From the looks of the frenzied energy of this blurry photo, the opening of a Mode O’ Day dress shop was a big deal. Mode O’ Day was a national chain of California-based franchised stores so I’m guessing when this one opened in 1935, people knew about it. Or maybe they knew about those $2.95 dresses advertised in the window. This store was in a building at the corner of S. Hill St and Washington Blvd which is a few blocks south of the south end of downtown Los Angeles, which back then was probably a more vibrant corner of LA than it is now. It certainly was on that day!
You can read more about Mode O’Day here.
This is a shot of the building the store was in. Looks pretty nice to me.
Mode O’Day is long gone but the building is still there.
I saw the subject line on this one, and it brought back old memories of the Mode O’Day shop in Culver Center (in Culver City, of course). I used to go there when I was a kid, but by the time I was in high school, it was hopefully old fashioned.
Beautiful building. Nice to know it has not been torn down.
Thank God for that!!! Such a lovely work of art that building was and still is. I wish the old cars were still parked around it but I guess we can’t have everything. Thanks Patti
I’ve passed by this building countless times and admired it from ground level. The last photo (obviously taken from the catty-corner metropolitan courthouse) gives a greater sense of its grandeur. The recent paint job makes it stand out in a now shabby part of town.
Good day… The history provided was pretty much correct. I was the senior Accounting Manager at the time Wickes Cos bought Gamble-Skogmo Inc. and then filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wickes had massive debts, Gamble Skogmo was cash rich but could not survive Wickes debt.
The company did not change its name to Fashion Crossroads, it was an attempt to sell to the younger generation in the bigger malls, that pretty much flopped as the stores kept my return department busy. In MOD,there were franchised and company operated stores. The Co-op’s were stores in towns where the franchisee defaulted on Royalty payments to MOD and agreed to walk away from the store. MOD also operated outlet stores in the 70/80s called Sarco stores for store returns for out of season fashions and applied discounts until sold. Cecil(VP mfg) and Joy in manufacturing/purchasing did a wonderful job keeping up with the current fashion markets. The other thing was there were four or five manufacturing plants in the mid-west and one called Better California Garments (BCG)in the LA fashion district.
I was there until the Burbank and Kansas city warehouses were sold off in early 90s. One of the best companies to learn how accounting worked in a retail setting.
Hey Joe – thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Do you remember roughly how many Mode O’Day stores there were nationwide at the peak?