Hamburger's department store Los Angeles - The great white store

 

The construction of this beautiful department store on the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway started in 1905, and th store opened in 1908. At that time it was the largest department store built west of Chicago. It had the first escalators on the West Coast, several restaurant a drug store with 80-foot-long soda fountain, grocery store, bakery, fruit store, meat market, telegraph office, U.S. post office,  barber shop, a dentist, a chiropractor, a physician's office with a fully equipped operating room, a 1,000-seat auditorium, an electricity and steam power plant in the basement that was large enough to support a city of 50,000 inhabitants, a private volunteer 120 men fire brigade,13 acres of retail space, and 1200 employees.

From 1908 to 1913 the third floor was occupied by the Los Angeles Public Library. It was also the world largest department store with unobstructed floor space. In 1925 it was sold to May Co. And in 1986 it was closed. Now the building is partially renovated and the future is still unclear.