, while busy giving his order at a new deli. "[New York Bagel Co.] was our quiet place, they know you and they know your order—it’s where everybody knows your name."  

Top photo by New York Bagel Co. via Facebook.

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