The History of the Sears Building in Boyle Heights
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2022
- Have you seen the enormous Sears building in Boyle Heights and wondered why it's so massive? Learn the history behind this Los Angeles Art Deco Landmark.
References:
Sears Building (Boyle Heights) | Water and Power Associates
“Remembering the Boyle Heights Sears: A Tribute to an Eastside icon” by LAist Staff, LAIst. May 7, 2021.
“A 94-Year-Year Old Sears Store Has Never Given Up on a Los Angeles Neighborhood, But That May Soon Change” by Michael Lisicky, Forbes. Sept. 26, 2020.
“After Almost a Century, Landmark Sears Store in Boyle Heights Will Soon Close” by Andrew J. Campa, The Los Angeles Times. April 3, 2021.
“Column: Can a Giant, Empty Sears Building Help Solve Homelessness in Los Angeles?” By Gustavo Arellano, The Los Angeles Times. Feb. 19, 2022.
“The History of Sears Predicts Nearly Everything Amazon is Doing” by Derek Thompson, The Atlantic. Sept. 25, 2017.
“Move Thousands of Homeless People Into Landmark L.A. Sears Building? Some Say No Way” by Andrew J. Campa, The Los Angeles Times. July 18, 2022.
Music: “Morning Rising” by Ben Winwood
#californiography #californiahistory #losangeleshistory #boyleheights #sears 
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Beautiful building.... reminds me of the old Bullocks on Wilshire with that tower. Bullocks was given Historic Designation and has since been taken over by a law school, so it's in good hands. I hope a similar fate awaits this iconic Sears art deco masterpiece....
Yes, that would be a great second life for the Sears building; I’d definitely had the space for something like that!
In the early 1920's Sears decided to expand its market penetration by opening retail stores, at first primarily in cities with large concentrations of potential customers. In Chicago, the first two stores built were very solid, robust structures. The point being if the retail strategy failed the stores could be converted to warehouses. To bad those running Sears the last 40 years have not been as smart as the managers of a century ago.
That's very fascinating! You're spot on regarding the last few decades of Sears; I think if they'd held onto the infrastructure a bit longer, they would've been able to compete with Amazon.
Blame people who can't leave things the way they are. They have to change the world by force. We have no say in what they do to us. Can't believe I feel like history. Going to stores like kb toys, woolworth, thriftys with thier ice cream, Sam goody. Does anyone even remember Pontiac or Oldsmobile anymore? I'm almost in my 40s. And all what I mentioned is gone and forgotten.
Lived around the corner in the early 80s. Lots of good memories.
I bet! I still remember the smell of popcorn walking in.
@salsaknight Do you remember aliso village projects? I lived there as a kid in the 80’s good times
I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon purchased the sears building.
That would be such a full circle moment since Sears was considered the Amazon of its time. We'll see if the owner sells if he's unable to move forward with his current plans. Thank you for watching and commenting, I really appreciate it!
I lived in Whittier 20-25 years ago and shopped at this Sears store several times. The art deco exterior is astounding -- rather like a cathedral from the street entrance. I live in the Pacific Northwest today, and I am glad to hear the building remains. The store may have succumbed to mismanagement, but the building is a keeper.
Yes, the building is definitely astounding; one of my absolute favorites in L.A. I hope it can be creatively reused in some way, to have such a beautiful building sitting empty is such a waste
The Sears in Minneapolis was very close in design to this. It’s now an international food market.
This is a beautiful art deco architecture building. if I were Jeff Bazo I'll buy it myself.
Absolutely, it’s one of the most beautiful art deco buildings in L.A.
Grew up in 1960 Whittier.....folks took me there often. thx
that was the spot to go to buy new clothes for me too! Thank you for watching!
The old Sears building wow . I was homeless sleeping under the Olympic bridge. My lady got killed down the street on Soto under the freeway. No one was accountable. May your soul find peaceful journey Bernstein Roland❤.
I am so sorry for your loss.
🙏
I used to work for InterCom security (back in the early 2000's) and they posted me there a few times.
Did you go up into the warehouse areas of the building? If so, what was up there?
@@californiography I was posted there when JNCO jeans was there. JNCO hired Intercom to guard their stuff. So sadly i never got to explore the building. But they gave me some rare Jeans, t-shirts and stickers. I think they are still in my moms place in her garage.
