Looking east along Wilshire Blvd from around Westmoreland Ave to Bullocks Wilshire department store, Los Angeles, circa late 1930s

Looking east along Wilshire Blvd from around Westmoreland Ave to Bullocks Wilshire department store, Los Angeles, circa late 1930sI doubt that I shall ever tire of looking at vintage photos of the Bullocks Wilshire department store. It stood at 3050 Wilshire Blvd between Westmoreland Ave and Wilshire Place. The store opened on September 26, 1929 and at the time it was is considered a risky venture because it was outside of downtown LA, where all the important stores were located. And then a month later, the stock market crashed—not exactly a primo time to open a very upscale, very large store. But Bullocks Wilshire survived, and by the time this photo was taken in the late 1930s, it was thriving as one of THE stores that people with lots o’ dough went to spend it.

The building is now home to the Southwestern Law School and is still every bit as striking as the day it opened. This image is from May 2022.

 

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8 responses to “Looking east along Wilshire Blvd from around Westmoreland Ave to Bullocks Wilshire department store, Los Angeles, circa late 1930s”

  1. Christopher says:

    This is on my “regret” list of places I wish I had visited before it closed! 🙁

    • Martin Pal says:

      The Southwestern Law School is a superb custodian of this treasured building and has occasional tours and lunches and teas and lectures concerning its history and such. I attended one of the tours and lunch programs a few years ago and it was delightful. The last one was this past August. Here’s a link about it. One can be put on a list for info about their future events.
      https://www.swlaw.edu/Archives

      When I took the tour it almost made me want to attend law school just so I could wander around that building every week!

  2. Bill Wolfe says:

    There’s an excellent episode of Huell Howser’s show that takes the viewer on a tour of Bullocks Wilshire. It’s at You Tube here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzv8pnI8TYU

    One of my old co-workers parked cars at Bullocks Wilshire when he was a teenager. He remembered parking Spencer Tracy’s car once. I can’t say I ever had that experience growing up in my little hometown in Ohio!

  3. Patti says:

    Was Bullock’s a very expensive store? Was it like the May Co.? I heard of the May Co. often in listening to the Jack Benny radio show. Very nice picture!

    • It was top of the line, baby! A while ago I got a friend of mine to rate LA menswear stores and this is what she said.
      1. Bullock’s 7th Street downtown
      2. Bullock’s Wilshire
      3. Buffum’s
      4. MayCo Wilshire
      5. Mullen & Bluett
      6. Phelps-Terkel
      7. Desmond’s
      8. Penney’s // Broadway
      9. Campbell’s
      10. Harris & Frank
      Some of these stores sold more than menswear but you get the general idea.

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