SeventhStreetWestFromSeventhBHDyasVilleDeParis1917

B. H. Dyas Co. was a Los Angeles sporting goods retailer that turned into a department store and went out of business in the 1930s, owned by Bernal Hubert Dyas (1882–1959).

Origins as sporting goods store

Dyas opened a sporting goods store, Dyas & Cline, with partner George T. Cline at

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& 3rd (116 E. 3rd St.) in 1905. Later, Dyas was located on 7th at Hill.

Seventh & Olive department store

In 1919, the owners of the Ville de Paris department store at 321-5 W. 7th Street at Olive, sold the store to Dyas. The store advertised as "Ville de Paris–B. H. Dyer Co." from 1919 through 1927, then simply as B. H. Dyas. The Downtown store and with it, the B. H. Dyas name, closed around 1930. The Seventh and Olive building is now occupied by the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart, a constituent of what is now the Jewelry District, part of the Historic Core district. The store advertised as “The Most Interesting Store in California”. It had inside a

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...

, a rifle range, and an aquarium of rainbow trout, as well as stuffed and mounted game animals.

Hollywood branch

In 1927, Dyas opened a branch in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

in what is now the

Broadway Hollywood Building Broadway Hollywood Building (sometimes Broadway Building or Broadway Department Store Building) is a building in Los Angeles' Hollywood district. The building is situated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame monument area on the southwest corner of th ...

. In 1922, stock was sold to finance its construction to house a branch of Boadway Bros., which went out of business in 1923, and B. H. Dyas agreed to open in the building instead. The Classical Revival Style building was built by local businessman Frank R. Strong to house Dyas' store. Frederick Rice Dorn was the architect. The construction, which continued into 1928, marked the first department store branch outside of the main

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

and led to similar large-scale commercial developments outside downtown such as

Bullocks Wilshire Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a Art Deco building. The building opened in September 1929 as a luxury department store for owner John G. Bullock (owner of the more mainstream Bullock's in Dow ...

. Due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, B. H. Dyas had to consolidate its operation back to its original store and

The Broadway The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant reta ...

purchased the 30-year lease for $2 million (US$ million in dollars) in 1931.

Demise

The 7th and Olive store went into receivership in 1932, and closed in 1933, thus ending the B. H. Dyer department store.

Myer Siegel Myer Siegel was a Los Angeles–based department store, founded by Myer Siegel (1866–1934), specializing in women's clothing. History Myer Siegel established his store in 1886 at 218 N. Spring St., at that time selling only children's ...

came to occupy the 7th & Olive building. Dyas' son died in an automobile collision in Rawlins, Wyoming in October 1933. Dyas died in 1959.

References

{{History of Retail in Southern California Dyas, B. H. Seventh Street (Los Angeles)