Added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 15, 2004

The WSS on the corner of 7th Street and Union is not just a shoe store. It’s a shoe temple. The outside has the broad silhouette of a Renaissance-era palazzo, with its four-story-tall arches supported by 26-feet-tall Corinthian columns and pilasters of granite, and windows covered in decorative bronze screens. The toothy cornice up near the top of the building overhangs a multi-hued frieze in low relief, in the style of the great Renaissance sculptor della Robbia, depicting characters bringing various products to market – it’s straight out of ancient Rome. 

Inside, endless rows of footwear in brightly colored boxes are arranged in disciplined, almost military rows between six massive Grecian columns. They support the weathered concrete beams that criss-cross the ceiling, painted in ancient-looking designs. Walking through the main showroom, down the middle of that double-height first floor, you feel swallowed by the space. Swap the fluorescent lighting for some torches and oil lamps and you could imagine yourself as part of a slow religious ritual. Maybe a priest would be standing on the landing of that staircase in the back, singing incantations to (who else?) Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory.

90 years before this WSS sold its first pair of kicks, this building was the flagship store and headquarters for Young’s Market Company. Young’s was the first successful wholesale grocer in Southern California. Their story dates back to 1888, when John G. Young – son of a midwestern cattle rancher – opened a storefront in downtown LA to sell high quality meat to the locals. As business grew, John’s four brothers joined him in LA, and they pooled their resources to transform the meat market into a more ambitious enterprise. 

In the early 1900s the Young’s Market Company was in expansion mode. They sold meat from multiple retail stores downtown (including a stall in Grand Central Market) and acquired a reputation for their high-end poultry, produce and baked goods, all sourced from the finest food purveyors of the day. 

The next logical step was to move into the wholesale market, and produce their own victuals. So around 1908, Young’s built a three-story brick and concrete building at 431 S. Central Avenue to house their wholesale division. They opened an in-house kitchen, outfitted with meat coolers, a milk-feeding station for chickens, and equipment for making their own sausages, corned beef, salad dressing and the like. Right around the corner was a receiving station for fresh seafood. 

Young’s sold all this stuff to restaurants, hotels, schools and hospitals, and stocked it in a growing phalanx of Young’s Market Company stores throughout the city. By 1918 the Los Angeles Times recorded seven Young’s stores throughout the downtown business district, plus locations as far away as Venice.

As Los Angeles grew in the early 20th century, so did the way that food suppliers and customers interacted. Angelenos could still get their household goods from individual shops, but after WWI they could visit public markets that leased space to multiple vendors under one roof (for example Hattem’s at the corner of Vermont Avenue & 81st Street, now a Scientology center), or supermarket chains that stocked everything you would need. As customers increasingly arrived via car, these large food emporia with attached parking lots in the back wove their way into the daily lives of Angelenos. Young’s Market Company and Ralph’s pioneered the supermarket approach, with architecturally impressive buildings to project the elite quality of their offerings. 

With their retail and wholesale business doing gangbusters, the Young brothers decided in 1923 to open a massive flagship store that would double as their headquarters. They hired architect Charles Plummer, who had a long history with building stuff for major players in the food industry.

Along with his partner Joseph Feil, Plummer had designed a whole chain of Boos Bros. restaurants, which introduced the “cafeteria” concept to LA eaters. They also designed a chocolate shop downtown covered in brown Batchelder tiles, which has become something of a holy grail visit for LA history buffs. By himself, Plummer drew up the plans for a tudor mansion for Horace Boos in Windsor Square, and a dazzling Italian Renaissance-style mansion literally next door for Walter Petitfils, owner of the chocolate shop. To ratchet up the weirdness, in 1926 Petitfils swapped mansions with Henry Boos, Horace’s brother, just two blocks away – but that’s another story that I’ll leave to the historical gossip mongers.

ANYHOO, a story in the Los Angeles Evening Express from April of 1923 reported a $500,000 structure meant for office space and retail planned for the “Young [sic] Market Company” at Seventh and Union streets, in the then-fashionable Westlake neighborhood. After nearly a year of construction, and a budget increase to somewhere in the $1 million range, Young’s invited the public in for a first look on February 23, 1925.

The Express described an “imposing structure, Italian renaissance in type, rising five stories above street level,” with its granite columns giving “dignified solidity to the structure.” The same article pointed to a “Pompeian decorative motif” in the interior (perhaps a reference to the exposed concrete ceiling beams, elaborately stenciled by Einar Petersen), and those “mammoth, ornamented columns” dotting the main floor. Marble tile from the Weifenbach Marble & Tile Company lined the bottom floors where most of the foodstuffs were showcased – meat and poultry, produce and pantry staples, plus specialty items like cigars, coffee (roasted in house), candy and delicacies imported from ‘round the world.

