7th Street Looking West from Spring, Los Angeles, Calif. (Tichnor Bros. postcard, 1930s)

7th Street is a street in Los Angeles, California running from S. Norton Ave in Mid-Wilshire through Downtown Los Angeles. It goes all the way to the eastern city limits at Indiana Ave., and the border between Boyle Heights, Los Angeles and East Los Angeles.[1]

Originally agricultural land, 7th Street between Broadway (on which corner stood Bullock's) and Figueroa Street, became downtown's upscale shopping district. This began with J. W. Robinson's deciding to build their flagship store in 1915 on Seventh far to the west of the existing Broadway shopping district, between Hope and Grand streets. The Ville de Paris and Coulter's as well as numerous specialty shops came and rounded out the district.

The area lost its exclusivity when the upscale downtown stores opened branches in Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Westwood and Pasadena in the late 1920s through the 1940s, notably the establishment of Bullock's upscale landmark branch Bullocks Wilshire in Mid-Wilshire in 1929.[2]

Thirteen large office buildings opened between 1920 and 1928. By 1929, every plot on 7th between Figueroa and Los Angeles Streets had been developed.[2] The area remained an important, if not the most exclusive, center of retail and office space throughout the 1950s, but started a slow decline throughout the 1980s due to suburbanization. It was also the concentration of Downtown financial activity on Bunker Hill, a few blocks north. The flagship department stores like Bullock's (1983), Barker Brothers (1984) and Robinson's (1993) had closed and only the Broadway/Macy's at The Bloc, previously named Broadway Plaza remained. However, in 1986, the Seventh Market Place mall, now FIGat7th, opened, bringing a smaller retail cluster back to Seventh such as the 7th Street/Metro Center station opening in 1991.

With new, large skyscrapers such as the Wilshire Grand Center and the nearby U.S. Bank Tower bridging the gap with Bunker Hill, Seventh Street is now contiguous to the large financial district to the north and is once again a highly desired office district.

Landmarks

In order west to east. Source: Los Angeles Conservancy.[2]

Harbor Freeway to Figueroa

Wilshire Grand, orig. Hotel Statler, demolished

Figueroa to Flower

Barker Brothers Building

Flower to Hope

Roosevelt Building

Hope to Grand

J. W. Robinson's Building, 600 W. 7th St.

Grand to Olive

Brockman Building

Olive to Hill

Ville de Paris (department store) under construction 1916

7th & Broadway

Loew’s State Theatre

Broadway to Spring

A.G. Bartlett Building

Spring to Main

7th & Main

Los Angeles Board of Trade Building

Department stores on 7th Street and on Broadway

This is a table of the openings of department stores along the 7th Street and Broadway corridors:

Opened Left Moved or closed? Store Floor area (gross) Location Architects Current use
SPRING ST. BETWEEN TEMPLE AND SECOND
1884 1898 Moved to B'way Coulter's Hollenbeck Block, SW corner 2nd & Spring Historic Broadway station
1888 1908 Moved to 8th/B'way Hamburger's Phillips Block, Franklin & Spring Burgess J. Reeve Site of City Hall
1889 1910 Moved to B'way Mullen & Bluett 101–5 N. Spring Empty lot
1891 1900 Moved to 3rd/B'way Jacoby Bros. 128–134(–138) N. Spring at Court Site of City Hall
1895 ? The Hub Bullard Block, Spring at Court Morgan & Walls Site of City Hall
BROADWAY north of 4th St.
1893 1898 Moved to 317 B’way Ville de Paris[5]
(A. Fusenot Co.) 		Potomac Block, 221-3 S. Broadway Block, Curlett & Eisen added to Coulter's late 1907, demolished 1958, now a parking lot
1895 1915 Moved to 7th St. Boston Dry Goods
(J.W. Robinson Co.) 		237–241 S. Broadway Theodore Eisen and Sumner Hunt
(architects of the Bradbury Building) 		Parking lot
1898 1905 Moved to 200 block of B'way Coulter's (1898–1905) 317–325 S. Broadway through to 314–322 Hill Street[6]
Homer Laughlin Building 		John B. Parkinson became Ville de Paris
Now Grand Central Market
1899[7] 1935-6 Moved to 605 B'way[8][9] Jacoby Bros. 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) 331-333-335 S. Broadway John B. Parkinson[10] Was "Boston Store" in late 1930s.[11] Currently independent retail. 2 of 4 floors were removed.
1899 ? Moved to 455 B'way then 617 B'way I. Magnin/
Myer Siegel 		Irvine Byrne Block,
251 S. Broadway[12] 		Sumner Hunt Wedding chapel
1905 1917 Moved to 7th St. Coulter's 157,000 sq ft (14,600 m2)[13] Potomac Block: 225-7-9 S. Broadway through to 224-6-8 S. Hill St. Late 1907 added 219-221-223 S. Broadway to store. Block, Curlett & Eisen demolished, site of parking lot
1905 1917 Moved to 7th St. Ville de Paris 96,000 sq ft (8,900 m2)[citation needed] 317–325 S. Broadway through to 314–322 Hill Street[6]
Homer Laughlin Building 		John B. Parkinson Grand Central Market
1905 1917 Moved to 7th St. J. J. Haggarty Co. “New York Store’ 337–9 S. Broadway Independent retail. Only 2 stories remain.
1909 ? ? J. M. Hale (Hale’s) 341-343-345 S. Broadway[14] retail, top floors were removed
BROADWAY south of 4th St.
1896 1973 Moved to B'way Plaza The Broadway Dept. Store[15] 1924, 577,000 sq ft (53,600 m2)[16] SW corner 4th & Broadway, later through to Hill Junipero Serra State Office Building
1904 ? ? Silverwoods 1920: 115,420 sq ft (10,723 m2)[17] 556 S. Broadway (NE corner of 6th) Broadway Jewelry Mart
1905 ? Closed Fifth Street Store
(Steele, Faris, & Walker Co.)
Later called Walker's 		1917: 278,640 sq ft (25,887 m2)[18] SW corner 5th & Broadway Replaced existing store with new building in 1917[18]
Building later housed Ohrbach's
1906 1986 Moved to FIGat7th Hamburger's
After 1925: May Company 		1906: 482,475 sq ft (44,823.4 m2)[19][20]
1930, >1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2)[21] 		SW corner 8th & Broadway
by 1930, entire block 8th/9th/Broadway/Hill 		Under renovation to become tech campus
1907 1983 Closed, opened 1986 at FIGat7th Bullock's 1907: 350,000 sq ft (33,000 m2)
1934: 806,000 sq ft (74,900 m2)[22] 		NW corner 7th & Broadway
by 1934, most of the block 6th/7th/Broadway/Hill 		Parkinson & Bergstrom St. Vincents Jewelry Mart
1907 1908 Central Department Store[23] 85,000 sq ft (7,900 m2), [24] 609–619 S. Broadway Samuel Tilden Norton Demolished, now site of Los Angeles Theatre
1910 1960s Mullen & Bluett 610 S. Broadway
(Walter P. Story Bldg.)[25] 		Morgan, Walls & Clements Mixed-use
1917 Blackstone's 118,800 sq ft (11,040 m2)[26] 901 S. Broadway (SE corner 9th) John Parkinson Building became The Famous,
now residential, retail
1924 1972[27] Abandoned Downtown L.A. Desmond's 85,000 sq ft (7,900 m2)[28] 616 S. Broadway A. C. Martin[29] Renovated 2019 as office space, a restaurant and a rooftop bar.[28]
1930 1957[30] Eastern Columbia 1930: 275,650 sq ft (25,609 m2)[31] (expanded through to Hill St. in 1950)[32] 849 S. Broadway through to Hill Claud Beelman luxury condos
1936[9] 1938[33] Company liquidated Jacoby Bros. 605 S. Broadway[9] became a branch of Zukor's (1940),[34] now mixed-use
1947 1980[35] Abandoned Downtown L.A. Harris & Frank 2nd downtown location 644 S. Broadway
(Joseph E. Carr Bldg.) 		Robert Brown Young[36]
SEVENTH STREET
1915 1993 Abandoned Downtown L.A. J. W. Robinson's 1915: 400,000 sq ft (37,000 m2)[37]
1923: 623,700 sq ft (57,940 m2)[38] 		7th, Hope & Grand Noonan & Richards (1915), Edgar Mayberry/Allison & Allison (1934 remodel) Mixed-use
1917 1933 B. H. Dyas liquidated Ville de Paris, from 1919 B. H. Dyas 420 W. 7th (SE corner Olive) Dodd and Richards L.A. Jewelry Mart
1917 1938 Moved to Miracle Mile Coulter's 500 W. 7th (SW corner Olive) Dodd and Richards Mixed-use
1917 1963[39] Abandoned Downtown L.A. Haggarty's Brockman Building,
520–530 W. 7th at Grand[40][41][42][43]
 George D. Barnett
(of Barnett, Haynes & Barnett) 		Apartments
1927[44] 1934 Moved to #617 Desmond's 7th St. branch Roosevelt Building, 717 W. 7th St. Alexander Curlett and Claude Beelman Shoo Shoo Baby (restaurant)
1934,[44] expanded 1937[45] Closed Desmond's 7th St. branch (2nd loc.) 22,500 sq ft (2,090 m2) (1937)[46] 2nd Union Oil Building, 617 W. 7th. St. (Also) Alexander Curlett and Claude Beelman Walgreens[47]
1926 1984[48] Barker Bros. Abandoned Downtown L.A. 23 acres (1,000,000 sq ft; 93,000 m2)[49] 818 W. 7th (Flower to Figueroa) Curlett and Beelman Offices
1973 open* The Broadway 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2)[50] Broadway Plaza 750 W. 7th (Hope to Flower) Charles Luckman Macy's
1986 1996 Became duplicate Macy's, closed Bullock's Seventh Market Place now FIGat7th Jon Jerde[51] Gold's Gym (level M1), Target (M2), Zara (M3)
1986 2009a Became duplicate Macy's, closed May Company Nordstrom Rack (level M1), Target (M2), H&M (M3)

