History
Hawkins was born March 16, 1888, in Supply, Randolph County, Arkansas [1] and died January 20, 1975, in Redondo Beach, California. [2]
He moved west and worked in a dry goods store in Needles, California then opened his own store there. He then sold the store and bought another, this time in Redlands, [1] now near the eastern edge of the Greater Los Angeles suburbs.
Hawkins operated "The Hub" at 120 N. Pacific Redondo Beach starting in 1923, [3] closed it at some point (it is not among his stores listed in 1928) [4] and reopened it in 1943. [5]
Hawkins also operated the White House store during the 1920s at 126 N. Pacific. [6] By June 1928, Hawkins and partners operated: [4]
- 2 Hawkins & Co. stores in:
- Redondo Beach
- Dinuba, Tulare Co.
- 3 Hawkins Sample stores in:
- Compton
- Inglewood
- Porterville: 220 N. Main, later the site of the Craven Department Store [7]
- 3 Hawkins & Oberg Sample Stores in:
- Redondo Beach
- Torrance
- San Pedro (July 2, 1928) 408 W. 6th St.
- 1 store branded The Low Down, Inglewood
4 additional locations that opened after June 1928 included:
- Hanford (February 9, 1929 – May 13, 1933), [8] 109 E. Seventh [9]
- Santa Ana (April 15, 1931), 301–3 E. Fourth St. at Spurgeon. Jack Lansdowne was manager and part owner.
- Anaheim (October 1932), 124 W. Center, purchased Ormsby's, prior to that Falkenstein's Department Store. [10]
- Bakersfield, 2006 Chester Av., closed March 1933, taken over by Combs Dry Goods Co. [11] (later Stovall's, Urners, Minnette's (1953), Sorority Shop, Pallets for Days). Premises damaged in 2020 fire. [12]
By early 1933, Hawkins operated a total of 16 stores, but τhe 1933 Long Beach earthquake on March 10 of that year damaged stores in Compton, Santa Ana and elsewhere in Southern California. By 1933, 8 of the 16 locations had closed. [8]
By 1941 he had sold all of the stores except the one in Redondo Beach on North Pacific Avenue. [13] As mentioned above, he reopened The Hub store in Redondo Beach in 1943. Hawkins served as mayor of that city shortly thereafter. [14] He served as a delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention. [15]