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30-513: The building was designed by Los Angeles architects John and Donald Parkinson ; the interior design was by Eleanor Lemaire and Jock Peters of the Feil & Paradise Company; the ceiling mural of the porte-cochère was painted by Herman Sachs . The exterior is notable for its 241-foot (73 m) tower whose top is sheathed in copper, tarnished green. At one time, the tower peak had a light that could be seen for miles around. The stylized relief, above

60-497: A closer place to shop than Downtown Los Angeles. Traditional display windows faced the sidewalk, but they were decorated to catch the eyes of motorists. Since most customers would arrive by vehicle, the most appealing entrance was placed in the rear. Under the city's first department store porte cochere , valets in livery welcomed patrons and parked their cars. Shoppers entered the foyer which had travertine floors and elevators finished in nickel , brass , and gunmetal . On

90-562: A father-and-son architectural firm operating in the Los Angeles area in the early 20th century. They designed and built many of the city's iconic buildings, including Grand Central Market , the Memorial Coliseum , and City Hall . John Parkinson (12 December 1861 - 9 December 1935) was born in the small village of Scorton , in Lancashire , England in 1861. At the age of sixteen, he

120-517: A long photographic lifetime, I would mention first: 'The only difference between the difficult and the impossible is that the impossible takes more time.' Sometimes the hundredth attempt is the one that brings success." The company has trained and inspired generations of portrait photographers. The organization was sold in 1987 to Paul Skipworth, then again in 1998 to Greg Lorfing. Under Lorfing's direction, Gittings has worked in 15 countries in Europe, Asia and

150-934: A teen-aged Angela Lansbury worked as a sales clerk. Future First Lady Patricia Nixon also served a stint on the floor. From his studio, next to the Chanel department, Neil Gittings photographed many celebrities who frequented Bullocks Wilshire. In the early 1970s, this sub-division of Bullock's dropped its apostrophe and began opening separate branch locations so as to separate its decidedly luxury identity from its larger yet more upper-moderate/better parent. Branches were located in Palm Springs (1947), Woodland Hills ( The Promenade ) (1973; 80,000 square feet), Newport Beach ( Fashion Island ) (1977; 80,000 square feet), La Jolla (1979), Palos Verdes (1981), and Palm Desert (formerly Bonwit Teller ; 1987; 50,000 square feet). The branches of Woodland Hills and Newport Beach were designed by

180-593: The American Institute of Architects (predecessor to today's AIA Seattle chapter). Parkinson invested in real estate and he was both architect and developer of the Seattle Athletic Club Building (1893–94; destroyed). His investments left him financially vulnerable when the Panic of 1893 , the severe national depression, curtailed construction after June 1893. Parkinson's schools position was terminated by

210-655: The Campeau Corporation . The Wilshire Boulevard store suffered severe damage during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 ; looters broke in and shattered every display case on the first floor. The upper floors were not damaged because fleeing staffers shut off the elevators; the original decision to build the store without escalators may have actually saved the landmark from ruin. At least three fires were set by arsonists , but they did not spread. Bullocks Wilshire finally closed in 1993 with legal battles ensuing as Macy's stripped

240-585: The Homer Laughlin Building at Third Street and Broadway. His 1901 Susana Machado Bernard House and Barn has been designated as a Historic Cultural Monument and listed in the National Register of Historic Places . His design for the 1904 Braly Block at Fourth Street and Spring became the first " skyscraper " built in Los Angeles. It held the distinction of being the tallest structure in town until

270-467: The couture Chanel Room and the Irene Salon, enclave of future Hollywood costume designer Irene Lentz , reputed to be the first boutique devoted to a single designer inside a major U.S. department store. Lentz designed custom wardrobe for celebrities, leading to a career in design at major film studios , including MGM . Other departments included toys, a mezzanine Doggery for canine accessories, and

