Bill Gruen / Gruen Lighting

1952 Gruen Lighting Ad

Gruen Lighting was founded in 1946 by Bill and Elaine Gruen. 

Bill's cousin was architect and shopping mall developer Victor Gruen. 

Here's a little about Bill Gruen from an article in a SCI Arc newsletter:  

Gruen spent his career working closely with architects and designers. After studying electrical engineering at New York University, he got his start at General Lighting Company in New York, where he worked with designers including Louis Danziger and Ladislav Sutnar. He was charged with overseeing the design of new architectural lighting fixtures. His cousin Victor Gruen—widely recognized as the inventor of the modern shopping mall—inspired him to move west in 1941, with the plan to expand his practice and  engage with the growing modern design community of Southern California. In 1946, he and his wife Elaine founded Gruen Lighting in Encino, which became a trusted resource for modern lighting. By offering customized commercial and residential fixtures and effects, Gruen met and worked with a number of noted architects, electrical engineers, and interior designers in the greater Los Angeles area Gruen Lighting.

Gruen Lighting carried many brands, including Prescolite from Berkeley

I wonder if Bill had anything to do with the Barton's Bonbonniere lamp?

His cousin Victor and Alvin Lustig worked on the shop design.

More about the lamp here.

This chandelier that Boomerang recently had in the shop could have been purchased at Gruen Lighting.

 It looks like the one in the ad above. It came straight out of a 1950s Lloyd Ruocco house in Point Loma.

  Here are more images: Boomerang