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