Jacoby Bros.

Last updated
Jacoby Bros. store at 128-134 N. Spring Street, around 1896 1896 Jacoby Bros at 132 N Spring.jpg
Jacoby Bros. store at 128–134 N. Spring Street, around 1896
The Jacobys' first store: "Harris & Jacoby, successors to H. W. Hellman", and forerunners to both Harris & Frank and Jacoby Bros., in the Old Downey Block around 1870. M. Kremer is also nearby, forerunner of the City of Paris department store Old Downey Block c1870 Harris Jacoby Kremer.png
The Jacobys' first store: "Harris & Jacoby, successors to H. W. Hellman", and forerunners to both Harris & Frank and Jacoby Bros., in the Old Downey Block around 1870. M. Kremer is also nearby, forerunner of the City of Paris department store

Jacoby Bros. (late 1930s, Jacoby's) was one of Los Angeles' largest dry goods retailers in the 1880s and 1890s, developing over the decades into a department store, which closed in the late 1930s. [1]

Contents

In 1870, [2] Isaac, Nathan, Charles, Abraham, and Lessor Jacoby had joined with him and Leopold Harris in buying out Herman W. Hellman's store, to form Harris & Jacoby. [1] The Jacoby brothers, Leopold Harris and Harris Newmark all came from the same town of Löbau, West Prussia (later part of the German Empire, now Lubawa, Poland). The Jacoby's sold clothing, home furnishings, boots, shoes, hats, et al., both wholesale and retail. [1]

In February, 1878, Loewenstein sold his business at in the Downey Block, 63 N. Main St. (post-1890 numbering: 163 N. Main), on the west side of Main, just north of Temple, opposite Commercial Street, to Lessor Jacoby and "Jacoby's Clothing House" started business there later that year. [3]

Temple Block stores (1879-1891)

From 1879, the store (first promoting itself as "L. Jacoby", then "Jacoby Bros." was located at 103 N. Main (pre-1890 numbering) in the County Bank Building of the Temple Block, which then became the separate Jacoby Bros.' Philadelphia Shoe Store, [4] while the Jacoby Bros. ' Retail Clothing House opened in storefronts just south, still in Temple Block, at 121-127 N. Main St. (post-1890 numbering: 221-227 N. Main St.) advertised as such through March 1891, and then simply as Jacoby Bros, through August 1891. [5]

From Feb 1891 the Philadelphia Shoe House was advertised at 128-130 N. Spring St. (post-1890 numbering). In May, 1891, the Shoe House moved to 215 N. Spring St. three doors north of the City of Paris department store. [4] This was so that Jacoby Bros. could level it as well as the adjacent storefronts at 132-134 N. Spring, and build in its place a new, palatial store encompassing 128 through 134 Spring St.

New store at 128-134 Spring Street (1891-1900)

On November 14, 1891, Jacoby Bros. held the grand opening of its new store at 128-134 Spring Street in the Larronde Block (building) with a connected wholesale department at 125 N. Main St. The building itself was praised as "handsome architecturally", a "rare combination of pressed brick, terra cotta and Sespe sandstone, with graceful columns and arches, a great arch over the central balcony flowing with streamers, beautiful signs and other ornamental features". The show windows were impressive for the time, two were 12 feet long and one was 22 feet long., all being 8 feet deep. There were two 12-foot-wide entrances with tiled vestibules and polished white marble steps. The ground floor retail space measured 9,800 square feet (910 m2), while an equal amount of space in the basement was dedicated to wholesale boots and shoes, and an equal space on the second floor to wholesale clothing and hats. It incorporated new concepts such as having a single open selling space per floor, with much natural light, rather than walled off departments. [4] The separate Philadelphia Shoe House closed.

In August 1896, Jacoby Bros. added the premises vacated by H. Jevne grocers at 136-138 N. Spring, and thus occupied all of 128 through 138 N. Spring St. [6] through February 1900.

Broadway store (1900)

In 1900, it moved, as many upscale retailers did, west to Broadway and south, to 331-333-335 S. Broadway, between Third and Fourth streets. The new store was a project of Homer Laughlin (as was the nearby building that now is home to Grand Central Market) and the architect was John B. Parkinson. [7] It opened on March 3, 1900 and had four stories plus a basement, 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) of selling space, a sixty-foot frontage and two elevators. The second floor featured men's clothing, the third floor, ladies', and the fourth floor attended the wholesale business. The store boasted that a 25-by-40-foot center court allowed light to permeate the store, and that its 13,125 sq ft (1,219.4 m2) basement shoe department was the largest in the Western United States and three times as large as any other shoe store in the city. The store was exclusive retailer for clothing by Hackett, Carhart & Co. [8] [9] The building remains with only two stories; several such older buildings in the area had upper floors removed after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Hiatus (1935–6)

For a brief period around 1935–6, the company's advertisements dropped the "Bros." and advertised as Jacoby's.