aas Macy's


Flower Street shopping district

For a time in the 1920s, Flower Street one block north and south of 7th, was an upscale shopping district. It began with the establishment of Chappell's at 645 S. Flower, which moved there from 7th Street in 1921 into a two-story, Spanish-style building, which exuded intimacy and tranquility compared to busy 7th Street or Broadway. It was innovative in offering parking in the rear.[52]

Barker Brothers opened their huge furniture emporium at 7th and Flower in 1926, two blocks west of J. W. Robinson's, which was already considered far west of the main Broadway shopping district. Myer Siegel followed a half block south, on Flower, that same year, as did Parmelee-Dohrmann, a large purveyor of china, crystal and silver. Other stores were Ashley & Evers, Ranschoff's, and Wetherby-Kayser shoes.

By 1931 Flower's heyday had petered out due to the depression, the opening of Bullock's Wilshire (1929)[53] and I. Magnin (1939)[54] much further west on Wilshire Blvd., as Myer Siegel's 1934 move to 7th Street.

References

  1. ^ Google Maps
  2. ^ a b c Strolling along Seventh Street (PDF). Los Angeles Conservancy. 2010.
  3. ^ "Union Oil Building, 617 West 7th (2 views)". California State Library. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  4. ^ "The Downtown Los Angeles Buildings That Oil Built". PBS SoCal. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Ville de Paris 1901". Calisphere, University of California Library. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 9 Sep 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Ad for Ville de Paris". Los Angeles Herald. August 15, 1907.
  7. ^ "Los Angeles Herald 22 August 1899 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  8. ^ "Advertisement for Jacoby Bros./May Co". Los Angeles Times. May 19, 1935.
  9. ^ a b c "Pioneers' Modern Home: Jacoby Bros.Will Open New Store Soon". Los Angeles Times. January 31, 1936. p. 11.
  10. ^ "Will Go Up Rapidly: Work on the Jacoby Building Was Begun Today: Most of the Material for the Big Business Structure Is Already on the Ground". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. September 1, 1899. p. 1. Architect John Parkinson
  11. ^ "Boston Store Los Angeles 1939 - 331 S. Broadway (old Jacoby Bros.) and 4755 Whittier Blvd". The Los Angeles Times. 1939-11-06. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  12. ^ "We move Monday to 251 South Broadway", I. Magnin advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec 1898, p.4
  13. ^ "Great Store for Coulter". Los Angeles Times. August 2, 1904. p. 13.
  14. ^ "Moving to Broadway: J. M. Hale Co. Go to Petticoat Lane". Los Angeles Evening Express. January 23, 1909. p. 4.
  15. ^ "Los Angeles Herald 4 August 1895 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  16. ^ "Framework is now finished: Construction Started Late Last Fall: Additional Will Be Completed During July: Department Store Growth Is Consistent". Los Angeles Times. March 23, 1924. p. 91. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  17. ^ "Magnificent Pile That Now Graces Broadway Corner". Los Angeles Times. August 31, 1920. p. 9.
  18. ^ a b "Broadway Buildings: To Cost Million". Los Angeles Times. April 22, 1917. p. part V p. 13. Eight stories…plus basement and sub-basement…172 feet on Broadway by 162 feet on Fifth
  19. ^ "Great Store's First Drill: Hamburger Army Through Paces for Opening; Get Familiar With "Lay" of New Establishment; Many Delights for Shoppers Are in Prospect". Los Angeles Times. July 26, 1908. p. V13. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  20. ^ "Hamburger's Big Store Celebrates: Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Sale To Mark Event; Started in Small Room on Main Street, Now Occupies Building with Thirteen Acres of Floor Space---History of the Great Emporium's Growth and Success". Los Angeles Times. October 29, 1916. p. III_A15. Alternate Link(subscription required) via ProQuest.
  21. ^ "Advertisement for May Company". Los Angeles Times. March 25, 1930. p. 10.
  22. ^ "Bullock's Department Store #1, Downtown, Los Angeles, CA (1906-1907)", PCAD
