Clothed in Tradition : 50-Year-Old Frieden’s Is a Holdout as One of City’s Last Independently Owned Department Stores

The streetcars that carried passengers downtown from Lincoln Heights for 7 cents are gone, giving way to the choke of busy traffic.

The corridor of small clothing stores, furniture shops and movie theaters on North Broadway has disappeared, taken over by discount markets. Latino families have replaced the mostly Italian American community that lived in the neighborhood in 1947.

But for all the changes the face of North Broadway has undergone since Frieden’s Department Store opened 50 years ago, the oldfangled philosophy of clothes-selling remains steady inside this aging brick building--unmoved by the press of time.

Like Zelman’s Men’s Shop in Boyle Heights, Frieden’s is one of the few left of a dying breed. Here in one of Los Angeles’ last independent family department stores, most every customer can open a credit account. A recommendation from a friend and your word of honor are enough to buy you trust and a sturdy pair of jeans.

The pace in Frieden’s is slow, the air tinged with the mustiness of leather shoes. There’s still a metal dime scale outside the doors to the store. And Leon Frieden is still inside, welcoming customers with unflagging optimism.

“I’m the last of the Mohicans,� said Frieden, 80. “You don’t see stores like this anymore. We treat our customers the old-fashioned way. We trust them.�

Construction workers, factory hands and local business people all browse the racks at Frieden’s. It’s a place where neighbors chat by the shoe display and new immigrants get their first taste of the ultimate American currency--credit.

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Frieden’s is a holdout on a block struggling to stay afloat after a rash of closures. The store sits next to a shuttered bank and across the street from several discount stores and zapaterias, small shoe repair shops.

“It’s the last of its kind,� said Steve Kasten, president of the Lincoln Heights Chamber of Commerce. “Used to be, most downtown areas had a store like Frieden’s. It’s the standard we’d like to see here.� Inside, the clothing selection is Frieden’s own handpicked mix of trendy labels and sensible outfits. Nike gear and Levi’s jeans hang next to racks of plain blazers, velvet girls’ dresses and plaid men’s work shirts.

“We sell high quality clothes here--not junk,� Frieden said proudly.

Frieden helped his father, Harry, open the store in August 1947 when the family moved to Lincoln Heights from McCamey, a small oil town in West Texas. The father-son team quickly built a strong customer base by offering open credit accounts.

Now, more than 2,500 customers have accounts at Frieden’s. Their names are listed on long computer printouts in thick blue binders stashed under the cash register.

“I was raised to believe that everyone is honest until proven otherwise,� said Frieden, who still speaks in a thick Texan drawl. “My customers are better than the stock market.�

The routine at Frieden’s has also stayed constant.

Store manager Joe Rocha arrives a little after 9:20 a.m., as he has done for years, and unlocks the sliding metal gates that bar the glass storefront.

Rocha started working at Frieden’s as a high school student in 1959, sweeping and stocking after class. He stuck around.

“I didn’t expect to be here this long,� Rocha said. “But things just worked out.�

His wife, who met him while shopping at Frieden’s, works as a salesclerk. His daughter has worked at the store in the summers between school terms.

Frieden ambles in a few minutes after Rocha, greeting the four employees who are sweeping and straightening. He settles at an old wooden roll-top desk in his closet-sized office at the back of the room, sorting through a pile of checks.

The employees take their positions in different parts of the store, ready to guide customers to the right size, color and style.

Friday is payday for most of the workers in Lincoln Heights, the same day they stop in to pay off part of their bills. Some plunk down $15, others $40. Whatever you can do, Frieden tells them. Just keep paying regularly.

The parade of patrons begins promptly at 9:30 a.m. Rocha knows each customer by name and greets them with a “Buenos dias!� “And your children, how are they?� he asks one after another.

Customers come in like clockwork every week, some returning from as far away as San Bernardino, Ontario, San Diego and even Las Vegas. “They are faithful to us,� Rocha said.

Many customers got a boost from Frieden’s when no one else would give them a chance.

“This is the only store that would give me credit,� said Victoria Ortega, 47, as she tried on a pair of white tennis shoes. She has shopped at Frieden’s for more than 15 years. “It helped me get credit everywhere else.�

Ruben Lugo, 39, and his family have been shopping at Frieden’s for decades. His mother bought the children clothes there when they lived in Lincoln Heights. Now, he comes to the store weekly from his home in Highland Park.

“The prices are good and they have a lot of variety,� Lugo said. But most of all, Lugo, an air-conditioning repairman who was hurt on the job, appreciates the credit. With his account, he can still buy school clothes for his sons.

Lugo turned and greeted his neighbors Nora and Gus Cortez as they entered the store.

“Every time we come in here, we run into somebody we know,� laughed Gus Cortez, 33, who works at a tire store. He and his wife also make weekly visits to Frieden’s to pay their bill and browse.

Even when customers slack off on payments, Frieden and his employees rely on faith to bring them back.

Rocha got a call one recent morning from a young man who had missed the last few payments. He called to apologize.

“Don’t worry about it,� Rocha said. “I just want to see you back here regularly, like you used to do.� The young man murmured his grateful thanks and promised to be there.

Rocha hung up and smiled. “I’ll bet he’s back here this afternoon.�

These interactions, Frieden said, are what make his business work.

“This is what the retail business was about in the first half of the century, before they had all these malls,� Frieden said. “There were no Wal-Marts, no Targets back then. There were just places like this. I’m like a small-town store in a big city.�

Despite his pride in the store, Frieden is not doing much to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The only signs of the occasion are the letters of congratulations from local officials that line the display case filled with watches in the back of the room.

Instead, Frieden is looking toward the future. He’s the treasurer of the Business Improvement District in Lincoln Heights, which is working on projects to revitalize the commercial corridor. When he’s not balancing his books, he rushes off to another meeting with local business leaders.

“We’ve got to keep this place going,� he said, “if we’re going to be around another 50 years.