300-514: The 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Gittings also operated a studio within Neiman Marcus . In his autobiography entitled Color Portraiture, he writes, "The photographer doesn't sell photographs; he sells sentiment and flattery. From the day that he [the photographer] understands the philosophy of the product he sells and bends his efforts to that end alone, he will prosper." and "Finally, if I could choose those words of wisdom which have served me best, during

330-623: The 1960s, the Gittings laboratories were the first to use machines from Kodak that would develop into the "one hour processing." Due to this progress, the Gittings laboratory lost a substantial portion of its market in the professional color film processing industry. Paul Linwood Gittings, Sr. was instrumental in organizing, funding and establishing the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In

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360-561: The English construction trades demanded more time and service for advancement. He decided that his then capabilities would be more appropriate to the less-structured opportunities in America. Parkinson went to California , settling in Napa where he again worked as a stair-builder, and he took on architectural commissions in his spare time, designing some of his first commercial projects including an annex to

390-402: The Los Angeles firm of Welton Becket and Associates. Over the years, a shift by other luxury stores and boutiques to the west side of the city/county resulted in the primary Bullocks Wilshire trading area's fall, yet the main store held on as a destination until 1988, when it began its own precipitous decline, hastened under operation by its final owners, Macy's , who had acquired the chain from

420-789: The Olympia Hotel, Olympia (1889; destroyed), the Calkins Hotel, Mercer Island (1889; destroyed), and several residences. After the Great Seattle Fire of 6 June 1889, he secured several important business blocks, the Butler Block (1889–90; altered), and the Seattle National Bank Building, later called the Interurban Building (1890–92), an exemplary work of Romanesque Revival architecture . In 1891, Parkinson won

450-523: The Seattle School Board early in 1894. In 1893 and 1894, he entered several competitions, but failed to win any commissions. Faced with no projects, nor prospects for work in Seattle, John Parkinson moved to Los Angeles in 1894 and opened his architecture office on Spring Street between Second and Third Streets. By 1896, Parkinson had designed the city's first Class "A" fireproof steel-frame structure:

480-650: The Seattle Seminary (1891–93)--the first building at Seattle Pacific University (now known as Alexander Hall); and the Jesuit College and Church (1893–94; altered)--the first building at Seattle University (now known as the Garrand Building). Parkinson frequently published renderings of his buildings in the professional architectural press. He was an early member of the Washington State Chapter of

510-597: The Wilshire Boulevard entrance, was designed by George Stanley , designer of the Oscar . Among the workers laboring on the project may have been Sam Rodia, builder of the Watts Towers . Bullocks Wilshire's innovation was that it was one of the first department stores in Los Angeles to cater to the burgeoning automobile culture. It was located in a then-mostly residential district, its objective to attract shoppers who wanted

540-667: The adjoining lounge where society women gathered for luncheon fashion shows . Truly elite service was reserved for the selected men invited to shop in the privacy of J.G. Bullock's wood-paneled private suite on the fifth floor. Titans of business and politics relaxed over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres as sales associates modeled potential gifts. The department store served the upper crust of Los Angeles society. In its heyday, Bullocks Wilshire patrons included celebrities Mae West , John Wayne , Marlene Dietrich , Joan Crawford , Alfred Hitchcock , Greta Garbo , ZaSu Pitts , Walt Disney , and Clark Gable . While struggling to become an actress,

570-532: The building to its original 1929 state, adapting the building for use as an integral part of the school. The building is a historic-cultural monument of the City of Los Angeles , and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places May 25, 1978. The Southwestern Law School Office of Administrative Services is responsible for all arrangements pertaining to commercial photography and filming on Southwestern's campus and works with Unreel Locations . Bullocks Wilshire

600-468: The city's first leisurewear merchandise on the Playdeck. The women's shoe salon was paneled with the wood from a single Central American tree. Cork in exotic shades lined the walls in the furs atelier . The Saddle Shop featured vermillion floor tiles, wall cases of deep red oak, and a life-size plaster likeness of a horse, Bullock's Barney. For refreshment, there was a top-floor desert-themed tearoom and

