Marston's was a department store based in San Diego, California, and founded by city leader George Marston. It had a downtown main store on Sixth Street and opened two suburban branches before being sold to

The Broadway The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant reta ...

in 1961.

Accolades

The ''San Diego Downtown News'' characterized the store as San Diego's "finest" department store and as "elegant". The ''Golden Era'' magazine carried an ad that proclaimed Marston's as the "leading dry goods house of San Diego."

History

Marston started his merchandising career in 1870 at age 20 as an assistant bookkeeper in Aaron Pauly's store and wharf office. He worked there for two years. He then clerked for one year for Mr. Joseph Nash, who advertised his grocery, dry goods and clothing storestore as "the cheapest... in the city". In 1873, Marston and his best friend and fellow clerk at Pauly's, Charles Hamilton, bought Nash's business and operated it together. In 1878, Marston went at it alone and opened his own clothing and dry goods store along Fifth Avenue between G and H (now Market) streets. In 1881, the store expanded to 509 Fifth Avenue in a new two-story building. In 1896, Marston's moved to 427 C Street (southwest corner of Fifth and C), with the construction of a large

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

building costing $60,000 (~$ in ), built for him by his uncle, Stephen W. Marston. This four-story building featured wide aisles, an open court from the ground floor to the roof, and a novelty–an elevator. The property is now an office building still known as the Marston Building. In 1907, Marston's made $15,000 (~$ in ) in improvements to its store, turning the third floor stockroom into of additional selling space, which was used for ladies' underwear and hosiery, and for dressing rooms. Money was also spent on new fixtures and interior decoration. In 1912, Marston's moved to its final location across Fifth Avenue. In 1954, Marston's expanded into a new, six-story addition on Fifth Avenue, thus occupying the entire block on the north side of C Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues (demolished in the 1960s). In 1960, Marston's added a home furnishings annex in the former Parmelee-Dohrmann building (Seventh and C).

Tearoom

The 190-seat tearoom, the first sit-down serviced food offering at Marston's, opened April 27, 1955. It was designed by San Diego architect Sam Hamill. It had several 200- to 400-year-old

Japanese screens Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspo ...

. Pigskin covered the columns, and there was gray-green wall-to-wall carpet on the dining room floor and in the foyer. The menu included coconut cream pie, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut in wedges sans crust, a Pacific Paragon salad sandwich, tomatoes stuffed with cottage cheese, and a frozen fruit salad with whipped cream dressing served with minced turkey finger sandwiches. Sandwiches cost from 0.95 to 1.50

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, Un ...

, included open-faced Swiss cheese and turkey with thousand island dressing, corned beef on pumpernickel, and a club sandwich served with fruit aspic. At daily fashion shows, models walked among the tables presenting the latest fashion.

Legacy

Marston's sold its stores to

in 1961. In 1962, the Chula Vista Center branch was opened, still under the Marston's name. This branch was particularly noted for its murals, in the Orange Tree Restaurant murals depicting missions, orange groves, and mountains; in the women's "Fashion Circle" area, buildings in the South Bay and

Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) * Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred to simply as "Coronado" * Coronado Chávez (1807–1881), President of Honduras from 1845 to 1847 Places United ...

areas, including the

Hotel del Coronado Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden V ...

; in the men's area the Spanish heritage of the area and early 19th century shipping activity, and rancheros on the way to a fiesta, and the old harbor; in the boy's area the

Montgomery glider John Joseph Montgomery (February 15, 1858 – October 31, 1911) was an American inventor, physicist, engineer, and professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, who is best known for his invention of controlled heavier-than-air ...

flight of 1833 and the

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...

. The downtown flagship store was demolished in 1969 when Broadway opened a large new store at the new

Fashion Valley Mall Fashion Valley (also referred to Fashion Valley Mall) is an upscale, open-air shopping mall in Mission Valley in San Diego, California. The shopping center has of leasable floor area, making it the largest mall in San Diego and one of the larges ...

; and a

Ross Dress for Less Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of 2018, Ross operates 1,483 stor ...

occupies the location. The

Grossmont Center Grossmont Center is an outdoor shopping mall in La Mesa, California, a suburb in East County, San Diego. The mall opened in 1961 and is managed by Federal Realty Investment Trust. The anchor stores are Target, Macy's, RH Outlet, Walmart, Barnes ...

and Chula Vista Center branches became Broadway stores, and are now

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

stores. Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) maintains a collection of Marston's memorabilia at the Marston House, which is managed as a museum.

External links

"Marston's", ''The Department Store Museum'' (blog)
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References

{{History of Retail in Southern California Defunct department stores based in San Diego Defunct companies based in California Companies based in San Diego Buildings and structures in San Diego