Boadway Bros.

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Not to be confused with The Broadway.
Boadway Bros.
FoundedOctober 1912; 109 years ago (1912-10)
FoundersBroadway Brothers

Boadway Bros. or Boadway's was a chain of upscale department stores in Southern California and New Mexico during the 1910s and 1920s, which started with a single store in Pasadena carrying furniture.

First Pasadena store[]

In October 1912, the Boadway Brothers opened a new furniture store on Colorado Blvd. near Marengo. It consisted of three stories of 75 ft x 25 ft each, 5,625 square feet (522.6 m2) total floor space, at a cost of $75,000.[1]

Starting November 20, 1912 the space was used as a Christmas Shop, for which the stock was valued between $5000 and $6000, and the store was to have 130 saleswomen, 24 floorwalkers, 50 "cash girls" (cashiers) and 50 waitresses.[2]

Second Pasadena store[]

On October 1, 1917 Boadway's opened a new Pasadena store and expanded to dry goods, apparel, thus becoming a mainline department store. It added dry goods, silks, velvets and other "highly specialized lines of merchandise" until acquiring a stock worth $250,000, including selected lines of furniture. A broad, grand staircase to the mezzanine floor was added. The mezzanine was to had four “salons” for display and fitting, each of a different decorative theme. The second floor shoed furniture and the top floor, draperies and carpets. New display fixtures were of mahogany and high-quality plate glass. Stock included imported and domestic lingerie and imported Italian underwear. The store's crowning mark was having a corsetière on site, a woman specialized in fitting and manufacturing corsets to order, in addition to selling high-quality ready-made corsets.[3]

Planned Hollywood & Vine store[]

Dr. Edward O. Palmer was to build a six-story, 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) store for Boadway's in Hollywood at Hollywood and Vine,[4][5] and in 1922, stock was sold to finance its construction.[6] After Boadway Bros. went out of business the next year, B. H. Dyas, a Downtown Los Angeles-based department store, opened in the building in 1927. The Broadway department store took over the building in 1931 and it continues to be known as the Broadway Hollywood Building.[7]

Store list[]

Boadway Bros. stores were acquired and liquidated as follows:

City Location Opened Acquired business of Sold to
Pasadena 1st store Colorado Boulevard near Marengo 1912 (new)
Pasadena 2nd store 268 E. Colorado Boulevard 1916 (new) Tooker-Jordan[8]
Albuquerque 1919 Golden Rule Dry Goods Co.[9]
Long Beach 411 Pine Avenue 1921 S. A. Schilling[10] Hugh A. Marti Co., early 1923[11]
San Bernardino E Street 1919 C. Cohn Dry Goods Co. Markell's department store[12]
Colton 125 Eighth St. 1918 Willets department store[13] Liquidates stock and closed store late 1918[14] NB: Willet’s re-opened a new store in Colton in later years.
San Diego 845 Fifth[15]
Hollywood Hollywood & Vine
now Broadway Hollywood Building 		(new) never opened as Boadway's; opened as B. H. Dyas in 1927

References[]

  1. ^ "Building Is Active: Several Modern Structures Projected in Crown City–Others Now Nearing Completion". Los Angeles Times. July 21, 1912. p. 85.
  2. ^ "Cities and Towns of Los Angeles County -". Los Angeles Times. November 17, 1912.
  3. ^ "Past on Parade: Boadway Brothers store had an in-house corsetiere". Los Angeles Daily News. March 7, 2010.
  4. ^ "Lease for Big Store Is Signed". Los Angeles Times. August 13, 1922. p. 85.
  5. ^ "Add Another Fine Store to String". Pasadena Post. June 17, 1922.
  6. ^ "Advertisement for Boadway Bros., Inc". Holly Leaves (magazine). July 1, 1922. p. 37. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  7. ^ Williams, Gregory Paul (2002). The Story of Hollywood. p. 233. ISBN 9780977629930.
  8. ^ "Advertisement for Tooker-Jordan". Pasadena Post. April 12, 1923.
  9. ^ "Advertisement for Boadway Bros". The Evening Herald (Albuquerque, New Mexico). July 15, 1919.
  10. ^ "Adds another to chain of stores: Boadway Bros purchases S. A. Schilling establishment in Long Beach". Pasadena Post. September 20, 1921.
  11. ^ "Advertisement for Boadway Long Beach store under new management by Marti Co". The Long Beach Telegram and The Long Beach Daily News. February 7, 1923.
  12. ^ "Advertisement for Markell's department store". San Bernardino County Sun. June 10, 1929.
  13. ^ "Boadway Bros. New Owners". San Bernardino County Sun. September 17, 1918.
  14. ^ "Boadway close Colton ex-Willets". The San Bernardino County Sun. 19 September 1918. p. 5.
  15. ^ "Advertisement for Boadway Bros". National City Star-News. June 27, 1919.
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