California Apparel News

The whir of sewing machines and the sound of Latin music reverberate through the wide and dreary halls of the old May Co. building, an enormous structure in downtown LA that once housed the largest department store in the West.

For years, the 1.1 million-square-foot edifice, constructed in the Beaux Arts style, has been ground zero for contract sewing shops that whip up blouses, dresses, skirts and shirts for quick fill-in orders and private labels destined for retail chains, wholesale stores and jobbers.

But the proposed sale of the nearly one-square-block building at Eighth Street and Broadway could send more than 80 contract sewing shops scrambling for new business locations in an area whose gentrification is raising commercial rents.

“It is getting harder and harder to find places to work in downtown Los Angeles,” said Robert Horner, who has been making girls’ special-occasion dresses in his shop, located for 10 years inside the old May Co. building. “Downtown Los Angeles is changing. We might have to move farther and farther away.”

Horner was unaware of the building’s possible sale, much like most of the garment contractors who are his neighbors. Reina Sandoval, the owner of Reina Fashion, has been at the same location for three years sewing dresses and tops. She was surprised to hear the building was on the market. “It isn’t easy to find other locations,” she said, noting she moved from Maple Avenue and Washington Boulevard from a spot that was rented to another sewing contractor.

Cindy Roh—whose NE Mode employs about 20 people who sew quickly placed orders for TJ Maxx, Nordstrom and Marshalls—has only been in the building for two months on a month-to-month lease. She was taken aback and concerned to hear the building could be sold. “It is very difficult to find space around here because so many old buildings are being changed into condominiums and space is very expensive.”

The old May Co. structure, located between Hill Street and Broadway and bounded by Eighth Street to the north, is part of a section of downtown Los Angeles that was neglected for years. All of a sudden it is becoming more trendy.

Urban Outfitters announced it is opening a new store in the nearly 100-year-old Rialto Theatre on Broadway, across the street from the old May Co. store. Nearby, the Orpheum Theatre, which was renovated by Anjac Fashion Buildings owner Steve Needleman a decade ago, is a popular venue for concerts, TV shows and TV commercials. An Umamicatessen, a new hip eatery, is located a few doors away from the Orpheum. A block down, the old United Artists building is being transformed into an Ace Hotel expected to open later this year.

By 2015, City Councilmember José Huizar hopes his $125 million plan for a trolley running down Broadway and up Hill Street will be a reality, setting the scene for a vibrant neighborhood that could be far different from what it is now—a gritty urban area that has lots of discount clothing stores, jewelry shops, fast-food restaurants and empty buildings.

Faded glory

The old May Co. contributes to this downtrodden image even though the structure’s exterior is impressive with its white-glazed terra cotta and tall windows. The building, designed by architect Alfred Rosenbeim, first opened in 1908 as the Hamburger’s Department Store. It boasted the largest store aisle in the West and housed the Arrow movie theatre on the fifth floor. A small city of 2,000 people worked in the store’s five floors.

Later it was here that Sadie Marks (later known as Mary Livingston) worked as a salesgirl while being courted by Jack Benny, who performed across the street at the Orpheum Theatre.

In 1923, the elephantine structure was acquired by the May Co., based in St. Louis. The May Co., which added a nine-story structure attached to the original building, operated here until the 1980s.

Today, the unkempt main floor is occupied by the Broadway Trade Center, a hodge-podge of cheap swap meet–style booths selling bargain-basement items. All of the escalators—the first ever in a California department store—are blocked. Only a few interior elevators work at a glacial pace, taking garment workers to their jobs in spaces off the drab gray halls that look as if they haven’t been painted in decades. The bathrooms are filthy with doors that often don’t close well.

It is easy to get lost in this warren of garment shops. They are long, narrow units where cut garments are delivered to be sewn. The building is occasionally visited by the state Department of Industrial Relations, looking for employers not paying minimum wage or overtime or not keeping proper business records.

Since 1998, the building has been owned by a group of Beverly Hills investors who decided to put it up for sale in late June. Although no price is listed, similar commercial real estate in the area is going for $125 a square foot. That means buyers would probably have to put down $125 million to purchase it.

Phillip Sample, the CBRE Group real estate broker who has the listing, noted that the structure has a number of potential uses. It could be converted into residences, offices and/or a hotel with ground-floor retail. Just a few doors down from the old May Co. building, the former Eastern Columbia department-store building was converted into high-end condos in 2006.

Whoever buys the old May Co. building will have to spend millions to renovate the site, listed by the Los Angeles Conservancy as a historic building.

“This is a huge space. They would have to put a lot of money into it,” said William Choi, whose Look Abo garment company has been in the building for two years. “Just look at these old pipes in the ceiling.”