@@jameshoward8544 that's pretty awesome, I remember when JNCO were all the rage
@@jameshoward8544 Lee pipes come to mind. JNCO jeans were popular. But Lee pipes you needed a wrecking ball with spikes to ruin those pants.
Nice, i remember shopping here as a kid in the early 90's.
Me too!! I still remember the popcorn smell!
That was the Sears my family went to when we lived on the East side, and my best friends dad worked there. They had a snack bar too, always got a small bag of popcorn, and an ice cream cone. We would sprinkle the cone with the popcorn, it was so good. Good memories. Thanks.
I loved the smell of popcorn when we went when I was a kid. I never tried popcorn on my ice cream, now I need to try it!
We have a nearly identical building in Memphis that’s been renovated into the crosstown concourse it’s an absolutely awesome place to come and hang out and it’s very lively and there’s so much activity happening there
I've heard of that building and have seen some pics of it, wish they would do something similar with this building. It's sad to see it deteriorating knowing the great potential that it has.
I remember my dad taking me there on the weekends to shop for random tools back in the '90s
lots of people have memories of weekend trips to Sears, it really was a Community spot.
Thank you for this! I've been wondering about the history of this building, it's enormous but totally trashed. My grandma moved into the apartments across the street a while ago and we were both perplexed about it
you're welcome! glad you learned the history from my video, thank you for watching!
When I was a kid, Sesame Street told me the Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world. So I was always confused why the buildings downtown looked bigger than this building 😂😂
😂 I can definitely see how that was confusing as a kid 😂
lol to be young and innocent again.
They must have meant the Sears headquarters in Chicago..
Fine old building, remember the smell of popcorn throughput the store
I was lucky enough to smell the popcorn, used to go there a lot as a kid
People always complain about so-called "gentrification", but they also denounce any alternative as so-called "socialism."
The Sears building would be a great upscale residential development if the prices were market rate, as it is close to DTLA. A development this big could even be connected to rail transit.
Or an extension of either E.L.A.C. or Cal. State L.A.!
I wish there was footage of the inside of the building back then
Me too! I really wanted to find a picture or footage of the workers roller skating around the warehouse
Nice video. There is much lost history in L. A.
Thank you!!! Definitely so much history, I wish I had more time to cover it all
AMAZON WOULD BE WIZE TO BUY THIS BUILDING, AND ADAPT IT TO AMAZON’S NEEDS
Definitely would be cool to see it being used as a distribution center again
Worked there in 69-71
Met lifelong friends there.
Did you work in the mail order department?
I worked full time for the mail room doing deliveries throughout the store in the summer and fall of "69.
I worked part time in '70, and '71 picking
customer orders on the 6th floor as I was going to college. At that time, I lived
on Whittier Blvd. near Garfield Ave.
An excellent video about the Sears Building in Boyle Heights, thank you! Here's a little tip: in future videos, please increase the volume because I had to crank up the volume to listen to the interesting details of this historic building.
Thank you for watching and for your feedback! I’m sorry about the audio level, I was still figuring out what I was doing when I made this video. I think I improved the quality of audio a few videos after this one, when I got a better mic and learned a bit more editing skills. Thank your for watching, I appreciate you!
@@californiography I enjoyed watching the Sears Building in Boyle Heights, so keep up the good work. I also subscribed, liked and hit the notification bell.
@@SWExplore Thank you so much, I really appreciate you!!! 🙏🏽
and also stop stop putting “public library” on the screen over and over!! maybe you have an obsession with libraries and that’s ok you creep!! but this building is not a library!! you creep!!! 😎
.Thank you .
Don't forget to smile video makers
Thank you for watching! 😀
I saw the opening & closing date of this Sears & was like "No shot." So I looked it up & was like jfc how much square footage is this? 1.8 mil square feet, phew.
Right?! It’s mind-boggling how huge that building is!!!
When I was very young, pre-kindergarten, we would drive past this building and I thought it was "The" Sears Tower.
I think quite a few of us thought that too!
I remember in the 90’s going to this Sears and then to a restaurant that was in an old gas station. They were known for their burger, which had a hot dog on the top! Forget the name of the restaurant!
