SeventhStreetWestFromSeventhBHDyasVilleDeParis1917

Ville de Paris was a department store in

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 ...

from 1893 through 1919. A. Fusenot's Ville de Paris Los Angeles store should not be confused with the unrelated City of Paris store operating in Los Angeles through 1897 operated by Eugene Meyer & Co., then by Stern, Cahn & Loeb; nor with the much more famous City of Paris Dry Goods Co. of San Francisco.

History

French emigre Auguste Fusenot (French

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

in Los Angeles from 1898 to 1907) arrived in the U.S. in 1873 and soon became a partner in San Francisco's City of Paris store. After learning the business, he founded the Ville de Paris in Los Angeles in 1893. It was operated by the A. Fusenot Co. as a

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and Common ...

store. It was located in the

Potomac Block The Potomac Block was a commercial building with a historical role in the retail history of Los Angeles, at 213–223 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles, on the west side of Broadway between 2nd and 3rd streets. It was developed by lumberyard and ...

at 221–223 S.

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between 2nd and 3rd Streets, at a time when most stores were located in the Central Business District around Spring, Main, First and Temple Streets. The original store measured . In the latter half of 1905, the store relocated to a space 32 times larger, (), formerly the premises of

Coulter's Coulter's was a department store that originated in Downtown Los Angeles and later moved to the Miracle Mile shopping district in that same city. History Coulter's was founded by B. F. Coulter, a minister and entrepreneur from Kentucky, wh ...

, a block away in the

Homer Laughlin Building The Homer Laughlin Building, at 317 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, is a landmark building best known for its ground floor tenant the Grand Central Market, the city's largest and oldest public market. History Built by retired Ohio en ...

, at 317–325 S. Broadway, extending all the way back through to 314–322 Hill Street. This is the current site of

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. In 1907, Auguste Fusenot died and brother Georges took over management of the store."Georges Fusenot", Fusenot Foundation
/ref> In 1915, Fusenot sold his business to the owners of The Emporium in San Francisco, and in 1917 the Ville de Paris removed to 7th and Olive Streets, after J. W. Robinson's opened their flagship store on 7th Street, many blocks to the west of Broadway. The area would become the downtown's upscale shopping district for several decades. The space on Broadway has since been occupied by the

. In 1919 the owners sold the 7th and Olive store to B. H. Dyas, and then the store became B. H. Dyas Co., which itself closed around 1930. The Seventh and Olive building was then occupied by the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart, a constituent of what is now the Jewelry District, part of the Historic Core district.

References

{{History of Retail in Southern California Defunct department stores based in Downtown Los Angeles Seventh Street (Los Angeles)