In April 1923, Hollywood’s latest triumph was I. Magnin, “a beautiful edifice dedicated to the women of this thriving community.” The upscale boutique sold only the most feminine wares “of the perfect taste”: perfumes, gowns, hosiery, millinery, jewelry, lingerie, suits, coats, and capes.
The entrance at 6340 Hollywood Boulevard was two stories in height and, through a wrought iron arched gateway (supposedly a replica of the one at the Abbey of St. Columbanus in Bobbio, Italy), led from a vestibule to a grand salesroom with eight-foot wood paneling on the walls, cozy seating, a fireplace, Italian sculptures, and chandeliers suspended from ornate rafters overhead.
On either end of the room, mezzanine balconies offered a birds-eye view of the unique shopping experience. In the rear, up four steps, was a smaller salesroom also done in wood paneling and wrought iron. And at the back of the building was a magnificent garden with a Mexican tile wall. Throughout the store, merchandise was arranged like decor with only a few sale items out on display.
Located just west of Vine Street on the same fashionable block as the Broadway-Hollywood department store (built in 1927, for B. H. Dyas), Mullen & Bluett, Roos Bros., and Columbia Outfitting Co., I. Magnin was originally sandwiched between Wetherby-Kayser Shoe Co. and Seafood Grotto restaurant.
Within four years of the store’s construction, it was announced that Ivar Avenue, which dead-ended at Hollywood Boulevard (see above photo), would be extended south—cutting right through the architectural beauty designed by Myron Hunt (Rose Bowl, Ambassador Hotel) and his partner H. C. Chambers (Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino).
In anticipation of losing one-third of the building’s frontage on its west end, I. Magnin expanded south, attaching a 6,000-square-foot addition to its rear, however, set back 30 feet from what would eventually become Ivar Avenue.
The two-story structure, which cost $150,000 and was completed in March 1928, featured a large salesroom and numerous fitting rooms on the first floor and an employees-only area on the second.
There was also underground parking for 50 cars, attended by valets, with an entrance on Vine that brought motorists through an alley leading straight into the I. Magnin garage (which is still there, although not in use as of 2024).
In 1930, when the extension of Ivar Avenue finally came through the property, the west wing of the store was lopped off and the corner reconstructed for the new intersection. Despite the Depression sweeping the nation at the time, I. Magnin continued to prosper, and in 1934 the company announced a fourth expansion of the Hollywood store, this time on its east end.
The adjoining two-story at 6334 Hollywood Boulevard (formerly Wetherby-Kayser) was purchased and remodeled to house I. Magnin’s sportswear department “to serve the growing demand of Hollywood women for this type of clothes.” The interior was done in satinwood with white and pastel-colored decor.
“The new shop will be one of the finest, if not the finest, specialty shop in America,” vice president Grover Magnin told the Los Angeles Times in November 1934, as the retail company proudly operated 14 locations on the West Coast.
The San Francisco-based chain was founded in 1878 by Mary Ann Magnin, yet named after her husband Isaac, who peddled her handmade high-end baby clothing. As a brick and mortar, the brand shifted to womenswear made from the finest European fabrics—and eventually, the latest imported fashions from Paris designers Lanvin, Dior, and Saint Laurent.
By the turn of the century, Mary Ann’s four sons (including Grover, the youngest) took over the family business and expanded to Southern California, where I. Magnin shops popped up in Hotel Maryland (Pasadena), Hotel Del Coronado (Coronado), and Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles) a decade before the Hollywood Boulevard flagship.
After 16 years in Hollywood, the exclusive location closed in 1939, as all of I. Magnin’s Los Angeles sites were consolidated into one brand-new store on Wilshire Boulevard, an all-marble masterpiece designed by Myron Hunt, the same architect as 6340 Hollywood.
In February 1944, I. Magnin was bought by its rival just three blocks east, Bullocks Wilshire, yet continued to operate at 3240 Wilshire and even opened new locations around California for several more decades until 1988, when I. Magnin-Bullocks was acquired by Macy’s, which subsequently declared bankruptcy. By 1992, I. Magnin was gone and the marble building turned into Wilshire Galleria, a five-floor commercial space. After sitting vacant for years, in 2023 it was reported the historic property will be redeveloped into an apartment complex.
Back on Hollywood Boulevard, Hunt’s other architectural gem has seen better days. The former I. Magnin edifice was altered beyond recognition by subsequent stewards who butchered it inside and out during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Today, it is criminally rundown and vacant—just like most of owner Mehdi Bolour’s historic properties. In Hollywood specifically, the slumlord is responsible for the deterioration of the Baine Building, Montmartre, and Palmer Building, the latter which was rented out to squatters and ultimately raided by LAPD’s SWAT team in 2018. Mehdi (and Denley Investment and Management Company, one of the Bolour family’s dozens of real estate and development LLCs) was hit with 25 criminal charges, yet as of 2024, the case seems to still be in litigation.
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