Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Greenspan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Evan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We are the oldest family-owned and operated classic clothing store west of Texas. In business since 1928, we have endured floods, fire, wars, riots, Walmart, and the internet, for four generations. Alex and Eva Greenspan bought a parcel of land in 1928 and built our first location, on 103rd St, in Watts. Five years later, it was destroyed in a fire by The Long Beach Earthquake, when the whole block burned down when the fire department was unable to put out a fire down the block because the water lines were busted open in the earthquake. This was during the great depression, people had little or no money. We operated often by barter. Someone had a diner, my family could eat free, and they got clothing in exchange, Fayard Nicholas, on of the great dance team known as the Nicholas Brothers, taught my father to dance in exchange for clothing. We were able to hire a ranked middleweight boxer Baby Eres Mendes work security for us.
In 1939, we opened our present South Gate location on Tweedy Blvd. Eddie Greenspan, though he was in Junior High, managed this location, with a 62 years old man working for him. During World War II, we had a large allotment for sheets, pillowcases, and nylons (which many stores sold for excessive prices on the black market,) but we sold them at fair prices to our customers. In 1950, Edward Greenspan took over ownership of Greenspan’s Department Store and began developing Greenspan’s into its present niche, of a distinctive, classic style store. He designed what was called “California Sportswear” for companies like A1 and Hollywood Rambler. Later when polyester, and “wash and wear”, became the style of choice, he began buying, now overlooked and disdained, unused wools and cotton men’s clothing, what we now call 40’s, 50’s, 60’s vintage deadstock clothing. He bought out hundreds of clothing stores, warehouses, and factories, of their “out of fashion” clothing. We then sold them in our store and to Melrose Ave, Europe, Japan, and began selling to movie and TV shows (which we still do up to today.) Unused vintage clothing was also sold to Rap and Rock music artists. In the rap world, we sold to our customers, NWA, Cypress Hill, Compton’s Most Wanted, Above The Law, who then wore this clothing on MTV and started West Coast Gangster Clothing Styles, which became a billion-dollar industry.
In 1995, I became partner in store. With little unused vintage items to left to acquire, we started to authentically reproduce hundreds of classic style clothing items, from coats to shirts, to pants, and hats. After the passing of Edward Greenspan, in 2009, I became owner, with my son, Josh Greenspan, eventually becoming manager of the store. Recently, we reproduced with Pendleton, over a dozen exclusive items, including the double label Pendleton X Greenspan’s Collaboration board shirt made for Greenspan’s 90th Anniversary in business. Now, we also offer our hard to find, and exclusive classic products online on our web site www.greenspans.com.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We have overcome many obstacles over the 91 years. We went through our store being destroyed in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake and rebuilt. We had a 4th of July fireworks started fire in 1993 and came back. We have survived wars, The Great Depression, recessions, politics, and lately, the enemy of the brick and mortar small business independent, Amazon and the Internet, to still be open, to be taking care of our customers six days a week.
Alright – so let’s talk business. What else should we know about you and your career so far?
With us being the last classic style clothing store, still selling those classic styles, we have named ourselves as “The Last Original Clothing Store”. We are proud of our customer service. We try to give our customers the same knowledgable customer service like we did in 1928, we boast that we carry hundreds of exclusive, or custom made items, that are authentic to an era gone bye. We are proud to carry, by far, the largest selection of Pendleton board shirts in the world. (More than Pendleton.) We are also proud that Pendleton made a limited edition wool shirt of our own design for our 90th anniversary, with Pendleton ownership, and executives present for its launch party, at our store. We are proud that we carry the largest selection of American made clothing in Los Angeles County. We our proud that we have maintained a reputation for integrity that has allowed to maintain a multigenerational customer base, when every other store like us, locally, has closed.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are planning for “new” classic, custom made shoes to be made. We are looking at another exclusive limited-edition Pendleton Wool board shirt, in the near future. But basically, we are looking forward to continuing listening to our customers and providing them with the quality they want, at the value they expect from us. To continue to provide boutique selection, at surplus store prices, as the fourth generation of Greenspan’s take over.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3405 Tweedy Blvd.
South Gate, CA 90280 - Website: www.greenspans.com
- Phone: (323) 566-5124
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oggreenspans
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OGGreenspans/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/oggreenspans
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/greenspans-south-gate
- Other: www.greenspansstore.com
Image Credit:
Ian Young, Edgar Hoill, Oryu
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