The Broadway


The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English born Arthur Letts, Sr., who later went on to develop Holmby Hills, the Broadway became one of the dominant retailers in Southern California and the Southwest.

History

Origins

Letts started the Broadway Department Store on February 24, 1896, by purchasing the name, assets, fixtures, and the building lease from the bankrupt firm of J.A. Williams and Co. for a sum of $8377. The previous owners had a good location in a recently constructed building at the southwest corner of Broadway and Fourth Streets, but had all of its assets seized by their creditors for failure to pay its bills after just four short months of operations. In contrast, Letts was able to pay off all of his creditors in a short period of time after acquiring the assets for the failed store by the quick sale of the same assets and by watching his expenses.
In a short period of time, the business was doing so well, that it had to expand into adjacent store fronts.

The New and Greater Broadway (1914–15)

Between 1900 and 1910, the population of Los Angeles more than tripled. Bullock's, in 1907, and Hamburger's, in 1908, had both opened stores occupying entire city blocks. It was clear to Letts that The Broadway needed a new, much larger building.
In 1912 The Broadway announced plans new nine-story building with nearly 11 acres of floor space to be built in several phases at the same location. The store would have 11 passenger and 4 freight elevators; three entrances on Broadway, one on Fourth St. and one on Hill St. The architect was John Joseph Frauenfelder of Parkinson & Bergstrom. with construction starting in 1913 while the current store remained in business.
The first phase was to acquire space in the first three floors Clark Hotel Building along Hill St.; the hotel backed up to the Broadway's existing store. This Hill Street "division", as it was then called, opened as a new part of the store. The departments from the southern half of the existing store along Broadway were transferred to the Hill St. space on November 3, 1913.
Then, the southern building of the existing store complex along Broadway was demolished and the southern half of the new Broadway store was built in its place. This section opened on August 10, 1914. Departments from the northern half of the store facing Broadway and Fourth streets were transferred into the new space.
Finally, the northern half of the store along Broadway was removed and the northern half of the new Broadway store was built. This section opened on June 25, 1915, though the formal inauguration was during Fashion Week on September 16, 1915.
The new "New and Greater Broadway store", as it was advertised, had 242 feet of storefront along Broadway and 166 feet along Fourth Street. It was 9 stories high and covered, stretching from Broadway all the way west to Hill Street, where there was also an entrance.
On November 10, 1924, The Broadway added another building, wide and deep, immediately west of the main building along Fourth Street, thus adding of floor space over ten above-ground and three below-ground floors. It added six passenger and three freight elevators.
In summary, the Downtown flagship store evolved in size as follows:
In 1931, The Broadway bought the B. H. Dyas Hollywood store which became the Broadway-Hollywood.
In 1940, The Broadway built a landmark three-story store in Pasadena, at the corner of Colorado and Paso Robles on the site of the old famous Maryland Hotel. The striking Streamline Moderne building had a 117-foot tower with a marquee facing both streets, and parking for 400 cars. It would be abandoned in 1980 for a newly built store across the street in the new Plaza Pasadena mall.
In 1950, the company merged with Sacramento-based Hale Brothers to form Broadway-Hale Stores. In the same year it purchased the Milliron's Westchester store and converted it to a Broadway. The store was a considered a landmark in ultra-modern retail architecture at the time.
The Broadway bought out competitors in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Phoenix. In later years the Broadway opened stores in Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado. In 1979, it was split into two divisions: The Broadway Southern California, based in Los Angeles; and Broadway Southwest, headquartered in Phoenix.

Dissolution

The Broadway's parent Carter Hawley Hale Stores ran into financial difficulties which resulted from poor management decisions and hostile takeover attempts. In 1996 the chain was acquired by Federated Department Stores and the majority of locations were converted to the Macy's nameplate. Several stores in affluent areas where Macy's already had locations, South Coast Plaza, Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, Century City Shopping Center, Beverly Center, and Fashion Island Newport Beach, were closed, refurbished and reopened as Bloomingdale's. Federated sold many of the remaining stores to Sears.

