The Bullocks Wilshire building opened in 1929.
Located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, the landmark opened on September 24, 1929, as a luxury branch of Bullock’s department store. It was created for shoppers seeking high-end clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and other goods in an exceptionally theatrical setting.
Architects John and Donald Parkinson designed the 230,000-square-foot building in an Art Deco style. Its tower, setbacks, ornate interiors, and distinctive tower ornament made it a prominent feature of Wilshire Boulevard, which was developing rapidly in the late 1920s.
The building’s date is sometimes confused with later milestones in the store’s corporate history. Bullocks Wilshire became a separate division in 1972, and the flagship eventually closed in 1993 after damage during the 1992 Los Angeles riots and a prolonged decline in its retail business. Southwestern Law School acquired the building in 1994 and restored it for adaptive reuse.