Building History

J.A. Williams and Company opened its Broadway Department Store on 08/29/1895, an inauspicious time for any business, as the US was in the midst of an economic slump that had begun in 1893. While this slowdown was less pronounced in Los Angeles than elsewhere in the US, Williams's firm lasted only about five months before it went bankrupt.

The canny, English-born, businessman Arthur W. Letts, Sr., (1862-1923) scooped up the distressed business's merchandise, name and new building in 1896, and restarted operations on 02/24/1896. Letts was successful from the start, and operated the Broadway at the corner of Broadway and 4th Street until constructing a new, larger store in 1912. By 1907, he also invested in John G. Bullock's new Bullock's Department Store, making him one of the wealthiest retailers in Southern California.

PCAD id: 24109