automotive founded 1949 headquarters sherman oaks california products automobiles automotive parts parent casa automotive group website casadecadillac.com casa de cadillac is a buick gmc cadillac dealership located on 14401 ventura boulevard in sherman oaks ca . due to its classic googie architecture and tenure in the area since 1949 casa de cadillac has become an architectural landmark in the san fernando valley . 1 contents 1 history 2 architecture 3 popular culture 4 external links 5 references history edit casa de cadillac opened in 1949 at 14401 ventura boulevard and it has operated continuously in the same facility since that time until today . the original dealership was part of the don lee cadillac operations a dealer group that operated cadillac dealerships throughout the state of california including major cities such as fresno sacramento oakland san francisco pasadena and los angeles . despite efforts by general motors to convert several of lee s holdings into factory stores casa de cadillac remained in the lee family . 2 ownership of casa de cadillac passed from lee to martin pollard in the early 1950s . pollard was influential in local business and an active member of the san fernando valley community . he served at various times as the president of valley presbyterian hospital president of the sherman oaks chamber of commerce the first chairman of the los angeles metropolitan transit authority . 3 in 1959 pollard was the first ever recipient of the fernando award in 1959 4 awarded by the fernando award foundation inc. in recognition of outstanding community volunteerism in the san fernando valley . upon pollard s death in 1970 the sherman oaks branch of the los angeles public library was named in his honor . after pollard s death james wilson became president of casa de cadillac and was active in its daily operations from 1963 until 2008 . during that time casa automotive group the parent company of casa de cadillac acquired several additional franchises buick gmc saab subaru hummer and kia . although they continue to bill themselves as a cadillac dealership it has also expanded to include buick and gmc vehicles in line with the buick cadillac gmc network of dealerships in the gm pipeline . in 2008 wilson passed ownership to his daughter and son in law susan and howard drake . howard drake currently runs daily operations for casa automotive group and casa de cadillac . architecture edit designed by randall duell in 1948 5 casa de cadillac is now considered a prime example of googie architecture . 6 it has been included in modern architectural walking tours organized by the modern committee of the los angeles conservancy 7 and los angeles times 8 and has become a popular location for photography and filming . popular culture edit during the early to mid 1970s the television game show let s make a deal gave away many new cadillac automobiles announcing during the description of the prize that the car was from casa de cadillac . in michael bay s transformers the character jazz drops down from the roof of the casa de cadillac dealership before transforming into vehicle form to meet with the other autobots at bumblebee s location . in the 1985 arnold schwarzenegger action film commando the character cooke commandeers a cadillac and drives it through the display window . 9 in tom petty s free fallin 1989 casa de cadillac stands prominently across the street from the pink future dogs hot dog stand . in nbc s up all night christina applegate and will arnett look for a potential new family car . in the bernie mac show 2004 episode make room for caddy external links edit original photo of don lee cadillac taken in 1949 references edit ideas & trends california revisited how googie was my valley nytimes.com . nytimes.com . retrieved 2015 08 26 . automobile quarterly vol 39 1 . automobile heritage publishing & co. p. 26 . isbn 9781596139527 . retrieved 2015 08 26 . libraryarchives.metro.net dpgtl employeenews emblem 1960 nov.pdf letter from fernando award committee 1959 san fernando valley history . digital library.csun.edu . retrieved 2015 08 26 . randall duell hess a. 2004 . googie redux ultramodern roadside architecture . chronicle books . p. 207 . isbn 9780811842723 . retrieved 2015 08 26 . http www.modcom.org 202020 . shtml travel news your guide to everything for travel los angeles times . travel.latimes.com . retrieved 2015 08 26 . commando movie filming locations the 80s movies rewind . fast rewind.com . retrieved 2015 08 26 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title casa de cadillac & oldid 683054168 categories companies established in 1949companies based in californiaauto dealerships of the united statescadillac navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store 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