Silverwoods

Last updated

Silverwoods, originally promoted as F. B. Silverwood, after its founder, was a men's clothing store chain founded in Los Angeles in 1894 by Francis Bernard (F.B. "Daddy") Silverwood, a Canadian-American originally from near Lindsay, Ontario. He was a colorful character covered in the newspapers, a "songster" composer of popular songs, Shriner, and who famously married in 1920. [1]

The first F. B. Silverwood store opened on May 8, 1894 at 124 S. Spring St., carried only men's furnishings, had four employees and had sales of $38,000 (~$1.29 million in 2022) that year. Silverwood then moved to a larger location at 221 S. Spring St. The flagship store was established in 1904 at Sixth & Broadway. In 1920 the store removed to temporary quarters at 320 S. Broadway while the old store was demolished starting January 26, 1920. A new 115,420 sq ft (10,723 m2) six-floor store was built on the site of the old one at 6th and Broadway. The new store opened September 1, 1920. [2]

Upon opening in 1920 the flagship had the following departments: [3]

The company incorporated in November 1920. At that time there were four branches (Long Beach, Bakersfield, Maricopa and San Bernardino) [4] plus the flagship. F. B. Silverwood died in March 1924. In later decades the store was purchased by Hartmarx and focused on business suits until the end, later becoming out of sync with clothing preferences of Southern California men.

By 1992 when the chain closed, Silverwoods had grown to an eighteen store chain with branches across Greater Los Angeles. [5]

Stores

In 1973, Silverwoods branches were located at: [6]

CommunityLocationNotes
Downtown Los Angeles Broadway shopping district6th & BroadwayLast flagship opened September 1, 1920.
Downtown Los Angeles 7th Street shopping district 7th & Hope
University Park, Los Angeles University of Southern California
Miracle Mile, Los Angeles 5522 Wilshire Boulevard opened 1929, in the "Wilshire Tower" complex by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood together with Desmond's
Crenshaw District 4129 Crenshaw Boulevard, Crenshaw Center (now Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza)opened April 8, 1949, 22,500 square feet (2,090 m2), Albert B. Gardener, architect [7]
Anaheim Anaheim Center
Panorama City, Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) Panorama City Shopping Center opened 10/10/1955 in a complex with The Broadway Valley branch [8]
Torrance Del Amo Fashion Square
Pasadena, California Lake Avenue
Century City, Los Angeles Century City Shopping Center
Canoga Park Topanga Plaza
Oxnard, California
San Bernardino
Santa Barbara 833 State St.
Las Vegas
Newport Beach Fashion Island
Montclair Montclair Plaza
La Habra La Habra Fashion Square
Palm Springs
Riverside
Downey Stonewood Center
Cerritos Los Cerritos Center

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saks Fifth Avenue</span> Multinational department store chain founded in the United States

Saks Fifth Avenue is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington, D.C. in 1867. Saks expanded into Manhattan with its Herald Square store in 1902 and flagship store on Fifth Avenue in 1924. The chain was acquired by Tennessee-based Proffitt's, Inc. in 1998, and Saks, Inc. was acquired by the Canadian-based Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gimbels</span> Defunct American department store

Gimbel Brothers was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the company moved its operations to the Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It became a chain when it opened a second, larger store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1894, moving its headquarters there. At the urging of future company president Bernard Gimbel, grandson of the founder, the company expanded to New York City in 1910.

Ohrbach's was a moderate-priced department store with a merchandising focus primarily on clothing and accessories. From its modest start in 1923 until the chain's demise in 1987, Ohrbach's expanded dramatically after World War II, and opened numerous branch locations in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Its original flagship store was located on Union Square in New York City. It maintained administrative offices in Newark and in Los Angeles. The retailer closed the Newark offices in the 1970s. Paul László designed the Union Square store as well as many of their other stores.

<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">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.

I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. In the 1970s, under Federated Department Stores ownership, the chain entered the Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas. Mary Ann Magnin founded the company in 1876 and named the chain after her husband Isaac.

The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant retailer in Southern California and the Southwest. Its fortunes eventually declined, and Federated Department Stores bought the chain in 1995. In 1996, Broadway stores were either closed or converted into Macy's and Bloomingdales.

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

Buffums, originally written as Buffums' with an apostrophe, was a chain of upscale department stores, headquartered in Long Beach, California. The Buffums chain began in 1904, when two brothers from Illinois, Charles A. and Edwin E. Buffum, together with other partners, bought the Schilling Bros., the largest dry goods store in Long Beach, and renamed it The Mercantile Co. The store grew to a large downtown department store, and starting in the 1950s, grew slowly over the years to be a small regional chain of 16 speciality department stores across Southern California at the time of its closure in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bond Clothing Stores</span> Mens clothing company

Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle-class consumer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walker Scott</span> Former department store chain

Walker Scott, also Walker-Scott or Walker's, was a chain of department stores in San Diego and surrounding area from 1935 to 1986 and had eight branches at the time of its closure. It was founded by Ralf Marc Walker and George A. Scott.

<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.

<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.

Los Altos Center is a regional shopping mall in the Los Altos area of northeastern Long Beach, California along Bellflower Boulevard, 4 miles south of Lakewood Center Mall and 5 miles east of Downtown Long Beach.

<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">Mullen & Bluett</span>

Mullen & Bluett was a Los Angeles-based department store specializing in men'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">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">Parmelee-Dohrmann</span> American luxury items store chain

Parmelee-Dohrmann was a Los Angeles–based chain of stores that sold fine china, crystal, glassware, silver, and objects of art.

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

Swelldom was a large women's clothing store variously described as a "cloak and suit house" and a "department store", operating from 1906 until the 1970s in California. It had locations on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles' shopping district, later on Wilshire Blvd. at Camden in Beverly Hills, and near Union Square in San Francisco.

References

  1. "Daddy Silverwood to Wed". Los Angeles Times. November 25, 1920. p. Part II Page 1.
  2. "Magnificent Pile That Now Graces Broadway Corner". Los Angeles Times. August 31, 1920. p. 9.
  3. "Silverwoods Now Has Dream Store". Los Angeles Express. August 31, 1920.
  4. "F. B. Silverwood's Five Stores Are Now in Corporation". Long Beach Telegram. November 30, 1920.
  5. "Silverwoods to Close Doors After 70 Years : Retailing: The chain of 18 stores cites lagging sales and increasing costs". 17 September 1991.
  6. "Advertisement for Silverwoods". Los Angeles Times. December 3, 1973.
  7. "Silverwoods to Open New Store Friday". Los Angeles Times. April 3, 1949.
  8. "New Broadway Panorama City Store Opens". Los Angeles Times.