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The Levine brothers had started a woolens and tailors’ trimming supply store in New York in 1923. In about 1933 they all moved to Los Angeles to open a store downtown at 534 South Los Angeles Street. From left are Harry, Abe, Moe, and Mike Levine.
He’d buy millions of buttons or thousands of yards of fabrics, and mostly everything would sell.
THE LEVINE BROTHERS IN CALIFORNIA
In the 1930s, when the family moved west to California, Levine Brothers moved to 534 Los Angeles Street, in downtown Los Angeles. During the war, Levine Brothers opened a chain of stores, not in woolens and trimmings, but in yardage. The brothers had the goods for years and years and nobody would buy them. But once the war came, with the shortages of fabric, their inventory was pure gold. All of the brothers made a ton of money during the war.
Once the State Board of Equalization padlocked the business because Levine Brothers wasn’t paying any sales tax. From then on, the brothers knew just what to do. Every week they desposited sales tax
money in a separate account to be used for that purpose only.
At some point, Uncle Harry and Uncle Mike got into a terrible fight, so Uncle Mike left. Unbelievably, he opened a business right next door to Levine Brothers, also on Los Angeles Street. Of course, he went broke. After he closed that store, he made peace with his brothers. I helped him find another location, away from Levine Brothers.
But by the 1950s, Levine Brothers itself was in trouble. The primary customer of the business was the custom tailor, who bought yardage to make suits. After World War II, that business was shrinking, as people preferred to buy cheaper, ready-to-wear suits.
MICHAEL LEVINE’S
Mike’s store became Michael Levine’s, a well-known yardage store. By purchasing closeouts for next to nothing, then selling goods at a low cost, Mike made a huge profit. He’d buy millions of buttons or thousands of yards of fabrics, and mostly everything would sell. Michael Levine’s was hugely successful.