Isaias Wolf Hellman was a Kingdom of Bavaria-born American banker and philanthropist, and a founding father of the University of Southern California.
Joseph P. Loeb (1883–1974) was an American lawyer and public servant.
Harris Newmark was a Jewish American businessman, philanthropist, and historian. Newmark immigrated to the United States in 1853. He sailed from Europe to New York City, and then to San Francisco. He joined his older brother and other family in Los Angeles. His branch of the family were among the founders and developers of the region, founding Montebello, California and the related area.
Francis Mellus was a Los Angeles County Supervisor and a successful California business man.
Solomon Lazard, also known as S. Lazard, (1827–1916) was an entrepreneur in 19th century Los Angeles, California, a member of the city council there in 1854, and founder of S. Lazard & Co.
The Newmark family of Southern California engaged in commerce, land ownership and land development in Los Angeles County, California, during the 19th Century. Family members included:
Joseph Bayer (1846–1900) was an importer and wholesaler of wines and liquors, in 19th century Los Angeles, California. He emigrated to the U.S. from the Kingdom of Württemberg.
Myer Joseph Newmark (1838–1911) was the youngest city attorney in the history of Los Angeles, California, and was active in the affairs of that city in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Abram Wolf Edelman (1832-1907) was a Polish-born American rabbi. He was the first rabbi in Los Angeles, California, serving as the first rabbi of Congregation B'nai B'rith, from 1862 to 1885. It is now known as the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.
David May (1848–1927) was an American businessman and founder of the May Company department store.
Joseph Newmark (1799–1881) was a Prussian-American businessman in New York City and Los Angeles and a member of the Newmark family of Southern California. He helped found Jewish congregations in both cities and later became an ordained rabbi.
Maurice Kremer (1824–1907) was an American businessman and civil servant.
Marc Eugene Meyer was an American businessman and was president of Lazard Frères in the United States. Born in Strasbourg, France, he migrated to California as a teenager, living in San Francisco and Los Angeles until 1893 when he moved to New York City in his role with Lazard. He was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1920.
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.
Jacoby Bros. 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.
Joseph Brandenstein (1826–1910) was a German-born American businessman and philanthropist.
City of Paris was a dry goods store and eventually Los Angeles' first department store, operating from the 1850s through 1897, first as Lazard & Kremer Co., then Lazard & Wolfskill Co., then S. Lazard & Co., then with the store name City of Paris operated by Eugene Meyer & Co., then by Stern, Cahn & Loeb. It should not be confused with the much more famous City of Paris store of San Francisco, or the Ville de Paris department store of Los Angeles, of Mr. A. Fusenot, which was a spinoff of San Francisco's "City of Paris".
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.
H. Jevne & Company was one of the leading grocers in early Los Angeles, founded by Hans Jevne.
Leon Loeb (1845–1911) was a French-born American businessman who owned and operated the first department store in Los Angeles. He was a member of the Newmark family through marriage.
