page_title: Bullock's
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bullock's / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Broadway at Night, Los Angeles, Cal. Postcard of Broadway Boulevard, Los Angeles, California at night, from a color illustration. In the foreground, underneath the light of a streetlamp, is a horse-drawn carriage. People stroll along the sidewalks past tall buildings. A "Bullock's" building is in the center of the image. A full moon illuminates the night sky. "A 41" and "Made in Germany" -- printed on back.; Handwritten manuscript on back. Postmarked from Los Angeles, California on July 17, 1909. Legacy Record ID: pcard-m153 Filename: pcard-print-pub-pc-61a; pcard-print-pub-pc-61b Access Conditions: Coverage date: 1880/1909 Part of collection: Historic Postcards Type: images Publisher (of the Digital Version): University of Southern California. Libraries Geographic Subject (State): California Geographic Subject (County): Los Angeles Geographic Subject (Roadway): Broadway Blvd. Identifying Number: file name: pb-print-pub-slac-pc.61; file name: pb-print-pub-slac-pc-b.61 Publisher (of the Original Version): Newman Post Card Co., Los Angeles, Cal. Format (aacr2): 1 postcard&#160;: col.&#160;; 9 x 14 cm. Repository Name: USC Libraries Special Collections Language: English Rights: Newman Post Card Co., Los Angeles, Cal. Subject (adlf): roadways Repository Address: Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Geographic Subject (City or Populated Place): Los Angeles Contributing entity: University of Southern California Date created: 1880/1909 Format (aat): Postcards; art Repository Email: specol@usc.edu Geographic Subject (Country): USA Subject: streets
context_page_description: Bullock's was a department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles. The company operated full-line department stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated the more upscale Bullocks Wilshire in some parts of Southern California.
context_section_description: Bullock's was founded in 1907 at Seventh & Broadway in downtown Los Angeles by John G. Bullock, with the support of The Broadway Department Store owner Arthur Letts. In 1923, Bullock and business partner P.G. Winnett bought out Letts' interest after his death and the companies became completely separated. In 1929 Bullock & Winnett opened a luxury branch on Wilshire Boulevard, referred to at the time as Bullock's Wilshire (the apostrophe would later be removed).
  In 1944 Bullock's acquired I. Magnin & Co., a venerable, San Francisco-based upscale specialty chain.
  Starting in 1958, Bullock's built a series of four shopping centers initially called Bullock's Fashion Square, small, elegant, and open-air, with large Bullock's stores dominating, surrounded by only around 20 or 30 much smaller specialty stores, such as I. Magnin, Desmond's, Mandel's and Silverwoods. The total gross buildable area of Bullock's Santa Ana, for example was 340,000 square feet (32,000 m²), versus only 238,000 square feet (22,100 m²) for all the other retailers combined. Bullock's Fashion Square in Santa Ana opened in 1958, followed by a Fashion Square for the San Fernando Valley (later "Sherman Oaks Fashion Square") in 1962, a Fashion Square in Torrance (later called "Del Amo Fashion Square") in September 1966 and Fashion Square in La Habra (which uniquely included a Buffum's branch from the beginning) in April 1968.
  in 1964 the then public-owned Bullock's/I. Magnin organization was acquired by Federated Department Stores, much to the dismay of surviving founder P.G. Winnett, who publicly lambasted the deal (which was initiated by his own son-in-law, Bullock's President Walter W. Candy Jr.). In the 1970s, to differentiate itself from the full-line Bullock's stores, the very exclusive Wilshire location dropped its apostrophe, and became Bullocks Wilshire, and began its own expansion.
  In February 1970, Federated Department Stores replaced its Bullock's Realty Corporation, which owned and managed the Fashion Square malls, with an organization called Transwest Management; Transwest sold the Torrance (future "Del Amo") Fashion Square in March of that year to new co-owners Great Lakes and Guilford Glazer and Associates, while selling the three other Fashion Squares for $13 million to Urban Investment and Development Company (UIDC), who would sell them in 1973 to Bank of America Realty Investor and Draper and Kramer for $16.3 million.
  Bullock's, Bullocks Wilshire, and I. Magnin retained their autonomy under Federated, as well as their carriage-trade niche, with I. Magnin expanding into the Chicago and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas and Bullock's opening stores in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Northern California. In 1983 however, Federated shuttered the Bullock's North division and sold most of its locations to Seattle, Washington retailer Nordstrom. In 1988, after an ugly takeover battle between Robert Campeau and Macy's for Federated, Bullock's and I. Magnin were sold by Campeau to Macy's as a consolation prize for one billion dollars, which plunged Macy's into debt. The new owners responded by dismantling Bullock's Los Angeles corporate offices, merging Bullocks Wilshire into I. Magnin, and Bullock's into its Macy's South division, thus sending what had been Federated's most profitable division into a precipitous decline and alienating the local customers.
  The end came quickly for Bullock's after Macy's filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992, with the Bullocks Wilshire stores being renamed I. Magnin two years before. Underperforming I. Magnin and Bullock's locations were closed, and I. Magnin itself was dissolved in January 1995 once Federated Department Stores reappeared on the scene and acquired Macy's. In 1996—following the acquisition of Broadway Stores, Inc.—Federated consolidated all its traditional department-store business in California under the Macy's nameplate, ending 89 years of Bullock's.
caption: Postcard view of Broadway c.1908, showing original store
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