Harris & Frank

Harris & Frank was a Los Angeles-based clothing retailer founded by Leopold Harris in Los Angeles in 1856, only eight years after the city had passed from Mexican to American control.

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
Leopold Harris & Frank's London Clothing Co., Los Angeles, late 1800s

Leopold Harris
Leopold Harris late 1800s
Löbau on an 1896 map of West and East Prussia

Harris was born in 1836, Löbau, then in the Province of Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia, now Lubawa, Poland, brother of Morris Herschkowitz. His original name was Lewin Herschkowitz. He arrived in the United States, in 1852 or 1853, spent time in Kentucky, then traveled via Nicaragua together with fellow Löbauer Harris Newmark, to California, arriving in October 1853. Leopold Harris decided to enter business in the new Mormon colony of San Bernardino, California. After several months there and some time outside the U.S., he returned to Los Angeles and founded the London Clothing Company.[1]

He became a U.S. citizen two years later. In 1868 he married Minna Jastrowitz.[2] He died in 1910 on Long Island, New York on his way back to Los Angeles after falling ill on a trip to Europe.

His nephews Philip and Herman Harris operated the White House store in Santa Ana, California and together with his other nephew Arthur, founded the Harris Company in San Bernardino, California, which would become a large, grand department store and a chain across the Inland Empire. All three nephews had worked for Leopold Harris at his Los Angeles store.[3]

History

Harris's first store, then called The London Clothing Co., was on the Los Angeles Plaza. Harris, alone and with partners, operated a succession of locations, each time further southwest from the Plaza, including

  • By 1870,[4] Harris joined Isaac, Nathan, Charles, Abraham, and Lessor Jacoby to buy out Herman W. Hellman's store, to form Harris & Jacoby, which was not only a forerunner of Harris & Frank but of Jacoby Bros., which would grow into a department store that would do business in Los Angeles through the 1930s.[5] The Jacoby brothers, also came from Löbau.[5]
  • 1876–1882: the Quincy Hall Clothing House, Downey Block, N. Main Street opposite Commercial St.[6] (at the time, Commercial St. ran eastward from Main St. just north of Temple St.)[7]
  • from Feb. 1883: the London Clothing Store at the Allen Block, Spring at Temple streets (129–131 Spring and 5-7-9 New High streets)[8]
  • 1894: 119–125 N. Spring at Franklin St,[9] between First and Temple streets[10]
  • 1905: 337–341 S. Spring St., between Third and Fourth streets.[11] For a few months operated concurrently with the Spring and Franklin store.[12]
  • 1907: moved just a block south to 447–443 S. Spring St., between Fourth and Fifth streets.[13]
  • 1925: 635–637 S. Hill St.[14]
  • 1947: Added a second downtown location at the former Brooks store at 644 S. Broadway[15]
  • 1950: Closed the Hill Street store
  • 1980: Closed its final downtown location at 644 S. Broadway[16]

Mr. Frank was also a real estate developer of the Allen Block at Temple and Spring streets, in 1887 the Salisbury Block on Spring St., and in 1898 the site of Niles Pease Furniture until 1907 and afterwards the Harris & Frank store, 437–443 S. Spring Street.[17] In 1887, Herman W. Frank (d. 1941) started working for Harris, and became a partner in the business a year in 1888,[18] when its name was changed to Harris & Frank. Frank became Harris's son-in-law by marrying his daughter Sarah.

Harris moved to San Bernardino for eight years, in which city his nephews would start the Harris Company department store chain.[19] then moved back to Los Angeles.

In 1947, Harris & Frank merged with Brooks Clothing Co. which was located at 644 S. Broadway.[14][15] As of 1950, the chain had 15 department store branches as far north as San Jose, California, and as far south as San Diego.[14] In 1959 H. Daroff and Sons, makers of the Botany 500 line of men's clothing, bought Harris & Frank which at that time had 21 branches. In 1970, Northern California chain Pauson's was merged and Pauson's stores were renamed Harris & Frank, bringing the total number of H&F stores to 40.[20]

Locations

Locations over the decades included:

Notes
1^ Photographic evidence in Wilson's book shows 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[27] while an ad for the Harris & Jacoby store at No. 2, Downey Block, started appearing in the same newspaper in December 1870.[28] It is currently difficult to establish the exact date in 1870, that the business changed hands from Hellman to Harris and Jacoby, as online archives for Los Angeles newspapers have a gap between the 1864 (for the Star) and 1873 (when the Herald archives commence).

References
  1. Marco R. Newmark, Pioneer Merchants of Los Angeles, p.86, 1942, via U.C. Riverside
  2. Leopold Harris, Jewish Museum of the West
  3. "The Harris Company". City of San Bernardino. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  4. Wilson, Karen. Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic. p. 6.
  5. "The Jacoby Brothers: Pioneer Jewish Merchants of Los Angeles". Jewish Museum of the American West. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  6. "Advertisement by L. Harris/Quincy Hall". Los Angeles Herald. October 24, 1879. p. 2. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  7. "Sanborn Fire Map 1886". Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  8. "Local Brevities". Los Angeles Daily Herald. February 8, 1883. p. 3. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  9. "Advertisement by London Clothing Co., Harris & Frank, proprietors". Los Angeles Herald. February 17, 1894. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  10. Block 10 as sown on Sanborn Fire Map, 1894
  11. "Harria & Frank advertisement". Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1905. p. 18. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  12. "Harris & Frank advertisement". Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1905. p. 18. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  13. "News and Business". Los Angeles Times. September 23, 1907. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  14. "Harris & Frank's founder formerly lived in S.B." San Bernardino Sun-Telegram. 17 May 1950. p. "Harris & Frank" Section, p. 2.
  15. "Harris & Frank to Merge With Brooks Clothing". Los Angeles Times. September 5, 1947. p. 15. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  16. "Harris & Frank advertisement". Los Angeles Times. January 17, 1980. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  17. "On Trip Home, Merchant Dies; Leopold Harris Is Stricken On European Tour". Los Angeles Times. September 7, 1910. p. 20. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  18. "Legal Notice". Los Angeles Herald. July 2, 1888. p. 7. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  19. http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/about/history/the_harris_company.asp
  20. "Clothing firm buys 21 Harris & Frank stores". Newspapers.com. Los Angeles Times via Newspapers.com. August 3, 1959. p. 19.
  21. "Harris & Frank advertisement". Newspapers.com. Los Angeles Times via Newspapers.com. November 25, 1965. p. 220.
  22. "Harris and Frank advertisement". Los Angeles Times. December 8, 1949. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  23. "Harris & Frank advertisement". Newspapers.com. Covina Argus via Newspapers.com. September 19, 1957. p. 56.
  24. Google Street View of 390 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, retrieved May 5, 2019
  25. "Harris & Frank advertisement". Newspapers.com. Los Angeles Times via Newspapers.com. November 12, 1959. p. 132.
  26. "H&F Women's Shop Called Fine New Center of Fashion". Newspapers.com. Valley News (Van Nuys, California) via Newspapers.com. April 26, 1955. p. 12.
  27. "Ad for Hellman's store, Los Angeles". Arizona Weekly Miner, Prescott, AZ. January 8, 1870. p. 3.
  28. "Ad for Harris & Jacoby". Weekly Arizona Minor (Prescott, AZ). December 17, 1870. p. 3.
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