Downtown flagship store

The nine stories Beaux Arts building with its restrained Italian Renaissance Revival ornamentation at the southwest corner of Broadway and Fourth was designed by architects John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom to serve as the headquarters and the flagship store for Arthur Letts' Broadway Department store chain with the first phase of construction completed in 1913. Construction, which included demolition of the previous store and expansion to the rest of the block when additional property were acquired, continued on several different stages until 1924. The Broadway had occupied this location from 1913 to 1973.
In November 1973, the main downtown flagship store was abandoned in favor of a new small store that just opened a few blocks away at Flower and 7th that was known as Broadway Plaza.
The property changed hands a number of times and had sat empty for a number of years before coming into possession of developer Roger Luby in May 1984. Luby's plans quickly fell apart the following year when his partners, a consortium of 32 Oklahoma savings and loans defaulted as a result of the savings and loan crisis and the $56 million renovation project itself defaulted on its loans when half completed in September 1986.

As state office building

In June 1995, the State of California paid $1.8 million for the building to the Resolution Trust Corporation, which inherited the property upon the collapse of some of the savings and loans, and $61.5 million for renovation to replace the unsafe Junipero Serra State Office Building at Broadway and First streets, which was later demolished in 2006. The renovated building at Broadway and Fourth reopened as the new Junipero Serra State Office Building in 1999. To balance the state budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sell the office building to private developers as a part of a sale and lease back scheme.
the Junipero Serra Building is one of 56 buildings managed by California Department of General Services and only one of two that are located in Los Angeles.