630-728: The city's most enduring landmarks. Found on the roster are: the Campus Master Plan and several noted buildings of the University of Southern California (1919–39) [1] , the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923 and 1930–31), Los Angeles City Hall (1928, with Albert C. Martin Sr./structural and John C. Austin/working drawings), Bullocks Wilshire (1929) and Union Station (1939). John Parkinson completed an important early renovation of Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles. Their work

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660-529: The completion of City Hall in 1928. In 1905, Parkinson formed a partnership with G. Edwin Bergstrom which lasted for ten years. Parkinson and Bergstrom became the dominant architectural firm for major structures in Los Angeles. Bergstrom left to establish his own successful practice in 1915. John Parkinson was joined in 1920 by his son, Donald B. Parkinson (1895—1945). Parkinson & Parkinson designed many of Los Angeles' finest buildings, which became some of

690-725: The design competition for the B.F. Day School (1891–92; altered), located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Thereafter the Seattle School Board appointed Parkinson as the Seattle Schools Architect and Superintendent. Parkinson was responsible for all Seattle Schools projects over the next several years, including the Pacific School (1892–93; destroyed) and the Cascade School (1893–94; destroyed). He also designed

720-506: The first floor was the vaulted Perfume Hall, awash in natural light muted by walls of St. Genevieve marble . Other floors displayed clothes and accessories in low glass cases on rosewood stands or on live mannequins , to prevent hanging racks from cluttering sight lines. Upstairs showrooms and salons functioned almost as discrete boutiques . The Louis XVI Room sold designer dresses, the Directoire formal wear and later furs. Later still came

750-698: The original Bank of Napa building (1888, Demolished). Considering Napa a "dead town", Parkinson ventured north to Seattle in February 1889, where he opened his first architectural practice after failing to secure a position as a draftsman. In March he entered a partnership with Cecil Evers , but this ended little more than a year later; Parkinson would leave Napa for good in September 1889 but would retain professional relationships with local mills to supply lumber and trim. Parkinson's early projects in Puget Sound included

780-515: The store of its historic artifacts, furnishings and fixtures for other locations (bowing to pressure, almost all the 1929 fixtures were returned). Its locations had been converted around 1990 to I. Magnin , a San Francisco -based luxury chain which in turn was shuttered by Federated Department Stores in January 1995 upon its acquisition of Macy's. In 1994, the building was acquired by Southwestern Law School , its long-time neighbor. The school restored

810-573: Was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics . Gittings Studios Gittings Studios is a photographic studio founded in 1928 by Paul Gittings, Sr. . Gittings bought the Bachrach Studios in the southern region of the United States during the Great Depression . The Gittings laboratory was a pioneer of color dye transfer prints. In

840-585: Was apprenticed for six years to Jonas J. Bradshaw , an architect and engineer in nearby Bolton , where he learned craftsmanship and practical construction. He attended night school at Bolton's Mechanics Institute to study architectural drafting and engineering. Upon completion of his apprenticeship at age 21, he immigrated to North America as an adventure; he built fences in Winnipeg and learned stair building in Minneapolis . He returned to England only to discover that

870-467: Was one of the more important divisions of Bullock's, Inc. until it was consolidated into I. Magnin by Macy's in 1989. The division could be traced to the opening of a single luxury branch store of Bullock's in 1929. In 1968, The Bullock's store in Palm Springs (built in 1947) was transferred to the control of Bullock's Wilshire to be its first branch store. Four years later, in 1972, Bullock's Wilshire store

900-485: Was separated from Bullock's as a separate division with its own, president, chairman, buyers and staff with Walter Bergquist, former president of Bullock's, assigned as the division's first president. Source: Bullock's Department Store by Devin T. Frick Strawbridge's added to division in 1996 Meier & Frank added to division in 2002 ; Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution (2001, to Meier & Frank) The Parkinsons John and Donald Parkinson were

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