Garment Capitol Building

Completed in 1926, the Gothic Revival high-rise known as the Garment Capitol Building sits in the former Garment District, now known as the Fashion District. The area transformed from a residential district around the turn of the century into a commercial district, eventually including high-rise structures like the Garment Capital Building. By the 1940s, the Garment District employed 35,000 workers, mainly females. The Garment Capital Building housed up to thirty-five unique garment businesses. 

The Garment Capitol Building arose during a commercial construction boom in downtown Los Angeles from the 1910s into the 1930s. The industrial and manufacturing buildings that emerged during the early twentieth century replaced residential buildings. As people migrated away from the area, commercial investors purchased and demolished the leftover residential properties. The first multi-story industrial plants that emerged consisted of brick buildings no more than four to five stories tall and utilitarian in style, with initial industries including lumber mills, wineries, granaries, and warehouses. In the 1910s, the area began to transform into a commercial, light industrial (garment) district. The Garment District, now referred to as the Fashion District, eventually spanned several blocks by the 1920s with manufacturing plants, primarily garment industries, beginning to build high-rise structures exceeding ten stories. The twelve-story Garment Capitol Building officially opened in January 1927. 

Within a year of opening, Olga Riedeburg purchased the Garment Capitol Building. A few years later, in 1930 (about a year after the Crash of '29), the Hyman Schulman dress manufacturing company inadvertently caused an explosion on its fifth-floor home, which severely damaged the building. Repairs and renovations transpired in the wake of the fire, allowing the building and its occupants to return to business. Meanwhile, despite the Great Depression, the garment industry experienced significant economic growth, notably between 1936 - 1944, when the volume of garment production increased by 475% (with more than 85% of their goods sold east of the Rocky Mountains) and the industry employing 35,000 (mostly female) workers. 

Although growth slowed after World War II, with many businesses moving to outlying cities, the Capitol Garment Building continued to support garment firms. In 1962, thirty-five garment businesses occupied the now-historic structure. However, the 1940s - 1960s also saw unrest among garment workers, with many strikes transpiring, some turning violent. In 1948, leaders of the A.F.L. International Ladies’ Garment Workers, in an effort to unionize the entire Los Angeles garment industry, called a strike that involved 12,000 union workers and 400 union shops; they concentrated their picketing in front of 197 non-union shops. Still, union growth and participation remained slow, only 20% of workers joined garment-industry unions by the early 1960s. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, foreign competition, along with corporate takeovers and consolidations, drove many independent and smaller garment manufacturers out of business or forced them to move to suburban locations. As a result, building vacancies grew substantially within the garment district, as did the crime rate. 

The twenty-first century has seen a rejuvenation of the area, with fashion and garment outlets opening again and many old industrial buildings transforming into loft apartments. Indeed, the area that once supported residential neighborhoods has again become a residential neighborhood (partly, at least); the Garment Capitol Building now operates as Garment Lofts, with 77 apartments. 

Barragan, Bianca. "Inside the Fashion District's Fabulous New Apartments in the Garment Capitol Building." Fashion District sec. Curbed: Los Angeles. la.curbed.com. Jun 30, 2015. https://la.curbed.com/2015/6/30/9944430/inside-the-fashion-districts-fabulous-new-apartments-in-the-garment.

Galvin, Andrea and Ben Taniguchi. "Registration Form: Garment Capitol Building." National Register of Historic Places. parks.ca.gov. 2007. http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/1067/files/garment%20capital%20building%20nr%20pdf.pdf.

"1940-1950: The Modern Commercial City in War and Peace." Los Angeles Conservancy. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.laconservancy.org/explore-la/curating-city/modern-architecture-la/history-la-modernism/1940-1950-modern-commercial.

LA Fashion District. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://fashiondistrict.org.

Yoshihara, Nancy. "Garment District Goes Boom." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles), March 7, 1982. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58145253/garment-district-goes-boom/.