  23. ^ "New Department Store Opens Doors to Public". Los Angeles Herald. March 26, 1907. p. 4.
  24. ^ "New Department Store Opens Doors to Public". Los Angeles Herald. March 26, 1907. p. 4.
  25. ^ "Walter P. Story Building". Los Angeles Conservancy. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  26. ^ "Material Progress: Millions Going into Broadway Buildings: New Blackstones". Los Angeles Times. April 22, 1917. 90 feet of frontage on Broadway and 165 feet on 9th Street…with 6 stories plus two basement levels
  27. ^ "Ad for Desmond's Downtown LA Removal Sale". Los Angeles Times. February 10, 1972. p. 7.
  28. ^ a b Vincent, Roger. "Historic home of clothier Desmond's is ready for its comeback on Broadway". latimes.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  29. ^ Gray, Olive (September 16, 1924). "New Desmond Store Opened". Los Angeles Times.
  30. ^ "Eastern-Columbia closes down 1957". The Los Angeles Times. 1957-02-03. p. 26. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  31. ^ "Concern Occupies New Home Tomorrow". Los Angeles Times. September 11, 1930. p. 8.
  32. ^ "Eastern-Columbia expansion 1950". The Los Angeles Times. 1950-06-18. p. 26. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  33. ^ "Advertisement for liquidation of Jacoby Bros". Los Angeles Times. September 30, 1938. p. 45.
  34. ^ "Downtown Broadway Store Leased in $1,000,000 Deal: Business Prepares to Expend $150,000 in Converting Property to Its Uses". Los Angeles Times. February 11, 1940. p. 63.
  35. ^ "Harris & Frank advertisement". Los Angeles Times. January 17, 1980. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  36. ^ "Los Angeles Union Station Run-through Tracks Project", p. RA6-PP8
  37. ^ "24 May 1914, 79 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  38. ^ "11 Jan 1923, 27 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  39. ^ "Haggarty's advertisement". June 23, 1963. p. 59.
  40. ^ "J.J. Haggarty Growth Laid to Enterprise". Los Angeles Times. 10 November 1940. p. 67 (Part IV Society, p.9).
  41. ^ Auerbach, Alexander (27 May 1970). "J.J. Haggarty Dress Chain Forced Out of Business by Debt". Los Angeles Times. p. 56 (part III Business & Finance, p.1). Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  42. ^ "New York Store's Life Dream Comes True: J. J. Haggarty Ready to Open New Emporium at Seventh and Grand Tomorrow". Los Angeles Evening Express. September 19, 1917.
  43. ^ "The "New York" to Start Building". Los Angeles Times. November 19, 1916. p. 27.
  44. ^ a b "Desmond's New Store Open Today". The Los Angeles Times. 5 March 1934. p. 26. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  45. ^ "Reasons for Expansion Told: Desmond Chief Cites Handicaps of Limited Space". The Los Angeles Times. 21 October 1937. p. 9. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  46. ^ "Expansion of Desmond Store Planned". The Los Angeles Times. 27 December 1936. p. 53. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  47. ^ "617 W. 7th St". Google Maps. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  48. ^ "Ad for Barker Bros". Los Angeles Times. September 24, 1984. p. 6.
  49. ^ Whitaker, Alma (July 13, 1931). "Furniture Has Its Romance: Fascinating Tale Found in Barker Brothers: Enormous Business Started by Outraged Man: Fourth Generation Working at Present Time". Los Angeles Times. p. 23. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  50. ^ "Broadway Plaza", Pacific Coast Architecture Database
  51. ^ "Grand Opening for Downtown Mall Scheduled : Bullock's, May Co. Anchor Stores in Seventh Market Place". Los Angeles Times. 1986-04-06. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  52. ^ Longstreth, Richard (1997). City Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile, and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920–1950. MIT Press. pp. 41–43. ISBN 0262122006.
  53. ^ "Designated Historic-Cultural Monuments". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
  54. ^ "Wilshire Galleria", Los Angeles Conservancy
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