I know exactly which restaurant you're talking about, Mike's Hockey Burger! Unfortunately, they closed it down a few years ago...now it's a 7-11
@@californiography yes, that’s it! Wow, I googled it and saw pics of the burger! Too bad it closed!
Definitely a bummer when they closed. I had seen a burger documentary where the Mike’s Hockey Burger owners were talking about franchising, but I don’t think they ever got that going.
I miss Jay's Jayburger.😢
I've been in there as a kid
Always loved going there as a kid too
Is there any way that you remember a store in downtown LA with the most out there commercials it was by a dude called crazy Gideon. He had the cheapest electronics you can find around like the timu of the day in a store
Ha, yes I do! I actually met him once, he was a super cool dude. He actually owns the building where his store used to be and rents it out to the brewery there. Dude is still a great businessman.
They also had a ticket master there also
I didn’t know that, but it makes sense. I used to go to a music store to buy tickets. It’s crazy how much things have changed, now you just buy them on your phone.
*Looks like General Hospital*
Yes, it does! They're both Art Deco style. I would always use both of them as landmarks to know how close we were to getting home.
👍🏻✌🏻👍🏻
Thank you for watching, appreciate you! 🙏🏽
Very Nice !
Thank you very much!
Es Eighth Street though
Eighth is like 2 blocks north from Olympic, no?
Sears motto was: "Where America Shops".
I actually didn’t know that! Thank you for sharing that!
@@californiography I have a FORGED pry bar I use in concrete every day, and it's stamped Sears, Roebuck, & C. which is BEFORE 1961. Man, my equipment and me are getting real old, but we still work!!
@@user-zp7jp1vk2i see, that's back when things were made to last!
I hope they make this affordable apartments. The building is huge and could help the housing crisis while preserving its art deco architecture.
That would be one of the best outcomes for it; preserving the holding while also adding more housing. We’ll see how it plays out.
DON'T CALL US ANGELO'S WE ARE NOT HIPSTER'S....EAST L.A....WEST L.A...NORTH L.A...SOUTH L.A
I’ve grown up here my whole life and call myself an Angeleno, but I can also understand your point of view.
@@californiography YES THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING... I SAY I AM FROM (WEST LOS ANGELES)
@@guillermoramirez611 totally understand and respect wanting to represent your community/neighborhood
Born and raised 56 year old and I am an Angeleno , and proud of it.
Turning it to a temporary housing solution for the homeless is a wonderful idea. It’s a solution to the homeless crisis. It would help thousands to get back on their feet. I like it that it offers different services for our unhoused. Everyone deserves a second chance.
It deserves a secound remolding
it's definitely a good solution to 2 things; what to do with the building and how to help homeless. Although there has been significant pushback on that idea. We'll see what ends up happening with the building.
definitely, it's such a striking building.
"Help the unhoused"... lol.....yeah, all the bums are way ahead of you. They are already there with their needles, s**t bags, and drugs in the parking lot.
Haven’t driven by in a while, so I’m not sure what the situation is like lately. Thanks for watching and commenting.
People always complain about so-called "gentrification", but they also denounce any alternative as so-called "socialism."
The Sears building would be a great upscale residential development if the prices were market rate, as it is close to DTLA. A development this big could even be connected to rail transit.
@@pacificostudios I agree. But once you subsidize housing, it goes to shit (we all know why).
@@pacificostudios Redevelopment is definitely a highly contested issue, haven't heard any updates on any progress. There's a Gold Line station about 1.5 miles north on Soto St., but a line running down Olympic would be cool.
@@californiography jumped on the Gold Line to my alma mater ELAC from Monrovia when it first opened. Felt safer than Calgary, Alberta.
HIPSTER'S GET OUT OF LOS ANGELES
I can definitely understand your frustration
Relax homie, sheesh.
Sears had the formula to be the greatest online retailer but corporate greed and stupidity allowed it to flounder while being surpassed by online giants
they had the infrastructure to get in early on online shopping, definitely missed a giant opportunity.
A relative worked there as an ordering tech back in the 50's thru 80's until his forced retirement. I remember once before Christmas he took both families and told the kids to pick something (from the clearance toys/kid's clothing section.) I got a cowgirl's outfit. 🥲 Felt downright snazzy in it.
That’s a wonderful memory! Thank you for sharing!
They didn’t build that bldg it was already there FRAUD
Thank you for commenting