Up the marble staircase to the mezzanine level, and marble pilasters and mosaic panels gave “an air of richness, reflected again in the tarrazo [sic] floor.” This is where you’d find well-dressed ladies proffering elegant gift baskets, household goods and appliances. One floor up was the fulfillment department, which prepped delivery orders and transported them via auto-truck down a circular passageway to Union Avenue. The third floor held the bakery, capable of churning out 1000 loaves every four minutes. Up on the top floor, a pastry department made dainty confections beneath a roof almost entirely made of glass. The northeast and northwest corners of the building were reserved for leasing out to other retailers, at first the Owl Drug Company and the Security Trust and Savings Bank.

Pictured above: Young’s catering office in 1929 (California State Library)

This new Young’s Market Company Building had a variety of functions. It served as the largest Young’s retail store, and housed the Young brothers’ offices. They also supplied food for lavish parties through the catering department on the third floor, with lush art deco interior design by Joseph Feil & Bernard Paradise (they would later work on the penthouse of the Oviatt Building and Bullocks Wilshire). 

Young’s delivery trucks originating at Seventh and Union sped to all corners of the city – daily to downtown, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills, Westwood, Highland Park and Pasadena, three days a week to Santa Monica, and once a week to Palos Verdes and Malibu. For the right price, deliveries could be made even further afield – each week a Young’s truck trundled up the coast to deliver goods to Hearst Castle! 

Self-described as “The World’s Finest Food Establishment,” Young’s continued to grow and diversify as the Great Depression took hold. By the early ‘30s they had 46 SoCal locations, from Santa Barbara to San Diego. They opened a new line of economy supermarkets, called Thriftimart, with six locations across LA. They also invested in other brands, acquiring an interest in Huggins Young Coffee, and franchises for Pabst Blue Ribbon and Dr. Pepper.

This predilection towards beverage brands switched into overdrive after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and Young’s made the decision to invest heavily in wine and spirits. Whereas a lot of markets stocked the same newly-legal alcohol brands as every other vendor, Young’s went the opposite direction. They pursued exclusive relationships with smaller, higher-quality liquor brands, an approach that kept Young’s as one of the top liquor distributors in the western US until its acquisition in 2022 by RNDC, the #2 distributor in the US. 

Towards the end of the 1930s Young’s Market Company management decided to focus entirely on wholesale, and get out of food retail. The decision was spurred in part by the complex regulations set up after the repeal of Prohibition, which required a separation between the wholesale distribution and sale of alcohol. They must have figured that their wholesale business had more potential than their direct-to-customer retail business.

Young’s placed a large newspaper ad in early April of 1940, explaining that “The property at Seventh and Union will be extensively improved into one of the most comprehensive Wholesaling and Distributing Houses in the West,” and that Young’s products would still be available at neighborhood outlets throughout the southland, just not in their own stores. Delivery orders also shut down. 

The Young’s flagship building stayed open (but closed to the public) as the company’s corporate headquarters until 1958. At that point Young’s moved to a new $2.5 million warehouse and distribution center in Skid Row, designed by AC Martin & Associates, at the site of a former Southern Pacific railway station. 

And what of the old Young’s Market Company Building? After 1958, it was sold to the Andrews Hardware & Metal Co. After a couple decades hocking hammers, nails and industrial supplies, Andrews divided up the third and fourth floors into individual art studios, and subsequent owners turned them into office spaces. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, a collection of discount jewelry and clothing vendors occupied the main retail space under the name Union Swapmeet. Many of these stalls were set ablaze during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, and looters ran off with some of the fancier tiles and fixtures. Michaels Furniture took the swapmeet’s place in the early 2000s, and the current tenant – shoe giant WSS, now a subsidiary of DICK’s – moved into the main space in 2015.

Much has changed since this was the Young’s Market Company HQ. Partitions that once divided the market from the corner retailers on the ground floor are gone; headless mannequins wearing Adidas and Nike jackets now face out the big windows where the Owl Drug Company once was. The cast-iron and bronze elements of the original storefronts were either fire damaged or stolen during the 1992 riots. While some of the interior finishes have been restored, like the black tiles that make up the first six feet of each of the big interior columns, many of the original finishes are nowhere to be seen. The original marble tile floors and staircase are now made of polished concrete and some kind of black rubber material, respectively. 

In mid-2025, Young’s new owner RNDC announced it was leaving the California market, just three years after they got into the California market by acquiring Young’s. The decision was made following RNDC’s loss of several big California contracts with brands like Tito’s, High Noon, Cutwater Spirits and Jack Daniels. As a result, all of the suppliers they worked with in California had to scramble to find new distributors. According to Los Angeles Magazine, over 1700 RNDC employees lost their jobs due to the decision. Who knows whether RNDC will ever return, but California is where Young’s was born, and it remained a crucial market up until the acquisition. RNDC’s sudden departure is a sad coda to Young’s 134-year history with the Golden State.