Store list

This is a list of the Broadway store numbers with their locations and opening dates:
Store no.Store nameMall or address City
Opening dateSq. ft. at openingClosing dateCurrent building useNotes
01DowntownSW corner of Broadway and Fourth streetsDowntown L.A.February 24, 1896August 8, 1914demolished
01Downtown320 W. Fourth St., SW corner of Broadway and Fourth street, through to Hill St.Downtown L.A.March 11, 1913, October 8, 1914, June 25, 1915 November 15, 1973Junipero Serra State Office Bldg.
01PlazaBroadway Plaza, 700 S. Flower St.Downtown L.A.November 16, 1973Macy's
02HollywoodBroadway Hollywood Building, 6300 W. Hollywood Blvd. & 1645 N. Vine St.Hollywood, L.A.September 3, 1931
as B. H. Dyas		172,000February 13, 1982
03PasadenaColorado at Los RoblesPasadenaNovember 15, 1940August 15, 1980demolished 1980
04Crenshaw orig. Crenshaw Center, later Baldwin Hills Crenshaw PlazaBaldwin Hills/ Crenshaw, L.A.November 21, 1947200,000
05Westchester8739 Sepulveda Blvd.Westchester, L.A.August 18, 195090,000October 14, 1990Kohl'sVictor Gruen, architect
opened March 17, 1949 as Milliron's Westchester, purchased by Broadway June 29, 1950
06Valley Panorama City Shopping Center, now Panorama MallPanorama City, S.F.V., L.A.October 10, 1955226,000WalmartBroadway store and mall designed by Welton Becket and Associates, architects
07AnaheimAnaheim PlazaAnaheimOctober 14, 1955208,000January 31, 1993demolished, now site of power centerBroadway store and mall designed by Welton Becket and Associates, architects
08Long BeachLos Altos Market PlaceLos Altos, Long BeachNovember 14, 1955
as Walker's		100,000originally a Walker's, became Broadway in 1957
Charles Luckman & Assoc., architects
09Del AmoBroadway/Del Amo Shopping CenterTorranceFebruary 16, 1959
10Wilshire5600 Wilshire BoulevardMiracle Mile, L.A.August 3, 1960closed 1980demolishedoriginally a Coulter's
11WhittierWhittwood CenterWhittierFebruary 13, 1961
61Downtown Phoenix1 N. 1st St.Phoenix, Arizonaacquired 19621996
architect Henry C. Trost, Trost & Trost
62Chris-TownChris-Town Mall, now Christown Spectrum MallPhoenix, ArizonaAugust 21, 1961August 31, 1992
36GrossmontGrossmont CenterLa Mesa, San Diego Co.June 11, 1961
as Marston's		156,000originally Marston's, rebranded Broadway in 1969
12West CovinaWest Covina Fashion Center, became part of what is now Plaza West CovinaWest CovinaJune 8, 1962
37Chula VistaChula Vista CenterChula VistaDecember 11, 1962Macy'soriginally Marston's, rebranded Broadway in 1969
13VenturaBuenaventura Plaza, now Pacific View MallVenturaSeptember 30, 1963
14Topanga PlazaTopanga PlazaCanoga Park, S.F.V., L.A.August 24, 1964
15Century CityCentury City Shopping CenterCentury City, Westside, L.A.December 10, 1964
16DowneyStonewood CenterDowneyOctober 18, 1965143,4001996Sears
17Huntington BeachHuntington Center, now Bella Terra, I-405 at EdingerHuntington BeachNovember 15, 1965150,000demolished
18San BernardinoInland CenterSan BernardinoAugust 29, 1966158,000Charles Luckman and Associates, architects
19Boulevard MallThe Boulevard MallParadise, Las Vegas Valley, NVOctober 17, 1966
20BakersfieldValley Plaza MallBakersfieldFebruary 27, 1967Macy's
21Fashion IslandFashion IslandNewport BeachNovember 9, 1967
22MontclairMontclair PlazaMontclairMay 8, 1968142,000Demolished 2018Charles Luckman and Associates, architects
63Biltmore Fashion ParkBiltmore Fashion ParkPhoenix, AZOctober 28, 1968
38Fashion ValleyFashion ValleyMission Valley, San DiegoAugust 9, 1969
64ScottsdaleLos Arcos MallScottsdale, AZOctober 18, 1969156,000demolished
23RiversideTyler MallRiversideDecember 10, 1970156,000Charles Luckman and Associates, architects
24OrangeMall of Orange, now The Village at OrangeOrangeAugust 16, 1971167,500Walmart
25CerritosLos Cerritos CenterCerritosSeptember 13, 1971178,000Macy's
26NorthridgeNorthridge Fashion CenterNorthridge, S.F.V., L.A.October 18, 1971subdivided
27CarsonCarson Mall, renamed SouthBay PavilionCarsonOctober 9, 19739/1991IKEA
65MetrocenterMetrocenterN.W. Phoenix, AZOctober 22, 1973
28Puente HillsPuente Hills MallCity of IndustryFebruary 18, 1974160,000
29Murray, UtahFashion PlaceMurray, UTMay 8, 1974Dillard'srebranded as Weinstock's 1/30/78
66Park MallPark MallTucson, AZAugust 26, 1974
30Santa AnitaSanta Anita Fashion ParkArcadiaNovember 11, 1974U
31Laguna HillsLaguna Hills MallLaguna HillsApril 8, 1975
32Fox HillsFox Hills MallCulver CityJune 10, 1975192,470
67AlbuquerqueCoronado CenterAlbuquerque, NMDecember 2, 1976159,378Gordman's & Dick's Sporting Goods
33GlendaleGlendale GalleriaGlendaleAugust 8, 1976
34HawthorneHawthorne PlazaHawthorneDecember 2, 1977abandoned
39UTCUniversity Towne CentreLa Jolla, San DiegoOctober 15, 1977155,000
35Sherman OaksSherman Oaks Fashion SquareSherman Oaks, S.F.V., L.A.May 11, 1977183,000Bloomingdale's
40Thousand OaksThe OaksThousand OaksFebruary 18, 1978
42Meadows MallMeadows MallLas Vegas, NVJuly 31, 1978
41BreaBrea MallBreaOctober 21, 1978
68Fiesta MallFiesta MallMesa, ArizonaMarch 10, 1979
43CarlsbadPlaza Camino Real, now The Shoppes at CarlsbadCarlsbadOctober 20, 1979Macy's
29PasadenaPlaza Pasadena, now Paseo ColoradoPasadenaAugust 16, 1980153,000was Macy's till 2013number recycled from Utah location
44Santa Monica PlaceSanta Monica PlaceSanta MonicaOctober 16, 1980
45Beverly CenterBeverly CenterBeverly Grove, w.L.A.March 25, 1982Bloomingdale's
47Horton PlazaHorton PlazaDowntown San DiegoApril 10, 1985
48North County FairNorth County FairEscondidoFebruary 13, 1986
46South Coast PlazaSouth Coast Plaza Costa MesaOctober 31, 1986
50Santa BarbaraSanta BarbaraAugust 17, 1990
69Tucson MallTucson MallTucson, ArizonaJuly 16, 1982opened specifically as Broadway Southwest location
70Lakewood, COVilla Italia Mall, now BelmarLakewood, COMay 11, 19851987opened specifically as Broadway Southwest location
71Englewood, COCinderella CityEnglewood, COMay 11, 19851987opened specifically as Broadway Southwest location
72Westminster, COWestminster MallWestminster, COOctober 30, 1986February 28, 1996opened specifically as Broadway Southwest location
73Paradise Valley, AZParadise Valley MallParadise Valley, AZFebruary 17, 1991opened specifically as Broadway Southwest location

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