Desmond's (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[1] near the Los Angeles Plaza.[2] The chain as a whole went out of business in 1981[3] 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.[4]

Former Desmond's flagship store at 616 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
Former Desmond's Miracle Mile store on Wilshire Blvd.
Desmond's Westwood store in 1925

Origins as a hat store

In 1862, the second year of the American Civil War and the 16th year that the US ruled California, Daniel Desmond arrived in the state via clipper ship via Cape Horn, Chile, as there was no transcontinental railroad. Los Angeles had a population of less than 4,500 and Desmond opened a hat shop on the Los Angeles Plaza. It measured only a few square feet and he was the only employee. Popular styles included tall, plush "toppers" that dandies wore, and wide-brimmed, flat-crowned "fiesta" hats popular with the Californio dones (gentlemen). Desmond was a member of the volunteer fire department.[5]

Locations as a single store

In 1870 Desmond and other leading retailers moved to the Temple Block (Los Angeles) on Main Street.[5]

In 1882, Desmond moved to no. 4 North Spring St., leading other retailers in moving to a new central business district around First and Spring streets, which was, according to the Los Angeles Times in 1937, "the rendezvous for socialites from San Francisco to Baja California". Desmond's opened in the Nadeau Block there.[5]

In 1890, around the time that Los Angeles started horse-drawn streetcar service. Desmond moved his store to its fourth location, '141 S. Spring St. which only ten years earlier had been considered "the country".[5]

In 1900, Desmond's moved to its fifth location at Third and Spring in the Ramona Block.[6]

In 1906,[6] when it moved again across the street to the Douglas Building at 301 S. Spring St., its sixth home, as one of the largest retailers in Los Angeles at that time. Around this time Desmond's became a store of reference across Southern California, well known for a broad range of high quality men's attire.[5]

In 1915, Desmond's moved to its seventh location, a new two-story building on 553 S. Spring St., and added women's and boys' shops. The building was demolished in 1924 to make way for the Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank.[7]

1924 flagship store

In 1924, Desmond's moved to its eighth and final location as a single store at 616 Broadway, a street lined at that time with many other department stores such as The Broadway, May Company, the Fifth Street Store, Silverwoods, Bullock's, N. B. Blackstone, and Eastern Columbia.

Desmond's opened its final flagship store in 1924 at 616 South Broadway in what was then the department store district of Downtown Los Angeles. Designed by the firm of Albert C. Martin, Sr., the 85,000 sq ft (7,900 m2), six-story building has been described as both Beaux-arts and "Spanish".

The 616 Broadway store closed in 1972.[8]

In 2018 the landmark building was renovated as office space, a restaurant and a rooftop bar.[3]

Branches

Desmond's would add branch stores starting in 1927 with Seventh and Hope,[5] and would also operate a branch in the Spring Arcade at 543 Spring Street, next door to the Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank on Spring Street, which occupied the site of its former sole store.

  • Daniel Desmond
  • Desmond's Spring Street Store (1915 to 1924)
  • Illustration of various Desmond's store branches from a 1937 ad

Locations

The chain operated additional stores (19 stores total at its peak) including:[9][10]

City Mall or address Opening date Sq. ft. at opening Closing date Current building use Notes
Downtown Los Angeles (flagship) 616 S. Broadway September 15, 1924[11] Renovated 2018, now office space, restaurant and rooftop bar.[3] Architecture described as both Beaux-arts and "Spanish"
543 S. Spring St.,[12][5]
SE corner Spring Street Arcade		 Clayton's Public House
Seventh & Hope[13][12] 1937 a $400,000 investment, opened when the L.A. central business district started extending south, then west along 7th[5]
Miracle Mile, L.A. 5500 Wilshire Bl. 1929[5] late 1980[14] Occupied the "Wilshire Tower" complex together with Silverwoods, architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood known for his nature-inspired designs of lodges in national parks. Now The Desmond on Wilshire, residential building,[15][12]
Westwood, L.A.,[12] 1930 moved into a new, $300,000 "tropical Mediterranean-style" store double the size of the original Westwood branch in 1940[16]
Long Beach[12] Broadway and Locust[12] 1931[12]
Palm Springs[17] Palm Springs Plaza, downtown 1936[17] 2005[18]
Broadway Crenshaw Plaza[19][20] 4145 Crenshaw Bl., L.A. 1953[19] 30,000
two floors[19]
Glendale
Fashion Island[21] Newport Beach September 11, 1967[21]
Northridge Northridge Fashion Center late 1986 or early 1987[22]
Pasadena[20]
Santa Ana Fashion Square
Santa Barbara
Sherman Oaks
Torrance
Ventura
West Covina[23] West Covina Fashion Center April 30, 1962[23] [22]
Whittier

