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Thursday, November 17, 2005

One Last Happy Holiday for Robinsons-May


A. Hamburger & Sons -- before it became May Co. (Eighth Street and Broadway)


J.W. Robinson Company (Seventh Street and Grand Avenue)

Both pics above come from Mitch Glaser's Paradox Unbound, which recently posted another item about the impending end of Robinsons-May -- and how that officially closes the chapter on a century of homegrown department stores in Los Angeles.



As we've noted before, this is the final holiday season to shop at Robinsons-May (although you wouldn't know it by the store itself, or its ads). Mitch points to a recent Downtown News story by Max Pierce:

The announcement in September by Federated Department Stores that the Robinsons-May buying division will be consolidated into the San Francisco Macy's leaves Los Angeles without a major department store headquartered here for the first time in more than a century. It also puts an asterisk on an industry that has a long and storied role in Downtown.

The acquisition of May into Federated, advertised as a friendly merger between rivals, also spells the end to local buying in Houston, Boston and Arlington, Va. With close to 1,100 jobs affected by this decision, the ripples through the local industry as store locations are closed will no doubt continue for years. Warehouse operations will be consolidated and wholesale suppliers in the Fashion District will feel the pinch.

Such was not always the case. A flip back to the '80s - the late 1980s, that is - reveals a Los Angeles with a vibrant department store community and four major stores operating and/or headquartered Downtown.

The Downtown News story also includes a handy "whatever happened to?" feature, documenting what became of downtown's once grand department stores:

The Broadway Department Store, at Fourth and Broadway: Now the Junipero Serra Building, an office structure.

Bullock's, at Broadway, Hill and Seventh: The original 1907 structure now houses parking. The remaining complex of buildings is mostly home to the St. Vincent Jewelry Center. Within the charming St. Vincent's Court, which feature several multi-ethnic outdoor cafes, the original Bullock's logo still graces an archway. On Hill Street, an Art Deco façade for the former Bullock's Men's Store dates from 1934. Two floors of another Bullock's at 7+Fig are now Gold's Gym.

The May Company, Broadway at Eighth: The first floor is home to the Broadway Trade Center. Peek under the giant rubber mats at the entrances to find the May Company logo in an elegant Edwardian script within the terrazzo. On the second level of the exterior, the terra cotta "H'' recalls the building's earliest days as Hamburger's. Along Ninth, a sign still directs drivers into the "May Co Garage" at the southeast corner of Hill.

J. W. Robinson's, Seventh, Grand and Hope: A Rite-Aid and the South Group's loft leasing office flank opposite ends of this building.

Previously: Robinson-May's Quiet Farewell (Oct 4, 2005)
Always Something Exciting (July 28, 2005)

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