Around May of 1935, Jacoby Bros. liquidated its store at 331–335 S. Broadway. They were unable to renew their lease, and sold their stock to the May Company. [10] A Los Angeles-based Boston Store (not the Inglewood-based Boston Store, which would become a large chain) occupied the premises in the late 1930s. [11]

6th & Broadway store (1936–8)

The concern reopened in February 1936 [12] at the H. Jevne & Co. Building, 605 S. Broadway, at the southwest corner of Sixth Street. [13] However, only two years later in 1938, Jacoby's went out of business. [14]

In 1940, retailer Zukor's leased the majority of the premises. [15] The Zukor's sign is still visible on the portion of the building that it occupied.

Notes

1 ^ Several sources from the 1920s-1930s state that the Jacoby's opened their first store in Wilmington in 1875, and then in Los Angeles in 1877. However, photographic evidence in Wilson's book contradicts this, showing Harris & Jacoby in the Old Downey Block which was torn down in c. 1870. Also, advertisements for seeds sold at the Hellman store at No. 2 Downey Block, Los Angeles, cease in January 1870 [16] while an ad for the Harris & Jacoby store at No. 2, Downey Block, started appearing in the same newspaper in December 1870. [17] It is currently difficult to establish the exact date in 1870 that the business changed hands from Hellman to Jacoby, as online archives for Los Angeles newspapers have a gap between the 1864 (for the Star) and 1873 (when the Herald archives commence). Jacoby Bros. themselves, in advertising in 1900, referred to a start date for their business of 1867. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway (Los Angeles)</span> Department stores list in Los Angeles

Broadway, until 1890 Fort Street, is a thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The portion of Broadway from 3rd to 9th streets, in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles, was the city's main commercial street from the 1910s until World War II, and is the location of the Broadway Theater and Commercial District, the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John and Donald Parkinson</span> American architectural firm

John and Donald Parkinson were a father-and-son architectural firm operating in the Los Angeles area in the early 20th century. They designed and built many of the city's iconic buildings, including Grand Central Market, the Memorial Coliseum, and City Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. W. Robinson's</span> Defunct department store chain

J. W. Robinson Co., Robinson's, was a chain of department stores operating in the Southern California and Arizona area, previously with headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

Los Angeles Street, originally known as Calle de los Negros is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Los Angeles, California, dating back to the origins of the city as the Pueblo de Los Ángeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Street (Los Angeles)</span> Historic district in Downtown Los Angeles

Spring Street in Los Angeles is one of the oldest streets in the city. Along Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles, from just north of Fourth Street to just south of Seventh Street is the NRHP-listed Spring Street Financial District, nicknamed Wall Street of the West, lined with Beaux Arts buildings and currently experiencing gentrification. This section forms part of the Historic Core district of Downtown, together with portions of Hill, Broadway, Main and Los Angeles streets.

Main Street is a major north–south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California. It serves as the east–west postal divider for the city and the county as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman W. Hellman</span> American banker

Herman W. Hellman (1843–1906) was an American businessman, banker, and real estate investor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desmond's (department store)</span> Los Angeles department store

Desmond's was a Los Angeles–based department store, during its existence second only to Harris & Frank as the oldest Los Angeles retail chain, founded in 1862 as a hat shop by Daniel Desmond near the Los Angeles Plaza. The chain as a whole went out of business in 1981 but Desmond's, Inc. continued as a company that went in to other chains to liquidate them. Desmond's stores in Northridge and West Covina were liquidated only in 1986 and survived in Palm Springs into the first years of the 21st century.