Ownership

Ralph R. Huesman, purchased the store from Desmond family heirs in 1921. Fred B. Huesman, his nephew, joined Desmond's five years later. Fred succeeded his uncle as president in 1944 and continued in that position until 1973, when he took the title of chairman. In the early 1960s, New York's Cluett Peabody & Company bought Desmond's.

1977-1981 and epilogue

In 1977, a joint venture of Bond Clothing Stores and Harold Kapelovitz bought the chain, and Kapelovitz took over the management of Desmond's.[24][25]

Between 1977 and 1982 Desmond's closed all but four California locations.

Meanwhile, it opened locations across the Western United States:[26]

Northridge and West Covina stores continued operating until 1986.[4]

Kapelovitz sold the Palm Springs La Plaza store to Frank Gross and Stanlee McNeish, and it continued under the Desmond's name until 2005.[18] A separate "Desmond's Big and Tall" Store in Palm Desert Town Center continued operating after that time.

Desmonds, Inc. post-1981

Desmond's Inc. continued as a company after the Desmond's chain was closed, purchasing San Diego-based Walker Scott in 1985 and liquidating it the next year;[29] and hired to manage the liquidation of Babbitts department store in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1987.[30]

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References
  1. Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXX, Number 113, 25 January 1903
  2. "13 Mar 1953, 29 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  3. Vincent, Roger. "Historic home of clothier Desmond's is ready for its comeback on Broadway". latimes.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  4. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56047353/vacant-desmonds-palm-springs-2007/
  5. "Desmond's in Seventy-Sixth Year", Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct 1937, Page 8
  6. Desmond's advertisement, Los Angeles Times 12 Sep 1924, Page 5
  7. "Business Adds New Buildings: Two Structures Will Cost $2,000,000: Sites Obtained on Broadway and Springs Street: Finest Arcade in West Under Consideration". Los Angeles Times. April 11, 1923. p. 19.
  8. "Ad for Desmond's Downtown LA Removal Sale". Los Angeles Times. February 10, 1972. p. 7.
  9. "11 Apr 1957, Page 7 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  10. "25 Nov 1972, 2 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  11. Gray, Olive (September 16, 1924). "New Desmond Store Opened". Los Angeles Times.
  12. "Now in Long Beach"/branch listing in Desmond's advertisement, Los Angeles Times 1 Sep 1931, Page 5
  13. "Desmond's Department Store - Los Angeles History Resources". sites.google.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  14. Betsky, Aaron (February 21, 1991). "Miracle Mile's Desmond Building Designed to Rise Above the Rest". Los Angeles Times.
  15. Kudler, Adrian Glick (9 May 2012). "Wilshire's Desmond's Dept. Store Development Back as Rentals". Curbed LA. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  16. "Desmond's Westwood Store Opens New Home", Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep 1940, Page 75
  17. "Desert Sun 13 November 1936 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  18. Hirsh, Lou (February 6, 2005). "Desmond's to Close?". Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA).
  19. "14 Mar 1953, 17 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  20. "21 Nov 1955, 55 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2019.
  21. Desmond's advertisement, Los Angeles Times, 11 September 1967, p. 7
  22. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56046615/desmonds-liquidation-northridge-west/
  23. "Advertisement for Desmond's". Pomona Progress-Bulletin. April 29, 1962.
  24. Kilmore, Margaret A. (February 11, 1977). "Ailing Desmond's Chain Acquired by Joint Venture". Los Angeles Times.
  25. "New men's store to open in Southern Hills Mall". Sioux City Journal. September 10, 1980.
  26. "After 119 years, Desmonds still offers finest menswear". Austin American-Statesman. March 17, 1982.
  27. "Advertisement for". Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, CO). June 15, 1981.
  28. "Veteran N.D. Clothier Starts New Retail Chain". Bismarck Tribune. April 5, 1980.
  29. Ritter, Bill (November 8, 1986). "Walker Scott to Close All 6 of its San Diego Stores". p. 44.
  30. Escoffier, Wendy (September 27, 1987). "Final Flagstaff sale planned Yuma store future uncertain". Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ).

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