As for their old headquarters, for a structure that’s adapted to this much change over its 100-plus years, the Young’s Market Company Building has held up admirably. So many of its most distinctive features are intact or restored, including that remarkable frieze on the outside, and the columns and Einar Petersen stencils on the inside. And these days you can rent a room on one of the upper floors, just a few feet away from the massive signage on the roof that once advertised the Young’s “Y” logo, a symbol of quality foodstuffs and booze for generations of Angelenos. 

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ “1610 W. 7th St. (Residential: YM Operator LLC)” (fredleedsproperties.com)

+ Anderson, Scott Thomas: “Chaos in California: Inside the RNDC California Exit” (Distilling.com, January 15, 2026)

+ “‘At Home’ Day at Young’s” (The Tidings, February 27, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ Bariscale, Floyd: “No. 113 – Young’s Market Building” (Big Orange Landmarks, February 10, 2008)

+ Feldman, Paul: “Young’s Market Merchants Get Back to Business” (Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1993 – via ProQuest)

+ “Grand Central Public Market: Young’s Market Co. Inc.” (AD – Pasadena Star-News, January 23, 1920 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Greetings: Nobles of the Mystic Shrine!” (AD – Los Angeles Evening Express, June 2, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ Grimes, Teresa: Young’s Market Company Building’s NRHP nomination form, 2002 

+ “Houses, Lots and Lands–Review of Building and Development” (Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1908 – via ProQuest)

+ “Howzit Up Whar You Is, Chief?” (Daily News, February 25, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “LARGE MARKET FOR EAST SIDE.” (Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1918 – via ProQuest)

+ Longstreth, Richard: The Drive-in, the Supermarket and the Transformation of Commercial Space in Los Angeles, 1914-1941 (The MIT Press, 1999 – via Internet Archive)

+ Mitchell, Ava: “Hundreds of Workers to Be Laid Off as an Alcohol Distribution Company Leaves California” (Los Angeles Magazine, July 16, 2025)

+ Moon, Vicky: “Architectural shoot for WSS flagship store located in Los Angeles, CA.” (vickymoonphoto.com)

+ “New Market to Open.” (Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1918 – via ProQuest)

+ “New Store Opened” (Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, February 19, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ Noland, Claire: “Winston Wilson Jr., 63; Imported Prestigious Wines to U.S.” (Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2006 – via ProQuest)

+ “A Pioneering History, A Promising Future” (Youngsholdings.com)

+ “Plan New Buildings to Cost $13,000,000” (Los Angeles Evening Express, April 14, 1923 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “RNDC Completes Acquisition of Young’s Market Company, LLC” (RNDC-USA.com, Nov. 2, 2022)

+ “Smashes Fruit-Stand” (Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1916 – via ProQuest)

+ Smith, Benjamin: “Liquor Distributor RNDC Leaving California” (Taste Select Repeat, June 3, 2025)

+ “Thriftimart Opens Today in Leimert Park” (The Southwest Wave, November 22, 1935 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “To All Our Customers and Friends Announcement” (AD – Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, April 4, 1940 – via Newspapers.com)

+ Vaughn, Kate Brew: “L.A.’s Newest Market Ranks High in Class” (Los Angeles Evening Express, February 20, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “A View of Young’s New Market” (Daily News, April 26, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Warehouse Opened by Young’s” (Los Angeles Mirror, May 5, 1958 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Why Search?” (AD – Los Angeles Mirror, January 31, 1961 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “With the Architects: Chas. F. Plummer, Architect” (The Architect and Engineer, April 1939 – via USModernist.org) 

+ “WSS Opens a Massive Sneaker Lovers Paradise at 7th and Union” (DTLAexplorer, May 30, 2015)

+ “You are cordially invited…” (AD – The Tidings, February 20, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Young’s Market ‘Back-to-Good-Times’ Celebration” (AD – Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1932 – via ProQuest)

+ “Young’s Market Building Now Nearing Completion” (Los Angeles Evening Express, November 3, 1924 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Young’s Market Co. Builds New L.A. Plant to Bottle Dr. Pepper” (Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, May 28, 1940 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Young’s Market Co. Heads Hear Praises of New Building Voiced” (Los Angeles Evening Express, March 13, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Young’s Market Co.: The one thing uppermost in your mind…” (AD – The Tidings, June 5, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Young’s Market Co.: Wholesalers…Retailers…Hotel Purveyors” (AD – Los Angeles Evening Express, December 22, 1925 – via Newspapers.com)

+ “Young’s Market Company” (Parkstreet.com)

+ “Young’s Market Opens Saturday (Monrovia News-Post, May 30, 1930 – via Newspapers.com)