Ville de Paris (department store)

Ville de Paris

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1893
Founder	Auguste Fusenot
Defunct	1919
Fate	Sold to B. H. Dyas Co.
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California , United States
Products	Department store goods

This article is about the Los Angeles location managed by A. Fusenot. For the Los Angeles branch run by Eugene Meyer & Co., later Stern, Cahn & Loeb, see City of Paris (Los Angeles). For the San Francisco establishment, see City of Paris Dry Goods Co.

File:VilleDeParisLosAngeles1901.jpg

Ville de Paris department store, Broadway between 2nd and 3rd Streets, 1901. Currently a parking area.

File:VilleDeParisLosAngeles1904.jpg

Ville de Paris department store in the Homer Laughlin Building on Broadway between 3rd and 4th Streets. Presently the Grand Central Market, likely circa late 1905

File:VilleDeParisLosAngeles1916.jpg

Ville de Paris department store at Seventh and Olive Streets, 1916

File:19181116 Ville de Paris 7th LAEx.png

Sketch depicting the new Ville de Paris department store on Seventh Street, November 1918

File:SeventhStreetWestFromSeventhBHDyasVilleDeParis1917.jpg

View westward on Seventh Street from Broadway, 1917. Bullocks building appears far right. B. H. Dyas sporting goods store is visible on the right, with Ville de Paris shown on the left prior to Dyas’s acquisition.

Ville de Paris operated as a department store in Downtown Los Angeles from 1893 until 1919.

The Ville de Paris store managed by A. Fusenot in Los Angeles is distinct from the unrelated City of Paris outlet active in Los Angeles until 1897, which was run initially by Eugene Meyer & Co. and subsequently by Stern, Cahn & Loeb. It should also not be confused with the more renowned City of Paris Dry Goods Co. based in San Francisco.

History

Auguste Fusenot, a French immigrant who served as the French Consul in Los Angeles from 1898 to 1907, arrived in the United States in 1873. Shortly thereafter, he became a partner at San Francisco’s City of Paris department store. After gaining experience in retail, he established the Ville de Paris in Los Angeles in 1893. The business operated under the name A. Fusenot Co. as a dry goods retailer. Its original location was within the Potomac Block at 221–223 South Broadway, situated between Second and Third Streets, during a period when most retail establishments were concentrated in the Central Business District around Spring, Main, First and Temple Streets. The original retail space covered approximately 3,000 square feet (280 m²).

In mid-1905, the store moved to a significantly larger location—about 96,000 square feet (8,900 m²), roughly thirty-two times its previous size—in the former premises of Coulter's, located just one block away within the Homer Laughlin Building at 317–325 South Broadway, extending through to 314–322 Hill Street. This address corresponds to today’s site of the Grand Central Market.

Following Auguste Fusenot’s death in 1907, his brother Georges assumed control of the enterprise. In 1915, ownership transferred to the proprietors of The Emporium based in San Francisco. Subsequently, in 1917, Ville de Paris relocated to the intersection of Seventh and Olive Streets after J. W. Robinson's inaugurated their flagship store on nearby Seventh Street, several blocks west of Broadway. This area emerged as downtown Los Angeles’s premier shopping district for many years thereafter. The former Broadway location was eventually taken over by what is now known as the Grand Central Market.

In 1919, the owners sold the Seventh and Olive Street store to B. H. Dyas, after which it became known as B. H. Dyas Co.. This company ceased operations around 1930. The building at Seventh and Olive later accommodated the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart, which forms part of today’s Jewelry District, within the Historic Core neighborhood.