May Company California
Encyclopedia
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s operating in the Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, previously with headquarters in North Hollywood, California
North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, along the Tujunga Wash. It is bounded on the south by Moorpark Street and the Ventura Freeway, on the southwest by Burbank Blvd...
. It was a subsidiary of May Department Stores
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...
and merged with May's other Southern California subsidiary, J. W. Robinson's in 1993 to form Robinsons-May
Robinsons-May
Robinsons-May was a chain of department stores operating in Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, previously with headquarters in North Hollywood, California...
.
May Company California was established in 1923 when May acquired A. Hamburger & Sons Co. (founded in 1881 by Asher Hamburger). The company operated exclusively in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
until 1983 when May Department Stores
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...
had dissolved Goldwater's
Goldwater's
Goldwater's Department Store was a department store chain based in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded in Gila City, Arizona, in 1860 and moved to Phoenix in 1872. The store was founded by Michael Goldwater, the grandfather of U.S. Senator and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.Goldwater's...
, based in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
and transferred its Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
store to May Company California.
The May Company store which was in Whittier, CA at the Quad opened in 1965 and closed on March 31, 1987, a mere 6 months prior to the Whittier Narrows Earthquake which took place on October 1, 1987 at 07:42. The store's three-level parking structure fell almost flat to the ground as a result of this quake, and the store itself suffered internal damage but remained intact until its controlled-implosion (via dynamite) a few years later.
Two well-known stores were located on the corners of 8th Street and Broadway
Broadway (Los Angeles)
Broadway is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs from Lincoln Heights on the Eastside, through Chinatown, passing through Central Plaza and the Dragon Gate, the Los Angeles Civic Center, passing the Los Angeles Times building at First Street, and Broadway's historic commercial...
, and Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
and Fairfax Avenue
Fairfax Avenue
Fairfax Avenue is a street on north central Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard with Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end.Fairfax Avenue forms the western boundary of Hancock Park as well as Park La Brea, an 160 acre ,...
. The 1926 garage building at 9th and Hill Street
Hill Street (Los Angeles)
Hill Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, measuring 4.8 miles in length. It starts on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard near the campus of USC, and passes north through Downtown Los Angeles, past such landmarks as Pershing Square, the Subway Terminal Building, Angels Flight,...
s was one of the Nation's first parking structures (Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1001).