Judy's was a chain of
clothing store
A clothes shop or clothes store is any shop which sells items of ready-made clothing. A small shop which sells expensive or designer clothing may be called a boutique. A shop that sells clothes for a narrowlyrestricted market such as school un ...
s, based in
Van Nuys, Los Angeles
Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.
History
In 1909, ...
.
Marcia Israel (Mrs. Lawrence Israel, later Marcia Israel-Curley) founded Judy's in 1946 and ran it until 1989 when she sold it to Laws International of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
for $31 million.
[ Israel-Curley died in 2004.
]
Fashion
Judy's sold sportswear
Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons.
Typical sport-specific garments ...
and fashion accessories
In fashion, an accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to an individual's outfit. Accessories are often chosen to complete an outfit and complement the wearer's look. They have the capacity to further express an individual ...
, the women's stores catering to juniors: slim-cut, trendy styles.
In the late 1940s, Israel wrote, there were generally no boutiques catering exclusively for juniors and hardly any clothing companies producing styles for the juniors market. Israel wrote that she developed numerous groundbreaking concepts that were copied by other designers and retailers, such as the short-sleeve sweater and workmen's five-pocket jeans for casual use (accessorized with Ked's sneakers
Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...
) by women.[
Israel was long considered a fashion authority; for example a 1970 interview in the ]Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
around the topic of longer hemline
The hemline is the line formed by the lower Hem, edge of a clothing, garment, such as a skirt, dress or Coat (clothing), coat, measured from the floor.
The hemline is perhaps the most variable style line in fashion, changing shape and ranging in ...
s for women's skirts
A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards.
At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fi ...
. Israel confirmed that longer midi skirt
A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards.
At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are f ...
hemlines were "flourishing", though the lower hemlines "should not be forced; they must ripen like fruit". The Judy's "empire" was considered a "bellwether by great numbers of astute fashion people", according to the ''Times''.
Development of stores
Israel began the chain in January, 1946 in a 7-by-12-foot space (84 sq. ft.) carved out of a movie theater lobby on Whittier Boulevard
Whittier Boulevard known as Stephenson Avenue (before 1920) is an arterial street that runs from the Los Angeles River (where it continues into Downtown Los Angeles as 6th Street) to Brea, California. The street is one of the main thoroughfares in ...
in East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
. She proceeded to open a 360-square-foot store in 1948 in Compton
Compton may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district
* Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton
* Compton, Que ...
, an 800-square-foot store on May 9, 1949 on Lankershim Boulevard
Lankershim Boulevard is a major north-south thoroughfare in the eastern San Fernando Valley, primarily within the City of Los Angeles, in
Los Angeles County, California.
Geography
Lankershim Boulevard begins at San Fernando Road in the Sun ...
in North Hollywood
North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...
, and in 1952, a 3,500-square-foot store in the new Lakewood Center
Lakewood Center is a super-regional shopping mall in Lakewood, California. Lakewood Center opened in 1952 and was enclosed in 1978.
The interior mall is anchored by Costco, Forever 21, JCPenney, Macy's, a Round One Entertainment center, and Targe ...
, the United States' first fully-enclosed mall.Century City Shopping Center
Westfield Century City (formerly known as the Century Square Shopping Center) is a two-level, 1.3 million-square-foot outdoor shopping mall in the Century City commercial district in Los Angeles, California. A property of the Westfield Corporatio ...
in July 1965, expanded in 1968 to which it considered its flagship store
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
. By 1970, there were 17 Judy's.
The chain at its peak it had 107 stores. In 1989, it operated 70 women's clothing stores and 34 "GHq" men's clothing stores in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and a handful in four other Western states
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. .
Epilogue
In 1993 the chain declared bankruptcy, disposed of the GHq men's chain and relaunched with a slimmed-down 52-store branch network.Forever 21
Forever 21 is a multinational fast fashion retailer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally founded as the store Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984,Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved 27 April 2014 ...
, while converting 4 remaining locations to Charlotte Russe branches.
External links
Judy's (Facebook page)
References
{{History of Retail in Southern California
Defunct clothing retailers of the United States
Defunct companies based in California
Van Nuys, Los Angeles