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Former department store in Los Angeles, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fifth Street Store was a major department store in Los Angeles opened in 1905.
![]() Illustration from 1905 article in the Los Angeles Herald announcing the opening of the "Fifth Street Store" | |
Company type | Privately-held company |
---|---|
Industry | Clothing |
Founded | 1905Los Angeles, USA | in
Defunct | 1978 |
Fate | Locations merged into Ohrbach's, Milliron's Westchester, or Walker Scott |
Area served | California, USA |
The official name of the company and store changed many times:
It was located at the southwest corner of Fifth and Broadway.
The company replaced the building with a new eight-story store completed in 1924. From 1925 the store began to advertise as Walkers — co-founder Ralf (R. M.) Walker would later found what would be San Diego's largest department store chain, Walker Scott. In 1946 it changed its name to Milliron's. The Broadway Department Store purchased the store in 1950 and closed it in 1956, when Ohrbach's bought it in August 1953. The store underwent a $1,000,000 remodel by Welton Becket, architect, and reopened in November 1953 as Ohrbach's-Downtown.[4] Ohrbach's closed its branch and sold the building in 1959.[5] The building still exists and consists of loft condominium (Shybary Grand Lofts, 312 W. Fifth St.) with retail on the ground floor.[6]
Milliron's Westchester opened on March 17, 1949,[7] designed by prominent retail architect Victor Gruen and cost $3,000,000 to build.[7] The grand opening was a large event and the architecture - with its straight lines combined with large curves at the angles; its triangular window displays jutting out from the store; and the deck to its rooftop parking deck – was considered a landmark in retail architecture.[8][9][10] The store was sold shortly afterwards, in June 1950, to The Broadway.[11]
Walkers/Walker's opened their first branch store in Downtown Long Beach at 4th and Pine - Pine being the main shopping artery - in 1933. Meyer and Holler designed the 1928 art deco building for the Hugh A. Marti Co.[12] In 1952, they spent $300,000 to expand to 132,000 sq ft (12,300 m2), adding 5 escalators, more than the total number of escalators in Long Beach at the time. Walker's Long Beach opened a second Long Beach store at Los Altos Center in 1954 which it sold to The Broadway shortly thereafter in 1956.[13][14] Walker's sold its Downtown Long Beach store in 1960, but it continued to operate as Walker's until 1978.
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Walker's opened a branch store in Downtown San Diego in 1935, which separated in the early 1950s and became Walker Scott.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
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