Haggarty's was a department store chain founded in Los Angeles in 1906, which closed in May 1970 due to not keeping up with fashion trends and a resulting $4.4 million in debts. It had more than a dozen branches at its peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harris & Frank</span> Clothing retailer

Harris & Frank was a clothing retailer and major chain in the history of retail in Southern California, which at its peak had around 40 stores across Southern California and in neighboring states and regions. Its history dates back to a clothing store founded by Leopold Harris in Los Angeles in 1856 near the city's central plaza, only eight years after the city had passed from Mexican to American control. Herman W. Frank joined Harris in partnership 32 years later in 1888.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coulter's</span> Department store in Los Angeles

Coulter's was a department store that originated in Downtown Los Angeles and later moved to the Miracle Mile shopping district in that same city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myer Siegel</span>

Myer Siegel was a Los Angeles–based department store, founded by Myer Siegel (1866–1934), specializing in women's clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Famous Department Store</span> Department store in Los Angeles, California

The Famous Department Store was a department store in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victorian Downtown Los Angeles</span> Historical neighborhood in California, US

The late-Victorian-era Downtown of Los Angeles in 1880 was centered at the southern end of the Los Angeles Plaza area, and over the next two decades, it extended south and west along Main Street, Spring Street, and Broadway towards Third Street. Most of the 19th-century buildings no longer exist, surviving only in the Plaza area or south of Second Street. The rest were demolished to make way for the Civic Center district with City Hall, numerous courthouses, and other municipal, county, state and federal buildings, and Times Mirror Square. This article covers that area, between the Plaza, 3rd St., Los Angeles St., and Broadway, during the period 1880 through the period of demolition (1920s–1950s).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barker Bros.</span> Defunct American furniture company (1880-1992)

Barker Bros. was a retailer of furniture, home furnishings, and housewares based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded as Barker and Mueller in 1880, the business operated under various names through 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th Street (Los Angeles)</span> Department stores list in Los Angeles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boadway Bros.</span> American department store chain

Boadway Bros. or Boadway's was a chain of upscale department stores in Southern California and New Mexico during the 1910s and 1920s, which started with a single store in Pasadena carrying furniture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of retail in Southern California</span> Department stores list in Los Angeles

Retail in Southern California dates back to its first dry goods store that Jonathan Temple opened in 1827 on Calle Principal, when Los Angeles was still a Mexican village. After the American conquest, as the pueblo grew into a small town surpassing 4,000 population in 1860, dry goods stores continued to open, including the forerunners of what would be local chains. Larger retailers moved progressively further south to the 1880s-1890s Central Business District, which was later razed to become the Civic Center. Starting in the mid-1890s, major stores moved ever southward, first onto Broadway around 3rd, then starting in 1905 to Broadway between 4th and 9th, then starting in 1915 westward onto West Seventh Street up to Figueroa. For half a century Broadway and Seventh streets together formed one of America's largest and busiest downtown shopping districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. M. Hale</span>

J. M. Hale Co., also known as Hales, was a department store Downtown Los Angeles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Jacoby Brothers: Pioneer Jewish Merchants of Los Angeles". Jewish Museum of the American West . Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  2. Wilson, Karen (3 May 2013). Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic. p. 6. ISBN   9780520275508.
  3. "Legal notice". Los Angeles Express. February 15, 1878. p. 2.
  4. 1 2 3 "Concentrating: The Growth of a Business and a Great Bazaar: A Grand Rally of Wholesale and Retail: Outposts and Pickets Under One Large Roof: The Jacoby Bros. Occupy Their New and Magnificent Building and Receive the Congratulations of Their Many Friends". Los Angeles Times. November 14, 1891. p. 3.
  5. [Advertisements in Los Angeles newspapers for Jacoby Bros. during 1891, via newspapers.com]
  6. Ad for Jacoby Bros., August 7, 1896, p.8
  7. "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
  8. "Grand opening: Jacoby Brothers' outfitting store on Broadway". Los Angeles Times. March 4, 1900. p. 35.
  9. "Los Angeles Herald 22 August 1899 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  10. "May Store Buys Stock of Jacoby's". The Los Angeles Times. May 15, 1935. p. 20.
  11. "Boston Store Los Angeles 1939 - 331 S. Broadway (Old Jacoby Bros.) and 4755 Whittier BLVD". The Los Angeles Times. 6 November 1939. p. 10.
  12. "Jacoby Brothers Advertisement". Los Angeles Times. February 6, 1936. p. 36.
  13. "Pioneers' Modern Home: Jacoby Bros.Will Open New Store Soon". Los Angeles Times. January 31, 1936. p. 11.
  14. "Advertisement for liquidation of Jacoby Bros". Los Angeles Times. September 30, 1938. p. 45.
  15. "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.
  16. "Ad for Hellman's store, Los Angeles". Arizona Weekly Miner, Prescott, AZ. January 8, 1870. p. 3.
  17. "Ad for Harris & Jacoby". Weekly Arizona Minor (Prescott, AZ). December 17, 1870. p. 3.
  18. "Ad for Jacoby Bros". Los Angeles Times. January 7, 1900. p. 20.