
Kressed

by Joe Schofield
Title
Kressed
Artist
Joe Schofield
Medium
Photograph
Description
The Kress Building. Long Beach CA landmark.
Located at 449 Pine Avenue in the city of Long Beach, the Kress Building was number 152 in the total of nationwide chain stores founded by Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955). Constructed in 1923 on Long Beach's premier retail street, Pine Avenue, the store prospered. In 1928 - 29, a three-story addition was built on the south to double the store space and increase lunch counter services. Its opening was announced in the Press-Telegram on November 24, 1929. Kress' competitors, Woolworth and J.J. Newberry, also came to Pine Avenue, Woolworth in 1916 and J.J. Newberry in 1950. Unlike its competitors, the Kress store included a "high-rise" (seven story) office tower, whose profile was prominent on low-rise Pine Avenue.
The founder of the Kress variety stores was renowned not only for his business success, but also for his art collection, which now is housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. After his death in 1955, the chain was purchased by Genesco in 1963, which company closed one-third of the Kress stores in 1974. The Kress chain was liquidated in 1981.
The Kress Building, in its rise and fall, exemplifies the history of Pine Avenue as downtown's premier retail shopping street. Although American Avenue (now Long Beach Boulevard) was intended to be the City's "Main Street," in fact Pine Avenue became the location of choice for the city's premier businesses and stores. The city's first hotel, the Bay View, was built on Pine between 1st and 2nd Streets in the 1880's. The first residence in the city (1882) was located at 317 Pine. W.W. Lowe opened a small store at Ocean and Pine which became the city's first official post office in 1885. The city's first school was built at Pine and 6th. The Pine Avenue Pier opened in 1893 and heightened the increasing prominence of that street.
Uploaded
February 9th, 2013
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